Chapter 196: The Contest Concludes

The blinding white light lasted for several seconds. During this time, except for Senior Cuique and Aoyama Enka, no one else could see clearly what was happening inside the training ground.

What happened within the light? What kind of exchange took place between the two? Most people did not know.

It was only after the white light dispersed that remained standing Lin Xiaolu, and Bai Ji kneeling on the ground.

The magic armor in Bai Ji's hand had fallen to the side at some unknown time, and the magical clothing on her body showed signs of charring and tearing; obviously, her magic power had been basically exhausted.

But even so, she still stared fixedly at Lin Xiaolu, the fighting spirit in her gaze not diminishing in the slightest.

The situation on Lin Xiaolu's side was not very good either; the only reason she could still stand was because some magic power remained, and the magic particles floating around her body surface proved that she too had been injured during the battle.

Wiping her cheek with her glove to disperse the residual magic particles, she glared back with a expressionless face.

Was the battle still continuing? Or had a result already been decided?

If it had ended, who exactly had won?

Amidst the confusion of several onlooking magical girls, Moko in the center of the field slowly raised its paw and announced loudly:

— "The second duel, Bai Mei wins! Next, we enter the intermission break!"

Thus, a period was drawn on this duel, which could be called a huge upset.

Before this, even Aoyama Enka, who had personally taught Lin Xiaolu the technique of impurity, probably could not have imagined that the final result would be this.

Others might not have seen clearly, but she saw exactly what happened within the white light—Lin Xiaolu had thrown the white magic power in her hand out as if it were a thrown weapon, while Bai Ji, after a moment of stunned confusion, immediately began to respond, her technique and magic armor flawless without missing a single detail, a perfect defense.

However, she was still caught off guard.

Because Lin Xiaolu's white magic power seemed to penetrate space itself, passing directly through Bai Ji's prepared defensive measures and striking Bai Ji.

It did not damage the magic armor, nor did it destroy the magic barrier; it simply passed through, as if the techniques in front of her did not exist at all.

This was the reason Bai Ji was ultimately defeated in one blow; her defensive measures, prepared by squeezing out the last drop of her magic power, failed, and instead she took a solid hit from the opponent's impurity-enhanced attack.

"What is this, sister?"

So this time, it was her turn to ask Senior Cuique: "Did you teach her?"

"I never taught her this move; she mastered it completely on her own."

Senior Cuique shook her head: "She has actually used it a few times before, but it has always been very unstable, so it cannot be counted as part of her normal combat power."

"So... is this the 'speciality' of that child you mentioned to me before?"

Resting her chin thoughtfully, Aoyama Enka's gaze scrutinized Lin Xiaolu not far away: "A Deviator?"

"I don't know." Senior Cuique's face was expressionless.

"That is not the answer I wanted, sister. I laid my entire 'impurity' technique out before you."

Aoyama Enka raised her eyebrows somewhat displeased: "Anyway, the competition is over, the phase of hiding moves ends here; given our relationship, is it necessary for you to hide such things from me?"

"I am speaking the truth, because I truly do not know."

Senior Cuique rolled her eyes at her: "I also have no way to confirm whether this is a Deviation; can't you feel it? That white magic power shows absolutely no underlying color other than that of a magical girl."

"Indeed, in terms of underlying color, it still seems to be a magical girl... but it is also hard to say it is purely impurity; is there some different condition? It is truly strange."

The troubled expression on Aoyama Enka's face lasted only a short while before turning back into a smile: "Well then, it is good that things have rarely become interesting."

"I must remind you: finding it interesting is fine, but do not entertain any twisted thoughts about that child." Senior Cuique warned.

"I won't, I am not Su Shengzi; besides, she is after all the daughter of Anya and..., right?" Aoyama Enka teased.

While they were conversing like this, on the other side, Lin Xiaolu and Bai Ji, having finished their duel, finally released their transformations and walked out of the training ground together.

Walking in front was Bai Ji.

Bai Ji, having released her transformation, was a girl who appeared relatively quiet and steady, with a somewhat slender figure, a very calm expression, shoulder-length black hair, and neat, clean clothing, fitting the 'excellent student' stereotype in most people's minds.

This 'excellent student' kept her gaze lowered, looking at the ground, until she walked all the way to Aoyama Enka's front, only then hesitatingly stopping, and slowly raising her head to look at the other.

"I am very sorry, Instructor."

She spoke, her voice rough: "I lost."

"Mm, you lost."

Aoyama Enka nodded: "So what?"

"I have disappointed you, I am sorry." Bai Ji lowered her head again.

"Then what do you think I should do now?"

"... Please criticize me." Bai Ji answered in a low voice.

"What you say is not wrong... but I am not disappointed, so I will not criticize you."

Aoyama Enka smiled: "After all, you have already done everything within your capabilities; you did not underestimate the opponent, nor did you make any mistakes; you simply lost because you encountered something beyond your capabilities, so I have no reason to blame you."

"Then, regarding my unauthorized use of impurity against an opponent who was unaware, which violated the principles, please criticize me."

"Didn't I already tell you about that before? So just consider it passed; just be careful next time."

"Then..."

For some reason, Bai Ji stopped speaking halfway through her sentence.

Her shoulders trembled slightly.

Aoyama Enka looked at her student with a helpless expression, reached out her hand wanting to make her raise her head, but after her hand touched the other's shoulder, the smile on her face froze, and her expression even carried a bit of shock.

She realized that Bai Ji seemed to be crying.

"Sigh, why are you crying already? Is it worth being this sad? Let me see."

This shock did not last long; she immediately reacted, smiling as she cupped Bai Ji's face: "It's just losing one match, no one blames you, don't worry, don't worry."

But who would have known, with this coaxing, Bai Ji cried even more sadly.

If before she had only been silently sobbing quietly, after hearing Aoyama Enka's words, the sobbing turned into wailing.

"I just... waaah, am I so... not worth your expectation..."

She spoke while crying: "So... waaah... you never expected me to win from the beginning, you have always been biased towards Bai Mei... waaaaah!"

The crying could be described as heart-wrenching, desolate and sorrowful, making people unable to bear to look.

The other magical girls, hearing the commotion, turned their gazes toward this direction; the few team members from Fang Ting City felt nothing unusual, but the other two from Bai'an City were utterly shocked.

After all, in their eyes, Bai Ji had always been mature and steady, the backbone among the three of the younger generation; normally, she never cried, never complained no matter how hard or tiring the work, and instead had always helped Mu Baihe and Hanxiu Cao resolve their inner conflicts.

Such a Bai Ji, actually crying openly before everyone's eyes?

Not to mention the other magical girls, even Asou Enka was momentarily stunned.

She could only follow her instinct, subconsciously reaching out to pat Bai Ji's back, wanting to say something, but considering that her own words seemed to be what made the other cry so sorrowfully, she froze completely there.

After pondering for a while, she could only blink her eyes and look at Senior Cuique.

"Apologize," Senior Cuique said, arms crossed, with a tone of certainty.

"Why?" Asou Enka let out a dry laugh.

"No reason; this is the retribution for betraying someone's goodwill."

Senior Cuique, with drooping eyelids, evaluated: "The words you just spoke sounded to her like, 'I never had high hopes for you from the start; I thought the opponent was stronger; your loss is only natural; there's no need for criticism.'"

"Plus, you gave her opponent special training right before the match; as her own mentor, you ended up helping her opponent against her; at such a time, of course, she felt deeply wronged."

After analyzing thus, Senior Cuique, believing she had already sorted out the sequence of events, nodded: "So, apologize."

"Waaahhhhhhh—"

As soon as she finished speaking, Bai Ji's crying erupted again, as if to affirm Senior Cuique's words.

Now, Asou Enka had to believe it, whether she wanted to or not.

Rather than being convinced by Senior Cuique, it was more that she herself had vaguely realized this point.

It's just that previously, in her mind, the student Bai Ji had always been sensible and worry-free, understanding things more thoroughly than her peers, so she shouldn't have made a fuss over something like this.

Since proposing this "contest," Asou Enka had always thought this way.

Although the Turbidity Technique was a skill she created, she did not hoard it after its creation but taught it to many people; it was almost semi-public. Teaching this semi-public skill to others as a favor was actually quite normal.

Regarding the contest between the two city teams, although she was the mentor for Bai'an City, if her student won too easily, it wouldn't serve the purpose of tempering; giving "aid to the enemy" within an appropriate range was actually reasonable.

As for the result of this contest, since the opponent was an irregular magical girl possessing abilities beyond the regulations, losing was not at all a shameful matter; stating this fact posed no problem whatsoever.

All her thoughts were "normal," all her actions were "reasonable," yet she completely overlooked one fact.

"Do you really like me that much, child?"

This was the thing Asou Enka had never realized.

In her view, she had merely lured the other person to become a magical girl under the guise of "hired labor," and was simply a senior who taught the other how to fight as a magical girl.

The relationship between the two was, as Bai Ji had always said, that of "mentor" and "student." Although they were acquaintances and trustworthy comrades, it shouldn't have led the other to harbor such intense emotions.

It was precisely due to this misalignment in perception that her interactions with Bai Ji had always been strictly business-like, or rather, somewhat cold and unfeeling.

In a sense, she had ignored the other's feelings.

So she pressed her lips together, reached out to embrace Bai Ji, gently patted the other's head, and said softly, "I'm sorry; I was wrong."

When she spoke these words, she felt genuine emotion in her heart.

Then, Bai Ji cried even louder.

This time, however, it was clearly not because of deep sorrow, but an outburst of grievance after the emotional knot that had been blocking her feelings for so long was finally untied.

As for how to coax her into feeling better, that was Asou Enka's own task; Senior Cuique couldn't help her with that.

After all, while that side needed coaxing, this side had a small explosive barrel too.

"So ugly; you lost, and that's it, yet you cry like this; it's too embarrassing." Standing beside Senior Cuique, Lin Xiaolu evaluated Bai Ji thus, as if she had already forgotten that a week ago, after losing to Bai Ji, she had locked herself in her room and wallowed in despair all night.

Senior Cuique hadn't forgotten, but she wouldn't bring up a sore spot unnecessarily, so she explained indifferently: "It wasn't mainly because of the loss; it was because she was ignored by someone she admired, so she felt wronged; it's not really incomprehensible."

"Even if she was ignored, there's no reason to do it in such a setting..."

Probably because she had just avenged her great grudge, Lin Xiaolu was quite spirited; following Senior Cuique's train of thought, she looked down, wanting to scold Bai Ji, but soon, realizing what she was saying, she couldn't continue, "... that's true; it seems it's not incomprehensible after all."

"Are you slightly happier now? Having defeated an opponent you lost to before," Senior Cuique asked.

"Happier...?"

Gazing at Bai Ji, who was crying her heart out not far away, Lin Xiaolu's previously somewhat triumphant expression inexplicably weakened; after a pause, she sighed: "I guess I am happy? After all, she was so arrogant before..."

Senior Cuique couldn't help but turn her head, looking seriously at her daughter beside her.

She and the girl hadn't communicated for several days, neither as Senior Cuique nor as Lin Yun.

Having just achieved a rare victory, although fatigue from the battle showed on her face, Lin Xiaolu at this moment was indeed much more spirited than her depressed state of the past few days.

The anxiety about being unable to awaken her Magic Armor all along, the panic about falling behind other teammates all along; these emotions, while not completely gone, had at least temporarily become fainter in Lin Xiaolu.

However, whether it was an illusion or not, Senior Cuique always felt that beneath these emotions, Lin Xiaolu still carried a rather heavy sense of confusion.

This confusion did not become fainter along with the victory in the contest; instead, it became even more intense.

"... Senior Cuique, I did it; the things I learned these days, the results of my cultivation, I displayed them all to you in the battle just now."

After a long silence, Lin Xiaolu spoke again: "Although many things are still not mature enough, I hope you have seen them all."

"Mm, I know; thank you; I saw it very clearly."

Senior Cuique said softly: "Your progress is great; in this battle, you performed very well."

"Is that so? Then that's good," Lin Xiaolu replied as if she had finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, after seeming to struggle internally once more and pausing briefly again, she spoke: "Then, may I ask? How do you... exactly see me, Senior Cuique?"

"How do I see you?"

This out-of-the-blue question made Senior Cuique somewhat puzzled: "I think you are very good."

"V-very good?"

Lin Xiaolu's voice suddenly rose by two decibels: "Really? You think... you think I am very good? Then, then specifically... specifically where is it good?"

For some reason, her speech rhythm was completely messed up; some sounds weren't pronounced correctly; she didn't know if she had bitten her tongue.

"Where is it good? The precision of your mana control has indeed improved; the application and connection of basic techniques clearly show signs of optimization; your judgment of the opponent's offensive intent is more accurate; you can now guess some attack routes; the amplitude of your movements to dodge attacks has become lighter; you no longer overexert yourself as before... these are all visible improvements."

Evaluating Lin Xiaolu's previous battle thus, even speaking these improvements aloud made Senior Cuique feel quite gratified and moved in her heart: "You really worked hard; I am very proud of you."

"…Oh."

But who would have known that this praise, which Senior Cuique considered quite precise and utterly sincere, instead made Lin Xiaolu inexplicably despondent.

Was something wrong? Senior Cuique didn't understand for a moment.

Nevertheless, amidst Bai Zhi's crying and Masao Enka's distressed comforting, the team competition between the Bai'an City squad and the Fang Ting City squad finally came to a complete close.

The total score was 2 to 1, with Fang Ting City scoring 2 points and Bai'an City scoring 1 point; ultimately, Fang Ting City emerged victorious.

The final point came from Bai Jingxuan.

From the Bai'an City squad, the last competitor, Mu Baihe, was the only member who had not mastered Turbidity Transformation and remained at the Bud Rank as a magical girl. Within just one minute, she was defeated by Bai Jingxuan's desperate fighting style and her unreasonable magical power, which swept her away like dry straw; she lay on the ground and tremulously raised a white flag.

(End of this chapter)