Chapter 216: New Year's Wishes on the Final Night

"Is this really okay?"

Squatting at the base of the towering Shi Ta, Xia Liang slowly used magic to erase the patterns connecting to the ground while asking, "You said destroying this thing will stop the Claw Mark's plan, but what if it's a time bomb? If we handle it so rashly, won't we just set it off?"

"It's fine. I've already investigated; there's no magic supply or storage inside this thing. In other words, at best, it's just an auxiliary device."

Standing at the tip of the Shi Ta, Bai Mei was doing much the same work as Xia Liang, her voice calm: "Since destroying it carries no risk, we might as well deal with it while the enemies are occupied."

"But is it really okay that we aren't going to help?"

Glancing toward the direction Lin Xiaolu and the others had left, Xia Liang said with some worry, "That enemy shouldn't be someone they can handle, right?"

"Wood Lily might have some issues, but Mimosa is actually very powerful."

Bai Mei's expression didn't change: "I trust my teammates. As for your Fang Ting City side... I think the two of them are not lacking in strength either. After all, they were able to defeat us in the previous match; you should trust them even more than I do."

"That's quite a compliment, thank you."

Xia Liang couldn't help but let out a dry chuckle.

To be honest, she really couldn't quite figure out the strength of her two teammates anymore.

Although she was the one with the fastest progress in ability blooming in the entire Fang Ting City squad, in some recent situations requiring actual combat, she didn't know if it was her illusion, but the other two performed even better than her.

Bai Jingxuan originally had an improvement speed not much worse than her own, but recently her strength had progressed abnormally; during the fight with that Claw Mark woman just now, she even displayed a transformation highly similar to the Claw Mark.

Regarding this transformation form, not only did Senior Cuique and the others show no reaction of surprise, but even Bai Jingxuan herself seemed accustomed to it. It wasn't hard to imagine that, completely unbeknownst to her, she had already mastered this transformation long ago.

And Lin Xiaolu, whose original progress had been unremarkable, even slow, had recently, especially after the match with the Baian City squad, seemed to have a sudden realization now that she had mastered the turbidification technique, with her combat level advancing by leaps and bounds. If she were to awaken her Magic Armor one day, she would likely possess combat abilities far exceeding the blooming stage.

Thinking this way, it seemed that she, who stayed behind to destroy the device, was actually the one with the weakest combat power in the squad?

"Hmm, thinking this way, could it be that I'm worrying for no reason at all?"

The thought that suddenly sprang to mind made Xia Liang widen her eyes slightly; even she felt a bit surprised.

However, before her thoughts could wander, Bai Mei standing at the tower top spoke again: "Of course, trusting teammates doesn't mean dumping all the pressure on them. So after we finish our tasks here, we must hurry to provide support to ensure everything goes smoothly."

"After all, many times, to defeat the enemy, merely doing your own job isn't enough; doing a little extra also reserves a bit more space for your teammates."

Saying this, Bai Mei gradually sped up her movements: "If you want to be a good leader for Fang Ting City in the future, you must often learn to leave room for your team. This is also what I am striving to learn and do now."

"... Leader, me?" Xia Liang looked up in confusion.

"Aren't you the leader of your group?" Bai Mei looked down, puzzled.

"I don't think so? After all, the current squad leader is the Junior Senior... that is, Senior Cuique. Other times, it seems Bai Mei takes the lead and directs things more often."

Xia Liang thought for a moment and quickly reached a conclusion: "It seems no matter how I think about it, 'leader' doesn't sound like a position related to me. Why do you think I am the leader?"

"Something like temperament or personality, I suppose. I feel you look a bit more like one than the other two."

Bai Mei withdrew her gaze and continued looking at the Shi Ta: "If that's not the case, then allow me to apologize. I didn't mean to sow discord between you."

"It's fine, it's fine. I was just asking casually."

Xia Liang smiled and waved her hand, then refocused on her work: "Yeah, after all, I've never received a similar evaluation before, so I was a little surprised."

"So then, who is your actual leader?" As if changing the subject, Bai Mei asked somewhat absentmindedly.

"It's the Junior Senior, of course. After all, she is a senior, knows a lot, and everyone trusts her very much," Xia Liang replied.

"I don't mean 'leader' in that sense. After all, in most cities, the leader of the magical girl squad is the senior in the team, including the captain of our Baian City, who is also a senior who didn't come to Fang Ting this time. Everyone respects her very much."

Bai Mei explained: "I'm asking, among you Fang Ting City peers, who is the dominant one? For instance, next, since you are all going to participate in the Realm's assessment, who will be the nominal captain then?"

"Is that point very important?"

"Perhaps? At least from my perspective, it is."

Bai Mei gazed at the pattern before her: "Probably because my mentor has expectations for me, hoping I can 'become a leader,' so over time, I unconsciously started caring about this issue. After all, one day, our seniors will retire, and we will become seniors to others. At that time, who exactly should make the decisions in the team?"

"That sounds like a very distant topic. I think we don't need to think about this right now, right?"

Xia Liang smiled helplessly: "Hmm... but if I really have to say, it would probably be Bai Mei."

"Bai Mei? Her?"

Bai Mei was somewhat surprised: "You plan to let that child be the leader?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It's hard to explain 'why' for this kind of question."

Xia Liang shook her head and said in a low voice: "It's just that, in my personal understanding, if there must be one leader among the three, it definitely won't be me. Between the remaining two, currently, Bai Mei seems more likely."

"Because my lord the Inspector favors her more?" Bai Mei didn't understand.

"Of course not." Xia Liang reminded with a light smile: "Also, you just said you didn't intend to sow discord."

"Ah, sorry." Bai Mei also realized her slip of the tongue and immediately apologized.

The two fell silent for a moment, simply burying their heads and focusing on handling the patterns on the Shi Ta.

After a while, just as their work was coming to an end, the blue moon hanging high in the sky suddenly, as if struck by something, instantly faded significantly.

Before the two could react to this change, in the forest not far away, the black magic and other magic that had been in fierce confrontation also suddenly dissipated.

As if agreed upon, the battlefields on both sides simultaneously underwent a change in position. It was as if a silent urging to the two of them.

"Looks like we need to hurry up," Bai Mei said slowly.

"Yeah, let's finish as soon as possible," Xia Liang agreed.

Both continued to focus on their work, deliberately not chatting much, as if the topic just now had never existed.

Consistent with what Xia Liang observed from afar, the battle between Senior Cuique and the other two against Yuan had indeed reached its conclusion.

This judgment was made first by Margaret.

The reason she could make such a judgment was that just now, after a long and arduous battle, she keenly noticed that the wine glass in Yuan's hand contained only a cup of red-black liquid.

The layering phenomenon that had always lingered in Yuan's wine glass, accompanied by her being hit by attacks time and again, had disappeared unknowingly.

If the earlier deduction was correct, this can basically be regarded as Yian's Beast Heart Liberation having failed.

Everyone present was not surprised by this result; after all, from the moment Yian first failed to dodge an attack, this battle had turned into a contest of endurance. As long as Senior Cuique and the others could ensure they kept attacking Yian without losing their own combat strength, Yian would continuously weaken until she completely lost the boost from Beast Heart Liberation and returned to her ordinary combat power.

This was an open scheme, but Yian had no choice but to accept the challenge.

After all, for her, the purpose of this battle had been to defeat Cornflower from start to finish.

Things like destroying the city's defense network or luring a beast disaster to Fang Ting were unimportant; they were merely means to force the opponent to come and fight. What mattered was the mission Bai Lang had originally given her—the Source of Beasts, Cornflower, and Bai Jingxuan.

Bringing back these three targets was the top priority.

As long as she could defeat Cornflower in a direct confrontation, it wouldn't matter if the Stone Tower was destroyed; no, rather, if she could accomplish her goal, the destruction of the Stone Tower would be a good thing.

Yian knew Bai Lang very well.

She knew that when Bai Lang said, "Massacre the citizens of Fang Ting to blackmail Cornflower," the emphasis of that statement had never been on "massacring the citizens of Fang Ting." As long as she completed the mission, whether the "massacre" was actually carried out was completely unimportant.

What Bai Lang truly cared about were only two things: first, whether she had completed the targets she specified; and second, whether she had remembered the details she had emphasized.

The former needed no further explanation, and as for the latter, if everything proceeded smoothly, even the destruction of the Stone Tower would be inconsequential. When she returned to report to Bai Lang and was asked, "Did you follow my method?", she could simply bring Sami over to prove that she had indeed made efforts regarding the Stone Tower, and that it was merely ruined in the end.

That's right, Yian did not want to carry out a pointless massacre.

Whether she was criticized by colleagues for being soft-hearted or denounced by enemies as hypocritical, it didn't matter what others said; she simply did not want to.

Martial artists must uphold righteousness, and one of the core tenets of righteousness is not to bully the weak with strength.

This was a lesson her master had taught her, and she had never forgotten it.

In fact, she also knew that since she chose to defect with Bai Lang and join Claw Mark, so-called righteousness no longer existed. But even so, like a drowning person, she clung tightly to this last lifeline, unwilling to let go.

That was why she had devised a plan that appeared to leave no room for compromise on either side—using "destroying the Fang Ting City defense network" as bait to force the local Magical Girls to step forward and fight, then taking the opportunity to defeat them and abduct the targets before fleeing.

In this process, if she won, she could end the battle quickly and flee with the "spoils" before the device was detonated, leaving the remaining Magical Girls enough time to deal with the Stone Tower.

If she lost, the result needed no further explanation; the Stone Tower would undoubtedly be dismantled by the Fang Ting City team, and no damage would be caused either way.

Thus, for Yian, if she wanted to achieve the goal most beneficial to herself within this entire plan, there was naturally only one option left:

Win, and win as quickly as possible.

That was why she tried to intercept everyone halfway, and that was why she used Beast Heart Liberation from the very beginning, hoping to secure victory immediately through an overwhelming gap in strength.

Ultimately, the result had become exactly this.

Let alone ending the battle quickly, she had even been forced to deactivate her own Beast Heart Liberation.

One wrong step leads to a chain of errors; perhaps it was because she was too eager for quick success and immediate gain, perhaps she misjudged the strength of the three-person team from Fang Ting City, or perhaps it was because Margaret's Full Bloom happened to expose her flaw...

In any case, the current Yian had indeed been driven into a desperate situation.

Senior Cuique stood on a branch not far away, watching her silently; Hong Siyu floated high in the distance, looking down upon the battlefield; and Margaret stood blocking her path, silently shaking the wine glass in her hand.

All three had varying degrees of damage to their clothing, and their hairstyles were somewhat disheveled, enough to prove they had all sustained injuries, but there was no doubt that they all still retained a certain level of combat power.

Even Senior Cuique, who was in the worst condition, showed no sign of exhaustion at this moment.

Having fought to this point, no one had the energy to speak more; everyone was standing firm solely through their willpower, fearing that if they let up even slightly, they would no longer be able to maintain a state of high concentration.

"Heh."

Yet, Yian still smiled.

Not for others, but for herself.

Because no matter what happened next, she was finally satisfied now.

To face her enemy openly and squarely, to use all means to fight a battle openly and squarely, and then, to openly and squarely welcome "defeat."

This was not shameful; on the contrary, this was what all martial artists ought to pursue.

No matter how detailed her plans were for "after victory," a loss was still a loss; the opponent had defeated her under fair and just conditions. If she did not acknowledge this result, she would only be falling to a lower level.

"Cornflower."

She murmured, her hoarse voice sounding like a hiss: "Have you really not considered coming to take a look at our Claw Mark?"

"... I have no hobby of placing myself in danger."

Upon hearing this, Senior Cuique paused slightly, then gently shook her head: "The promise your leader made is indeed tempting, but I cannot trust her, nor can I trust Claw Mark."

"Is that so?" Yian sighed as if helplessly, shrugging her shoulders as if resigned: "Then, it seems tonight's grand gathering must end here."

"Are you admitting defeat?"

Margaret, standing at the very front, looked puzzled: "Running out of energy, old lady?"

"Sigh, you young one, you look quite handsome, but there isn't a single good word in your mouth."

Yian glared at her with some displeasure: "But you are not wrong; I lost. Your abilities are all fully developed, your fundamentals are solid, and your coordination is indeed exquisite. I lost without complaint."

"What's this? Suddenly praising us?"

Margaret covered her mouth, slightly surprised: "What are you going to do next? Demand good treatment for prisoners? Or spout more threats before disaster strikes?"

Senior Cuique also looked at Yian with considerable confusion, unable to understand what medicine the other was selling in her gourd.

"Spouting threats... I suppose that counts?"

Yian chuckled twice: "However, I still do not intend to be captured by you here, so although I have lost, please forgive my actions next."

Having said this, she suddenly raised her hand and lightly tapped her heart twice.

These two taps did not stir any special magical fluctuation, nor did they make any significant noise; they were quieter than any technique Yian had used before, so much so that at first, the three from Fang Ting City had no idea what she was doing.

But immediately after, in almost an instant, everyone felt that something had vanished from their bodies.

It was not extraction, not reduction, not weakening, but a sudden disappearance in an instant.

Swish.

The first to be affected was Senior Cuique; her body had already suffered severe injuries, and even after repairing them with magic, her condition was still poor, so she nearly fell from the tree. Fortunately, she adjusted her center of gravity in time and only collapsed onto the branch below.

Then came Hong Siyu; floating in mid-air, she suddenly seemed to lose the ability to fly, plummeting directly from the sky and crashing heavily onto the ground.

As for Margaret, although she did not make a spectacle of herself, at that very same instant, she also noticed a shocking fact.

—The wine in her glass, which had originally displayed a vivid color, had suddenly turned into a cup of plain water.

Even after this phenomenon manifested, the outline of her wine glass slowly faded, flickered slightly, and then vanished. The scenery of the surrounding Mirage Realm was erased as if by an eraser, disappearing entirely in an instant.

Next, the magical attire on her body, the outfit symbolizing her transformation as a magical girl, dissolved into stardust and turned back into the pajamas she had worn at the base before arriving.

At this moment, even the most dull-witted magical girl should understand that what had "disappeared" was nothing other than the magic power that had always existed within their bodies.

What happened? Why is this happening?

This was the thought in the minds of everyone present except Tsubame.

And when Senior Cuique leaned against the tree trunk, raised her head, and looked toward where Tsubame was, she discovered that a white outline was spreading rapidly in all directions, centered on Tsubame's body.

The area covered by the white outline appeared unchanged at first glance, but when this outline touched the blue moon in the sky, the already wobbly blue moon crumbled at a single touch and vanished completely from the night curtain.

The sky returned to moonless deep black.

"Sorry. If I could, I wouldn't have wanted to use such despicable means."

Tsubame smiled apologetically: "But there's no choice. I can't win a normal fight, so when running away, I have to play dirty."

No different from the crowd present, her magical attire had also completely dissolved, turning back into the Taoist robe she usually wore.

However, compared to everyone else who had lost their magic power and suddenly reverted to ordinary humans, she appeared completely unaffected, walking lightly as if strolling in a garden.

While speaking, she walked straight past Margaret. Even though Margaret tried to stop her, Tsubame simply sidestepped her with a light feint.

She walked right up to Senior Cuique, raised her head slightly, and locked eyes with Senior Cuique on the treetop.

Senior Cuique stared back at her expressionlessly, showing no sign of unease.

Even though not a single shred of magic power remained in her body, it did not hinder her from staring down Tsubame like this.

"Interesting."

Tsubame looked at her for a moment, then laughed: "Cornflower, you are indeed even more special than I imagined."

"I accept your praise. If you fight like this, perhaps you'll see other special aspects." Senior Cuique narrowed her eyes slightly, her words showing no weakness.

"Do you know why it's like this now?" Tsubame tilted her head.

"Isn't this your Mirage Realm?" Senior Cuique's voice was flat.

"Impressive. Your insight is truly accurate." Tsubame seemed genuinely convinced and clapped happily.

"You said before that if you used your 'Mirage Realm', the battle would become very 'unfair'. You were referring to this situation, right?"

Senior Cuique lowered her eyelids: "Rather, the sole reason your leader sent only you to execute this mission was predicated on the fact that 'you possess such a Mirage Realm'."

"I previously split your 'Qi'. At that time, I always felt that this energy seemed to have another source and purpose within you. Otherwise, considering the amount of magic power I consumed, it was simply too much."

"Even your 'Beast Heart Liberation' can only exert several times its power under the effect of this Mirage Realm, isn't that so?"

Shortly after her words fell, she felt the treetop beneath her suddenly sink. The branch, which had previously supported her with plenty of room, bent almost to the point of deformation. All of this happened simply because Tsubame had somehow sat down beside her.

"Won't you come with me?" she asked. "This is the final inquiry. I can personally guarantee that if you join our Claw Marks, neither the Leader, the Vice Leader, nor I will harm you in any way."

"... I respectfully decline." Senior Cuique answered stiffly.

"Sigh, you kid." Tsubame sighed helplessly. "So stubborn it's infuriating. I really want to knock you out and carry you away."

"You can try." Senior Cuique lowered her gaze.

"Hmm, I know. You still have a few trump cards. However, I don't intend to fight in this state. As I said before, it would be too boring."

Tsubame shook her head: "I just wanted to take another good look at the person behind the Sapphire Scepter, coveted by countless people."

"... I am not the Sapphire Scepter."

Senior Cuique's grip on the tree trunk tightened slightly, but her face remained expressionless: "If your leader sent me here just for this, you might as well go back and tell her that anyone who wants the codename 'Cornflower' can take it."

"I dare not guess the thoughts of that old lady."

Tsubame laughed again: "But I received your words. There will be someone who needs them."

Senior Cuique did not respond to her again.

So Tsubame naturally jumped down from the treetop, patted her bottom, waved her hand at her back, and leaped lightly toward the distance.

A few seconds later, everyone felt the magic power within their bodies return.

At the same time, a figure appeared in the distant night sky, carrying a black cat spirit in hand, flying toward an even more remote horizon.

With the eyesight of a magical girl, Senior Cuique could actually see her open her mouth and shout something in her direction.

And the words that failed to transmit sound were actually very simple:

— "Congratulations on victory. Happy New Year."