Chapter 30: Part．16［Exposed in the Sight］

Part．16［Exposed in the Sight］

"Just send it here today." Looking at Xiao Xue's house that had already appeared in the field of view, the Holy Maiden said in a relaxed tone.

"I also helped quite a few people today; everything should get better." Bai Xue also smiled at this time.

However, no matter how you look at it, it seems a bit of a forced smile.

Seeing this, the Holy Maiden sighed inwardly, but still encouraged Bai Xue with a smile to relax and keep pushing forward.

"Mm! You need to keep pushing too, Xiao Fa." Looking back at the Holy Maiden, Bai Xue showed a smile that made her blush a little.

"Huh..." Watching Bai Xue go farther away, the Holy Maiden's originally smiling face instantly sank.

"Since you've been following for so long, it's time to come out now!" She said in a low voice and slowly turned around, or perhaps because the Holy Maiden's role is that of a combat-type magical girl, she sensed traces that Bai Xue had not noticed.

"As expected of a powerful magical girl who can take on three at once~ but you only point me out now—is it because of that white magical girl?" A figure appeared in front of the Holy Maiden as she turned around.

Golden hair, an outfit primarily green, those pointed ears, and a deep red rose blooming on her head—these features reveal the newcomer's identity—Forest Musician-Kulanbei.

"What are you up to again?" The Holy Maiden took half a step back and asked warily.

Although my knowledge of Kulanbei is only that image of her playing violin in the chat room as background music, the undisguised malice emanating from her now still makes the Holy Maiden feel a chill all over.

"Because of the previous robbery incident, you were able to fight three opponents at once, even dragging an injured leg, and still survived that battle—in my view, you are very worthy of a fight."

Kulanbei crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes filled with fierce fighting spirit.

"That doesn't count as a victory." She replied in a low voice while slightly clenching her fists.

"No, don't worry. For me, since you've achieved the goal of fighting three at once, that's worth my challenge." Kulanbei said calmly.

"You're not after candy?!" This instead surprised the Holy Maiden a bit.

"No, I only care about a strong opponent." She slowly spread her hands and focused her gaze on the Holy Maiden.

"I am the Forest Musician, Kulanbei, and I issue you a challenge." Her voice remained flat, her wine-red eyes narrowing slightly.

"I am the Holy Maiden, Forest Musician Kulanbei, and I will be your opponent!" The Holy Maiden declared loudly while quickly closing the distance between them.

"Thank you——"

Accompanied by Kulanbei's words spoken without moving her lips, the sudden footsteps that appeared caused the slightly opened distance between the two to quickly close.

Battle, imminent!

…………………………

"Eh eh~, you mean we'll have a new companion in the future?"

"Yeah, though these days she isn't really willing to meet you."

Xin sucked on a lollipop while speaking.

"Oh~, she's really shy~." Taigu Mei lifted her head, seeming to ponder Alice's appearance.

"What's next, how do we handle it?"

"What do you mean, how do we handle it?"

"Besides this companion, could there be no more new allies? Even though we got this information, how can we three defeat the veteran magical girl Kulanbei?" Mei asked like that.

Over these days, as time kept advancing, Xin gradually explained to Taigu Mei this information that sounds truly shocking to ordinary magical girls.

The oldest magical girl, Kulanbei, is actually the final examiner; however, to her, all trainee magical girls are merely seeds she uses to cultivate opponents "worthy of a fight," using a method almost like raising gu, letting those hopeful magical girls quickly transform into the warriors she needs, then defeating them, even slaughtering them! And occasionally, when she shows mercy and a magical girl survives in her hands, that girl believes her combat power far exceeds that of other examiners' trainees and is rated as an excellent magical girl in the Magic Kingdom. Under deliberate concealment, the Magic Kingdom has even praised Kulanbei this madman multiple times.

"Is this how she cultivates so-called excellent magical girls? Truly ironic." Taigu Mei didn't delve into why Xin knew these things, merely thinking that as a senior, Xin had gathered more information.

"But what can we do? The senior and I aren't combat-type magical girls; why doesn't the Forest Musician apply the same screening method regardless of type?"

Having learned the information, doubts also arose.

"If even we, non-combat-specialized magical girls, can survive such a brutal battle, doesn't that prove her examination ability is excellent?" Xin replied like that.

"But but, if that's the case, then what about the Magic Kingdom? Watching us die casually, all for an 'excellent' magical girl whose survival is uncertain?"

"Can we communicate with the Magic Kingdom?" Xin answered Mei with a question.

"With the Magic Kingdom's scale, would it care about a few extra 'accidental' deaths of humans on the annual list of trainee magical girls' fatalities? Even magical girls might die not just once a year but multiple times?" After a series of rhetorical questions, Taigu Mei also came up with some answers of her own.

"So, the Magic Kingdom line is unreliable; what should we do? Call the police? Uh......" Taigu Mei asked something so silly that even she realized the problem after asking and trailed off.

This time, Xin didn't reply immediately, but silently ate the slowly cooling oden bite by bite.

"...... Mm, let's go to the appointed place first. Now this situation, the more we talk, the more hopeless it feels...... Any feasible method must come at the cost of some deaths......"

After wiping her mouth leisurely, Xin lightly inhaled and said.

"Then, let's just leave the things as they are for now. What should we eat at (that place) tonight?" Mei let out a light sigh, handed over the magical girl terminal and phone etc. electronic devices to Xin, and spoke using their private code.

"Oden." Xin said while packing up both of their terminals etc., putting them into a black trash bag. After wrapping it tightly, she slipped it onto a quartz spear.

Whoosh-------Bang! Splatter~~~

After a little aiming, the spear whistled out and slammed into the dense treetop center of a large tree hundreds of meters away in a surveillance blind spot. The resulting noise also startled some resting birds.

"Go...... huh?" Taigu Mei was about to say "go" when she suddenly perked up her ears as if drawn by something.

Wooo~~~~ Wooo~~~~

A faint, indistinct siren drifted into the ears.

"Senior......" Mei turned her head to look at Xin.

"Only sound, no warning lights? Looks like a critical incident is happening~." Xin gazed at the few scattered lights in the direction of the sound and thought.

"You go first to the agreed spot; I need to handle some things." Xin said while picking up her travel pack.

"Mm, senior, please keep going!" Mei didn't find it odd, only thinking Xin had once again stepped in to uphold justice upon seeing injustice. After all, since magical girls appeared in N City, not only police cars but also fire trucks have become fewer. In the current situation where all magical girls strive for magical candy, Taigu Mei, who still hopes for Fab, does not think Xin is meddling.

Watching Mei already far away, Xin carefully recalled her memories, mentally drafting how to face Kulanbei while rushing toward the direction where the siren sounded.

"Don't die too quickly, Holy Maiden~." Thinking it over, Xin said softly.

At the same time, Xin's magic was pushed to the maximum. Along the path she walked, countless tiny, hard-to-detect pores like sponges appeared on the concrete road and surrounding concrete walls.

A large amount of quartz particles were extracted and became ever finer. At this point, if someone breathed near Xin, they would surely have their lungs filled with quartz particles after a few labored breaths and die.

But for concealment, as she drew closer to the target, the particle density filling Xin's surrounding air sharply dropped, with the vast majority of particles condensing into bodies hidden in the surrounding corners.

And at this moment......

"What a pity, I thought there would be a trap here."

The fierce attacks came like a downpour, and the Holy Girl, who had barely been able to trade blows with Kulanbei, gradually found it harder to hold her own.

"I'm not like you; I don't fight just to become stronger," Kulanbei said, and in the smoke-filled battle she suddenly reached out, grabbed the Holy Girl's neck, slammed her down hard, and smashed her from the edge of the warehouse roof onto the concrete floor.

"What a shame, I never expected you to be so kind."

This is the seaside dock warehouse area; for the Holy Girl, setting the battle here was simply to avoid disturbing the nearby sleeping residents.

But for Kulanbei, this also laid the foundation for her inevitable victory.

Even though a combat-type magical girl has a huge advantage over a non-combat-type magical girl, their battle experience and reasons for fighting are on completely different levels.

"How can a magical girl who fights for practice defeat one who fights to the death? Hold on, Holy Girl—I'm coming right away." Gazing at the port dock area where a huge crane could already be seen, Xin silently said to herself.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

"I'm thirsty; I want to use these hands to kill the strong, I enjoy the pleasure of defeating and killing them—that's all." Said calmly with a hint of excitement, Kulanbei repeatedly grabbed the Holy Girl's hair and slammed her into the wall, occasionally adding knee strikes to her abdomen to intensify her pain.

Boom! Thud!

After a few heavy blows, Kulanbei finally flung the Holy Girl high into the air; as she descended to a certain height, Kulanbei kicked her soft midsection in midair and sent her crashing into the wall. The sudden fissure that cracked open showed just how great the force was.

But Kulanbei stopped, not because she suddenly felt pity and wanted to spare the Holy Girl's life, but out of a feline predator's mindset of toying with prey, wishing to hear the Holy Girl's last words, who now had little capacity to resist.

She struggled to rise, trembling and unsteady; the Holy Girl had already lost some consciousness, blurredly wiping her face with her hand. Seeing the blood on her palm and the red ink dripping onto the ground before her, the wave of pain seemed to engulf her at that moment.

"No, don't!" she cried desperately.

Tap, tap, tap

The sound of high heels striking the concrete floor rang out.

"Oh dear, oh dear~ you can't hold on anymore?" she said mockingly.

"I, I didn't become a magical girl for this!" At this moment, the Holy Girl was on the verge of collapse, she shouted in terror.

"You're not looking for a fight opponent, are you?"

"But... mutual slaughter like this..." she said weakly.

"You've been mistaken from the very beginning, haven't you~."

"?!!!!"

"This is a battle fought by someone wielding power far beyond human comprehension—aside from living, there's only death."

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kulanbei's words clearly stimulated the Holy Girl.

She looked at Kulanbei in terror and disbelief.

"I thought......"

"I'm utterly disappointed in you, Xin!" Kulanbei impatiently interrupted the Holy Girl; in her view, the Holy Girl's will had been broken, and now it was time to settle her.

"...... huh.... who?!!!!"

She whipped her leg toward the Holy Girl's head, but midway she suddenly halted and turned her head toward another direction.

And in the direction she turned her head, a dark blur flew swiftly toward her.

Kulanbei, far from being a novice magical girl after countless battles, did not withdraw her whip kick aimed at the Holy Girl despite the sudden attack; instead, with exquisite control she turned it slightly half a circle, perfectly striking the suddenly appearing projectile.

Boom!!!!!

Upon contact, a muffled thud rang out, accompanied by a white dust cloud that nearly enveloped the entire street.

That was actually a standard dry-powder fire extinguisher!

"Looks like I arrived just in time~ Holy Girl-san, Senior Kulanbei." A clear voice rang out at the right moment.

This sudden development caused Kulanbei to narrow her eyes slightly; although her vision was disturbed by the smoke, the magic she commanded left her unaffected.

But she did not take any further action.

"Interesting~"

After making that comment, Kulanbei quietly waited for the smoke to dissipate, doing nothing.

Only when Xin was about to leave carrying the Holy Girl did Kulanbei, calm and unhurried, kick out a small piece of concrete from beside her foot with a barely perceptible motion.

It shot straight toward Xin, who was bearing the Holy Girl with somewhat confused consciousness on her back.

Pff!

"Ugh..."

Xin's figure swayed, as if sensing an incoming foreign object, but she ultimately couldn't dodge it. The pebble that struck her body emitted a soft yet clearly audible 'pff' sound.

But Xin did not dare delay; she hastily jabbed Nange'er's syringe into her body, drew out the pain, and quickly departed.

When the smoke cleared, only the traces of battle and the moonlight remained around Kulanbei.

However, she felt no displeasure or discouragement.

For what had just transpired was enough to excite her.

She carefully savored the recent battle and the sudden incident, standing in place for a long while before lightly brushing off the dust from her body and departing with an elegant gait.

Under the pure moonlight, her vivid red lips bore a hint of a satisfied smile………………

—————————————————————

Twelve minutes later, Xin and Taigu Mei's forest training ground.

"I, I where am I?"

"Yo ho~ you're awake?"

The Holy Girl, or rather her true self Xiao Fa, blinked open her eyes in a daze, and a response came almost immediately after she asked.

Er...... ya ah!!!!

The image of Kulanbei's final whip kick suddenly flashed in his mind, frightening him so much that he jumped up from the ground.

"Ah!!!!! Ah, ah. Ah....... er." Terrified screams kept issuing from his mouth, obviously he was overly frightened.

"Senior....? What should we do?" Nanger looked at the panicked boy and tugged at Xun's sleeve.

Pa!

Seeing the little boy still immersed in fear to the point of ignoring the presence of the two before him, Xun shook his head, quickly stepped forward, and gave him a moderate slap.

!!

The flustered Xiao Fa was somewhat dazed by the slap, and his confused reaction thus stopped.

Just like that, a simple treatment method, with obvious effect.

Tai Gu Mei behind also slightly opened her mouth, finding it hard to believe that the usually strict senior would use such a method to solve the problem.

"How about it? Now, can we talk properly?" Xun stared at his somewhat vacant eyes and said.

The boy nodded blankly.

"Uh...... thank you, magical girl Jing Po, and magical girl Nanger. Really, thank you very much.

"!!" After a while, Xiao Fa, who had recovered most of his consciousness, sincerely bowed before the two to express his gratitude.

"Alright, cut the thanks short. Given the situation, you probably know a bit about it too. I don't believe that after all you've been through you could still have high expectations of the magical girls in this 'game'." Xun waved his hand and bluntly said that.

Hearing Xun mention the event of his battle with Kulanbei, Xiao Fa's expression also turned solemn.

"What you said is correct; I cannot be sure about the other magical girls, but at least five magical girls have reached out to other magical girls for survival."

"Hmm? Feel free to speak." After hearing Xiao Fa's words, Xun slightly pressed his hand, signaling Tai Gu Mei behind him not to reveal the information he already knew.

"One is the magical girl you just saved me from, the forest musician Kulanbei. That guy, that guy is basically a battle maniac!" Saying this, Xiao Fa became somewhat hysterical.

"Calm down, calm down a bit. I know, when I saved you, I also got hit by a stone from her."

Seeing him about to flare up again, Xun pressed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

Fortunately, comfort for the lifesaver.

"This, I'm really sorry!"

"Minor injury, you continue."

"Well, in fact before this we also experienced having our magical candy snatched by Wang Quan's squad."

Hearing this, Xun also made a surprised expression in real time.

Meanwhile, Nanger at the back was about to say something when a sharp pain shot from her hand, making her grit her teeth; to Xiao Fa's eyes, this appeared as an even greater surprise.

Seeing the two's expressions, Xiao Fa let out a slight sigh and slowly recounted his experience of the Wang Quan candy‑snatching incident.