Purple, a Magical Girl?
A chill sank into Silver Lotus’s heart.
The true leader of the Azure Cloud Sect was a purple-haired Magical Girl; Winter was only the public face. That was the only concrete lead the Disaster Control Bureau had on the mysterious organization.
But no one knew what tier the purple-haired Magical Girl actually was.
Winter was already approaching Blooming, roughly on par with Silver Lotus, the squad captain. Although the Disaster Control Bureau did have Full Bloom at its disposal, in practice the highest commonly seen tier inside the bureau was Blooming.
Full Bloom practitioners were almost never seen.
Promotion to Blooming wasn’t easy. Generally, if a Magical Girl ascended to Blooming—official or freelance—the bureau could detect it with certain monitoring methods.
And the Disaster Control Bureau had not detected any Blooming-tier Magical Girl in Jianghai City.
By rights, the purple-haired Magical Girl should at most be roughly equivalent to Winter—Seedling approaching Blooming.
Just how much stronger… no one knew.
But the strangest thing was: why did Keke know her?
That could easily get you flagged in a background check, Keke.
Silver Lotus fretted inwardly, but in the next moment two phoenixes of fire took to the air again.
She forced her focus back. Whoever the purple-haired Magical Girl was, the top priority was to eliminate the Disaster Beast.
Yet the two fire phoenixes quickly merged into one and then, to Silver Lotus’s astonishment, turned and streaked straight out of the city!
Silver Lotus never expected that a full-fledged class B Disaster Beast would run away.
Most Disaster Beasts were instinct-driven monsters whose instinct was destruction. They did not feel fear in the usual way; even facing powerful enemies, they would fight to the death in frenzy.
Many rookie Magical Girls, despite adequate power, were terrified by the beasts’ relentlessness and would fail in battle out of fear.
Therefore it’s generally better for newcomers to have veteran guidance; freelance Magical Girls suffer high casualty rates on their first missions.
Class B beasts have a bit of intelligence—they can sense power gaps and even feint—but overall they still act like wild beasts, attacking without restraint.
In all her years as a Magical Girl, she had never seen a B-class Disaster Beast turn and flee…
Moreover, the phoenixes flew so fast they vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye, almost impossible to track by sight.
She immediately pulled out her phone to contact the Disaster Control Bureau—if a B-class Disaster Beast breaks into the city it’s a calamity; the bureau needed to lock down the beast’s location fast. That direction just happened to have a Magical Girl on duty…
Before the call connected, the purple-haired Magical Girl standing above them lifted her right hand in a casual flick.
A torrent of mana shimmered and gathered in her palm, forming a gigantic bow.
The mysterious purple-haired Magical Girl was short, about the same height as Silver Lotus before transformation, perhaps even a little shorter. Her expression was indifferent, but her face was actually somewhat cute—hardly the kind that inspires dread.
The mana-forged longbow glowed with purple iridescence; the tiny girl holding the enormous bow created a striking contrast.
Her right hand slowly conjured an arrow of purple mana from thin air; its edges flickered like flames. When it rested on the string, the girl’s purple hair fluttered as if fused with the arrow itself.
When she drew the bowstring, a dull, creaking sound of tension could be heard.
At the instant she released, a dazzling flash like a burning sun erupted, making it hard to keep one’s eyes open.
A surging wave of mana spread outward, even blowing Keke away.
Silver Lotus hurriedly flew over and caught the nearly falling Keke. Looking up, she saw the arrow had left a long purple scorch mark across the sky as it raced away.
The phoenix, already far off, let out a piercing, mournful shriek!
Then crimson flames threaded with purple light fell from the sky and slammed onto the distant highway.
Although the Disaster Control Bureau had done its best to clear civilians from the area,
the phoenix had flown too fast and the battle line was too long. The B-class Disaster Beast, felled by the arrow, smashed and severed a stretch of the highway and was swallowed by inferno.
Whether anyone had been caught in that area was unknown… hopefully there were no casualties.
But more shocking to Silver Lotus than that were the attacker’s capabilities.
The power behind that arrow was unquestionably something only a Blooming-tier Magical Girl could achieve!
Although the purple-haired Magical Girl had remained hidden, she had actually acted several times over the years.
The Disaster Control Bureau had observed her four or five times already, but could never discover her identity—only that she had close ties to Winter and was very likely the real leader of the Azure Cloud Sect behind Winter.
Previously, analysts guessed the purple-haired Magical Girl was roughly Winter’s level—a Seedling near Blooming—capable of nearly reaching Blooming if she went all out.
But now it seemed the bureau’s estimations were completely wrong.
Her casual shot had already reached Blooming level; she was clearly a genuine Blooming-tier Magical Girl…
Why appear now? What did she want? Would she attack them?
Clutching Keke tightly, Silver Lotus tensed completely. Petals swirled around her in increasing numbers; she didn’t hold back and poured almost all her mana into them.
The massed petals were not only offensive and defensive—they could bend light to create visual displacements.
But that wasn’t their initial purpose. Originally, Silver Lotus’s petals had a single function:
their scent induced hallucinations, stripping opponents of their combat effectiveness.
The petals circulating in great volume looked defensive while continuously secreting nectar and fragrance, designed to drag the enemy into illusion…
The purple-haired Magical Girl stepped forward, her small frame pausing before the drifting petals. Tilting her head with an indifferent look, she extended a delicate index finger; her nails were a faint natural pink. She gently tapped a petal.
Her nail sank into the petal’s flesh.
Instantly, raging, violent mana swept through every petal!
They burned into a sea of purple flames!
Silver Lotus’s Magical Girl combat suit was incinerated in that mana; she reverted from transformation.
“Run…”
All she managed to say midair before she lost consciousness was that single plea; she went limp and tumbled downward.
This time Keke hastily grabbed her captain with one hand and her broom with the other to avoid plunging, but her gaze still followed the purple figure.
“Teacher—Shion!” she stammered. “So powerful.”
Her mind was still stunned by that arrow.
As for believing Silver Lotus’s petals had burned up causing her to revert and pass out, Keke assumed it was simply that Silver Lotus had struck first and Shion had blocked it…
Shion glanced at her but paid it no mind, turning instead to fly toward where the phoenix had fallen.
The Grief Seed—the magic crystal—hadn’t been retrieved yet.
Class B Disaster Beasts were extremely rare.
In BH City, Shion had only encountered two B-class Disaster Beasts in total. The last time she faced one she had just been Seedling and failed to hunt it.
A B-class Disaster Beast’s mana nearly rivals a Seedling’s; they’re very scarce.
Such vast mana would yield major gains—she had to secure it.
“Teacher! I joined the Disaster Control Bureau!”
Keke closed her eyes and shouted with all her might from behind: “I’m officially a Magical Girl now!”
“Understood.”
Shion looked at her sister. “No need to inform me.”
“I—I heard, Senior Shion, you’re a freelance Magical Girl, the leader of the Azure Cloud Sect…”
Keke’s voice dropped. “Why didn’t you bring me to the Azure Cloud Sect back then? You recruit Magical Girls, right?”
Since Silver Lotus had introduced the Azure Cloud Sect to her, this was Keke’s most puzzling question.
The Azure Cloud Sect had been competing with the Disaster Control Bureau to recruit Magical Girls, aggressively recruiting.
So why hadn’t they recruited her?
Back then, if Shion had told her to join, she would surely have accepted.
But Shion left without saying anything.
Was she too busy? Or did Shion not want her to join, to spare her life from ruin?
She didn’t want to spiral into wild speculation, so she asked directly.
“Why didn’t you take me?”
The purple girl turned back.
Her looks were as pretty as when they first met; her delicate features and cute face carried an arresting aura of authority and coldness—the contrast left a deep impression.
Besides, Keke had personally experienced Shion’s gentleness—Shion had saved her.
“Because you’re too weak.”
The cold tone and blunt words were unbearably frigid. “Too weak, and too soft in character. You’re not suited to the Azure Cloud Sect; the Disaster Control Bureau is more fitting for you.”
“I-I’m not soft in character.”
Keke couldn’t refute the weakness criticism, but she bristled at the softness accusation.
“You call that not soft? Hiding on a rooftop to eat by yourself.”
Keke blushed instantly and had no comeback.
She then wondered how Shion had known.
Had she been watched before the Disaster Beast appeared? Or were they middle school classmates?
In any case, Shion had been watching her…
While Keke’s head buzzed with thoughts, Shion didn’t wait and turned toward the spot where the phoenix had crashed.
Keke yelled after her, “I’ll get stronger, Senior Shion!”
“I will work so hard to catch up to you! Then—then please be my friend!”
Hearing the shout behind her, Shion found it odd.
Was Keke this forward?
In Shion’s memory, Keke had always been dull and passive. Even when relations with her family were terrible, most responses stemmed from Keke’s own posture. Like a startled toad, poke it and it jumps; ignore it and it does little.
So Keke’s sudden overture to be friends exceeded Shion’s expectations.
Kids do grow up, she supposed; Keke was already in second year of middle school.
As for Keke joining the Disaster Control Bureau, part of the reason was indeed because she was too weak.
Another part was strategic: with Keke in the bureau she would be assigned to a Magical Girl combat unit, adding one more source of inside information.
Although informants like Su Shan provided much bureau intelligence, many details about Magical Girls were inaccessible to them.
The Magical Girl combat teams inside the Disaster Control Bureau were relatively independent and hard to surveil. Having Keke there made things easier.
And there was no worry about Keke noticing anything from being too close after transformation.
When Shion reached the phoenix’s crash site, two or three vehicles were wrecked and ablaze; the highway had been severed, but the collateral damage wasn’t massive.
The arrow’s mana had been precisely focused, preventing wide-area destruction. Most of the damage here was caused by the beast’s self-detonation.
Following the residual mana, Shion found that someone had beaten her to extracting the Grief Seed from the phoenix carcass.
A black cloak, ominous mana, dessicated skin beneath the cloak.
And the distinctive bloody cross mark on the forehead.
Standing atop the phoenix remains, cradling the Grief Seed with a mixture of worship and reverence, the figure said, “This is a rare treasure we spent a long time making, Lord Shion.”
Shion raised an eyebrow and asked, “Witch Association?”
Some disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect had fallen into the Witch Association and leaked Sect secrets, so it wasn’t surprising the Witch Association knew her alias.
She didn’t intend to hide the Shion alias.
“It’s an honor that someone of the Azure Cloud Sect’s Sect Masterial rank has even heard of the Witch Association.”
“The Witch Association’s existence predates the Azure Cloud Sect.”
“But its influence is nowhere near the Azure Cloud Sect you built these last few years.”
The hoarse voice sounded like it was wrung with pain. “You’ve outdone your teacher. Yet the Azure Cloud Sect’s strength still can’t rival the Disaster Control Bureau. You must know how many powerful Magical Girls the bureau has at its headquarters; your power is far from enough.”
Seeing Shion silent, the Witch Association member raised the Grief Seed and said, “So how about cooperation? We respect your ability. You reached Blooming so quickly and gathered so many loyal Magical Girls. If you cooperate with us, we can provide more and stronger Disaster Beasts.”
Lowering her voice further, she added, “We even have Miracle Seeds, enough to boost your forces to Blooming!”
“You stole those three from the Disaster Control Bureau?”
The Witch Association member looked surprised, then nodded. “As expected of Lord Shion—nothing escapes you. Not only those three, we can get more. If you cooperate, we’ll give them to you…”
Before she finished, Shion’s fingertip gently tapped the woman’s forehead.
The withered face tilted up, a dazed look in her eyes.
How could a Magical Girl touch her? How had one gotten so close?
Mana detection and contamination—were they all disabled?
“No need to send them to me.” Shion’s expressionless gaze fixed on her. “I’ll take them myself. They were mine to begin with.”
A purple blaze pierced through the Witch Association member’s skull. The withered woman pitched backward onto the Disaster Beast’s corpse, the Grief Seed flying from her hand; Shion casually caught it.
The mana was intoxicatingly rich.
As she turned, an ice-blue beam of light landed beside her. Winter hurried up in three strides, took out a handkerchief, and began carefully wiping the finger Shion had just touched to the Witch Association member’s head.
“You should have waited for me to handle it. Your finger got dirty—how annoying. I’ll be off duty soon.”
“……”
Winter glanced at the corpse at her feet and asked, “Is it okay to snatch Witch Association goods by killing them like this? It’s not very befitting the Azure Cloud Sect’s supposed upright leadership, is it?”
“Listen, Winter. In our cultivation world—” Shion used that disarmingly cute face to speak seriously, “there’s no need to preach about knightly codes to crooked, heretical paths.”
Black-on-black dealings are common business.
But to maintain the Azure Cloud Sect’s image as the upright leader, Shion didn’t speak that last thought aloud.