Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 260 : Garuda 3

"Wait, human girl! Don't be so agitated!!"

The small golden bird in her hand emitted a shrill cry, frantically flapping its wings, which were turning almost transparent, against Elsa's fingers.

"Haven't you realized yet?! Our magical powers have already partially merged—if this continues, I'll disappear! And you'll be lost in this temporal point!! This isn't beneficial for either of us, is it?!"

Hearing Garuda's words, Elsa slowly loosened her grip.

Damn it...

Garuda gritted her teeth inwardly.

If she were at her peak, this human girl wouldn't dare act so wildly before her.

Though resentful, Garuda could see that Elsa had no intention of ending her existence.

Spirit bodies are pure combinations of magical power and soul. The mutual devouring between spirit bodies can be considered the most primitive form of survival of the fittest—and now this girl's magical power far surpassed her own. She could easily claim Garuda's power for herself, but it seemed she had no intention of doing so.

Based on this alone, Garuda decided to listen to her explain the situation for now.

"I see... It seems this is your first time awakening your ability. No wonder it's so unstable."

The small golden bird hopped and turned on Elsa's palm, shaking its wings that were shedding luminous particles.

"Then let me, Ganadal, explain it to you!"

With the disappearance of the gods, the blessings bestowed upon the Garuda clan by the gods had gradually weakened over time, and the radiance of the divine birds was no longer what it once was.

Even if ignorant humans now labeled them as magical beasts, the Garuda had once been divine birds serving the gods. Their breadth and depth of knowledge naturally far exceeded that of most intelligent beings on the surface.

"From my perspective—due to your incomplete ability, your physical body and spirit are currently separated, with your spirit in a state of quantum superposition."

Garuda spoke casually while preening her dimmed feathers with her beak.

"Wait, does that mean... I've achieved dimensional jumping?"

Elsa felt overwhelmed by the information, her mind buzzing, feeling her brain cells were insufficient to process it all.

Elsa recalled the three elements of time-space jumping that Dorothea had mentioned to her:

Time, location—and most importantly, causality.

To achieve "dimensional transcendence," these three conditions must be met.

But Dorothea had only told Elsa the required conditions, not how to actually travel back to the past.

"As far as I know—long ago, there was also a human who could do the same thing you're doing."

"The person you're referring to... could it be Oz, the God of Magic?"

This was a well-known legend, and of course Elsa had heard of it. The most magnificent building in the Oz Kingdom—the God's Tower—was erected to commemorate that hero. Not only was the country named after the hero, but there was also a specific 7-day holiday each year to commemorate this hero who had paved the way for future generations.

"How arrogant—mere humans, how dare they use the title of 'God'?"

Mentioning Oz made Garuda somewhat agitated.

"Listen well, that man was just a human who accidentally obtained divine power! Without the power of the gods, he was nothing!"

The legendary great mage Oz had used this ability to travel back multiple times, finally saving humanity from the brink of extinction.

"Originally, this was something only the divine race could do... but that human used some unknown means to make a deal with the gods, and from then on gained the power of transcendence."

"So... what I'm seeing now is all happening in the present??"

Realizing this, Elsa became excited—she knew what this meant. If she could interfere with the past—it meant she could come to this normal timeline where Yvonne still existed and find the key to adjusting the balance.

However, Garuda in her palm gave a negative answer:

"Theoretically speaking, your guess isn't entirely correct."

Garuda explained that everything happening now was still events that had already occurred for Elsa. The results of past events cannot be changed, because every cause has an effect—this is the rule by which the world operates, and it cannot be defied.

Moreover, her current ability wasn't fully mastered. Without a physical form, she couldn't interact with the living beings of this world, so she could only watch the replay without interfering.

"Theoretically it's not possible, but what about in practice?"

Elsa sensed there was more to Garuda's words.

"Well... theoretically, interference is impossible... that's what they say, but your appearance did indeed prevent my originally planned actions."

Elsa looked down at the ground.

The storm had dissipated.

With the crisis averted, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The knights were leading the previously agitated swift wind dragons that had broken free from their reins back to the stables.

"Garuda."

Thinking of something, Elsa's voice turned serious.

"If I hadn't appeared here, what were you planning to do?"

"I would have leveled this place to the ground, then eaten half of the dragons to satiate my hunger and replenish my strength."

Garuda chose to tell the truth. Of course, she wouldn't have eaten them all at once. In her view, all living beings in this world were creations of the gods, and she would not destroy entire species.

Just as wolves on the grasslands, no matter how big their appetite, would not eat all the sheep at once, but leave some to reproduce.

"Sphinx~~~ Haha, stop licking me, I'm fine."

Through this "accidental" event, a strong bond of trust had been established between the girl and the dragon.

Watching Evie embrace Sphinx's neck with her arm bound in bandages and a splint as it ran towards her, Elsa suddenly understood something.

If Yvonne didn't exist, if no one could become Sphinx's master, the knight training ground would have been reduced to ruins under the hurricane controlled by Garuda.

And the surviving dragons, led by Sphinx who had broken free from its chains, would have escaped into the wild, then encountered her current self and Bebe.

...It all fits.

According to the paradox principle, the outcome of history should not change... but because of her appearance, she had changed the fate of these swift wind dragons and Sphinx.

There was only one possibility that could explain why it turned out this way—

This was the originally destined history.

[Restoration Complete]

"Huh? It's starting to glow..."

Elsa looked at her increasingly radiant hands, sensing that something was about to happen.

This is bad! This is the precursor to dimensional transfer—

Seeing this, Garuda quickly jumped onto Elsa's shoulder.

Most of her magical power was now stored within Elsa. If she left like this, Garuda feared she wouldn't be able to fully revive even after 3000 years.

"Human girl... let's make a deal!"