novelraw Chapter 140: No Illegal Ascensions Allowed
Chapter 140: No Illegal Ascensions Allowed
How long has it passed since the Mirror Kingdom was invaded and sealed by the Magical Girl Mujin?
As the Mirror Queen, she can no longer remember.
Over these many years, she dared not relax for even a moment, relentlessly deciphering the secrets of the Heart Image Remnant, constantly replicating everything about the Magical Girl Mujin.
This being, the strongest representative in their eyes, was the future of the Mirror Kingdom.
Through the long years, they had replicated everything about Mujin.
Techniques, abilities, even her appearance and personality, everything was replicated one-to-one, completely.
However, only the Mental Landscape, no matter how they simulated it, remained far, far off.
Even after analyzing the existing Heart Image Remnant, they could not replicate an identical domain.
They could only continuously erode and seize control of this Heart Image Remnant.
They were just one step away from final success.The core of the Heart Image Remnant had already completely fallen, landing in the hands of their Mirror Kingdom.
Yet, suddenly, this purple-haired Magical Girl appeared.
The accumulation and effort of past years seemed like a joke before her.
No matter how hard they tried, everything forged by the Mirror Kingdom's technology was effortlessly destroyed by her.
Was there anything that could stop her?
Was there anything that could hinder her?
She searched throughout the entire Heart Image Remnant for someone who could block this purple-haired Magical Girl.
Forget about others, among those who had entered, four people were already missing from her sight.
She didn't know where they went. After all, the Heart Image Remnant wasn't fully under control yet. If they were hiding in some corner, it would indeed be hard to find them.
Among the currently locatable targets, whether it was Iris or Qingying, both had significant connections to that purple-haired Magical Girl.
So, she gave the replicants a certain degree of intelligence and negotiation ability, forcing Qingying to go ask Shion for help.
But she said she wanted to become a true Magical Girl, to no longer rely on others.
Fine, okay, you win.
She then looked below for that Magical Girl Iris, who was being beaten and sent scrambling all over the place by the Calamity Dragon, telling her to call Shion for help.
This one was beaten so miserably by the Calamity Dragon, surely she needed help, right?
But she said she was the strongest, that she didn't need anyone's aid.
Holy crap, you were almost beaten to death by the Calamity Dragon, and you tell me you're the strongest!
Is there a 'strongest' in this world who almost gets cut in half?
The Mirror Queen almost knelt before her. Please, just admit defeat! Asking someone to save your life isn't shameful!
You're a Magical Girl! Don't you find people to gang up on enemies? Are you just going to send them one by one?
Aren't Magical Girls best at ganging up on the few? With fancy names like 'partners', 'bonds', 'unity'... whatever!
In the end, it's just ganging up! Calling Shion for help isn't shameful either!
But that little girl stubbornly refused to admit defeat, headstrong, actually relying on the purple arrows falling from above and her gravity magic to really take down that Calamity Dragon.
Although in the end, she was so miserable she couldn't even transform; probably any random Mirror Beast could finish her off.
Yet she stubbornly didn't utter a single word asking for help.
She was even still climbing upwards relying on her physical body.
Even the Mirror Queen fell somewhat silent in the end. Were the Magical Girls of this generation all superhumans?
She felt a little despair.
She was so close to completely mastering the Heart Image Remnant, to reigning supreme, just a little bit more!
Why? Why, after I've worked so hard, do I have to face such a monster again?
Why is nothing going smoothly? I was just one step away!
She recalled the moment back in the Mirror Kingdom, sitting on the main throne, full of ambition and vigor.
Countless citizens knelt at her feet. At that time, everything in this world seemed within her grasp.
Even when the Magical Girl Mujin appeared, she never despaired.
Because by staking the nation's fortune, they still had a chance to turn the tables.
But now, that purple-haired Magical Girl was step by step pushing all the Mirror Kingdom's preparations to the edge of a cliff.
Just one more step, just one more step, and it would be eternal damnation!
After the remaining Mujin replicants were quickly dealt with, the numerous Shion Puppets also disappeared.
Indeed, such terrifying power couldn't be maintained for long.
She looked up at the sole remaining Shion, and fighting spirit surged in her heart once more!
One-on-one! There's a chance!
She was the Queen of the Mirror Kingdom! For the citizens of the Mirror Kingdom, for the future of the Mirror Kingdom!
She absolutely could not lose here!
Even in despair, she must fight for her country, for her people, to seize that sliver of hope!
For the Mirror Kingdom that was destined for destruction!
"Shion!"
Manipulating Mujin's body, discarding all royal pride and restraint,
abandoning the elegance she had always upheld, like the beasts she used to look down upon, the Mirror Queen let out a final, hysterical roar!
"Go die!"
Shion simply grabbed the last Mujin's head and squeezed slightly, crushing the core within.
It was just that for some reason, this Mujin felt a bit more 'alive' than the other Mujins.
A stray dog on the roadside speaking human language was quite novel.
But she didn't pay it much mind, casually tossing the corpse aside. It soon burned to ashes in the purple flames.
Almost all Mirror Kingdom equipment on the tenth layer had been burned away by her, and the main system had already been destroyed.
But all Mirror Kingdom systems still showed no sign of stopping.
Confirming there was nothing else, Shion flew to the center of the plaza, smashed the pillar, and extracted An Shiyu from within.
The girl opened her eyes somewhat dazedly, looked at her, and was stunned for a good while.
Feeling a bit chilly, she subconsciously touched her body, looked down, and saw she was only wearing underwear.
And it was childish cartoon-patterned underwear.
Her face instantly turned beet red. Flustered, she looked around, "Clothes, clothes..."
Shion casually pulled over a strip of cloth and wrapped it around her.
An Shiyu coughed twice, then put on a serious expression, "I didn't expect you to really make it here! However, what you defeated before were just some trashy replicants!"
"The real battle begins now!"
An Shiyu's aura was imposing, the cloth strip wrapped around her fluttering without wind:
"Your journey ends here, Magical Girl Shion! Next, you will face the full-powered..."
Six-colored mana appeared in Shion's hand.
"...Me, I... I just wanted to try out a cool line..."
Facing Shion's icy gaze, An Shiyu tightened the cloth strip around her. It was a bit cold. She gave an awkward smile, "...Looks like I won't need to harm An Shiyu to resolve this crisis, huh? If the nine layers of space are sequential, theoretically it should take at least several days. I even prepared for a half-year-long battle of attrition..."
Probably the Mirror Kingdom never expected someone could directly skip the first eight layers and charge straight to the ninth.
She even discovered many mechanisms the Mirror Kingdom had prepared were all crushed by this Shion before her.
Pure power was still too authoritative.
Before meeting Shion, she always thought spatial abilities were invincible.
Turns out, if you have enough power, enough magnitude, you can make space unstable, causing it to collapse and rendering spatial abilities ineffective...
This was the first time she learned of such a solution. The problem was, it seemed only Shion could use it, right?
Originally, she waited for Shion to ask her something, but after a long while, Shion just quietly held the six-colored mana in her hand, watching her, waiting for her to continue speaking.
Though a bit awkward, An Shiyu spoke on her own, "Ahaha, anyway, you probably didn't expect this, but the one currently controlling this body is actually me, the legendary Full Bloom Magical Girl, Mujin. How about that? Shocked, right? Quite unexpected, didn't see it coming, right? I appeared right from the start..."
"Though I'm a bit sorry for keeping it from you along the way, I hope you can forgive me..."
Her voice grew softer and softer because the other's expression never changed, just coldly watching her like she was an idiot, making Mujin unable to continue.
Shion finally spoke, "Did you talk this much nonsense when you were alive too?"
"...Why do your words hurt so much? I really want to cry."
Not seeing the shocked expression she expected and feeling a bit hurt by the attack, Mujin's face looked like she was about to cry, "Anyway, to resolve this crisis, I specifically asked the Disaster Control Bureau to find the key, which is a Magical Girl who could withstand my power..."
"Wait." Shion suddenly realized something, "You had the Disaster Control Bureau search for the key?"
"Yeah. Although I was sealed in the Heart Image Remnant, I could still contact a special department of the Disaster Control Bureau, so they could prepare for the danger early. Though it took a long time, I finally managed to get in touch..."
"The problem is," Shion said coldly, "The ones searching everywhere for the key and finding An Shiyu were people from the Witch Association."
Hearing this, Mujin was also stunned, "Huh? Impossible! I definitely contacted the Disaster Control Bureau. How could I possibly contact the Witch Association? The Witch Association are the big bad guys! They couldn't have known about this, right?"
"...Forget it. More importantly, why can you use An Shiyu's body?"
"Once, I had a friend from the Mirror Kingdom." Mujin, using An Shiyu's body, showed a nostalgic expression, "She possessed a part of my power. Back then..."
"Spare me the long story."
"Let me finish! Didn't you ask?"
"Just knowing the reason is enough." Shion said flatly, "An Shiyu is a descendant of that friend who had your power, so you can use her body."
"Eh? How did you guess that?"
"Read more web novels."
Power passing down through bloodlines and convenient possession—these are basically old clichés.
Not a shred of novelty.
After reading enough, you know the ending from the start; the middle part is completely unnecessary to listen to.
After all, with novels often running over a million words, reading word by word would take forever. She always used quantum speed-reading.
Read the beginning, look at the character names, then selectively skip-read based on the book's genre. For the rest, she could fill in the gaps herself, usually getting eighty to ninety percent right.
For progression novels, read the first 500,000 words, then check the table of contents and jump to the end of major events.
For kingdom-building novels, skip the beginning, directly read the army-building and war chapters.
For cautious protagonist novels, read the few chapters before the protagonist changes maps.
For reincarnation loops, read the chapters before the end of each life.
For ensemble casts, search for where the main characters die and read those chapters.
For plagiarism/transmigration novels, read around the book releases and the climaxes of the plagiarism arcs.
Don't read slice-of-life, because there's no 'dominating through the ages'.
Don't read romance, because there's no 'cultivation Dao Heart'.
Magical Girl... Lu Ya showed him Magical Girl novels in the illusion sea, but they were all abandoned, so don't read.
Otherwise, how could she be so well-read?
Mujin scratched her head, "Um, anyway, An Shiyu is very safe right now. Although, if you hadn't come in, I would have had to forcibly use her body to unleash Full Bloom power, which might have harmed her Magical Girl career, but I guarantee there would be no life danger!"
"Oh."
Seeing Shion's completely indifferent attitude, Mujin said somewhat annoyed, "Hey, wait, that's not right. You should be angrily questioning me, asking if doing this would hurt An Shiyu, if An Shiyu is unwilling, if what I'm doing is too much, if I considered An Shiyu's feelings..."
Shion looked utterly baffled, "Can she beat you?"
Mujin was taken aback, "Of course not. Although An Shiyu is very talented, she's still Sprout rank. I'm Full Bloom..."
"Then why worry so much?"
"......"
Mujin stomped her foot, "It's not about me worrying about her! It's about you worrying about her!"
"If she dies, I'll avenge her by killing you. If she doesn't die, then no need to bother." Shion was already starting to get impatient, "No need for me to worry."
Mujin was dumbfounded for a long moment, then somewhat frantic, "You're way too harsh... Wait, An Shiyu, what are you so happy about? Smiling so happily, you're so spineless! She's not worried about you! An Shiyu! As my junior, show some backbone! Make her care about you more..."
Noisy fellow.
But Magical Girls are mostly like this. For Shion, the Magical Girls from the Disaster Control Bureau are all pretty noisy.
That one before, and that other one, they were all pretty much the same.
Although she doesn't remember the names or faces, the noisiness was similar. Shion still has an impression.
"So, does this mean the crisis is resolved?"
Seeing that Mujin showed no intention of moving the topic forward, Shion had to speak up herself, "Tell me all your Full Bloom information and power."
"The crisis is definitely not resolved yet. We haven't dealt with their backup core system. It holds all their research data on Full Bloom." Mujin said seriously, "If the backup core system isn't destroyed, they can still make a comeback."
"Then why all the nonsense earlier?"
"...Anyway, the Mirror Kingdom's core is no longer in the Heart Image Remnant."
Shion asked again, "Why didn't you just destroy the Mirror Kingdom's core back then?"
"Um..." Mujin scratched her head, "Back then, I had just stepped into Full Bloom and was pretty much about to die. I wasn't that familiar with Full Bloom power either. Also, the Mirror Kingdom kept hiding the core through spatial movement. I didn't have much time, so I just sealed everything in one go."
Mujin took a deep breath, looking at Shion, "After they later gained control of the Heart Image Remnant, they put the core into the chaotic, disordered spatial turbulence of the mirror realm. There is a way in, but coming out isn't easy. Because we're illegally invading, it might cause greater chaos, making it impossible to find the way back..."
"Lead the way."
"Wait for me to finish. Anyway, you have to be mentally prepared. You might not come back..."
"I told you to lead the way."
"Fine."
Mujin stopped hesitating, giving a carefree smile, "Anyway, I'll accompany you. An Shiyu will accompany you too. Even if it's for An Shiyu's sake, I'll definitely bring you both back!"
"Let's put a period to our decades of effort. Starting today, from now on..."
"Are you going or not?"
Mujin, who still wanted to give a speech, was stunned. She quickly ran to catch up. Just as she was about to open a spatial passage, she suddenly paused, looked back at her Heart Image Remnant, and called out with concern:
"Wait! My Heart Image Remnant is collapsing! There are still people inside!"
The Mirror Kingdom system's sharp alarm also began blaring from below.
Shion looked at the shaking, disintegrating Heart Image Remnant. The Mirror Kingdom was even accelerating the collapse. She snorted coldly.
Mana gathered in her hand, forming an ancient, exquisite sword.
Mujin marveled at her mana shaping. The sword's design was extremely intricate; just looking at the various details was dizzying. Yet Shion constructed it with mana so delicately and finely, without any disharmony.
Until her gaze fell on the blade, where four large characters were engraved:
Sword of Dawn!
Holy crap, so ugly!
The awe Mujin felt for the sword's construction was matched by her regret for the characters' ugliness!
Hideously ugly characters, with no design sense, just placed directly in the center of the blade, making them glaringly conspicuous, practically disfiguring the sword!
And in her heart, that silly girl An Shiyu was actually amazed, liking it immensely...
Before Mujin could complain a couple more sentences, she saw Shion casually stab the sword into the ground.
A massive amount of mana threads instantly streamed out from the blade!
Like blood vessels, densely spreading towards the entire Heart Image Remnant!
"Let's go."
Mujin was dumbstruck until Shion called her, then she snapped out of it and hurriedly chased after.
"How did you do that? Teach me, teach me..."
...
The purple mana above disappeared. Qingluán lay on the ground, her Magical Outfit also vanishing.
The Calamity Dragon ahead stubbornly guarded the Hidden Danger gate, showing no intention of leaving.
Moreover, one after another, Calamity Dragons from the eighth layer began descending, blocking in front of the Hidden Danger gate.
The surrounding Heart Image Remnant was on the verge of collapse.
These Calamity Dragons crowded around the Hidden Danger gate. Once the Heart Image Remnant shattered, they could immediately pass through the Hidden Danger gate to any place with a mirror...
Whether it was the Azure Cloud Sect or the Disaster Control Bureau, they simply couldn't defend against them all.
If only she could successfully close the gate here, there wouldn't be such a problem...
But at the critical moment, Little White was gone.
She couldn't find Little White anywhere.
Qingluán clenched her fist, pounding the ground hard.
Intense pain came from her broken arm. She didn't even have the strength to get up.
A Calamity Dragon ahead stared at her, then opened its maw towards her.
That deadly breath gathered before it.
Without the protection of her Magical Outfit, one hit would be fatal.
She wasn't particularly afraid. The breath magnifying in her pupils made her somewhat dazed.
A familiar life-or-death scene, as if it had just happened not long ago.
Back when it was Jiang Ming...
Why couldn't she die more meaningfully? Was this the punishment for the cowardly?
Boom!
The dragon breath was knocked askew, as if affected by gravity, spraying crookedly elsewhere.
Qingying turned her head in a daze. A girl with a bloodied face, one eye half-closed, still wore an incredibly bright smile.
Confident, sunny.
Every time she appeared, Qingying's heart felt warm, as if nothing was scary anymore.
"Yo, as expected, it doesn't work without me, Qingying. I told you to wait for me."
"Iris, you... how did you get up here!"
"Look at the silly thing you're saying. Of course I defeated that Calamity Dragon and then came up. No big deal." Though she said it was no big deal, her bloodied face was full of pride, "Teacher Hongmian has also been sent out. Don't worry."
The other Calamity Dragons seemed to notice the enemy here. Dozens of Calamity Dragons began approaching.
Yet Iris not only showed no intention of running, she even limped forward, walking towards the Calamity Dragons!
"Are you crazy? Idiot! Don't go over!"
"You're the idiot! Who do you think you're talking to?"
Iris took a deep breath. Fighting the Calamity Dragon, climbing up from below, she had taken quite a few injuries. It hurt a bit.
It was the first time she was injured this badly. Her right ankle bone was shattered, two ribs were broken, and her favorite long hair was gone too.
But—
"I am the Disaster Control Bureau's strongest Magical Girl, Iris!"
Even with some pain and dizziness, she could still show an idol-like smile, giving everyone strength and happiness.
"Don't worry! I'll take care of them all in one go and close the Hidden Danger gate to complete the mission!"
Dragon breath sprayed. Some Calamity Dragons even flew up, lunging to bite Iris!
Qingluán desperately tried to stand, wanting to pull her back, but saw a white figure climb onto Iris's shoulder.
Little White...
Iris took out a Miracle Seed. No, it couldn't be called a Miracle Seed anymore.
It was a blooming flower, delicate, brilliant, luxuriant!
"Wait..."
Realizing something, Qingluán's heart turned icy cold. She just murmured stiffly, "Iris!"
Iris inserted that blooming flower into her hair.
In an instant, the entire Full Bloom Heart Image Remnant vanished, condensing into a black hole.
Then, it expanded once more.
"All Things, Zero Gravity!"
The Blooming flower transformed Iris into a dazzling light!
"In the name of the strongest!"
[Observed abnormal promotion fluctuations around the Demon Team]
[Located promotion target, judged as illegal promotion]
[Conducting promotion level detection]
[Promotion target level assessment: Golden Core Middle Stage First Revolution (Blooming Middle Stage First Revolution)]
[Selecting Heavenly Tribulation matching target's strength level]
[Heavenly Tribulation preparation complete]
[Heaven and Earth Spirit-Locking Six-Nine Heavenly Thunder]