novelraw Chapter 159: Confronting One’s True Heart, A Day of Blooming!
Chapter 159: Confronting One’s True Heart, A Day of Blooming!
In Jiang Si’s eyes, Li Yi’s initial performance was actually far better than his sister’s.
After Keke was knocked senseless, it took her a long moment to react and use her seed to transform,
but at the instant Li Yi tumbled away she had already drawn her pistol and even managed to trigger the emergency alarm.
From reaction speed alone, she was clearly much more professional than Keke.
So the Bureau clearly did train people, it just seemed Keke hadn’t taken that training seriously.
The physical body needs training too...
However, when he saw Magical Girl Silver Lotus respond by using a handgun to merely prod at the Disaster Beast, Jiang Si really couldn’t hold back anymore.
Twice now.
When he went out with Keke, he hadn’t intended to act. After all, these Class-B Disaster Beasts or Mirror Beasts meant nothing to Jiang Si;
fighting them wouldn’t lead to any advancement, it would simply be exercise.
Not even warm-up.So from the start, whether it was the shark or this crocodile, Jiang Si had no plans to intervene.
But Keke was dazed and didn’t transform for a long time, and the other girl wasted time waving a pistol around after she finally reacted.
Why not transform?
There was no hidden meaning, he was just genuinely puzzled why she would rather die than transform.
Training her body?
She had some backbone.
“I...”
Li Yi wanted to explain that her seed had malfunctioned and she couldn’t transform anymore.
But when she saw the crocodile’s huge jaws bearing down and Jiang Si unmoved as he held his ground, she didn’t know what to say...
Previously she’d been puzzled why Keke said Shion was only using Jiang Si.
Given Shion’s strength, she shouldn’t need to use Jiang Si... so that’s how it was.
If you can have that strength without any mana, then Shion would indeed need to use him to guarantee her safety when she didn’t transform.
Not to mention Shion, the Central Bureau would also want talents with such unique gifts!
“My seed malfunctioned...”
Just as she finally got the words out, another massive body rolled down the street and barreled over!
Amid the crash of shattering glass, that rolling mass slammed through a wall with a “boom” and smashed into the crocodile!
The crocodile rolled and crushed several houses until it was buried in rubble, and Li Yi’s chest sank a little.
“Jiang Si!”
But she had no time to look for him, because after that meatball knocked the crocodile away it immediately unfolded.
It looked like some creature Disaster Beast that had been a spiky hedgehog but now had its spines removed;
Li Yi couldn’t tell what it was—her biology knowledge was poor.
Its smooth skin looked a bit sickening.
After knocking the crocodile away, the creature’s eerie green eyes locked onto her. Li Yi had just shouted Jiang Si when the rodent-like Disaster Beast whipped its tail at her!
The slender tail moved incredibly fast. Li Yi ducked, and at the same time threw a prepared dispersal grenade—one meant to drive off Disaster Beasts—under the creature.
After a tremendous explosion, a mass of spray flooded out and filled the cold drink shop.
Even if it couldn’t expel the beast, the spray would temporarily obscure its vision!
Li Yi seized the chance to run toward Jiang Si;
she absolutely could not let him be injured...
A screech sounded behind her.
She had ignored one problem: all of her measures and supplies were meant for Disaster Beasts.
What if this monster wasn’t a Disaster Beast?
What if the spray became the creature’s cover, allowing it to slip through the smoke and appear right behind Li Yi?
A bite!
Li Yi’s reflexes were swift again;
she tossed another dispersal grenade into the creature’s mouth, detonating at point-blank range!
There were no shrapnel fragments from the grenade, just a shockwave that blew her out.
The beast’s bite came down on empty air.
After tumbling several times on the ground, Li Yi slammed into a broken wall in the ruins;
rebar impaled through her ribs and pinned her to the wall.
Leaning against the wall, Li Yi could hear the gurgling of blood flowing into her lungs, coughing violently.
She fought to pull out a magazine and reload her pistol, then fired at the approaching beast.
She had done all she could. She didn’t know why the emergency alarm had gone unanswered, but she had really done everything...
Even now she tried desperately to pull her body free from the rebar to see how Jiang Si was.
Even if she wasn’t a Magical Girl, she could still protect people.
She could still...
It was all lies.
Don’t fool yourself.
They were just lies meant to keep her from suffering.
At a time like this, she still wanted to comfort herself.
If I had a Miracle Seed, would I be waiting here to die?
If I had a Miracle Seed, would Jiang Si’s fate be uncertain?
If I had a Miracle Seed, I would have—
Her pistol ran out of bullets, but Li Yi kept pulling the trigger.
She had avoided thinking about these things before, because once she did she would inevitably fall into hatred.
Why did sister do that?
Saying that as long as Keke inherited her wish it would be fine, always sticking close to Keke.
Wasn’t she clinging to a sliver of hope that one day a miracle would come back to her?
Hiding and covering it up, all the way to the end.
Stop pretending.
She clutched her Miracle Seed, which had never left her side, day and night protecting it.
“Sister ruined my power, I really hate it.”
She didn’t want to hate her sister, but the more she realized the helplessness and pain of not being able to become a Magical Girl,
the harder it became to forgive.
Her sister had treated her well and cared for her since childhood, so Li Yi couldn’t hate her...
She kept telling herself that, but it still wouldn’t work, especially at a time like this.
She really couldn’t...
“Give me back my power! Sister!”
Facing her true feelings, like a final outpouring, she cried while blaming the sister she loved most.
The Disaster Beast’s open jaws bit down!
Li Yi pressed her hands to her face and shut her eyes.
A tremendous boom brought a shockwave. The gale yanked at her frail body, the rebar through her ribs tore open new wounds, and blood sprayed everywhere.
Massive blood loss made her feel cold and dizzy;
her consciousness started to blur.
“Transform.”
She heard a voice from ahead.
The young man standing before her—stained with blood—left only his back visible to her.
“Silver Lotus.”
...
She hadn’t expected Li Yi to be so stubborn.
Almost killed, and still refusing to transform.
Even Jiang Si felt some admiration for her mental toughness;
Magical Girls with that kind of conviction, willing to train their bodies, were truly rare.
Amid the shrill alarm he watched calmly from beside a building, intending to see what she could do,
but in the end she nearly died before Silver Lotus could barely draw her Miracle Seed,
almost bitten to death before she could transform.
As a sect master, he naturally felt pity for talent.
Such a half-step genius, even if she could never reach ultimate heights, should not perish here!
So he took the steel pipe that had been hanging from the alarm, hurled it down, and the alarms fell silent!
The thick steel pipe whistled with a sharp slicing sound through the air!
It pierced straight through the Disaster Beast’s skull, sealing that rat-like maw.
Because the beast’s inertia was tremendous, though the pipe pierced its body it could not stop its forward motion!
The pipe, enhanced by the Dao Seed’s profound power, became like a razor spatial blade, slicing the beast down the center. Filthy magic poured out like blood, and the split body surged forward in pieces!
Jiang Si stood in front of Li Yi and extended a finger, lightly pressing it against one of the beast’s teeth.
The enormous inertia vanished in an instant. The terrifying assault froze mid-charge and the creature halted quietly before him.
Only the wind ruffled his clothes, brushing backward.
“Transform.”
“Silver Lotus.”
“Cough...” Blood kept trickling from Li Yi’s mouth as she choked and sobbed, “Hah... I—I can’t...”
“Why can’t you?”
“The seed was... polluted, I can’t transform...”
“Aren’t you a Magical Girl?”
She had lost too much blood and her consciousness wavered. She tried to grab at the youth in front of her, “I’m no longer...”
“So you intend to give up?”
Several more Disaster Beasts appeared on the street and converged on them.
The world stilled.
Breathing became heavy and frantic, the sharp alarm screamed like a kettle boiling, the beasts’ roars receded into distance,
until blood dripped to the ground and the sound burst in their ears.
Jiang Si stood before them, countless Disaster Beasts opening huge jaws toward him. The scene blurred, like a hallucinatory dream.
“Transform.”
It was not a negotiation, not persuasion.
Not a suggestion, not a request, not an argument, not a discussion, not an attempt to convince.
It was a pure order.
Undeniable, absolute command.
Coughing violently, struggling to expel blood from her lungs, trembling, she clutched her Miracle Seed.
The seed, stained with blood, was no longer its pretty pink.
She pulled herself out of the rebar little by little. The sharp pain dulled to numbness;
eyes wide, she faced the Disaster Beasts that had broken through walls and stirred glass and dust.
“Bloom again...
Her voice, choked with blood and sobs, was blurred and low, hoarse like someone speaking on their deathbed.
“Immaculate, drooping-branch cherry.”
Time seemed to freeze.
At the instant the blood fell, it transformed into tender pink petals.
At first only a few petals drifted, then more and more. Cherry blossoms burst forth from the wounded girl’s body.
Youth in full bloom, radiant vitality.
A breeze swept through and the drifting blossoms fell like snow.
Petals gathered and accumulated.
Behind the Magical Girl they swelled into a raging tide, roaring and sweeping away every Disaster Beast before them!
A pink skirt unfurled among the petals. Petals spilled from the skirt to carpet the ground, then rose to dance back upon the skirt, painting vivid springtime splendor.
Falling cherry blossoms caught in her hair like pretty hairpins, an oddly placed butterfly landed on her fingertip.
Even Silver Lotus herself seemed unprepared for the change, staring dreamily at the sky filled with petals.
Her magical outfit shimmered on her body;
the corners of her mouth trembled slightly.
She let out a breathy “ha.”
Her rough sobbing was swallowed by the cherry blossoms.
All the Disaster Beasts stood motionless in the blossom flood.
Then, on each beast’s body cherry blossoms began to bloom and branches sprouted outward, connecting back to the Magical Girl. The filthy magic was continuously absorbed by the branches, purified into pure mana that flowed into the Magical Girl.
The pale pink dress grew even more vivid;
even her pale pink pupils bloomed with petals.
The rodent Disaster Beast Jiang Si had been holding was drained in no time.
When he released his grip, it turned into a few petals and drifted away on the wind.
He turned and looked once more at Magical Girl Silver Lotus.
Compared to her previous transformation, she hadn’t gotten any taller;
she instead retained her original stature.
She had accepted herself and reflected her true heart.
New spells, stronger mana and spirit.
Undoubtedly an early Blooming third-stage transformation.
She was just a little shorter than Shion.
“Hmph, didn’t you do a fine job?”
No sooner had he spoken than the Magical Girl dissolved into cherry blossoms and disappeared.
For a moment Jiang Si couldn’t even sense her presence.
A second later the petals gathered behind him, and Magical Girl Silver Lotus leapt into his arms.
Her small trembling body, and her voice.
Warmth spread across his back, moistening the petals;
dewdrops slipped shyly down.
“Thank you... really... thank you... Jiang Si...”
Her words were fragmented by emotion, but her crying was gradually suppressed.
After two days of girls frequently bursting into dramatic sobs, Jiang Si had learned to restrain the urge to elbow the enemy behind him;
he was somewhat surprised.
This girl, she’s actually so mature?
So small, yet so composed.
Her tight embrace even made Jiang Si feel pressure.
He could sense the filthy magic inside him being absorbed by her cherry blossoms, almost overwhelmed.
His opinion of Li Yi rose a few notches—from half-step genius to lower-tier genius, skipping little genius tier—
roughly equivalent to two Kekes.
If not for his meticulous control of his mana, any small leak might have let her drain him.
Is she still a Magical Girl?
It felt more like she’d become a Complete Witch.
He thought that and marveled inwardly;
such a Magical Girl was rare and unforgettable.
Yet he knew the pure mana on her was unrelated to witches.
“No need to thank me. People ultimately can only rely on themselves.”
The same was true of a Magical Girl’s transformation.
No one could truly save them.
Jiang Si merely made them believe in themselves. If they couldn’t even believe in themselves, then never mind being a Magical Girl, even living would be in doubt.
Believing that one’s personal reality can override the world, believing that if you call out a miracle it will answer—that is the true source of miracles and hope for a Magical Girl.
Screams and beast roars came from elsewhere. Silver Lotus released her hold and inhaled deeply.
After releasing the grievance and suppressed resentment, all that remained was surging joy and happiness.
She still had to save more people.
“Next time, let’s go on a date together, Jiang Si.”
“Okay.”
“Next time, I’ll definitely do even better...”
As the cherry blossoms scattered, the Magical Girl vanished from sight.
.....
When Keke arrived, she found petals strewn everywhere.
People in the ruined street were surrounded by blossoms;
even those trapped under rubble were miraculously lifted and unharmed by the petals.
Her gaze locked on the pink Magical Girl standing in the center. After a brief daze, Keke’s nose stung.
“Captain Silver Lotus!”
Silver Lotus glanced back at her friend. Before she could speak, Keke threw herself onto her.
Silver Lotus gave a helpless smile and patted the back of Keke’s head, “You’re late! Operative Keke!”
“It took me so long to get the distress signal...” Keke began to sob again, “Captain Silver Lotus, you’re finally back, I’m so glad, I’m so glad, boohoo...”
Silver Lotus, fielding a flood of questions, tapped Keke’s head, “Stop crying and stop asking a million questions. I don’t even know how to answer. Operative Keke! I order you to cease crying immediately!”
“Captain, this is really hard, boohoo...”
“All right, all right. You’ve been the strongest Magical Girl in Beihai so long—how are you still such a crybaby? People will laugh at the Beihai Disaster Control Bureau.”
“Mm.” Keke wiped her eyes and scanned the surroundings, “Are the Disaster Beasts all dealt with?”
“Yes, about a dozen appeared suddenly and are all resolved. There shouldn’t be any more, don’t worry.”
Keke let go and wiped her tears, “Why did so many appear all of a sudden?”
“No idea. Ten appeared at once;
there must be something behind it—definitely the Witch Association! We must alert the Bureau...”
Soon after safety was restored, Beihai’s engineering crews arrived and quickly repaired the street.
Peony, the Bureau senior who handled anomalies like beasts that weren’t affected by the spray, ended her leave and began an in-depth investigation.
They said if Peony couldn’t find the source she would reveal a final hidden spell—why not ask Azure Cloud Sect’s wondrous Twin Leaves?
As for what happened to them, they had not failed yet.
Keke stayed by the captain’s side and they patrolled a few rounds to confirm there were no new beasts, then they relaxed and found a safe, concealed spot to settle.
Although Silver Lotus regaining her power was exciting, Keke had been constantly searching for her older brother along the way;
not finding him, she asked as soon as she landed, “Where did my big brother go?”
“Don’t worry, he’s fine, he went home first.”
Silver Lotus had left petals on him, so of course she wouldn’t let Jiang Si encounter danger.
Keke nodded, though she still felt worried.
After all, a Disaster Beast felled by a single punch wouldn’t get up—his strength even drew Shion’s attention as someone she wanted to use.
Those beasts couldn’t have harmed him.
Hearing that, she finally relaxed.
“With Captain Silver Lotus around, can I rest easy and not go on so many missions...”
“Hey, trying to slack off right after you’re reinstated?”
“I want to spend more time with my brother.”
“You make Jiang Si sound like a lonely old man. Keke, are you clinging to your brother too much?”
“No!”
Silver Lotus cocked her head at Keke’s obvious answer.
The girl pouted and added, “I’m just worried my brother might be lonely.”
Silver Lotus couldn’t help but laugh, “Who would be lonely? If you can’t find your brother you’d just quit and run off...”
“Don’t say that!”
Keke, slightly embarrassed, pushed the captain and told her to shut up, “You’re the one—have you sent the friendship letter yet?”
“Nope.”
“Aah! I finally created an opportunity for you to be alone, who knows when the next one will come.” Keke tapped the captain’s head angrily, “Useless, useless! When will you send that letter?”
Silver Lotus shook her head when asked to look at the letter in her bag, “I won’t send it.”
“What?” Keke protested, “Don’t be like that. Did my brother offend you? He’s a bit blunt and not very warm, but it’s unnecessary to be petty...”
“No.”
Silver Lotus put a hand over her heart and smiled brightly:
“I’m going to deliver a love letter, Keke.”