novelraw Chapter 208: A World That Profanes Divine Blessings
Chapter 208: A World That Profanes Divine Blessings
“What’s going on!? Why are people from the Azure Cloud Sect appearing!”
Inside the isolated mirror space, the Prince, who had been watching her fiancé fight that Full Bloom from the old world, suddenly jumped up.
The proud red-eyed expression now carried panic and anger!
“Why wasn’t this reported! The Azure Cloud Sect showing up in South China is critical intelligence! Didn’t they say the Azure Cloud Sect’s main forces had already rushed to the Disaster Control Bureau headquarters in North China?”
[Reply to Prince-sama: Intelligence confirmed. Azure Cloud Sect members have appeared en masse near the Central Bureau of the Disaster Control Bureau in North China. Here are relevant photos....]
“I don’t care about the photos!”
The Prince slapped the images away, paced back and forth in the isolated space, then looked back at the screen.
The Golden Calamity Dragon King was clearly gravely injured.
After Ailin fused with the Jade Fox and transformed, they had driven the Golden Calamity Dragon King back, but the Prince hadn’t panicked at all.
After all, it was only a forged Full Bloom.Although it was stronger than the Mirror Kingdom’s earlier manufactured copy Mu by a significant margin—largely because the Dream Core had fused the two personal realities—it was still just a crude imitation of Full Bloom. It could hardly compare to the Mirror Kingdom’s superior technology.
It had flaws.
The Prince had been observing the two transforms’ power. Once their strength exceeded the threshold the Golden Calamity Dragon King could handle,
she intended to act immediately. With the Mirror Kingdom’s tech, ensuring the Golden Calamity Dragon King’s safe retreat was no problem.
That was also why the Prince hadn’t stopped the Golden Calamity Dragon King from going over there on its own.
She wanted Mr. Simo Tu to get in close contact with a Magical Girl near Full Bloom strength so he could recognize the true top-tier power level of Magical Girls,
and later more accurately understand the gap between himself and Shion.
The Prince of course did not doubt Simo Tu’s strength. His power had clearly reached the very top tier. In the Prince’s view, he could even stand a chance against the former Magical Girl Mu.
But Shion was different; to this day no one had pinned down her true power or limits.
Is she at Perfection Bloom level 600? Initial Full Bloom at level 100? Advanced Full Bloom?
The Disaster Control Bureau had followed Azure Cloud Sect’s old hundred-level six-step method but reportedly abandoned it and adopted the Azure Cloud Sect’s standard across the board. Still, according to the Azure Cloud Sect’s standards, Peak Blooming Great Perfection made no difference.
The classification made no scientific sense. The Azure Cloud Sect was already outdated.
Shion could strike Bloomings one after another, Mu could punch the Mirror Kingdom one after another.
It remained hard to judge Shion’s true level.
Fortunately, the Mirror Kingdom had stepped on the Azure Cloud Sect and introduced a more suitable evaluation standard, a combat power index combining all data!
But Shion’s data was still too sparse.
So, if possible, the Prince wanted her fiancé to avoid Shion...
Yet Shion had suddenly appeared!
Not only that, Ailin’s transformation and the huge energy waves that repelled the Golden Calamity Dragon King meant the Mirror Kingdom’s observation was incomplete.
By the time they saw, Simo had already blasted through the Golden Calamity Dragon King’s skull and passed through the ruptured head to appear here!
Though the Golden Calamity Dragon King’s skull quickly healed, there was no doubt it was no match for Shion.
Most importantly, Simo Tu and the Azure Cloud Sect had been hostile for years back in Beihai.
They were at each other’s throats; they had once fought Shion and escaped from her hands.
Now, meeting under these circumstances, luck looked thin!
“We must evacuate it!”
The Prince judged immediately. “At all costs, get it out!”
[Warning: The special individual known as Shion has used mana to seize control of the entire world and surrounding space. Any movements by the Mirror Kingdom will draw Shion’s attention.]
The timing was awful!
The Mirror Kingdom couldn’t spare an Alice capable of stopping Shion, unless they sacrificed those half-finished models.....
But they’d already poured massive resources into those two prototypes; even if deployed, they might not hold her for long,
and mobilizing them would squander the Mirror Kingdom’s remaining half-finished assets!
The Mirror Kingdom’s future leverage could be gone forever...
However.
The Prince glanced again at the dragon head floating in space, at the Golden Calamity Dragon King whose dragon-eye had gone blank after being heavily wounded.
Her hesitation disappeared and she hardened.
“Deploy all Alices!”
[Reject: If all Mirror Kingdom Alices are deployed, the Mirror Kingdom will completely lose competitiveness in future contests....]
“Do you think those Alices are a match for an ally with supreme potential?”
The Prince calmed down.
She didn’t have full system privileges in the Mirror Kingdom, so she had to “persuade” the system to obtain support.
Even the Alice specifically tailored against Shion needed system persuasion to be produced.
The Mirror Kingdom’s system was highly intelligent, storing the data of the high-IQ personnel who had died. Its base code was designed to revive and dominate in the name of the Mirror Kingdom, so even its sole surviving subject couldn’t forcibly command it.
[System data analysis: Simo Tu’s Golden Calamity Dragon King lacks the strength to contend with Shion; probability of defeating Shion is zero. The Shion-specific Alice has over a thirty percent win rate; through iterative enhancements, Alice could exceed fifty percent chance to defeat Shion. Its potential far outweighs Simo Tu’s capabilities.]
The Prince snorted rather impolitely.
Though annoyed, she couldn’t find a rebuttal.
Even if she believed Simo Tu had untold potential—able to transform into a Disaster Beast and evolve back—there was no solid evidence he could go further.
So she couldn’t convince the system to deploy all the Alices.
[Proposal: Prince-sama, please calm down. Abandon useless personal emotions. As Prince of the Mirror Kingdom, you should, like your mother, expand your harem rather than fixate on a single youth and place that attachment above the Mirror Kingdom’s future....]
“You don’t need to lecture me!”
After all, she was born to a man who was both her mother’s partner and a founder of the new world, hence her title of Prince.
But she had no real inheritance rights.
Her Mirror Kingdom bloodline was only half.
Fortune smiled even as calamity came: nearly all Mirror Kingdom personnel had died, most integrated as data into the system.
She had naturally become the primary heir, and hearing the system lecture her like her mother’s data made her queasy.
The Prince bit her thumb and checked the screen.
Because the observation distance had to be far—getting too close risked detection—the silhouettes were fuzzy and details unclear.
After Shion appeared she hadn’t further attacked the Golden Calamity Dragon King, but instead walked toward the world where Ailin was.
The Prince breathed a little easier; at least for now the Golden Calamity Dragon King’s safety wasn’t the immediate concern.
After a while, the Golden Calamity Dragon King finally moved.
“Immediately connect communications to the Golden Calamity Dragon King. I want to speak with it!”
[Attempting to communicate with the Golden Calamity Dragon King.....]
While Ailin kept Shion occupied, this could buy time for Simo Tu to escape...
As she thought this, the Prince suddenly fell silent.
She stared at the massive Golden Calamity Dragon King—the man who had decisively protected her, who had carried her through the Witch Association’s blockade—and after regaining his senses,
he bowed his head slightly, lowering himself at Shion’s feet.
Meek, humbled, he let Shion stand on his skull...
The Prince’s fist clenched violently.
Her breathing quickened; veins stood out on her brow.
She enunciated two words slowly and low:
“Shi-on!”
...
Ailin hadn’t intended to pay attention to Shion.
The White-clad Bai Mei already emitted a dangerous aura.
If she didn’t focus properly,
she could lose.
But when the Golden Calamity Dragon King leaned down, letting Shion stand on his skull,
Ailin couldn’t help but turn her head to look.
She’d thought defeating Bai Mei and then facing Shion would be dangerous enough.
Now it looked like she had to contend with a joint pair—Shion and the Golden Calamity Dragon King....
Boom!
Hundreds of meters of mana-infused sword qi spread across the sky and exploded in succession.
Ailin’s face snapped to the side as a sword qi slashed across her cheek; ear and blood flew away!
Pulling her gaze back, she stared at the increasingly imposing Magical Girl Bai Mei.
Her little finger drooped slightly; a drop of blood fell from its tip.
Even if only a pinky remained intact, Bai Mei’s sword qi was unaffected.
The sword intent grew ever sharper and more monstrous!
Azure Cloud Sect, Azure Cloud Sect....
She couldn’t fathom why a Magical Girl from the same Disaster Control Bureau would differ so much in power!
When Bai Mei raised her little finger again, Ailin instinctively stepped back.
No weariness lingered in Bai Mei’s dazzling eyes.
She looked invigorated, focused on Ailin.
Another strike!
For a moment, Ailin felt the world split in two.
The sweeping sword qi was majestic, filling her ears with the world’s groans and laments!
Yet in the end, Ailin still held her mana defenses,
constantly dispelling the sword qi. But that overwhelming force became too much to bear.
Pressed by the huge, bright crescent sword qi, she crashed into the ground with a thunderous impact.
The sword qi’s sharpness vanished and it continued to push her, furiously chopping into the earth!
When the sword qi finally dissipated, an abyssible chasm had opened in the ground.
In the pitch-black trench, roiling magma could be dimly seen.
It was as if this swing had cut into the planet’s core!
Bai Mei finally closed her eyes and sensed the wind.
Everything felt clear and liberating!
She had lingered at a bottleneck for far too long.
If anyone in the Azure Cloud Sect had stalled the longest at their realm, it was likely their nominal senior apprentice sister.
Although she knew sword comprehension couldn’t be rushed, watching her junior sisters catching up left her restless.
A sword cultivator seeking comprehension had to test life and death, stand on the cliff edge, confront the limit!
This battle with Ailin pushed her another step forward, finally out of the bottleneck.
It felt like a sudden enlightenment, like waking from a dream.
That openness of understanding was like the relief after staying up days cranking out chapters—her brain-to-toes tingled with comfort.
Her state of mind returned to calm.
As she tilted her head to savor it, the magma beneath the deep sword scar stirred.
From her vantage, the erupting lava surged toward Ailin, whose right side had been almost severed by the slash!
Even Full Bloom Magical Girl mana couldn’t heal such wounds!
Bai Mei stood unmoving, facing the incoming Ailin.
But Ailin suddenly changed direction, quickly bypassing her,
and shot straight up into the sky!
“Shion!”
Ailin realized she could no longer tangle with Bai Mei.
If she kept fighting, she’d lose her stance and secrets!
This enemy had slaughtered the people of the Curse Realm, destroyed her homeland, and blocked her now.
It had stolen her sister’s hope for survival.
It must die.
Without crossing this line, she could never step into the new world!
Bai Mei chased after her. Now Ailin could hardly see Bai Mei as human or as a Magical Girl.
She was more like a blade honed to the extreme!
Bai Mei moved even faster to intercept!
Ailin drew a card from her magic wand.
After fusing personal reality with the Jade Fox, their Full Bloom magic manifested in the South China Magical Girl style:
compressed into a card.
Because she’d just entered Full Bloom and hadn’t adapted, she’d only awakened this single card; previously she could only mimic Bai Mei’s fighting through mana manipulation.
Now she would no longer hide the card.
She would kill Shion!
[Stellar Mark Descends: Coronal Lagging Domain.]
Time around her stilled for a fleeting moment.
Within this world, or rather the scope of her personal reality, she could slow time and space!
Used properly, even killing Shion wouldn’t be impossible!
But her unfamiliarity limited her to only three seconds.
At 0.00001 seconds, Ailin slipped past Bai Mei as if defying physics.
The feeling was like a blade grazing her nose, sharp pain in its wake.
At 0.000053 seconds, a bright sword qi burst from Bai Mei; Ailin formed a one-handed mana barrier.
High-frequency vibrating mana tried to blunt the blade’s edge, but only flared a series of dazzling blue-white sparks!
In the slowed space, the sparks splashed extremely slowly, like frozen droplets in the air!
Ailin nearly lost her balance!
At 1.0075 seconds, having finally dissipated the sword qi, Ailin charged toward Shion again,
three sword lights flashing simultaneously!
It seemed Bai Mei didn’t need to see or think—instinct alone allowed her to slash countless sword lights that barred Ailin’s advance!
What chilled Ailin even more
was that, within the frozen time, no matter how she moved,
the girl standing atop the Golden Calamity Dragon King’s skull—those indifferent purple pupils—locked onto her without fail!
As Ailin sped, those beautiful pupils tracked her movement smoothly!
It was as if the slowed space could not affect her at all!
Impossible—she was Full Bloom!
At 2 seconds.
Tens of thousands of mana and sword-light clashes were about to erupt in screams and blasts.
She saw Bai Mei lift her arm, the little finger gently slicing downward.
Ailin turned toward Shion and launched a full-power mana cannon!
But a sword light already bloomed ahead of the mana cannon!
At 3 seconds, the card’s magic ended.
The world began to accelerate!
All the suppressed sounds—the sword qi and mana collisions, the sparks stalled by frozen physics, the roaring winds—exploded at once!
They converged in the air into a deafening roar!
Heavy, fouled curse matter cascaded down. In the sparks, the sky above shattered, flickering the massive silhouette of the Golden Calamity Dragon King outside.
Amid the chaotic noise, Ailin gasped, looking up at the still expressionless girl standing on the Golden Calamity Dragon King, calmly looming over her.
Phantom images also appeared in her vision.
Three seconds of intense mana use had taxed this body heavily...
Her mana core had begun to overdraw; soon she might not maintain the Magical Girl transformation state.
Ragged breaths thundered in her ears, growing louder.
But when she looked at the upper Magical Girl Shion, all exhaustion, pain, and fear vanished.
There was no emotion in Shion’s eyes.
No surprise, no disappointment, no agitation—only silence, cold and calm like an ancient well at night.
Her reflection showed Ailin’s wolf-fox form.
Then Shion ignited Ailin.
Fatigue, pain, and the sense of collapse at the limit—all bodily feedback began to fade.
Until the explosive flame rose from heart, mind, and every part of her being!
I must kill her!
As long as she lives, Ailin’s sister cannot survive. She must die!
For Leia!
“Shion!”
Gathering all mana, forsaking magical outfit, forsaking defense, forsaking any chance to live.
Exhaust everything, unleash total annihilation!
She aimed her magic wand at the still-watching Magical Girl, as if the girl watched her struggle for entertainment!
A white sword figure again blocked the way.
The wand snapped in the sword light!
Bai Mei’s remaining arm had pierced through Ailin’s chest, driven through her spine, and emerged from her back before stopping.
The Miracle Seed was snatched from her body, gripped in Bai Mei’s hand.
The burning fury and anger in Ailin’s chest cooled into pain and weariness.
When the magical outfit vanished, her body began to react: blood filled her eye sockets, blood leaked from mouth, nose, and ears.
Her bright pupils were slowly shaded with dead ash; that strike had nearly destroyed her internal organs. Without the Magical Girl outfit, survival was nearly impossible.
“Ah......”
She gripped Bai Mei’s arm that had impaled her. The sensation was like holding a double-edged sword tight with death closing in.
Her body could no longer support movement.
In a daze she saw her sister.
She saw the tears on her sister’s face.
She had promised never to let her cry again...
“Ha... cough...”
Tears mixed with blood. She lifted her head, grabbed Bai Mei’s hand, and with sheer force took another step forward.
Void-eyed, locking gaze with Shion’s perennial indifference,
even if she had been extinguished, turned to ash,
she would reignite!
Abandon flesh, abandon everything; even if only personal reality remained, only her own personal reality!
She would use it to transcend this world!
For a moment Bai Mei was pushed back, stumbling a step!
A tidal surge of mana erupted from Ailin again!
The entire world seemed to contract, focusing all power on her.
The near-dead cried up at the high, godlike Magical Girl and roared.
Hysterical!
“Shion!”
With flesh and blood, wielding personal reality to manipulate mana,
she finally saw what Bai Mei had seen!
An enormous, chaotic mana torrent at last became a sword in her hands—one that could sever anything!
The mana roared and surged!
It cleaved the world.
It struck the godly figure above that had undone everything in her life!
Shion’s purple hair fluttered gently as strands fell from the purple deity’s body.
A tiny sword scar appeared on that exquisite, cold, perfectly delicate face.
The sculpted purple Magical Girl’s purple pupils finally drooped a little.
She watched warily as the falling wreckage smashed the earth into a deep abyss.
Like a puppet, the outer shell gradually broke apart during the fall, revealing its original form.
A small Disaster Beast slammed into the underground with a thunderous impact.