Chapter 11: Strange

“My dear daughter, Daddy… Mommy’s here to save you.”

The pink-haired girl muttered, too soft for Jiang Yao to hear.

She waved her wand, and a pink energy ball burst forth, drifting lazily around.

“Ahhh—”

Like a hot knife through butter, the ball melted dark minions on contact, carving gaps, reducing them to dust.

Even the special worm biting Jiang Yao dissolved.

“Ugh.”

Jiang Yao hugged her shoulders, shivering.

Despite her magic barrier, monster dust settled on her, chilling her.

As her mind calmed, light magic regained control, and the violent surge within her vanished.

Or rather—receded.

The pink-haired girl effortlessly dispatched the remaining worms, waving her wand to turn groups to ash—far easier than Jiang Yao’s one-by-one kills.

“Is that your contract too?” Jiang Yao asked, sheathing her sword.

She rubbed her sore arm, dispelling her spirit outfit, and glanced around, puzzled.

“No,” Xiaobai said, baffled. “I only contracted you. Where’d this magical girl come from? Is she from another city, by your human standards?”

“No idea,” Jiang Yao replied.

“Wait, let me look closer…”

Xiaobai’s round body bounced onto her shoulder, eyes narrowing.

After a few seconds, his mouth gaped.

“The Great Fairy Dieterta… (omitted)… Silver City’s Righteous Mage Merlin’s white beard! She’s using ancient magic! A magical girl born of ancient magic!”

“What’s ancient magic?”

Jiang Yao grabbed Xiaobai, who’d leapt to her head, eyes nearly popping out, and held him up.

“Let go, let go!” Xiaobai squirmed, like a rice dumpling resisting the pot, flailing, tongue lolling. “One more look, please!”

“No!” Jiang Yao said sternly. “Explain ancient magic first!”

“Ugh, you wouldn’t get it!”

Xiaobai struggled, then gave up.

His strength on Earth was no match for locals.

Resigned, he explained:

“I told you, our Fairy Kingdom found a teleportation spell in ruins left by ancient dark fairies.”

“Yeah, you dug it up, dark fairies found the knowledge, and we got the first-generation magical girls and that dark disaster,” Jiang Yao said bluntly.

“Grr!” Xiaobai’s whiskers quivered with anger. “I said, even if we didn’t dig, the dark fairies had most of the spell! They’d have come eventually!”

“True. Without you righteous fairies, we’d only have dark ones invading,” Jiang Yao soothed the puffball.

“Mhm.” Xiaobai’s eyes crinkled, whiskers perking as he nodded. “It’s win-win. If dark fairies invaded and counterattacked, we’d be in trouble too.”

His tiny hands waved. “Back to it. In those ruins, I found my ancestor, Tanggula Yali—”

“Enough, get to the point,” Jiang Yao cut in.

Fairy names were terrifyingly long.

“Ahem. We found traces of my ancestor and our family crest. I think he was captured by dark fairies, forced to aid their research. Other masters from that era were likely taken too.”

“Some dark fairies were cunning scholars, but they misused their wisdom. They developed teleportation arrays and spells.”

“My ancestor vanished, along with those dark fairies. No records remain, stuck a thousand years ago.”

Xiaobai grew serious. “The teleportation spell works now. Beneath the half-finished magic circle we found, there was an older, more broken one.”

“That original circle could tear space, but it was a one-shot, powered by violent ancient dark magic. It could send you anywhere in your world’s timeline.”

“Some say my ancestor betrayed us, joining the dark fairies.” Xiaobai bristled. “No way! He wasn’t that vile. Without proof of his death, I believe he escaped through that initial rift, somewhere in this world. Or he’ll arrive eventually.”

Twisting, he strained toward the pink-haired girl. “Her simple magical aura—it’s ancient magic! She’s a magical girl of ancient magic! Oh, I respect her!”

“Why didn’t the dark fairies perfect the circle later, instead leaving a half-finished one?” Jiang Yao asked, turning Xiaobai.

“Uh…” Xiaobai hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“The half-finished circle works and was used.”

“It’s like your sample food versus whole food—same taste, different quantity. As for why…”

Xiaobai’s eyes clouded. “No one knows. A dark power outbreak erased all traces.”

“Powerful masters used detection magic, but only learned one person—likely human—did it alone. They stopped the dark fairies’ successors and sealed the ruins. Who or how? Unknown. No evidence.”

“Only advanced detection and vague prophecy magic hint at this person’s existence.”

As Xiaobai spoke, the pink-haired girl finished off the worms and approached gracefully.

“Look at her noble steps, her kind aura—a true magical girl! Not like you. What was I thinking, contracting you… Ow, it hurts!”

Xiaobai, distracted, forgot he was in Jiang Yao’s grip.

Squeezed flat, he yelped, “Sorry, sorry!” begging mercy.

Released, he dove under her cloak as the girl neared.

The two stood silently, locking eyes.

Jiang Yao noticed the girl was shorter.

Her eyes flickered with white light, like an aurora piercing the Arctic’s long night.

She felt a strange familiarity but couldn’t place it.

The magical girl’s cognitive filter, usually for ordinary people, clouded her recognition.

Per Xiaobai, modern magical girls used “modern magic,” but ancient magic might obscure recognition even among them.

‘What do I say?’

Jiang Yao hesitated.

She felt embarrassed.

Her first real threat in two months, her first offline meeting with another magical girl—and she’d been a mess.

She could handle worms easily, but this mysterious girl had one-shotted a demon, saving her.

Could she have done that?

The girl’s effortless skill made Jiang Yao feel… inadequate.

She didn’t know what to say.

The pink-haired girl blinked, touched her head, and said softly:

“Thank you for your hard work. Thanks for always protecting everyone.”

Jiang Yao’s eyes widened.

No judgment, no scolding for carelessness, no pride—just simple praise.

The warm touch on her head felt… comforting.

Only her mom could touch her head!

Others should be resented!

But this felt too good.

She wanted to swat the hand away but couldn’t move.

Instinctively, she closed her eyes, savoring it.

“You did great, but be more cautious next time.”

“Keep going. I believe in you!”

The girl smiled, eyes narrowing, and turned away.

Jiang Yao snapped back when Xiaobai shouted, “Ask her about ancient magic!”

The girl was gone, only dust marking the battle.

“I…”

Ignoring Xiaobai, Jiang Yao rubbed her head. “Why don’t I hate it?”

“Ding dong ding dong…”

In an alley, Jiang Lingwei, back to her confident self, leaned against a wall, clutching her flashing transformation device.

“Phew… I nearly ran out of magic to detransform in front of her. Used too much on that trash demon. I’m a magical girl, not Ultraman!”

“But she didn’t recognize me. Good.”

Her glance with Jiang Yao confirmed it—her daughter hadn’t linked her transformed and normal selves.

“Time to head home.”

Jiang Lingwei hurried off.

Magical Girl [Aurora], after years, still fought for justice and light!