Chapter 4: Is She a Magical Girl Too?

Misfortunes never come singly.

Xia Xiaocheng had not yet solved the problem before her when the news of the disaster beast causing trouble arrived first.

Looking at the silver-haired, blue-eyed girl coldly sizing her up, her mentality somewhat collapsed. She could only force out a stiff smile.

“Um… Big Sister still has something to do, okay? Goodbye!”

Xia Xiaocheng turned and ran, her white Lolita high heels nervously clacking against the floor.

However, the transformed Xia Hui had no intention of letting her go so easily.

“You are the Magical Girl Sunny Wings.”

“Eh!”

Xia Xiaocheng froze like a fox whose tail had been stepped on. She slowly turned her head back, her expression a mix of laughter and tears, her whole body as if drained of strength.

Crap! This girl knows me! If she calls headquarters to report me, my magical girl career will probably end. If my brother finds out I’m working as a magical girl, he’ll definitely scold me to death!

But even if this might be the last time I transform into a magical girl in my life, I still want to protect Weaving Sunny City until the end. I have to finish my last shift properly!

“I’m sorry! I’ll come back to apologize! Really… I’m really sorry! I didn’t know you were a girl. I got the wrong person!”

Having made up her mind, Xia Xiaocheng looked toward the open balcony window, leaped into the air, and flew out, leaving behind a soft golden halo like sunlight piercing through floating dust.

Watching her leave, Xia Hui stood up from the gaming chair.

“Sunny Wings… That reckless energy of hers, why does it feel so much like Xiaocheng?”

Sensing something wrong, the blue dress on Xia Hui’s body began to change. The patterns became more intricate, a white heart-shaped apron materialized out of thin air on her upper body, a grimoire with a four-leaf clover cover and a key hung on both sides of the skirt hem, fastened to her waist by golden chains.

In the night sky where Sunny Wings had departed, the conspicuous golden halo shone as brightly as a signal flare.

“She completely forgot what I said during the live stream. Don’t appear so high-profile at night, or the disaster beasts active during this time… Sigh… Consider it taking care of a junior.”

Not daring to wait any longer, Xia Hui immediately stepped on the air. A patch of faint blue aurora appeared beneath her shoes as she leaped into the boundless night sky.

“Please don’t be you, Xiaocheng.”

……

At this moment, Xia Xiaocheng, who had already flown several kilometers away, reached the marked location. Her phone showed that this was Weaving Sunny City’s largest park — Weaving Clear Source Park.

The lake water shimmered with moonlight, the dense forest rustled in the wind, and the moonlight falling on her body felt especially chilly, as if foreshadowing that Xia Xiaocheng’s magical girl career was about to come to an end.

“Only one month after debuting and my magical girl license is about to be revoked. I’m such a complete failure… I shouldn’t have gone looking for that Magic Uncle!”

Feeling both depressed and irritated, Xia Xiaocheng scanned the nearby low buildings and the lake. There was no obvious place for the disaster beast to hide, so it could only be in the woods.

“You think hiding means I won’t know? Prepare to die.”

Hovering in the air, Xia Xiaocheng materialized a brilliant golden longbow in her left hand. Her right hand quickly drew the bowstring fully, and she tentatively fired a golden light arrow toward the forest.

Whoosh!

The light arrow pierced through the forest at extreme speed and clearly struck some living creature. A heavy screech instantly echoed throughout Weaving Clear Source Park!

Screech——嘎!

Ripples rose across the lake surface. The ear-piercing roar brought an oppressive pressure. Xia Xiaocheng retreated repeatedly and had to put away her bow to cover her ears.

“Ah! So noisy!”

Xia Xiaocheng quickly gained altitude to avoid the sound waves. The shrill screech suddenly stopped. She found herself high in the sky, yet surrounded by a strange black cloud shadow.

“Dark clouds? Never mind. High altitude is my advantage!”

Xia Xiaocheng knew her own positioning well. She could output damage from high above, using a guerrilla tactic. Relying on high-speed movement and rapid arrow volleys, she could slowly grind the disaster beast below to death.

However, just as she was about to draw her bow again, a fist-sized black dot shot rapidly toward her.

“Hmph, trying to sneak attack me? Child’s play!”

Xia Xiaocheng decisively adjusted her position and shot an arrow through the black dot. It was a juvenile moth disaster beast, easily torn apart by the light arrow into black powder.

“I’ll deal with you lot later!”

Locking onto the big one in the forest again, Xia Xiaocheng planned to fire several consecutive arrows to force it out, then kill it just like she had done with the white moth disaster beast during the day — by exposing its core and shooting it down.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

However, before the arrows could reach the forest, a sudden water column erupted from the lake surface to intercept them, then shot straight toward Xia Xiaocheng.

“Hm?!”

Xia Xiaocheng instantly decided to fly sideways to dodge, but she found numerous black dots flying toward her head-on. She could only shoot forward, yet every moth she exploded released thick black powder.

The black powder and water droplets landed on Xia Xiaocheng’s dress, indirectly wetting her skin.

“Ugh, damn disaster beasts. There are actually two of them. Then I’ll take care of all of you!”

Gritting her teeth while staring at the water surface, Xia Xiaocheng took advantage of the current gap in the disaster beasts’ attacks. While in a safe position, she directly drew her bow and shot again!

However, the sonic roar from the forest erupted once more, blasting straight at Xia Xiaocheng’s front and making her movements stiffen. She had no choice but to cover her ears.

“Ahhh! Again!”

The black moth interference struck once more. This time Xia Xiaocheng couldn’t draw her bow. She could only endure it with her body, then use both hands to tear the moths off and throw them away, avoiding getting stained with more black powder.

Black powder was the metabolic waste of moth disaster beasts. To magical girls, it was a kind of filth. Once too much accumulated, it would temporarily cause loss of magic power and force the transformation to解除.

So annoying! I hate disaster beasts that hide in the dark and sneak attack the most! Go die!

Xia Xiaocheng’s originally orderly battle began to fall into complete chaos. The magic power in her body was rapidly depleting from drawing the bow, shooting arrows, and resisting the filth brought by the disaster beasts.

In contrast, the two disaster beasts hiding in the water and the forest only needed to keep aiming for sneak attacks and supporting each other’s control. They could easily crush Xia Xiaocheng like knocking down a stubborn firefly.

Gradually, Xia Xiaocheng felt her nose was full of moth powder. Breathing became difficult, and even the magic power supporting her flight was starting to fail her.

She was so tired. Her body and consciousness felt heavy. Her movements became stiff, like operating with bad network lag. Her beautiful golden-green dress was also stained with black dirt.

Splash!

Another water column shot up from the lake. This time Xia Xiaocheng still tried to dodge quickly, but her magic power flew away like a kite with a broken string. She was undoubtedly hit head-on.

Whoosh!

The violent water flow jolted Xia Xiaocheng’s consciousness awake. But just as she tried to maintain flight, she found her body unconsciously falling downward.

Her transformation had been解除.

“Eh aaaahhh!!”

Xia Xiaocheng lost control and began free-falling, screaming as she plummeted toward the lake surface. Meanwhile, the lake disaster beast that had finally succeeded surfaced, revealing its bloody maw full of sharp teeth.

To disaster beasts, magical girls were excellent high-grade supplements.

Someone save me… I know I was wrong!

Xia Xiaocheng watched helplessly as the sky grew farther and farther away. She seemed truly about to face eternal doom, without even the chance to say goodbye and admit her mistake to her brother.

If this was the last sight of her life, she still wanted to see her brother. She shouldn’t have secretly become a magical girl! And she definitely shouldn’t have barged into someone else’s house without permission.

Her heart nearly filled with remorse, Xia Xiaocheng nervously closed her eyes. But suddenly her body was lifted upward, as if a pair of hands had embraced her and rapidly climbed in altitude!

Death doesn’t hurt at all? Has an angel come to take me?

Xia Xiaocheng opened her eyes in confusion and saw silver hair flowing with moonlight, a pair of calm blue eyes staring fixedly at the night sky.

She… is also a magical girl?