Chapter 3: The Fox Maiden’s Humiliation

The bed frame crashed to the ground, emitting a sharp, brittle sound as if something gravely injured had fallen.

Dust billowed through the air, causing everyone to cough incessantly.

Yet, amidst this chaotic environment, a crimson figure slowly emerged from the swirling haze.

The magic wand clutched in their hand radiated an intense heat, so potent that the very air around it began to shimmer and distort.

Upon witnessing this scene, Su Qianyu immediately grasped a stark reality.

He felt as if a part of him had already died.

As the crimson figure drew closer, Su Qianyu instinctively began to plead for mercy.

He knelt, apologized, and even performed a dogeza (TL Note: A deep bow of apology, where one kneels and touches their head to the ground).

Before he could even utter a word, the figure’s magic wand struck again.

Pain instantly flooded Su Qianyu’s mind, and looking up dazedly, his gaze locked directly with Illo’s.

“What’s wrong? Weren’t you quite fond of boasting just a moment ago?”

“Why aren’t you continuing now?”

The standing mirror nearby had long since shattered, its glass shards reflecting Su Qianyu’s pathetic state on the floor.

It was fortunate that Su Qianyu possessed the physique of an athlete; otherwise, that single blow would undoubtedly have been enough to kill him.

Observing Su Qianyu sprawled on the ground, Illo’s mood visibly brightened somewhat.

Yet, as if remembering something, her expression immediately turned frosty again.

“Allowing you to die here would still be far too lenient a punishment for you.”

Before the dazed Su Qianyu, still reeling from the beating, could even stand, a chilling sensation instantly spread from his neck.

In his muddled state, Su Qianyu found it difficult to even form a coherent thought.

He felt as though he was being melted away, with even speech and breathing becoming arduous.

Yet, observing the changes occurring in the figure on the ground, Illo’s eyes held not a trace of sympathy.

It wasn’t that she was cruel; quite the contrary, her actions were entirely a consequence of the other party’s own making.

Had this fellow not left such an indelible impression on her in her previous life, she would never have resorted to such a deed.

Illo was a reborn individual.

More precisely, she was a magical girl who, pushed to the brink of despair, had fought for days and nights until she finally succumbed to exhaustion and died.

A single mission had cost her everything she held dear.

She would never forget that day when her dearest friend, in her eyes, had conspired with the enemy and plunged a knife into her body with their own hands.

Perhaps fate had not wished for her to perish there, or perhaps she simply possessed an unyielding resilience.

She had been picked up by someone, and that person was none other than Su Qianyu, who stood before her now.

Had he cared for her properly, Illo swore she would never be treating the young man before her in such a manner now.

She was a person who clearly distinguished between gratitude and enmity.

Alas, the other party was far from a good person.

Fairy tales were beautiful, but reality was cruel.

The care she had envisioned never materialized; instead, he seemed to treat her merely as an animal to be commanded.

Constant mockery and degradation.

Leveraging his ability to move objects telekinetically, Illo had no choice but to submit.

Beyond giving her some unknown, sticky concoction as food, he offered nothing else.

The psychological torment under such intense pressure had plagued her for years.

Yet, by the time she regained her powers and sought vengeance, the fellow named Su Qianyu had vanished without a trace.

Her years of experience as a magical girl told her that the betrayal by a loved one was no mere coincidence.

Thus, she resolved to embark on an investigation into that mission, all by herself.

On the list of magical girls, she was already marked as deceased, forcing her to operate as an unregistered entity.

The collection of evidence was far from smooth, and defeats were a common occurrence.

It was along this path that Su Qianyu reappeared, always managing to deliver another two kicks when she was at her lowest, pushing her to the brink of being consumed by her inner demons.

Indeed, it was because of him that she had fallen into a trap, ultimately leading to her death in battle.

While Su Qianyu bore no significant connection to her initial betrayal, vengeance, nonetheless, had to be exacted.

For her, it was merely an act of convenience.

Soon, the figure lying below completed its transformation.

As a brand-new maiden’s body appeared before her, Illo’s face was alight with triumph.

It was also thanks to him that she had awakened her psychography (TL Note: The ability to manifest thoughts into reality, often used in a magical context) ability in her desperation and successfully inherited it.

Attaching the final accessories, Illo roused the Su Qianyu before her.

“Uh… Ugh?”

Clutching her head, the latter was clearly still disoriented from the previous spell of dizziness.

Yet, the instant she saw Illo’s crimson figure, memories of terror immediately reasserted their dominance over Su Qianyu’s intellect.

“You, you, you… Hey!”

Having just scrambled to her feet, Su Qianyu immediately wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.

But as she opened her mouth, and air passed through her throat, Su Qianyu discovered that her voice sounded distinctly wrong.

‘Why does it sound like a girl’s voice?!’

Under Illo’s watchful gaze, Su Qianyu tremblingly picked up a shard of glass beside her.

Within the small, fractured mirror, an unfamiliar face was reflected.

In the mirror, the gloomy, dark-haired young man was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, a bewildered, white-furred fox maiden, still in a state of utter stupefaction, stared back from the reflection.

A cascade of silvery hair, like moonlit gauze, fell from her ears, and a pair of vibrant blue eyes darted around, full of life.

Glancing at her hands, the gloomy markings that once adorned them were gone, replaced by delicate, fair arms as exquisite as a doll’s.

Oh, and then there were the “headlights” (TL Note: A slang term referring to breasts), definitely not the flat, “nailed-down” kind.

If she could detach herself from the fact that this was *her*, Su Qianyu would undoubtedly have wanted to “take a shot” (TL Note: A humorous euphemism for masturbation or sexual desire) at her reflection.

‘Wait, where’s my “little bull” (TL Note: A humorous euphemism for male genitalia)?!’

It seemed both foretold and fated.

Su Qianyu felt a distinct coolness between her legs, as if nothing at all resided there.

‘My little bull, it seems, has run away from home.’

“You, what have you done to my body!?”

Almost instantly, the fox spirit who had just been kneeling sprang to her feet, grabbing Illo’s collar and demanding answers.

Yet, her voice, rather than conveying a demand, sounded more like a petulant whine.

Effortlessly pushing the figure before her back down, Illo didn’t retreat; instead, she advanced, using her hand to lift the other’s chin.

“Oh?”

“What’s this? Are you feeling indignant?”

With a mere gentle squeeze of the base of the tail that extended from the figure’s back, the latter immediately collapsed to the ground, her face flushed crimson.

An unprecedented rush of sensations overwhelmed Su Qianyu’s mind, and it was quite some time before she regained her composure.

“You, you…!”

With a voice practically squeezed through gritted teeth, Su Qianyu glared at the other party.

She had traversed nine lives, yet never in any of them had she experienced such profound humiliation and exasperation as she did now!

Unexpectedly, upon seeing that she still possessed such vitality, Illo once again produced her magic wand.

Having been preheated earlier, the weapon in her hand had reached a terrifying temperature.

Merely looking at it, one could feel a searing wave of heat emanating forth.

Waving the magic wand in her hand, Illo let out a peal of laughter.

The mere thought of what she was about to do made her involuntarily hum with anticipation.

Indeed, this was precisely her intention.

And simultaneously, it was her ultimate humiliation for a scoundrel like Su Qianyu.

“Come now, my dear, let me offer you a choice.”

“Do you want this glowing red magic wand, or do you want my…?”

“I don’t want either of them!”

Hearing the familiar line, Su Qianyu scuttled several meters backward.

‘What is this person going to do to me!’

Yet, even as her back met the wall, the other party showed no sign of stopping.

Realizing escape was futile, Su Qianyu quickly cried out, halting the other, and pointed a finger at her.

“I choose the latter! The latter!”

Sometimes, choosing between two evils is unavoidable.

Gazing at the glowing red magic wand, Su Qianyu couldn’t even begin to imagine how excruciatingly “refreshing” (TL Note: A sarcastic or ironic term for an intensely unpleasant sensation) it would feel if that thing were to pierce her body.

If forced to choose between the two, she absolutely refused the magic wand!

However, upon hearing Su Qianyu’s choice, Illo merely smirked mischievously, kicking away the scant few obstructions between them.

“Just kidding.”

“Only children make choices; you, you get both.”