Chapter 68: The Dimming Heart and the Starfall Night

How does one define “failure” in a battle?

The young girl knew precious little about pre-apocalyptic combat; the closest she’d ever come to a “battle” was a private brawl.

But what about the transcendent battles fought by Magical Girls in the post-apocalyptic world?

Su Qingyao skipped the incantation, tapping her scepter-like wand against the floor. A white ribbon immediately shot forth.

Her own answer was the dimming of the “heart.”

In the seemingly vacant eyes of both Su Qingyao and Su Muxue, a faint glow, capable of peering into hearts, flickered to life.

In that instant, Wang Sichun’s “heart” completely dimmed, filled instead with a silent, pervasive gray.

With just a glance, Su Qingyao could discern that the pitiable probationary Magical Girl had utterly lost her will to fight.

The truth was, it was rather comical.

For Su Qingyao, the “heart,” directly linked to the magical core, functioned much like an indicator light on the chest of certain giants of light, allowing her to easily perceive any changes within it.

Thus, this round of demonstration was officially declared a failure.

Strictly speaking, Xu Yanqing’s magic was a step slower than Su Qingyao’s, which, in another sense, affirmed Su Qingyao’s authority in the field of Magical Girl studies.

If such a field truly existed.

“How is she…?”

Su Muxue, standing beside Su Qingyao, couldn’t wait for the ribbon to bring back He Baimiao, who was utterly exhausted after breaking free from her predicament. She asked impatiently:

“Don’t worry, Mama will heal her.”

She reached out and gently ruffled her daughter’s soft hair.

Su Qingyao naturally recognized the underlying worry and assured her that she would spare no effort in the rescue.

“Swish—”

The ribbon sliced through the air, creating a faint whisper as it brought the unconscious He Baimiao before Su Qingyao.

With almost human-like care, the ribbon placed her gently onto a stretcher woven from vines and ribbons.

Su Qingyao raised her wand. After a moment’s thought, she summoned four additional ribbons, using them to bandage the areas with the most severe compression injuries and where the spirit attire was completely destroyed.

Su Qingyao’s hands moved with a practiced ease that surpassed Su Muxue’s imagination, as if she had performed these exact motions countless times before.

Out of concern, Su Muxue, who was leaning over the stretcher, was the first to speak.

“Will this be enough?”

Seeing her mother’s casual nod, the girl let out a sigh of relief, then added airily:

“Mama’s movements are truly practiced.”

Su Qingyao’s bandaging hand paused for a moment but quickly resumed, tying a beautiful bow on the “bandage.”

“It seems that way, doesn’t it?”

Su Qingyao’s reply carried a hint of helplessness, but then she spoke with a touch of nostalgia:

“After all, I couldn’t have imagined there’d be Transcended individuals who don’t strengthen their physical bodies at all.”

Having finished, Su Qingyao straightened her back, cradled the unconscious young girl, and placed her onto a chair she had woven earlier from vines.

“Where should I begin, I wonder, in telling Little Muxue about it—”

Amidst the booming magic cannon fire outside the barrier, an urgent shout reached Su Qingyao’s ears, interrupting her thoughts of sharing more memories.

“Qingyao, Qingyao! How is that child?”

Su Qingyao looked in the direction of the voice, and indeed, it was Xu Yiyi, rushing over.

Bright worry was etched across the latter’s face; if not for maintaining the barrier, she would likely have unleashed all her magical power to fly directly to Su Qingyao.

“Don’t rush.”

Su Qingyao offered reassurance.

Unlike Xu Yanqing and Xu Yiyi, Su Qingyao had encountered patients of all ages and injuries.

The young woman was naturally much calmer.

“Her compression injuries are merely a broken arm and a few fractured ribs, all well within the scope of my magic.”

Su Qingyao’s greatest concern, the magical core, was surprisingly normal. She surmised this was because the girl had fainted before any extreme negative emotions could surface.

Su Qingyao looked at the still-hesitant Xu Yiyi, took a deep breath, and said, “In any case, in twenty minutes, this child will be able to bounce back and participate in training again!”

“Phew—that’s good.”

Xu Yiyi’s worries extended beyond external injuries; she was more concerned about permanent disability.

That would be the gravest outcome.

Level four healing magic typically only worked on muscles; Su Qingyao’s ability to mend broken bones was a rarity among rarities.

“There now,” Su Qingyao said, reaching out to comfort He Baimiao, who was muttering a couple of dream-like phrases.

“Let’s see how things are going with Xu Yanqing, shall we?”

Her words were not just for Xu Yiyi, but even more so for Su Muxue, who was gazing at her expectantly.

‘Mama is going to do something important now, Little Muxue.’

“Ugh—”

With a mournful yet exceptionally cute whimper, Su Muxue joined the two adults in looking out the window.

It was largely as Su Qingyao had surmised.

With Xu Yanqing joining the fray, she alone could simultaneously suppress, inflict damage, and react to threats.

The other Magical Girls, “sidelined” to the edge of the battlefield, exchanged bewildered glances, their disheveled, helpless appearance strangely evoking pity.

Su Qingyao released several more ribbons imbued with healing magic, guiding the few girls back towards the ruins.

What followed was Xu Yanqing’s solo performance.

****

Xu Yanqing furrowed her brow slightly, waving the wand in her hand. Behind her, one magical array after another materialized.

So far, her magical energy cannons were still not being unleashed at full power.

These arrays primarily served a deterrent purpose.

As for why, it was because Xu Yanqing was conducting a detailed assessment of this demonic beast.

After engaging in combat for a while.

Xu Yanqing realized that the “feel” of fighting this demonic beast was indeed off.

“You possess two magical abilities.”

Xu Yanqing stated calmly to the Bat-Serpent, in whose eyes wariness and a faint trace of fear were evident.

She didn’t care if the beast understood; she merely spoke with an indifferent tone, as if to herself:

“Your first magic, naturally, is the sonic wave used to attack Su Ling and the others.”

The Bat-Serpent’s eyes suddenly turned cold. It spread its wings and roared.

But Xu Yanqing was not swayed by such tactics—

She raised her wand, and a magical energy cannon blasted directly into the Bat-Serpent’s mouth.

“Roar, roooar!”

The roar transformed into a series of pained howls, and the purple markings on its wings miraculously dimmed at once.

Xu Yanqing mused:

“Indeed, that is your second magic. Its name should be something akin to [Absorption Reflection].”

It merely stored the magical energy used for reflection and then utilized it in that attack against Su Ling.

In her heart, Xu Yanqing raised the evaluation of the previous group of tested children by a notch.

After all, being able to naturally use fur as a magical array and cast spells without incantation, this “Tier Three” demonic beast was very likely an accidentally occurring mutated variant.

But that was the extent of it.

Xu Yanqing’s gaze shifted behind the Bat-Serpent to the dark, tranquil night sky.

The faint silver glow cast by the bright moon was insufficient to illuminate the battlefield—vision was almost entirely sustained by the interwoven light of colliding magical energies.

‘Soon, those children’s eyes are going to suffer a little.’

Xu Yanqing thought this, yet her hands showed no sign of stopping.

“【Starfall Night】.”

Xu Yanqing chose to chant the name given by her close friend, using it as the “trigger” for this complex magic.

In the distance, Su Qingyao, having discerned the contents of the magical array, quickly covered her daughter’s eyes.

Because in the next instant:

Dense magical energy beams, like a sudden, horizontal downpour, instantly blanketed the entire battlefield.

Ink-black light resonated with itself, forming dazzling black stars against a gloomy backdrop at their peaks.

Xu Yanqing’s current objective was to blast this “dangerous element” into oblivion.