Chapter 12: A Sister’s Worry and a Cadaver Beast’s Lair

Nine AM had seamlessly transitioned to nine PM in the blink of an eye.

Having managed the convenience store all day, Ila finished calculating the day’s earnings and prepared to pull down the shutter, signaling closing time.

Yet, as the day drew to a close, Mona still hadn’t returned home.

Ila stood at the doorway, gazing out at the deserted, pitch-black street. A profound worry gnawed at her for her sister’s continued absence.

Though Mona had occasionally returned late over the past five years, she always made it back before Ila closed the store.

‘Was it truly because of the harsh words I spoke earlier today?’ she wondered.

While Leila’s words had been deceptive, there was one truth she’d uttered: Ila genuinely did not want Mona to undergo combat training before fully understanding her own heart.

When battling the forces of darkness, strength was crucial, but the resilience of one’s spirit was even more paramount.

For once the spirit wavered, even the most formidable Magical Girl was destined to fall.

Ila sighed, and with a heavy heart, she finally pulled the shop door shut.

Earlier that afternoon, she had called Ye Yunchu and Ling Ling. They informed her that after Ila and Leila had left, Mona had ignored them both and gone alone to their self-made training base for special intensive training.

Ila had visited that place before. In the days when Mona and her two friends lacked a Magical Girl instructor, they had fashioned their own training ground.

It was equipped with an assortment of wooden training apparatuses, ranging from dummies to weighted logs.

‘Was she perhaps taking out all her frustrations on her training, spurred by my words?’ Ila mused.

Ila pressed her lips together, remaining silent. It wasn’t that she felt guilty for her words; given another chance, she would articulate them exactly the same way.

Mona was already sixteen this year. For certain matters, Ila could only point her in the right direction, not carry her to the finish line as she once had.

As these thoughts solidified, her hand, which had been resting on the doorknob, slowly lowered. The impulse to go out and find Mona was temporarily suppressed.

‘I’ll wait until nine-thirty,’ she decided. ‘If Mona still isn’t back by then, I’ll go look for her myself.’

Her sister had grown up now; she couldn’t be treated like a child anymore.

Growing up meant needing space, and at the very least, Mona deserved the freedom to vent her frustrations.

With this thought in mind, Ila walked upstairs with a wry smile, reaching up to let down the hair she usually kept coiled at the side of her head.

Regrettably, she still couldn’t reveal her true identity.

–Support! Heal me! Heal me!–

–Why are you healing the jungler? They’ve been picking spirit ganoderma in the wilderness the entire time!–

–Aargh, I’ll suck all your blood dry with my teeth!–

–This can be overturned? We shattered three high-ground towers and had a ten-thousand gold lead! How the hell can this be overturned!–

As soon as she pushed open her room door, she was greeted by Yaya’s childish, yet incredibly furious, shouts.

The little creature was even pounding on the bed frame, making it creak loudly.

Ila gazed at her neatly made bed, now thoroughly ransacked into a dog’s den by a certain mechanical bat. Empty beverage bottles lay scattered across the floor, and sticky cola drops marred the surface.

Her hands involuntarily clenched into fists, her pre-existing vexation instantly morphing into simmering rage directed at Yaya.

As if sensing the sudden drop in temperature behind them, Yaya seemed to grasp who had approached. The little creature, which had been vigorously engaged in a heated verbal battle with its teammates, froze instantly.

Its large bat head slowly swiveled, revealing Ila standing there, looking down at it with an icy gaze.

Ila’s eyes, ever so slightly narrowed, met Yaya’s with a chilling gaze that promised death. It sent a wave of visceral terror through Yaya, chilling it to the core.

‘If I’m caught by my master, I’ll surely die,’ Yaya thought, trembling. ‘Absolutely, irrevocably dead!’

–Master! I was wrong!– Yaya squeaked, flapping its tiny wings frantically, intent on escaping this perilous spot through the window.

‘If she catches me, I’ll definitely be taken apart!’

With an utterly expressionless face, Ila pinched the little bat’s large head between her fingers, observing indifferently as the small creature fluttered its tiny wings in a futile struggle.

–Clean this up. Otherwise? Understand?–

–Understood, understood, understood!–

—Hup! Hup! Haa!—

Mona swung her small fists, striking the sandbag before her again and again.

In the pale moonlight, a small piece of paper with the name ‘Leila’ written on it was clearly visible, taped to the sandbag.

Puff… puff…

Mona leaned her head against the sandbag, her head bowed as she gasped for breath. Her white twin-tails were drenched with sweat, and numerous abrasions marred her exposed arms.

‘I must become stronger, far stronger,’ she vowed internally, ‘only then will I have the means to find my brother!’

A parrot named Dumpling flew onto Mona’s shoulder, opening its beak to gently nip at her ear.

–Dumpling, what’s wrong?– Mona asked, looking at the unusually behaving parrot. She finally snapped out of her intense training. –Oh, is it truly this late already?–

–I need to hurry home, otherwise Sister Ila will worry.–

Mona rubbed her arms, which had become incredibly sore from a day of training, grimacing slightly as she touched the scrapes on them.

‘Sister Ila, really,’ she thought with a sigh. ‘She knows how hard I’m striving to become a Magical Girl, all to bring back my brother. So how could she possibly arrange for Teacher Bele not to teach us combat techniques?’

‘I’ve waited an entire year for this! It was so hard to find a teacher willing to come to a remote backwater like Qingling Town. And I even considered her my best friend!’ she fumed.

Mona pouted, settling onto a rock. As she packed her belongings, her mind was filled with resentful thoughts.

‘It’s not as if I haven’t watched enough Magical Girl anime,’ she reflected. ‘I’m well aware that I might have a tiny psychological issue. But that’s not what matters right now. It wouldn’t be too late to focus on that after I’ve strengthened my abilities first…’

‘Could it be that after Sister Ila recovered her memories, her feelings for me simply faded?’

‘No, that can’t be right. If that were the case, Sister Ila wouldn’t have pleaded with her own sister, Bele, to become our teacher.’

‘Still, Mona couldn’t shake the feeling that the timeline was somehow muddled; something felt profoundly wrong.’

Yet, after a full day of training, her mind felt utterly blank. She couldn’t pinpoint what was amiss, so she simply shook her head, dismissing the intrusive thoughts.

Mona finished packing her things and mounted her bicycle, preparing for the ride home.

–Go, go, Magical Girl!–

–Go, go, fly higher!–

Mona hummed the lyrics she always used to cheer herself on, slowly pedaling down the deserted street.

Sniff, sniff…

–W-woo… help me…–

‘Huh? Who’s speaking?’

As Mona passed by a temple, she thought she heard a child weeping.

‘Was I just imagining things?’

–There’s a monster! Help me!–

This time, the voice echoed clearly within Mona’s mind.

She cautiously parked her bicycle and stepped carefully into the temple. As a Magical Girl, Mona wasn’t particularly afraid.

‘Ridiculous,’ she scoffed internally. ‘I am Qingling Town’s esteemed Magical Girl! What could possibly scare me?’

‘That voice must be coming from deeper inside,’ she surmised.

Sniff, sniff…

The scent of blood was incredibly thick.

Mona’s brow furrowed slightly, and her small hand instinctively clutched the crystal prism of the Holy Relic hanging around her neck.

As she ventured deeper into the temple, Mona discovered that the Buddha statues were splattered with fresh blood. The pungent, metallic stench made her clap a hand over her mouth, a wave of nausea washing over her.

This gruesome sight, however, didn’t scare her away. Instead, she quickened her pace, rushing further inside.

‘The child who kept crying for help must be in grave danger,’ she thought urgently. ‘I need to get there quickly.’

Mona felt no hesitation or fear, only an overwhelming surge of concern for the child in peril.

Upon reaching the deepest part of the temple, the smell of blood intensified to an almost unbearable degree. Black, web-like substances coated all the surrounding walls.

Inside stood an eight-legged, spider-like monster, tearing at a corpse before it with sickening chomps. Seven or eight other bodies, already stripped to bone, hung from the rafters like grotesque works of art, suspended by the black webbing.

Beside the monster, a small girl was also bound by webs, suspended helplessly in a massive spiderweb.

Mona’s eyes widened in horror, and her entire body began to tremble as she stared at the hellish scene before her.

A sudden memory flashed through her mind, knowledge gleaned from the Magical Girl Encyclopedia. She instantly recognized the creature as the sworn enemy of Magical Girls, a demon polluting this world.

A Cadaver Beast!

As if sensing another living presence behind it, the Cadaver Beast slowly twisted its head. Its repulsive, spider-like maw continued to chew its meal, flecks of blood and bone fragments scattering onto the floor.

Four black, bead-like eyes fixated on Mona with an unsettling intensity. Beneath its neck, three star-shaped markings became visible in the moonlight.