Chapter 23: Beneath the Rookie Exterior

“Kill them all. Not one left.”

Luka’s youthful but forceful voice echoed through the air.

Moye had been standing there, dazed, watching Luka tear apart the bat-winged demons. She snapped out of it and shuddered.

“Roger that! I’m coming, Luka!”

A flush of excitement spread across Moye’s face. “I’ve watched you show off long enough. Now it’s my turn!”

Before she finished speaking, she lunged at the nearest bat-winged demon.

Alesia, still in shock, frowned slightly at Luka’s commanding tone.

But the flicker of irritation was quickly pushed aside by a sense of duty.

She decided not to worry about who outranked whom.

Focusing her will, she squeezed out every last drop of her remaining magic and shouted:

“Unique Magic, [Word of Mockery]!”

Her voice suddenly pulsed with heavy magical energy.

“You cowardly beasts! Are you going to give up and flee?”

Alesia’s voice rang high and clear. “If your commanders find out that fourteen bat-winged demons got torn to pieces by a single magical girl rookie, what do you think they’ll do to you?”

“If there’s even a shred of wisdom and honor left in your ugly hearts, turn around and fight me! At least then, you might still have a chance to survive!”

Alesia’s voice carried a soul-shaking persuasiveness, forcing its way into the ears of the five bat-winged demons.

Shame and rage appeared on their ugly, terrified faces.

The five demons stopped their escape mid-flight. One by one, they snapped their wings and turned to charge at Alesia.

“Alesia, nice work!”

Luka praised her, then looked at Moye. “Moye, hold your fire!”

“Got it!”

Moye nodded knowingly and immediately pulled back her magic, letting her magic rifle cool down before it fired.

The two of them moved, circling wide and coming up behind the five bat-winged demons, cutting off any escape route.

The five demons had gathered around Alesia. In seconds, they would be upon her.

Luka and Moye exchanged a glance. They raised their magic rifles, one for each target, and aimed at the demons’ undefended backs.

Bang! Bang!

Two shots rang out almost at once.

The heads of the two demons in front of them burst apart, brains splattering.

The gunshots and the sight of their comrades’ corpses snapped the remaining three demons out of their daze.

Their blood-red eyes went blank for a moment, then widened in pure terror.

They clearly couldn’t understand how they had gotten so hot-blooded, how they had thrown away their chance to escape and walked straight back under the hunter’s blade.

Seeing their terrified expressions, Luka curled her lips into a cold smile and gave the final order:

“One each!”

“Right!”

Moye and Alesia nodded at the same time and each locked onto a bat-winged demon, keeping it from escaping.

Luka fixed her eyes on the last demon, which was running for its life.

Seeing two of its companions tangled up with a pair of two-star Magicas, the demon’s face lit up with relief.

It beat its wings with everything it had, stirring up a gust of wind, and tried to use the opening to get away.

But just as it turned its head, a small face appeared upside down in its field of view, right in front of it.

Only a few inches from its face!

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Luka hung in the air upside down, eyes narrowed, revealing her little fang. “Leaving? You should have told me first.”

The demon stared at that cute, harmless-looking little face. Its scalp felt like it was about to explode.

This was the face of the one who had just butchered most of its squad with terrifying efficiency!

“Skreeee!”

The demon let out a shriek completely at odds with its hulking, vicious form, and backflipped in panic, nearly dropping its magic rifle.

“I thought the demon army were all bloodless, tearless monsters. Beasts without any feelings.”

Luka slowly righted herself and licked her lips. “So you do feel fear. You really do strike this panicked, desperate pose. That’s wonderful.”

She raised her magic rifle and slowly advanced on the demon.

“I’m sure we’ll have a lot in common when it comes to the pleasure of executing prey.”

Seeing Luka’s bloodthirsty look, the last shred of hope inside the demon shattered.

Gathering what little courage remained, it raised its bayonet with trembling hands, let out a hoarse howl, and charged at Luka in despair.

The battle ended without any suspense.

Once a bat-winged demon was stripped of its casting ability and shield, a one-on-one fight with a magical girl had only one possible outcome.

Luka landed on the ground. She stared blankly at the mangled, gruesome remains of the demon in front of her, her expression distant, as if lost in thought.

Moye approached, a little worried.

“Luka, are… are you okay?”

Moye looked at her with concern and waved a hand in front of Luka’s eyes to get her attention.

“…Huh? Oh, oh, I’m fine.”

Luka snapped back and quickly nodded at Moye. “Just a little tired. Don’t worry.”

“Really? I’m telling you, the way you fought just now was really off.”

Moye frowned. “Do you realize? The way you slaughtered and toyed with those bat-winged demons, it didn’t seem like you.

“It was like… like you were some crazy, bloodthirsty berserker!”

“What?”

Luka was taken aback.

She propped her chin on her hand and carefully thought back over the whole fight.

It was a little strange, wasn’t it?

A lot of what she had said and done didn’t fit her usual calm style.

Especially how she had cruelly butchered that last demon. She had really lost her composure.

It was as if some switch inside her had been flipped, and she had let herself run wild.

Now that she had calmed down, she felt a little disgusted with that insane version of herself.

Could this be another side effect of the Death Rewind?

There was no solid evidence for that. She would just have to keep an eye on it in the future.

Luka rubbed her face and shook off the tangled thoughts.

“Moye, you’re right. I did lose my composure back there.”

Luka nodded. “Thanks for the reminder. I’ll be careful from now on and try not to let it happen again.”

Before Moye could respond, a cool voice came from behind them:

“There’s nothing wrong with it. As a soldier, when a dangerous battle stirs your blood and courage, and you unleash more power than usual, that’s a point of pride.”

Alesia appeared.

“But that kind of thing almost never happens with a rookie. And no one should be able to wipe out an entire bat-winged demon squad almost single-handedly.

“Rookie, tell me. Are you really a rookie?

“More specifically, what exactly is hiding underneath that rookie exterior?”

She stared hard at Luka, as if trying to see through her cute, small appearance and uncover the truth hiding inside.

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