Chapter 40: A Reluctant Alliance: The Dance of Blades and the Weight of the Past

The summer night air remained warm. The verdant greenery within the park’s woods was now enveloped by the deepening twilight. From the nearby grass, a chorus of insects chirped, and an ineffable sense of tranquility permeated the air.

Asherah, Baoyu, and String Moon, three magical girls, sat on a park bench near the lamplight, quietly listening as Polaris recounted the details she had heard during a meeting at the Department of Magic Supervision.

Baoyu, ever the diligent student, listened intently, committing to memory all information concerning the Epidemic-Spreading Corrupted Entities and the young individuals capable of transforming into them. Asherah, too, appeared utterly absorbed, though Baoyu suspected the girl was more captivated by the act of ‘Polaris speaking’ itself, with the actual content perhaps holding little significance for her.

As for String Moon… Baoyu secretly glanced at her. String Moon’s distracted demeanor instantly brought to mind those boys in class who, having stayed up late gaming, would drift in and out of consciousness during the first morning lesson, barely clinging to wakefulness despite looking on the verge of collapse.

While such a spirit of persistence was admirable, it ultimately led only to being mercilessly called upon by the teacher, becoming the class’s unwitting spectacle.

“In short, the situation within the city has become quite serious,” Polaris explained. “To ensure everyone’s safety as much as possible—and considering the possibility of another encounter with an Epidemic-Spreading Corrupted Entity—the operational zones for each squad have been adjusted. In addition, all patrols and subjugation missions against Corrupted Entities within the city must now be carried out by full squad deployments. And then there’s—”

‘Could it be that we might have to fight ordinary people who can transform into Corrupted Entities again, or enemies like Black Mirror?’ The thought brought a palpable wave of pressure upon Baoyu. What troubled her wasn’t the prospect of battling an Epidemic-Spreading Corrupted Entity—an enemy she knew she couldn’t possibly defeat on her own—but rather her apprehension about whether she could maintain her composure when facing “humans” like Wen Qiusheng, the boy who had ambushed her in their last encounter.

The memory of their previous battle remained vivid. She recalled Wen Qiusheng’s merciless thrust, the excruciating pain in her shoulder as if it had been impaled, and the utterly despairing moment she watched him prepare to finish her, unable to evade. She hadn’t even imagined she could muster a counterattack in such a dire situation.

It had been similar during her subsequent clash with Black Mirror. When she realized Black Mirror was about to strike, she had instinctively channeled nearly all her remaining magic into her hunting rifle, leaving a conspicuous wound on Black Mirror’s body under Polaris’s protection. While it hadn’t seemed to have any lasting effect, still…

Her actions then hadn’t been the result of calm deliberation; rather, a powerful emotion had driven her to resist. It felt like a rage she barely recognized, transforming her into a furious beast, determined to tear a piece of flesh from its adversary even in its dying throes.

More than the enemy, it was her past self that now sent a shiver down her spine. She wished to remain self-controlled and calm in any situation. While she could accept becoming flustered or even making a fool of herself out of fear or injury, embracing the immaturity she imagined within herself, the extreme impulsiveness and desire to attack… she had never anticipated such a manifestation.

Unbeknownst to her, she might have already opened an unknown Pandora’s Box within her heart.

“Baoyu?” Polaris paused, struck by the girl’s worried expression. “Are you alright?”

“Ah, I’m fine, Senior.” She waved a hand, indicating she was perfectly alright. “I was just pondering some things.”

“If you’re feeling overwhelmed, taking some time off recently would be perfectly acceptable,” Polaris offered. “And if I recall correctly, your school exams are next week, Baoyu. Do you have enough time to review?”

Baoyu understood the unspoken meaning behind the words: the upcoming battles’ intensity was likely unsuitable for a newcomer lacking her experience and skills. Reality, she knew, was not a game where one rapidly grew stronger simply by encountering a few extremely difficult early-stage battles. She possessed a clear self-awareness of her abilities, and Polaris’s suggestion genuinely stemmed from concern for her well-being. More time to study would undoubtedly give her greater confidence for her exams.

Considering her capabilities and the reality of the situation, this multiple-choice question seemed to present no difficulty.

Yet, from the very beginning, this had never been a choice.

“It’s alright, Senior,” Baoyu replied. “I want to continue acting alongside everyone. I believe in our collective strength, and even more so, I trust in your ability to protect us.”

“Moreover, if I were to simply stand by, watching events unfold and escalate without doing anything, even I would feel a sense of resentment.”

It was indeed an excellent response, expressing her thoughts and confidence while attempting to consider the feelings of others. Asherah, clearly pleased by Baoyu’s carefully articulated answer, nodded vigorously as she patted Baoyu’s shoulder.

“Exactly, Senior, we can do this! If we really run into Black Mirror, I’ll definitely give her a good beating!”

“Confidence is good,” Polaris affirmed, “but always consider everyone’s situation before acting in battle. Never rush into things alone, and always conserve enough magic for self-preservation. Since we all choose to trust each other, don’t try to bear everything by yourself.”

Having finished her admonishments to Asherah and Baoyu, Polaris turned her gaze to String Moon, who had offered neither thoughts nor opinions. “I also asked String Moon on the way here, and she’s confirmed her schedule allows her to participate for the foreseeable future.”

String Moon responded with a fleeting, almost imperceptible nod.

“Our team has only recently been formed,” Polaris continued, “so we’re still somewhat unfamiliar with each other’s magical equipment abilities and fighting styles. Therefore, I’d like to organize a few simulated training sessions soon, to allow everyone to become more acquainted with each other’s capabi—”

“Beep beep beep beep!”

A sudden, urgent electronic alert interrupted Polaris’s speech. Simultaneously, several different notification sounds emanated from each of them, prompting everyone present to instinctively pull out their phones and look at the highlighted message on their screens.

It was a notification of a Corrupted Entity’s emergence.

Lianshan Road, abandoned factory, Infiltration-level Corrupted Entity, rescue trapped civilians—Baoyu quickly extracted these keywords from the information hub.

“Senior, let’s go deal with this,” Baoyu suggested. “The distance displayed indicates it’s not too far from us.”

“Wait, Asherah, this needs everyone’s collective agreement before we act—String Moon?!”

Before Polaris could even solicit opinions or issue instructions, a flash of blue light streaked past them, soaring into the sky at incredible speed. Clearly, String Moon had paid no heed to Polaris’s emphasis on teamwork; she flew off alone towards the target, covering a significant distance from them in the blink of an eye.

“There’s no choice now,” Polaris sighed. “Everyone, follow her for now.”

“Whoa, how does she fly so fast? Wait for me, wait for me!”

With things having come to this, Baoyu could only follow closely behind Polaris and Asherah, flying towards String Moon’s direction. Just as Asherah exclaimed, String Moon’s flight speed was astonishingly swift; even with Baoyu chasing at full throttle, she could only watch the distance between them grow ever wider, as if a blue meteor was streaking across the night sky ahead, constantly accelerating.

****

The target for this expedition was an Infiltration-level Corrupted Entity lurking in an abandoned factory district. The alert had been issued by a factory worker who, pursued by the entity, had snapped an incredibly blurry and low-resolution photo during his escape. Despite the excessive flash exposure, referencing nearby environmental cues, it was roughly discernible as a Corrupted Entity approximately four meters tall, with a stout build and notably long arms. This matched the criteria for an Infiltration-level Corrupted Entity: a significantly larger physique compared to the typically two-meter-tall In-Situ Corrupted Entities, and limbs that exhibited more pronounced mutations.

Beyond the striking external changes, the most crucial transformation within an Infiltration-level Corrupted Entity lay in its interior: they possessed a “core” analogous to a human heart. With this core, their existence became far more stable, and they gained a certain degree of mastery over and resistance to magic, consequently posing a greater threat.

For the magical girls, this implied that attacks aimed at the entity’s exterior would no longer be as effective. Failing to locate and shatter the core within the Corrupted Entity’s body would render defeating them in a short timeframe an almost impossible task.

By the time Baoyu arrived at the scene, she saw that String Moon had not immediately engaged in battle. Instead, she hovered in mid-air above the factory, awaiting their arrival. Given the urgency of the situation, rather than reprimanding String Moon for her rash actions, Polaris immediately inquired about the status of the scene.

“Have you discovered anything, String Moon?”

“There’s a lot of movement, and the ground tremors are very strong.”

While String Moon remained as taciturn as ever, her previous languid demeanor had vanished. Her sharp gaze was fixed on the building below, piercing through the haze like a blade.

“It’s been lurking around down there,” String Moon stated. “The person should be inside.”

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s rush in together!”

String Moon glanced at Asherah’s gauntlets, then at the hunting rifle on Baoyu’s back, and shook her head.

“You’re not needed.”

She abruptly delivered a statement that was both incredibly rude and ill-timed.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!”

Ignoring Asherah, String Moon calmly issued instructions to the other two: “[Pointing at Baoyu] You find the person. Polaris and I will fight.”

Having spoken, she flew straight down, crashing through a window and plunging into the factory’s pitch-black interior, leaving a visibly vexed Asherah behind.

“What is her problem! Is she looking down on me! Damn it!” To Asherah, the other girl was simply haughtily ordering her around, which she found utterly unacceptable. Thus, she too rushed into the factory right behind String Moon.

“Baoyu, do as String Moon said first. Prioritize finding and ensuring the person’s safety.”

“Understood, Senior.”

Upon entering the factory, Baoyu enveloped herself in a faint layer of magic. There was no other choice; visibility was already limited at night, and now she was inside a factory with no operational lighting, the moonlight from above completely blocked by the metal shell. Without using magic as a partial light source, she could barely see anything at all.

The surrounding machinery and steel frameworks piled up, creating natural obstacles that rendered the entire environment complex and irregular. The intermittent rumbling vibrations made these neglected facilities and equipment exceedingly dangerous, and now and then, the sound of heavy objects crashing to the ground with each tremor echoed through the space.

‘Where would the person be hiding in such an environment?’ Baoyu wondered, searching for any sign of them in the dimness. The sounds of battle had already erupted not far away. If the person retained consciousness or mobility, they should have realized the magical girls had arrived and would be trying every possible way to call for help. Yet, in reality, she heard no cries and saw no light signaling their location.

The air, thick with the stench of rust and dust from the chaotic battle, tightened her chest. Baoyu hastened her movements, scrambling over a collapsed scaffolding that lay diagonally before her, her gaze constantly sweeping over every inch of the surrounding space, desperate to find a trace of the person needing rescue.

Another deafening crash reverberated, and faintly, she thought she heard Asherah speaking. ‘This won’t do,’ she thought. ‘If this continues, even if the person needing help were to make a sound, it would be drowned out by the surrounding noise. Moreover, the nearby construction materials and facilities cannot withstand so many repeated tremors. If a large-scale collapse is triggered, the person’s survival space will be further reduced.’

Therefore, Baoyu shouted at the top of her lungs towards the other side: “Senior, please restrict its movements!”

She didn’t know how it was accomplished on the other side, but after Baoyu conveyed her message, the frequency of the surrounding vibrations distinctly decreased. The crashing noises of heavy objects impacting the environment gradually faded, replaced by an unfamiliar sound—like a bullet tearing through the air, yet subtly different.

Finally, stepping over shards of glass and detached metal plates and squeezing past a broken railing, Baoyu’s steps faltered. She noticed a small piece of fabric hanging from the railing beside her—dirty and torn, yet its color stood out sharply against the iron-grey background. She crouched down, picked it up, and realized it was likely a corner of a uniform, its edge still showing the jagged tear marks left from being caught on metal.

‘It must have been torn when they hurriedly left this spot,’ she mused. ‘The person might be nearby.’

Without hesitation, Baoyu followed the direction of the fabric, navigating through the fragmented machinery wreckage. About half a minute later, she found a clue near several overturned iron barrels: marks on the ground suggested someone had fallen, the scattered dust proving helpful.

Pushing aside several collapsed wooden planks, Baoyu saw a man lying on his side, covered in dust. His left leg was pinned by several iron plates, and there was a wound on his forehead. As Baoyu moved the iron plates, she tried to call out to him, but he appeared unconscious, his lips merely twitching slightly as if muttering in a dream.

Her priority now should be to get him to a safe area, yet Baoyu found herself in a predicament regarding how to move him. If he had fractured bones, carelessly handling him could worsen his injuries. Although she could fashion a makeshift stretcher from nearby wooden planks and ropes, moving him safely by herself would still be incredibly difficult.

Just as she was grappling with this dilemma, a figure landed beside her: Asherah.

“I’ll help,” Asherah offered. “Let’s quickly carry him out.”

“Ah, yes, that’s a huge help,” Baoyu responded. “I’ll take this side, let’s secure him with a rope first…”

Although Baoyu was curious as to why Asherah seemed rather displeased, for now, she quickly joined her in moving the injured man onto the wooden planks. After securing him with ropes, they worked together to carry him to a safe spot outside the factory.

“Ugh, that girl completely stole my chance to shine in front of Senior this time,” Asherah grumbled under her breath after confirming the injured man was out of harm’s way.

“What happened?”

“Well, that big guy’s body felt like hitting rubber; no matter how much I punched it, it just kept getting back up. Our combat compatibility is just terrible.”

“And then…” Asherah pouted slightly, her fists clashing as if they had nowhere to vent their frustration. “String Moon said I only cause trouble, and Senior told me to come help you. What’s that supposed to mean, ‘only cause trouble’…”

“Well, anyway, let’s go back and check on the situation.”

Although Baoyu wanted to comfort Asherah, who looked utterly wronged, she secretly understood String Moon’s implication. Regardless, the previous commotion had indeed likely been Asherah’s doing.

Asherah seemed to give her all in every battle, which was certainly a good thing. However, sometimes overexertion could indeed cause unnecessary damage. Perhaps String Moon had considered this very point when she temporarily removed Asherah from the fight.

Upon returning to the factory, Baoyu immediately heard that strange sound again. “Asherah, did you hear anything?”

“Oh, that? I know it. It’s the sound of String Moon’s magical equipment.”

“Magical equipment?”

“Yeah, it’s a fast-moving, glowing thing flying around in the air. Looks like a disc.”

From Asherah’s description, String Moon’s magical equipment appeared to have a frisbee-like appearance. As they continued to approach the source of the sound, Baoyu finally saw String Moon and Polaris still locked in battle with the Corrupted Entity.

Polaris seemed to be consistently fulfilling the role of defender, using her translucent round shield to successfully block the Corrupted Entity’s heavy blows time and again. She wasn’t merely defending; amidst the complex terrain, she continuously used her movements as bait, drawing the entity’s attacks and shifts, effectively pinning the massive Corrupted Entity in place and thus weakening the threat posed by its long arms.

As for String Moon, she… she was dancing in the air. This was not a mere figure of speech but a factual description. Unlike the conventional flying and hovering movements of magical girls, String Moon moved with remarkable speed through the air in a series of leaps. It seemed there were invisible footholds in the air that only she could perceive, allowing her to execute one graceful and agile movement after another.

Through such movements, her attacks became even more unpredictable. Just as Asherah had mentioned, String Moon’s magical equipment appeared to be a glowing blue disc. Once she hurled it, it would fly towards the Corrupted Entity at extreme speed, accompanied by a sound of tearing air.

Even when the Corrupted Entity detected the attack and attempted to block it with its arms, the disc would curve sharply in mid-air just before being intercepted, grazing past the entity’s body. Then, it would spin back, directly striking the Corrupted Entity’s back, causing it to stiffen and suffer damage, before swiftly returning to String Moon’s hand. After a brief pause, she would hurl it again.

‘A boomerang-like disc, achieving irregular curved movements through its own rotation? But how does it produce that strange, slicing sound? And that magical equipment… is its exterior truly “round”?’

The wounds on the Corrupted Entity provided Baoyu with a crucial clue: it bore several distinct, tearing wounds, with the back being the most severely damaged. A greasy, paste-like substance occasionally dripped from these wounds. Such injuries could not have been inflicted by a weapon with a circular appearance.

The spinning circle in the air… was probably just an afterimage created by its high-speed rotation.

Noticing Asherah and Baoyu’s arrival, String Moon understood that the person needing rescue in the area had been safely evacuated, leaving only the thick-skinned Corrupted Entity before them as the target. “It’s about time. Go.”

Dazzling azure magic burst forth from the magical equipment in her hand. Seizing this opportunity, Baoyu finally got a clear look at the true form of the equipment: it was a strangely shaped weapon, entirely cerulean blue, appearing to be composed of three twisted, sharp blades joined together. The edges of the blades were slightly curved like a crescent moon, etched with patterns that seemed to flow. Though the blades were as thin as cicada wings, they had already proven their formidable power in the battle against the Corrupted Entity.

At the center connecting each blade was embedded a lake-blue crystal. When String Moon grasped it, infused it with magic, and threw it, it began to spin at high speed in the air. The circling blades gradually transformed into a “circle,” carving an elegant yet dangerous arc through the air like a swallow soaring across the sky. Where it passed, the air trembled faintly, and clothes fluttered gently.

It was wind, or rather, airflow; its movement created swirling currents like flowing starlight. It effortlessly bypassed the Corrupted Entity’s arms, which were attempting to protect its body, then veered in mid-air once it reached behind it, as if mocking the entity’s incompetence before directly embedding itself into the exposed wound on its back, repeatedly attacked already.

“It’s over.”

As String Moon turned, the combination of blades and airflow became a terrifying instrument of torture, cutting through the Corrupted Entity’s interior, continuously rotating, relentlessly burrowing inward, until the dazzling Eye of Wind shattered the foul heart that sustained its movements within its body.

The sound of the wind brought tidings of victory. Amidst a spectacular explosion, String Moon reached out and caught her returning magical equipment, while Polaris swiftly caught an unconscious man wearing a hard hat, who had appeared from within the annihilated Corrupted Entity. With that, the battle officially drew to a close.

“…I hate to admit it, but that girl really has some skills,” Asherah’s somewhat petulant voice came from behind Baoyu. “But the way she talks is so annoying. How is anyone supposed to get along with her?”

“…”

Indeed, putting aside her abilities as a magical girl, String Moon’s attitude was certainly a headache. She disregarded orders and, rather than merely bossing others around, seemed to prefer fighting and acting in her own way. While Asherah could sometimes be reckless, her initial intention was always to cooperate and fight alongside others; she yearned for companionship. String Moon, however… she didn’t appear to have any desire to integrate into the team.

“Perhaps… in some ways, she’s just like you, Asherah.”

“Like me?”

“Yes.” Gazing at String Moon’s retreating back, Baoyu recalled some information she had unintentionally overheard shortly after joining the Department of Magic Supervision. “I heard there’s a magical girl named String Moon who, like you, used to always be a lone wolf, acting by herself. Although she joined many teams, in the end… she always returned to being alone.”