Chapter 42: The Scythe of Resolve

Ila fell silent.

Her hand, gripping the scythe, trembled.

Seeing her words had shaken Ila’s resolve, Qixian smirked, continuing to speak with the smiling visage of Magical Girl Haiwen.

“Captain, you must be lost right now, unsure of where you belong. After all, this world has no place for you.”

“Even if you’ve tried your utmost to suppress this desire, the moment you wield the Blood Demon Princess’s power, your body—that of an Abyssal fiend—instinctively pollutes this world.”

Qixian gestured to the ground beneath Ila’s feet. Though faint, a crimson Black Mud could be seen slowly creeping along Ila’s path, subtly eroding the area. She chuckled mockingly.

“The Magical Girls will never allow an Abyssal fiend to exist in the surface world for long, not even if you were once Magical Girl White Rose. What’s more, Captain, you personally severed all ties with the Magical Girls long before nine o’clock—and with the very person whose appearance I now wear!”

Qixian extended her right hand, tapping the slightly trembling scythe as if oblivious to its danger. She gently rubbed the sharp blade without a trace of fear.

Then, feigning a child’s pain after accidentally cutting her finger, she gasped, sucking her injured digit into her mouth.

“As the strongest Magical Girl, the moment you regained your memories, you were destined to be unable to integrate into the Abyss. Your soul simultaneously loathes and yearns for the Abyss; the contradiction born from your brainwashing leaves you bewildered, tormented. Hahahaha, how truly laughable!”

Mocking her in this manner, Qixian withdrew her injured finger from her cherry-red lips, scrutinizing it for any lingering scars.

“The Leila created was truly a genius.”

Qixian clapped her hands, laughing merrily. Then, maintaining Haiwen’s appearance, she reached out to Ila, her voice once again laced with temptation.

“You and I are both people abandoned by this world. Since you can’t discern who you are, come with us! Let’s cast aside the burdens of the past, forget everything about being a Magical Girl, and embark on the Star Road to destroy the Divine Tree and redeem this world!”

Qixian returned to her position beneath the scythe, as if time had flowed backward, and extended an olive branch to Ila once more.

According to her calculations, this time, Ila’s chances of refusing her should be significantly lower. Qixian had specifically chosen to act when Ila’s psyche was at its most vulnerable, and she was even using the appearance of Magical Girl Haiwen, the one Ila owed the most.

Moreover… even if Ila ultimately refused, Qixian wouldn’t lose anything.

Whoosh!

A crimson blade gleamed, reflecting the full moon like a nascent blood moon, as it slashed toward Qixian, who stood beneath the scythe.

The ribbons coiled around Ila’s arms elongated, extending to the scythe’s hilt. In an instant, her scarlet blood flowed along the ribbons’ patterns into the scythe. Demon marks, identical to those on Ila’s body, gradually appeared on the blade, culminating in a blood-stained rose on the hilt.

The scythe, now fully charged, had doubled in size. In Ila’s hands, it danced alluringly through the night sky, instantly lunging toward Qixian.

‘Hahahaha!’

‘Just as I thought, it failed…’

The charging time had provided ample opportunity for Qixian to escape the attack’s range. Moreover, such a broad, sweeping attack presented numerous openings.

Qixian sidestepped out of the attack’s path, clutching her twin guns, intending to launch a counterattack the moment Ila’s move concluded, during her recovery period.

With Haiwen’s speed, she could easily seize that fleeting chance to retaliate.

“Rewind~”

Ila sighed softly.

In that instant, Qixian felt a sudden blur. In the blink of an eye, her body was back in the exact position she had just occupied.

This time, Ila would grant Qixian no possibility of escape. The poised scythe diagonally tore through Qixian’s body. Simultaneously, Ila swung the scythe, using the momentum to turn and horizontally bisect the Qixian before her.

A peculiar X-shaped crimson blade mark appeared on Haiwen’s body, and the immense power sent Qixian flying several meters backward.

‘No blood flowed?’

Ila frowned slightly. She was certain her scythe had torn through the opponent’s flesh, yet no blood had gushed out as it had before.

“Hahaha, it seems Captain, you’re even more cold-blooded than I imagined! Good thing my original self knew a special life-saving spell, or I would have been dead for sure!”

Despite the massive wounds on her body, Qixian stood up as if nothing had happened. She pouted, looking displeased at the bloodless scars, and childishly stomped her feet twice.

“But Captain, you strike so brutally! Truly worthy of a Magical Girl who has fallen and blackened in the Abyss, showing no hesitation against a former comrade!”

“First, you are not my comrade. You are merely an impostor wearing her face.”

Using that appearance would only make her swing her blade faster.

Ila’s voice was somewhat hoarse. Her scythe scraped against the ground, making a harsh sound as she advanced toward Qixian, step by step.

“Second, I will absolutely not join you.”

Although the expression beneath her mask’s red eyes remained obscured, her words were as solid as bedrock—low, yet unyielding.

“That shouldn’t be! Aren’t you confused now, wondering who you truly are?”

Qixian’s smile faltered, replaced by an expression of disbelief as she stared at Ila, who was far calmer than anticipated. Normally, someone with a shattered psyche shouldn’t appear so composed.

She could clearly sense that Ila was still lost.

“Then what kind of reaction should I have?” Ila coldly demanded.

“Should I drop my weapon, too cowardly to attack an impostor like you, giving up all resistance?”

Ila’s lips curved into a mocking smile. Without changing her expression, she parried Qixian’s twin gun attacks with her scythe.

“Or should I completely fall and join your organization?”

“Perhaps I should burst into sorrowful tears and cry endlessly?”

She had initially worried that the impostor Qixian had mimicked would also replicate the Sacred Relic’s innate abilities, especially since Haiwen’s ability was the most troublesome: invalidation.

But now, it seemed Qixian’s imitation could only replicate appearance and basic strength. The fundamental Sacred Relic abilities simply couldn’t be copied.

“Why are you so calm, when your heart is clearly in turmoil, unlike your composed face?”

“I am indeed still lost.”

‘Unsure of who I should truly be, unsure of where I should belong.’

‘This isn’t something that can be resolved by a simple sentence or a single speech, leading to sudden enlightenment.’

“But that doesn’t hinder my battle.”

‘Confusion, perplexity, helplessness.’

‘All these things, for now, I will cast aside.’

It was just as Leila had told her, and as she had told Ye Yunchu.

Ila tilted her head slightly, looking up at the bright full moon above.

‘Just escape for now, then rise up and face the battle.’

‘When it’s time to fight, one shouldn’t be influenced by other miscellaneous thoughts. It’s not too late to ponder and change after the battle ends.’

Ila hadn’t found answers to her other questions, but she was absolutely clear on one thing she needed to do now.

That was to utterly eliminate Qixian, who had controlled Cadaver Beasts to harm her family and shamed her will by wearing a comrade’s face!

As for her confusion, once the battle was over, she could sit under any apple tree and ponder it then.

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