Volume 2: Prologue

Late at night, only sparse starlight struggled through the thick clouds to scatter weakly over the pitch-black ground.

The branches of the street trees swayed in the howling wind, creaking in a way that made hearts race. The wind blew through the leaves, producing sounds that seemed to hint at some nameless, lurking presence. On the empty streets, only the occasional cry of an unknown animal could be heard from afar.

On nights like this, even those who usually considered themselves brave would unconsciously quicken their pace, avoiding walking at night, seeking the safety of home.

Yet, at such a time, on the rooftop of a high-rise in the core commercial district of this small city, the flickering red aviation warning lights revealed the silhouettes of two girls.

The girls stood shoulder to shoulder on the edge of the high-rise. If it were daytime, anyone passing by would likely assume someone was attempting to commit suicide and might already have called the police.

But these two girls were clearly not there for that. The wind at such a height could exert a strong force on a person, yet the slender girls seemed unaffected; only their hair fluttering in the wind betrayed the air currents.

“Yue, you don’t need to blame yourself. We got here as fast as we could to handle it.”

The girl on the left had slightly curled, light-golden long hair. She turned her head, and her dark-golden eyes seemed to emit a faint glow in the night, her gaze falling on the girl to her right with obvious concern.

“…”

The girl called Yue said nothing, only staring with her red eyes at the ground more than a hundred meters below. There lay a human corpse, so disfigured that its appearance was barely recognizable, with other indescribable objects scattered around it.

Citing the recent deterioration of public safety, the Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) had ordered the local government into an emergency state, implementing a series of control measures. One of these was a curfew: everyone must return to their residences by ten o’clock and remain there until morning.

Yet such decrees could not stop everyone from going out.

And so this happened. After several days without food, this abnormal creature had suddenly detected the scent of prey and immediately launched an attack.

The two girls on night patrol sensed the surge of magical power and adjusted their flight path, reaching the scene in under three minutes.

What awaited them was only a dog-like abnormality ravenously feeding on a corpse. Yue raised her hand and formed an ice spear with her magic, firing it at near-supersonic speed. The creature didn’t even have time to react before it was pierced, its internal magical crystal precisely hit.

Instantly, the abnormality could no longer maintain its existence; its outer shell melted into a puddle of sludge, leaving only a dull, lifeless core.

This so-called abnormal core, studied by the SIB, was believed to store the creature’s magical energy and consciousness.

When the attack reached this point, the creature’s consciousness vanished for some reason, leaving only a pure magic-storage device—more useful than the high-priced magical containers specially made by the SIB.

Thus, collecting the core after eliminating an abnormality was also an important task.

The light-golden-haired girl—if a pink-haired magical girl named Xia Kexin were present—would immediately recognize her as Gu Yanhan, a senior who lived in the same apartment complex.

In the magical-girl environment, filled with girls, Xia Kexin often felt out of place, unable to easily join conversations or share her hobbies.

Yet Gu Yanhan, a seemingly perfect and quiet girl, shared many topics in common with Kexin, so within a few months, they had become quite close.

At this moment, red and blue flashing lights appeared on the streets, accompanied by the shrill sound of police sirens approaching.

Gu Yanhan immediately reported to the SIB. The vehicles disguised as local police cars were actually special SIB vehicles.

Since the fight was over, their task was to collect the corpse remains and clean up the sludge left by the abnormality. News reports the next day would only mention someone violating the curfew and being tragically killed by a criminal.

For several weeks, this small city, Chifeng, had witnessed multiple unusual murders.

Some had no identifiable perpetrator, with surveillance cameras only capturing the scene of the victim’s death; others involved frenzied, inexplicable attacks on people.

It was only when magical girls stationed in the city noticed abnormalities that the SIB headquarters took the near-crisis seriously.

Many magical girls were mobilized from across the federation to stabilize the singularity.

Yet since the singularity had been open for some time, a significant number of abnormal creatures still roamed outside.

“We can head back now. According to plan, we should return to Muzhou,” Gu Yanhan suggested.

Although SIB staff couldn’t eliminate abnormalities as easily as magical girls, with special equipment, ordinary abnormalities still had little advantage.

With their patrol shift nearly over, the remaining work could be left to the next shift.

Yet Yezi Yue seemed not to hear her companion, standing motionless as if she had unfinished business here.

Even after all these years, Gu Yanhan didn’t know what was going through Yue’s mind, but since she refused to leave, Gu Yanhan would stay as well.

Gu Yanhan gazed at Yue’s profile. The red-eyed girl’s face was soft and delicate, like a masterpiece sculpted by an artist. Beneath her straight nose were petals-like lips, tightly closed. Gu Yanhan thought that if angels existed in this world, Yue would be even more beautiful. A faint smile curved on Gu Yanhan’s lips.

But at that moment, a violent surge of air suddenly struck. This was no ordinary wind; the air carried a sinister, eerie aura, as if some catastrophe was about to occur, filling them with a sense of foreboding.

Both girls sensed an anomaly almost simultaneously, reacting instantly and turning to face the source.

A third person had appeared on the rooftop. In the dim light, without night-vision magic, only his silhouette was visible—a lean adult male, seemingly in his twenties according to Gu Yanhan’s estimation.

They had chosen a place inaccessible to ordinary people. His presence was not ordinary.

“Who are you?” Gu Yanhan stepped forward, placing Yue behind her, demanding to know the identity of the mysterious man.

He ignored her, snorted, hands in his pockets, and slowly approached.

From this distance, magical girls could sense his magical energy—it was far stronger than any ordinary demon hunter.

“An abnormal?” Gu Yanhan judged.

“That term is a bit rude. I think it carries a touch of discrimination.”

He smirked with disdain, his eyes mocking, as if looking at two ants.

“I see.”

Gu Yanhan had never encountered an abnormal like this. Most encountered immediately attack magical girls; while intelligent, they rarely behaved like this.

Kill or be killed.

“Still not running? Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance,” the man said with a trace of surprise.

Gu Yanhan activated detection magic, and according to the combat system, this abnormal ranked roughly Delta-1. Slightly stronger than the weakest abnormalities, but nothing extraordinary.

Why such arrogance? Perhaps he was hiding his true strength.

Gu Yanhan raised her vigilance.

“Then don’t blame me for being impolite. Awooo~~” The man suddenly howled, his clothes tearing as his body expanded, arms thicker than Gu Yanhan’s waist.

Under his armpits grew scythe-like appendages resembling mantis forelegs.

“How dare you little magical girls act up in front of me? I’ll deal with you!”

The mantis abnormal leaped like a starving wolf.

Gu Yanhan didn’t flinch, gripping her twin-handed sword.

“Sounds like you’ve fought magical girls before,” she muttered.

“Hmph, just a bunch of brats who talk big,” the man sneered.

Gu Yanhan entered the abnormal’s traits into the SIB database, but found no match; this was its first encounter.

The mantis appendages aimed at Gu Yanhan’s neck, intending a lethal strike.

As he swung, he realized something was wrong—his mantis arm was blocked mid-air.

Only then did he notice the silent magical girl. Her brow furrowed, lips pressed tight, exuding impatience. A massive amount of magical energy gathered around her, like a surging wave.

“Impossible! Magical girls can’t have this much magic. Who are you?!”

“Don’t act like you understand magical girls, dead mantis.”

“What did you call me?”

“Dead mantis. I suggest you speak less to keep your body intact.” After a brief exchange, Gu Yanhan estimated the abnormal’s strength at least Gamma-level; even basic shields couldn’t touch him.

The mantis abnormal, realizing his danger, tried to escape. As he jumped, two wind blades cut off his legs.

The abnormal fell, shocked to see his feet meters away, blood gushing.

Yet abnormalities feel no pain; losing legs meant nothing.

“Don’t kill me! I can give you important info!”

This abnormal chose to kneel and beg rather than heal.

“Too noisy.”

Yue’s first words. She didn’t care what he said. The thick grimoire floating beside her flipped pages, her right hand waved lightly, and a cut opened across the abnormal’s neck.

“Told you—say less and die with dignity.”

The abnormal tried to speak but couldn’t. More wind blades shredded him into pieces.

“Strange,” Gu Yanhan murmured, watching the now-motionless body.