Chapter 26: The Invitation

"What are you doing!"

A furious shout was accompanied by a piercing, razor-sharp whistle through the air. Chiyo had already felt the wind pressing against her face. She immediately released the core crystal, the mud beneath her feet exploding as she leaned backward to dodge the strike. The moment she landed, she didn't pause, darting five or six meters backward to open up some distance, her eyes fixed coldly on Mai.

"I wasn't trying to hog it; I was just taking it down so we could split it!" Her voice was icy, laced with hidden fury. Had that blow landed squarely, she would have been dead or critically wounded.

Mai's punch missed, the momentum carrying it into the giant insect's head and shattering another massive hole in it. The creature's paralyzed body twitched several times from the excruciating pain.

"You killed Ruka and still want to split the core?" Mai glared at Chiyo, magic surging within her as she roared, "I’m going to avenge Ruka! Die!"

With that, she clenched her fists, crossing them over her chest as a brilliant yellow light flared. All the light converged onto her right fist, forming a gauntlet twice the size of her previous one. With a loud *boom*, the mud beneath her feet kicked up a meter high, and as her body leaned forward, she shot toward Chiyo like a streak of light.

"Fine, if you want to call it hogging, then it's hogging! Stop pretending to be the good guy! Want to kill me? I want to kill you too!" Chiyo shrieked. Five sharp, curved blades sprouted from each side of her body, making her look like an upright black spider.

By now, Mai was already upon her. She threw a punch, the air vibrating and kicking up a gale. Chiyo’s ten black blades converged in front of her, precisely blocking Mai's fist. With a massive, earth-shaking thud, Chiyo felt an overwhelming force strike her; her feet plowed back over a meter, and cracks appeared on the blades protecting her.

The power of that strike was beyond her imagination! But thankfully, under her full defensive effort, she had blocked it.

*Pfft!*

Just as she prepared to counterattack, she heard a dull thud. Her expression froze, and she looked down in disbelief. A bloody hole had been punched through her chest, right where her heart should have been—she could see right through to the other side. Her heart... it was gone, vanished along with the flesh and ribs of her chest.

*‘I blocked the attack, so how?’* Her mind was filled with questions.

*Gack!*

A suffocating sensation surged up her throat. She couldn't help but open her mouth, spewing a large spray of blood as she looked up at Mai in disbelief.

She heard the other girl speak coldly: "My double-fist strike can bypass obstacles and hit the target behind them."

However, no sooner had she spoken than a chill hit her own nape. Chiyo’s eleventh blade had sliced through her neck and cervical spine, decapitating her.

*Thump!*

Mai’s head slammed into the mud at her feet, her eyes still rolling. With the formidable vitality of a magical girl, she didn't die instantly—which was expected. Even ordinary humans can retain consciousness for over a dozen seconds after decapitation, and magical girls last even longer. Mai’s headless body sprayed blood in all directions like a sprinkler.

Chiyo, her face splattered with blood, fell backward onto the ground. Without her heart, she was in much the same state as the headless Mai; though not dead on the spot, both were on the brink of death.

"Ugh... you three. I wanted you to turn on each other, split up, and then I’d pick you off one by one. I didn't expect you to actually..." Wakaba walked over, looking speechless. Her own injuries were horrific; six puncture wounds still bled profusely, and the skin and flesh were missing from the left side of her face, revealing her moving upper jawbone as she spoke. "I really underestimated you all," she sighed, shaking her head.

She had been laying mines at the exit of the lakebed to ambush them, but they had ended up destroying each other. "One after another, you all have so many trump cards, yet you didn't put in any effort against the Tainted Beast. And now, look at this..." she continued to taunt.

The three girls were still alive, all staring at Wakaba with beautiful, watery eyes. The only reason they weren't speaking was that they couldn't.

Wakaba reached the giant insect's head and forcefully pried open its upper jaw. Fourteen silver threads emerged from her body, wrapping around the heads and bodies of Chiyo, Ruka, and Mai, and tossed them into the creature's mouth.

"You aren't dead yet, so go ahead and have your last meal!" Wakaba said.

The giant insect seemed to act on pure instinct, beginning to chew. The sound of the three girls' bodies being crushed echoed out. Sure enough, the core crystal in its shattered head grew visibly larger, its color turning a deeper, more ominous black. Even the creature's severed legs and tentacles began to show signs of regrowth, though the process was slow—it would take at least an hour to fully recover.

*Gack!*

Having finished this, before Wakaba could reap the fruits of her victory, she spat out a mouthful of blood, her aura beginning to wither. She looked up and sighed in frustration: "My injuries were too severe. Is this really as far as I go? I’m not satisfied!"

After roaring this, she collapsed backward onto the ground, her breathing growing weaker, nearly vanishing.

A long moment passed.

A rustling of footsteps approached. A magical girl with white hair and animal ears glared furiously at Wakaba, who was fifty meters away, and shouted: "Just how much lower can you sink, you wretch?"

She stood her ground, refusing to take a single step closer.

Wakaba waited for a long time, and seeing that the girl wouldn't fall for it, she climbed up from the ground with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I thought you’d fall for it, just like last time."

"You..." The white-haired girl choked, the look in her eyes suggesting she wanted to beat someone up. *‘This jerk is so infuriating.’*

As Wakaba pried the core crystal out of the insect's brain, she asked the girl, "Doesn't look like you're here to steal the core. What do you want? Seeking revenge?"

The white-haired girl shook her head and said, "Don't you want to know the truth about magical girls?"

"What truth?" Wakaba asked.

"That's a secret. Only those who join our organization can know!" the girl replied.

"Magical girls have organizations?" Wakaba was somewhat surprised.

"Of course they do. Like those three novice magical girls from earlier—if they hadn't died today, they would have eventually formed a small organization as they developed," the girl explained.

"So, you're inviting me to join your organization?" Wakaba said.

"That's right." The girl nodded, looking rather proud. "Our organization, 'The Rebellious Witches,' even has Elite-tier magical girls!"

"What is an Elite-tier magical girl?" Wakaba asked.

"Don't you know? We novice magical girls are all Awakened-tier, and above that are the Elite-tier magical girls."

"How does one become an Elite-tier magical girl?" Wakaba asked curiously.

The girl pointed to the core crystal in Wakaba's hand: "If you have enough talent, absorbing one hundred of the Tier-2 Tainted Beast core crystals like the one you're holding gives you a chance to evolve into an Elite-tier magical girl!"

"One hundred!" Wakaba felt a chill. This giant insect wasn't weak; if not for the cooperation of Chiyo, Ruka, and Mai, she wasn't sure she could have defeated it alone.

"What do you think?" the girl asked.

By now, with the death of the Tainted Beast, the Mist Realm was beginning to fade.

"I'll think about it," Wakaba said.

"Think it over, then." The girl turned to leave, adding, "By the way, you can call me Mayuki."

"My name is Shimizu Yu," Wakaba replied.

A sensation of weightlessness washed over her, and with a flash before her eyes, she found herself on the sidewalk of an old street. The nearby streetlights were broken and unrepaired. It seemed very late, and there were no pedestrians around, only a few trucks passing by on the road.

Wakaba oriented herself and sped off in the direction of home.