The villainous magical girl's daily mission is to find fault.

Chapter 606 Soaring High

Mercury's Secret Words: 4 words, still going all out.

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The sky over Chengdu was ablaze.

Inside the command tent at the edge of the blockade zone, a white-haired, red-eyed girl held a walkie-talkie and sent out a wide-area public frequency communication through the communication channel specially reserved by Qi Yun.

[Shh...]

[Attention all units, this is the frontline command post of the Chengdu Heroes Association. I am Messiah.]

[The magic detection devices deployed throughout Chengdu have detected a powerful magical surge; their situation may be dire.]

At this point, Messiah peeked up at the sky.

The sky was as bright as day, every cloud transformed into a burning fire, and black raindrops fell from the sky, shattering into the darkness of twilight in the concrete jungle.

Chengdu has been completely evacuated and turned into a ghost town, but if Garuda breaks through the defenses of the mental world and enters the real world, the destruction he brings will likely be even more terrifying than Jormungandr in Hong Kong.

The Messiah continued:

[...This was the last communication from the frontline command.]

[An emergency is hereby announced: All heroes of S rank and above in Rongcheng, immediately proceed to the battlefield, be ready to provide support at any time, and do everything possible to hold off Garuda.]

Be prepared to make sacrifices, at any cost.

Radio service was interrupted.

The white-haired girl glanced back at the association members who were still outside the tent.

Without exception, all those who participated in this expedition were heroes of A rank or above. They possessed relatively strong psychic abilities, which allowed them to ensure their own safety in most situations.

"Disband the entire command post and leave the battlefield as soon as possible. We will handle the rest."

"Captain, you..."

Before he finished speaking, Messiah's figure vanished from the spot in an instant, leaving no trace.

On the screen inside the command tent, several tiny dots of light appeared in various parts of the previously silent Chengdu map, passing through the outer perimeter of the quarantine zone and heading straight for the area where the flames and black rain were most concentrated.

Heroes assemble.

……

The black rain gradually grew thicker and denser, and the darkness almost materialized, completely engulfing the city center of Chengdu.

Su Tianqing looked up at the black raindrops that had hit her magic shield, and her magic and magical power were back under her control.

This does not mean that Garuda has relaxed its control over the mental images; on the contrary, it means another chilling fact... It has probably completely broken through the mental image defenses it constructed during the process of absorbing and merging all the mental image entities, and has come to the mortal world in the physical form of a black giant bird.

These materialized darknesses are evidence; they represent Garuda's erosion of the present world, its penetration and understanding of this vast world: it is trying to understand the "rules" of the present world and find ways to make them its own.

So it really is because of Sasha's existence... Su Tianqing thought to herself.

Sasha herself is a sturdy anchor that Garuda cast into the mortal world. During the more than ten years she lived in Sparrow Village, she has been guiding Garuda's gaze to focus on the mortal world.

Her existence is the strongest "anchor" and "chain" between the astral plane and the mortal world. Garuda used a high-speed attack of a dark light ball to envelop her, using this "path" to penetrate the last layer of the mental world and enter the mortal world... Although it seems that it was also weakened and damaged in the process, its heavy confidence as a behemoth still made it an unprecedentedly powerful opponent.

In the darkness, those molten gold eyes gleamed, gazing at the swaying, seemingly fragile magical shield on the ground in the distance.

Two golden foxes erected a shield, doing their best to protect the bewildered winged girl. Although she had understood the magical girl's determination to protect, the guardian star still did not give her the attention she deserved to become a magical girl.

Traitor, you have lost the power I gave you, and now you are not even noticed by the stars. How laughable.

Garuda's voice resounded through the heavens.

Sasha gritted her teeth and held the guardian star tightly in her hands with her wings.

She wanted to say something, but before she could speak, the golden-haired fox girl who had conjured a magical shield in front of her spoke first:

"Absorbing so many mental entities and invading so many mental worlds, all just to use Sasha as an anchor point to break into the real world? How boring."

"Chosen One of the Abyss, your words are laughable to me. You are now nothing more than a fragile, drifting life in this world. What right do you have to speak of me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not qualified to talk about you, why are you getting so worked up?" Su Tianqing (in Heart Moon Fox mode) replied with a light laugh.

The heavy darkness around me dissipated a little, and the street scene of Chengdu reappeared in my sight—countless buildings collapsed and crumbled, shopping malls were broken and schools were destroyed, gardens withered and plants died down. The city was gradually decaying under the influence of Garuda's chaotic nature.

If she were to face Garuda alone in the present world, would she have a chance to defeat it? Su Tianqing couldn't help but ask herself.

Even with the enhancement magic provided by the automatic transmission dandelion, it would be almost impossible for him to defeat Garuda on his own.

Fortunately, he still had his trump cards up his sleeve. Luckily, he had refrained from joining that thrilling free-for-all earlier, otherwise he would definitely be in a desperate situation with no troops and no way to retreat right now.

"There's no need to win. Red Rose and the others are still fighting Garuda's shadow minions in the mental world," Su Tianqing thought to herself.

All I need to do is stall Garuda for as long as possible, and if I can inflict any real damage on it, that would be even better... After all, this is the mortal world, and any damage I inflict on Garuda before it invades the mortal world's "rules" is real.

"...Garuda."

"I don't know what you're so determined to do by invading the real world, but since you insist on doing it..."

Heartmoon Fox straightened her back, waved her wand, and the starlight bloomed on the edge of her magical costume. Dandelion almost immediately sent a strengthening spell to Heartmoon Fox beside her. The two golden foxes cooperated so well that they didn't need to say a word, which surprised Sasha.

Magical Girl Heart Moon Fox☆Shadow of the Stars

The brilliant golden light dispelled the thick, heavy darkness around them, and a dazzling magical barrier unfolded beneath Xin Yuehu's feet as she went all out with absolute seriousness, giving it her all.

At the same time, dozens of rays of light shone from the barrier, soaring into the sky and tearing apart the thick darkness spread by Garuda, revealing the starlight once again!

"Come, Garuda! All of this is prepared for you!"

Xin Yuehu shouted angrily, but there was a hint of joy in her words, like a child who had finally found a chance to bring out a big toy to play with.

"My most satisfying masterpiece—[Behemoth, the Pseudo-Beast]!!"

Two entire groups of the Twelve Zodiac Witches made a dazzling appearance, while behind Heart Moon Fox, on the somewhat empty ruins of a building, a terrifying monster almost as tall as Garuda itself stood on the ground:

It has powerful and terrifying muscles, demonic horns and blade-like tails, and its eyes shine with the light of stars. It roars and howls at Garuda, dispelling all the darkness around it.

At this very moment, two colossal astral beasts have appeared in Rongcheng, each vying for supremacy, and a battle between them is about to begin.

Garuda clearly showed hesitation, and Sasha was so frightened by the muscular behemoth behind her, which was taller than a building, that she shrank back like a bird when she looked back.

[Behemoth... a pseudo-summoning...? What power have you received from the abyss's favor?]

The behemoth's murmurs quickly turned into an angry roar.

The Zodiac Witches launched the first attack, with two groups of twenty-four Zodiac Witches splitting into two formations, one on the left and one on the right, leaving the main battlefield in the center for the most heavyweight frontal assault:

Behemoth stomped through the ruins and charged forward. Garuda flapped its wings and unleashed countless shadows in an attempt to stop it. The thick darkness that could have hindered the magical girls' advance was as thin and fragile as rice paper in front of Behemoth, and could not stop the charge of the pseudo-beast at all.

With its muscular arms and legs ignoring all obstacles, Behemoth charged into Garuda's path and unleashed a full-force punch at the proud behemoth that had descended from the stars—

"Crack!!!"

A pure physical attack landed on the burning, jet-black bird, the punch nearly embedding Garuda into the ground. The ruins behind it, leaving only broken walls and rubble, were completely destroyed. Garuda flapped its wings, trying to steady itself, but Behemoth's attack continued—

Charge, shoulder strike, uppercut, followed by a full-force punch that landed squarely on Garuda!

Behemoth is the most thoroughly analyzed behemoth in the astral plane. It has no special abilities, except that it is "strong enough and particularly good at fighting". Su Tianqing used it as a pseudo-behemoth precisely because of this important characteristic.

No matter what fancy special abilities or legendary magic you have, they're too troublesome to control. I already have a lot of operations to do after using summoning magic, and if I add some weird abilities, my fox brain will probably become severely overloaded.

It's better to just throw a powerful brick like Behemoth; with its size and strength, no one would dare to ignore such a big guy.

The battle between the giant beasts quickly escalated into a massacre.

The imitation of a giant beast is ultimately just a replica. The fully formed Garuda can take off and evade attacks. Even if Behemoth can briefly jump, it cannot compare to the mobility of something with wings.

Gradually, as Garuda realized that Behemoth's physical attacks were quite limited, it immediately shook off the Zodiac Witches who were constantly entangled around it and used its fierce, scorching flames to cover and burn the pseudo-giant beast.

The situation is not optimistic.

Behemoth's physical suppression failed to hold up. Garuda's strength as a fully-formed astral behemoth was indeed beyond imagination. The Zodiac Witches gradually fell into a disadvantageous position under its fire attacks, and even Virgo and Aquarius had turned into magical particles and scattered far away.

"It seems Behemoth won't last much longer... The secret manual was right after all..." Xin Yuehu murmured, turning to look at the nervous eagle owl girl behind her.

"Sasha, no matter what happens later, don't leave my side, understand?"

"Mmm...Mmm!" The girl nodded vigorously.

Dandelion raised her wand and withdrew the enhancement magic from Heart Moon Fox, instead casting it on Behemoth.

This was merely a drop in the ocean; the enhancement magic couldn't transform a pseudo-giant beast into one capable of directly confronting a fully-formed Garuda, as the flames still burned its body.

There was no other way; she had used up all her trump cards here. Su Tianqing thought to herself.

The golden-haired fox girl looked up at the burning sky and at the distorted and chaotic mental world that Garuda had fused together.

The Zodiac Witches scattered one by one.

Behemoth fell in the flames.

All the witches he could summon had been deployed to the battle, and all the supplies he had accumulated since the time in the port city had been exhausted.

Even the Divine Stones were all used to buy enhancement potions and items that granted temporary summoning privileges.

At this point, she had no soldiers left to use. When the burning, pitch-black giant bird destroyed all obstacles and descended again, only the two petite golden-haired fox girls remained in front of the eagle owl girl.

He had done everything he could to buy time, but Garuda's strength was simply beyond his ability to contend with. He could only delay for a short while with all his might.

"It's over, it's all over..."

Sasha muttered to herself as she fell to the ground, trembling all over as she stared at the towering and terrifying astral beast before her.

However, Xin Yuehu and Dandelion did not leave. The two built a final magical shield to block the girl, forming a final barrier with their bodies.

Are you determined to fight to the bitter end, chosen one of the abyss?

"I will not let you have her, nor will I allow you to hurt her," Xin Yuehu said softly.

Sasha stared blankly at the two golden magical girls in front of her.

The darkness of Garuda surged forth, and flames burned fiercely.

They swayed precariously like a raft adrift at sea amidst the impact of the shadows, yet even so, they showed no sign of giving up—

With their magical shields destroyed, they used their bodies to resist the darkness from the behemoths. The wounds on their bodies gradually accumulated, turning into shocking crimson scars.

"Sasha, Sasha!"

Dandelion gritted her teeth, turned back to the eagle-owl girl behind her, and shouted loudly at her:

"If you have the chance, run! Run as fast as you can! Run as far as you can!!"

"!"

At that moment, time seemed to stand still.

Sasha remembered that evening, that night shrouded in fire and darkness: her mother shielded her from the shadow monster with her body, biting and kicking it with her teeth, trying her best to protect herself from the monster.

The two fox sisters in front of me... at this moment, did exactly the same thing as my mother.

"Thump."

Sasha felt a strong, powerful thumping in her heart, and a strange emotion surged and rose within her, gradually growing stronger.

The girl hugged the guardian star that was wrapped in wings tightly and called out to the stars.

I want to protect her. I don't want to see anyone else get hurt because of me!

"Respond to me, stars!!"

A great light shone forth, unleashing a surging radiance before the darkness could completely destroy the Heart Moon Fox Dandelion's defenses.

The sky cracked and shattered, the exit of the mental world was broken open from the inside, and the magic cannon roared and exploded!

Garuda was not particularly surprised by the magical girls that rushed out of the mental world. It stared intently at the huge ball of light that descended before it, and at the girl's figure soaring into the sky.

A jet-black gown covered her body, her wings were ignited with tiny flames, and her amber eyes, though not as dazzling as molten gold, contained the light of a sky full of stars!

A brand new magical girl—soaring through the skies!