The following afternoon, Yuan Qing was pecked awake by Raven.
“Hey! Get up! Don’t think you can sleep in just because you’re talented!” Raven poked his cheek hard with its beak. “Watch the livestream, quick!”
“Don’t peck my face if you’re going to peck me… What if you hit my eye?” Yuan Qing waved his hand haphazardly to push Raven away, then squinted as he reached for his phone.
The screen displayed a livestream from the Magical Girl Channel.
A giant monster was rampaging on the edge of the city. Its body was covered in hard, scaly armor, and it overturned a sedan with a single sweep of its tail.
Facing the monster stood a small, pink-and-white figure: Sakuma Seidai.
“What’s this?” Yuan Qing sat up.
“Sundae’s subjugation stream,” Raven said, landing on his knee. “She’s alone.”
Yuan Qing didn’t say a word, his eyes fixed on the screen.
The moment Sundae rushed forward, a pinkish-white beam of light shot from the tip of her staff. It hit the monster’s armor, leaving only a shallow mark.
The monster turned its head, its giant eyes staring at her. It swept its tail, and Sundae rolled away messily, narrowly avoiding the blow.
The bullet chat scrolled across the screen.
“That was close…”
“Go for it!”
“This monster looks a bit strong. Is she okay on her own?”
Sundae scrambled up and raised her staff again. This time, she didn’t rush to attack. Instead, she circled the monster, looking for an opening.
The monster grew impatient. It opened its mouth and spewed a torrent of flames. Sundae dodged it by a hair’s breadth, though a small corner of her skirt was scorched.
Yuan Qing watched her. He watched her attack again and again, each time to no effect. He watched her dodge time after time, looking more exhausted with each move.
“She can’t win,” Yuan Qing said suddenly.
“How do you know?” Raven asked.
“I can just tell,” Yuan Qing replied.
On the screen, Sundae was panting heavily, her forehead drenched in sweat. The light on her staff had dimmed significantly, a clear sign that her mana was nearly depleted.
The monster, however, remained as energetic as ever. It even began to toy with her. It deliberately slowed its movements, waiting for her to dodge, only to suddenly accelerate its tail to swat her away. Sundae slammed into the ground, rolled twice, and struggled back to her feet.
The chat began to change.
“This isn’t working. Call for backup!”
“Are there any other Magical Girls nearby?”
“Where’s Miss Raven?”
Yuan Qing saw his name appearing in the chat. It appeared more and more frequently, eventually drowning out the comments pitying Sundae.
Sundae charged again. This time, she finally found an opening and thrust her staff toward the monster’s eye.
The monster closed its eye just in time. The beam only left a scorched mark on its eyelid. However, the monster was enraged. It opened its massive maw, and flames began to gather in its throat.
Sundae tried to dodge, but her previous sprint left her unable to adjust her posture in time.
The flames erupted.
Sundae was thrown back by the heat wave, slamming heavily onto the ground. Her staff flew from her hand and landed some distance away.
Just as Raven was watching the screen and about to speak, Yuan Qing stood up from the bed.
“I’m going.”
Raven was stunned. “Huh?”
“I said, I’m going.” Yuan Qing grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. “Teleport me.”
“Wait!” Raven hurriedly took flight. “Weren’t you just lying there? Why so suddenly —”
“Less talk.”
Yuan Qing had already walked to the center of the room. Raven feathers began to surge from his body. Jet-black feathers instantly swallowed the entire room, and then Yuan Qing’s figure vanished into the swirl.
***
On the battlefield, Sundae lay on the ground in agonizing pain. She struggled to get up, but her arms lacked the strength. The monster stepped toward her, its giant eyes shimmering with cruel light.
“Can you still fight?” A puppy-like familiar nudged Sundae with its head, trying to support her.
But no matter how hard Sundae tried to crawl up, she couldn’t find the strength. “I’m sorry, Inu-oh. To think the first Magical Girl you contracted is only at this level…”
Right then, a jet-black raven feather drifted down in front of her. Above her, a dark figure descended from the sky.
Black robes surged and wings unfurled, the sun-blotting raven feathers shimmering with a dark luster in the sunset.
“That’s…” Inu-oh looked up.
Miss Raven.
Yuan Qing landed between Sundae and the monster, his black robes snapping in the wind. The monster stopped in its tracks, staring warily at the sudden intruder.
Yuan Qing didn’t look back, simply saying, “Back off.”
Sundae scrambled backward on all fours, grabbed her staff, and hid in a safe spot.
The monster glared at Yuan Qing, a low growl vibrating in its throat. It didn’t back down. Instead, flames began to gather in its throat once more.
Then, Yuan Qing moved.
With a single flap of his wings, he shot toward the monster. The monster’s flames were only halfway out of its throat when Yuan Qing arrived before its face.
“**CRANE**.”
A single, simple word. Then, a spike formed from raven feathers pierced directly through the monster’s lower jaw, erupting from the top of its head. The flames exploded inside its mouth. The massive body collapsed, began to break down, and then dissipated into the wind.
Inu-oh was stunned, even forgetting to pull his tongue back into his mouth. “*Woof… woof?*”
Sundae, however, watched the entire one-shot kill with an expression of pure worship. “Miss Mine! Thank you!”
“No need for thanks.”
Yuan Qing withdrew his hand, the raven feathers on his black robes fluttering slightly. He turned around and looked at Sundae, who was sprawled messily on the ground.
Sundae used her staff to pull herself up. She was covered in dirt and her skirt was scorched, but her eyes were incredibly bright. “Miss Mine, you’re amazing! A one-shot kill!”
“You’re injured,” Yuan Qing reminded her.
Sundae felt a bit embarrassed by the sudden concern. “I’m really okay… I get hurt often, I’m used to it.”
Sirens and the clamor of a crowd echoed from the distance. The media was arriving.
Yuan Qing glanced at the approaching cameras and swept his black robe. “Let’s go, Raven.”
Raven flew down from a nearby windowsill and landed on his shoulder.
“Wait, Miss Mine!” Sundae suddenly called out. “Um… thank you!”
Yuan Qing didn’t look back, only giving a slight nod. Raven feathers surged, and his figure vanished into a whirlpool.
The next moment, his figure appeared at the scene of another monster, his wings blotting out the sky.
“Raven,” Yuan Qing said as he slowly descended, raven feathers already beginning to swirl around his wrists. “The very instant I finish off this monster, teleport me to the next one. Set the range to the entire Tokyo metropolitan area.”
Raven was stunned for a second. Once it processed the request, it nodded frantically as if afraid he would change his mind. “Fine, fine, fine! You’re the contractor, so you call the shots!”
“**FALCON**!”
Yuan Qing landed. In this second battlefield, the monster had barely turned its head when the raven feathers pierced its skull.
“Next.”
Third battlefield.
“Next.”
Fourth battlefield.
“Next.”
As the sun gradually dipped below the horizon, Miss Raven’s jet-black figure flashed repeatedly across the sky of the entire Tokyo metropolitan area.
Raven lay on Yuan Qing’s shoulder, panting for breath. “Slow… down… I’m dying…”
Yuan Qing didn’t answer, only continuing the hunt.
The fifth one.
The sixth one.
The seventh one.
Every single one was a one-shot kill.
The bullet chat in the stream was going wild.
“What’s up with Miss Raven today?”
“That’s the seventh one already!”
“The other Magical Girls can take a holiday today.”
Raven was so exhausted it couldn’t even speak. It slumped on Yuan Qing’s shoulder, its feathers drooping, but its eyes grew brighter and brighter as it watched his back.
Finally, the eighth monster fell. There were no monsters left in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Yuan Qing sat on a roadside bench, his black robes fluttering slightly. The setting sun cast his shadow long across the ground.
“Ow… I’m exhausted…”
Raven slid from Yuan Qing’s shoulder directly into his lap, completely limp and powerless.
“Are you happy now?” Yuan Qing asked.
“Of course!” The previously limp Raven suddenly perked up. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to see the light?”
“That’s good. *Sigh*…” Yuan Qing let out a long, slow breath.
“Tired?”
“A bit. Trying to reach Hifumi’s level through hard work alone is nothing but a pipe dream,” Yuan Qing said.
“Giving up?”
“…”
Yuan Qing didn’t answer.
Raven thought for a moment, then fluttered up to sit in Yuan Qing’s lap again. “Fine, then let’s make another bet. Forget six months. In one month, we’ll challenge Hifumi. If we win, I’ll stop bothering you.”
“And if we lose?” Yuan Qing asked, picking up Raven.
“Then you’ll be mine and Mizuho’s dog. *Woof, woof, woof!*”
As Raven spoke, it began to fish the phone out of Yuan Qing’s pocket with its beak.