Heavy dark clouds pressed down over the outskirts of L City, pitch-black as if the next second they would pour down torrential rain across the heavens.
Tree trunks, stumps, gravel, and large pits covered the ground, scattered haphazardly across the entire land in a scene of utter devastation, as if a fierce battle had just ended.
“Hah… hah… cough cough…”
Su Bai tightly gripped her silver-white magic wand patterned with irises, her body completely drained of strength as she slumped onto the ground.
Her chest heaved while she gasped for air in heavy breaths.
After the battle just now, she had first single-handedly slain large numbers of A-rank demonic beasts.
Then she had exhausted every last drop of magic power in her body to forcibly seal the spatial rift that continuously spewed forth monsters.
The enormous threat that had plagued the world for years—the giant rift of L City—was thoroughly resolved from this moment onward.
Her once delicate and pretty face was now covered in dust and bloodstains.
Even her pure white, sacred iris-patterned magic battle skirt was torn in several places.
Her entire body was stained with mud and the black blood of the monsters.
In the distance, several figures raced over at high speed.
They were the three teammates she had fought alongside for so long, along with the staff the association had sent to handle the aftermath.
Spotting the familiar figures, the nerves Su Bai had kept tightly wound finally relaxed a little, and a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.
“You finally made it. You’re quite a bit later than the agreed time. Did something happen on the way? Is anyone hurt?” She weakly raised a hand.
Her first concern was not for herself but for her teammates, her tone filled with the worry of a team captain.
Her legs felt as heavy as lead and refused to move.
She shook her somewhat sore arms.
“Someone pull me up. My magic is completely depleted. I don’t have any strength left…”
As always, Su Bai had charged at the very front while her teammates assisted with the follow-up cleanup.
This time, however, everything was different.
There was none of the joy of victory on anyone’s faces—only a piercing, cold gloom.
The group remained silent and exchanged icy glances.
The tall purple-haired magical girl codenamed Violet stepped forward and extended her hand.
Completely unguarded, Su Bai simply reached out and placed her hand in the other’s.
In the next second, the unguarded Su Bai felt a piercing, intense pain explode up her arm.
A brutal, overwhelming force seized her wrist.
Before she could cry out in pain, her entire body was yanked upward.
Her arm was twisted behind her back, and a knee slammed hard into the back of her knees.
With a thud, Su Bai was thrown down into the mud by the joint lock.
Violet tightly gripped the arms twisted behind Su Bai’s back with one hand while the other pressed down hard on the back of her head, forcefully shoving her entire face into the gravel-strewn mud.
Unable to endure the stinging pain any longer, Su Bai cried out.
“Ugh — Little Zi? What are you doing?!”
The sudden betrayal left Su Bai’s mind blank.
In her panic, the first thought that struck her was the worst possibility.
“Little Zi? You…? Could it be… that you’ve been mentally controlled by a demonic beast? Damn it… cough cough… Snap out of it! It’s me, White Iris!”
She desperately tried to summon the last remaining wisp of weak magic power to break free, but her completely drained body refused to obey.
Then the green-haired girl stepped forward quickly and delivered a powerful kick straight into Su Bai’s unprotected abdomen.
Intense pain instantly swept through her entire body.
Su Bai’s form stiffened abruptly.
Her stomach churned violently, and a strong urge to vomit surged up her throat.
She couldn’t stop herself from retching.
Even she couldn’t understand what kind of demonic beast could achieve something like this. Could it be a witch…?
“Everyone, wake up! Don’t let your minds be controlled… We’re teammates.” Su Bai’s voice trembled.
In her current weakened state, she had no power to resist three fully combat-ready magical girls.
Hearing her words, the people surrounding her instead let out low, cold laughs filled with mockery.
The golden-haired magical girl stepped forward.
Her eyes held undisguised contempt and scorn as she looked down at Su Bai kneeling in the mud.
“Naive to the point of pity, Captain Su Bai. Even now, you still think we’ve been mind-controlled?”
A loud boom rang through Su Bai’s mind.
A chill crawled up her spine and spread through her whole body.
After a magical girl transforms, a cognitive shielding magic activates.
Even the closest and most familiar people cannot recognize the transformed magical girl’s true identity.
So how did they know?
Her true identity was known only to the association that had adopted her.
That meant…
Thinking of this, Su Bai still wore an expression of complete disbelief.
She could not accept that the partners she had always trusted and the organization that had raised her would do something like this.
Seeing Su Bai dazed and seemingly still refusing to believe the reality before her, the golden-haired girl’s sarcasm deepened further.
She raised her chin and spoke in the same icy tone.
“It’s time for you to clearly understand what kind of end you will meet today, and why this is happening.”
With that, the green-haired girl cooperatively half-squatted down, roughly grabbed Su Bai’s two ponytails, and forcibly lifted her head.
Su Bai stared blankly at the three pairs of clear, lucid eyes that showed no trace of mental erosion.
The last shred of hope in her heart shattered completely.
Her lips trembled uncontrollably as she asked,
“Why… why are you doing this to me?”
Silence was the only answer she received.
Suddenly, the crisp sound of high heels striking the ground slowly approached.
The association’s special representative, dressed in a standard uniform and holding a tablet, walked unhurriedly to the center of the group.
Her face remained expressionless as she spoke in a purely official manner.
Her cold voice echoed across the empty field.
“Su Bai, magical girl codename [White Iris]. On behalf of the Non-Natural Management Association, also known as the Magical Girl Association, I now read out the disposition charges against you:
First: Detection shows that the magic power values in your transformed state far exceed conventional standards. The association has determined the risk level to be extremely high and finds it necessary to reclaim your transformation device.
Second: You have repeatedly ignored combat orders issued by the association, acted arbitrarily on your own initiative, and caused the association enormous losses in both materials and personnel.
Third…”
The representative did not continue speaking.
Instead, she turned her head in a signal.
The golden-haired girl immediately pulled an ID card from her pocket and held it directly in front of Su Bai’s eyes.
On the photo of the ID was an eighteen-year-old youth with delicate features that were clearly male.
The name column clearly printed — Su Bai.
This was Su Bai’s greatest secret, a secret she had never told anyone.
Before becoming a magical girl, she had been male.
“Slap!” The card, carrying the thrower’s fury, smashed hard against Su Bai’s face before sliding silently to the ground.
“Wearing a girl’s skin to win our favor—was that fun?! You damn perverted man!” The golden-haired girl’s words struck like an iron hammer deep into Su Bai’s heart.
With that single sentence, the dark clouds that had accumulated overhead for so long finally split open.
Fine raindrops fell with a patter, just like Su Bai’s current mood.
The magical girls and association members all activated their magic barriers, completely shutting the rain out.
Only Su Bai, kneeling alone in the center of the mud, was left to be soaked through by the icy curtain of rain.