The abandoned construction site in the northern district had originally been planned as a new residential area.
However, after the developer ran out of funds and fled, the entire complex had become nothing but a cluster of unfinished buildings.
Taking advantage of the cover of night, Lu Yinxi and the other two snuck into the construction site and quickly located Su Xiaocheng.
Su Xiaocheng was suspended by tentacles from an abandoned tower crane in the center of the site, dozens of meters above the ground.
Countless tiny barbs extended from the tentacles, piercing into her body.
Pride and the Shadow Group Queen were standing openly on the roof of a nearby unfinished building. They had even set up a small table.
Pride lounged in a deck chair, leisurely sipping tea.
Lu Yinxi carefully observed Su Xiaocheng’s condition and said in a low voice, We have to sever the tentacles binding Xiaocheng instantly.
Otherwise, the Witch’s power will harm her. Xiaocheng’s current state probably can’t withstand it, and the tentacles have already pierced into her body.
When cutting the tentacles, I’ll also need to divert magic power to protect her. I should be able to do both at once, but I cannot be interrupted during the process.
Youzi didn’t hesitate.
“Xiaolu, you go rescue Xiaocheng. I can hold them off for a short while.”
“Let’s think of another way.”
Although she was extremely worried about Su Xiaocheng’s safety, Lu Yinxi couldn’t bring herself to sacrifice Youzi.
Su Xiaowei spoke up, “What if I protect Big Sister from taking any damage? Xiaolu, you just focus on severing the tentacles.”
Lu Yinxi assessed the magic power of both Pride and the Shadow Group Queen. “In that case, I can also hold off one of them.”
“Then leave the remaining one to me. Don’t worry. I can still manage to stall a single A-rank for a brief moment,” Youzi said.
“Let’s go with this. The longer we wait, the more likely something will go wrong.”
Pride’s voice rang out, “Have you finished discussing, Magical Girls?”
“Move!”
Lu Yinxi turned into a streak of light and shot straight toward Su Xiaocheng.
Seeing this, the Shadow Group Queen channeled her magic power, preparing to kill Su Xiaocheng directly.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Thanks to the opponent’s arrogance, Lu Yinxi was already very close to Su Xiaocheng.
The Lark let out a cheerful chirp and merged into Lu Yinxi’s Maiden Heart.
A microphone appeared as music began to play.
The surrounding environment changed rapidly.
A dazzling stage materialized, and in the silent abandoned construction site, the sound of cheering erupted.
Flashing lights illuminated the night sky.
Inherent Domain: Tour Concert.
During the day, Lu Yinxi hadn’t been holding back. Once her domain was activated, she could no longer move freely.
Her range of action would be fixed to the stage, making it useless in pursuit battles.
However, in exchange for sacrificing mobility, she gained near-absolute dominance in positional warfare.
Any enemy within the range of the concert would gradually be assimilated into her fans if they didn’t expend several times their magic power to resist the assimilation.
“The performance begins!”
Melody·Concerto
Four illusory figures appeared around Lu Yinxi, each playing drums, keyboard, bass, and guitar respectively, corresponding to the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind.
Countless fans cheered.
The waving glow sticks turned into a flowing sea of colors.
At this moment, every rhythm of the concert was under Lu Yinxi’s complete control.
Su Xiaowei aimed her camera at Su Xiaocheng and pressed the shutter, then clutched the photo tightly against her chest.
“Big Sister, please… don’t leave me.”
The magic power forming the tentacles was assimilated.
The tentacles binding Su Xiaocheng collapsed instantly.
The backlash magic power surged desperately into Su Xiaocheng’s body, but before it could harm her, it was completely neutralized by a warm surge of magic power.
The tentacles had been pre-infused with a large amount of magic power.
To sever them instantly, Lu Yinxi had poured in even more.
The aftershock from two A-ranks clashing with full power was enough to heavily injure a B-rank Magical Girl in an instant—especially since Su Xiaowei was currently using her own magic to shield Su Xiaocheng from the damage.
Su Xiaowei’s body staggered and she collapsed to the ground, but her hands didn’t tremble in the slightest as she held the photo firmly against her heart. As long as the photo remained intact, Su Xiaocheng would not suffer any harm.
And because the photo was linked to Su Xiaowei’s Maiden Heart, it would not be damaged until Su Xiaowei’s magic power was completely exhausted.
This was Su Xiaowei’s absolute protection.
Shriek! The Shadow Group Queen let out a sharp screech as numerous thick black tentacles stabbed toward the falling Su Xiaocheng.
“I’m still here.” Youzi stabbed her flintlock pistol into the ground in front of her.
A neat row of flintlock guns appeared behind her. They fired in unison.
Colorful candy bullets shattered all of the Shadow Group Queen’s attacks.
“What a troublesome domain,” Pride said, her previous ease now gone.
“To think it’s a domain focused on suppression and assimilation. The Shadow Group Queen can’t exert her power at all.”
A Magical Girl’s domain required the fusion of the contractor and the Maiden Heart to activate.
The Witch Church Deacons no longer had contractors, so they naturally had no domains. However, they had alternative methods.
The magic artifacts in their hands served as the vessels for their magic power.
“My plan will not fail!”
Madness flashed in Pride’s eyes. A crack appeared on the bell in her hand.
At the cost of damaging her artifact, she erupted with an overwhelming surge of magic power that exceeded her limits.
The ringing of the bell grew deafening, suppressing even the music of the concert.
The flowing sea of glow sticks paused for a moment.
Lu Yinxi had just expended a great deal of power to sever the tentacles.
Now facing Pride’s desperate, mutually destructive attack, she fell into a disadvantage for a moment.
If the attack had been aimed at Lu Yinxi herself, it would have only caused her some light injuries.
Once Pride’s burst ended, the one in trouble would have been her.
But this attack was aimed at Su Xiaocheng, who currently had no ability to resist.
“Xiaocheng!”
Lu Yinxi did her best to weaken Pride’s attack, but the remaining magic power still exceeded what Su Xiaowei could endure.
“Big Sister, I will always protect you. This is… the bond between us!”
Su Xiaowei seemed to fall into some kind of recollection.
The noise of the battlefield faded away. In front of her appeared a warm little room.
Ten-year-old Su Xiaowei was crying on the bed—it was the day their parents had passed away.
“Brother, I want Mommy and Daddy!”
The young Su Xiaowei cried sorrowfully.
The little boy held back his own grief and pulled his crying sister into his arms, his voice firm.
“Xiaowei, from now on, I will protect you.”
An older brother is like a father.
At that moment, twelve-year-old Su Sheng knew that the heavy responsibility of taking care of his sister had fallen on his shoulders.
He would be the one to hold up this family.
In Su Xiaowei’s eyes, the figure of her young brother gradually overlapped with the falling Su Xiaocheng.
Tears streaked down the girl’s face as Su Xiaowei murmured, “Big Sister, this is… our home.”
Su Xiaowei’s contractor, Afu, gracefully flapped her wings and flew toward the Maiden Heart.
A cozy room suddenly appeared in the desolate construction site.
Su Xiaowei’s body fell backward, landing on a soft little bed.
With a gentle smile, she fell asleep, clutching Su Xiaocheng’s photo tightly in her arms.
Inherent Domain: Cozy Little Home. This was a sanctuary belonging exclusively to the two sisters.
The violent ringing of the bell swept across Su Xiaocheng’s body without causing any harm. Su Xiaocheng’s falling speed gradually slowed until she landed gently on the ground.
“How… is this possible?”
Pride finally lost her composure completely.
What did it mean that Magical Girls could break through on the spot just by shouting about friendship and bonds?
If Inherent Domains were this easy to master, then what had all her sacrifices—abandoning her contract and paying such a heavy price—been for?
“Retreat!” Pride ordered unwillingly.
Lu Yinxi breathed a sigh of relief.
She looked toward Pride and the Shadow Group Queen, raised her microphone, and called out cheerfully, “Let me see your hands!”
Fireworks exploded as the paused sea of glow sticks began flowing again.
The fans’ cheers became deafening.
The Shadow Group Queen let out a mournful cry.
She opened her Witch Domain as dozens of smaller Witches charged forward fearlessly, only to be quickly suppressed and assimilated by the concert.
“Xiaolu Xiaolu, we’re with you all the way!” Among the fans, dozens of even more passionate and excited superfans appeared.
They waved their glow sticks, cheering and hyping up the teenage idol on stage.
Having sacrificed a large number of clones, Pride and the Shadow Group Queen finally escaped the range of the concert.
The two of them fled weakly into the distance.
Pride left one last threat: “Just you wait! I’ll be back!”
Lu Yinxi did not give chase. She had consumed quite a bit tonight as well.
Everyone was in poor condition, and Su Xiaocheng needed urgent treatment.
Lu Yinxi walked over to Su Xiaocheng and gently lifted her in a princess carry.
The sound of a keyboard rang out as music transformed into flowing water, healing the small wounds on Su Xiaocheng’s body.
Even in her sleep, Su Xiaocheng seemed to sense something and snuggled deeper into Lu Yinxi’s embrace.
“Is Big Sister okay?”
Su Xiaowei had woken up by now, but she had not yet canceled her magic.
“She should be fine. She’s just suffering from a rather large magic power deficit.”
After finishing the treatment, Lu Yinxi switched her instrument to guitar.
A gentle wind blew across Su Xiaocheng’s body, cleaning away the dirt and smoothing out her clothes.
“That’s good.” Su Xiaowei sighed in relief and dispelled her magic.
A wave of exhaustion different from magic depletion washed over her, making her eyelids feel incredibly heavy.
“Using the power of an Inherent Domain for the first time, the consumption of magic power is secondary. The greater exhaustion is mental. Go back and rest well. You’ll recover after a good sleep.”
As someone who had experienced it before, Lu Yinxi shared her experience with Su Xiaowei.
“Mm… Big Sister~” Su Xiaowei sounded a little aggrieved. How could she fall asleep at a time like this?
Big Sister was still in the bad woman’s arms! But the increasingly strong drowsiness overwhelmed her, and Su Xiaowei felt she was reaching her limit.
“Alright, I’ll take Xiaowei home to rest first. Xiaocheng is in your hands, Xiaolu.”
Youzi routinely popped an entire mouthful of candy into her mouth.
Lu Yinxi looked at Youzi’s somewhat numb eyes and asked, “Youzi, do you still remember how you felt the first time you ate candy?”
“Who knows?”
Youzi searched her memories, but could only recall some blurry images.
After eating sweets without restraint for so long, she could barely taste sweetness anymore.
What had she felt when eating candy for the first time? Youzi shook her head.
“I’ll take Xiaowei back first.”