“Let nature take its course; perhaps it will lead to a more interesting outcome.”
Su Tianqing pondered the conclusion she had heard from Inari.
It was three in the afternoon, the most drowsy time of day apart from deep night.
But Ben Hu had already woken up from her afternoon nap! Now she was in energetic fox mode!
Especially when she realized that tonight she would be forced to witness Alice's battle against the Ripper and could only watch from the sidelines, she became even more alert.
She also felt worried for Aurora.
—It would be a ghost if she wasn't worried! Su Tianqing thought.
She said to let nature take its course, but what if, in letting it take its course, Aurora became self-isolated again, and she would have to spend even more effort to comfort her?
Just like Iris!
With Hua Ling as a previous lesson, she had to be extremely cautious when it came to active intervention!
“I cannot create another Pitch-Black Shadow!” Su Tianqing resolved.
Unlike the energetic Fox Girl, Nan Jiayu sat beside Su Tianqing, looking at the content of the book in her hand, feeling a little sleepy.
“Hoo… hoo meow…”
A cat's purr.
Hearing the faint purring beside her, Su Tianqing snapped out of her thoughts and gently poked the Cat Girl's armpit.
The poke almost made the Cat Girl jump up in fright.
“Meow wah?!”
“Xiaoyu, are you reading seriously?” Seeing the cute reaction of the Cat Girl beside her, Su Tianqing asked with a smile.
Nan Jiayu quickly perked up, her cat tail stiffened, thickening by a whole circle, and she nodded repeatedly.
“Yes, yes, I am reading seriously!”
“Really?”
“…I just slept for a little while, but it was only a short while!”
“Hm hm… Then, do you still remember the pelvic muscle layout of the Beastmen, Xiaoyu?”
“Of course I remember! On the medial side of the gluteus maximus, there are the caudal retractor and caudal extensor muscles, and also…”
And so on and so forth.
The Cat Girl recited the content of Beastmen anatomy quite smoothly, and Su Tianqing nodded in satisfaction, her fox tail immediately wagging.
“You remember pretty well! Xiaoyu's memory is indeed amazing, she can remember after reading it two or three times.”
“Ah haha…”
Nan Jiayu dared not respond, scratching behind her ear with a wry smile.
With a Fox Fox who was like a chief physician sitting beside her supervising her reading seriously, Nan Jiayu felt her brain was ten times more effective than during class.
“Are we going to support Aurora tonight?”
As if remembering something, Nan Jiayu asked curiously while pouring herself a glass of water.
“What a strange way to put it, it makes us sound like some kind of gang.” Su Tianqing complained helplessly.
Then she imagined such a scene in her mind:
She was sitting behind a desk in a dimly lit room, petting a cat, with a respectful Hyacinth in front of her, and she was wearing a black suit, speaking to Hyacinth in Italian—
“You live in Rong City, protected by the Hero Association, you don't need a Fox Fox like me.”
“Now you come to me and tell me Nightingale needs help.”
“You don't even want to call me Godfather Fox.”
It felt quite exciting to imagine.
“I think Aurora should be able to do it,” Su Tianqing said, with little confidence.
“But Aurora's combat skills still need refinement. If it's just her previous level, it would be quite difficult to defeat the Ripper,” Nan Jiayu commented.
“Her total magic power is insufficient, and she cannot draw magic power from the Astral Plane, so she cannot frequently use offensive magic like you and Ye Lan.”
“Plus, her close-quarters combat ability is also slightly weak. If she wants to defeat the Ripper by herself… it depends on her own performance.”
“Hmm… Let's observe again tonight. Perhaps after gaining belief, Aurora can unleash more interesting power?”
Although Su Tianqing herself was willing to believe in the idealistic power of Magic Girl, Aurora's apparent strength was there, so she still had to be prepared for things to go wrong.
It's best to prepare a plan in advance! Figure out Aurora's potential failure points!
…
In the evening.
After an afternoon of thought and brainstorming, Su Tianqing once considered that she had thought of almost all possible failure points.
She even had emergency plans ready:
If Alice intended to use close combat to decide the outcome with the Ripper, she would let the Cat Cat secretly guide her movements, increasing her chances of defeating the Ripper with close combat.
If she chose magic bombardment for suppression, she would let Miss Dandelion, who hadn't had a chance to appear recently, secretly give her buffs, allowing her magic power to expand and be abundant, so it wouldn't be instantly exhausted.
Even when Alice loudly shouted lines like “Fox Fox! Cat Cat! Lend me your strength!” which sounded like they came from a special effects studio, Su Tianqing had a complete countermeasure.
“At that time, Doggy, you will provide magic support to Alice, and you two will perform a Raksheel ritual with the Ripper.”
“Is that really reliable? Also, say it again, I am a wolf.”
“Trust me, as long as Alice shouts that, just go for it, nothing will happen~”
This is how Su Tianqing explained it to Fei Yelan.
But when evening arrived, and everyone gathered in an uninhabited forest park, and Alice confirmed the appearance of the “evil spirit” she spoke of…
.
The Ripper appeared.
Alice raised her magic staff, transforming it into a long sword similar to Hyacinth's, and charged directly towards the crackling blades.
Su Tianqing originally thought the battle would last for a while, that Alice would engage in a prolonged struggle with the Ripper, and finally either successfully defeat the Ripper or collapse from exhaustion of magic power.
Only these two outcomes were possible.
…However, the battle ended a bit too quickly, so quickly that Su Tianqing felt it was somewhat abrupt.
“Haaah!!”
“Puchaa!!”
The long sword thrust out, Alice seized a momentary opening in the Ripper's movements, and plunged the blade through his chest.
The Monster recoiled a few steps, roaring in disbelief, then fell backward, never to rise again.
A battle of just over a dozen rounds ended with Alice's victory.
“Oh?”
Hellcat raised an eyebrow, and couldn't help but applaud Alice.
“Very impressive swordplay, did you learn it from Hyacinth?”
“Mm-hmm.” Alice nodded.
“I reviewed some of Hyacinth's combat records and videos today and learned some sword fighting techniques from her.”
“I knew you could do it, Alice!~”
Su Tianqing wagged her fox tail happily, not stinting on her praise.
As expected, she was a true protagonist-style Magic Girl! Her idealistic power was almost comparable to the hero's strength in an other-world anime!
After regaining her belief and confidence, Alice would have at least one episode of invincibility, just like Hyacinth and the others!
It was indeed the most correct decision to let Alice take down the Ripper during this invincible period.
However,
A strange sound came from the direction where the Ripper had fallen.
“Kaka kaka—”
“Buzzing…”
It was the crisp clang of blades colliding, accompanied by a faint hum of magic fluctuations. The Monster's body ascended into a Pitch-Black Shadow, seemingly about to dissipate, yet also appearing to re-coalesce.
Everyone froze, including Su Tianqing.
What? There's a second phase? This isn't how it's supposed to be.
It wasn't until the shadow gradually took shape, revealing another completely different figure within the darkness, that Su Tianqing finally sensed that something was amiss.
【Task Updated】
Even the secret codex promptly issued a new task.
【Quest Chain: Alice's Special Training】
【Task 4: Investigate the Shadow of the Stars, 0 / 1】
“…What is that?”
Hellcat stared at the figure enveloped in shadow not far away, watching for a long time, and finally squeezed out those few words.
Xin Yuehu slowly shook her head, Alice gripped her magic staff, looking bewildered, not knowing what had happened.
—Aurora would trigger her guardian star transformation in the evening, and at the same time, the Ripper would appear beside her and launch an attack.
This had become her habit over the past few years, and her fear of the Ripper had gradually become somewhat numb and dull; she would no longer just flee as before.
Just like earlier, she was already able to muster the courage to face it bravely, and even defeat it with her own strength.
But,
The petite figure enveloped and entwined by the shadow before her made Alice feel a long-lost sense of terror and bewilderment, similar to when she first encountered something unbelievable:
The figure in the shadow turned its head and stared directly at Alice.
She had a face and features identical to Alice's, a cold expression, pitch-black hair, pale skin, empty eyes, and the light of stars flickering in her pupils.
“…………”
After a long silence, 【She】 spoke:
“…Who are you?”