Starting as a Magical Girl, I Alone Shall Rule for Eternity

Anyang, a small city, out over the sea.

Everyone stopped in their tracks to look at the Heart Image Remnant that had already turned into a purple sun.

The pitch-black night sky was completely illuminated, as if the whole world had been dyed purple in an instant. The Disaster Control Bureau’s Magical Girls were shocked beyond measure.

“Is that the power of that Magical Girl Winter?” someone murmured, “Doesn’t this light feel... warm...?”

“Huh? What nonsense...

That night had already shocked them countless times.

From near collapse and torn space, to purple veins spreading throughout the Heart Image Remnant — it all took only thirty seconds.

Jincha had just arrived with people to set up the defensive magic array, even sealing off Anyang and forcing people to disperse,

and then the whole Heart Image Remnant began to burn.

There was no violent reaction, no terrifying explosion or spatial storm. This Heart Image Remnant, which had given the Bureau so many headaches, simply burned away into ash within the purple flames.

Hongmian didn’t have time to stand in stunned amazement with the others. She shook off Jincha, who had been holding her, and rushed over toward the remnant.

“Iris! Iris!”

Although the remnant’s outer shell had been burned away, it was clear the interior was not destroyed by the purple mana.

She could even see many Mirror Kingdom implements falling into the sea.

She saw a Complete Witch fall down, hit on the head by a Mirror Kingdom device, and pass out.

But not long after sinking into the seawater, an ice floe buoyed her and drifted her away.

Many Mirror Beasts fell like rain, but the prepared Magical Girls quickly fired mana cannons and blasted the falling Mirror Beasts apart.

After killing a few Mirror Beasts herself, Hongmian continued running toward the Heart Image Remnant.

“Iris! Iris! Where are you! Answer your teacher!”

More things fell in succession. Seeing an abandoned Hidden Door drop down, Hongmian’s heart for a moment didn’t know whether to ache or rejoice.

Iris and Iris had indeed succeeded in their mission, preventing those Mirror Beasts from swarming through the Hidden Door and causing chaos.

But, but...

She regretted it.

Maybe she shouldn’t have let them go — when she remembered her last instruction to the two to close the Hidden Door,

for a second Hongmian felt she might not have shouldered that responsibility properly.

She even briefly entertained the thought that it wouldn’t matter if more civilians died...

Until Jincha patted her shoulder and called out, “Hongmian!”

“You’ve tangled with witches too much. Don’t let negative emotions run wild or your magical outfit will destabilize.”

Hongmian drew a deep breath and calmed down; her magical outfit gradually stabilized.

If Jincha had been there as always, Hongmian would have ducked behind her senior and played the obedient follower who didn’t think for herself.

But now she had no patience to worry about what Jincha thought.

She only wanted to find her two foolish students.

Yet as more Mirror Beasts and Mirror Kingdom implements fell into the sea and the two girls were nowhere to be seen, hope slowly drained away, her emotions fraying until she almost turned to accuse Jincha.

“Teacher Hongmian! Senior Jincha!”

A familiar shout pulled Hongmian back from the abyss in an instant. She thrust her head up and, seeing the two familiar figures, finally relaxed; tears immediately welled in her eyes.

She didn’t bother with Jincha then, she flew over and hugged Iris and Iris. “You two, you scared me to death! If you run into danger remember to run! Whether the mission succeeded or not doesn’t matter...”

Qingluán, looking at Hongmian crying for the first time in front of her, felt her nose sting and hugged Hongmian, making a soft sound.

Only Jincha glanced at the unconscious Iris and, after the others’ emotions had calmed a bit, spoke gravely, “Iris, did you reach Full Bloom?”

Hongmian was startled, wiped her tears off, and carefully checked Iris.

There was nothing major wrong with her body, she was simply unconscious.

“Yes. The situation was critical. A bunch of Calamity Dragon replicants were going to escape through the Hidden Door, so Iris went Full Bloom...”

“But from Iris’s body,” Hongmian pinched Iris’s cheek, “I can’t feel that deathly aura Full Bloom should give off.”

“Because lightning struck suddenly and cut Iris’s Full Bloom process off...”

Jincha and the now calmer Hongmian both froze. “Cut off Full Bloom?”

“Yes, it was purple lightning. That mana... should be the power of Magical Girl Shion...”

Qingluán took a deep breath. “It was also Shion’s power that stopped the final remnant from exploding. You must have seen that, right?”

They exchanged a glance and fell silent.

Of course they had seen it — that purple mana that spread across the remnant and turned it to ash could not be ignored.

Jincha knew Shion’s strength; they had just witnessed Winter’s methods, and though it was hard to imagine those were the skills of a Seedling Magical Girl, Shion’s even greater prowess was natural. But the display of power from that petite Magical Girl...

Had she already reached Full Bloom? How could she keep Full Bloom without being destroyed by it?

Looking at Iris, Hongmian suddenly said, “If she can cut off a Full Bloom, doesn’t that mean she can go Full Bloom at will, borrow the power of Full Bloom, then interrupt it before its backlash kills her — using Full Bloom with no cost...?”

Jincha’s lips moved. She felt instinctively that it sounded absurd and wanted to rebut, but thinking it through,

it actually seemed possible.

Could it work?

“If Miss Shion could tell us how to interrupt Full Bloom, could we also use Full Bloom power at will?”

At Hongmian’s question, Jincha only shook her head. “Full Bloom isn’t that simple. They... no, now is not the time to discuss this. Hongmian, take Qingluán and Iris back to rest.”

Having confirmed her students had returned, Hongmian, exhausted, grabbed Mujin to leave, but Shuya shoved Iris into her arms. You were holding the still-unconscious Iris and momentarily let go of Mujin,

which allowed Mujin to get pulled forward.

“Senior Jincha, Teacher Hongmian.” Qingluán glanced at the unconscious Iris and took a deep breath. “I’m not going back to the Bureau.”

“Why not?”

Qingluán didn’t raise her head, she just looked down. “A senior nearly died because of me going Full Bloom. Iris is now unconscious. If I stay at the Bureau, I can’t change anything.”

Jincha gripped her magic wand and looked at this junior she favored. “If not the Bureau, where will you go? Don’t tell me you’ll join the Witch Association.”

For Jincha, having once seen teammates fall into the Witch Association, she never wanted to watch another Magical Girl fall into that group. “Even if the Bureau has many problems, it is a formal, public organization. Joining the Witch Association is illegal and criminal!”

Hearing Jincha’s stern rebuke, even Hongmian didn’t dare speak.

“I won’t join the Witch Association,” Qingluán shook her head. “I’m going to the Azure Cloud Sect.”

Hongmian couldn’t help speaking up. “The Azure Cloud Sect is illegal too.”

“I know many in the Bureau have difficulties, but if I stay in the Bureau I’ll remain ignorant and powerless. I want to go to the Azure Cloud Sect to look around. Though illegal, they have a good reputation in Beihai, they’ve never done wrong, and they’ve always fought the Witch Association. I won’t become an enemy of the people at the Bureau.”

“But I don’t want to stay at the Bureau anymore,” Qingluán said solemnly. “I want to find a way to save my senior. I won’t look back. From now on, we won’t meet again.”

Hongmian angrily retorted, “What foolishness are you spouting!”

Unexpectedly, Jincha only asked, “Are you sure the Azure Cloud Sect has answers you can’t find in the Bureau?”

“You saw that power,” Qingluán’s voice burned with fervor. “Miss Shion displayed power almost equal to Full Bloom. They must know something. I want to get stronger too.”

Jincha stopped Hongmian from losing her temper. “If you’ve decided, then go, Qingluán. I’ll handle your affairs at the Bureau. If you think the Azure Cloud Sect is better, be brave and go. If there’s danger, you can always come back to me.”

“Senior Jincha!”

Jincha turned to the worried Hongmian. “Don’t worry. I have some connections with the Azure Cloud Sect. They won’t be dangerous; those in the sect are good kids.”

Although still resentful, Hongmian fell silent because Jincha had said so. She turned her head and didn’t say more.

Qingluán bowed deeply. “Thank you, Senior Jincha, and thank you, Teacher Hongmian, for all your care. But Qingluán will not return. Until I find the secret of Full Bloom to save my senior, I will never see you again. This is my resolve. I’m sorry.”

After speaking, she glanced at Iris. She didn’t know when Iris would wake or whether she might, like her senior, be unable to awaken. But Qingluán could not hesitate any longer; she gritted her teeth,

then flew off toward Winter and Shimei.

Jincha waved with some relief as she sent off this junior going in search of her goal.

Hongmian muttered, “If anything happens to Qingluán, I will never forgive you, Jincha.”

“All right, all right. As a senior, can’t you give the junior some confidence?” Jincha habitually patted Hongmian’s head. Though like an angry cat, when patted she calmed down. “Respect her decision. As long as she isn’t going to the Witch Association, there’s nothing wrong.”

“Ting, who knows if the Azure Cloud Sect secretly has ties to the Witch Association...”

“You saw your sect master Jincha’s power just now. With how you operate, it’s unlikely you’re connected to the Witch Association. The Azure Cloud Sect’s men of magic are proud and aloof.”

From the heartfelt tones one could tell they didn’t think much of certain male magicians. Never mind the Witch Association.

“What if Shuya stays with you and gets bullied...”

Winter looked at the worried Hongmian and couldn’t help but smile. “Mujin is not a small child any longer. Even if she decides to return, we can’t just go to Beihai to check on you...”

It took some time to calm Hongmian. Jincha remarked on how quickly the juniors were growing.

Qingluán, who had flown resolutely away just a moment ago, returned, bashful and fidgety, to Winter’s side.

The three exchanged glances and fell into an awkward silence.

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t come back?” Hongmian asked softly.

Jincha gave her a tug. “Don’t pester.”

Hongmian nodded quickly.

They both thought Qingluán had been rejected by the Azure Cloud Sect; asking more would wound her pride...

“No, it wasn’t like that. Winter said...” Qingluán blushed scarlet and stammered, “Winter said their sect master’s boyfriend has gone missing and they hope... you at the Disaster Control Bureau can help find him.”

After a moment of silence, Jincha and Hongmian both asked, “Huh?”

...

On the other side, Shion had finally completely dealt with the Mirror Kingdom’s backup system space.

The way back had become utterly unfamiliar. The ever-changing space made it impossible to find the previous direction.

Shion had already made the best and worst plans for the mirror-space turbulence.

Along the way she left traces of her own mana as guidance.

Her control over mana now no longer feared interference from spatial turbulence. Her mana net, woven like threads, covered the corridors she came through. Even if repeated spatial turbulence severed the mana,

it could sense and reconnect to ensure she wouldn’t get lost.

Mujin, though supreme in restricted areas and a Great Emperor who once severed himself with one stroke, still lacked depth of cultivation and didn’t understand the limits of mana use.

Even severed mana threads could be rejoined through more precise sensing.

And as long as trajectories were calculated and paths fixed, the mana could work automatically even without the user’s presence.

For example, that Heart Image Remnant outside, a domain long in ruins — once the outer shell was precisely melted away, the internal space could stabilize and connect to reality, but that required understanding the inner mental-image structure first.

“I really can’t understand how you can do this...” Mujin sighed for the umpteenth time. Along this journey she suddenly felt like a rookie among Magical Girls.

Her manipulation and comprehension of mana were still too primitive and crude...

Or perhaps the person before her wasn’t truly a Magical Girl at all but the legendary super-being pretending to be one.

If so, Shion had been Jiang Si all along and didn’t belong to orthodox Magical Girls.

So among proper Magical Girls, she herself could still claim to be a top veteran.

Thinking like that finally eased her mind.

At first she had wanted to learn, since she already had a Full Bloom foundation, so it shouldn’t be hard to pick up.

But after seeing more and more of Shion’s techniques, Mujin gave up on that idea.

It was impossible to learn — utterly impossible.

So she put her effort into redesigning An Shiyu’s magical outfit. The little girl kept refusing in chirpy protest,

but when Shion said she might like it, she shyly agreed.

Mujin shortened the skirt slightly, used over-the-knee white stockings to give long-leg effect, and made the two wings on the back fold down to the head like pretty decorations when not in use.

They could even be controlled to cover the eyes.

Mujin’s pre-life dream had been to become a celebrity makeup artist; she had a knack for outfits, jewelry, and styling.

In a short while she added a lot of charm to An Shiyu’s transformation.

But An Shiyu’s look was pure and cute rather than flashy...

Suddenly a violent shock nearly swept Mujin away in the spatial turbulence.

Shion grabbed the small wing on her head, almost ripping it off, then yanked her shoulder to hold her in place.

“Something’s wrong.”

Mujin clutched the feathers falling from her wings, trying to mend them while asking, “What’s wrong?”

“The mana is being interfered with.”

Shion’s head snapped up and a dangerous aura rose in her heart!

Something was rapidly homing in along the mana!

She immediately cut the mana connection. The mana that had been locked by the enemy began to twist irregularly, then chain-exploded!

It struck like a heavy hammer, smashing into the mind of the enemy tracing the mana source!

You could feel the enemy’s applied force on the purple mana wobble and slow.

Then the enemy madly amplified their mana, anger making their power wildly unstable!

Shion sneered.

When the opponent’s power swelled to a certain degree, they finally made their move.

The finest possible mana threads wove a vast “principle” net, layer upon interlaced layer, with countless invisible curtains between them. The furious mana rammed straight into this net of fate.

At the moment the violent mana tried to rampage, dense branches and leaves grew instantly along the stacked threads; three-colored mana blossomed into various flowers and fruit surrounding it.

The raging mana, rather than like a moth into a web, felt forced into a lush forest of mana with no sense of up or down, no concept of direction,

covering the sky and shading the sun.

Great Forest Wood.

The spell Unclear Confusion, developed from Four Leaf and Six Leaf’s abilities, still had many flaws: without the Great Dao’s rank blessing, without the favor of fruit-stage insight, without the Purple Mansion’s divine power, it lagged far behind true immortal methods.

But when Jincha used it now, it produced a completely different effect.

The Dao Heart, having discerned the Heart Image reality’s secret and transcended reality a second time, along with further refinement of realm, mana understanding, and comprehension of Full Bloom cultivation — all that accumulation crystallized into profound wonder.

Using her own near-Full Bloom mana as the core and three-colored mana as auxiliaries to create a mana forest, the ritual’s transcendence gave Unclear Confusion a flash of “Perception Obstruction” brilliance!

Seeing the opponent commit such a massive outpouring of mana, the petite girl’s eyes turned icy and she deployed profound techniques again!

To miss such an opportunity would be a waste of Shion’s vast learning!

The way to defy heaven, the imprinted yin and yang — now was the time for righteous arcane enforcement!

The insubstantial mana fog in the forest exploded, and the traced violent mana immediately grew confused; a large portion of it began to shrink back, and as the opponent’s force withdrew, they sank ever deeper into the effects of Perception Obstruction.

They forgot what they were doing, what mana they had just traced...

Seeing the spell succeed and the strange tracer vanish, the spatial turbulence suddenly grew wildly violent!

“The space here is becoming more chaotic. Something’s interfering with the space!?” Mujin connected to a nearby stable pocket with her power and pulled Shion back. “The eruption will last long. Staying here will get you lost. Follow me, Shion!”

They dodged a surging turbulence, but wave after wave pounded at them as though endless. Most worrying, at the end of the turbulence lay an extremely powerful aura.

However, because the enemy had been distracted, they not only couldn’t lock onto Shion, they might have forgotten what they were searching for.

So they had simply chosen to scramble this whole region of space... clumsy wild cultivators, only capable of reckless smashing.

As Mujin dragged her toward the stable space, yet another surge of turbulence bore down!

Mujin was startled. Her space entrance was not large; if the turbulence struck it, the opening would be swept away, leaving no avoidance!

But Shion only pulled her back a little and clenched her fist.

This time, instead of wildly releasing mana, she condensed it entirely into her fist.

Then Shion walked straight into the turbulence and punched!

The mana-wrapped small fist seemed ordinary and even cute given Shion’s stature, but when that delicate fist struck,

the once-raging turbulence calmed instantly.

A cracking sound rang through the now-quiet space and spread to all the turbulence behind!

Rips like breaking glass formed, turning the raging spatial storm into a gentle spring rain.

The turbulence that could tear a person apart was itself torn...

Shattering space to stop the turbulence’ spread — that was just too cool!

“Let’s go.”

Before Mujin could react, Shion dragged her into the stable space she had opened earlier.

When they stepped into the safe pocket Mujin had linked, they found themselves on an endless plain.

The flatland had no life; it was silent like a dead place.

“Anyway, let’s wait here until the turbulence subsides. But this is bad — now that the turbulence turned like this, can we still find our way back?”

Shion shook her head. The mana she had left had been entirely used to counterattack and deepen the ritual’s ascension effects.

The return thread was thoroughly severed.

They were now really going to have to search a long time to get back.

“Was there an enemy just now?”

“Probably.”

“How was it?”

“Very troublesome.”

“Even you think it’s troublesome...”

“It might delay my return.”

Actually, it already had.

Seeing Shion’s delicate face harden, Mujin worriedly asked, “What’s the matter? Are you in a hurry to go back? Is something important happening?”

Shion nodded. “The college entrance exam is coming up.”

After a moment’s silence, Mujin asked uncertainly, “Gaokao?”

“Yes. I arranged with the headmaster that I would take the finals and the college entrance exam this term. If I miss it, I’ll have to wait a year.”

The howling of spatial turbulence outside still echoed; Shion’s cataclysmic display lingered in Mujin’s mind. Suddenly saying she needed to take the entrance exam... Mujin was indeed taken aback.

“I said important to you...”

“Isn’t the entrance exam important?” Shion said, tone grave. “For a student, this is a great tribulation of ascension. All who approach must stop their voices and work.”

After a long pause Mujin asked, “I mean, it’s not meaningful for you, right...?”

“There are Full Bloom research materials stored at Yanzi University’s Magical Girl Institute,” Shion replied calmly.

“You have Mirror Kingdom Full Bloom research documents now...”

“Comparing more materials can’t hurt.” Shion sat down.

“True...”

Thinking it over, Mujin said, “If I give you part of my spatial ability, maybe you can get back faster?”

Shion’s previously tranquil pupils brightened abruptly.

Indeed, though not a cliff fall, this was close enough — under the cliff, within the turbulence, lay opportunity.

Ancient cultivation rewards those who seize the chance.