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

Susan munched on a piece of bread while glancing at her colleague beside her. "Didn't expect you'd be the one assigned to do surveillance with me."

Peony, who had changed into casual clothes, yawned loudly.

"Can't help it. Right now I'm the only Magical Girl at Disaster Control Bureau with nothing to do. Silver Lotus had class today, so I had to come. What, you not satisfied with me?"

"No, it's just a bit surprising. Isn't today Monday—shouldn't you also have class?"

"Of course I took the day off. The Bureau arranged paid leave for me."

Peony said proudly, her face full of youthful vigor, like a college student. When it was time to work, though, she looked like someone almost thirty. Work ages you.

Susan sighed inwardly. She reached up and touched her face; lately she felt the same way every morning in the mirror, wondering if she'd aged a little more. She used to refuse cosmetics outright, but she couldn't help applying makeup this morning to hide dark circles and some rough skin.

Susan's workload at the Bureau—and the arrangements regarding Azure Cloud Sect—actually far exceeded Peony's. Especially recently, because of the Miracle Seed issue, she had been searching for a witch mole inside the Bureau, tangled up with Yinluo, and had no shortage of problems.

Peony tapped Susan, who had zoned out. "You look beat, Susan. You okay? Just watching you makes me tired."

"I'm fine." Susan finished her bread and clapped her hands. She had rushed out early and skipped breakfast, so a random bread would do. She glanced at Jiang Si, who was stepping out ahead, and said, "This period will pass."

The two chatted as they followed Jiang Si from a distance.

"Yesterday we had planned to have Silver Lotus do the surveillance, but you insisted on taking the job," Peony continued. "I mean, even if someone's shady, Silver Lotus wouldn't cover for members of an illegal organization, right? Captain hates Azure Cloud Sect and the Witch Association."

"Silver Lotus and Yinluo already made guarantees for Jiang Si." Susan's face remained expressionless. "Whether or not they would cover for him, it's safer for both of them to avoid suspicion."

She didn't know how Azure Cloud Sect would arrange things. With the Bureau intensifying investigations lately, she couldn't always communicate intelligence with Lord Bingtang. So she strained to grab this job first, buying Azure Cloud Sect a day to prepare countermeasures. From what she knew of Azure Cloud Sect, one day would probably be more than enough. But being used to the Bureau's slowness, she liked to leave a day's buffer.

Jiang Si, after a brief warm-up, suddenly started to jog.

The two of them naturally quickened their pace to keep up.

Peony lowered her voice and went back to the earlier topic. "That said... I just think you're too tired."

"It's only one day. They'll switch tomorrow."

Susan's cold expression softened a little at Peony's worry. "The Bureau arranged compensatory rest. Consider today overtime—there are three days off later."

"That's good, that's good." Peony muttered. "If something's on your mind, tell me. Don't keep it inside. Ever since your Seed broke, you haven't told me anything. It really upsets me, Susan."

Jiang Si's running pace increased, growing faster and faster.

"There's nothing to say." Susan stared ahead at Jiang Si. "Even if I said it, nothing would change."

They had once been the closest comrades. The Bureau's Magical Girl combat unit was small; since its establishment there were only seven Magical Girls in total. When Susan and Peony joined, the combat team including Hyacinth numbered only four. They had to cover all of Beihai to clear Disaster Beasts while ensuring safety, so they split into two-person teams.

From the moment she entered the Bureau, Susan and Peony had been teammates, enduring countless fierce battles and hardships. It felt like it had been ages—but in truth it had only been a year or two.

"You remind me of the old days, when we first met." Peony was gasping, struggling to keep pace as Jiang Si sped away. Her tone quivered. "Back then you always said, 'No need,' 'Nothing to talk about,' 'It's just work,' 'Don't waste time.' You refused to talk to me."

Silent, Susan inhaled. When she first joined the Bureau, she thought Peony was a burden. She believed she could handle Disaster Beasts alone—no teammates required. After all, the Bureau had fewer people than Azure Cloud Sect and insisted on two-person teams; how could they compete with Azure Cloud Sect?

The truth confirmed that: two-person teams from the Bureau couldn't beat Azure Cloud Sect when it came to snatching promising young Magical Girls, let alone fighting Disaster Beasts. Susan had long opposed the Bureau's small-team strategy and favored solitary action. So she constantly brushed off Peony, often leaving her behind during missions.

That changed when rookie Susan encountered a class B Disaster Beast. Even for a Seedling-tier Magical Girl the beast was tough; for Susan, whose Sprout stage had just sprouted, it was an almost unbeatable terror. Her magic wand was snapped, her mana almost drained, and after reverting to her human form she stood before the B-class Disaster Beast at her most vulnerable. The pain and fear of being injured made Susan realize she was not invincible as a Magical Girl. It wasn't guaranteed she'd escape every danger.

At the brink of death, Peony arrived and saved her. Susan couldn't remember what happened next; she had been gravely wounded and sent to the hospital. Magical contamination rendered her unconscious for a long time. When she awoke, Peony lay in the adjacent bed, also badly injured, but she smiled stupidly when Susan opened her eyes. Peony then had been naive, foolishly bright—so dazzling Susan couldn't look straight at her.

After that, Susan never left Peony alone on missions again.

"I thought that from then on we'd be the best of friends..." Peony trailed off.

Peony ran for a while and finally stopped, watching Jiang Si continue to sprint, showing no sign of slowing. She bent over, hands on her knees, gasping. "My god, is he even human?!"

Even Susan had started to sweat slightly. They had been running at a steady clip for nearly half an hour, yet Jiang Si still had energy and looked as if he could accelerate.

"I can't. I need magic." Peony took out her Miracle Seed. She didn't dare transform for fear of being noticed by Jiang Si, but secretly using a bit of mana to strengthen herself was okay. "How can someone be like this..."

Susan pressed her lips together, staring at Peony's Miracle Seed blankly. She couldn't take out her own seed here. Peony, practiced, grabbed her hand and eased some of her fatigue, and the two broke into another run. Jiang Si soon became a speck in the distance.

With mana support, Peony was steady. After catching up to Jiang Si and keeping a safe distance, Peony returned to her earlier complaint. "Since your seed broke, Susan, you've been like you're broken too. You won't tell me anything."

"I always thought we'd be friends forever." Peony fretted. "Why did our relationship go backwards?"

Keeping her breathing even so she wouldn't tire, Susan watched Jiang Si's shrinking silhouette. Why, indeed? They had laughed together, cried together, and fought strong enemies together. She had thought their friendship would last forever.

Because of an intelligence failure at the Bureau that led to a trap by the Witch Association, Susan's Miracle Seed malfunctioned. She couldn't transform. Initially, she didn't fully grasp the implications. She stepped back from the front lines and moved to security work within the Bureau, doing daily tasks. Day after day the accumulation of small incidents began to expose what losing the ability to transform really meant.

When Disaster Beasts attacked and she could no longer transform, she was forced to flee like an ordinary person, waiting for other Magical Girls to rescue her; when even a D-class Disaster Beast could nearly kill her; when she couldn't fight alongside her comrades and could only watch them shed blood while she stayed behind; when she showed up on the battlefield and only became a burden, scorned and criticized by former friends—attitudes and treatment shifted.

Everything she had taken for granted as a Magical Girl vanished, replaced by pity, ridicule, and sympathy she had always rejected. Even the best friend, Peony, couldn't always be by her side. They were no longer comrades in the same way; Peony had new teammates and often went out to clear Disaster Beasts without her. Even though Peony tried to preserve the friendship, distance and time quietly eroded much, including a friendship Susan had thought immutable. Watching Peony no longer have room for her, watching comrades laugh and fight shoulder-to-shoulder while Susan handled logistics in the rear and only exchanged hurried greetings—she couldn't find meaning in that life.

It wasn't a sudden catastrophe that broke her—Susan wasn't that fragile. It was the daily drip of small hurts like water torture that crumbled her in a long, slow despair.

"Nothing lasts forever, Peony."

She responded like that, and at last Jiang Si stopped running. The two women halted as well. Peony let go of Susan's hand and noticed the Miracle Seed had drained a good deal of mana—enough to kill a D-class Disaster Beast. She looked back up at Jiang Si, who showed no flush, no breathlessness, merely doing some light stretches as energetic as ever. Even knowing his physicality was exceptional, Peony couldn't help feeling stunned. What a freak...

Seeing Jiang Si standing at the street, waiting in place and not about to move again soon, Peony exhaled in relief. Chasing him was more exhausting than fighting a Disaster Beast.

After catching her breath, she handed a wet wipe to Susan, whose cheeks were flushed and forehead damp with sweat. "So, if you have something on your mind, why can't you tell me?"

Susan turned her head to look at Jiang Si, who stood like a statue, motionless. She heard Peony's words and tilted her head. What would she say? That she wanted him to take her into battle with him? That she wanted him to stay away from the front lines? That she wanted him to stop transforming? The things she couldn't voice became silence.

Some things couldn't be said; their relationship was no longer at a stage where she could share everything. Susan couldn't accept the part of herself that couldn't transform. To regain the power of transformation she had been secretly hunting Disaster Beasts alone at night, taking a seed that no longer responded and clashing with beasts, calling for miracles with the most desperate hope. But without her Magical Girl powers, miracles stopped answering. The beasts ravaged her body; pain seeped from her soul, consuming flesh and blood. She thought she would die, and she accepted death. The Magical Girl called Susan had already died with the loss of transformation.

Then the purple-haired girl appeared. Terrifying power washed over the beast and Susan like a towering tsunami. She felt like a fragile boat about to capsize, fighting to survive. The purple Magical Girl reached out and pulled her free.

"Why didn't you transform?"

Susan still remembered the scene: bright white moonlight and hazy purple flames burning, the girl bathed in that light standing over Susan, who sat collapsed. Her eyes were colder and more beautiful than moonlight as she stared and commanded, "Transform."

And then the miracle came. No—miracle had already arrived when Shion appeared before her; fortune had favored her. When Susan followed Shion's instructions, her depleted Miracle Seed ignited. She failed to complete the transformation then, and later Shion took her back to Azure Cloud Sect and handed her off to Bingtang. Under Bingtang's tutelage, she slowly relearned her seed, and after two more days she succeeded in transforming again.

She had cried then—worse than she'd ever cried in her life. Those who hadn't experienced it wouldn't understand how it feels to recover something more precious than life. Only those who had been through it know; no one can fully empathize. Shion and Lord Bingtang gave her a second life, especially Shion. For Susan, when the Sect Master gave her a second life, she decided to live for Azure Cloud Sect. She strove in her work and missions to earn the opportunity to meet Shion again and express her gratitude. As for the Bureau, she no longer cared.

"Do your job well. We don't get many chances to cooperate on a mission, so don't mess it up."

Such a cold dismissal made Peony's face fall; she looked dejected and lowered her head. Susan, ignoring her former friend's feelings, frowned at Jiang Si sitting casually on the curb. The street crowd thickened; despite being Monday, this most bustling city avenue was never short on people, and the increasing noise helped hide their presence.

If it weren't for Azure Cloud Sect, she wouldn't care whether this unaffiliated person lived or died. If the Bureau arrested him, he'd have it coming. Besides that strange physical power—neither fully human nor ghost—he had taken half of Azure Cloud Sect's pay while contributing nothing; treating sect work like a side job purely for money made Susan unable to tolerate him. How could Shion and Lord Bingtang agree to let such a man join Azure Cloud Sect? She had to go through grueling tests to merely become an outer disciple, unable to touch the sect's core. Who did he think he was, strolling around with Shion?

Just then, the noisy street seemed to drop in volume by a decibel. The change was so obvious that even Peony noticed. Jiang Si, who had been sitting on the curb, stood up.

Facing him, in casual clothes but still with that icy expression that drew many glances and turned heads, was Shion—showing a faint smile only when she saw Jiang Si.

Susan's eyes widened, then she immediately glanced at Peony. Peony gaped in disbelief.

Everyone knew Jiang Si might be connected to Azure Cloud Sect, but who would've guessed he'd be involved directly with the Sect Master?!

"This—this..." Peony stammered. "Is that Shion? It looks like her. Though maybe a bit taller. Her face matches the Bureau photos—why is she here?"

Of course it was Shion: that perfect face, those beautiful eyes. Other than seeming a little taller and softer in temperament, she was the same. How could it not be Shion?

"Hey, why is she linking arms with Jiang Si? Are they that close? Could they be a couple?"

Impossible. Absolutely impossible. How could Shion favor someone like him—someone with no sense of belonging to the sect and only after money? He had no right to stand beside the Sect Master.

"Should we report this immediately? This looks like something beyond our ability to handle. If Shion notices we're following them, it could be dangerous..."

Peony looked at the pair preparing to leave with a panicked expression and asked, but found her friend lost in thought. Irritated, she complained, "Damn Shion..."

"Damn Jiang Si!" Peony blurted, then froze and tilted her head to Susan. For a moment she saw rancor and anger.

But Susan's face returned to its icy calm and she spoke indifferently, "How dare he actually collude with Azure Cloud Sect."

How dare he seduce the Sect Master!

"How infuriating."

How jealous-making.

"I won't let him off."

Absolutely not.

She closed her eyes and was silent for a while, as if deep in thought. Only when Shion and Jiang Si had nearly disappeared from sight did Susan make a decision. "Don't report it yet. Follow the targets and gather more evidence. We must avoid startling the snake."

Peony nodded, secretly admiring her. As calm and composed as ever, Susan could still quickly make the right judgment even after seeing such a shocking scene.

I need to pick up the pace too.