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

Li Yi didn't fall asleep until very late last night.

When she woke up this morning, she almost ended up being late.

While sitting on the bus with nothing better to do, she pulled out the letter she had stayed up late writing and looked at it again.

Reading it word by word, the sentences that seemed perfectly normal yesterday now felt strange upon rereading, even a bit embarrassing.

She pressed herself against the bus window, half-concealing the letter. Her handwriting was actually quite delicate and small—even if someone sitting next to her leaned over to peek, they probably wouldn't be able to make it out clearly. But Li Yi always felt like others could see it anyway.

With a furtive, almost thief-like feeling, she read through the entire letter once more, then felt her cheeks grow warm as she tucked the pink stationery away.

Of course, she hadn't actually wanted to use pink stationery.

Because her older sister had insisted that love letters should be written on pink paper, she had considered using a different color instead.

But after going back and forth, she still felt in her heart that pink stationery looked nicer and was more appropriate...

After all, since it was a friendship letter, pink felt gentler. Other colors seemed either too aggressive or too cold...

The content of the letter was actually quite normal. In essence, it expressed her hope to get to know Jiang Si better, to become good friends with him, and her sincere wish that Jiang Si could understand her perspective—that she genuinely hoped he and Keke could reconcile.

Because Li Yi herself had an older sister, she could better understand how much Keke must be hurting right now. She also believed that Jiang Si probably hadn't intentionally turned against Keke; in the end, they were family who had relied on each other for survival.

If they truly hated and resented each other, how could they have lived together for so long?

If they could communicate properly and understand each other, even if they couldn't become as close as ordinary siblings, at the very least, Keke wouldn't feel so cold and lonely at home.

As the captain of the Magical Girl combat team, it was her duty to care about each team member's family situation, help them resolve family issues, and guide them to become qualified members of the Magical Girl combat team!

So this wasn't a confession or anything like having feelings for Jiang Si...

Lost in her thoughts, Li Yi secretly took the letter out for another peek.

It wouldn't be misunderstood as a love letter, would it?

It was all her sister's fault for calling it a confession letter, making her worry that her writing wasn't clear enough and might be misinterpreted. She had agonized over every single word multiple times, which was why she had stayed up so late.

Last night, she had originally intended to wait for her sister to return while writing, but her sister never came back, even after she fell asleep.

Now that she had finished writing it, she still didn't know whether it was appropriate or not.

Moreover, was writing a letter as a way to make friends too old-fashioned and outdated? What if Jiang Si ended up laughing at her?

If it got mistaken for a confession and he rejected her, well, that would be that. Although thinking about it was somewhat disheartening, it wouldn't cause any real trouble.

But what if he actually said yes? What would she do then?

Should she accept?

If she did accept, would it cause conflict with Shion? Even though she couldn't defeat her, if Jiang Si accepted the confession, he would stand by her side, right...

Her wild thoughts had drifted far ahead before she even realized it. When she finally snapped back to reality, Li Yi felt so embarrassed that she immediately slapped her own cheeks twice, hard, telling herself to stop overthinking.

Having hurt herself, Li Yi teared up and rubbed her slightly reddened cheeks, then began thinking about revising the letter more carefully once she got to school.

But there were too many busybodies at school, and since she was somewhat of a focal point in her class, if she started writing the letter there, rumors would definitely spread that she was writing a love letter. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

She needed to find a secluded place to write...

Jiang Si probably wouldn't come to school today anyway, so there was no rush to deliver it. She could just wait until after school in the afternoon to find Keke.

She had already made plans with Keke to go for walks together after school every day, and to try to finish their homework at school.

Because of Jiang Si's relationship with Shion, although the Disaster Control Bureau didn't dare take further action against Jiang Si, they also didn't dare let Keke enter the Bureau anymore—both as a precaution and to protect Keke.

After all, while there weren't many people at the Bureau who were unfriendly toward the Azure Cloud Sect, some still existed. Her own sister had originally despised the Azure Cloud Sect, and now that the Miracle Seed had been stolen from the Bureau, if Keke still went there, she would inevitably be suspected and subjected to gossip.

As the captain, she could take Keke on daily missions and accompany her to unwind—there was no need to go to the Disaster Control Bureau anyway.

When it came down to it, most of the time spent at the Disaster Control Bureau involved boring things like meetings. Not going wasn't necessarily a bad thing; in fact, Silver Lotus herself didn't want to go.

This afternoon after school, when she went for a walk with Keke, she could ask Keke to help deliver the letter. Plus, she could also ask Keke to take a look at it and see if there were any issues with the letter...

Her sleep-deprived mind felt hazy as she pondered. Half-asleep and half-awake, she didn't know why, but Jiang Si's perpetually expressionless face kept surfacing in her thoughts.

She had actually noticed it before—just in terms of facial features, Jiang Si was quite good-looking, which didn't quite match his somewhat irritable and fierce personality. If he wore glasses and sat quietly in the classroom, people would probably mistake him for a well-behaved student.

He was the type that Li Yi rather liked...

No, no, what are you thinking, Li Yi!

Her eyes snapped open, and Li Yi banged her forehead against the metal railing near the window to stop herself from overthinking.

After calming down, Li Yi looked out the window and suddenly noticed something amiss.

There was a dense concentration of tainted magical energy nearby?

Before she could react, the vehicle jolted violently. Screams erupted inside the bus as the driver desperately swerved toward the roadside, repeatedly stomping on the brakes to bring the bus to a halt.

A Disaster Beast had appeared in the distant park!

It appeared to be some kind of bull. Its massive body had materialized directly from the sky, crashing down into the park. The impact's tremors traveled all the way to the bus, even causing cracks to spread across the asphalt road here!

Amid the churned-up soil and park fitness equipment, no human figures were visible, suggesting that someone had evacuated the area around the park beforehand.

Only the Disaster Control Bureau could manage something like that, but why hadn't she received any notification?

The bus screeched to a halt against the curb. Li Yi grabbed her seed, rose from her seat, and released a bit of magical energy to help her push through the crowded passengers to the front, disembark, and quickly sprint toward the park.

Before Li Yi could even find a secluded spot to transform, more Disaster Beasts began appearing one after another in other locations!

She scanned her surroundings, momentarily bewildered.

Why hadn't she received any message?

The Disaster Control Bureau could monitor Disaster Beast appearances in advance. With so many appearing today, the Bureau definitely should have detected them. As the captain, she should have received notification yesterday...

Two brilliant trails of rainbow light streaked across the sky. Looking up, Li Yi saw Keke and Yueji, transformed into Magical Girls, engaging the bull-like Disaster Beast.

It was as if they had been prepared all along.

Police cars and special Disaster Control Bureau vehicles were stationed near the park, cordoning off the danger zone.

Near the other Disaster Beasts, Magical Girls from the Azure Cloud Sect were also carefully containing the threats, minimizing the damage.

Everything indicated that she was the only one who hadn't received the message.

Sensing an unsettling aura, she headed to a hidden corner and took out her Miracle Seed to transform, only to discover an extremely dense, tiny black dot on the seed.

Though small, the black dot was remarkably conspicuous, making Li Yi instinctively reach out to wipe it.

But no matter how much she rubbed, the dot wouldn't disappear, as if it were etched inside the Miracle Seed itself.

Not in the mood to dwell on it, she was about to transform when her phone rang.

Li Yi glanced at it—it was the Monitoring Department of the Disaster Control Bureau.

"Hello, is this Yiyi? Have you gone to school yet?"

"Sister? Why are you using the Monitoring Department's phone? And why didn't I receive any notification about so many Disaster Beasts appearing in the city? I saw that Keke and Yueji seemed to have gotten the message, and even the Magical Girls from the Azure Cloud Sect..."

"Too many questions at once! Sigh, anyway, our Disaster Control Bureau has been infiltrated like a sieve. The Azure Cloud Sect even found out about the massive Disaster Beast outbreak in BH City before we did."

"We can talk about everything else later. I need to deal with the Disaster Beasts first!"

But the moment she began transforming, she sensed something wrong.

Her magical energy felt slightly abnormal.

Looking down, she saw that the small black dot on her Miracle Seed seemed to have grown a tiny bit larger.

"My silly sister, no need to be in such a hurry. With the Azure Cloud Sect and your team members here, these Disaster Beasts won't cause too much harm. The death toll will likely be in the single digits at most."

"Sister, what are you saying..."

"What I mean is, you have more important matters to attend to. Right now, the Disaster Control Bureau isn't just facing Disaster Beast attacks; both the Witch Association and Azure Cloud Sect members have already begun moving. I can feel that the Bureau is in a very dangerous situation and needs you to return and stabilize things, Yiyi..."

Ahead, the massive bull, approaching class B Disaster Beast level, stomped the ground and let out a roar. Its terrifying magical energy sent nearby police cars flying, and Keke nearly got blown off her broom by the blast.

The park had been trampled into a ruined crater, and the overwhelming tainted magical energy made it impossible for Yueji and Keke to get close.

The bull Disaster Beast scraped the ground with its hoof, lowered its head slightly, and assumed a charging stance.

Then, it charged forth violently!

Streets, vehicles, streetlights, factories—everything was flattened instantly under its charge!

Yueji and Keke stood in its path, but even giving their all, they could barely slow the Disaster Beast's charge.

Just the force of this charge alone was comparable to that of a class B Disaster Beast!

It wasn't until countless pink petals drifted down, swirling around the bull Disaster Beast, that its charging speed gradually slowed.

Then, it stumbled, one leg buckling as it crashed to the ground, half its head smashing into the pavement and plowing a massive trench until its horns slammed into a building ahead, finally coming to a stop.

Yueji and Keke both turned around in pleasant surprise, "Captain!"

"Sister, I'll head back right after dealing with this Disaster Beast!" Silver Lotus, who had just hung up the phone, flew up and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the two. She first asked, "Did both of you receive advance notice?"

Seeing them both nod, Silver Lotus took a deep breath and didn't press further.

Because the bull Disaster Beast, after piercing through the building ahead with its horns, shook its head and stood up again.

"Focus! Work with me to eliminate this Disaster Beast!"

"Yes, Captain!"

...

Disaster Control Bureau, Monitoring Department.

Yinluo stared blankly at the disconnected phone.

In the crystal ball beside her, the annoying face of Twins appeared, giggling, "Aww, got hung up on by your own sister. How pitiful. Even after clearly stating that you're in danger yourself, your sister doesn't seem to care at all."

"After all, she is the captain of the Magical Girl combat team."

Yinluo's face, illuminated by the flickering phone screen, seemed to shift between shadows and light—perhaps pride, perhaps disgust. "Her first priority is to carry out her duties as the captain of the Magical Girl combat team, protecting everyone as a Magical Girl. Everything else comes after that."

"Even her own sister falls under 'everything else.' How sad."

"Yes."

Yinluo took off her glasses and picked up the crystal ball. "What's even sadder is that the sister who used to be so obedient, who could only follow and depend on you, has become so independent—even able to give you orders, to protect you instead, as if your roles have reversed."

"Feeling unbalanced?"

Without speaking, Yinluo simply smiled and raised the crystal ball. "Miss Twins, as we agreed before, I gave you half of the potion, and you helped me activate the Grief Seeds that the captain spread. But this current number... isn't quite right, is it? It seems quite a bit lower than we agreed upon, doesn't it?"

"Oh dear, oh dear, listen to you. It sounds like you're accusing me of cheating you." Twins put on an expression of grievance. "You know perfectly well how cautious the captain is. I did my best to awaken this many Disaster Beasts. Many of the Grief Seeds' contaminated magical energy wasn't even fully stored before they were forcibly activated. Wasting so many like this, the captain will definitely be furious later. How can you still blame me?"

"Besides, isn't it more critical that you allowed the Monitoring Department's messages to get out? After all that effort, the Azure Cloud Sect still received advance notice. In the end, the only person you managed to keep in the dark was your own sister. That's far more fatal than me not activating enough Disaster Beasts, isn't it? If the Azure Cloud Sect hadn't gotten the message in advance, the outside would be in complete chaos right now, with lots of people dead."

"Can't be helped. It's the Azure Cloud Sect, after all."

Yinluo entered the hallway, where other Disaster Control Bureau employees were rushing about.

Outside the Bureau, the roars of several Disaster Beasts echoed.

Bringing Grief Seeds into the Bureau's isolated space to awaken them wasn't particularly difficult for Yinluo.

Peony had already gone outside to provide support. Since Yueji and Keke weren't at the Bureau to begin with, there were currently no Magical Girls left inside the Disaster Control Bureau—they were relying solely on magical barriers for defense.

Heavy firepower unleashed volleys of ammunition that exploded against the Disaster Beasts, the intense tremors making it hard for anyone inside the Bureau to keep their footing.

But for the Disaster Beasts, this only barely managed to suppress them.

Under the assault of numerous Disaster Beasts, the magical barriers had already begun to waver.

She headed toward the safe room. With all the Bureau's armed forces dealing with the Disaster Beasts, the now "empty" safe room was naturally unmanned.

Unlocking the door, passing verification, decrypting, swiping cards—the multiple layers of security appeared quite professional.

But having worked here long enough, Yinluo knew exactly how much of it was just for show, superficial measures.

As she passed through, she asked, "I'm curious—why did you betray the Azure Cloud Sect and join the Witch Association?"

"Same reason you betrayed the Disaster Control Bureau: couldn't stand certain people."

"If you just wanted to deal with the Azure Cloud Sect, wouldn't the Disaster Control Bureau be a better choice? It would leave you some room to maneuver."

"Don't make me laugh. Do you even believe that yourself? Joining the Disaster Control Bureau to fight the Azure Cloud Sect? I might as well go it alone."

Yinluo walked all the way to the third brick in the eastern corner of the wall. Opening it, she revealed an exquisite box inside.

Yinluo, who had always maintained elegance and composure, now showed a flicker of intense emotion on her face.

Excited and greedy, she caressed the box, eager to open it, only to find it wasn't locked.

The lock-picking tools she had prepared were unnecessary, leaving Yinluo momentarily stunned. Then she opened the box and discovered that only two Miracle Seeds remained inside.

If she remembered correctly, shouldn't there have been three?

"Hey, hey, hey! The gift I prepared for you has arrived. I won't disturb your first grand display of power after obtaining it, then. Bye-bye~"

The image of Twins on the crystal ball vanished. Hearing a strange noise, Yinluo sharply turned around.

Susan was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, looking at her with a mix of mockery and disgust:

"Do you have anything you'd like to explain, Miss Yinluo?"

Yinluo paused, quickly running through the list of people who knew about the information in her mind, then let out a sigh.

Twins, you little bitch...