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

Iris admitted that she had somewhat underestimated BH City.

Since BH City only began to birth Disaster Beasts and Magical Girls three years ago, in terms of foundational depth, it should be lower than other cities.

Apart from one Blooming-level Magical Girl in the illegal Magical Girl organization Azure Cloud Sect, the rest were basically all Seedlings.

As the Blooming-level Magical Girl from headquarters with the best performance and strongest battle record among the new generation, not only Iris herself, but even the headquarters staff assigning the mission thought this was somewhat making a mountain out of a molehill.

It was just that Disaster Beast activity in North China had decreased recently, Iris had more free time, plus Kingfisher was quite concerned about Keke, the newly emerged Magical Girl, so Iris took the time to come here, while also helping resolve the Azure Cloud Sect issue.

She came with a vacation mentality.

Organize the intelligence, get to know the key players, then bulldoze through everything, defeat that Shion person, capture her and bring her back to headquarters—her mission would be complete.

But right after arriving, she encountered a class B Disaster Beast appearing, then clashed with the second-in-command of Azure Cloud Sect, Magical Girl Winter.

She witnessed the upper limit of Seedling-level Magical Girls, which actually wasn't inferior to Blooming level at all.

After returning to the Disaster Control Bureau, before she could even warm her seat, another class B Disaster Beast emerged.

This class B Disaster Beast even showed signs of potentially evolving into an A-level Disaster Beast.

Now with two class B Disaster Beasts appearing in such a short time, would there be four on the second day, eight on the third day, and A-level beasts emerging on the fourth day, directly rivaling the most dangerous cities in North China?

If this continued, as a Magical Girl, she'd really have to revisit the Disaster Beast handling records of Beihai over these three years.

Not to mention this suddenly appearing Witch Association member, with that dangerous aura about her.

She hadn't felt something like this in a long time.

She thought it would be a vacation, but why did it feel more like... undergoing tribulation?

"Boom!"

The blue water whip passed through the gravity field. Iris's pupils suddenly contracted as she immediately adjusted the gravity beneath her feet, pushing herself away from the water whip's attack trajectory.

But she was still a step too slow. The water whip struck her right hand, the dense polluted magic instantly blackening her fair wrist.

The magic wand in her hand was also knocked away, but it didn't fall to the ground—instead, it floated in midair.

Even with her wand out of hand, she could still manipulate gravity!

The ponytailed girl over there clapped her hands, "Ooh, impressive, impressive! As expected of a Blooming-level Magical Girl from headquarters. Even with your wand knocked away and seed lost, you can still use magic."

Iris ignored her, simply grabbing the wand with her left hand and aiming it at the ponytailed girl. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Something seemed to be faintly linking between the seed and the wand.

An invisible "tunnel" was instantly constructed. The tunnel's inner walls twisted as the gravity field was compressed and elongated. In that instant, the weightless wand accelerated wildly along this gravity field tunnel!

The water whips around Twins coiled and converged layer upon layer, blocking in front of the wand.

The wand colliding with the water whips began visibly diminishing—from forearm thickness, to branch size, to chopstick thickness, until finally only finger-sized.

But Twins immediately sensed something wrong.

It wasn't being diminished—it was compressing magic power using the gravity field and her own water whips!

What an ingenious design!

No time to marvel as the wand, now finger-sized, had already sped through her water whip barrier. Yet it didn't pierce through her.

Instead, it lightly tapped the azure Miracle Seed.

Like a soft fingertip brushing past the seed.

The gravity field tunnel rapidly collapsed. Twins looked up to see that Iris had already disappeared from where she stood.

Where she had been standing moments before, a dark fissure appeared,

like a black hole.

Realizing something immediately, she tried to throw the seed in her hand away!

But it was already too late. The dark fissure from where Iris originally stood, passing through the just-collapsed gravity field tunnel, instantly spread to the seed in Twins' right hand!

"All Things."

The unfinished transformation phrase from earlier finally sounded again, "Zero Gravity!"

Her right arm was instantly torn off by the distorted gravity. Amid spraying blood, Twins was also sent flying, crashing into the supermarket across the street.

The elongated black hole twisted space, then disappeared as the azure Magical Girl floated in the air.

She threw a wink toward where Twins had flown out, confident yet somewhat cute, "Don't just casually steal a Magical Girl's seed, okay?"

The next moment, she turned and waved toward the giant, unmoving Disaster Beast.

Mediocre Work, Second: The Crushing Lost Land.

The massive Disaster Beast's form began deforming under gravity's pull, shattering, then disappearing.

Even Iris herself froze for a moment.

Was she this strong? Casually annihilating a near-A-level Disaster Beast with one move?

But she quickly realized—it was just an illusion.

An illusion emitting the aura and magic of a near-A-level Disaster Beast.

Turning to look at the supermarket across the way, Iris's expression grew more cautious.

A Witch Association member capable of creating such illusions must be high-level...

Moreover, if that Disaster Beast was an illusion, it meant the other party had specifically targeted her.

She'd never seen such a confident witch before.

"All these drinks and food wasted. As an official Magical Girl, how can you be so evil?"

Rustling sounds came from the supermarket as Twins climbed out from the rubble of bottles, cans, and dust flying everywhere.

Her right arm dripped steadily with black blood.

"I don't want to cosplay Venus. Although Twins' cuteness is slightly superior, that position should have been Twins' all along..."

Even with such severe injuries, Twins continued muttering to herself as if no one was around, seemingly completely unconcerned about her right arm's condition.

From the severed area, black magic resembling mud bubbled up.

But Iris frowned tightly.

"Polluted magic?"

The flowing blood was almost entirely magic.

Iris's pupils trembled slightly as she asked very seriously, "An artificial witch created by the Witch Association?"

Twins sighed, "How do even you know? Damn, this was supposed to be my top-secret intel. Now it's becoming public knowledge? All my advantages gone. What are the Witch Associations in other cities even doing?"

Iris took a deep breath, her gaze both pitying and wary.

With just Disaster Beasts alone, they couldn't oppose the Disaster Control Bureau.

The Witch Association had the ability to control Disaster Beasts, even create them, but ultimately Disaster Beasts below A-level could hardly be considered threatening. However, A-level Disaster Beasts were difficult for the Witch Association itself to handle.

Some city branches of the Witch Association had even been completely devoured by the A-level Disaster Beasts they cultivated themselves, making it unnecessary for the Disaster Control Bureau to intervene.

To counter Magical Girls, the Witch Association researched inhuman artificial witches.

Not fallen Magical Girls, not requiring Miracle Seeds.

These artificial witches underwent brutal experiments from childhood, fusing their own flesh and blood with polluted magic.

Eventually becoming like Twins—beings whose bodies were almost entirely integrated with polluted magic.

"You know what? Actually, we artificial witches were originally the most perfect raw gems." Twins held the Grief Seed in her left hand as polluted magic began spreading throughout her body, coiling around her. "The Witch Association carefully selected us from childhood—potential candidates who could become Magical Girls. That's why we could successfully replace our flesh and blood with polluted magic, until we became the most perfect witches."

A blood-red cross cracked open on her forehead. Twins embedded the Grief Seed into the bloody cross on her forehead. "Just like now."

Polluted magic quickly restored her right arm, followed by blue and black dress gradually covering her entire body.

"Though I'm cute and charming, I bring death and curses."

Blue ribbons restrained the surging black magic on her body. Iris could tell at a glance that the other's attire somewhat resembled Winter's.

No, it should be said it was trying hard to imitate Winter's magical outfit.

Except certain areas couldn't erase the blackness of polluted magic, but with those blue patterns and ribbons, overall it did resemble Winter more closely.

"Artificial Witch, Number 04396, Codename Twins, greets you."

So it really was an artificial witch. Iris tilted her head examining the other's magical outfit. "You're imitating Winter?"

"So glad you could tell at a glance. This took me quite some effort." Twins spun around, her expression like a child showing off new clothes. "How is it? Exactly like Lady Winter, right? Hehe."

"I never expected Azure Cloud Sect to be involved with the Witch Association."

Taking a deep breath, Iris said solemnly, "Even able to connect with artificial witches. It seems I can't let you go easily—"

Before she could finish, she sensed an extremely dangerous aura.

It reminded her of when she was still at Seedling level, being targeted by an A-level Disaster Beast.

That hair-raising sense of danger.

"Watch your tone, newcomer." For the first time, the always smiling and joking Twins turned cold-faced. "How could Lady Winter possibly have any connection with those pieces of shit in the Witch Association? Even if Lady Winter stepped on them to death, it would only dirty the soles of her shoes."

Iris was somewhat confused by her attitude.

The Witch Association's words couldn't be fully trusted, but the other's tone clearly couldn't be dismissed as lies.

What exactly was the relationship between the Witch Association and Azure Cloud Sect? Why was this artificial witch so protective of Winter?

"Just who are you?"

"A Magical Girl in Azure Cloud Sect, a witch in the Witch Association. The ever-changing, adorable girl, Twins—that's me~"

This was the first time Iris encountered a girl more narcissistic than herself.

But before she could think further, the other had already charged before her.

So fast!

She couldn't even sense magic bursting forth—purely physical? Or an ability?

Her wand spun lightly as the surrounding gravity inverted. Eightfold gravity instantly pressed down on Twins!

But Twins' movement only paused for a moment before she continued completely unimpeded, charging right before her.

A sharp right roundhouse kick came chopping straight at her head like an axe!

A witch fighting close combat?

Holding her wand to block while simultaneously altering partial gravity, trying to pull down the other's sharp kicking attack.

Yet it still failed. Her right arm solidly took this roundhouse kick. Iris quickly lightened the gravity around herself, flying backward rapidly!

Eliminating the impact, creating distance, then adjusting her own gravity to stabilize her stance.

Had her ability been nullified?

No, that feeling just now—her ability had worked, it wasn't nullified.

To test her theory, this time she condensed the gravity field's size, only twisting the other's arm.

This time she clearly detected that the other had also altered gravity, instantly canceling her ability!

"You can manipulate gravity too?"

Iris instinctively asked.

But Twins just looked at her with some mockery, completely unwilling to explain.

While Magical Girl abilities weren't unique, this was the first time in many years she'd encountered a witch with the exact same ability as hers.

Was this specifically targeting her?

But her coming to Beihai was a temporary decision by headquarters—the Witch Association couldn't have known. Even if they did know, they wouldn't specifically send a gravity-manipulating witch to deal with her. The other was very familiar with Azure Cloud Sect in Beihai, indicating she had been active in Beihai long before, unrelated to her.

If it wasn't coincidence, or specifically targeting her...

Iris watched as Twins moved again, not daring to be careless. She interrupted her thoughts and immediately activated the next skill.

"Mediocre Work, Third."

As she inserted her wand into the ground and began speaking, she saw the charging girl opposite suddenly stop.

Twins looked at her smiling, the polluted magic in her hand also transforming into a wand that she inserted into the ground, imitating her: "Mediocre Work, Third."

Iris's heart jumped as a bad premonition surged up, but she still completed the chant:

"The Amber Sea of Eternal Stillness."

Twins finished almost simultaneously with her.

The gravity fields that could stagnate all things spread out from both sides simultaneously. The power that altered surrounding environmental rules collided, dissolved, and dispersed.

Same magic amount, same magic structure, same rule changes.

Even the gradient effects at the edges were identical!

After all the power vanished, Iris stared horrified at Twins in the distance, her tone disbelieving:

"You stole my ability!"

Twins immediately looked displeased, "What do you mean stole? I openly took it, okay? Magical Girls shouldn't casually hand over their seeds—didn't your teacher teach you that?"

"Twins Twins—that's my codename, meaning coexisting with Magical Girls. Only with your existence does my ability have meaning. I should thank you for so carelessly giving away your seed."

Though if she hadn't managed to steal the seed, Twins wouldn't have revealed herself either.

With a light jump, Twins' figure also floated in the air, her posture almost completely identical to Iris!

"All of a Magical Girl's abilities are recorded in her own Miracle Seed. Even the transformation memories within the Miracle Seed contain all your battle records. Guess why that is?"

The wand in Iris's hand dissipated, transforming into a halo aimed at Twins. A miniature singularity formed, enormous attraction enveloping Twins, pulling her toward the singularity—but before Twins could be pulled, her magic had already been massively absorbed into it.

Yet Twins similarly dissipated her wand, transforming it into a halo.

"Masterpiece, Sixth: The Destination of Eternal Silence's Echo."

Twins' halo frantically absorbed the magic Iris had just lost from Iris's halo. Then both sides fell into stalemate again, but clearly Iris's halo-created miniature singularity wasn't stable enough, its power insufficient.

Soon it was swallowed by Twins' halo.

"Thinking that by not chanting, you could prevent me from learning how to use it? How adorable, Miss Iris. But without chanting, the power decreases."

Twins wasn't in a hurry to determine victory. She observed the other's expression, calculating the time, waiting for an opportunity to retreat.

She had dealt with Blooming-level Magical Girls from the Disaster Control Bureau before.

As long as her ability could touch the other's Miracle Seed, no matter what level the Magical Girl was, she could put up a fight.

It was just difficult to determine victory.

After all, with basically identical abilities, the other side would definitely be more familiar with various skills' effects and usage methods. So as long as the Magical Girl calmed down, even if they couldn't counter her ability, they wouldn't necessarily lose.

Therefore, at most it was about intimidating people and buying time.

Twins hadn't planned to actually determine victory or life-and-death with the other.

As long as the captain knew she was working, that was enough. For this Disaster Beast illusion, she'd specifically chosen a time when Azure Cloud Sect wouldn't notice, and narrowed the range to only this area monitorable by the Disaster Control Bureau.

Minimizing impact, playing with Miss Iris for a while, then she could happily return to report completion...

Just as she was thinking this, Twins casually glanced behind Iris, planning to find a retreat route. Her ability's effect duration was almost up.

However, when her gaze inadvertently spotted a certain figure, she froze, then looked back to confirm.

Then her entire body stiffened in place, instinctively wanting to step back.

But she found her legs had already started trembling, unable to move.

Iris was still considering how to counter her own ability, how to lure the other into using the flawed Mediocre Work First to secure victory, when she noticed Twins' expression had suddenly turned somewhat unpleasant.

That always flippant and smiling face now showed traces of fear...

As if she'd seen a ghost.

Iris was puzzled.

Not even afraid of a Blooming-level Magical Girl—what had she seen to scare her like this?

So she turned to look.

A girl wearing purple-gold robes was reflected in the mirrored surface of a nearby tall building, gazing indifferently at them.

Like a ghost—if she hadn't turned around, she wouldn't have even sensed her presence at all.

A fearful, timid voice came from beside her ear:

"Sect Master..."