Chapter 244: Major Event 3: Night of the Witches (4)

"Sorry, we're late."

Utuna said in a low voice, glancing sideways through the window at the massive stage structure hanging in the sky.

"Those three witches from Terminus Tower certainly didn't bother hiding their arrival," she said, furrowing her fiery red brows.

At that moment, the magic lines engraved across Utuna's metal gauntlet lit up layer by layer, tracing the emblem of the "World Tree."

Next, a shaft of blazing white light erupted from the end of the sword hilt like an arrow. Once the blinding radiance reached its peak, it gradually drew inward, condensing into the shape of a blade. Finally, it locked into place, as if she were gripping a solid sword in her palm.

Watching this, the magical girl Sakurahime raised an eyebrow.

She had heard that, much like the NO.19 magical relic "Space-Time Train" held by Xi Ziyue, Utuna of the Three Giants wielded a magical relic of her own.

That relic was called the "Branch of the World Tree."

Notably, every magical girl possessed her own magical weapon—one that reflected the "shape of her heart."

Yet despite being a magical girl, Utuna had no magical weapon of any kind. Unlike Little Red Riding Hood or Ember, she possessed nothing resembling a "sledge" or an "umbrella."

Even so, Utuna had achieved dazzling results long ago fighting with nothing more than "Magic Cards."

Later on, the number one magical girl of the modern era, Xi Ziyue, discovered that Utuna's total magic power far exceeded that of an ordinary magical girl.

Rumor had it that the power of the "Branch of the World Tree" depended on its user's total magic power—the vaster the magic surging within a magical girl, the more of the relic's strength she could draw out.

Because of this, Xi Ziyue personally vouched for Utuna with the Norway Magical Girl Company, applying on her behalf for the right to inherit the NO.20 magical relic, the "Branch of the World Tree."

Living up to Xi Ziyue's expectations, Utuna's strength surged overnight after obtaining the "Branch of the World Tree." She left ordinary magical girls far behind, and before long, she successfully rose to become one of the Three Giants.

Just then, Mizumio Akari turned and shot Utuna an icy glance. "You're so busy apologizing—why don't you mention that we wasted time wiping out all the local giant puppets in Norway on our way here?"

Utuna tightened her grip on the sword hilt and said nothing more.

Xi Ziyue looked up at everyone in the conference room and spoke at an unhurried pace. "The Puppet Witch prepared 'super-large puppets' all over the world in advance. They're also known as 'Cyclopes.'"

"These giant puppets possess immense strength, far beyond what ordinary superheroes and magical girls can handle, so the members of the Roundtable have already been urgently dispatched."

"Their goal was to stall us," Utuna said. "In cities without Roundtable Heroes, no one could stop those Cyclopes, so we had no choice but to take the 'Space-Time Train' and clear them out one by one."

"Exactly," Mizumio Akari said expressionlessly. "Making us arrive a step late was their aim from the start."

As she spoke, she slipped a wind chime from the cuff of her silver-blue dress. It was the NO.18 magical relic, the "Azure God Bell"—a chime whose ring could rouse those trapped in mental confusion and reduce the effects of mental interference to a bare minimum.

To guard against the power of the "Witch of Despair," Mizumio Akari had applied to the Iceland Magical Girl Company for the right to borrow this magical relic for a month.

The magical girl Sakurahime shook her head. "It's not just other places. The giant puppets you mentioned have appeared in Leijing too, Teacher. A huge number of them have gathered along the edge of the Terminus Night structure. By our rough count, there are still a full fifteen of them left to deal with."

"Fifteen? Not too troublesome," Xi Ziyue said lightly.

"By the way, Teacher Xi Ziyue, why didn't the magic detection barrier trigger the Alarm?" the magical girl Winter Hunter asked in confusion.

Xi Ziyue thought for a moment. "It must be the ability of Terminus Night. They hid inside Terminus Night and used the structure to move into Leijing, which is why they didn't trigger the barrier's Alarm."

As she spoke, she glanced sideways out the window at the stage structure.

"Terminus Night can slip past the barrier's detection?" the magical girl Sakurahime asked dubiously.

Xi Ziyue nodded. "That's right. Even though it's floating directly above Leijing, the barrier we set up still can't detect its magic. It's as if... it completely shields any magic released within a certain radius."

Utuna took a deep breath. "Setting that aside for now, how are the ordinary citizens doing?"

"So far, there haven't been any mass casualties," the magical girl Sakurahime said, shaking her head. "The evacuation measures Teacher Xi Ziyue prepared in advance paid off. The magical girls standing by at the four open plazas used the Magic Card 'Void Realm' to create four teleportation pillars of light. Most of the residents in the City Center have already been evacuated to the neighboring plazas—the moment they step inside the pillars, they're immediately transported to other districts."

She paused. "Besides that, the lower-Rank superheroes and magical girl squads are throwing themselves into the rescue efforts, so I don't think we need to worry about the residents."

Just then, the sharp "clack-clack" of metal dismantling and reassembling echoed from outside the window. Seeming to sense the oppressive weight of the massive naval cannon hovering in midair, the magical girl Mizumio Akari followed the noise and turned to look out.

Staring motionlessly at Officer Girl's figure, she asked expressionlessly, "Officer Girl actually came?"

"Reinforcements brought in by Rain Crow," Utuna said mildly. "If I recall, she's been standing by in Leijing under the excuse of 'taking leave' for about a week now. Having two Roundtable Heroes backing us up is a good thing—we probably have Blue Pigeon to thank for that."

"Blue Pigeon?" Mizumio Akari turned back to look at her.

"Oh my, Blue Pigeon is Senior Ember's older brother. Don't tell me you haven't heard, Teacher Mizumio Akari?" the magical girl Sakurahime chimed in curiously.

Mizumio Akari fell silent for a moment, then shook her head.

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly looked up from her phone, hesitated for a beat, and said, "Speaking of Senior Ember, she's missing. None of us can get through to her."

"I've already looked into that."

Xi Ziyue fell silent for a moment before slowly raising her eyes. "Regrettably, Ember is likely right above Terminus Night right now. I received a message from Mr. Blue Pigeon—just a few minutes ago, Ember was taken away by the Puppet Witch."

At her words, every magical girl in the room froze.

In another corner of Leijing, a strange Western-style mansion stood at the center of the stage structure, Terminus Night. From afar, it looked like a mirage shimmering over a desert, exuding an eerie gothic air.

Right now, deep inside that mansion lay a room shaped like a church.

Sunlight filtered through stained-glass windows painted with the benevolent Holy Mother, illuminating the dead-silent church. Several pure white doves perched along the rows of long wooden tables.

At the far end of the church stood a massive altar, built at the very center of a blood-red fountain. Following the altar steps upward revealed two giant crosses standing at the top.

And at this very moment, bound high upon one of those giant crosses, was a girl in a pitch-black gothic dress.