In this moment, the crimson flames once again blazed within Lin Guang’s eyes: “…!!”

So that was it.

That man sitting atop the giant tree on the throne, with jade-green eyes almost identical to Su Fang’s…

“How laughable.”

“All those past Prophecy Maidens, and the others—those girls who applied for the Utopia project because of their own misfortunes—were forced by the mission Su Jingyan set to embark on the path of saving Kazenari Town…”

She said with a faintly mocking tone: “This is the ‘main storyline’ of this world.”

“Main storyline… hahaha, main storyline!!”

“This was just a game from the very beginning!”

“But all of us underestimated that artifact…”

“It’s alive, carrying the will of the Abyss! It even emits signals that everything is normal to the outside world!”

“But in truth, Su Jingyan… the administrator of this world, has already been corroded by it, transforming this world into a true endless purgatory!”

“Restart after restart, like an endless Möbius strip, grinding down their hope—our hope—bit by bit, until it finally devours them, turning them into witch after witch…”

“We… are nothing more than nourishment for the Abyss.”

Airwen suddenly laughed, and that laughter seemed laced with countless blood and tears. Lin Guang had never seen her wear such a miserable expression.

“We can only be trapped in this game, watching it all unfold.”

Magic power clashed as their weapons met.

There was no skill involved, only the transmission of Airwen’s emotions through the magic power.

Through the Soul Link, Lin Guang finally sensed something belonging to Airwen, something she had hidden for who knows how long.

It was…

An ocean of suppressed grief, sorrow, despair, and countless negative emotions, condensed so densely that it could crush a person in an instant.

—How many cycles had she gone through? How many times had she watched the curtain rise and fall?

—And how many times had she endured separation through life and death?

Lin Guang suddenly spoke:

“Past Prophecy Maidens?”

“Yeah, surprising, isn’t it…”

Airwen laughed bitterly, as if mocking herself: “The Prophecy Maiden has never been just one.”

“In every generation, there exists a girl chosen by the Sacred Tree, capable of sensing the Fragments of Hope. It’s just that, depending on their talent, the number of fragments they can sense varies…”

“!!!”

The light in Lin Guang’s eyes blazed to an extreme intensity.

—Did that mean the previous Prophecy Maidens had already…

“The Sacred Tree and the Abyss are the two poles of this illusory world.”

“The Abyss represents endless despair, the chief culprit that blocks every path. The Sacred Tree, then, is the original management system of this world, the last hope within this boundless despair.”

“To completely overturn this chess game and break through the endless barriers, two conditions must be met…”

Airwen’s voice dropped low: “First, the collection of the Fragments of Hope—we must obtain all the power and authority belonging to the Sacred Tree, expel the Abyss’s influence, and restore it to its peak state before it was wounded by the Abyss.”

“Second, to give birth to the strongest magical girl recognized by the world, to forge a new contract with the Sacred Tree, complete the True Transformation, and break through that limitation.”

“Only then can the Sacred Tree’s power be pushed to its limit, opening the possibility of a path to Logout.”

“But how could the Abyss sit back and watch its prey escape?”

“The so-called cycles, the so-called restarts… are nothing but the waves raised by the boundless Abyss to drown everything whenever it feels unbearable pain.”

“The progress of collecting Fragments of Hope is one of the few things that isn’t reset by the cycle… except for five special pieces. Even if they are retrieved by the Sacred Tree, they get reset every cycle and even modified to be held by different demon beasts.”

“The essence of it all is the struggle between the Sacred Tree and the Abyss. Only if the Sacred Tree wins can we obtain what we call a future.”

“Ironically enough, in the fake worldview of Kazenari Town, the true origin of all karma is hidden…”

But in this moment.

Lin Guang suddenly stepped forward.

The ground cracked open under the force of her crimson magic power, and the flames carried by her staff grew even fiercer as she swung it toward Airwen.

“Ugh!”

Airwen seemed caught off guard, staggering back a step before steadying herself again.

Lin Guang’s crimson eyes locked onto Airwen, and her tone was no longer as calm as usual—it sharpened just as fiercely: “So, you sacrificed them to the Sacred Tree.”

Those simple words, yet Airwen heard far more beneath them.

So, before Su Fang, all those generations of Prophecy Maidens, and the magical girls who collected Fragments of Hope alongside them—were they all just consumable items used to retrieve Fragments of Hope from the Outer Realm?

Then you, Phoenix, and Amber—who are you?

Why didn’t you do this?

“…”

In the next instant, a massive circular array lit up from the ground, and even more dazzling silver sword energy burst forth from it like a sword formation.

[Super·Infinite Sword] activated.

“What do you know?!” Airwen’s voice suddenly turned sharp.

“Do you think we didn’t want to?!”

“When we three were tricked into entering this world, in order to stabilize the Sacred Tree’s existence, we had no choice but to take over its remaining authority. Only then could we maintain Kazenari Town’s existence and the power for magical girls to awaken!”

“The Sacred Tree never had the ability or the means to find the Fragments of Hope!”

“And outside the Sacred Tree’s domain, I’m just a magical girl whose soul is protected by the Sacred Tree, spared from being worn away by the cycles. All I can do is keep honing my skills—I have no other special traits beyond that!”

“But precisely because I’m protected and won’t be worn down… my soul state as a permission-holder can’t change—I can’t even achieve Full Bloom!!”

With a roar, she swung her sword in a diagonal slash, and the giant silver phantom sword behind her fell with it, its silver sword energy carrying an unstoppable momentum, tearing through the black fog and striking toward Lin Guang.

[Super·Qi-Driven Sword] activated.

But Lin Guang saw.

Beside Airwen’s silver, star-like eyes, a few starlight specks seemed to drift down.

As if…

Her real tears had long since dried up, and this was the only way to vent her sorrow.

“I can only guide them! I’m just an eternal guide!”

This magical girl, always so calm in the past, now let out a roar like a vengeful spirit: “Do you think I didn’t want to step in? What do you think I’ve been hiding my strength for?! Without Full Bloom, the Abyss King is an insurmountable chasm! How many times do you think I’ve taken them and tried!!”

“Su Jingyan is the Abyss’s permission-holder!”

“Even if he’s just a puppet, with the Sacred Tree’s state incomplete, there’s no way to deal with him! The only thing that can temporarily kick him out of this cycle is the true essence of a magical girl in Full Bloom, which rises above the falsehoods!”

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