Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 282

The Lost Tale: The Lost Child: Chapter 354 Witch or Monster?

Magical girl—Xiangzi hadn't heard that term for a long time since entering the barrier.

Moreover, the name Ningning...

Xiangzi remembered that he still had a letter to give her.

A girl named Ningning leaned against the ruins, tossing a small knife up and down in her right hand.

She was wearing the same nun's habit as Xiangzi, but the sleeve of her right hand, which was holding a knife, was completely cut off, exposing her entire right arm, which was covered with green vines. These vines started from her fingertips, wrapped around her, climbed up, and extended all the way to her right cheek.

"You're Ningning?" Xiangzi asked.

"You know me?" The other person looked puzzled.

"Lin Hai".

"...You know her."

"Hmm." Xiangzi nodded. "So, are we still enemies?"

"Judging from your performance, if you're willing to join the Second Resistance and continue serving Saint-Shuari..."

"The Second Resistance Army of Santo Xiuya? What's that?" Xiangzi raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of a second resistance army."

"There wasn't one before today..."

The knife flew up and down in Ningning's hands, dancing among the vines.

"It will be available after today."

Suddenly, the vine-entwined fingers gripped the blade and flung the knife away.

The vines growing on her hands sprouted as she swung her arms, gripping the small knife and forming a chain of force that surpassed the limits of human joints. The knife seemed to disappear from her hands, only to reappear with a faint whooshing sound.

whoosh-

The feathered right arm caught the knife thrown by the vine-covered right arm.

"Please explain." Xiangzi pulled the knife out of his palm and tossed it aside.

"There's no point in explaining this to a traitor. Gross's mission was to kill the Red Queen."

“You’re a magical girl too, you should know this is a barrier…” Xiangzi tilted her head, staring at Ningning’s arm, which was as highly mutated as her own, and grinned. “Or are you the type who immerses yourself in games?”

"...You've been here for quite a while now, do you still think of this place as an ordinary witch's barrier?"

"Even if it's not ordinary, it's still a witch's barrier, and they are all familiars."

"So you can kill without any scruples if you have this kind of mentality. I understand, I was like that at the beginning too."

"I'm not curious about what happened to you after that," Xiangzi said, frowning.

She didn't want to listen to other people's long-winded explanations.

"Killing without restraint, sacrificing others, and quickly leveling up in order to get out of here as soon as possible, but in the end, all that awaits you is the fate of becoming a monster." Ningning didn't stop listening to Xiangzi's words, but continued to speak.

"how do you know?"

"What do you think would happen if a magical girl's Soul Gem lost its Grief Seed?"

"A witch..." Xiangzi paused, "...or a monster?"

She had thought about this question a long time ago.

Without Xiangzi's infinitely purifying Soul Gem, what would become of the magical girls if they stayed in the barrier for months or even a year without supplies?

Normally she would definitely turn into a witch, but... Once Upon a Time Town, it seems even magical girls and witches can be affected.

“Here, monsters are monsters.” Ningning’s face showed a fanatical expression. “I became a monster, and Gross redeemed me and gave me a second chance.”

Xiangzi understood almost instantly.

The process of a magical girl becoming a witch is irreversible; however, monsters can turn back into humans, and even monsters are essentially reborn.

“Sister, do you understand?” Ningning looked at Xiangzi and reached out her hand. “As long as this world exists, magical girls will not become witches. As long as they are redeemed, they can have a chance to start over.”

"..."

Xiangzi's gaze remained unmoved.

With her around, none of them need to worry about becoming witches due to insufficient magic power.

Ningning seemed to have noticed her attitude, and her face darkened.

She couldn't believe that a magical girl could remain so calm even knowing she had a chance to be saved.

There's definitely something wrong with these people.

“The formation of the Second Resistance Army was Gross’s order.” She suddenly changed the subject. “Every decision the leader makes has its reasons, and we subordinates don’t need to question them.”

"Oh? It seems you're not really keen on continuing the discussion about the witch," Xiangzi continued to provoke.

“I’m already being very patient by talking to a traitor. Do you know how many people are hiding behind me? I advise you not to provoke me.” Ningning’s eyes flashed with anger for a moment, but she quickly suppressed it. “While you were fighting the monsters, we were not idle at all.”

"The Empty City Stratagem, huh... Then continue." Xiangzi squinted, his hands behind his back.

"You'll find out soon enough whether it's a ruse or not."

A new throwing knife took shape in Ningning's hand—it was her weapon as a magical girl. She pointed the tip of the knife at Xiangzi, then slowly moved it to Xiaosushi beside her, threateningly.

"Hand over the Red Queen, and you will still have a chance to atone for your sins."

Facing the blade, a bead of cold sweat trickled down Xiao Su Shi's smooth forehead.

"What if I say no?" Xiangzi said calmly, shielding Xiao Su Shi behind him.

She made several unintelligible gestures with her hands behind her back.

Since the other party is also a magical girl, there is a chance that the telepathic communication channel can be intercepted, so Xiangzi can only convey her thoughts in the most primitive way.

Only the three people in Mujica could understand the gestures; the rest were completely baffled.

"Then we'll just have to kill all of you too."

Ningning suddenly whistled.

The melodious whistle, unhindered by buildings, spread from the square outwards. From the shadows of ruins and houses, a group of people dressed in monks' and nuns' robes emerged in unison.

They appeared like ghosts, silent and stealthy, and the moment they appeared, they swarmed towards the crowd in the center of the square.

The eccentric assassins of Sanctuary are specially trained from individuals with stealth abilities and are tasked with assassinating important figures in the empire. Xiao Su Shi was also assassinated by them several times before.

"Now!" Xiangzi suddenly shouted.

Mu instantly tightened the net he had set up for Cerberus.

The large net formed a barrier above their heads, keeping most of the assassins in mid-air.

"Do as I said!" Xiangzi pulled out a letter he always kept close to his body from his chest and tossed it towards Ningning. "Hey, you magical girl over there, this is your letter! Lin Hai gave it to you! Don't damage it!"

Just as Ningning threw the knife, it landed perfectly on the same line as the letter. To avoid damaging the letter, she had to use the vines in her right hand to pull the knife back while catching the letter with her other hand.

In such a short time, Xiangzi had already picked up Xiao Sushi and run quite a distance.

"mean!"

The Lost Tale: The Lost Child - Chapter 355: Escape and a World of Anger

Xiangzi's gestures were meant to convey only the message, "There's an ambush, get ready to run."

Mu had already sensed something amiss when setting the trap, so after killing Cerberus, he didn't remove the remaining threads. When he used it again, this makeshift net blocked a large number of the most aggressive attacks from the Sanctuary assassins.

Without the cover of shadows, their threat level was greatly reduced.

That's how Xiangzi and the others were able to escape successfully.

She carried Xiao Su Shi and followed behind Chu Hua. Hai Ling and Mu Mu were there to protect them on both sides. Ai Yin and Li Xi were a little slower to react because they couldn't understand the hand gestures, so they naturally acted as the rear guard. The assassins who were not stopped by the net could not hinder them immediately.

Ningning watched their figures gradually disappear into the distance, stomped her foot angrily, pointed in the direction they vanished, and shouted to her comrades beside her, who were wrapped up like dumplings in the net Mu had woven:

"Chase them! All of you, go chase them!"

"But even if we break free from this net now, we can't catch up anymore," a person inside the zongzi poked their head out and said helplessly.

"Tch! Useless!"

Ningning glared angrily at the letter in her hand.

"And you, you're useless too!"

She grumbled at the letter in her hand, then reluctantly opened the letter that Xiangzi had thrown at her.

"Why send a message with someone like that...? It's not like they don't know where I am..."

"..."

Perhaps it had been a long time since they had been in contact, or perhaps there was some other reason. Ningning carefully read the letter from right to left and from top to bottom, word by word, and then let out a long sigh as if relieved, waving her hand.

"Fine, if we're not going to chase them, we're not going to."

"Any new instructions, my lord?"

"No, it's just..." Ningning looked in the direction Xiangzi left, her ear turned back, and she heard the sound of the ground shaking from behind her.

The Centurion Corps finally arrived late.

She folded the letter, put it back in the envelope, and carefully tucked it into the inside pocket of her clothes.

She seemed to have something to say, but changed her mind before she could say it.

"...However, since they are carrying fragments of the Holy Grail, they will inevitably meet again sooner or later."

============

To the east of Guankou City, in the direction where the sun rises, lies the direction of the world of rage.

Xiangzi and his group ran wildly in this direction, passing through the ruins caused by the monster invasion, and escaped from Guankou City through a gap in the city wall.

Morning, afternoon, evening.

Sunrise, sunset.

The canyon narrowed as they ventured deeper, and the path became increasingly dangerous, making it perilous to continue their journey at night. Xiangzi and her companions spent their first night in a cave within the canyon.

The campfire crackled and popped, and the charred wood chips glowed as they floated out of the fire, cooled in mid-air, and turned into a cloud of ashes that resembled butterflies, landing at Xiangzi's feet.

"...That's about it. You can just call her Su Shi."

Xiangzi briefly explained to everyone how he met Xiaosu Shi.

“Taking her with us is tantamount to declaring war on Saint Hughia and the Empire. We’ll probably be on the run for the rest of the time.” Xiangzi took a sip of his hot tea. “It’s getting late. Let’s all rest first. We’ll continue our journey tomorrow. We can deal with the rest once we find a place to settle down.”

The rest of the night was speechless.

Sunset and sunrise.

The group embarked on their journey once again.

One day, two days, three days...

They walked through the canyons for three whole days, and the scenery around them began to change as they went.

Gradually, the lush green of the world of life slowly transformed into crimson; the trees on the mountain turned into bare rocks, and the soil underfoot became scalding gravel. The temperature gradually began to rise, and the dust in the air increased significantly. Occasionally, a tumbleweed would roll past them, faster than they could walk.

Xiangzi used these dried tumbleweeds to start fires at night; they were particularly useful as kindling.

Man-made roads disappear completely after a certain distance is reached, leaving only the traces left by pedestrians on foot, which cannot be called roads.

The canyon in this area no longer seems to be a canyon. The road winds and twists between the mountains, and it looks more like a path that has been painstakingly carved out by travelers between the mountains over time.

Until we left the valley, all that remained of the world was a barren wasteland.

Dry, scorching, lifeless.

This scene unfolded before Xiangzi.

“This is the world of rage,” Xiao Su Shi said, pulling down her mask. “By this point, neither the Centurion nor Saint Xiuya can catch up with us.”

She changed into the light clothes that Ai Yin had given her, with a windproof and dustproof robe over them.

As the only local, Xiao Su Shi acted as their guide.

Xiangzi was quite surprised by Xiaosu's familiarity with him.

Xiao Su Shi's explanation for this was that she had read many books in the palace.