Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 165

Chu Hua bowed slightly to them, then turned and walked down the hillside.

Mana also bowed and followed Hatsuka.

The crew could only look on with understanding, pick up the equipment they had just put away, and begin reshooting the scenes.

Mana followed Hatsuka and looked at Hatsuka's face.

The twilight blurred Chu Hua's face, as if veiled by a layer of gauze, making it difficult for Mana to see clearly. She moved a little closer.

"What's wrong, Chu Huahua? Is there a problem with that sinkhole?"

She thought the sinkhole had reminded Chu Hua of some bad memories, but upon closer inspection of Chu Hua's expression, it didn't seem to be like that. It wasn't the expression one would show when feeling sentimental about the past, but rather the solemnity before a great enemy was approaching.

"Do you remember what we talked about before we came to the island?"

"Hmm, what's wrong?"

Chu Hua looked up at the forest surrounding the coastline. It was a sizable forest that completely separated the village from the beautiful coastline. To get there, one had to walk along a rather difficult path.

The dark forest seemed to be filled with an unpleasant fishy smell.

The forest is located in the lower part of the flavor spectrum, so theoretically you shouldn't be able to smell the scents emanating from the forest. The scent that Chu Hua smelled was probably an illusion.

Smell may be an illusion, but sight is not.

Chu Hua's eyes transformed into dilated cat pupils, gleaming with a faint green light in the darkness. In her eyes, the outlines of the depths of the forest gradually emerged.

Something in the forest was watching them.

"Mana, get ready and protect the director and the others."

My gaze passed over the trees.

Standing on the hillside, the view is not blocked by trees. The gaze follows the coastline southward, and soon you reach the cliffs on the other side of the island.

That's the planetarium, it's my home.

Flames are burning now.

======

Below the cliff, there are caves in the cliff face.

"Don't mention her to me." Mio pouted and muttered, "We've already broken up."

"..."

Xiangzi thought to himself that something was wrong.

It seems I've stepped on a landmine.

Mio's expression turned sour. Her previous curiosity about the big city vanished the moment she heard Hatsuka's name, and she seemed to change completely.

Mio said indifferently, "If you want to use tap water, just turn on the tap. If you want to go out, you can go out from the other end of the cave."

She walked to the side alone, lay down on her own bed, and drew the curtains beside the bed, appearing to refuse to communicate.

"Oh......"

Xiangzi was too embarrassed to approach her again.

Water droplets from the faucet dripped into the basin below, making a dripping sound that echoed in the quiet cave.

"What do we do next?" Meow Dream leaned against the rock wall, arms crossed. "Should we try to get back to the starting position, or..."

"Go rescue them. There are still many ordinary people on Chuhua's side; it's very dangerous," Hailing said.

Xiangzi sighed and nodded slightly:

"Take a few minutes to rest, then go and meet up with Chu Hua."

......

The battle had just consumed a lot of magic power, so both Miaomeng and Hailing took out their Soul Gems to purify themselves. Mu borrowed tap water to wash the dirt off her face before deactivating her transformation.

I don't know what the principle behind magical girl transformations is. They're all dirty during battles, but their original clothes are perfectly intact after the transformation ends.

The only thing was that he still smelled fishy.

Xiangzi deactivated his transformation, walked to a quiet corner, huddled against the wall, and took out his Soul Gem.

Everyone's consumption was about the same, with the gems currently at around 80% full, which is considered a Hard-level witch extermination. Hailing, being more experienced, knew how to conserve energy and reduce emissions, so her consumption was relatively lower, below 80%.

Before Xiangzi left, he made a big move, throwing down a dozen incendiary bombs, which somehow brought his own energy level up to ninety.

She opened her palm, and only a few seeds of sorrow remained in her hand.

"..."

However, with the same consumption, Mu and the others only need one gem to completely purify, while Xiangzi needs three times as many. It takes two gems to reduce the fullness of 90 to the safe line, and three gems are needed for complete purification.

What are you thinking? You survived after something like that.

Don't ask for too much.

Xiangzi sighed and purified the filth with the seed of sorrow.

After that, she finally had time to carefully examine her soul gem.

He held the Soul Stone above his head, peering into its interior through the light and the dim glow of the chandelier.

When she met Lin just now, she was stunned for a long time until Hailing woke her up and she was able to break out of that dazed state.

She can still clearly remember what she saw at the time.

The daze began with a sharp pain.

The piercing pain, seemingly emanating from the depths of his soul, lifted Xiangzi off the ground, causing him to leave his body in an out-of-body manner. The entire world became a void of chaos, with oily patterns flowing in the darkness, countless colors mixed together, dyeing the whole world a multicolored pitch black.

In the chaos, only a few points of light flickered.

Xiangzi counted the number and looked at the general direction.

There are three around me, two further away, and several more further still.

That was the light of the Soul Gem. There were three people beside me, two people with Hatsuka, and several more on the Scroll. They were probably the magical girls around the captain and Chihaya Aine's group.

The Soul Gem shone like starlight, twinkling brightly and vividly, its own light dispelling the surrounding darkness and revealing the normal world.

And what about myself?

Thinking of this, Xiangzi lowered his head and looked at his soul gem.

If you look closely, you can see that the shape of the gemstone actually resembles a flower bud that is about to bloom.

When she looked down at herself, she understood that what attracted her attention was not the flower bud-shaped soul gem.

It turns out that this world is not made up of colorful black.

The chaos that covered the entire island, flowing like pus, overflowed from its own soul gem—or more precisely, from the seed of lamentation in Nirvana.

The Lost Tale: A Young Man's Spirit: Chapter 202 Do Witches Attract Each Other?

The out-of-body experience allowed Xiangzi to see many things.

For example, the light emitted by the Soul Gem is actually the magic of the magical girls. The light emitted by the Soul Gem is not entirely pure. If you look closely, you can see that the light that dispels chaos is also being eroded by chaos.

For example, her true nature is still that of a witch, and the black pus-like substance overflowing from the Seed of Lamentation is of course the magic of Nirvana.

Magical girls' magic can dispel witches' magic, preventing the world from being consumed by witches' wrath. However, despair can also taint their own light with chaos, ultimately causing them to fall and become witches themselves.

From the perspective of astral projection, the balance between magical girls and witches becomes visual and easy to understand.

Returning to the cave from his memories, Xiangzi held his soul gem and let out a long, melancholy sigh.

She had actually anticipated this outcome, so she wasn't too surprised after seeing the truth with her own eyes; at most, she felt a little emotional.

After all, even a witch is different from a witch who has lost her mind and acts like a wild beast.

However, one problem has been troubling Xiangzi.

Why is she different? Why is she the only one who's different?

Previously, she had no room to breathe and think about this problem. After sealing Nirvana, she enjoyed a period of comfort, which made her start to notice the problem.

But after thinking it over and over, she still couldn't find an answer, so she gave up.

Just now, Xiangzi brought up this issue again.

Xiangzi clenched the Soul Gem, closed his eyes, and tried to replicate the feeling of his soul leaving his body.

What did I feel at that time?

Xiangzi regulated his breathing.

That kind of...

The feeling of having nothing.

It was as if the hands, feet, body, brain, organs, and everything that made up the body had disappeared.

Only thought and soul exist.

Try to visualize yourself looking down from a great height, reconstruct your body externally, and place your consciousness into that non-existent body...

Xiangzi opened his eyes.

The cave walls became very close.

"what."

She turned around and saw herself sitting on the ground, holding the Soul Gem, while the others sat resting nearby, completely unaware of Xiangzi floating in mid-air.

So, is this what astral projection is?

Xiangzi thought as he floated in the air.

No, the Soul Gem is a materialized soul. Magical girls control their bodies remotely using their separated souls, so this ethereal state is clearly not what a magical girl should look like.

She's more like a witch from ancient legends who lives deep in the forest and can conjure up pumpkin carriages.

Strictly speaking, Xiangzi is not a magical girl.

Whether witches have souls or not, she doesn't know, but they probably don't. The Seed of Grief is more like a remnant of a shattered soul than a materialized soul like the Soul Gem.

Is my current appearance the reason why I am different from other witches?

Is it because I possess a soul, and the seed of lamentation, that I am able to maintain my reason, and thus allow my soul to temporarily leave my body? Or is there some other reason...?

Xiangzi squinted.

I feel like something is different compared to when my soul left my body before.

what.

Xiangzi suddenly realized.

The black chaos flowing from his own Soul Gem disappeared, and the surroundings were covered by the magical girl's light, appearing exceptionally clear and bright.

Xiangzi slowly floated to the ground, gazing at his soul gem.

A faint, almost invisible black chaos, visible only upon close inspection, flowed from the cracks in the Soul Gem and dissipated into the air.

Why is there only such a small amount? So the Soul Gem used to seal the Seed of Lamentation through a bug still has its uses.

But if the magic of Nirvana could only overflow in such a small amount, then what about the chaos that was enough to cover the entire island just now—?

and many more.

Xiangzi jumped up, his light soul flying out of the cave.

Flying through the sky, overlooking the entire island, my eyes widened in amazement.

It was still pitch black outside. Chaos flowed outside the cave, covering the entire island. The chaos covering the island was not the magic of Nirvana at all.

It was the sea witch's magic.

The magic of Nirvana and the magic of the sea witch were mixed together, which is why he made a mistake.

Combined with the stinging pain that made her feel like her soul was leaving her body, Xiangzi felt like she was about to figure something out, but a hazy feeling enveloped her, as if she was just one step away from success, and she couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she tried.

The soul passed through the rock wall and returned to the cave.

Xiangzi's spirit paced back and forth in front of his body, lost in thought.

After circling around for a while, her gaze returned to the Soul Gem.