Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

The Sparrow had long since defected from the kingdom, crossing swords with her former colleagues, and harbored no aversion to the act of killing a Magical Girl. Naturally, she agreed to their request.

Then, she began her observation of the "Blue Magical Girl."

At first, she stayed near the scenes where Remnant Beasts appeared, to first confirm what the target looked like.

Worried that the other party might detect her Magic Power and thus scare them off, she always had the small sparrows that accompanied her do the observing from a distance. Later, she deduced the departure point of the Blue Magical Girl by combining the locations of the Remnant Beast appearances with the timings and directions of the girl's appearances, sending sparrows to trace her steps backwards.

To confirm the target's movements, she deliberately lured some Remnant Beasts to attack the groups of people she suspected. Then, during an attack on a monorail train, the Blue Magical Girl truly showed up.

From this, she became certain that the Blue Magical Girl's usual area of activity had to be in Fangting City's Luoming District.

As the surveillance deepened, she not only gradually ascertained the places where the other party usually hung out—a skyscraper—but also began to notice something: this Blue Magical Girl bore many similarities to the rumored "Cornflower."

Without telling anyone else, she began to collect some photos from twenty years ago, and without even needing to compare them closely, she could confirm that this Magical Girl was indeed Cornflower!

Thus, today's carefully prepared battle ensued.

The Sparrow's plan was to defeat Cornflower here, ideally capturing her alive. Not only could this bolster her own reputation, but it might also be lucrative: she remembered that many years ago in Claw Mark, someone had expressed a strong interest in this former legend.

Even after she transformed into her half-beast form, she at one point even thought she was about to claim victory.

She could penetrate Cornflower's Magical Barrier, knock her out of the sky, and attack her magic silk-woven shell as if she were pummeling a punching bag. But as the fight dragged on, she realized a serious problem: the opponent hadn't sustained any injuries from the beginning to the end.

Even more so, due to a difference in the finesse of Magic Power strategy, despite her own extensive depletion of Magic Power, Cornflower remained hidden within her magical armored shell, unwilling to show herself.

This couldn't continue, she realized that.

As much as she hated to admit it, if Cornflower maintained a defensive stance, then before breaking through her defenses completely, her own Magic Power would run out first.

She had to force the other party to expose herself from her defense.

"It doesn't bother me, but are you really planning to keep hiding behind your shell?"

So, she spoke out, waving her magical equipment, "If you keep stalling without deploying your wonderland, your little companions might be in danger."

These words were actually made up. She herself was very curious about where the newly initiated rookies might be. But as the saying goes, all is fair in war—if just a few careless words could disrupt the opponent's footing, it was undoubtedly a worthwhile strategy.

The provocative words she had casually invented produced an unexpected effect. As soon as the words fell, Emerald Sparrow behind the masterpiece's back stiffened.

Hearing Sparrow's words, she almost instantly remembered the call she hadn't answered earlier, and also recalled the recent whereabouts reported by Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu.

They had gone to Lixing District to find Moke, could something really be amiss with that?

Although she was aware it might be verbal deception, she still diverted some of her focus during the battle to sense her own spell techniques. Immediately, she was shocked to discover that the tracking spell she had set on Moke had failed.

"You have an accomplice?" Her gaze became deep and concentrated.

"An accomplice? Rather not, I'm not with those crazies and freaks." The Sparrow scoffed dismissively, continuing to taunt, "But you're right, your little companions are not here, maybe they're fighting with a bunch of vicious villains right now? Without your help, can they really win?"

Ignoring the nonsense she had spouted at the beginning, this sentence, on the other hand, was not a lie.

Although she didn't know what the people from Black Ash Dawn were looking for, once they found it, given their habits, a bloody and brutal sacrificial massacre was likely inevitable. And in that process, if the other newcomers and rookies of Fangting City came up against them, they would probably be in grave danger.

"If you deployed your wonderland now, maybe you could actually beat me and go support them, huh?"

Feeling that her words indeed had an effect, she began to embellish, trying to further provoke the other's emotions, "Of course, that's in the best-case scenario. If things escalate too quickly on that end, the seedlings you've painstakingly raised might already be dead, who knows?"

Then, not sure if it was an illusion, the air around seemed to suddenly freeze.

Following that, it was as though the air pressure dropped, making it somewhat difficult to breathe.

"Indeed, it's about time to end this."

The tense fingers gradually loosened, and the masterpiece shield that had been gathered in front of her once again dispersed into a network of magic silk. Emerald Sparrow thus gave up all her defenses.

She shook her somewhat stiff palm, her somewhat cold gaze focused on Sparrow:

"It's unlikely I'll get anything out of asking where you come from; strange black magic power, seemingly a characteristic of the entire organization; half-beast form, a special state that seems to be related to the Remnant Beasts; a purple-black magic power gem, the base color of the source of magic power has changed... It looks like that's all there is."

As she muttered to herself, the once waning deep blue magic power around her gradually receded as well, fading away like a flame losing its warmth.

"Oh? So you've come out just like that? It seems, although you've been out of the game for many years, you still have some courage."

The sudden calm demeanor displayed by Emerald Sparrow felt strange to Sparrow, but she couldn't figure out where this inexplicable sense of discord came from. She was satisfied with the success of her provocation and then loudly said, "But posturing is useless, I can feel that your current total magic power is even less than that of an average bud level!"

"Hmm, you're right," Emerald Sparrow suddenly admitted calmly.

"Huh? What's right?" This honest attitude caught Sparrow off guard, "Have you lost your mind?"

"As you said, I'm in a bad state right now."

As if talking about something unrelated to herself, Emerald Sparrow spoke evenly, "Due to multiple reasons, I must admit that I can't reach the strength of my peak period right now."

"You're saying this now? Are you conceding?"

Feeling an inexplicable tightness in her heart, even a trace of unease, but Sparrow couldn't fathom where this apprehension came from, "You're telling me you can't deploy your wonderland, can't beat me, are you seeking mercy?"

"No, I just want to clarify something."

The long hair behind her head rose on its own, strands of soft hair dancing in the air. The rustling sound of airflow arose, and the magic silk around Emerald Sparrow also undulated, tracing gentle ripples like chasing after the traces of the wind.

Looking at the half-figure enveloped in dark magic power not far away, she spoke calmly and naturally, as if stating an obvious fact:

"To beat you, I don't need a wonderland."

The next moment, the deep blue magic power erupted again, only this time, it reversed the previous momentum. Her magic power no longer appeared in an orderly fashion but overflowed around her wildly, with an intensity that made it hard to open one's eyes.

If earlier Emerald Sparrow's magic power was like a trickling stream, now it was like a surging river, vast and endless, with grand momentum.

Emerald Sparrow stood tall, her eyes shimmering with deep blue light, and the Heart's Gem on her neck seemed to be filled with magic power, becoming incredibly luminous.

She extended a hand, and even the nails on her fingertips looked as if they were painted with fluorescent nail polish, emitting a deep blue light:

"It's about time, let's make this quick."