Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Book 2: Chapter 31: 100 Memory Sea Records

Vol 2 Chapter 31: 100 Memory Sea Records

The brief chant clearly didn’t have the power to stop the incoming attack. Just as Hong Siyu’s words fell, the black arrow easily tore through the blue threads that formed the barrier and lunged straight at the slightly frail figure.

But just as the arrow was about to strike, the notebook clasped in Hong Siyu’s hand suddenly flew into the air, intercepting the deadly blow.

The notebook let out the sound of pages ripping under the pressure, and then, with a dull thud, it exploded along with the arrow, scattering into a flurry of torn pages mid-air.

Watching from the sidelines, Veronica’s pupils contracted slightly, and her clenched fist instinctively tightened—but in the end, she said nothing, merely observing the unfolding scene.

Since Hong Siyu had promised she’d be fine, then Veronica had to believe her. Trusting your teammates was the most basic quality of a Magical Girl.

In that fleeting moment of thought, the scattered pages began to change.

Instead of drifting away, the papers hovered in place, and then, as if pulled by some strange force, they suddenly stood upright.

Each page glowed with a purplish-red magical light, dazzling even under the midday sun. Within the glow, the thin pages began to manifest afterimages that gradually solidified.

Pages stirred without wind, turning one by one in perfect unison, the crisp "shff-shff" of flipping pages echoing like a well-rehearsed symphony bursting into motion.

Each page transformed into an individual book. Lines of text emerged on once-blank pages as the sounds of writing filled the air. These books gathered behind Hong Siyu, forming a thick wall of books.

The moment the book wall was complete, her appearance had already changed entirely.

A pinkish-purple ribbon ran through her reddish-purple hair, petal-shaped earrings shimmered and swayed gently, and her twin low ponytails floated in the breeze. A wide, waist-length high-collared cloak covered her chin, revealing only the calm upper half of her face.

Beneath the cloak was a fitted, cinched-waist Hepburn-style dress. A clean row of buttons crossed her waist, adorned with several crystal pens. Her dark pointed low-heeled shoes aligned neatly beneath her dress, her toes slightly dipped, floating lightly in mid-air.

Combining this with what she had said earlier, it was obvious—this was her Full Bloom form, named Sea of Memories: Hundred Records.

However, Veronica knew very well: Full Bloom was a power only available to Magical Girls after reaching Flower-tier. Before retiring, Hong Siyu had been stuck at Leaf-tier, so by all accounts, she shouldn’t have had this kind of strength.

To wield a genuine Full Bloom form here could only mean one thing—Hong Siyu had not only regained her transformation ability, but had also advanced to Flower-tier afterward.

“See, Senior? This is my Full Bloom.”

Raising her hand, a book that had grown ornate and elegant flew out from the wall and landed in her grasp. She turned slightly and smiled at Veronica. “I’m Flower-tier now. I’ve finally caught up to you all.”

“You...” Veronica spoke after a short pause, as though about to ask something—but before the words could come out, another arrow cut her off.

More accurately—three arrows fired at once.

With a sharp twang of the bowstring, the three arrows shot off in different directions, each flying along a unique path. In the blink of an eye, they reached the two girls.

Thud!

The sound of impact rang out, but it wasn’t a person who got hit. Hong Siyu had moved her fingers slightly, and a few books had flown out from the wall behind her, blocking the black arrows.

Though the attack landed, it had no effect.

Floating between the buildings, Yuan lowered her hands. Her ink-black bow dissolved into a puddle of black liquid, and she looked at the towering book wall with a small smile.

“Full Bloom, huh?”

Her face lit up with a hint of excitement. “Interesting. I wonder what kind of power it holds.”

The failed assault didn’t discourage her. On the contrary, her fighting spirit only burned hotter in response to her opponent’s display.

“Come on already. Stop messing around and open up your Domain…”

Perched on her shoulder, Semi—still dizzy from the rapid flying and flipping—looked utterly motion-sick and weakly held its mouth. “She already used Full Bloom! How long are you planning to fight her with that White Badge magical armor of yours?”

“I am serious, Semi.”

Yuan exhaled softly. “Precisely because I’m serious, I need to win with my own skill. That’s the only way to show true respect to my opponent. Once a Domain is used, it becomes a slaughter—not a duel.”

“I don’t think she’s treating it like a duel at all…” Semi grumbled, but before it could complain further, the book wall shifted once again, sending every strand of its fur on end. “Watch out!”

At Semi’s warning, half of the books flew out under Hong Siyu’s command, neatly arranging themselves in front of her.

Looking like a dutiful librarian, Hong Siyu carefully checked each book, then pushed her palm toward Yuan’s direction.

As everyone watched, the books opened one by one, their pages displaying entirely different runes.

“The ability of Sea of Memories: Hundred Records,” Hong Siyu began gently, “is broader than Memory Record. It transcends the normal concept of ‘objects’ and can record many extraordinary phenomena from the magical realm.”

“Unlike before, when I could only record regular items and spells, Hundred Records can recreate illusions, settings, even entire events. What’s more, its recording principle has changed. I don’t need to fully understand the essence of something anymore—just write down what I see and know, and its function can be recreated.”

“Of course, if I get even a little bit wrong, the recreated version can end up completely different from the original. But at least on the surface, it’ll look the same.”

Her voice was quiet, and the wall of books blocked the sound, so her words didn’t reach Yuan. Clearly, she was speaking for Veronica’s sake.

“It’s a shame, Senior. I didn’t have enough time to record much. I had to scramble and pull a few things from the Kingdom’s database.”

“What did you record before I arrived?” Veronica asked, getting straight to the point.

“Magical Armor.”

“Magical Armor?”

“Yes,” Hong Siyu replied briefly. “I picked out dozens of different armors from the records.”

As she spoke, the book wall shifted again. From the open pages, various items emerged.

At first glance, they seemed like ordinary daily objects or basic weapons. But after Hong Siyu’s explanation, Veronica recognized their true nature—Magical Armor.

Some of them were very familiar, clearly once wielded by well-known Magical Girls. Others were strange, likely sourced from obscure records.

“Void Condenser, Flame Abyss, Wheel Binding…”

On the other side, Yuan casually called out a few names.

As she stared at the magical gear materializing from the pages, her curiosity turned to realization, and then to genuine interest. “So you can copy others’ gear after Full Bloom? Not bad.”

“These things… They’re not all real, are they?”

In stark contrast to Yuan’s laid-back tone, Semi sounded more concerned. “If they’re all the real deal, are we done for?”

“Real or not… we’ll find out soon enough.”

The dual-colored pupils in Yuan’s eyes returned. She took a deep breath and exhaled a pale mist. “Some of these were old rivals. I’ll be disappointed if they’re just cheap knockoffs.”

Then she pushed off the opposite building’s wall and charged straight toward Hong Siyu.

The battle resumed in full force.

Though the magical gear emerging from the books wasn’t being directly wielded, under Hong Siyu’s command, they launched themselves toward Yuan. Each piece activated its unique powers, filling the space with chaotic magical surges that made it impossible to see what lay within.

Meanwhile, outside the Countermeasure Bureau, the streets were filling with pedestrians. The spectacle unfolding in the sky was far too dramatic to ignore—many people stopped to watch, curious about what was going on at the Bureau.

To disperse the crowd, a large number of Security Department staff were dispatched to the Bureau’s front gate, trying to forcibly move on the bystanders before they got caught in any potential fallout.

At the same time, a notice directly issued by the Bureau Director had reached every employee in the building: A Magical Girl is currently engaged in battle with an enemy on the upper floors of the main office. Please evacuate to a safe location in an orderly fashion.

Maybe because the Black Cinders Dawn had raided their base just a month ago, most employees had developed a kind of immunity to chaos. No one seemed particularly shocked.

Some sharp-eyed staff, however, glanced up at the sky during their evacuation. They saw the fireworks-like explosions but didn’t spot any Ravagers as they’d expected.

What questions that might raise… weren’t something the Magical Girls cared to think about.

Flames, thunder, wind vortices—a dizzying array of magical gear powers bombarded Yuan. And these were just the more obvious ones. Many subtler abilities were impossible to count.

Yuan danced through them all, wielding her Magic Armor named Hundred Arms, which shifted between forms—sword, blade, spear, dagger. With it, she met every attack head-on. The clanging of metal-on-metal rang out endlessly.

Though the magical gear had no users, their abilities still activated. But mingled with the white mist around Yuan, they couldn’t pierce her defenses. They only circled around the edges of her aura.

And gradually, what seemed like a one-sided battle began to balance out. Yuan’s movements grew more fluid, more graceful. Her fighting looked more like a martial arts display than an actual battle.

Every weapon that came her way, she countered with its natural opposite. Every object turned into a weapon in her hands. Ambushes, chaotic barrages—none could throw off her rhythm. Alone, she carved out a vacuum of calm within the storm of magical gear.

By contrast, Hong Siyu’s expression was growing tense.

Despite the barrage, none of her attacks landed. And the books before her were beginning to lose their solidity—some pages started to fade, returning to mere paper.

As time passed, this trend grew worse. And finally, after about five minutes of intense fighting, Hong Siyu let out a muffled groan as the books in front of her all vanished into thin air.

Along with the books, the magical gear also disappeared.

Yuan, still immersed in the heat of battle, immediately noticed. Seeing the magical gear dissolve, she pulled back, resting her black longsword—now reverted from its magical form—against her shoulder.

“That’s it?” she asked Hong Siyu, sounding a bit disappointed. “Nothing else?”

Veronica frowned slightly at her words.

Yuan hadn’t even used her Domain throughout the entire fight. She’d held her own with just basic gear forms, surviving everything Hong Siyu threw at her.

That alone showed her incredible skill—but more than that, it meant one thing: Yuan’s magic capacity was terrifying.

A Magical Girl’s Full Bloom granted a huge boost to their magic. Even if Hong Siyu had just recently achieved Flower-tier, her base power should’ve been amplified by at least five times.

And even then, she had only managed to fight Yuan to a draw. That said everything.

“Uh… because I’m still getting used to it, I can only maintain the recreated magical gear for about five minutes,” Hong Siyu explained sheepishly to Veronica. “If I practice more, I’m sure I can extend that time…”

“Using magical gear against her isn’t a great idea,” Veronica said thoughtfully. “Clearly, she excels at close combat. If the gear’s special abilities can’t affect her, then it’s basically just a melee fight.”

“Looks like I made the wrong call.”

Hong Siyu gave Veronica an apologetic look. “I thought magical gear would be the fastest way to bring out some fighting strength, so I focused on recording them before coming. But… looks like they didn’t work.”

“Magical gear is an important part of a Magical Girl’s arsenal,” Veronica replied, shaking her head, “but the key is the user’s understanding of the gear. If you just copy it, even if it has the same abilities, you’ll never draw out its true potential like the original owner could.”

“This method won’t work. Can you recreate anything else?”

“…Not at the moment.”

Hong Siyu mumbled, “But I still have some spells recorded in Memory Record from before.”

“Spells won’t help much either. You must’ve noticed—there’s something strange about that white mist around her.”

Having watched the whole fight, Veronica calmly analyzed the situation. “Your spells aren’t totally ineffective, but many of the ones that should’ve hit were either dodged… or neutralized by the mist.”

“Yeah…” Hong Siyu nodded reluctantly.

“So right now, all we can really do is stall for time.”

Veronica sighed. “She’s way tougher than expected. I just hope Emerald still has something up her sleeve…”

“Actually, I saw Your Excellency Chief on my way here.”

Before Veronica could finish, Hong Siyu cut in. Tugging nervously at her cloak hem, she spoke softly, “We talked… and figured out something that might help you.”

“Help me?”

Veronica blinked, puzzled. “Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?”

“Not quite. There’s still something I haven’t shown you.”

Hong Siyu lowered her head, reached into the book wall, and pulled out a book, handing it to Veronica. “I originally wanted to defeat the enemy myself, to impress you. But I guess… that didn’t work out. So before I run out of magic, I’ll give this to you. It’s probably our last shot.”

“What is it?”

“Senior, you just said that magical gear’s true power comes from the user, right?”

“That’s right. Why?”

“Then it’s just as I thought. No matter how many gears I can recreate, without the original user’s experience, I can’t unleash their full potential.”

Hong Siyu placed a hand on the book’s cover, her voice a little hesitant. “The only way… is to let the original user wield it again.”

As she spoke, she opened the book.

A brilliant glow burst from the book in Veronica’s hands.

She lowered her gaze, squinting into the magical light, and what she saw made her freeze. Her once-calm expression stiffened in disbelief.

It was a small pair of Tailoring Scissors.

Only the size of her palm—but intricately crafted, covered in ornate carvings.

The scissors looked a bit ethereal, but felt solid and familiar in her grip. Purple-red magic flowed through the engravings, hinting at their origin. And as Veronica held them, despite the magic not being her own, they moved in perfect sync with her will.

“I wasn’t familiar with its other form,” Hong Siyu said with a smile, letting go of the book, “so no matter what I tried, I couldn’t recreate it. But this one… I remembered clearly.”

“It saved me from despair once. It would’ve been too sad to let it fade away.”

“You used it to save me—so now, let me return it to you, just for a while.”

“Let my magical gear… become yours, Senior.”