Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Book 2: Chapter 33: Welcome Back

Vol 2 Chapter 33 Welcome Back

With the appearance of the “Separation” ability and the dispersal of the white mist, the battle shifted in an unexpected direction.

The most obvious change was that Veronica had shifted from defense to offense. But this “offense” wasn’t about physical combat—it was an offensive on the information front.

With the power of Separation, as long as she learned and understood one of Yuan’s abilities, that ability would instantly be removed from the battlefield.

While locking onto Yuan’s movements, Veronica changed the form of her Masterpiece as she clashed with her, eyes constantly analyzing every move, mind racing to identify the next target for her power.

She knew exactly what she needed to do, and what her real goal was. Inflicting serious damage—or even killing Yuan—in such a short time was impossible. What she could do was weaken Yuan’s capabilities.

While Weaving Fate couldn’t permanently strip an opponent’s ability under normal conditions, once “Separation” succeeded, the target wouldn’t be able to use that ability again for a good while.

She had already separated Yuan’s Qi the first time. If she could cut off another critical concept the second time, Yuan’s combat strength would be severely diminished. Then, it would be up to Hong Siyu to finish the job.

And for someone like Hong Siyu, what was the biggest obstacle in taking down Yuan?

One of the obvious hurdles was already out of the picture—Yuan’s Qi, which had significantly reduced the destructive power of Hong Siyu’s rituals. That was a troublesome ability, no doubt.

But another major threat was the ink-like magical armor in Yuan’s hands.

She called it Hundred Arms, and based on how it was used, its main abilities were transformation and an extremely potent piercing force.

Whether it was a magical barrier formed by a ritual, or even Veronica’s own Masterpiece, once it made contact with Yuan’s magical armor, it seemed to lose all magical properties and was instead sliced apart by Hundred Arms through sheer physical means.

Though the exact nature of this armor wasn’t clear, even just from its surface behavior, it was already a serious threat to Hong Siyu.

Unlike Veronica, who was capable of close combat, Hong Siyu’s fighting style—as people often joked—was more like a “turret.” She relied on rituals and magical gear for long-range firepower suppression. So if Yuan chose to convert her magical armor into a ranged weapon for a back-and-forth standoff, Hong Siyu, lacking in defense, might end up as little more than target practice.

Given that, if Veronica could cut off Yuan’s only ranged attack, the battle would definitely shift in Hong Siyu’s favor.

But that was just the ideal scenario—reality, as always, was less kind: Veronica couldn’t simply separate Yuan’s “magical armor.”

After all, magical armor was essentially the Magical Girl’s True Form. To separate the armor meant severing part of that True Form—and just hearing the term told her that wasn’t something she was capable of right now.

The stronger the separated concept, the more magic it consumed and the harder it was to maintain. Even at her peak, severing part of a Flower Card-ranked Magical Girl’s True Form was next to impossible.

So if she wanted to neutralize the magical armor, the concept she targeted couldn’t be “magical armor” itself—it had to be something else.

But what exactly?

As she mulled this over, Veronica’s attacks grew fiercer. She abandoned some of her defenses, even taking intentional hits, all to force Yuan into riskier responses.

This wasn’t just because time was running short, but also to push Yuan to reveal more of her abilities.

Of course, this line of thinking was invisible to the onlookers outside the field—Hong Siyu and Semi. From their perspective, Veronica had clearly gained the upper hand. The white mist’s dispersal had changed Yuan’s fighting style completely. Though her moves were still fast and fluid, they now looked awkward.

That white mist, woven from Qi and snipped away by Veronica, was a natural defense against magical attacks. In past battles, whether against humans or Ravagers, it had been nearly impenetrable. Because of that, Yuan had grown used to abandoning magical defenses in close combat.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t fight in a magical duel, but having to suddenly change tactics mid-battle had clearly disrupted her rhythm—and Veronica had taken full advantage.

The magical armor’s remaining time was limited, and if Veronica wanted to secure victory before it disappeared, she had to go all in.

Yuan could no longer rely on Qi for defense, and Veronica had given up defense entirely to seize military merit. The battle turned deadly from that moment forward. Cuts started to appear on both of them, but neither seemed to care.

Only one minute remained on the magical armor.

Both Veronica and Yuan were too focused to speak, their attention entirely locked onto each other’s movements, reacting with the utmost speed.

Veronica’s scissors were beginning to fade. The once-solid shape was now growing indistinct, but the fight remained in a stalemate. Though she had pushed Yuan back, she still hadn’t found an opportunity for a decisive blow.

But she didn’t get flustered—in fact, the tighter things became, the calmer she grew.

Her Weaving Fate scissors were nearly at their limit, close to vanishing, but still, no clear opportunity revealed itself.

If she knew the exact ability of Yuan’s magical armor, maybe she could tamper with Hundred Arms directly. But unfortunately, Yuan—though a battle maniac—wasn’t stupid. Once her Qi was stripped, she never mentioned her abilities again.

Clearly, she also knew Veronica’s magical armor had a time limit. After five minutes, her enemy would cease to be a threat. So instead of rushing to finish things, Yuan seemed to be savoring the fight.

Half a minute remained.

Their clashes grew faster, Veronica pushing harder to find a crack, but Yuan—though on the defensive—held firm. She’d rather take a few more minor injuries than reveal anything new.

To any outside observer, this might have looked like a life-or-death duel, but in truth, the nature of the battle had changed—it had become a war of intelligence.

At the twenty-second mark, Yuan shifted to a total turtle-shell defense, aiming for zero mistakes and giving up all offense.

“This is your idea of a fair victory?” Veronica was forced to speak again, trying to provoke her. “Just stalling for time?”

“Soldiers have tactics. Battles have strategy.”

Yuan’s lips curled in a faint smile amid the clash. “Stamina is part of combat too. Beating someone with endurance isn’t shameful.”

“That’s just sophistry.” Veronica deadpanned.

“As long as I win and my conscience is clear, that’s enough.”

Yuan gave a carefree chuckle. “No matter how you phrase it, victory’s what matters. If there’s even a sliver of a chance to win, no matter how ugly it looks, you take it.”

With that, she resumed her purely defensive stance, dead set on seeing the clock run out.

Ten seconds left. Veronica dropped all tactics and threw everything she had into one final assault.

Blades, daggers, gauntlets—she rapidly cycled through different magical forms, steadily closing the gap until the two of them were face to face, staring into each other’s eyes.

Yuan’s heterochromatic eyes burned like wild flames, brimming with confidence. Veronica’s gaze, calm and deep, held hidden depths.

Five seconds left.

Veronica unraveled her silk-threaded Masterpiece, and under both of their intense gazes, she wove it into a form never seen before—a scythe extending from behind Yuan.

“Masterpiece, Form Five—Harpa the Reaper.”

Using the threads’ natural ability to reshape, she bypassed the human body’s usual movement patterns and sent the scythe’s blade slicing toward the back of Yuan’s neck, missing by a mere hair’s breadth.

At this distance, she only had to pull back slightly, and it would be over. One slice, and it would all be done.

She didn’t expect to kill Yuan, but only such immense pressure could possibly reveal her true magical armor ability.

With five seconds left on the magical armor clock, Veronica moved the scythe.

Under her gaze, Yuan’s expression shifted—from shock to confusion to, finally, relief and satisfaction. Then, as if admitting defeat, she raised the ink-like metal in her hand and poured magic into it.

“Hundred Arms.”

With that call, Veronica’s scythe solidified completely. But when it hit Yuan’s neck, it didn’t go any further—as if it had struck something harder than the blade itself, it slid off to the side.

An attack that should’ve been a guaranteed kill was blocked with a single shout.

To outside eyes, it looked like Yuan had won. But both of them knew—this moment spelled Yuan’s loss in the information war.

Because she had revealed her magical armor’s ability.

Veronica’s scythe, derived from her magical armor and forged through personal weaving, carried destructive power far beyond ordinary rituals. In theory, nothing should have been able to withstand it.

To neutralize such an attack, one would need an even stronger burst of magic to cancel it out on a fundamental level—dissolve the blade at its core.

But under pressure, Yuan didn’t rely on pure magical output—instead, she instinctively turned to her most familiar power: her magical armor.

And the result was clear. Veronica’s blade behaved like mundane iron—when it struck Yuan, it lost all its magical properties.

Only common iron hitting a magical construct would behave like that—glancing off, unable to do any damage.

So what had Yuan really done? The answer was obvious.

With two seconds left on the clock, Veronica raised her scissors and, in the span of a second, performed the final cut, declaring her understanding of Yuan’s ability.

“Magic Nullification. Physical Conversion.”

To ensure her declaration was accurate, she described the ability from both angles. And at that moment, her scissors surged with a massive drain of magic—nearly emptying her reserves.

Snap.

With a crisp sound, both her scissors and Yuan’s ink-like armor shattered.

The scissors, at the end of their timer, had fulfilled their purpose.

Hong Siyu couldn’t recreate objects repeatedly from memory. After each Revival, the item’s record in “Eternal Mind, Endless Memory” would be consumed entirely, requiring a long recovery period.

For magical rituals, she could record many similar variants to compensate. But magical armor, being unique, didn’t allow that.

Which meant the battle’s outcome was set. Veronica’s successful declaration of Yuan’s ability meant victory. If she’d failed, both sides would have lost their shot.

And the result was clear just by looking at Yuan’s gear—it had lost its metallic luster and was now just a black, inky clump of magic.

That meant—whether one or both descriptions were right—Veronica had succeeded in separating the ability. The armor could now change shape, sure, but its piercing and killing power were gone.

Even if Yuan had a way to further unlock its power, the core concept was removed—and without that, no amount of strengthening would bring back its old edge.

As for how long this condition would last—from the amount of magic Veronica had spent, probably several hours at least.

And that was more than enough time for Hong Siyu to finish the fight.

The two stared at each other silently. Veronica’s expression was calm, though her trembling fingers betrayed the pressure she was under. Yuan, though her armor had been disabled, didn’t look upset—if anything, her expression was one of satisfaction after a great battle.

“I lost,” she said with a smile, spreading her arms. “You were right. My magical armor’s ability is ‘Physical Conversion.’ It’s also its core. Without it, I don’t think I can beat that junior over there.”

“‘In your current state’—meaning without using your Domain or any other deeper abilities, right?” Veronica exhaled slowly. “So you were holding back.”

“I told you, I don’t want to use my Domain.”

Yuan shook her head. “My Domain imposes extremely strict rules on everyone in range—but gives me overwhelming advantages. With it, winning would be boring. I said I wouldn’t use it, and I won’t. As for deeper abilities, there’s no need to bring them up. I hate one-sided fights.”

“You sure are confident in your other powers.”

Veronica raised a brow. “I’ve never met someone who considers ‘going all out’ to be ‘bullying.’”

“A martial artist’s all-out effort isn’t the same as a Magical Girl’s.”

Yuan crossed her arms. “A fight without rules isn’t fun. A fight without worthy opponents is meaningless. I live for battles that matter—and I respect every opponent who can bring me joy within the rules. That’s my code.”

“That ‘code’ is going to get us chewed out by the boss!”

A clearly exasperated Semi shouted, unable to take it anymore. “Hurry up and activate your Domain! Use your true strength! We’re not playing house here—the Beast Core is a big deal!”

“Shut up, Semi. Don’t ruin the post-battle vibe,” Yuan shot him a glare. “That was one hell of a fight. The last thing I want is to be thinking about mission logistics.”

“So you’re just gonna leave?”

Veronica raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You haven’t even used everything.”

“A loss is a loss. I don’t make excuses.”

Yuan waved it off. “But I never said I was going back.”

“…What?” Veronica and Semi said in unison.

“Come on, I just finished months of seclusion and finally made it back to a human city. Let me enjoy it a bit.”

Yuan looked at the two of them. “I just got to Fangting City this morning, and you want me to head back to the Wasteland in the afternoon? That’s not how seclusion recovery works. I’m gonna have fun here for a few days.”

“As for battles—this isn’t the last one.”

She folded her arms and tucked her hands into the wide sleeves of her robe. “Now that I’ve found a worthy opponent, I definitely want to spar more. Don’t mind if I bother you again, okay?”

“…So this one doesn’t count, and you’ll challenge me again?” Veronica parsed her words slowly. “And if I lose next time?”

“Then I’m taking you and the Beast Core back with me.”

Yuan laughed cheerfully. “I’m seriously interested in you now. I’m looking forward to your full strength after you recover. If you join Claw Mark, I bet we’d have a lot to talk about.”

“So no matter how many times I win, it won’t count—but one loss means it’s over…” Veronica sighed. “Didn’t you just say you don’t like overwhelming your opponents?”

“Hmph. All principles are subject to my mood.”

Yuan tugged at her torn robe, rolled up her sleeves and hem. “If you want me to give up completely—beat me when I’m fighting at full power. Then I’ll admit I failed and go home quietly.”

After that, she grabbed a still-disgruntled Semi, waved to the tired Veronica, and said, “See ya. I’ll find someone at the Countermeasure Bureau to contact you.”

Then, shrouded in dark magic, she and the little fairy vanished in a blur, leaving Veronica and Hong Siyu staring at an empty sky.

Veronica thought back on Yuan’s parting words, and had to admit: neither she nor Fangting City had the power to drive this uninvited guest away. She had no choice but to accept her presence.

At least Yuan wasn’t the type to hurt civilians on a whim like Mors. If she said she just wanted to have fun, maybe she really did—so long as she didn’t dine and dash.

With a sigh of reluctant acceptance, Veronica turned toward Hong Siyu, wanting to ask about the situation on her end—

—only to be met with a sudden hug.

“I’m back, Senpai.”

Hong Siyu flew up from behind, hugging Veronica and resting her chin gently on her forehead. Even as Veronica tried to look up, she wouldn’t budge—hiding the flush on her face from making such a bold move.

Feeling the warmth of that long-missed embrace, Veronica opened her mouth slightly. The question she had meant to ask melted away, replaced by something far simpler.

“…Ah. Welcome back.”

Back not just was Hong Siyu—but the Magical Girl who had once retired from the world, now returned again.