Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Book 2: Chapter 85

Vol 2 Chapter 85

When the blast of colliding magic rang out again, Mimosa could even feel the passing gust lift her hair. She instinctively turned her head—but saw nothing.

Clearly, the sound had felt so real, as if it exploded right by her ear. But when she tried to observe with her eyes, there was nothing. As if everything had been a hallucination.

But she knew—this couldn’t be a hallucination.

Not long ago, she was still with her teammates, but they all got separated when the other side unfolded a Nest. If there was an illusion, it had to be the "teammates disappearing" part—not the sound and wind she just sensed.

Still, even knowing that, she felt powerless.

There was no sign of her teammates in sight, nor the enemy who was just right in front of her a moment ago. It was as if she’d been thrown into a parallel world—one where the scenery looked the same as before, but everything else felt wrong.

She reached out her hand, wrapped it in magic, and gently touched a tree trunk. The sensation from her fingertips told her: this really was a physical, actual tree.

So what the h**l was happening? Had she been sent to a near-identical alternate space? Hit by some kind of illusion spell? Or just suffering a cognitive breakdown?

And what was the enemy trying to achieve? Just stalling for time? Picking them off one by one? For all she knew, while she was stumbling around trying to figure things out, a teammate might’ve already been taken down.

The thought creeped into her mind—and it didn’t look good.

She knew how capable Wood Lily really was. If they’d run into a Ravager stronger than Chrysalis-tier, she might not even last two minutes.

As for the two Magical Girls from Fangting City... the one named White Rose seemed strong enough to take down Bai Ji, so probably decent—but what about that grade-schooler? Could that kid even hold out?

That line of thought made her feel the weight on her shoulders grow heavier. Because if they were really in this mess, it might be up to her to break the deadlock.

“Pat-Eye.”

Calling softly, she summoned the name of her Magical Armor. A handbell appeared in her hand, and she tapped it gently. The magic-infused sound waves rippled outward like radar, scanning every inch of the land around her.

She wanted to see if the surrounding traces could offer her a clue.

---

Lin Xiaolu clutched the wound on her abdomen, hiding behind a tree trunk and holding her breath as much as possible.

Light-blue magic kept leaking from the torn wound. She could feel a significant chunk of her magic surging toward the injury, seemingly trying to heal it—but unfortunately, she didn’t have that kind of leeway.

Because the Ravager’s breathing was just nearby. She had to be ready to mobilize enough magic at a moment’s notice to respond.

From the skirmishes just now, she’d already confirmed one thing—if it was a one-on-one fight, she didn’t stand a chance.

Not that it surprised her. The opponent had already established a Nest, and possibly even mastered a Rule. As a Seed-tier, it was foolish to think she could win solo.

Let alone fight—she could barely escape. The enemy had some kind of unknown tracking ability; she couldn’t shake it off.

If she hadn’t faked a desperate charge to mislead it and then vanished during the magic collision, she’d probably be lying on the ground by now.

But that clever little trick came at a cost—she used up half of her magic in that clash, got seriously hurt, and now she was about to be found again.

If that happened, the enemy would likely finish her off. No second chances.

So... what could she still do?

The question echoed in her mind.

She couldn’t win alone, so the only chance was to gang up on it. But Semi wasn’t stupid—it had used the Rule to isolate all the Magical Girls on the field, just to prevent that very thing.

In other words, the key to beating Semi was to break its Rule.

“Break the Rule”—it sounded so easy when said aloud, but actually doing it? Nearly impossible. She didn’t even know what the enemy had done, how her teammates vanished—how could she break something she couldn’t even perceive?

That thought made Lin Xiaolu close her eyes in frustration. Again, she felt bitter at not being able to use her Magical Armor. If her ability wasn’t so one-dimensional, maybe she wouldn’t be left with zero intel after that fight.

If a battle was like playing cards, then Corruption gave her techniques to play them well—but with no cards in hand, no amount of skill mattered.

She shook her head slightly, then steadied herself on the tree trunk and stood up.

She had heard it—Semi’s breathing had stopped behind her.

“Not hiding anymore?” Semi asked.

“No point if I’ve already been found.”

Lin Xiaolu curled her lip. “What’s the use of lying to myself?”

“In that case, maybe I’ll send you on your way before you even realize it.”

Semi raised a claw, its sharp talons gleaming. “To be honest, I did want to ask you a few questions. If the situation weren’t like this, I might’ve spared you. But sadly, I’m on a tight schedule.”

“Tight schedule... pfft. Just trying to unleash disaster on civilians and acting like it's some grand mission.”

Lin Xiaolu sneered. “Those Black Cinders Dawn idiots were the same. Always spouting ‘we’re justice’ and ‘we’re chasing our dreams’—but all they do is commit atrocities. Hypocrites.”

“...Don’t lump us in with Black Cinders Dawn. You don’t even know what Claw Mark is truly trying to do.”

Semi paused. “You Magical Girls are the real fools—blindly following the Kingdom, chasing your own naive dreams, not realizing you’ve already become accomplices to evil.”

“Veronica once told me: don’t judge people by what they say—judge them by what they do.”

Lin Xiaolu raised her wand. Blazing white magic had begun to gather. “If slaughtering civilians and wrecking cities is called ‘justice,’ and protecting the weak is called ‘evil’—then I guess I’m the enemy of justice.”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t care what the weak think.”

Semi responded coldly and lunged forward with a slash. “Justice without power is nothing but a joke.”

Its massive claw fell. Dust exploded.

CLANG!

But instead of a magic blast, a crisp clang echoed.

The Ravager’s giant claw had struck Lin Xiaolu’s wand—and was firmly blocked. Neither side gained ground.

“Your wand... blocked my attack?”

Semi stared in disbelief, confirming again and again that it hadn’t seen wrong.

That last strike was no joke—Semi had gone all out, using nearly 90% of its strength to end the fight in one blow. There was no way a Magical Girl who wasn’t even Leaf-tier could block that with a wand.

After all, wands were just the embryonic form of Magical Armor, barely suitable for Egg-tier or Caterpillar-tier Ravagers. Against Chrysalis-tier? Forget it.

Wand durability did scale with strength, but only to a limited degree. Normally, only Bud-tier girls could block Chrysalis attacks, and only Flower-tier could resist Molted ones.

Could this girl actually be Bud-tier?

Semi didn’t believe it.

But it had no time to ponder further.

Because it noticed—the wand that blocked its claw... had gotten longer.

Can wand shapes even change?

Semi wasn’t a Magical Girl and had never studied wands, but in all its experience fighting against the Kingdom and later with Claw Mark—it had never seen this.

But this was battle. No time to get distracted, even if the enemy was weak.

So it pulled itself together and charged again.

CLANG!

Blocked—again.

And this time, the wand changed again—its tip growing sharper.

Lin Xiaolu didn’t even realize these changes were happening.

What she felt now was a flood of emotion—boiling rage.

“When I first became a Magical Girl, I thought Ravagers were our biggest enemy.”

She spoke hoarsely. “Because they destroyed cities, killed people. I thought that if we could wipe out every invading Ravager, stop them from causing tragedy, then we’d have fulfilled our duty.”

“If we could do that, we could proudly say we’d made the city better, that we’d done something meaningful.”

“That’s what I always believed.”

She swung her wand, deflecting Semi’s attacks one after another, but seemed completely unaware she was doing it.

“But after I learned about Black Cinders Dawn—about you—I realized things weren’t that simple.”

“Humans turn into Ravagers. Fairies turn into Ravagers. Even Magical Girls become Ravagers... Like they’re just tools to you. Like turning into one doesn’t bother you at all.”

With every clash, her wand grew longer, the pale blue fading to white.

“You toss around the word ‘kill’ like it’s nothing. You casually decide to destroy cities. Even Ravager attacks don’t kill that many civilians—but you always manage to cause even more devastation.”

“Power, power, power. That’s all any of you ever talk about.”

She clenched her teeth. “You say having power makes you right. That chasing power makes you right. That worshipping power is right. I’ve heard it so many times, it’s like a buzzing in my ears.”

“But if power means trampling human lives, how are you any different from a Ravager?”

“If chasing your so-called dreams means sacrificing others, how do you have any moral high ground?”

She forced Semi back and took a firm step forward, gripping her wand in reverse and holding it behind her.

“If you’re really the strong ones, really the ones in the right—then stop messing with innocent people. Go fight the actual evil you claim to oppose!”

“If you can’t even do that, then at least—at least...!”

She looked up and roared:

“Can you not pick holidays to launch your terrorist attacks?! You’re seriously the worst!”

At that moment, her battered, pure-white wand ignited.

The last bits of color burned away in blazing white flames. The fire carved intricate patterns into the shaft like a master craftsman. It curled inward at the base, neatly enclosing it.

At the tip, the decorative parts melted away, revealing a brilliant white gemstone that rose and settled atop the wand. Ornate structures spiraled around it, securing it in place.

Where her hand gripped the wand, several slots sank into the surface—each holding a clear gem. One glowed a fierce white; the others remained transparent and colorless.

Now, her wand looked more like a scepter.

A scepter embedded with a white gemstone.

And along with it, a name etched itself into her heart—as if it had always been there.

“Royal Key.”

She spoke, commanding her weapon:

“Form shift—Guardian Mode.”

In the next instant, the white scepter changed.

The glowing white gem dimmed to colorless, while one of the clear ones lit up—shining pale blue.

The scepter’s shaft turned blue, extending rapidly until it exceeded Lin Xiaolu’s own height.

A pale blue lance appeared in her hands.

Like it came naturally, she spun it with flair, twirling the spear before charging toward Semi—

Thunk.

And then she tripped, face-planting into the ground because the spear was too long and got stuck in the dirt.