Chapter 153

These onlookers were not like those often seen in doujinshi, mocking or disparaging the Magical Girl's incompetence, nor were they getting sexually aroused watching the scantily clad Magical Girl.

Why?

Because of fear, only fear, only the instinctive trembling.

Excited? It is impossible to be excited… Perhaps a very small number of people with peculiar fetishes might still get excited… But that is something that cannot be helped, just as one cannot stop fingernails from growing.

When something that should have been shining and beautiful is crushed before one's eyes, wantonly insulted and beaten to pieces,

once these acts of violence and terror are projected onto oneself, it is only natural for most people to feel fear.

Sometimes, bystanders even instinctively develop a sense of near-pity, a feeling of shared sorrow at another's plight.

That is not out of support for justice.

Nor is it out of reverence for the hero.

It is merely out of a simple human instinct—

—Stop hitting her.

—Isn't that enough?

—She's already like this, just spare her.

Even if they had no special feelings for the "Magical Girl" before,

even if they dared not make a sound, because they feared those steel monsters would erase everyone who witnessed this.

But at this moment—

In this shattered apartment building, seeing the Magical Girl being tortured by three mechanical beasts in turns, hung up and repeatedly smashed into the rubble, covered in blood, breathing faintly, like a ragdoll that could snap at any moment.

Even if they were just strangers.

Even if they were just bystanders.

Their hearts would tighten, their palms would sweat, and they would silently pray in their hearts:

…Please survive.

Even if there is no hope left, they still want her to hold on.

Because as long as she is still alive, the scene before them is not yet completely hopeless.

As long as she can hold onto one last breath, there is still salvation.

Even if it is just self-deception to believe: perhaps a miracle will appear, perhaps in the next moment, she will be able to turn the tables.

—So, in reality, is there such a good miracle that will appear to let Magical Girl Soleia turn the tables?

No. There is no such timely miracle.

But miracles can take many forms.

"—Stop!"

Outside the shattered building, in the night sky, a silver light suddenly burst forth.

Accompanied by spatial distortion and a strong gust of wind, a figure streaked across the sky like a meteor, diving down from above Magic City Tokyo, bathed in moonlight, descending from the heavens!

It is Magical Girl Artemina!

At this very moment, her eyes were burning with unprecedented fury!

Before the robots could react, the first [Moonlight Arrow] had already formed between her fingers, and she fired as soon as the bowstring was drawn.

The light arrow pierced the air, precisely penetrating the main camera of one of the [BOT]s. Its four red eyes shattered and exploded, and its metal head was instantly blown to pieces!

"Target identification interference—"

"System error, system error—"

Boom!

Before the words faded, Artemina had already flashed close to the second [BOT].

Moonlight condensed into a blade on the bow, and with a spin, she slashed, grazing the neck connection armor of the mechanical beast.

With a loud "crack," the neck of the second mechanical beast was instantly severed, sparks and fragments flying everywhere!

"Target identified, it is Magical Girl Artemina"

"Immediately activate protective shield… evade…"

"Numerical error, numerical error."

The values were not wrong; it was just that these mechanical beasts could not calculate Artemina's increasingly sophisticated changes in power application. One move each, and she could crush them.

—But then again, Soleia actually has the same attack power, it's just that she needs to consume more magical power and wastes more energy due to panic and tension. There isn't much difference in their base stats.

The third mechanical beast hadn't even turned around before Artemina kicked it out of the building.

Not only that, she followed up by firing a [Moonlight Arrow]—with a "whoosh," a portal opened and sucked the third mechanical beast inside.

As for where it was teleported to, only Artemina knows.

In less than five seconds, the three [Super Mora BOTs] were all annihilated by the Magical Girl of Moonlight.

Artemina didn't even glance at the mechanical beast wreckage again. As soon as her heels touched the ground, she rushed to the front of Magical Girl Soleia, who was still hanging in mid-air, covered in blood.

Ignoring the electric sparks remaining on the edge of the iron clamp, she swung her moonlight blade and forcefully hacked the metal arm apart!

"Soleia!"

How dazzling!

Courage and friendship, along with the righteous fury, allowed Artemina to immediately rescue her friend.

…However, no matter how much she learned from [Master Leipu],

even if Artemina had already learned to be cold and ruthless in battle,

at the moment she saw her partner being beaten and tortured, clamped and hung in mid-air, covered in wounds,

she was, after all, still a sixteen-year-old girl.

So, just as she cut the metal clamp and caught Soleia,

—"Click!"

A mechanism hidden under the broken walls sprang open,

and a mechanical net made of high-tension steel cables and titanium alloy shot out with lightning speed, precisely closing in and tightly binding Artemina!

"What?!"

Finally reacting and realizing something was wrong, Artemina immediately tried to break free,

but the inner wall of the mechanical net suddenly lit up with rings of electric light.

"[Electric Shock Activated]."

"[Injecting Neural Paralytic Compound Solution]."

High-voltage current capable of stunning even a whale surged through her entire body, mixed with a spray coated in nanotoxins, causing Artemina to grunt, her body shuddering, her knees weakening, nearly collapsing.

"Artemina…?" Soleia opened her eyes weakly, but could not speak.

And just half a second after all this happened,

a figure disengaged their optical camouflage and slowly walked out from the shadows of the ruins.

The Magical Girl of the Moon looked up, fighting through the dizziness caused by the paralysis, and saw the person walking over leisurely.

A white lab coat dragged on the ground, with a black T-shirt and shorts worn casually underneath, and on his feet were a pair of clogs that looked like they had been bought on sale at a supermarket.

One of his eyes was covered by his hair, and he wore a wicked grin with one corner of his mouth slightly curled.

This is the leader of the [Rise Mora Group], Dr. Dogenzaka Elio!

A person who looked about the height of a middle school student, with a thin, bean-sprout-like build,

yet he was the creator of all these strange machines, terrifying traps, and countless monsters and combatants in Tokyo.

A crazy, absurd, lecherous scientist!

"Hahahaha—"

Dr. Elio proudly spread his thin arms,

"Welcome to the moment of scientific victory! The Sun and Moon Magical Girl duo!"

"What you have inhaled is the [Thaumaturge-Specific Neural Delay Compound Solution Type Gamma] I personally designed, along with trace amounts of mind-interfering agents! Within two hours, you will completely lose your magical abilities—but don't worry, I won't kill you, it would be too much of a waste of resources!"

Mad scientist-type villains basically all have one very common flaw.

"Originally, I actually only wanted to capture Artemina."

Dr. Elio explained with verbose gestures.

"But who told you to hand your parents over to the [Public Security Secret Bureau] to hide? I couldn't even find any hostages, and there was no way to lure you out."

"I thought, is there any idiot who is easier to catch and happens to be usable as bait? It turns out I really found one."

He spread his hands, his mouth curling into an even wider smile,

"Hey—there really is an idiotic Magical Girl, who not only didn't hand her family over to Public Security for protection but instead went to school and came home every day, living as if no war was happening at all. Like a duck walking down the street with a leek on its back."

Mad scientist villains love to ramble on about their original plans and thoughts after capturing a hero.

…Since [Master Leipu] announced that the civilian transformed heroes of Tokyo should decide what to do for themselves, they either gave up being heroes, cooperated with the [Public Security Secret Bureau], and went into hiding with their families in other cities; or they continued to be heroes but also had Public Security hide and relocate their families.

Because most people know—the families of transformed heroes are the softest underbelly, most easily targeted.

Even if they grit their teeth and continue to stand on the front lines, they must never keep their loved ones by their side, but instead hand them over to the [Public Security Secret Bureau] to be relocated, to avoid being a liability.

Not relying on the organization, taking no precautions, and naively continuing their original lives, thinking that everything would return to normal after a while… Such people are as ridiculous as running on the battlefield of Stalingrad while imagining oneself to be a bystander.

However, there are always people in this world who do foolish and naive things.

After all, if you let [Public Security] hide your family, no matter the outcome, you can never go back to your "original daily life."

So some people gambled, gambling like an ostrich.

Gambling that this fire would not burn their own home.

Actually, not everyone lost the gamble; there must have been some ostriches who were able to safely hide until the end of the battle between good and evil. Continuing their original lives, pretending nothing had happened, and then returning to be heroes later.

There must be such people. As long as they are lucky enough.

It's just that Magical Girl Soleia is not one of them.

"…What do you want to do by capturing me, Dogenzaka Elio?"

Enduring the paralysis and the sensation of electric shocks, Artemina gritted her teeth and squeezed the words out from between them.

The evil scientist laughed, his smile twisted, his eyes bright.

"Of course, it's to deal with your master, [Master Leipu]. A mere Magical Girl of the Moon, why would I need to go to such great lengths?"

Speaking of which, he sneered,

"As long as I can trick that bastard [Master Leipu] into my trap as well—hehe, so much for the [Strongest Man on Earth], that detestable muscular alpha male! I, a man of intellect, can outsmart him and slaughter him too!"

"—Wow, are you really that amazing?"

"Hehe, the reason Homo sapiens became the dominant species on this planet is not because of the sharpest claws. My dignity as a human does not allow me to fear anything not smarter than me… Hmm?"

But before he could finish, Dr. Elio realized—that last sentence, that mocking voice, who asked that?

A tall and burly muscular giant, the [Strongest Man on Earth], was already standing silently behind him.

"…You, when did you—"

Before he could finish, Qi Xing's massive arm swung down with a boom,

without any flashy moves, just the most direct, most violent fist,

carrying the most unreasonable power in the world, smashing hard onto the top of Dr. Elio's head!

Volume 4: Magic City Tokyo of Evil Arts: 145: Peculiar Science

For the last ten days or so, Qi Xing has been searching for the hideout of the [Rise Mora Group] leader, Dr. Dogenzaka Elio. However, this leader of the Tokyo dark organization has done a truly watertight job of keeping secrets.

Qi Xing has captured so many monster cadres along the way, torturing them all, and even using [Dominator] to command them, but he still couldn't find out Dr. Elio's location. He only knows that the doctor has multiple secret laboratories in Tokyo and many hideouts.

Since even [Dominator] couldn't get the answer, it means they really don't know. Damn these bad guys, they are only exceptionally good at using their brains when doing evil, how unreasonable!