Unlimited Ambition

"...Go back!! Didn't you hear me?!" Just as Madoka and I were about to reach the center of the witch's barrier, Homura Akemi also reacted. She seemed to be enraged by my teasing attitude earlier. She roared and used her time-stop ability to appear in front of Madoka and me in an instant. Then, without any hesitation, she pulled the trigger.

"Hmph—a mere trick." Gunpowder weapons are utterly pathetic. If we were to use technology, they should at least reach the level of Icarus's enhanced Queen of the Sky. This so-called automatic pistol is simply pathetic. —Then, a flash of sword light, and the bullet was instantly sliced ​​in two.

"You...it's impossible! You're clearly cursed and can't fight back!" The woman with long, straight black hair stared wide-eyed in disbelief as I raised my longsword and pointed it at her.

"You think I've been wasting my time all this time?" I scoffed, then assumed a fighting stance. I raised my longsword and charged towards the long-haired, black-haired man—the battle began.

—The ability to stop time.

It hit?! No, it's actually a short-term, localized time reversal ability.

Damn it, I got hit. They can even control the opponent's time?!

After several rounds, I had sustained quite a few injuries—just as I said before, Homura Akemi's true strength far exceeded my expectations. Although I couldn't construct a large-scale, unshakeable time law like a law itself, I was already adept at altering the operation of time on a small scale and for short periods of time.

Honestly, should I say, as expected of Homura Akemi?

"But it's still too sweet!!!"

"Xiaoyuan?!"

However, after this probing, I decided to settle things with Homura Akemi, at least ensuring she wouldn't leave the hospital before Witch's Night arrived. But then I heard Homura Akemi exclaim in surprise—

Indeed, where did Xiaoyuan go?!

I looked around, and sure enough, the little round-faced girl who had been watching the battle was nowhere to be seen—had she been caught in the crossfire and died? Impossible!

"What the hell have you done?!" At that moment, Homura Akemi instantly turned to the brink of darkness. Her hair seemed to float up under an invisible aura. She blamed Madoka's disappearance on me.

"Don't joke around! I don't know what happened either!" I absolutely wouldn't take the blame for this. So I immediately denied it.

"Who else could it be but you!?" Homura Akemi seemed to become hysterical whenever Madoka was mentioned. She yelled at me as if she had completely lost her mind.

"you--"

Just as I frowned, about to say something to her, I heard Madoka's scream from inside—at the center of the barrier. Homura Akemi paused for a moment after hearing the sound, then exchanged a glance with me, and without further ado, we quickly moved towards the center of the barrier…

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Existence is Justified

If I die, will you remember me?

When Homura Akemi and I ran to the center of the barrier, we only caught this scene: Kyoko, with a cut on her cheek and blood still dripping from it, turned her face and gave me a poignant smile before asking this question.

There was no answer—no time to answer—I just yelled, "No—" I didn't even know what Kyoko was going to do, and then I saw Kyoko's Soul Gem shatter into pieces. Immediately afterward, a red light barrier separated me, Madoka, and Homura Akemi. Then came a deafening explosion…

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Aa ...

Half-jokingly, I let out a pitiful scream: "How could this happen?! Why did this happen?!"

His hands gripped his hair like a tangled mess of straw, his eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out, and numerous veins appeared on his body, as if his blood vessels were about to burst... Under these circumstances, even the curse I had placed on myself loosened to some extent. This allowed me to wield more power in this dimension.

"—Homura Akemi!!!!!!!!!"

Immediately afterward, I punched that bastard Homura Akemi in the face with all my might. Then, tears streamed down my face as I glared at her with extreme anger. For a moment, she even had the illusion that she was the worst person in the world.

"How...how could this happen?" Watching her best friend turn into a monster, and then perish together with another girl, Xiao Yuanlian felt her worldview crumble in an instant. Her eyes seemed unfocused, and she knelt on the ground, her toes pointing outwards. Tears streamed down her face.

Homura Akemi gritted her teeth, turned her head away, and remained silent.

"You—" Before I could draw my sword and almost actually cut down the long-haired girl with black hair, Xiaoyuan stopped me.

"Don't do this—Wright, they'll be sad to see you like this..."

So I went over and hugged Xiaoyuan, and we cried our eyes out together.

"--Oh, right, Wright, I want to sign a contract with you to become a magical girl—if that's the case, can I make a wish?!" As if a drowning person had grabbed a straw, Madoka said this with great resolve.

"That's right, that's exactly it." Although my long-held wish is about to come true, the things that happened with Sayaka and Kyoko just now make me anything but happy.

“Then…” Xiaoyuan took a deep breath: “I am willing to sign a contract with you and become a magical girl.”

"—Absolutely not!!!" After hearing what Madoka and I said, Homura Akemi finally panicked. Shouting this, she lunged at me and punched me in the face, just like I had done before. She was so fierce, unlike a cool-looking magical girl who uses firearms as her means of attack.

This time, I didn't fight back; I just stared at her coldly.

"I'll teach you a lesson you won't regret."

After saying that, Homura Akemi felt her body stiffen instantly. Completely unable to move, she felt an extreme, soul-deep fear, without any basis, reason, or support. It was simply pure fear.

In an instant—or a hundred billion years—Homura Akemi regained consciousness and could no longer find me or Madoka. She found herself in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of town, for reasons unknown. That must be it.

"The time... seems to be afternoon." Homura Akemi judged this by looking at the setting sun shining through the broken glass window. Then she quickly recalled what had happened earlier.

"...That power...has he regained his ability...? No, he's never used this skill before...Could it be that the curse has been lifted?" Homura Akemi gritted her teeth, wanting to go out and search again, but found that she had no feeling in her legs at all. She then fell to the ground, scraping her face.

"Damn it...no...I have to find Madoka quickly." Homura Akemi gritted her teeth, trying desperately to get up, but found she had no strength left. Every bone in her body felt like it was falling apart...

"If this happens... then it will be like before again... Damn it, you beast..." At this thought, her original strong pretense instantly crumbled, and Homura Akemi was filled with grief and indignation, tears streaming down her face.

At this moment, I brought Xiaoyuan into my room.

"So, what kind of wish do you want next?" I asked Xiaoyuan.

“…” Xiaoyuan took a deep breath and then said, “I want to destroy all the witches of the past, present and future before they are even born.”

"..."

Is that really your wish?

I was slightly taken aback. Should I praise her? She actually used something that could be considered taboo. It seemed like it could solve the problem, but in reality…

Seeing that I didn't answer her, Xiaoyuan still looked at me very seriously: "Is it not allowed?"

"It's not that it's impossible..." I gave a slight wry smile. "But, if that's the case, Madoka, your existence as a magical girl will lose its meaning—no, it should be said that your existence will disappear. You'll be thrown into the eternal battle against monsters. Eternity. Madoka. Do you know the meaning of eternity? Unless this plane completely collapses. Otherwise—"

"I've thought it through very clearly," Xiaoyuan nodded and replied.

"Well, I need some time to prepare. About a week. If you still don't regret it by then, then come back to me. Think it over carefully."

“Hmm… Wright.” Madoka suddenly hugged me. “It’s okay. If my sacrifice can bring happiness to everyone… including you, Wright, then that’s fine too. Even if I disappear because of it, I won’t have any complaints…”

After that, Xiaoyuan gently hugged me and then kissed my forehead lightly. She then let go, turned around, and walked to the front door: "Well then, see you in a week."

After saying that, he left.

"In any case, this is the final chapter... Past, present, future... What will this plane ultimately become? Don't disappoint me, Madoka Kaname." Thinking this, I couldn't help but laugh, and at the same time, I stretched out my hand. Two Soul Gems appeared in my previously empty palm, one red and one blue, shining brightly together...

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Why not use the atomic bomb?

Homura Akemi's worldview has become slightly skewed. At the same time, she has begun to waver regarding whether she can achieve her mission and her own obsession.

Although I said before that even if it meant reincarnating a thousand or ten thousand times, I would definitely save you, there's a slight problem here:

Before this, the final outcome was always the same: Witch's Night, it was always Witch's Night.

Sometimes, it's five people working together to fight Witch Night. Then they get killed.

Sometimes, it's four people going up together, and then they get killed.

Sometimes there are three people.

Of course, most often, the most common way is for two people to team up—but then, Homura Akemi suddenly realized a problem: if she could handle Witch Night alone, then…

So, pistols were upgraded to automatic rifles, automatic rifles to light machine guns, light machine guns to anti-materiel rifles, anti-materiel rifles to main battle tanks, and main battle tanks to fighter jets. Fighter jets were upgraded to air-to-air missiles, one becoming two, two becoming four, four becoming eight…

However, it still didn't work.

Witch Night was like wearing a layer of Gundam alloy armor; these conventional weapons were completely useless against him. Every time, every time, every time, in the end, it was Madoka who, in order to save the city, made a contract with Kyubey to become a magical girl and ultimately perished together with Witch Night.

Therefore, to save Madoka, Witch Night must be defeated—without Madoka's involvement. This has become common knowledge to Homura Akemi.

However, in this very cycle, common sense was shattered.

That guy was still as adept at disguise as ever, but this time, he seemed a little different. He quickly discerned Homura's true identity, and his behavior was also different from before. This time, he didn't directly approach Madoka to sign a contract—which ruined his plan to spy on Madoka through her window. Instead, he approached that idiot Sayaka. Not only did he sign a contract with her quickly, but he also showered her with affection and passion, quickly making the idiot infatuated.

And then… it just seemed like she'd been following him all this way. Homura Akemi even felt like she'd accomplished nothing, like she was a complete idiot. She even performed worse than that guy. In fact, when facing me, Homura Akemi felt like the villain, and I was the one representing justice.

So, this time it's completely different. Madoka isn't trying to become a magical girl to save the city. She wants to revive her best friend Sayaka. Therefore, she wants to make a contract with me and become a magical girl.

If that's the case, how can we stop her?

With that thought in mind, Homura Akemi went to Madoka's window. This time, she decided to have a good talk with Madoka, and if necessary, she might even tell Madoka about the past—the endless cycle of reincarnation.

However, it's completely unacceptable.

Madoka didn't want to hear Homura's explanation at all. She simply smiled and replied after Homura finished speaking, "If that's the case, then I can't let you do it all by yourself, Homura-chan. Even though I'm very cowardly and very useless, this time, I'm going to try no matter what—"

"—You'll die if you do that!!" Homura Akemi said with extreme urgency, "And you actually believe in things like saving the world?! No—I don't care about any of that! I just want Madoka to be happy..."

“If I’m all alone, I can’t be happy no matter what,” Xiaoyuan replied. “Also, I think there’s a slight misunderstanding between you and Wright. Although you’re not close, I can tell he’s a very good person. I think you two should have a good talk.”

Although she couldn't convince Madoka at all, Homura Akemi gained a very good insight from her—a solution that seemed genuinely capable of solving the problem.

"Talk to that guy, huh... Indeed, from the arrival of Witch's Night until today, there's still a week left. But oh well, there's still a week to prepare, right? But this didn't happen before. It must be because of what was said before. Madoka's potential is extremely strong due to the alteration of causality. So she can't easily transform into a magical girl? Or is it really like he said, that he wants to give Madoka some buffer time, time to think?"

Homura Akemi thought for a moment, but still couldn't grasp the key point. However, one thing was certain: this was a great opportunity. And it seemed to be the last one—

The chance to kill me.

If we kill that guy, then even if Madoka wants to sacrifice herself, there'll be nowhere to go. Eliminating the root of evil directly—that's a really simple and easy-to-understand method.

However, there's a slight problem here—I fought Homura Akemi before, inside Sayaka's witch barrier. It was a draw—no, that's not right. If we add the added bonus of Kyoko's death, then it was a loss.

Besides, killing him would also kill me due to the curse—this had happened several times before. If I hadn't reacted quickly and used time-reversal magic to go back in time, I would have really died.

Therefore, killing that guy is extremely difficult. And even if you could kill him, it wouldn't make a difference. This round, however, you've failed.

Homura Akemi thought carefully: The best thing to do now is to have a proper talk with him and persuade him to give up his will to sign the contract with Madoka. Otherwise, the only options are to use force to subdue him, or imprison him.

However, both the first and second points are exceptionally difficult.

"But if it's for Xiaoyuan, then no matter how difficult it is, we have to try!"

Before reaching the door of my apartment building, Homura Akemi completed this thought process, determined to overcome all dangers and obstacles to get rid of this troublesome and obstructive fellow.

The doorbell rang at the door.

"Damn it, who is it at a time like this?!" At this moment, I was extremely agitated, taking a shower, and getting ready for bed.