Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

"That's settled then. I hope Ryougi-san will give it a good consideration."

As the full moon gradually rose into the sky, the tea party at the Mami family's house came to an end.

Just as Homura had predicted, Ori, who exhibited many singularities, told Mami about the magical girl phenomenon after Mami had actually met her and confirmed that Ori had witnessed their battle with the Nightmare. Mami then extended an invitation to Ori to become a magical girl.

"I understand. To be honest, today's conversation had quite an impact on me. I need some time... to process the information I've gained, and I also need to seriously consider whether or not I should become a magical girl."

Beibei nestled in Mami's arms, occasionally jumping onto the tea table to cause mischief. Zhi had heard Xiaoyan say that she was a witch, so she had carefully opened her magic eye to secretly observe her before.

You wouldn't believe it until you look, and what you find is shocking. This guy, who's being held like a mascot by Mami, has actually been keeping an eye on her the whole time. Zhi is certain that if she reveals any dangerous information during the conversation, this guy will definitely bite her.

Fortunately, the conversation afterwards was all about serious topics about magical girls, and Orihime only needed to listen silently most of the time, occasionally asking some questions based on what Homura had said, and managed to get through it... I guess.

The main reason is that the information Homura has is too far removed from the information in their current world. The witch that Homura always talks about is not mentioned at all by Mami. She only received a lot of information about nightmares. Moreover, Mami was also somewhat hesitant when it came to the method of becoming a magical girl.

Since there haven't been any new magical girls with contracts for a long time, I remember I should have to find QB to sign a contract...

The above is the senior's explanation of how to become a magical girl. However, there are many other unclear and ambiguous statements, which made Zhi completely certain that their memories had indeed been modified to some extent.

"Then I'll head back now. Thank you so much for your hospitality, Mami!"

"Oh dear, it's so late, Zhi-kun. Do you need me to take you home?"

"No need to trouble yourself. Don't let my appearance fool you; I'm quite confident in my swordsmanship. Unless I encounter Nightmare, I can take on ten of those thugs by myself."

"Sure enough, sometimes I feel like Zhi is more like a young master than a young lady."

"Haha, people always say I'm a tomboy. Anyway, I'll take my leave now~"

"Okay, take care, Zhi."

And so, after leaving Mami's apartment and confirming that the witch's surveillance had disappeared from her body, the originally energetic Ori suddenly collapsed.

"Ah~ I'm so tired. It's even more tiring than going around the high walls of Lothric. The young lady and such are really terrifying creatures."

However, the snacks and herbal tea were delicious, which was a small reward after a long night of work.

"No, I feel exhausted after a whole night, and all I get is some tea and snacks? That's a bit unfair. I need to get some compensation from Xiaoyan. Hehehe, what kind of compensation should I ask for? Hmm, how about I be able to hug a body pillow all night? That suggestion should be pretty good, right?"

While unleashing her true nature, which had been suppressed all night due to her elegant demeanor, Zhi pondered what reward she should ask Xiaoyan for when they returned to the base.

Incidentally, the two of them used the arcade they had visited at the very beginning as their base, apparently because they had arrogantly set up a complete barrier there, which could effectively evade the witch's possible surveillance.

After a while of random thoughts, on her way home, Zhi began to seriously plan her next move.

"I've already obtained the pass to become a magical girl, but it's obvious that I can't become one. So I can only use my status as a reserve member to get closer to Madoka Kaname and then, without alerting that creature called QB, ask her out."

"I wonder how things are going with Homura~ If she succeeded, I won't need to play house with them anymore, but I also feel really disappointed that I played such an important role in Homura's plan and didn't contribute anything at all~"

"Well, whatever. Even if Homura succeeds, she'll stay in the World of Fire forever. But then there'll be another Madoka Kaname. How am I supposed to get along with her? Ugh, so annoying! Things that can't be solved by killing are always so annoying!"

"No, no, no, those thoughts were too dangerous. The current Zhi is ashes without fire, no longer a murderer. I'm going to become Little Flame Knight's woman... Something feels off... Never mind! Anyway, I'm a knight, and a knight's duty is to silently protect the princess from behind. Yes, that's it. Don't worry about anything else~ Don't worry about anything else~"

While Zhi was worrying about the future, she didn't notice that the spot on her shoulder that had been burned by the black flames that surged out of Xiao Yan's rampage was now burning with a faint, deep purple flame.

————————————————————————————————————————

The saber flew over in a whirlwind and landed between Xiaoyan and Xiaoyuan.

Seeing that there was no chance to take Madoka's body with her, Homura made a quick decision and immediately put Madoka's Soul Gem into her shield.

"Oh dear, I kind of regret letting you get to know Xiaoyuan."

The blue magical girl landed on the saber, separating Homura from her goddess.

Sayaka tossed an unidentified creature, completely wrapped in a cloak, into Madoka's arms. She drew two military knives from her waist and glared menacingly at Homura.

"So, are you going to hand over the Soul Stone yourself, or will I take it from you?"

"Homa? Sayaka?"

Their gazes lingered on the undisguised blue-haired magical girl and the completely bewildered pink-haired girl. Homura gritted her teeth, dual-wielded her longsword and the Lothric Knight's Sword, and charged directly at Sayaka.

"Hey! I caught you red-handed, and you still have the nerve to try and steal it?"

In Homura's memory, Sayaka was always the least talented magical girl. Apart from her extremely strong self-healing ability and excellent physical strength, she had almost no other special qualities. That's why she dared to face the magical girl who had gained power at the cost of despair, even with her ash body, hoping to take this opportunity to take Madoka away in one fell swoop.

But as soon as the weapons clashed, the two swords and two sabers, imbued with the martial arts skills of their masters, immediately began to fight to see who was superior.

Xiaoyan knew she had miscalculated. Sayaka was clearly far superior to her in strength and speed. Even with her newly awakened mind-body technique, she could only manage to hold her own in weapon combat. It seemed impossible for her to defeat Sayaka in a short time.

With a precise stance, she shifted her feet slightly, and swung her hands alternately, her longsword striking the weakest points of the military saber each time, blocking Sayaka's wide-ranging attacks.

Sayaka was even more surprised. She had been on guard against Homura's shield in her left hand, confident that with her newfound power as a priestess, she could stop Homura's time stop in close combat. However, the person before her not only didn't rely on such cheating methods, but instead once again displayed the same skillful combat techniques she had shown when fighting her familiar.

The escalator was filled with flashes of swords and shadows. Xiao Yuan, still lying on the escalator, hugged QB who was wrapped up tightly and looked helplessly at the two who had suddenly fallen into a fierce battle.

The twin swords, leaving afterimages, clashed repeatedly with the military knife. Sayaka's fighting style was not sophisticated; her fancy turns and leaping slashes were full of openings. Homura used time reversal to cancel the after-effects of her attacks, and could have followed up with attacks on these openings, but Sayaka, with her strength exceeding Homura's, forced her to find a way to deflect the direct blows of the military knife.

Besides, she couldn't actually cut it down; Xiaoyuan was watching from the side.

In the next clash, Homura, who was holding the Lothric longsword in her left hand, suddenly switched to a reverse grip using the force of the collision. As Sayaka swung her saber in her other hand, the shield that had made room for her blocked the attack.

The shield struck precisely near the hilt of the saber, immediately deflecting Sayaka's attack. The longsword in the right hand was also reversed, and taking advantage of the momentary shield deflection, Homura gripped the hilt and smashed it into Sayaka's stomach.

Holding back for that moment was meaningless. Sayaka, who was also dual-wielding, abandoned her weapon with her other hand and grabbed Homura's sword hilt. With just one hand, she blocked Homura's all-out attack.

QB struggled more and more fiercely inside the cloak. Knowing that she couldn't stay there any longer, Xiao Yan immediately released her longsword, created distance, and made a gesture as if she was about to run away. But as she turned around, she took out her spiked hammer and swung it around fiercely.

Sayaka also noticed Homura's intention to retreat, but the ferocious weapon she unleashed still forced her back. She was a step too slow and followed Homura, who had left earlier, running towards the exit of the department store.

"Wait a minute! Where are you going?"

Completely oblivious to the situation, Xiaoyuan could only watch the two hurried figures run out the door, stamping her feet in frustration.

"Ugh... Honestly, Homura's been acting really weird today. She came to me saying she had a nightmare, and I'm worried she might start having nightmares too. Sayaka's acting the same way too, why did she suddenly start fighting with Homura? She just wanted to see my Soul Gem, didn't she?"

"Speaking of which, my Soul Gem is still with Xiao Yan... Never mind! I'm going to catch up with them too! I have to ask them what's wrong tonight, they're all acting so strangely!"

After sulking for a while, Xiaoyuan tightly gripped the unidentified creature inside her cloak, completely forgetting to release her pet first. Hugging the cloak tightly, she also chased after the two who had left earlier.

PS: Yunxi: 744486102 This is another PS.

Destiny Sixteen Weaving and Flame

His glasses were long gone, his braids were undone, and only unwavering determination remained in his purple eyes; his frozen face showed no emotion.

Yan ran under the full moon. After saying goodbye to Xingzi, that feeling of palpitation came over her again, making her completely disregard the memories churning in her mind. She only wanted to get to Xiaoyuan's side as soon as possible.

I remember she and Sayaka went shopping at a department store; I hope they haven't left yet.

Sometimes memories are such a troublesome thing; once you find one, a whole host of other memories will come flooding back.

Despite being extremely worried about Madoka, memories of the witch flooded back into her mind.

A closed, illusory space, a labyrinth with no exit, used to lure and confuse prey—there's no mistake, this is the witch's barrier!

Witches, on the other hand, are the most wicked, messengers of despair, and the cursed form that magical girls ultimately take when they sink into the abyss of despair.

She, too, had repeated the same period countless times in the past, trying to fight against this cruel fate. In the end, through the self-sacrifice of a young girl, she severed the cruel chain of hope and despair, and the world should have been guided by new principles...

Wait a minute? Through the self-sacrifice of a young girl...!

Her rapid running between the buildings came to a stop. She clutched her chest again, her face now even more pale than before, her heart pounding with fear.

She remembered that Madoka should have become the Law of Circles, protecting all magical girls. So what was that smiling figure in front of her in the barrier all about?

A witch's trick? And who is the witch? Who brought Madoka back? Or who dared to create a fake Madoka to fool her, who was already wounded?

Dark emotions churned within her, and she slowly began to move her feet again, unsure whether she should trust her throbbing heart and pursue what might just be a mirage.

However, the next moment, she no longer needed to dwell on this question, simply because under the full moon, by the river, a figure she had only recently met was running there, a figure that had left a deep impression on her.

It was that somewhat silly young lady; she kept turning around to look behind her, as if she were being chased by something.

"Ha, what good luck! I was just having trouble making up my mind when you suddenly appeared in front of me."

A smile played on her lips, but it froze on her face with the chill of her expression. Flame leaped off the roof and landed on her usual path, quietly waiting for Zhi's arrival.

————————————————————————————————————————

While Zhi was worrying about the future, she didn't notice that the spot on her shoulder that had been burned by the black flames that surged out of Xiao Yan's rampage was now burning with a faint, deep purple flame.

She walked briskly towards her previous hideout, her handbag swinging behind her head, relying on her own two hands.

Ding Ding Ding-!

However, near the center of the game, they heard the sound of some kind of metal rolling on the ground.

She approached with some suspicion and found four girls playing a game of rolling hoops on the commercial street. She didn't pay much attention and was about to walk around them to enter the arcade.

Ding Ding Ding-!

The iron ring suddenly rolled to her feet and fell to the ground.

They stopped in their tracks, and Zhi and the four figures who had stopped along with the iron ring looked at each other.

Their faces were obscured, but they were all dressed in gothic-style clothing. One wore a veiled hat, another a cotton hat, one had white flowers adorning their hair, and the other had curly hair.

【You pathetic, useless lord, your foolish soul is the glory of us all】

This abyss is our stage.

Zhi opened her demonic eyes, simply because the last person's appearance was so familiar—when she and Xiaoyan arrived in this world, the bus driver who broke the rules had the same appearance.

"Could it be that our base is being monitored?"

Without thinking twice, she immediately turned around and ran back the way she came.

The four familiars immediately started shouting. They frantically pulled out large knitting needles, intending to chase after the girl, but then they started pushing and shoving each other. In the end, the girl in the cotton hat was thrown back to the entrance of the game hall by the other three, and only then did the three chase after her.

Zhi didn't care about anything else; her first thought was to run to find Xiaoyan. However, she didn't know where the so-called department store was. After thinking it over, she simply ran back towards Mami's house, hoping that this young lady, with whom she had gained some goodwill, could help her avoid the limelight.

However, Zhi, who had never directly fought a familiar girl, completely miscalculated. Before she could run far, the unconventional veiled familiar girl had already jumped down from the building above her.

The katana that had been hanging on the bag was pulled out, its blade emerging from its sheath, flashing white as it met the black knitting needle.

The collision nearly broke the katana. Sensing something was wrong through her magic eyes, Zhi immediately slid the katana aside the moment it was struck and rolled away to avoid it.

The ground was smashed, but Zhi didn't linger. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she darted into the shop next door.

She casually chopped down a shelf in the clothing store, sheathed her sword, and quickly ran out the back door, leaving behind only the veiled girl covered in clothes, screaming incessantly.

Having gotten rid of one person, she realized she had strayed from the shortest route to Mami's house, and before she could move again, blinding lights suddenly pierced her vision.

With its engine roaring, the bus hurtled toward Zhi at a speed comparable to its predecessor that crashed into the convenience store.