Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

The Demon Eye had already warned Zhi of the danger when the lights shone on her. Without hesitation, she sprinted forward and ran to the opposite sidewalk before the bus hit her.

Danger continued to strike. Just as she was out of the light and could see, she saw a girl in white jump off the bus and thrust a knitting needle at her.

There was no time to draw the katana, so Zhi used it, scabbard and all, to parry the attack. After deflecting the thrust, he used the katana and scabbard together to smash the guy down with the knitting needle.

That wasn't all. Zhi stepped forward and leaned in, using a powerful shoulder strike to knock back the familiar girl while simultaneously drawing her katana from its sheath, which had been wedged between them.

Fierce slashes followed one after another. The familiar girl, wielding a long weapon, was tightly pressed into the inner circle of the weapon by the yarn, unable to stretch out at all. She could only use the yarn needle to constantly parry the yarn's rapid slashes.

The tires screeched as they rubbed against the ground, and the departing bus performed a difficult drift before turning back around.

While fighting in the middle of the road, Zhi ignored the sudden increase in engine noise and slashed even faster with his katana, forcing the white-flowered girl to be unable to leave the road.

The blinding headlights enveloped the two of them. The panicked familiar girl screamed and began wildly swinging her knitting needles. However, this blind attack could not hit Zhi, who had her demon eyes activated. Seizing the opportunity, after another knitting needle missed, she stepped directly onto her opponent's weapon, took two quick steps, stepped on Zhi's shoulder, and jumped high into the air.

The bus sped past, but the experienced driver, besides ruining his teammates' lives, achieved absolutely nothing else.

With a leap, Zhi jumped onto the roof of the bus and, using the bus's height, rushed onto the roadside buildings. She darted across the shops in the commercial street and immediately blended into one of them, attempting to completely confuse the familiar girls.

After repeating a series of actions such as entering and leaving stores and navigating alleys, her magic eye no longer detected any danger. At this point, she had completely deviated from the path to Mami's house and arrived at a small path along the riverbank.

After roughly determining the direction, she turned off the magic eye that had been active for quite some time and started running along the path, intending to get back to Mami first.

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As the young lady drew closer, Flame silently took out the Soul Gem and completed her magical girl transformation.

Whether it was the light from her disguise that caught Zhi's attention or not, she spotted Yan and quickened her pace, running towards her.

"Haha... I'm exhausted... How's it going, Xiaoyan? Are you done on your end?"

"All done? What are you saying?"

The unusually intimate way of addressing her made Yan raise an eyebrow, while the inexplicable question left her completely baffled.

"Anyway, we can talk about that later. It seems our base has been discovered. Those familiars are guarding the game center. I think we should go hide at Mami's house tonight...?"

The deep purple flames on her shoulder suddenly intensified. Zhi, who had just stopped catching her breath, was about to put her hand on her shoulder when she froze the moment she saw those purple pupils.

"A base? A familiar? Mami? You've been plotting something all along! What's your connection to that witch who created the barrier? Or are you that witch yourself?"

She slapped away Zhi's outstretched hand and pressed closer, her purple pupils fixed on Zhi's eyes, causing Zhi to unconsciously retreat step by step.

"Damn, this is the worst-case scenario. Those guys had the misfortune of chasing me in this direction. I'm doomed. I've completely ruined Xiaoyan's job!"

"Don't call me that so affectionately! And what's this 'job' thing? I don't recall ever having any deep conversations with you!"

"Ugh! This is so annoying! I can't fight at all with this face on my face. What should I do? What should I do? I guess I should go find Mami first!"

Although she knew that the princess in front of her was not the one she had sworn an oath to, she was essentially Homura Akemi. However, this Homura Akemi would not regard her as a comrade. Even though the other party made her experience what it was like for Homura to treat an enemy for the first time, how could Orihime draw her sword against her?

Zhi immediately shifted her position, avoiding Yan's, and continued running towards Mami's house.

"Hmph, let's see how you run away!"

Flame, her expression completely cold, activated her magic. The device on her shield opened, and the clock-like gears suddenly jammed, causing the world in her eyes to freeze for a moment.

PS: Yunxi: The content in 【】 is research on Madoka Magica, and all information comes from the Madoka Magica Baidu Tieba forum.

Destiny Seventeen: Ashes and Mermaids

Under the same full moon, Homura was also running, but the person chasing her was neither a stupid familiar nor a seasoned driver who would harm his teammates.

This is a magical girl whose physical abilities far surpass hers, yet she managed to snatch something that the other party had no choice but to reclaim.

She ran into a small alley. In the distance, the machinery of the factory roared. The puddles that had never been cleaned reflected the moonlight. After she stepped on them, the mirror-like puddles shattered into tiny, sparkling droplets.

The saber tore through the air, whistling as it flew over and nailed straight to the alley's exit. The blue magical girl once again stood atop the saber.

"I say, isn't this chase about time to end?"

"Are you even a friend of Madoka's?! I took her Soul Gem! Are you just going to leave her body there and not care?"

However, Homura completely ignored Sayaka's provocation; she was only worried about the situation of the most important person to her.

"Huh? Body?... You still think of Madoka as ordinary magic...?"

Sayaka seemed surprised by the question, but then she realized something and immediately moved on from it.

"But aren't you Madoka's best friend? As the one who wished to protect her, you took her Soul Gem. Isn't that even more outrageous?"

She was pushed back, and Xiaoyan had no way to refute it. She bit her lip, and a complex light flickered in her dark eyes.

"What are you talking about? I'm just a transfer student who transferred here less than a month ago..."

"You really dare to say that. You were the one who spent the most time with Xiaoyuan during that month of endless reincarnation. Are you going to erase all your efforts?"

"...Why do you know this? Are you really the Sayaka I know?"

"That's the question I should be asking! Are you really the Homura Akemi I know?!"

The two women, locked in a fierce standoff, glared at each other again. They both knew it was impossible to get anything more out of each other, so they each drew their weapons.

"So what's wrong with you? Why aren't you properly storing your weapons? Why are you collecting so many antiques?"

Sayaka jumped off the saber and walked along, leaving behind rows of sabers stuck in the alley behind her.

"Ha, because I think the only way to shut you up is to beat you in your area of ​​expertise."

Xiao Yan also walked over, and weapons from all sorts of worlds of fire and flame landed heavily in the alley with each step she took.

"You're really talking big. Can you even hold a longsword with that hand that's always holding a gun?"

"Whether you can hold it or not, you'll know after you've fought it."

The distance between them shortened as they spoke, and finally, Ash and the magical girl, who were only a step apart, stopped facing each other at the same time.

"Is that so? Then I'll... wait and see!"

Like a battle horn, as soon as Sayaka finished speaking, the two people facing each other drew their weapons and fiercely attacked each other.

The saber sliced ​​the longsword away, and the next moment, the hammer and spear smashed the saber away.

Broadsword, Astrakian Straight Sword, Lothric Knight's Sword, Irithyll Straight Sword, Hybrid Greatsword, Greatsword, Flame Greatsword, Short Scimitar, Rapier, Katana, Hand Axe—one weapon after another was drawn by Homura, who used all her skills against Sayaka's unchanging saber, and in a single strike, the superiority of the weapons was determined.

The loser is smashed and slashed, while the winner continues to participate in the next round of clashes, until even the winner can't withstand the brutal fighting and switches to the next weapon.

The two women kept pulling out the weapons they had tucked behind their backs and attacking each other with blows. Broken blades, bent hilts, damaged wooden sticks, and shattered axes—fragments of what had once been weapons—were swept into the puddles of the alley, like a light drizzle.

Xiaoyan's hands were already covered in flaming wounds from the impact, but after one weapon after another was broken, the two blades left in her hands, along with her skills, continued to break the opponent's weapons by targeting the weak points of the military knife.

One of them was a broadsword held in the left hand. Its short and thick design, which sacrificed attack range to increase weapon strength, meant that the opposing saber had no chance to destroy it.

The other was the Irithyll Straight Sword, radiating a chilling aura. This weapon of the conquering knights was clearly no ordinary item, and the frost it created during its swings was almost beginning to affect Sayaka's movements.

"What kind of strange weapon is this? You can only manipulate time, so how can you unleash ice?"

"Endless cycles of reincarnation should yield some results, and I am not always the same."

Homura, who had initially gained the advantage in weaponry, gradually overwhelmed Sayaka with her sword strikes. This was due to the difference in skill level; the magical girl, who rarely fought against humanoid enemies, was always a step behind Ash when dealing with enemies of similar size.

The gap in strength is made up for by skill, and the gap in speed is made up for by ability.

Xiao Yan holds two swords horizontally in front of her chest. She always rewinds time to this position after an attack, her feet moving nimbly, her upper body maintaining perfect posture. Each attack is like a fleeting afterimage, gone in an instant.

Sayaka's attacks couldn't penetrate the stance's defensive circle at all. In fact, if she made any big movements, the two straight swords, which were like interlocking fangs, would bite her.

The wounds on Sayaka's body increased, yet they kept healing. Although Homura suppressed her, she was unable to deliver the decisive blow.

No, she has already found the solution. Now all she needs to do is adjust her position and place Sayaka in her shadow!

Now! The two kept switching positions during the battle, and finally Homura's shadow fell behind Sayaka. At that moment, the familiar that had been missing for a long time suddenly jumped out from her shadow.

Wielding a reinforced staff, he delivered a heavy blow to Sayaka from behind the moment he appeared.

Caught completely off guard, the magical girl behind her was struck hard by the attack. Homura, who had been waiting for this opportunity, changed her stance, crossed her hands to gather strength, and slashed out with both swords as Sayaka approached.

"Damn it! You think you're the only one who can call for help?"

Suddenly ambushed, Sayaka, already furious from being suppressed in her arrogant close combat, no longer cared about concealing her identity and began to call upon her true power before Homura's slash could land.

The water reflecting the starry sky in the alley suddenly rippled, and with the ripples, an abstract mermaid appeared on the surface.

A fleeting glance out of the corner of her eye sent a chill down Xiao Yan's spine. She immediately rewound time to cancel the attack and turned to run away from the flooded area.

But it was too late. Before she could leave, the water suddenly surged and churned; a huge figure with a human body and a fish tail emerged from the waves. A gigantic military sword cleaved through the spray, and after Xiaoyan barely managed to pull out her Lothric Knight shield to block the blade, it easily sent her flying.

She crashed heavily into the wall behind her, and the shattered stones carried Xiaoyan's body as she fell weakly to the ground. Struggling to support herself with her twin swords, before she could even stand up, the mermaid witch turned around and, with the same attack, slashed Xiaoyan's familiar with her massive military blade.

He abruptly disappeared, the saber slicing through the water and leaving a cut on the alley floor.

Sayaka jumped down from the witch's head and slowly approached Homura. The witch who had awakened Homura's painful memories followed her steps and leaned out, looking down at the repelled ashes from above.

"Oh dear, it ended up like this in the end. I mean, you transfer student from who-knows-which timeline, are you still going to keep fighting?"

The witch's gaze was unusually oppressive. Sayaka stopped in front of Homura and angrily questioned the culprit who had stolen Madoka's Soul Gem.

"I……"

"Huh? Are you surrendering? Please, if you're going to admit defeat, at least say it out loud."

"I'm not going to give you back what I've already got!"

As soon as Xiaoyan heard what she said, the huge military knife was smashed down by the witch. However, Xiaoyan, who had suddenly returned to the entrance of the alley, managed to avoid the attack.

Deep purple flames danced around his body. This kind of backtracking across such a long period of time was extremely difficult for even his current completely ash-like body to withstand.

However, she currently lacked the strength to fight, but she could still escape. To limit the witch's enormous size, she plunged into the factory district behind the alley.

The strategy itself wasn't wrong, but Sayaka's true form still maintained her magical girl form. Homura had never even heard of the ability to coexist in both witch and magical girl forms, so she misjudged the difference in travel distance between the two.

This led to Sayaka abandoning her witch body and chasing after Homura in her magical girl form, almost pushing her to the brink of despair.

That wasn't all. The witch's body, having been abandoned, didn't care about the factory buildings at all. It crashed down from the sky, bringing with it a pile of construction debris, and blocked Xiaoyan's path.

"You've finally used your time-stopping trick, but you actually used it to escape, and only for such a short distance. It makes me more and more curious about what abilities you have now that you're no longer a magical girl."

"Ha...ha...I should be the one who's curious. When did the characteristics of a witch and a magical girl become possible in one person? Or rather, Miki Sayaka, what kind of creature are you now?"

"Hey, let's not turn this into a riddle game where we ask each other questions but don't answer each other. If you want to gather information, at least show some sincerity."

"...I will not let go of what I have in my hands."

Sayaka sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation. From the very beginning, no matter which world she was in, she and Homura Akemi had never gotten along. Now, even though their positions had changed and she was the one coming to rescue her, she still couldn't deal with this Homura Akemi who came from some unknown timeline.

"Tsk, what are you planning to do by stealing Madoka's Soul Gem? Logically speaking, Homura Akemi would never do anything to harm Madoka Kaname. So by taking the Soul Gem, you're causing her 'magical girl's' soul and body to completely separate. While it won't directly kill her, it will certainly render her unable to move. Doesn't that contradict your actions all along?"