Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

"If a witch who altered my memories says that, then I really am a failure."

However, the provocation did not seem to have a good effect. The other party did not act like a witch who had lost herself and was left only with despair. On the contrary, her rationality and logic made her feel like she was facing herself.

In fact, during the previous battles, she had a vague feeling that this was not an illusion, but she just didn't want to admit that the person in front of her was another version of herself, simply because her possessiveness towards Xiaoyuan was so blatant that it made her feel extremely disgusted.

At the same time, she felt disgusted, yet also familiar with herself, like looking in a mirror. The person in front of her constantly reminded her of her disgusting and ugly state.

"As expected, I couldn't resist your murderous intent at all."

"Unfortunately, I don't want to kill you now."

Do you think you can still escape?

"How will we know if we don't go and see for ourselves?"

The point of all this nonsense is to make me completely lose control of my killing intent. Never mind, I have to make a few holes in her!

Xiaoyan took off running. Surprisingly, she didn't fire her gun. Instead, she threw a black, cylindrical object at her. Upon seeing it, Xiaoyan immediately closed her eyes.

Flashbangs illuminated the riverbank.

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Destiny Twenty-Five: Ashes and Homura Akemi

After being knocked unconscious, Mami's transformation ended, and she reverted to her former self as a young lady in the Mitakihara Middle School uniform. After some thought, Ori decided against taking Mami's Soul Gem, simply because she remembered Homura saying that taking away a magical girl's Soul Gem was equivalent to separating her body from her soul. To be honest, she and Mami had a rather pleasant conversation, and after all, Mami was the second person who was willing to accept her during her process of becoming a complete individual.

However, after today, this childish friendship should come to an end. Before defeating Mami, the sadness of betrayal in her eyes made Zhi feel sorry for her.

Ultimately, the only companion of the ashes can be the ashes themselves.

She turned to look at Homura and saw that the other battle where she was challenging herself was also at a stalemate. In the brief moment she looked over, Homura was also paying attention to this side, so she returned her signature cheerful smile, which immediately deflated Homura's spirits.

Hey, is my smile really that unsettling? Zhi touched the corner of her mouth, imagining herself to be incredibly dashing. Theoretically, shouldn't girls be completely unable to resist such a cool expression? Why can't she even encourage her companions now?

Homura seems to have completely lost her will to fight. That makes sense, since Homura arrived just in time to save her, meaning her purpose in coming here was to rescue herself. So now that their objective has been achieved, they should retreat. However, she has messed up Homura's plan and doesn't know how she will take Madoka away next.

To be honest, I really feel bad for Xiaoyan. I kept saying I would go through fire and water for her, but in the end I was just selfishly thinking about my own things. Now I can finally declare that I am an independent individual. So who says that she can't continue to be my knight?

Ryougi remains Homura's knight, and she still wants to spread the sun's light. The oath of the Ashes can never be false. Whether Ryougi is a crippled being attached to another individual or an Ashes with a complete self, she will continue to walk with Homura from now on.

However, now that I've become an independent individual, it's okay to have some selfish desires, right?

For example, after making a good deed, you might ask for a hug, holding hands, or even a kiss... cough cough, let's think about how to make up for this mistake first. But it seems like getting a loving punch while apologizing is also a good idea.

Evil thoughts, begone! Evil thoughts, begone!

The battle isn't over yet! Didn't you see that magical girl throw out a flashbang? Hurry up and think of a way to help Homura escape.

Wait, a flashbang? Holy crap!

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While the quilt was blindingly lost in its wild thoughts, Little Flame, with her eyes closed, drew her kite-shaped shield, lowered her body, and charged towards Flame.

The next moment, a series of clanging sounds pounded against the shield. As expected, the FN Minimi light machine gun opened fire on her. Calculating the duration of the flash, Xiaoyan reopened her eyes and was about to brave the machine gun fire to rush towards the human armory that had somehow put on goggles. But the instant she opened her eyes, she saw another black, canister-like object slide down to her feet.

Xiao Yan, who had closed her eyes again, wanted to curse, but before she could utter a curse, she first retraced her position, just as the sound of another safety being pulled reached her ears.

This time it definitely wasn't a flashbang! As soon as Xiaoyan opened her eyes, she saw that the spot where she had just been was engulfed by the flash of the grenade explosion and shrapnel, and she felt the impact of the grenade hitting her shield again.

Flame was a step too slow in throwing the next flashbang, simply because that thing that seemed to be another version of herself suddenly disappeared and then suddenly reappeared.

Time stop? No, my time stop has no effect on her, so her time stop should also have no effect on me. After all, if the two are the same person, if I can stop "my own" time, then I should naturally be unable to act either.

Although a beat too late, the next flashbang was still thrown. Before Xiaoyan could even take a few steps forward under her firepower, she had to close her eyes again to dodge the flash, and then she heard the sound of a safety pin being pulled.

Looking back at her location again, she realized with dismay that she was getting further and further away from Yan.

She opened her eyes just in time, only to be met with a gray world. The flashbang that had rolled to the ground had not yet exploded, while the newly pulled pin of the grenade hovered beside Homura's hand. Time resumed its flow, and the delayed-explosion flashbang finally flashed white light. Caught off guard, Homura's vision was filled with white light, and the grenade had already been thrown near her.

With her vision blurred, she couldn't see the world turn gray again. Xiaoyan, who wanted to go back in time, found that her ability had failed!

A mocking smile appeared on Flame's lips. Just as she thought, the guy opposite her wasn't using time stop at all. But since it was related to time, in a world where time was stopped, she could eliminate any manipulation of time.

The RPG-7 was switched to her hand, the gray world faded away, and she planned to finish off Little Flame with a powerful grenade as it exploded.

The expected explosion did not occur. Instead, a throwing knife flew from the side, pierced the grenade, and then turned it into dust.

"Haha, although it's a bit late, I still have to say it now: Ryougi Ori has arrived!"

Ash's companions finally arrived at the battlefield, and Weaver's awakened abilities proved invaluable!

"Where did you come from, Onion Knight?"

Xiao Yan, who was blind, breathed a sigh of relief. The huge crisis that she had intuitively sensed earlier had dissipated, and the tone of voice she hadn't heard in so long made her unconsciously grumble.

"The Onion Knight was shouting 'Long May the Sunshine!', while I've been saying 'Praise the Sun!'"

The RPG's target changed, and the rocket, trailing a plume of flame, flew straight toward Zhi, who had entered the battlefield. But before it exploded, it was sliced ​​into countless fragments by the flashing blade.

"I will spread the sun's brilliance across the world's ashes! May all this mere weaponry turn into the dawn!"

Although she spoke lightly, Zhi was constantly enduring the pain of her brain being overwhelmed by a massive amount of information; her current ability was no longer the all-encompassing eyes that killed everything before. She no longer saw dead lines and dead points, nor simply flaws. Her gaze was now like sunlight, able to sweep away all unknown shadows, completely understand the composition of something, and even the most unreasonable things could be cut off with a single stroke.

She doesn't need to understand the end of things now, so she doesn't touch on the root question of "where things are going." Therefore, she can easily see through Mami's pure magical attacks and easily cut off her ribbons and magic bullets. Because the nature of Mami's magic is "interconnected" and "bound together," no matter how the structure changes, it is just a carefully built set of blocks that can be pushed down with a single push.

But weapons are different. Their complex material composition, complex chemical reactions, and complex mechanisms of action instantly gave her a mind-bending experience.

Now, she can see through the structure of abstract concepts at a glance, since she doesn't need to understand the essence of the concepts. However, when faced with rigorous and complex technological creations, she gets dizzy and confused by the series of redundant reaction relationships.

"Ugh, is this the pain of being a bad student?"

"Hey, your train of thought is jumping around way too far! You're basking in the sunshine, what does that have to do with those creatures at school?"

The field of vision was still a blur of white, but that did not stop Zhi's voice from reaching her ears. Xiao Yan, shield in hand, drew her pistol and fired a magic bullet toward the location of the enemy that she intuitively sensed.

The gray world descended once more, the magic bullets stopped in mid-air, and Flame unleashed a barrage of flashbangs, scattered around her in all directions, freezing them in time as well.

"I really admire your optimism. In a battle where one wrong move could mean being blown to pieces, you can still crack a joke. Hey me, why are you still chasing after Xiaoyuan? Go and be with your comrades in hell and live happily ever after!"

The machine gun swept along the frozen flashbangs, and depending on the distance, Flame ensured that only one bullet would hit a flashbang after each time stop was lifted.

"Oh no, this means that guy can seamlessly control our field of vision!"

Zhi was initially pleased with Yan's comment, but after seeing through her tactics, even the usually carefree Zhi couldn't laugh anymore.

When an ADC can control the enemy infinitely, it's a disaster for melee DPS characters.

Zhi wanted to cut off the time-stopping magic, but her observations showed that she would have to cut off her shield to stop the time stop.

Next up is Homura Akemi's time. The world switches repeatedly between gray and white and the original color. With each switch, a violent flash of light, with absolute speed, fills the entire world in that short interval, almost turning this frozen canvas back to white.

At least the two who were completely blinded would not be attacked immediately, simply because the time stop was lifted in such a short time that bullets, rockets, and grenades would turn into new spots and lines on the white canvas after the flames spread out.

The spots will eventually turn into a violent explosion, and the lines will eventually become a torrential downpour. The two people who have been controlled are trapped in a deadly spider web. The moment the spider closes the web, the prey that is stuck in it will die under its venomous fangs.

"Xiao Yan, do you believe me?"

But what got stuck wasn't prey, but ashes, and not just one, but two.

"What's there to ask? We're comrades!"

Yes, the Ashes are tacit companions; when they exchanged oaths, they had already exchanged their flames.

"Then pull out your favorite weapon and follow me to charge at that guy!"

Zhi opened her eyes and rushed toward the deadly spider web. On the white canvas, a figure with golden flames floated, and a deep purple lizard-shaped pattern remained on its shoulder.

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Destiny Twenty-Six: Ashes and Witch

The moment I opened my eyes, the white light stole all the colors from my vision, but the special qualities of the Demon Eye could not be obscured by mere light.

Zhi couldn't see the sky full of bullets, rockets, and grenades; all she saw was a jumble of complex information, constantly washing over her cerebral cortex along the neural network in her head.

Flame, still desperately unleashing its firepower, was astonished to see the two recklessly rushing towards the inescapable trap she had laid.

Even if it's just a strange vision made up of piled-up information, what you can see is still what you can see. Zhi took two quick steps and rushed in front of Xiaoyan, brandishing his katana and clearing a path full of light for his companions behind him.

Her head felt like it was on fire—no, it really was on fire; under the golden flames, Xiao Yan felt that familiar resonance again. It turned out that even though Zhi had awakened, she hadn't erased the trace Zhi had left on her.

A tacit understanding blossomed in their shared feelings. At this moment, Xiaoyan, who had completely lost her sight, followed the bond between the two and rushed forward without hesitation.

She took out the longsword that had been broken in the previous battle, and it was this sword that witnessed their encounter. At this moment, deep purple flames spread along the broken blade, attracting the light fragments on the road and slowly merging them into a brand new weapon.

The blade is smooth and sharp, while the hilt is engraved with lizard and eye patterns on both sides; the whole sword is pure and simple, yet the essence condensed within it is sharp and piercing.

Homura couldn't stand it anymore! Just because the figure in the mirror no longer showed that disgusting possessiveness towards Madoka, that person shattered the mirror and jumped out. She had black pupils and deep purple flames. She was no longer herself. She was an individual who had deviated from the existence of Homura Akemi. And this traitor wanted to kick her into the mirror!

Everything Homura Akemi did should have revolved around Madoka! By no longer chasing after that figure, Homura Akemi has essentially rejected everything about herself! How could she possibly, and how could she possibly, have anyone else important besides Madoka!

I'm so envious! So jealous! I've always been chasing after Madoka, but we're forever separated! How could you, who strayed from Homura Akemi's path, gain such pure friendship!

"As expected, you'd all go to hell! Homura Akemi, who doesn't chase after Madoka, and those who do, have no value in this world!"

A frenzied roar filled with black energy, instantly staining the white canvas with murky black shadows before it was mercilessly torn to shreds!

As time flowed by, all the remaining flashbangs exploded at once, but the intense white light could not penetrate the darkness contained within.

Before the ashes could break through the spider web's blockade, the sticky spider silk turned into deadly bullets.

"We won't go to hell! Even hell wouldn't dare accept our ashes!"

Amidst the real hail of bullets, Zhi roared furiously, no longer caring about her boiling mind. She swung her katana, scattering large shards of light that were so dazzling in the smoke and fire.

"Disappear now! Disappear now! You all need to disappear from my world!"

In the very heart of the darkness, a menacing war machine bared its fangs. Six gun barrels were fixed into a cylindrical shape, and the massive chassis required two hands to lift. Long ammunition belts were dragged out from the shield, spreading across the ground with a whooshing sound.

The legendary Gatling gun was held in the hands of a young girl. This weapon, which had once unleashed carnage on countless battlefields, was now about to spew a deadly metal storm at the ashes.

"WTF! Xiao Yan, if we don't think of something soon, we might really have to go back to the campfire!"

The Gatling gun's infamous appearance made Zhi immediately recognize it, and at the same time, a ferocious war atmosphere rushed towards him. This kind of weapon, just by showing itself, could create a strong sense of pressure on the enemy.

Zhi's limited knowledge of firearms told her that this was far from a weapon that could be fired handheld. Moreover, without matching ear protection and goggles, the loud gunshot could cause deafness, and the intense muzzle flash could obscure her vision. Not to mention the terrifying rate of fire of up to 10000 bullets per minute, the recoil of which could directly tear apart a girl's slender arms.

However, the barrel slowly began to rotate. The transmission mechanism of the machine was preheating, and once the barrel was fully rotating, they would face the truth of firepower.

"Don't worry, I've already found a way to defeat her."