Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

The first line of defense was just a test; the real test was at the second line of defense, which was at the church entrance, on the largest square in the entire barrier.

The magical girls of the Kamahama Magical Alliance are no longer just facing the magical girls of the Ode to Joy faction, but also the witches they are raising.

The practice of raising witches was originally strictly prohibited and almost eradicated. However, after the internal division in Kamihama, the Ode to Witches faction revived this practice, even going so far as to use witches as weapons, rather than raising them merely for a living.

From a great distance, Xiangzi could see several witches he had met once before wreaking havoc in various corners of the square.

Moreover, the Ode to Magical Girls and Witches alike have been infiltrated by agents from the Other Shore. Witches from the Other Shore are even more elusive and, unlike magical girls who have some habitual weaknesses that are easier to exploit, they are more manic and driven by instinct. They don't care about the difference between this Shore and the Other Shore; they simply kill whatever they see.

Therefore, after these witches joined the battlefield, the whole situation became even more chaotic.

From a great distance, Xiangzi could see the long spear belonging to Yachiyo flying in the sky, falling like raindrops.

Xiangzi and her companions were still some distance from the main battlefield, and no one had yet discovered them.

The agreed meeting point wasn't here, but inside the church. Their assault team knew a hidden path that the others didn't know about, allowing them to sneak into the church from the side.

Xiangzi, along with Xingzi and Sayaka, took a side road that did not lead to the square in front of the church, but instead headed outside.

The exterior of the church features flying buttresses that are enlarged many times in proportion to the church itself. These flying buttresses have been built in the shape of towers and are arranged in a neat row.

The floating corridor abruptly ended just as they were about to reach the flying buttress, seemingly declaring it a dead end.

but.

Xiangzi remembered that in the map that Yachiyo had given her, which only a few of them could see, there was a road that could connect to the flying buttress.

As it happened, Xiangzi had already witnessed it before.

She walked to the end of the corridor and jumped down.

"Hey!" Just like the slightly irritable magical girl from before, Kyoko clung to the railing, staring wide-eyed at Shoko jumping down.

Hey.

Xiangzi landed steadily on the transparent corridor, turned around and waved to Kyoko and Sayaka, as if telling them to hurry up and jump down with him.

"How... how can there be a road here?!" Kyoko took out a map to check and found that the road was indeed marked on the map.

"Gan."

Xingzi shrugged, put away the map, and jumped down with Xiangzi.

The Tale of Reincarnation: The Shore of Oblivion: Chapter 552 We Will Be Behind You

After passing through the familiar transparent passageway, we arrived at the flying buttress, far from the main battlefield. We followed the suspended beams of the flying buttress all the way to the roof of the church, and only then did we truly enter the largest building within the entire barrier.

Xiangzi smashed a piece of stained glass window and jumped through the gap.

"We're almost there," she said, turning around to the two people behind her.

It's only a few minutes until the meeting time, and everyone else should have arrived by now.

Just as Xiangzi was thinking this, the door behind her was suddenly blasted open with a loud "BOOM!"

then.

click -

The world suddenly turned black and white, and besides Xiangzi, Xingzi and Sayaka also turned into black and white.

焰？

Xiangzi turned his gaze toward the direction where the gate had been smashed open.

The creature that smashed open the gate was a witch whose size resembled a semi-trailer truck, or rather, it was a semi-trailer truck.

The witch who burst through the door looked like someone from an old rubber hose cartoon (Steamboat Willie, Cuphead), with several pairs of wheels on her feet and a head that looked like it had a steel ram. She moved in a crawling manner, with large eyes on either side of the ram staring intently at her target.

[Witch's Name: Fast Car]

Its nature is rage; it will always rampage and destroy everything in its sight—especially anything red.

The eulogists kept witches primarily to use them as weapons, and this creature called Express was clearly no exception. Strictly speaking, it wasn't tamed; it was simply locked up and released from its cage when needed, allowing it to run amok without regard for friend or foe.

It can crash into anywhere simply by being guided by the red object.

The purer something is, the more destructive it often is. Xiangzi had seen this guy crashing around on the battlefield before.

At the same time, the purer something is, the greater its flaws become.

When Xiangzi saw the express train, the battle between Yan and it was actually nearing its end.

The reason this reckless guy was keeping a close eye on Flame was because Flame had somehow acquired a red cloth and, like a real Spanish bullfighter, began to fight him.

After separating from Xiangzi, Yan had no choice but to join the main force on the front lines, where they were caught in a fierce battle.

However, she quickly found a way to escape the battlefield—by the guy in front of Xiangzi who had smashed open the door.

First, use the red cloth to attract the witch's attention, while simultaneously ensuring your position is between the church door and the witch, forming a straight line. Then, the witch's charge will be directed towards the door behind Flame.

Flame only needs to activate time stop when it is about to crash into it, jump onto its back, and then ride the "express car" directly into the church.

Just as it was about to crash into itself...

Flame stared at the witch charging towards her, recalling their first visit to the art museum.

Within the barrier of Deep Stone Lullaby, there was also a witch who liked to wander around aimlessly. However, at that time, I couldn't grasp the timing of activating Time Stop at all. If I activated Time Stop too early, the witch could easily correct her course again. If I activated Time Stop too late... the mechanism takes a certain amount of time to activate. If I activated it too late, I would be knocked away by the witch, and Time Stop would be activated only after a long time.

If the half-body of the Soul of Holding Oneself were to collide with itself, it would at most result in being half-crippled, but this express train in front of it was different. The witch in front of it was far more straightforward and brutal than the one seen in Deep Stone Lullaby, having put all her points into the "collision" attribute.

If the stop is delayed...

Click——!

Flame's pupils shrank to their smallest size under the influence of adrenaline, and the rapidly enlarging horn in front of her stopped just inches away from her.

It worked!

Seizing that brief second, Flame flipped over and jumped onto the witch's back, catching the "express train".

A red veil covered the witch's eyes, disorienting her. Her vision was filled with crimson, and her rage was unleashed to its fullest extent. Thick black smoke billowed from the exhaust pipes on her body, and the sound of an internal combustion engine emanated from within her.

Waaaaah!

With its six pairs of wheels, ramming horns, and massive body, no magical girl dared to directly confront its charge. The Witch Express sped towards the church's main entrance.

A loud "thump!" resounded throughout the entire barrier. This scene, along with the sunlight streaming down from the sky and the sacred church, seemed to be a reminder to those with faith—it was time to worship.

The moment the witch smashed open the main gate, Flame activated time stop once again.

Although it only lasted a second, Yan slapped a piece of clay-like stuff on the back of its head and then got off the car safely.

Then the time stop ended, and the witch continued to rush forward, while Flame, holding a remote control, pressed the switch.

boom----!

The C4 explosives detonated at the weakest point in the witch's defenses, and the head with the ramming horn slammed into the ground with a thud, paving a path like a plow, slowing down more and more until it finally stopped in front of Xiangzi.

The witch's angry eyes, which had been animated as rubber tubes, transformed into the shape of an XD, and she lay limply on the ground, with specks of light gradually emanating from her body.

"senior!"

Flame's voice came from behind the witch. She crashed directly into the dissipating witch's body, shattering the witch into scattered specks of light, and then ran happily to Xiangzi.

"Senior... are you... alright? I thought you..."

"I'm fine, just a little accident." Xiangzi shook his head and then asked, "But you, you actually came in through the front door."

"—It's not over yet! More are coming in along with them!"

Apricot's voice suddenly drowned out everyone else's.

A chain made of diamond-shaped playing cards was flung from Anzu's hand and flew toward the shadow that appeared at the gap.

"Meow----!"

The shadow that squeezed through the gap was hit by a playing card, and a shrill cat meow rang out.

It was a creature that looked like a combination of a bus and a cat, and appeared to be a witch purely for transportation purposes.

It looks a bit like the big cat that looks like the bus in the Studio Ghibli movies.

Dozens of figures dressed in gray robes jumped off its back at the same time, and then this fat-looking creature slunk away with the diamond-shaped playing card on its back.

A van full of people suddenly appeared in front of Xiangzi and her group, numbering about three or four times their size, giving them an overwhelming numerical advantage.

"Oh ho~" Kyoko rubbed her nose with her thumb, squatted on the high beam, and looked at the enemies who had suddenly appeared. "After witches, magical girls are next. So many people. They really think highly of us."

"It's alright, just block the entrance and clean up the rest." Xiangzi looked up at Xingzi, "Can you really bring yourself to do it?"

"Oh, what kind of question is that? You mustn't—"

"—Don't underestimate us!"

The sound came from the stained-glass window on the other side, and pink arrows fell from the sky, heading towards the gray-robed magical girls.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Arrows rained down, and although most of them were blocked or dodged by the magical girls of the Ode to Joy faction, one girl who was too slow to react was riddled with arrows.

Pink arrows pierced her thigh, abdomen, eye socket, heart, and even brain. Despite this, the magical girl, who possessed vitality far exceeding that of normal humans, did not lose consciousness. The Soul Gem helped her control the pain she felt, but she could clearly see her body being pierced by arrows falling from the sky, making her look like a deflated balloon.

"what----!"

Two figures jumped down from above and landed beside Xiangzi.

One of the figures drew back the bowstring and shot an arrow at the magical girl who was still screaming on the ground, her body tattered and battered.

The arrow flew past.

But at the very moment it was about to hit, it turned black and white, and so did the whole world.

click -

Boom!

In the blink of an eye, the world returned to color, but the arrow flying in mid-air was deflected by a bullet.

Two gunshots rang out; one deflected the arrow, while the other struck the soul gem of the severely wounded magical girl squarely.

With a crisp cracking sound, the Soul Gem shattered into fragments that refracted light, and the struggling magical girl's eyes immediately dimmed.

Xiaoyuan cast a surprised glance toward the source of the bullet.

Flame lowered the still-smoking gun barrel and turned his head to the side.

Xiaoyuan seemed to be saying something to Heyan, but at that moment, the scattered threads picked up the stones scattered on the ground and threw them towards the entrance. Then, playing cards flew around, fixing the stones, threads, and other miscellaneous things in place, and the gate was blocked again.

The magical girls from the Ode to the Church who were trying to stop the intruders were clearly panicked. The Ode to the Church, which had also adopted a pincer movement tactic, had naturally learned in advance that the church would be invaded. These magical girls had been waiting here to ambush Xiangzi and the others.

However, they did not expect that the enemy who sneaked into the church would be so powerful, and one of their companions died tragically in just one encounter.

The companions who were riddled with thorns are already dead. Now that their path is blocked, they will all face the same fate—these people, who wanted the whole world to perish with them, did not want to die in such a miserable and lonely way.

"W-what do we do?" one of the gray-robed magical girls asked her comrade in terror.

“There are many of us, we’re not afraid.” Another magical girl gritted her teeth. “Don’t be afraid of them.”

"Let's go, we agreed to die together anyway, didn't we?"

"But to be killed like this..."

"It doesn't matter. Since the end is coming anyway, it doesn't matter how we die."

"The Holy Maiden said that the end of the old world will give birth to a new world. If we die heroically, perhaps we will still have a place in the new world."

"Really......"

"Even if it's not true, we can only believe it."

The magical girls of the eulogy faction discussed amongst themselves for a long time, and finally, as if they had nothing to lose, they picked up their weapons and charged towards Xiangzi and the others.

"Tsk." Kyoko clicked her tongue. "It's like we're the villains."

People who are willing to die can unleash abilities beyond their limits.

However, the gap is still too large.

While the four magical girls from Mitakihara are not as powerful as Mami, the difference between them is not precipitous. Ordinary magical girls may never have seen such a strong peer in their entire lives.

However, there are six here.

If everything is counted by breaths, the battle would be over in less than fifteen or twenty breaths, leaving only a mess behind.

Those magical girls who rushed forward with the resolve to die were instantly reduced to corpses lying on the ground, with fragments of the Soul Gem scattered all over the place.