Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

"Stop joking, Mayumi," the shrike popped Mayumi's inflated balloon, "Aren't you crying?"

The white-haired guardian, whose eyes had already reddened without her noticing, was startled and only then did she realize the moisture on her cheeks.

Here, Mayumi Haga's emotions cannot be concealed, so as soon as she enters, no matter how she speaks or how resistant she is, all that people can see is her alert and reddened eyes.

Those are not the eyes of the guardians, for they have lost their former steadfastness and composure.

Those were just Mayumi Haga's eyes.

Main text: Chapter 157 Don't Stop

Despite having her true feelings exposed by Rania, Mayumi Haga still maintains a resistant attitude.

It was as if that moment of weakness was just an illusion. After cautiously opening a small crack, the soft and fragile heart was frightened back by the excessively dazzling light, and the door of the heart closed tightly.

After only a moment of surprise, Mayumi Haga quickly regained her composure and resumed her aloof demeanor. However, unlike before, the redness in the corners of her eyes hadn't faded, making her appear more human than usual.

Ultimately, curiosity prevailed, and under everyone's gaze, that door to her heart quietly opened a tiny crack once more.

After a moment of silence, Mayumi Haga asked, "Why?"

Why did you even think of coming to save her?

"Aren't you afraid?"

After seeing the outside world, knowing what she went through, learning about her suffering and wretchedness, and the ugliness of her struggle between life and death, would she still continue to treat her as [Haga Mayumi] instead of a monster?

Mayumi Haga knew just how utterly unbearable her regeneration process truly was.

Although she can't see it, in the original world, in a world without the protection of the orange juice filter, true regeneration would only be disgusting.

Because Mayumi Haga is wearing a human shell, once that shell is torn open, uncontrollable flesh and cotton will be exposed, growing and healing rapidly at a speed that is difficult to see with the naked eye. The process is like countless fleshy buds gathering into a human shape and then sewing the outer skin back on...

It doesn't look like a human; it's more like something wearing human skin.

This is the evaluation she once received.

Even friends who say they can accept it will still hastily choose to part ways at the next crossroads.

"...Mayumi, you're so beautiful, like a finely crafted doll. Looking at you always gives me the creeps."

When she first embarked on her solo journey, Mayumi Haga lacked combat experience and failed to conceal her self-healing abilities, which resulted in the loss of a friend she met along the way.

The closer something is to humans, the more creepy it becomes.

After arriving in this world, Mayumi Haga learned that this fear stemmed from the "uncanny valley effect."

Mayumi Haga knew that she looked no different from an ordinary human, but after witnessing her extraordinary healing process, no matter how much she tried to convince herself that she was still a normal person, she knew that she was not an ordinary life form and had been classified as non-human.

Even in her original world, this would be enough to deter people, since not everyone is aware of the existence of the Guardians, and even other races are still considered ordinary life forms.

Moreover, what about in this world?

This is a peaceful, beautiful world where no one dies in battle.

Perhaps everything about me is still too hard for them to accept.

Mayumi Haga was well aware of this, so when she realized that Hitomi Tono and the others had seen something about her along the way, she stared intently at their faces, trying to see even the slightest hint of disgust so that she could comfortably give up on this friendship.

But she failed.

Lania, needless to say, as a wizard and a former important friend of Mayumi Haga, naturally had a stronger capacity for acceptance than the other three, and was also more aware of Mayumi Haga's true nature.

Aside from the spiritual protection and guardianship granted by the world consciousness, Mayumi Haga is just an ordinary person, at most with a slightly different thought process and a rather stubborn personality.

When Mayumi Haga is in a slump and gets stuck in her own thoughts, it's almost impossible for her to pull herself out of it on her own.

This person is completely inflexible.

and so--

— Rania felt it was necessary to take strong measures.

Before arriving here, Lania explained the situation to Hitomi Tono and the others, instructing them to take drastic measures if necessary to forcibly stimulate Mayumi Haga to awaken her.

Of these three, only two... or rather, a magical girl and a strange person, responded to Lania's unfinished meaning.

Hitomi Tono scratched her face and stammered, "What...how far do I have to go...?"

“The final step,” Rania said, her gaze shifting slightly. “After all, this is the spiritual world… using that kind of soul-shaking technique would probably be more effective than other methods.”

Because it is a spiritual world, Lania is actually able to touch Mayumi Haga after a long time.

Little Bear, sitting in Sugiyama Rikka's lap, looked left and right. Suddenly, he realized what the two people were referring to, and stood up somewhat eagerly, raising his own hand as well.

Guardian Sugiyama Rikka: "Huh?"

Why do I feel like I'm being excluded?

It's not that she, as an adult, couldn't think of this aspect, but in her understanding, magical girls wouldn't suddenly grasp it so quickly.

They're all still just kids.

So... what kind of friendship combination technique is this that I don't know about?

Before Sugiyama Rika could think about it, Rania quickly changed the subject and assigned tasks to the group: "When you meet Mayumi later, I will use witchcraft to link your spiritual worlds with hers."

This "you" does not include Sugiyama Rikka.

Sugiyama Rika was in charge of another part.

During the mental linking process, everyone's mental body loses its ability to function. During this time, someone needs to be responsible for watching over and caring for them to prevent them from being swallowed up by this ever-changing space.

Among the group, Sugiyama Rika, who is relatively old and experienced and quite reliable, is undoubtedly the most suitable.

Entrusted with this heavy responsibility, Sugiyama Rika naturally wouldn't refuse.

Although she didn't know what riddles the children were playing, she figured they were probably related to friendship and love.

So she agreed.

Then, she heard Lania turn to Tono Hitomi and Koma and instruct them: "No matter how much Mayumi resists, don't stop."

Sugiyama Rika: ...Hmm?

“Keep going until her mental defenses and that damned body break down.”

For some reason, Sugiyama Rika felt that Rania's words were full of eagerness and gritted teeth, and that the complexity of the content far exceeded her expectations.

So what exactly are we trying to do...?

Sugiyama Rikka was completely bewildered, feeling that she couldn't think about it too much, or her brain would start to burn.

She was about to ask a couple more questions:

Lania flapped her wings and flew over, pecking open the door of Mayumi Haga.

Sugiyama Rika didn't have the chance to ask her any further questions.

She followed, only to see the small red and black bird begin chanting a spell that she could vaguely understand while Mayumi Haga was still resisting.

Mayumi Haga's gaze began to glaze over.

Main Text: Chapter 158 Breaking Free

If she were facing only one person, Mayumi Haga's strong willpower would still allow her to retain her sanity.

She could tolerate even three people being with her.

But at this moment, we are in the mental space.

She could feel herself being divided into three parts, spending time with three people in different spaces, and the combined pleasure of these three parts was enough to overwhelm her in a short time.

One afternoon, with the curtains drawn, I had my first experience watching a certain film with Hitomi Tono.

Floating in a secret room filled with soft beds and a sea of ​​toys, alongside a teddy bear with violet eyes.

In the courtyard of Lania Wizard Village, from morning to night, from indoors to outdoors, time and space are forgotten.

These three scenes, through a secret technique, simultaneously occurred within the mental links between Mayumi Haga and the three individuals.

Why...?

When Mayumi Haga regained some consciousness, she felt bewildered.

Overwhelmed by immense confusion, she tried to break free, yet was propelled forward by the torrent of desire, caught in a vortex from which she could not escape.

Three pairs of hands grasped her arms, stroked her neck, and embraced her waist, gently yet firmly dragging her away from that endless abyss.

Then, Mayumi Haga lost consciousness.

A large amount of highly concentrated magic surged into her parched body, nourishing her spirit, reshaping her disintegrating form, and using incredibly forceful methods to pull back Mayumi Haga, who was teetering on the brink of disappearance.

At a certain critical point, with the sound of an unknown object breaking, Mayumi Haga suddenly opened her eyes.

Her golden-red vertical pupils contracted in that instant, and a low growl of a beast escaped her throat.

.................................................. .................................................. .

The magician squatted in front of the black dragon's enormous head, carefully observing its teeth and claws, finding them increasingly beautiful with each look.

...Actually, he's very handsome.

Although the mage was initially somewhat wary of the seemingly uncontrollable behemoth when the black dragon went berserk attacking the swarm, once he calmed down and took a closer look, he realized that the black dragon was indeed a majestic behemoth that surpassed the mage's aesthetic standards; it was undeniably handsome.

The mage wasn't idle deep within the spiritual vein. While Sugiyama Rika went to rescue the child trapped inside the black dragon, she carefully searched the surrounding area, disposed of the insect corpses, and then began to think about how to repair the spiritual vein.

The Queen Insect corrupted a small portion of Miracle City's spiritual veins.

If this small portion were to recover naturally, it would likely take tens of thousands of years. During this time, the lives of magic users wouldn't be significantly disrupted, but the world barrier function of the spiritual veins would be greatly weakened.

In other words, it's not difficult for visitors from other worlds who would have been filtered out before to come to this world now.

This means that the upcoming Miracle City may not be so peaceful.

...Anyway, things have never really calmed down here.

The magician thought to himself.

And there's one more thing.

She couldn't find any trace of the terrifying monster.

After much thought, the only freak in this Miracle City capable of altering the rules of the spiritual veins was the Abyss Gentleman. And indeed, the Abyss Gentleman did modify the rules of the spiritual veins, creating a vacancy for the Despair Freak and establishing him as a legitimate existence recognized by this world.

But she searched inside and out several times and still couldn't find the Gentleman of the Abyss.

Could it have run out of magic and it iterated prematurely? Or perhaps it's gone into hiding? Or, to put it worse, it might have been devoured by those invading insects from another world...

After all, from a timeline perspective, the Abyss Gentleman had been staying here before the swarm outbreak, and might have already been killed.

The magician frowned.

That would make things complicated.

This world cannot lose [fear], nor can it lose the freak of fear. If the Gentleman of the Abyss has truly been swallowed by calamity, a piece of the world's origin will be missing.

However, during the brief exchange between the magician and the abyss gentleman, she realized that the other party was a rather eccentric individual with considerable skill and would not simply withdraw from the scene.

Perhaps they've already run away.

As the magician was pondering this, he suddenly sensed a gaze upon him.

Looking up, I saw the black dragon, which was already on the verge of death, suddenly open its blood-red eyes.

Those enormous vertical pupils were already blurred and empty, but as the sound of His heartbeat returned, blood began to pump back into His body...

But it wasn't the much-anticipated resurrection of the black dragon. To the astonishment of the magician, the black dragon's body rapidly collapsed, large pieces of its scales falling off, and scalding flesh and blood flowing onto the ground, exposing its bones.

Then, His enormous body collapsed, leaving only a giant cocoon, like a heart, still beating.

The person encased in flesh and blood... no, it should be said that the flesh and blood of the black dragon wriggled and coalesced again into a tall girl. Because the light within the spiritual vein was intense, the mage was able to see the scene inside through the relatively transparent cocoon.

From a tiny core at the beginning to being reshaped into a human form, curled up in a cocoon full of liquid... it's almost like watching an infant develop.

Then, the black-haired girl suddenly opened her eyes.

Her once jet-black eyes had turned blood-red, and in that instant, the mage sensed an intense, unmistakable aura of despair emanating from her.

The magician even subconsciously took a step back and warily raised his staff.

—A new kind of despair.

The mage saw the other party's sharpened canines, and at that moment, not completely concealed, the aura of a dragon.

—And it is more powerful than ever before.

Main text: Chapter 159 Ahem, thank you for your concern