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

"Don't come any closer! It's not over yet!"

The calamity's regeneration speed was no joke. Although Tono Hitomi's attack would normally be enough to knock the dragon down for a while, the calamity dragon still raised its head again in just a few seconds, and its injuries were completely healed.

Even Mayumi Haga couldn't pinpoint the exact weakness of the dragon. Generally speaking, the eyes, being so close to the brain, could indeed be a weakness, but that only applies to "living beings."

A dragon corrupted by calamity cannot be considered alive at all.

Even if you pierce the opponent's brain again and again, it only creates more space for the calamity to fill. The calamity dragon can still move.

This is a war of attrition... but Mayumi Haga cannot hold out against it for too long.

It's unknown how long the Reflection Space can exist. When she entered it, the blessing of the [Shrike] on her body was revealed. This space can only be used as a buffer zone; it cannot trap calamities here.

As if confirming the shrike's judgment, images of the real world gradually appeared beneath the ground of the reflection space as time passed and destruction occurred.

You can even see the phantom images of people walking through the real world.

If we allow this dragon to descend upon the world... that absolutely cannot happen.

"Ugh... Why is nothing working?" With that, the hot-blooded idiot Tohno Hitomi wanted to roll up her sleeves and fire a few more magic cannons. Anyway, she had plenty of magic power, and it wouldn't matter if she fought here all night.

However, the Guardian has a more efficient way of fighting.

“Crimson.” The Guardian suddenly called out to the magical girl Crimson, and said seriously, “Provide me with magic.”

"...What did you say?"

Magical girl Crimson initially thought she had misheard, but the guardian girl repeated, "Do you have any magic left? Give me some."

Magical Girl Crimson: "..."

Magical Girl Crimson: "……………………"

Magical Girl Crimson: "…………………………………………"

She seemed to have thought of something, her face flushed red, and she swallowed hard.

Seriously, do you need to replenish your mana?!

Mayumi Haga was indeed serious.

She herself does not possess the talent to generate magic or spiritual power that complements witchcraft. After obtaining the [Shrike], due to the lack of magic, apart from gaining some witchcraft knowledge in her mind, she cannot do anything else.

If I could share some of the magical girl's magic with myself, that would be enough.

That's what Mayumi Haga thought.

Re-creating the ancient arrows in the backpack with magical power requires a certain amount of magic.

If it were just about slaying a dragon, then Lania's finger bone would suffice. But the problem is the calamity on the dragon's body, which requires a different kind of material that Mayumi Haga herself doesn't even know when it ended up in her inventory.

But the Shrike clearly indicated that it could be used, so she decided to take a gamble.

We need to buy some time, so we must find a way to freeze the calamity.

Using the blessing [Shrike] requires magical support, so...

"Crimson?" Mayumi Haga was puzzled as to why the magical girl Crimson suddenly became coy.

The magical girl's face turned crimson, almost matching the color of her codename, and she stammered, "Replenish...replenish mana, is that right?"

"If possible, I need your magical support."

The Guardian seemed unsure how to replenish mana, which is why she made such a request... It's quite embarrassing.

In this world, replenishing each other's magic is an activity that can only be undertaken by two people who are very close to each other.

The principle behind replenishing magic power is [love].

Magic is the power of the heart, so by conveying your love for the other person, you can replenish your magic.

Holding hands is less efficient when based on love, but other methods are generally only something lovers can do... Magical girl Crimson's head started smoking.

Despite being a magical girl aimed at a children's world, as a high school girl, she still has some lewd thoughts in her head.

But now is not the time to waste time being indecisive, it's extremely urgent!

Magical girl Crimson leaned closer and carefully took Mayumi Haga's hand.

This action alone almost made it hard for her to breathe.

Why do I feel so much stranger than usual...?

The Guardian's hands were much rougher and slightly larger than usual. When you squeezed your fingers together and pressed your palms together, you could indeed feel the flow of magic.

The magical girl's fingers were slender and her skin smooth. Occasionally, her fingertips would be scratched by the scars of the guardian girl, causing an itch that went straight to her heart.

Hitomi Tono's heart pounded; this was how lovers held hands.

However, the Guardian herself did not feel anything was wrong, and even felt that the efficiency of replenishing magic was really low.

She had seen magical girls use hand-holding combo techniques before, so she didn't think too much about it.

She raised her hand, enduring the searing heat that burned her soul, and cast a freezing spell on the Calamity Dragon.

Golden chains extending from the sky trapped the Calamity Dragon, its struggles instantly freezing in mid-air. However, the chains broke very quickly; in just one breath, the forced freeze completely lost its effect.

Mayumi Haga felt as if her soul was being torn apart. She groaned and endured it, managing not to spit out orange juice in front of the magical girl.

"Mayumi?!" Hitomi Tohno called out the wrong name in her haste, but now was not the time to dwell on it. "Is it because my magic power is not enough...?"

In a moment of desperation, she leaned closer.

Fluid exchange is indeed a more efficient way to replenish mana. Although her girlish heart made her hesitate before, seeing the Guardian's pale face now, she realized that this was not the time to be shy.

Surprisingly, the Guardian didn't eat any oranges or drink any fruit-flavored beverages; instead, it was orange-flavored.

Miss Guardian seemed equally astonished; it was rare to see her with such a wide-eyed expression.

Haga Mayumi: "..."

Haga Mayumi: "……………………"

Haga Mayumi: "...?!?!?!?!"

Contrary to what the magical girl Crimson had imagined, the Guardian had no romantic, pink-tinged thoughts at all; instead, her face was grave after the initial shock.

His mouth was full of the taste of blood, and his lips were split open from the impact with Xiaotong... There were even some fragments of internal organs in there...

It's hard to imagine what the first kiss of the magical girl Crimson would taste like.

After a bloody and sticky kiss, Mayumi Haga and Hitomi Tono pulled away, carefully making sure the other didn't want to vomit into her arms.

The magic was indeed abundant, but both Mayumi Haga and the [Shrike] on her body began to feel confused about this world.

Mayumi Haga hesitated, not quite knowing what to say, when she saw the barrier thinning and she could clearly see the faces of people outside.

not good……!

There's at most one minute left.

She took out an ancient sword—or rather, the arrowhead of an ancient arrow—from her backpack, along with a wizard's finger bone and a small jar of soil.

Squeezing her own blood onto it, Mayumi Haga's face turned even paler, as pale as paper.

The weapon to deal with this calamity dragon is actually quite simple.

The ancient arrow used to slay the dragon, the finger bone condensed from the sorcerer's [Primal] essence, and, most importantly—

—Fragments of the world's core after it was swallowed by calamity.

This spark embodies the purest wish to drive away calamity, and also the soul of Mayumi Haga, the last guardian of the world. To calamity, it is a poisonous weed growing from a corpse.

Mayumi Haga used her remaining magic power to forcibly freeze the Calamity Dragon once again.

The raging dragon froze just a few meters away from her. She could smell the stench of calamity, see its dagger-like teeth, and notice the few remaining silver-purple scales that had faded to a dull color.

For a moment, Mayumi Haga's ears were filled with familiar and unfamiliar voices.

She heard Rania's cheerful voice: "You idiot, you finally came in handy! I was so thoughtful!"

She heard the giant craftsman's hearty laughter: "Hahaha! Well done! In your hands, it won't be forgotten!"

She heard the teachings of the elder Urzana: "Dragons are proud spirits. Having fallen to such an ugly state, they probably want to be killed by you completely."

She heard the dragon of wisdom growl in anguish, troubled by its own ugliness and yearning for liberation.

She heard Hitomi Tono shout behind her, "Mayumi—go!"

Mayumi Haga heard the wind rushing past her ears when she first set foot in the far north, heard the sound of horses' hooves gradually approaching, and heard the chirping of insects.

Then she could hear nothing more, and the world fell silent.

Holding a longbow, aiming.

This time, she aimed at the enormous, blood-red eyeballs on the claws of the Calamity Dragon.

Release your grip, and the arrow will leave the bowstring.

The world was engulfed by light, and Mayumi Haga felt her soul gradually leaving her.

She briefly closed her eyes, her consciousness fading into a white light.

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

The arrow swept away all the calamities with overwhelming force. Its power, gentler than any magic the magical girl Crimson had ever seen, brushed away the calamities from the dragon, and the dragon returned to its shimmering silver-purple appearance.

All the pain was transformed into a long, relieved cry before its death. Compared to being eroded by calamity, the death of the wise dragon now seemed more like a slumber.

Then, it fell down.

Flesh and skin vanished, bones shattered, and the heavy dragon skeleton plummeted from mid-air.

Magical girl Crimson seemed to remember something, and she turned to Mayumi Haga standing beside her, saying, "Mayumi, we succeeded..."

Words froze in that moment.

The guardian, who should have reacted, stood there unconscious. Just as the magical girl Crimson turned around, a heavy dragon bone fell from above, grazing past her.

Blood and flesh splattered everywhere.

The flesh and blood still retained their original shape for a brief moment after exploding, but the next second it turned into an orange-red liquid.

It was supposed to splash directly onto the magical girl Crimson, but it was blocked by the cleansing magic and fell to the ground instead.

The surrounding area was a horrific mess, stained with orange juice, which even flew onto a street lamp. However, the magical girl Crimson, who was standing closest to the center, remained completely untouched.

She stopped thinking.

Main Text: Chapter Fifty-Six: The Storm Is Brewing (Seeking First Subscription!)

--What's this……?

Tono Hitomi let out a mournful cry like a small animal. She frantically tried to grab something, but the viscous, unidentified liquid that was clearly part of her friend slipped through her fingers... Because of the cleansing magic, she couldn't even touch these things that were classified as dirty.

"Ugh... Mayumi... Mayumi!"

Almost hysterically, she frantically tried to gather the unknown liquid into her hands, but under the effect of the cleansing magic, she couldn't touch anything.

Fortunately, she had somehow exited her transformation state. Her knees had lost their support, and she was kneeling in orange juice, her vision obscured by the orange color. Her nostrils were filled with a strange, sweet smell.

Magic is the power of the heart, so under such mental turmoil, Hitomi Tohno's magical armor could not be maintained and automatically dispelled.

So she got to touch a part of Haga Mayumi as she wished.

It was warm, viscous, and somewhat like jelly, and it was still trembling slightly.

Mixed with mud and sand, it quickly lost body temperature, melted rapidly, and left a sticky residue on my hands.

The fresh orange scent still lingered in his nose, but Tono Hitomi's face turned pale, and he felt something stuck in his throat.

She saw it...

If the juice that burst from her body had been orange juice from the start, Hitomi Tono would have just considered her an orange juice monster. But just before her worldview was censored, she witnessed a scene that would haunt her nightmares for three days and three nights.

Her throat was dry, and even the surge of nausea only made her gag twice, unable to vomit anything, but tears immediately wet her cheeks.

How could I react like that to Mayumi...? She's my favorite...

But her body wouldn't listen; that scene seemed to linger in her mind, and she couldn't stop herself from thinking about it.

Uh...

Hitomi Tono was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and at that moment she didn't know how she should react.

I used to think that the citrus scent paired with Mayumi was a bit strange yet harmonious, but now I realize it's like eating Mayumi's flesh and chewing on her bones.

She has no idea about Mayumi's pain and is still enjoying her suffering.