Raising magical girls, and leave them with eternal regret?!

Night Demon carefully watched for an opportunity, preparing to strike.

To restore Bai Yu’s former strength was simple: recreate a similar situation before her, which should do the trick.

Truth be told, Night Demon wasn’t too eager to take this path… The risk was a bit high. But since Bai Yu had already come into contact with another magical girl, her desires and wish were gradually weakening, which was something the Night Demon couldn’t accept.

Thus, despite the risk, it had to be done again.

With this in mind, Night Demon silently watched, waiting. Then—at a precise moment when Bai Yu let her guard down—it seized the opportunity. Without a second thought, the black fireball that had been cupped in its hand for so long was hurled directly at her.

“Ugh!”

“?! Bai Yu!”

Though something seemed to have dampened the power of the fireball as it flew towards her, it didn’t stop its trajectory. It collided with Bai Yu, sending her flying.

As the fireball struck, Bai Yu felt a sense of misfortune wash over her. This sneak attack wasn’t just something she couldn’t defend against.

Because… the attack had hit the very spot where she had been injured before—her abdomen.

Though the wound appeared healed on the surface, hidden inside was an old ailment. Even though she quickly used her mana to heal the injury, it would still take a long time to recover fully.

Seeing Bai Yu kneeling on the ground, WuYue panicked and wanted to rush to her side. However, the four giant lizards suddenly changed their focus. For some unknown reason, they no longer targeted Bai Yu, and all four charged at WuYue instead.

WuYue had no choice but to stop and fight off the lizards. Since they weren’t going after Bai Yu anymore, she decided to deal with them before returning to Bai Yu’s side.

Thus, she was tangled in a solo battle with the four giant lizards. Although the fight was difficult, she could still barely hold her own.

Noticing that WuYue wasn’t in too much trouble even without her, Bai Yu breathed a sigh of relief. She then tried to prop herself up, attempting to stand again.

“Ugh!”

But the pain from the attack was unbearable. Before she could fully stand, the excruciating pain in her abdomen forced her to fall to her knees once more.

“Huff…”

Just as she took a deep breath and prepared to stand again, a hand reached out to steady her.

“YouYu?!”

The one who had come was none other than YouYu.

Seeing him appear before her, helping her up, Bai Yu frowned and asked,

“You… why are you still here? It’s dangerous! You shouldn’t be here!”

“…I just finished rescuing people, but I couldn’t stop worrying about you two, so I returned to check. Turns out, something really did happen.”

With a sigh, YouYu glanced in WuYue’s direction. Watching her fight with all her might, there was a hint of reluctance in his eyes. He sighed again, shook his head, and said,

“Let me get you away from here first. WuYue can still handle them for now, but if even one of them turns its attention to you… that would be bad.”

“…Once you’ve recovered enough, it won’t be too late to help her.”

Even though that’s what he said, YouYu still planned to move Bai Yu to safety and have her stay put. Then, he would transform into Ouja and assist WuYue.

After all, sending someone who was just injured, with wounds that hadn’t even healed, back into battle… was far too unreliable.

With this thought in mind, YouYu, much like WuYue had done for him before, carried Bai Yu on his back and ran toward a safer distance from the battlefield.

“…Phew, It’s good that they’re safe.”

Meanwhile, WuYue, still locked in combat with the negative beasts, breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that YouYu had escaped with Bai Yu.

However… her mood didn’t improve much because of it. In fact, it felt even worse.

“Just like when you carried me before… YouYu.”

“…”

“Anyway… it’s just because of the circumstances.”

Recalling the way YouYu had carried Bai Yu to safety just moments ago, WuYue silently told herself:

“But that spot on his back still belongs to me.”

That much was an indisputable fact.

YouYu carrying Bai Yu away was a helpless necessity.

So, WuYue wasn’t angry—at least not at him. If she were to be angry at anyone, it should be directed toward the monsters in front of her.

With that thought, WuYue’s strikes grew even heavier.

“Boom!”

One of the giant lizards was sent flying into the air.

“…”

In other words, she needed to quickly wipe out these negative beasts and get back to YouYu to quell her anger.

—

Meanwhile, on the other side.

YouYu had successfully carried Bai Yu a good distance away without encountering any obstacles. Ideally, now he should transform into Ouja and rush to WuYue’s aid.

But… that was under the best-case scenario.

Because reality, more often than not, doesn’t develop as smoothly as one might hope.

“…Tch! YouYu, run!”

“That guy… it’s back again!”

Standing before him, Bai Yu’s voice was tense as she stared ahead. Night Demon had reappeared, blocking their path.

YouYu couldn’t help but feel a pang of frustration.

“Night Demon again…”

And this time, it was coming directly for Bai Yu.

When Night Demon first appeared before them, YouYu had already sensed its presence and confirmed that its attention was solely focused on Bai Yu—not on him.

This, at least, gave him temporary reassurance that his true identity hadn’t been exposed.

So… was Night Demon here to finish Bai Yu off once and for all, to eliminate her completely?

If that were truly the case… then he might be in trouble because it would mean he’d have to reveal his “Ouja” identity to fight it.

“…”

However, for now… it seemed like Night Demon had something to say.

Might as well see what it wants to do.

“Run, YouYu!”

While he was still thinking, Bai Yu, seeing that YouYu remained standing in place, couldn’t help but shout at him angrily.

“I can still hold it off for now! You have to run quickly! If you die, then she’ll…”

Then WuYue would lose her “hope”!

This time, Night Demon had undoubtedly come to cause trouble for her. No matter the outcome, it would definitely not be good!

But… if she were the only one hurt, that would be fine.

However, if others were dragged into this, then it would become an entirely different matter!

She didn’t want her problems…

To cost YouYu his life.

“…! Get out of the way!”

Before she could even hear a response from YouYu, a deafening explosion suddenly roared down from the sky.

It was fast—so fast that she didn’t sense it coming at all!

All she knew was that after it hit, she was slammed into the ground, pain shooting through her body.

And then… everything faded into darkness.