Hermit Island.
Jin Ruochu and Hibiscus, having concluded their military base trip, flew all the way to the beach before finally breathing a sigh of relief.
They worried the relic's emanating aura might entice Disaster Beasts to break through the barrier and invade headquarters. With defenses currently empty and personnel insufficient, it could be quite troublesome. Fortunately, everything went smoothly, but it was time to handle one of the world's top hot potatoes.
The silver-haired girl carefully cradled Black Jar—aptly named, the codename perfectly summarized its appearance, yet few knew it could cause enough trouble to destroy a country.
Must guard against this thing.
In the original work, Magical Girl Dandelion suffered lifelong disability due to multiple virulent infectious disease complications, which even became a psychological trauma. Although that disability symbolized Nan Zhiyi's "incomplete state" in some sense, when she later self-healed, she made magic leap into false universe new realms. But that infectious disease might be related to relics—this ticking time bomb needed careful storage.
Hibiscus weighed the deadly weapon in her hands and found herself in difficulty.
"...Having mastered it, the Church can be considered to possess weapons of mass destruction, but the damage is harder to control than nuclear bombs."
Jin Ruochu said with lingering fear: "If even someone as tough as you got infected, it's definitely not simple."
"Don't talk like I'm a gorilla."
"But you can relax now. I've already given it the misfortune of being unable to function normally. This time the magical cost was small but precisely achieved its effect. Black Jar won't cause too much trouble, and there are already a bunch of strange things on the island—one more doesn't matter."
The pink-haired girl looked toward the ruins village direction meaningfully. The previous era's underground city entrance was full of terrifying magical aura, plus the island's permanent magical effects...
Church members held parties daily under a bunch of fierce gods and evil spirits—what's one biochemical weapon?
Hibiscus whistled, and a Disaster Beast came running eagerly to carry Black Jar toward the Thousand-Li Viewing Mirror's location.
The spatial relic's fluctuations were sufficient to suppress infectious magical power diffusion, plus Disaster Beasts that weren't afraid of it could guard it without problems. Actually, she didn't want to use this easily uncontrollable indiscriminate killing weapon, which was precisely why she had to personally act to preserve it.
Thud!
Jin Ruochu collapsed on the beach, pillowing her head on her hands and saying with feigned ease: "It's good that things are finished. I'll rest for a bit..."
Before finishing, she was snoring loudly, obviously the cost of using causal magic to suppress Black Jar wasn't as easy as revealed. At least the user had to rest well. No wonder—after all, purely in terms of killing power, this relic ranked among the top. Affecting its operation wasn't simple.
Hibiscus couldn't leave her companion lying there, so she had to carry the girl's delicate body horizontally in her arms—warm and fragrant jade in her embrace, aromatic scents assailing her nose. Suddenly the other party hugged her neck and smiled.
"Last time you princess-carried me like this was during the warehouse battle, right?"
"So do you actually need rest or not?"
"Intimate contact with Doctor Mu counts as replenishing stamina." Seeing the silver-haired girl make a motion to let go, Jin Ruochu became slightly serious. "Put me on the beach chair and I'll sleep. That relic was influenced by another type of causal magic—I need to remove the magical power to avoid being tracked. It's not time to expose Hermit Island's location to that magical girl team, right?"
"Thank you for your hard work."
Hibiscus nodded, quite satisfied with Jin Ruochu's consistent keen intelligence. Communication between smart people needed no excess explanation.
After placing the pink-haired girl on the beach lounge chair, she immediately fell into deep sleep. Steady breathing and peaceful expression indicated this was indeed deep sleep—the rest was left to luck.
Beep! The system notification sound for task completion arrived as expected:
[Completed suggestion "Obtain Infectious Disease Cultivation Relic From Okinawa Island Military Base" Reward Distributed: Relic-Related Knowledge, Medium Magic Advancement Stone Fragment ×1]
Hibiscus unhesitatingly accepted the reward. Immediately, a large amount of information flooded her mind, causing headaches.
Fortunately, her mental strength was incomparable to before. Within a few breaths, she digested the relic knowledge and immediately found it both amusing and exasperating.
Everyone was wrong.
Black Jar's true use was to absorb different infectious diseases and spontaneously produce corresponding resistance to ultimately eliminate them. The black mist that escaped was equivalent to vaccines, antiviral agents, and such. But due to researchers' misunderstanding, they added other deadly viruses that disrupted what should have been vaccine functions. Moreover, it was produced in the Magic Power Revival Era and specifically effective on those with magical talent—of course it seemed like deadly poison to ordinary people.
In other words, according to netizen intelligence, Black Jar's correct use was cooperating with Holy Medicine to help Holy Relics remove infection and heal injuries. Later, everyone's understanding strayed further and further.
Clearly meant to save lives and heal injuries, yet mistaken for a weapon of mass destruction.
No, or rather it could indeed be used that way. Carrying sharp weapons, killing intent arises—just a thought's difference.
Hibiscus had an idea: could Black Jar cure virulent infectious diseases? Unfortunately, it still wasn't feasible currently. The relic's power was limited, and years of wrong usage had damaged its performance.
After going in circles, using it as a weapon was still most convenient. With this thought, she decided to first shelve this relic and not let it cause trouble.
What remained was one Medium Magic Stone Fragment.
The silver-haired girl beckoned, and a slender crystal floated glowing in her palm. The usually stable and profound Sands of Time magic actively responded as if excited—worthy of a higher-level magic advancement stone. However, she no longer depended on advancement stones for improvement like before.
Future development routes for Sands of Time were no longer secret to Hibiscus—it would naturally flow when the time came. The important thing was advancement stones had another hidden use:
Adding buffs.
Fragments could store magic of lower levels than oneself to maintain short-term operation and provide assistance.
Thanks to this trick, otherwise the Church definitely couldn't have survived that battle with Black Tide. This was the true strategic value—once brought out, it determined the direction of the power balance.
Hibiscus's figure surrounded by four great auxiliary magics left traces in both worlds. In their eyes, she was like a deity—even high-level Disaster Beasts claiming to reach catastrophic levels were nothing. The effects were inconceivable. Actually, for her personally, it was quite burdensome. If possible, she really didn't want to use that method, but unfortunately, people couldn't help themselves in the martial world.
Thinking of this, she routinely reported safety to the netizens.
This Okinawa Island military base trip felt quite impromptu, belonging to quick decisive action. Thanks to everyone's deduction and reminders, otherwise infectious disease spread would have been troublesome.
However, when Hibiscus enthusiastically reported successful action, she was splashed with cold water:
【Don't forget Black Jar has large amounts of mature infectious disease pathogen finished products. Most of these things should be transported to Winter Company's controlled area—that is, the true direct outbreak point of large-scale infection events】
【Be careful. Military magic-obsessed anti-mercenary elements are also crazy. You don't know which side will suddenly pull something big】
So it's not over yet!
Hibiscus vaguely guessed that some finished products from Black Jar were transported to strike target areas. She didn't expect these guys to move so quickly—really desperate.
But she wasn't too anxious. Regardless, according to the original work, the fuse was at Okinawa Island military base. With this lesson, soldiers guarding transport goods there would definitely heighten vigilance and strengthen security—at least they wouldn't be too flustered.
Hibiscus continued asking: "What's the most severe leakage extent?"
【Million-level infection easily, simply killing like crazy. But this is just original work description estimates—it didn't actually happen】
【I want to see rivers of blood】
【Although Chrysanthemum's team will intervene and even count as a battle of fame, it doesn't mean there's no risk. After all, the original work still caused tens of thousands of infections and led to the guilt-ridden suicide of the research group leader guarding the relic. As a result, when he died, many infectious disease-related research projects regressed 10 years】
【Group Leader: My virus killed 10,000 people, I deserve to die. Disaster Beast: What's 10,000? Time Priestess: What is killing?】
【Too early to judge now @Hyacinth. Where are the pictures? Videos? Show me】
Uploading.
Reminded by this, Hibiscus immediately uploaded the system filming records from just now. This time was relatively rushed with no time for careful polishing, and it wasn't long anyway—finished in a few moves.
The short film mainly included the battle between Hyacinth and Manjusaka teaming up against Shadow Warrior, followed by clearing infected entities and Disaster Beasts—quite condensed but showcasing all parties' abilities. The entire battle essentially became a contest between magical girls, with ordinary conventional forces having no chance to intervene, acting as spectators throughout until results were decided. Obviously, the Church side was superior.
Finally, Hibiscus successfully confiscated the infectious disease relic Black Jar and helped the military base resolve worries, with rescued civilians expressing gratitude.
Reputation Points +10
The impromptu action was swift and decisive in achieving goals, showing the Church's execution, judgment, and adaptability were all excellent. There was a sense of elite regular army intervening in amateur battlefields for crushing dominance, benefiting from usual training and actual combat that enabled Hibiscus and Jin Ruochu to act quickly.
Even substituting other Church members could form two-person teams for rapid response combat capability—this satisfied her.
【Shadow Warrior appeared. Counting Chrysanthemum herself, her team is complete】
【The first batch of Management Bureau backbone with everyone surviving】
【Tears】
【Compared to the Management Bureau's galaxy of stars during Imperial Flower's period, Chrysanthemum indeed has few cards. Besides Orchid, there are few who can fight, and most haven't grown up. It all depends on wisdom to create early-stage dividends】
【The initial Management Bureau didn't even have clear divisions, no strategic level existed. After all, magical girls were universally weak then—not even one Blooming Stage. Encountering ancient Holy Relics fully unleashed was extremely dangerous, definitely surviving in cracks】
【Although the original work gave little space, I still like the first-term Management Bureau leadership. Everyone was pure in construction with fewer complications】
【Weakness is the original sin. The weak Management Bureau had to be careful around Disaster Beasts and Holy Relics. Later suffering heavy losses when caught in civil war was unexpected but reasonable—the environment was too harsh】
【Why didn't any of you win the revival match?】
【It's fine, go play games. Director Chrysanthemum is rate-up this period—must get the true damage human rights card】
【Hit pity pull】
Hibiscus watched the netizens' regrets and somewhat guessed that part of the original work: before Imperial Flower took over, the Management Bureau definitely suffered huge losses, even the fall of the then-leader Chrysanthemum. Later, although the second team was stronger in capability than predecessors, it lacked independent and flexible means, burying hidden dangers. Moreover, Chrysanthemum deliberately ignored various magical girl organizations during her tenure, especially the Salvation Church, possibly because she wanted to promote a hundred flowers blooming but it indeed made the big villain increasingly powerful.
The grassroots Management Bureau definitely danced in shackles. Even so, Hibiscus admired them—maneuvering skillfully among various forces wasn't easy, worthy of being called a great diplomat.
The original work's same time period should belong to the Holy Relic ascendancy period, with other supernatural beings naturally suffering suppression.
But the new timeline was different. Now magical girls not only hadn't suffered mercenary company weakening but became increasingly united, able to maneuver freely in the tide and even clean up everyone. What did the original work's frustration have to do with Hyacinth?
Hibiscus decided to allocate more resources to properly establish the Management Bureau. In essence, it could be built as two major organizations complementing each other with the Church.
That was the way.
Facts proved her thoughts coincided with the optical expert think tank:
【Times have changed. In the new timeline, Hyacinth almost single-handedly elevated all magical girls' quality. The Management Bureau established would only be more formidable than the original work】
【Thinking carefully, the Church currently holds assets of world-leading giant companies, casually using Changfeng Group as white gloves for financial harvesting. A commercial empire's assets are sufficient to support the early stage. Most importantly, talent abounds—the most lacking magical girl elites have already been cultivated by the Church first】
【Originally, at this stage of the storyline, not even one Seedling Stage existed. How to fight? Now the Big Four are all Seedling Stage】
【Even used Catastrophic Disaster Beasts as stepping stones】
【Aurora: I'm not a stepping stone!】
【Actually, military achievements, assets, fame, and influence all belong to externals. As long as enemies are shameless enough, especially those mercenaries can completely use underhanded methods. What they most fear is time magic and that ethereal prophet identity—directly prohibiting dirty tricks】
【Estimate Imperial Flower's protection mission should also calm down. No one wants to compete with the Salvation Church in assassination techniques, otherwise their own heads will move at any moment】
【Actually, in terms of threat level, causal magic isn't inferior either. But time magic's expressiveness is more intuitive, appearing more frightening in comparison】
【Deterrent +5】
【Okinawa Island military base's infection incident has left both mercenaries and military losing face, having to consider mutual concessions. Since magical girls have already appeared in this event, why not strike while the iron's hot to establish prestige? This perfectly fits our initial discussion of "slightly warning both sides"—simply perfect. Boss Hibiscus, quickly pay attention to Edo to prevent more trouble】
【The situation is becoming increasingly clear. I want to see Chrysanthemum VS Hyacinth】
Hibiscus had no mood for watching drama. Next, the Salvation Church, believed to have intervened in the infectious disease incident, was destined to attract attention from all parties. Those magical girls on vacation were probably still confused about why their organization made big news again. The seniors really couldn't stay quiet.
Now the stereotype of "seniors never staying quiet" deepened again, but they should stay put since they weren't notified to continue vacation.
She contacted several key members to prepare. Edo would definitely get lively.
By now, Hibiscus didn't want to wait either. She directly asked about Chrysanthemum's information and received replies:
【Light Magic's original work gave causal types too high treatment—not only phoenix feather and unicorn horn rarity but also users with good backgrounds, high attributes, and strong stats. To put it bluntly, Chrysanthemum also counts as ensemble protagonist level...】
...
Ginza, Clover Idol Agency entrance.
Reporters surrounded a girl wearing gorgeous clothes but with bandages wrapped around exposed skin on arms, calves, etc. Looking carefully, she was tall with gentle features that didn't lose three-dimensional exotic appeal, outstanding temperament, elegant conversation—worthy of popular star qualifications.
Interviewers asked questions like "Will this infection incident affect the touring concert?" "Should be very important for the group" "What are your next plans as leader?"...
Someone even mentioned "How does Miss Elsa view her father Miller encountering assassination?"
The girl sighed deeply, shadows flashing across her pretty face.
"Our family practices the non-interference principle. We can handle our respective matters well without excessive worry, which easily leads to mistakes in haste. Moreover, my father and I have always communicated privately and helped each other..."
"You're not allowed contact with any man, even if that person is your father!"
What kind of absurdity?
Just as reporters scorned such shocking statements, they saw a man with fan markings on clothes and wearing a mask leap out, cold light flashing as a blade stabbed into flesh, bringing blood. At the critical moment, Elsa blocked with her arm and smoothly executed a grappling move. Before she could take further action, surrounding crazier fans already swarmed to beat the target. The agency entrance staged a complete brawl.
The uninvited press guests scattered, knowing Clover group's leader had the most extreme fans who would definitely cause big trouble when provoked—better to stay away.
Elsa had security handle the aftermath and returned alone to the agency building's medical room. The wound was very difficult to heal, only using medical cotton and other fillers to patch it up then tightly binding with bandages for forced treatment. As for pain? Already numb.
Don't blame the attacker, don't lament your own ill fate. Everyone was prisoners of causal magic—its name carried curses:
Love and Hate.
Literal meaning, but specific magical effects were quite mysterious.
Normal active uses had two types:
First, applying hatred. Setting prerequisite conditions—like investigating her behavior would invite hatred, being perceived by herself. At the same time, those affected would be ostracized in life, lose jobs, have broken families, even begging on streets with no one caring, or being deliberately killed by malicious dump truck drivers.
The realization process was uncontrollable, mainly depending on this person's malicious acts. Generally out of mercy, Elsa would relax effects—no need to take lives since bearing karmic consequences was significant.
Second, applying love. When used as a control skill, could quickly make groups utterly devoted. In battle, could also make enemies develop "attachment concept feelings," unwilling to leave and embracing all attacks while ignoring defenses. In game terms, it combined monster pulling and true damage attributes. Sounded powerful but equally uncontrollable.
Users didn't know when love protection was subtly taking effect. She couldn't even confirm the truth of friendship and family affection...
What kind of experience was living forever suspecting all emotions!
Most terrifying was the two uses being mutual costs.
Just like that fan affected by "love protection" effects who initially admired her but finally turned to hatred from love. Attacks would definitely succeed—success meant true damage. Fortunately, Elsa was the source user of this magic, otherwise wounds couldn't heal. Of course, significant time was still needed for recovery. Similarly, a jealous or even hateful fellow idol would suddenly "receive rave reviews" one day and become a fan.
Regardless, costs would definitely return to the user herself. Everyone's eyes saw a rising international superstar as merely uncontrollable snowball results. When would the avalanche come?
"Love."
Suddenly hands reached from behind to embrace a strand of light purple long hair, fingertips feeling the silky fragrance.
"Miyuki, you always suddenly appearing like this is very scary."
"Doubting whether your magic affects people around you again? If I would turn from love to hate, I'd have countless opportunities to snap your neck." As she spoke, jade fingers wrapped in butterfly-patterned gloves flicked Elsa's ear. "Your magic can indeed toy with emotions, but true love is invincible—after all, we're strong because of it."
"You're just looking for opportunities to say Sailor Moon lines, right?"
"Getting to business—Tsuki's Shadow Warrior operation failed, but things got done. That dangerous relic is under Church management. We maintain peaceful coexistence for now."
"That's not bad either. Let's continue preparing to strike the seaside laboratory. Must clear the virus bank that keeps emitting infection factors. If we let them run wild, there will be more magical girls getting sick after Fuuka."
Elsa gazed out the window.
Her sharp gaze contained hidden edges, wishing to act immediately, but it was best to first send prisoners of Love and Hate to probe.
Causal magic made her unconsciously extract too much from the world, owing huge debts. Only doing good deeds to help compatriots could soothe the girl's conscience. Perhaps others would think such strong morality was unnecessary—why not enjoy the love protection with peace of mind?
No. Love and Hate was so powerful it consistently responded to expectations because Elsa never betrayed her talent. The chosen should work hard—Miller always taught this.
"Actually, you don't need to deliberately assign meaning to magic. It's just a means," Miyuki murmured.
Elsa tilted her head and blinked big eyes. "Because causal types are special?"
"Talking like that makes technique seem useless."
"Sorry."
Before finishing, Miyuki entered a transformation state. Magical Girl Orchid's complete form manifested. The next moment, the glove-part Regalia rapidly expanded, actually becoming massive gauntlets. Her unique additional transformation state—technique magic boxer and Regalia development perfectly fused. Although at the Triple Awakening stage, in direct combat she had absolute dominance in the same tier. Even Seedling Stage Magical Girl Chrysanthemum had to be wary.
Suddenly Miyuki's massive gauntlet fingers actually pinched wisps of magical power—exactly infection factors that she extinguished, forcefully yanking to disturb planar folds.
Simply divine skill. Just a few days without training together and this combat enthusiast had developed new forms!
Elsa felt she'd been neglecting magical training while busy with various affairs. Couldn't slack off just for reach the Seedling Stage.
"See that? So-called magic was never a fixed formula. It can be understood and distorted by the person, strengthened by other elements. If I someday tear out a piece of space cloth from thin air, don't be surprised either. Similarly, facing Love and Hate with a more relaxed attitude will take you further."
"Thank you for your guidance."
"Don't act all aristocratic." Seeing this, Miyuki smiled and patted her companion's head, then turned to leave. "Giving you some private space. See you at the concert."
Elsa watched the departing figure, feeling life's twists of fate. Her first acquaintance when studying abroad became her closest friend—truly fortunate.
As that Church prophet said, magical girls would naturally gather, so she wanted to contribute like Lady Hyacinth.