Shinjuku.
Inside a restaurant renowned for its privacy, Winter Company President Assistant Katrin, dusty from travel, was led by a kimono-clad woman through the door into a room. She gave a meaningful glance to the secretary originally responsible for temporary reception.
The latter left hastily as if granted amnesty, carefully observed to have fine sweat beads covering his forehead and slight fear in his eyes.
So exaggerated—walking out, the staff probably thought a top mercenary company executive was accompanying some old man... Well, actually the other party was more terrifying than Disaster Beasts.
Katrin raised her head with a beaming smile and greeted: "Good day, Miss Minase, Miss Rose."
Across the table on the inner side was a black-haired girl in a bun, wearing shrine maiden-like Regalia, with a fox demon-shaped hair ornament glowing slightly on her head. In this form, Minase Kaori's temperament and appearance were quite different from her main body, appearing more dignified like a young lady from a distinguished family attending a banquet. After not seeing her for a long time, her temperament had become increasingly mature, even devastatingly beautiful.
On the outer side was a girl with purple-streaked wolf-tail hair, dressed in archery uniform-like attire, capable and dashing, with sharp eyes constantly surveying the surroundings.
"Hello." The two answered in unison.
Regalia form!
Katrin recognized the guests' state. In this condition, a Magical Girl's defense could easily withstand rocket attacks, with poisons and paralysis even less of a concern. For humans, it was equivalent to coming armed to a banquet, ready to kill at any moment. No matter if you ambushed 500 or 800 axe-wielding soldiers, they couldn't break through the defense. Moreover, they hadn't touched any of the delicious food on the table, showing their complete lack of trust.
Furthermore, Magical Girls in Regalia form had difficulty suppressing their pressure. The secretary lady from earlier really had it tough—equivalent to stating intentions in a beast's cage. She deserved a bonus.
The situation's cause was simple: after discovering Minase Kaori had returned to the country, the company came to apologize.
Even Pasha, far away at European headquarters, hadn't forgotten to have her company seize every opportunity to connect with Magical Girls. The currently possibly only identity-revealed Magical Girl with decent affinity, Lycoris, was an excellent breakthrough point. This matter was entrusted to her confidant Katrin.
She had just finished helping Gallup stabilize Eagle Company before boarding a private jet to Edo for this meeting—truly non-stop, yet her mental state remained excellent.
Used to working overtime.
"...Actually, my company has no particular agenda, simply wanting to make some compensation."
Katrin said straightforwardly: "You see, Miss Minase, when you proposed bringing a companion, we prepared an extra portion. The company is willing to satisfy as many conditions as possible."
"No, it's senior's rule not to allow solo actions, and I have a responsibility to protect fellow countrymen," the girl registered as Rose said quietly. "Don't beat around the bush—we all need to speak quickly."
"Right, I've already reported this meeting to headquarters. In this situation, I need to make fixed contact every 10 minutes. It's a bit troublesome, so please hurry."
The originally accommodating Minase Kaori showed a mischievous smile.
This girl had been clever since childhood. When initially contacted by Winter Company, she had displayed calmness, wisdom, and leadership qualities. There was no real basic goodwill—just sitting on the ground to raise prices in negotiations. Back then, she dared make demands without the Church backing her. Now that her old organization was thriving, her bargaining power had multiplied several times.
"Your organization really manages strictly..."
"Put away your divisive tactics, or we'll lose any necessity for communication," Anri Sakagami rolled her eyes.
Katrin wiped her forehead aggrievedly: "I was just continuing the conversation."
The good-cop Minase Kaori smiled faintly in response: "Don't mind it. We don't reject chatting—we just hope for efficiency to avoid creating misunderstandings."
If something went wrong with the fixed contact, the Church might openly kill their way over, just like with Eagle Company, Katrin thought.
Her mission was merely one contact. She didn't expect to achieve any deals or obtain intelligence. It sounded quite free, but subordinates most hated such vague requirements from superiors. Really, Boss Pasha was clearly on the other side of the Eurasian continent but still couldn't stay quiet.
"Magical Foundation."
"—Winter Company is leading a group of mercenary enterprises in launching this project. It might become the predecessor of future Magical Girl Organizations. We don't seek any strong binding clauses—just establishing reference treaties, benchmarked against Holy Relic treatment. At this stage, we don't insist on inviting anyone. We just hope to reflect through you two what we're doing to the Church. If you find it unpleasant, we'll stop immediately. If you're willing to cooperate, we're willing to offer the resource platform we've built."
Katrin didn't sound like negotiating—even making her tone sound like pleading.
Seeing this, Minase Kaori and Anri Sakagami looked at each other, not hiding the confusion in their eyes. What did they understand about such things? Besides vigilance, they couldn't provide any effective opinions.
Although the two had followed seniors traveling everywhere on business, when it really came to discussing organizational futures, they were still in the dark.
Fortunately, the assistant lady from Winter Company was understanding and didn't require pushing any topics on the spot. Instead, she took out a document from her briefcase and placed it on the table—a series of planning proposals over a hundred pages thick.
"Please pass along the proposal." Katrin added: "Just understanding it is enough."
"Alright."
Minase Kaori nodded while summoning a bird demon to carry away the document to unknown destinations, also having the demons carefully inspect it.
"Speaking of which, how have you been lately?"
"You should also know the Church prepared for the Catastrophic Disaster Beast war for a long time—basically all training, very busy." After sharing some unimportant matters, she continued: "We indeed hope to establish a public organization facing the masses. The mercenaries' proposal has great value."
"Mercenaries? So your organization is also considering the military's proposal? That Senator Miller's method? Forgive my directness, but their ability to fulfill promises is very limited."
Katrin had received intelligence proving the Church secretly supported Miller but pretended not to know, since they were also accepting another set of proposals, weren't they?
Actually, she didn't care whether that strategizing Magical Girl Hyacinth behind the Church would adopt suggestions. As long as competitors didn't gain advantage, that was enough. Although it felt like playing right into the prophet's hands, everyone was being led by the nose...
Anri Sakagami proactively ended the topic: "If there's nothing else, we have an appointment and must take our leave."
Minase Kaori also nodded.
They planned to watch the annual opening concert of the beautiful girl idol group Clover together—no time for scheming and plotting.
Seeing this, Katrin couldn't stop them and had to nod and wave. Although she instinctively wanted to persuade them to stay, she immediately restrained herself. Given their overly sensitive vigilance, they'd probably treat persuasion as a trap and start fighting on the spot!
The two Magical Girls left the restaurant casually, leaving behind a table of delicious food. Might as well call the staff over for a treat.
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Dome venue entrance.
Anri Sakagami and Minase Kaori, seeing the sea of people across the street, got a headache. Too many people—worthy of a spectacular venue accommodating 100,000 people.
The main characters of this concert, "Clover," appeared to be just an idol group on the surface, but were actually completely different from the niche stereotype. The team consisted of five girls with an average age under twenty who had solid singing skills, heavenly voices, high looks, and good temperament. In the short three years since formation, they had leaped to world-class star status, especially in the past six months, advancing rapidly—almost walking others' three to five-year career paths every month.
Not to mention Edo—even the entire world had plenty of Clover fans. Including two Magical Girls wasn't strange.
They shaded their eyes and looked out at the clearly impenetrable crowd.
Because it was too lively, security lines had to be set up with guards maintaining order. Otherwise, tens of thousands of people trampling each other would be disastrous.
Within visible range hung banners, slogans, photos, and more. Some even shouted in unison "I'll always love Ichiba" and "Yotsuba is the best"—that's right, as an idol group with such plain stage names was indeed rare, but it didn't affect their charm.
Walking all the way, Anri and Kaori even witnessed many foreign faces—truly international superstars.
Although the journey was crowded, it finally became quiet at the entrance. Not because there were fewer fans, but because they had prepared a treasure: VIP passage luxury tickets.
Worth their weight in gold.
Even being scalped at premium prices with no market availability, thanks to Five-Color Narcissus Company channels, they managed to get two tickets.
They once again praised the Salvation Church's resource capabilities—truly convenient to handle affairs. Mere concert luxury tickets were obtained easily, and they were front row, exclusive passage, and rest room access—smooth sailing throughout.
There were even special people to greet the two into a more luxuriously decorated area. Only then did the girls learn the company had actually provided advertising sponsorship for this concert.
Investment traces of Five-Color Narcissus Company could be found everywhere these days, highlighting a wide net with no holes, even finding no pattern—more like luck-based selections that always managed small profits or even big wins. As employees, they were used to it.
The rest room had soft sofas with fruit platters and snacks, allowing Anri Sakagami and Minase Kaori, who hadn't dared eat dinner earlier, to pad their stomachs.
Suddenly both frowned and stopped moving.
"...Strange, why are there magical power trace fluctuations?" Anri Sakagami, with spatial abilities, was quite sensitive to these: "The venue might have been affected by large-scale magic and hidden more covertly than spatial attributes."
Minase Kaori nodded: "I also have a sense of discord—feels like there's a kindred presence."
"Kindred?"
"Proportionally speaking, it's not rare for magical talent holders to mix into a 100,000-person venue. We don't need to make a big fuss."
Magical Girls would attract each other. By extension, supernatural elements would tend to converge—they would definitely connect under certain circumstances. Every Church member knew such knowledge. Various basic information about Magical Girls came from Senior Hyacinth, worthy of being called the founding scholar of this field, and her theories were repeatedly proven correct.
So occasionally encountering unknown Magical Girl auras in daily life wasn't rare—rather, it was quite fortunate, since those not belonging to the Salvation Church should be very few now.
Minase Kaori said: "We're idle anyway. The concert will take a while. I'll send little demons to search for the aura."
Anri Sakagami replied: "Might as well help seniors recruit new people."
After making up their minds, they stopped paying attention and focused on eating and drinking in the rest room.
Thud!
A sudden explosion echoing in her mind made Minase Kaori couldn't help but cover her forehead in severe pain, immediately breaking into cold sweats with her body trembling slightly. This abnormality immediately caught Anri Sakagami's attention. What was happening? Was it damage feedback from summoning magic users having their summons suddenly and forcefully destroyed?
While panting and adjusting her state, her school uniform had already transformed into kimono Regalia form. Magical Girl Lycoris judged the situation was bad and immediately entered a full transformation state!
Rose, full transformation!
Her old partner Anri Sakagami immediately prepared for battle at full status without question. At this moment, the girl also noticed something strange: why did numerous VIP guests in the rest room still turn a blind eye? This was evidence of hypnosis.
"Don't linger in battle. The enemy's strikes are very strange—completely impossible to defend against—"
Before Minase Kaori could finish, she suddenly covered her mouth, blood flowing between her fingers, feeling dizzy with her internal organs churning.
Impossible—why would summoning magic users suffer such massive damage feedback from summons? Moreover, she couldn't summon any thought of retreat and even hoped to stay.
"Alright, let's go."
Seeing her companion's poor condition, Anri Sakagami put her arm around her shoulder to help her leave, but her partner's legs felt heavy as lead, difficult to move. At the same time, the rest room door facing the backstage work area creaked open, yet there was no figure inside...
Beep beep! Suddenly an inspiring charge horn sounded, the shocking noise making the two slightly stunned. Almost simultaneously, an agile figure leaped out from the work area.
A heavy punch was firmly embedded in the rainbow barrier. At this moment, they saw the newcomer clearly—a Magical Girl in colorful, gorgeous Regalia. The most distinctive feature was the glove portion resembling armor covering her arms. The shock wave from her casual strike made the entire room shake continuously—fast, accurate, fierce, flowing like clouds.
"You can call me Rose, Miss Mitsuba."
"It's Orchid."
Magical Girl transformation indeed had cognitive interference effects, with some concealment even against peers. But Anri Sakagami understood the Clover idol group, and having witnessed the transformation form firsthand, she immediately broke through cognitive interference to identify the true identity. The other party wasn't surprised either—after all, coming out from the work area was obvious. Clearly, at this point, it was hard to end peacefully. Actually, they had no contradictions requiring life-and-death combat—the key was clarifying misunderstandings.
After several deep breaths and slight recovery, Minase Kaori straightened up and said: "Perhaps we have a misunderstanding."
"Right, I'm glad you came to the concert. We don't oppose the Salvation Church's recruitment, but the premise is settling your own accounts. Please don't interfere."
"Are you planning to do something with these 100,000 audience members?"
"My friend Violet, my family, and many people were inexplicably affected by high-intensity infectious diseases. Tracing the source, it turned out those scoundrels were doing experiments while desperately hiding it. Fine then—let's make this public to completely destroy their credibility, both getting revenge and creating opportunities for Magical Girls to take the stage."
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Magical Girl Orchid took a deep breath and said quietly: "Shortly after the concert ends, large numbers of civilians will protest and storm the biological laboratory."
Silence fell upon these words.
The dome venue's audience would directly storm the biological laboratory afterward! Clearly Clover's goal was to completely blow things up.
The clever Anri Sakagami and Minase Kaori immediately realized this was indeed beneficial for Magical Girls—after all, scandals would drag both military and mercenaries into the mess, forcing them to make concessions. If the Salvation Church happened to stand up and promote the Management Bureau plan, there should be less resistance.
But they felt it was too risky and might spiral out of control.
Minase Kaori advised: "Perhaps we could give the laboratory some time—there should be solutions."
"No way." Orchid shook her head. "Breaking news just happened—infectious disease incidents erupted at Okinawa Island military base and were quelled by Senior Hyacinth. My companion's informant was also on scene, confirming she took away the relic that creates infectious diseases. The laboratory storing derivative products will definitely have accidents. Rather than waiting for this ticking time bomb to keep hiding, it's better to directly expose it for proper disposal."
"...Actually, we're from Eagle Company's laboratory background. You understand. But since we know about this matter, we need to go back and discuss preventive measures."
"Departure forbidden."
Orchid crossed her hands into fists and stretched her muscles, her whole body producing crackling bone sounds as her aura surged several notches.
She wouldn't allow any leak risks at the crucial moment of the plan.
"Honestly, whether Hyacinth or Chrysanthemum's philosophies are about the same—we're kindred. No need for fighting and killing. But I've always wanted to compete, since it's rare to encounter Magical Girls from different organizations. Your blood is also boiling, right?"
Before finishing, the first to strike was a series of ethereal sounds. In an instant, Minase Kaori and Anri Sakagami felt their magical power disrupted and difficult to mobilize!
Boom—
In a flash, Orchid rushed forward with two punches from behind, hitting precisely. But they also raised their arms to block. As a result, all three turned into meteors rushing from the dome venue toward the rooftop of an adjacent building.
Almost the moment they landed, howling fists continued following up. Seeing this, Anri Sakagami pushed her companion aside and used spatial barriers to block the attack. Neither side gained advantage.
She was grateful for Jin Yulu's devil training that solidified her martial arts foundation—otherwise she couldn't have dodged that move.
Even so, Anri Sakagami felt her chances of victory weren't high.
The auxiliary magic user hiding in the shadows could always strike at key moments, forcing her to divide attention for defense. Companion Minase Kaori had suffered some powerful attacks with incomplete combat effectiveness, making it hard to help. Relying on herself alone was insufficient.
However, she indeed felt long-missed fighting spirit ignited. Finally encountering a competitor of the same age and level, she couldn't help but show joy.
"When did Triple Awakening become so common?"
"Did the Church raise too many greenhouse flowers? You all need to work harder."
Before finishing, Orchid clenched her fists, actually emitting ripple-shaped expanding magical power. Anri was surprised to find the barrier producing wrinkles. When facing defensive enemies, she would expand barriers, but now the area was being compressed—soon reaching limits with only small-area defense.
Technique magic could extend effects to conceptual ranges. The so-called boxer actually brought her comprehensive enhancement plus Regalia amplification.
The next moment, two figures burst forth. Intersecting streams of light collided and rubbed against each other, each move stronger than the last. Fists imprinted on barriers then changed angles that violated human body structure to attack. Anri Sakagami calmly blocked and counterattacked, only to find the opponent easily blocked by spatial barrier impacts with arm armor. Both were slightly shocked—clearly each other's power wasn't as simple as it appeared.
Crack crack!
Just two rounds of combat made the rooftop crack and even collapse inch by inch. Continuing this way might cause casualties, so they unconsciously restrained force to avoid completely exposing Magical Girl matters.
However, the dome venue suddenly produced combat commotion—clearly a military band Regalia girl fighting with numerous little demons, actually opening a second battlefield!
Turns out Minase Kaori had been pretending serious injury from midway while actually having summons infiltrate enemy rear.
"Well done."
Anri lost her concerns and immediately maximized barriers to wall-sized area sweeping forth, forcing back Orchid. From the start of battle until now, she finally created safe distance. Perhaps it was time to retreat and report this matter to Hyacinth...
For some reason, resistance surged in her heart. She was oddly unwilling to leave, even gladly accepting despite knowing she was affected by some power.
"What's this annoying thing?"
"Don't forcibly resist. Chrysanthemum's magic is currently unstable with signs of losing control. It's better to try accepting first." From the ruins at the other end of the building emerged Orchid's figure, completely unharmed and spotless. "Having you stay isn't just for secrecy but also safety considerations—otherwise might trigger curses."
"I don't oppose exposing the laboratory matter. You mobilizing civilians is also fine. But if it instead causes larger-scale infection, wouldn't that create disaster?"
Anri Sakagami remained vigilant toward the plan's executors—after all, she was local and had to consider risks.
"Just trust us."
Unfortunately, the archery uniform Regalia girl used magic to protect herself and the Minase Kaori behind her who was manipulating demon legions, answering with actions. Dragging things out was advantageous—as evening darkened, the Hundred Demons Night Parade would become increasingly powerful. Moreover, the duo had already missed two fixed contacts. Phones would automatically send location signals. Reinforcements would arrive soon. Victory was still uncertain.
Just as she pondered, Orchid and another auxiliary Magical Girl actively released magical mist to obscure vision, with hypnosis further expanding.
Rising along with it was a thick arm appearing in the mist, revealing ten-meter-class enormity that easily swept across, clearing demons and protecting the military band Regalia girl. This person's aura locked onto the two uninvited guests at full strength.
Most likely mythology magic—the type best at frontal combat.
Seeing this, Anri Sakagami and Minase Kaori couldn't help but associate it with Instructor Jin Yulu's unstoppable figure. Such existences were all difficult to handle.
"Come here."
A light sentence made them actively step forward.
A bright yellow idol-style Regalia Magical Girl appeared at the dome venue window, surrounded by rampaging magical power that flaunted wantonly in peers' vision—undoubtedly Seedling Stage pressure. Those not of the same level even felt magical power circulation obstructed, plus strange effects equivalent to being captured.
Both felt trouble in their hearts, alarm bells ringing, yet helplessly still step by step heading toward the target. Why did they willingly approach a runaway despite knowing it?
The conflicted feeling almost made Anri Sakagami and Minase Kaori uncertain of their inner feelings, further weakening resistance.
"Domain Seal—"
A voice entering the battlefield accompanied a starry-surfaced sphere covering the controlled girl. The next moment, it expanded to maximum radius before their opponents' faces, then instantly disappeared without trace.