"The more major actions we take against the Fallen Zone, the more likely we are to accelerate magical power expansion speed. It's like global warming being a major trend, but that doesn't mean you should step hard on the gas pedal."
Such a vivid metaphor wasn't without humor, but Li Yingge and Katrin couldn't laugh.
Big news meant pressure.
Pharmacist solemnly reminded: "So I hope you two will help convey the Oracle Book's custodial institution's judgment, because it also decoded another line: magical power's return will be faster than anyone predicted."
"And I need to prepare more, so excuse me for now. We'll depart early tomorrow morning."
With that, she returned to the illusory hut, vast magical power constructing a barrier rejecting any probing methods—obviously not wanting to be disturbed.
In fact, the two had no mind for other matters. Admittedly, inviting ancient Holy Relics so easily was good, but the unpredictable intelligence still added tension. Everyone counted as insiders, very clear about magical power's harm to ordinary people. The slightest lack of restraint was comparable to mass extinction. Like anaerobic plants' reshaping of the world in ancient geological eras—magnificently crushing all non-adapters, an unstoppable torrential flood.
"You needn't worry too much."
Illusionist spoke bluntly: "This great trend will inevitably accompany sacrifice. Objective changes have nothing to do with our subjective consciousness. What should come will come—everyone can at most reduce some sacrifices. Haven't you noticed that after Planet Gaia reached 5 billion population, numbers stopped moving or even declined? Perhaps magical power already arrived."
Though this theory was strange, neither refuted it.
"Irresponsibly speaking, I'm on the new era's side anyway—doesn't matter much." Katrin shrugged while telling her companion: "Same for you."
"Fusion indeed counts as one path. Plus Five-Color Narcissus Company's new research has stabilized quite a bit."
"Our immediate priority is transmitting to headquarters, best to verify the itinerary."
The two temporarily left. Illusionist remaining alone went to the hut—this magical power barrier didn't block her. What met her eyes was an herb flower field, the difference being that somehow there was now another Pharmacist with identical appearance.
No, precisely speaking, immediate comparison revealed differences. The one who'd been active sat cross-legged on the ground, losing her spirited feeling.
The newcomer moved her muscles and stretched lazily. First, momentum surged forth then quickly restrained—freely controlled, reaching perfection. She'd grown stronger again.
"Long time no see, Kale."
This was a flower's name, and as everyone knew, it generally represented Magical Girl Regalia names. So Illusionist was actually expressing respect to a benefactor reunited after long separation. The other remained so steady, temperament increasingly outstanding.
"My soul has always been attached to this—no difference, right?"
"Still feel more at ease with you nearby." Illusionist smiled sweetly while asking: "Have you settled your organization's affairs?"
"Mm, thanks to magical power revival, we can already count as truly complete Magical Girls. But expecting frequent activity is impossible. Years of enduring the world's highest magical power limits accumulated too much erosion—must experience long recuperation before being useful. So I returned to this body just to tell you one thing: fully support this operation."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Obviously looking happy about reunion—don't you want to chat more with me? Really cold enough."
"I'd like to, but guests are still waiting. If headquarters becomes suspicious, that's no good. Moreover, I only serve you, having no relationship with the organization. I don't approve of hermit ideals of avoiding the world and waiting for the magical era's arrival."
"......Since you haven't experienced what I have, I won't explain. Back to business—help me pay more attention to Salvation Church intelligence. Accelerated revival relates to Lady Hyacinth."
"Indeed, they should count as the first batch of completely awakened Magical Girls."
Unlike special cases like Kale in semi-awakening states, long-term possession of only one of three elements, even counting as skill tree disabled. But the Church's Magical Girls were famously systematic and militarized—definitely premium quality, absolutely ace divisions.
The world's largest supernatural organization's deeds needn't be mentioned. What was rare and precious was remaining in shadows even now, with many probes ineffective.
Impressive.
Hearing her superior's order to investigate such an organization, Illusionist could only smile bitterly and nod. Too difficult—better to gather secondhand information.
Moreover, rumors made the Church even more elusive.
Whenever intelligence agencies felt they understood these people, new combat forces would emerge.
The recent Los Angeles Disaster Beast attack overturned many judgments about Church personnel composition and combat strength, leaving many analysts overwhelmed. Moreover, doing so became increasingly meaningless—everyone was cooperating closely, no need for enemy-level investigation intensity. Truly demanding.
"My body needs more rest. Complete soul possession state isn't good—time to leave." Suddenly Kale waved: "But we'll meet again soon."
"Take care."
Retention wasn't Illusionist's style, so she frankly saw her off.
As words ended, the person before her dispersed into nothingness. The other body, essentially a relic, moved again, no different from ordinary people—just lacking some spirit in familiar eyes. Witnessing soul possession magic again, Illusionist couldn't help sighing that these girls indeed bore the world's mandate, probably representing the first batch of destined survivors to adapt before doomsday.
The next day, at the agreed departure time, four people assembled outside the monitoring station base. Distant mountains vast, wind and snow fierce.
Li Yingge sighed: "The weather's not cooperating. Even military aircraft would have difficulty entering here."
"Let me say upfront—I don't want to transform into transportation again. The climate here is truly diverse enough. I flew from the tropics all the way to the third pole—can't take it. Have mercy."
Katrin expressed admiration for the severe climate.
Seeing this, Illusionist and Pharmacist exchanged glances, both laughing heartily. The latter spread her hands: "Who said we're taking planes? That's too dangerous."
"Train?"
"No railways here."
Before finishing, Illusionist snapped her fingers. Somehow thick chains had wrapped around everyone's waists. At this moment, two guests felt ominous premonitions rising, immediately realized: Pharmacist pulled hard, tremendous force leaving them no resistance as they embraced each other, firmly fixed together.
No need for explanation—this was clearly human cannonball treatment. Unimaginable how they'd travel all the way.
"As they say, military operations value speed, so we can't delay further. If something happens at the front lines, that's bad. Don't worry—my aide Illusionist made arrangements. The airspace ahead is clean, won't trigger air defense identification either."
"Depart—"
Magical power propelled four people like arrows from bows into the horizon.
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
New Zealand Temporary Command Center.
Bull's group, hurriedly moved from Hawaii, rarely showed fatigue, but their mood was quite good.
Though core Fallen Zone attacks were obstructed, thinking differently was fine. Cleaning peripheral areas with largest land coverage one by one, fighting endlessly across millions of square kilometers of ocean. Thanks to New Allied Forces' sufficient preparation, they advanced unstoppably, recapturing large Fallen Zone areas.
The beach beneath their feet also counted as an achievement. Once North Island's northern coastal areas were filled with infection magical power, even frequent Disaster Beasts—now finally somewhat peaceful.
The temporarily built airport runway here continuously welcomed military aircraft.
The latest aircraft landed, and a black dress woman holding a black umbrella walked down the stairs. Led by her were several Holy Relics and warriors deeply fused with Disaster Beast remains, waving greetings to Bull from afar.
"Lady Specter, long time no see."
"Skip the pleasantries, Chairman. We came for missions—ready for orders anytime."
"Good."
The other's concise answer made Bull laugh heartily, allowing the group to stand transparently in corners like everyone had social anxiety.
Croft, also waiting at the airport, raised an eyebrow, couldn't help asking: "Are they the assassin unit controlled by the Mercenary Alliance? During the civil war, some military personnel died by their hands. Counts as a sharp dagger, but might it hurt yourself?"
"Same to you—does the military really think it controls powerful Holy Relics? Those lords continuously erode even emotions and desires. Would they listen to paper orders?"
Both understood what the other meant. Regarding Antarctic Relic Treasury, Snow Maiden played a huge role in key battles but not decisive—quite awkward positioning. Were dignified ancient Holy Relics really that weak? Wrong. As guardians of independent institutions, they didn't intend life-or-death battles. Their stance wasn't maintaining specific rulers but upholding relic containment itself.
That guardian acted on her own initiative.
Whether former military power holders or current mercenary groups had difficulty truly controlling them.
"How do you do? What were you two discussing?" Accompanied by voices echoing in air was a meteor streaking across sky.
Next moment, light suddenly crashed into the airport, penetrating countless air defense layers under everyone's gaze. Alarms rang frequently then helplessly shut off. This unidentified flying object was too fast to intercept, arriving instantly.
People looked closely—four girls embracing each other tightly, all familiar faces, especially that famous ancient Holy Relic.
Li Yingge untied waist chains, holding her forehead: "I've explained everything to Pharmacist."
"Thank you for your hard work."
Direct superior Josh signaled her to rest, while Katrin also found Pasha.
Bull spoke first: "Thanks for your understanding, actually flying all the way here. I represent South Pacific Army thanking you. This war gains one more chance of victory."
Like most people, he hadn't truly experienced top-tier relics' amazing energy, but clearly understood what a feat crossing from Kunlun Mountains through North Pacific was—literally an intercontinental missile. Indeed living up to reputation—no need to worry about her strength.
Years of sleep, more years without action, yet this unquestionable thick magical power dispelled all doubts. This was a trump card.
"You flatter me. What can truly stabilize recaptured areas still depends on everyone, and you've already achieved quite a bit."
"Honestly, we're currently encountering difficulties." Bull didn't hide anything, speaking openly: "At the outer zone-core zone boundary, we encountered large numbers of special-type Boss Disaster Beast. Combat modes are completely different from before—very strong vitality, even understanding ambush..."
"You mean them?"
Watching Pharmacist point distantly, people's hearts tightened, following her gaze to see nothing stirring.
"Please don't joke."
However, next moment's suddenly rising pressure actually lifted waves, forcibly creating huge billows from this remote coastline—connecting heaven and earth, roaring angrily. Instantly, cloud layers brought wild wind with lightning, sea surface pitching like stairs, nearby warships swaying. Such amazing pressure was unheard of. Not far in her pointing direction indeed appeared translucent jellyfish Disaster Beasts.
Different from Los Angeles attack species, these fellows easily mimicked using physical advantages, achieving invisibility, but next moment were intercepted.
Turned out underwater had trigger-type electrified shark nets now activating.
"You made defensive measures?"
"Right, thanks to intelligence provided by the Salvation Church, we defensively targeted them. These goods are called Phantom Jellyfish—best at sneak attacks. But still grateful to you—otherwise waiting for them to directly impact and tear nets would be troublesome."
With Bull's answer, gunfire simultaneously rang out, pouring firepower toward high-voltage areas. Within breaths, blood stained the sea.
Even so, command staff felt lingering fear. After all, approaching such distance without detection counted as dereliction. Moreover, they were indeed backward in concepts, always feeling they held initiative, thus ignoring Hyacinth's warning about Fallen Zones' strong aggression. Right—fierce monsters always pursued slaughter, even daring to pursue from their home field for surprise attacks.
"I've heard many rumors about that organization—seems well-deserved." Pharmacist's expression remained grave: "But I must warn you about bigger fellows."
Since already discovered, Disaster Beasts simply stopped pretending. Countless shadows appeared on sea surface.
They were converging!
Phantom Jellyfish seeing bad situations actually actively devoured each other. Thus, a massive body gradually rose from sea surface.
Only now did the military discover opponents' true goal was avoiding attention from large volumes, choosing scattered infiltration then gradual integration, finally forming the dozens-of-meters monster still expanding before them.
"Since I'm already here, let me help."
Before finishing, Pharmacist condensed a white-hot light orb at her fingertip—plain magical power aggregate, yet its appearance immediately boiled seawater, cooking Disaster Beast bodies.
Even monsters couldn't imagine such terrifying power—absolutely unresistable. Minds recalled four hegemons' might in Fallen Zone depths. Retreat intentions arose but too late. The ancient Holy Relic mobilizing vast energy on surface actually had considerable leeway, flicking her finger to release torrents.
Swift energy instantly scattered the massive body. Whatever touched it rapidly burned away—this magical power actually had adhesive effects.
Boom!
A mushroom cloud exploded on the sea surface. Evaporated seawater left a hundred-meter diameter deep pit on the South Pacific surface, then surging waves filled it.
Light illuminated Pharmacist's smile as she turned back: "Hurry and plan the general offensive."
"We're still waiting for allies." Bull gazed at the Fallen Zone.
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Hermit Island.
Led by student Helen with climate expertise, the Magical Girl research group set up various instruments on sea surface, combining data from peripheral zone tours to finally gather patterns, just to prove one thing:
"I need to know how much correlation deep zone abnormal thunderstorm weather has with magic?"
Hibiscus cupped her chin in instruction. As the strongest perception person present, she'd long noticed unusual climate conditions within Fallen Zones.
Originally she didn't think much, but during the return voyage from the interior to New Zealand, this feeling gradually intensified and clarified. When she thought this way, her head hurt—representing certain mysteries. Could directly ask netizens, but should wait longer.
Long-term, Hibiscus explored a pattern:
Anything involving powerful magic, regardless of mechanism relation, definitely carried some Knowledge Poison.
How to avoid it?
Operation was actually simple—key was exploring part herself first, giving Knowledge Poison advance exposure to reduce excessive impact causing serious harm.
At this moment, Nan Zhiyi, skilled in large-scale wide-area magic, and all elemental Magical Girls jointly deduced, calculating magical power traces one by one. Because Hibiscus remembered netizens mentioning "Fallen Zones suit elemental magic" briefly. That only-comprehensible-but-inexpressible intelligence wasn't the same type, right? So she instructed companions in this area to intensify research.
While Hermit Island hadn't completely returned to New Zealand, dig out more intelligence—every message might overturn battle situations.
Moreover, during this period Hibiscus successfully used Black Jar to produce resistant viruses, or rather a "transmissible vaccine" capable of tearing infection barriers.
This way, the door to core zones opened a crack—cause for celebration.
"There are results." Suddenly Helen reported: "Thanks to the island's two resident elemental magics as reference, we compared details different from Fallen Zone thunderstorms, especially with Yeta's help... In short, confirmed: it's magical effects."
"But very unstable—perhaps there are rampage signs that even users themselves don't quite understand, thus unconsciously distorting electromagnetic environments, also counting as one driving force."
"That's too exaggerated."
The research group reaching conclusions couldn't be certain.
So far, magical destructive power was limited by world magical ceiling levels. Fallen Zones might not be—that place counted as forward version test servers. Possessing higher performable limits, making it unfathomable.
Jin Yulu dismissively said: "Doesn't matter. Having such magic is better—worth competing with."
"......Everyone rest first. Things here are concluded. I'm also going to sleep." Hibiscus rose and waved: "Maintain sailing speed. When Hermit Island reaches New Zealand, I'll come over. Everyone conserve energy—after that, we must finalize general offensive plans with Allied Forces."
With that, she alone returned to her island room, lying on soft bedding, feeling surrounded by warmth as thoughts became clearer.
T0-level magic!
Somehow she'd begun believing this theory too. No choice—though combat party discussions liked stirring controversy, had to admit that discourse was very precise with high communication efficiency.
Hibiscus reopened the system page. Sure enough, many netizens were also discussing content continuously updated these days:
【This thunderstorm photo the poster sent really explains the problem, confirmed】
【No way, bro, you're really doing major brawls】
【No need to hide and speak in riddles anymore. Anyway, elemental magic rarely carries Knowledge Poison—after all, originally related to proper physics. Just announce the answer directly】
【@Hyacinth】
She quickly replied: "Please don't announce yet. After all, if I deduce part of it, should be able to reduce poison pollution. Starting from this, the Church's information is that when super-large infection areas annexed islands, there were actually survivors, right? They've been surviving with difficulty, some possessing Magical Girl talent and awakening, rapidly strengthening in such environments. Elemental magic, lightning-related, T0 ranks."
Already possessing world-transcending magical theory plus so many samples around—Hibiscus would have difficulty not understanding.
No one understands magic better than me.
Backed by the entire Church plus optician think tank assistance, regarding knowledge reserves, reasoning ability, intelligence volume, and other aspects, she was unrivaled in the world.
【Fine, since the poster wants to play this answer-checking game, that's good—posts will be livelier. She understands operations. Back to business, my answer is correct—you guessed right, but can be bolder】
【When developed to late stages—no, with confirmed all-star worldview now, T0 won't be so relatively rare. Some niche classifications will also appear】
【Examples: Domain magic's "True Self Domain" like Small Universe, Momentary Realm】
【Technique magic's "Combat Specialization" like Boxer, Swordsman】
【Summoning magic's "Self-Summoning" like Soul Possession, Puppet Show】
【—These will multiply, very troublesome, starting with strong mechanisms or even more terrifying. You'll understand magical mysteries far exceed current ones. After all, by setting it represents one of Magic Girl of Light's ultimate powers—even fairies can't fathom it, uniquely belonging to one race's miracle】
【But the strongest 8 magics never wavered. Don't you think carefully about principles? This is very interesting】
Why?
This statement made everyone including Hibiscus who hadn't seen complete original works wonder. So-called magic was one of Planet Gaia's core powers, ranking strongest definitely wasn't simple. But always felt something was missing—not quite dominant enough.
Taking Magical Girl Hyacinth's Sands of Time as example, many people felt it led over Save Points but wasn't crushing enough. The latter's time-reversal-like effects were too cheating.
Many netizens claimed "manual Magical Girl Flowering Crabapple vs. original Time Priestess" methods.
So you avoided phantom boss Time Priestess, right?
【Remember the 8 personalities corresponding to 8 magics we discussed before? Actually you focus too much on power itself. Debating purely on magic will never conclude. Actually, who can become strongest—or rather, the path toward it—was already revealed】
【Time: Leadership type, Authority figure】
【Space: Order type, Perfectionist】
【Mythology: Cautious type, Loyalist】
【Elemental: Freedom type, Joyful person】
【Summoning: Cautious type, Achiever】
【Domain: Leadership type, Thinker】
【Technique: Freedom type, Romantic】
【Causality: Order type, Helper】
【—Those audience members who've been holding back from reading original works for theme post experience, do you see? Feel like they faintly correspond? Though original works never had official answers, combat analysts long stripped the logic clean. Why is strongest strongest? This has sufficient theoretical basis】
【Compatibility is precisely the kingly principle. Match yourself and you'll understand—each strongest magic absolutely fits its user...】