Only those who had personally fought intelligent subspecies Disaster Beasts understood the strangeness.
Initially, Hibiscus judged from total origin quantity that both sides should have been locked in a stalemate for some time. Instead, Obsidian was quickly defeated, obviously showing shortcomings when facing same-level strong opponents in output environments, rapidly losing under time magic's expanded advantages. The question was—was it merely due to incomplete incubation?
【Reply to Hyacinth: You're already very close to the answer. The reason is that only the Fallen Zone center counts as a true breeding ground with high-concentration magic environments】
【Like a premature baby placed directly in nuclear radiation—naturally restricted everywhere】
【Too bad it doesn't have a baby-flow system】
【In some sense, Hundred Eyes was the pig teammate who screwed over Obsidian. After all, from its perspective, it was just short of decisive advantage. Calling friends for help was definitely sufficient—prematurely awakening intelligent subspecies for support was the optimal solution. Facts proved it was right. Obsidian appeared and instantly killed 3 Seedling Stage members, nearly banning the save point win condition. At that time, Salvation Church was absolutely in panic】
【From tactical arrangements alone, no mistakes. But from strategic perspective, you should evacuate quickly, not let trump cards fight in vulnerable periods. Now look—poor adaptability】
【Purely got carried away. If Hegemon Disaster Beasts had been rational, it would've been fine】
【Most crucially, scheming didn't account for Boss Mu being able to briefly block Obsidian while covering retreat, then immediately breakthrough to Blooming Stage for counter-kills. So you completely failed to consider the threat of a time-type Magical Girl reaching ceiling level】
【Careless indeed】
【Hyacinth originally had 2 of 3 elements—going all out was completely enough for on-spot advancement. Plenty of escape routes】
【Though post-game analysis shows no real danger, I must give this section full marks. Currently in the main thread serialization, "Hyacinth VS Obsidian" is the most satisfying battle—extremely high value】
【Both sides exhausted needing decisive battle results. Look, directly delivered to the door—exhilarating fierce battle】
【Right, in that situation whoever won could easily sweep the opposition】
Recalling previous events, even Hibiscus felt afraid afterward. Don't look at how easily everyone spoke, as if she was deliberately holding back 2-element upgrades. Actually quite the opposite:
Must walk the strongest path.
When you first break through choosing complete 3 elements, it becomes very difficult to use 2 elements to break through shackles later—in some sense seeming to align with rules. Can't let you feel convenient to try casually. Right, indeed some Magical Girls thought they might as well try, resulting in being forever stuck at seedling stage.
Life's great sublimation path—how could it be so easy? So Hibiscus had no confidence in winning the war. If she hadn't achieved Sands of Time's new stage, she'd definitely have died by decapitation.
The silver-haired girl unconsciously touched her neck, hard not to associate with Obsidian's beheading strike—it indeed succeeded. Just that she overcame weaknesses through reaching Blooming Stage and regenerated, otherwise death would've been ugly.
To ensure a Blooming Stage Magical Girl's death, only 2 methods remained:
First, the invincible "attrition warfare" consuming until magic power, protective origin, etc. became unsustainable or insufficient strength, then explosive damage for kills.
Second, instantaneous ultra-large-area bodily damage—for example, over half the body parts being completely annihilated would also cause death.
Beyond this, curses, negative states, infections and other methods indeed existed, but ultimately achieving kills returned to these two—just much harder to kill than before.
No wonder.
So after Magical Girl Hyacinth's advancement, Obsidian fled—not just because victory was difficult, but because getting dragged down was easy. It wouldn't count on Disaster Beasts helping.
Just as Hibiscus pondered, netizens were similarly reviewing this campaign's peak duel:
【Replaying once, I discovered Boss Mu almost cut time stops into 0.1-second units when fighting the intelligent subspecies, trading for more uses and endurance—too brilliant. Could even be played this way. Even with vast power disparities, she dragged things out at the start. Seems Boss Mu changed combat philosophy—most situations using Sands of Time's most basic abilities ensuring effect priority, leaving output to origin and defense to Regalia. World's number one combat style】
【Many works have time-stop abilities, but often highlight the ability while the person's numerical stats are insufficient】
【A certain time-type Stand got crushed by one punch】
【Precisely because Magic Girl of Light has super-high basic stats across the board, insufficient mechanisms don't qualify for arrogance. Even mechanisms with weaknesses lower combat effectiveness. In the original early period, piles of small-fry antagonist Magical Girls were all handled by the pink-haired girl with fists】
【Obsidian has a kind of numerical beauty—incomplete state lacking special abilities yet could suppress everyone in the Church with pure origin alone, nearly team-wiping them】
【High-end match value】
【Time stops also come in many varieties—for example, those that break upon contact count as pretty garbage】
【Key depends on the user. If it were someone else, they might find it too weak and underdeveloped. But Hyacinth stubbornly decided it could definitely become strong】
【Exactly. Judging by strength feedback to users upon first awakening: Save Points greater than Sands of Time, Love and Hate greater than Fortune and Misfortune, Door-Knocker greater than Door Key—but facts are opposite】
【Same inside and outside the story. Back then I thought the protagonist and main villain's abilities were inferior to same-type ones】
【Users are the first-weighted factor, and you can't reverse-engineer magic development from results. For example, in Flowering Crabapple's hands, save points emphasize "time reversal," but in Hyacinth's hands it might not, because her personality leans more toward offense, authority, and control】
【Strongest magics get stronger in later stages. Now Sands of Time's 3rd stage skill Time Slice is already very powerful—instantly killed Obsidian】
【Why were there overlapping shadows when activated? Actually I didn't quite understand】
【Ask the person directly. @Hyacinth, is it time clones?】
Previously netizens always proactively explained things to Hibiscus, but today newcomers asked questions. Even battle-power analysts couldn't completely explain the abstract Sands of Time, so they simply asked the topic starter's opinion.
Me?
Even the first Blooming Stage Magical Girl had only advanced three days ago, constantly resting without time for research. Moreover, regarding magic understanding, she was inferior to optical scientists.
But Hibiscus still answered: "Time Slice currently has two uses. First, maintaining overlapping shadow states. That is, continuously cutting the main body's time without making the divided bodies independent—equivalent to incomplete clones that can substitute for taking attacks. I guess this is the damage immunity skill you mentioned. Second, complete clones. Short-term materialized clones that can only instantly activate one skill and cannot use stops."
"Beyond this, clone states can supply me with massive magic power—mana problems are basically solved."
Sands of Time's third stage felt complete to her, with logical chains interlocking and various skills echoing each other toward unity.
The strongest magic was showing its edge.
Time-type magic was already full of outstanding individuals. Reaching first place, Sands of Time indeed had merits—mechanism depth continuing even at Blooming Stage wasn't finished.
Hibiscus once envied how World Serpent and Fortune and Misfortune had some damage immunity skills, especially the latter's finding scapegoats to transfer damage was miraculous. This ecological niche skill was mouth-watering—now finally satisfied.
Worthy of the rarest type.
According to netizens' statement that "every strongest magic emerges from no fewer than 3 candidates"—what did this represent?
The entire Planet Gaia world had only 3 time-type magics existing simultaneously!
The moment this thought arose, her head split with pain like needles piercing her scalp to the brain. Fortunately, reaching Blooming Stage, Hibiscus's tolerance improved significantly, otherwise she might have cried out on the beach chair. Regardless, Knowledge Poison indicated correct guesses, and this magic type's numbers were top-secret level. If she hadn't already grasped information on 2 time-type magics, weakening the curse, her head might have exploded.
"Even if my head exploded, I probably wouldn't die now. Remaining Knowledge Poison could be filtered through Encyclopedia." Touching her forehead, Hibiscus had bold ideas.
Just thinking about it.
Knowledge Poison involved Planet Gaia world's underlying rules and wasn't easily fooled. Attempting to circumvent often backfired. So she withdrew her thoughts, instead focusing on netizens' discussions after getting answers—perhaps she could gain useful Sands of Time information:
【Right, consistent with original development—early Time Slice completed】
【Wait, regarding damage immunity mechanisms, shouldn't it be letting clones take damage and disappear? Wouldn't that mean permanent invincibility?】
【No, only one clone can take damage instantly】
【Plus small skills ultimately aren't save points. You can at most cut clones within time-stop ranges, so damage beyond 30 seconds is hard to eliminate—immunity isn't that absolute】
【Then what about White Hyacinth?】
【At the cost of being unable to use Time Slice skills, maintain one longer-lasting clone permanently—belongs to high-level Sands of Time application. Because the Time Priestess thought dispatching a chess piece to infiltrate Management Bureau was worthwhile, but didn't expect her naive period self getting along with Manjusaka and developing feelings】
【Immunity isn't useful, permanent clones cost too much—so these two aren't main uses. Slice skills are strong in instantaneous multiple bursts plus easing mana consumption problems】
【Letting different time-point clone overlays supply magic power is almost infinite—limitations only remain in time magic cooldowns】
【Not finished yet. You've seen the effect of 4 simultaneous clones activating Temporal Cross-Section—comparable to top-tier damage ultimates】
【A kind of beauty in strength】
【Main magic reaching Blooming Stage welcomes dramatic changes compensating for mechanism flaws—this actually counts as opportunity. For example, Hundred Demons Night Parade at Blooming Stage basically ignores daytime debuffs. So-called magic is casting off burdens to embrace strength】
【Some seemingly flawed magics, as long as you keep putting points into skills to high levels, will still qualitatively change. Moreover, every bit of the master's journey influences it to some degree】
【Strongest magics are strong because each stage shows obvious skill growth—meticulous logic, seamlessly fitted】
【Surprises everywhere for the strong】
【If put in games, this counts as high proficiency. I'd directly start with Hyacinth's time-stop stacking slice buffs for immunity plus bursts, Protea as shield support, tanking damage gathering resistances, Manjusaka full-attribute enhancement maxing attack/crit/hit, Dandelion control plus large-area damage finishing targets... pity only 4 people. If adding Tulip's guaranteed first strike and ultra-high group damage, simply invincible】
【I declare the simulated worldline Salvation Church galaxy battleship assembled—currently available lineup's first configuration】
【Mountain-guarding tiger, agile leopard, far-seeing eagle, battle-skilled wolf, door-watching dog—all assembled】
【Leave one spot for the gluttonous pig】
【With the Church's current influence across all Planet Gaia, only the Holy City Association can maintain suppression. But don't forget Hermit Island always acts collectively, consistently at full strength】
...Seeing everyone's praise, Hibiscus felt embarrassed.
Originally she just wanted to ask about Sands of Time's current development direction, but somehow it became strength discussions. Not wrong though—precisely because netizens witnessed numerous magics, they recognized strongest-tier strength.
She'd already gained sufficient suggestions. According to battle-power analysts, development was indeed correct—should emphasize clone support and damage roles.
Damage?
Hibiscus recalled the scene of each clone activating Temporal Cross-Section fusion with lingering fear. A whimsical experiment turned out incredibly terrifying in power. Fortunately in the vast South Pacific—on land, wouldn't entire nations feel intense aftershocks?
She suddenly had inspiration—didn't this count as Sands of Time compensating for large-area, high-damage skill shortcomings?
Also aligned with "higher-level magic increasingly compensates for mechanism flaws" development routes. Now Sands of Time just needed more master experimentation plus proficiency—comprehensive strength would welcome new levels.
Current trajectory could be summarized as "point creates line, line creates surface" then "surface creates volume," right? With this thought, Hibiscus's thinking completely opened.
Was the so-called Sands of Time's first destructive skill Space-Time Banishment related to this?
Simple elimination revealed—since Time Slice corresponded to Blooming Stage, wouldn't Space-Time Banishment correspond to Fruition Stage? Then Withering Stage needed insight into magic mysteries, finally achieving permanent effect states? Right, should be correct. The Tranquil Waters and Concealing Winds surrounding Hermit Island protecting it from invasion had persisted through ages without withering—from previous era top Magical Girls' full efforts.
Not far off.
Hibiscus knew the direction of effort—at least better than being headless flies. The rest relied on steady progress.
No need to ask about magic matters for now. With her current high development realm, understanding more information would likely trigger Knowledge Poison—probably counterproductive.
One crucially important matter remained worth noting.
She uploaded a photo showing verdant magic power covering the sky above Fallen Zone center, obviously conflicting with and even suppressing dark magic power. The atmosphere was grand and vast, giving frightening impressions. Without fairy magic suppression initially, who knew what else might have popped out of the incubation grounds?
Regardless, Hibiscus wanted to understand more about the World Tree Realm—after all, they were powerful allies and great benefactors.
"This time the Church was helped again by fairies, and I clearly felt intense spatial fluctuations. So now we can reveal specific details about fairy descent? I need to plan next steps in advance."
So far, Magical Girl Hyacinth counted as walking one step, seeing two steps, thinking three steps ahead to ensure survival in dangerous situations.
Intelligence was indispensable.
Estimates suggested officials already knew through prophecy and divination that fairies would descend soon—the Church absolutely couldn't fall behind.
Hibiscus uploaded several more photos about fairy magic power while describing detailed processes.
Though World Tree Realm's power vanished instantly, it still left traces, at least proving world barriers were more fragile, representing a series of consequences. Salvation Church couldn't help but heighten vigilance.
After a while.
Comments indeed continuously refreshed with numerous speculations appearing:
【Calculating from timing, about right—fairies should descend next. Now Ancient Holy Relics are also reviving, Obelisk hiding deeper, while correspondingly Rangers begin activity... truly chaotic enough. Why do all events collide together?】
【Originally several delaying wars in the original work were forcibly accelerated by Hyacinth. Various events easily tangle together—this is the stage I anticipate】
【Good good good, getting exciting. I want to see the Church claiming first organization throne amid disputes】
【Don't go off-topic】
【@Hyacinth, previously we all thought fairies would descend in the second half of the year, but after such huge commotions from Church/Holy Relics/Disaster Beasts, magic power spread rapidly, improving average concentrations—everything became easier. Therefore we believe critical points will occur in May-June, not far from your current April. Prepare well—world magic power will improve somewhat then】
【Correspondingly, all magic-related creature restrictions will lift slightly—like becoming 0.5x stronger. Future wars will have even greater destructive power】
【Bluntly speaking, have Five-Color Narcissus Company stockpile medicine and increase production lines. Infection diseases won't only come from Disaster Beasts going forward】
【Damn, you're not saying airborne transmission? Too scary】
【Yes】
The ironclad news made Hibiscus's heart tighten—trouble ahead. In some sense she was a beneficiary, but Planet Gaia world would definitely have problems—probably scenes of ordinary people going berserk after infection diseases.
Imagine thousands of madmen running through streets—what would happen?
Actually, previous serious infection cases among ordinary people had similar manifestations, just extremely rare. Now you're saying it'll become normal? For Magical Girls living in normal order, this wasn't good news either—the world's underlying logic would be shaken.
Opportunities in chaos—if mass-popularizing infection disease specific medicines could delay things, then she was duty-bound, conveniently earning hugely profitable business.
How much use would money have in the future?
An awkward question surfaced in Hibiscus's mind—after all, major events would follow one after another.
She couldn't help asking: "So high infection disease incidence is coming? Won't that shake normal social order? Did we work so hard to repel Catastrophe Disaster Beastss only to delay collapse?"
Though chronic collapse and sudden collapse were worlds apart, it was still regrettable. Witnessing trends beneficial to herself harming everything was indeed a strange experience.
【Very regrettably replying to Miss White Hyacinth—correct】
【Choosing lesser of two evils. The reason for fully stopping Catastrophe Disaster Beastss was laying groundwork for several upcoming plans, but couldn't change overall trends. Because historically, Planet Gaia welcomed increased magic power concentrations. A great transformation just began—actually during Light Magic main storyline periods, it wasn't so severe. Mass deaths would take at least a century】
【Ranger: Rainy season's coming】
【Trend-wise, Planet Gaia world will undergo species-extinction-level life succession—nature's rule evolution】
【Those are too distant. Actually original work's mid-period handling stretched timelines alleviating tragedy. Mass extinction is still early—species iteration isn't completable in mere centuries】
【Urgent? Urgency is useless. Anyway it's chronic pain lasting until numbness】
【Speaking irresponsibly, completely unrelated to Magical Girls—just sit back and benefit】
【Like mammals replacing dinosaurs—natural, manifest destiny. History chose Salvation Church】
Hibiscus sighed.
Indeed not her turn to worry—this generation wouldn't experience overly intense shocks, just slow knife cuts gradually changing situations.
Of course, with her current life expectancy, living several centuries wasn't difficult—would encounter it eventually. But still that saying—thinking too long-term was meaningless. Originally Magical Girls won not just through powerful strength, but also trends.
As beneficiaries, Salvation Church needn't act humble after gaining advantages—just witness with peace of mind.
Didn't piles of smart official forces understand? They understood too well, but also knew intervening in century-later matters was difficult—just surviving in the present wasn't easy. So the grand recapture war was actually improving current environments, or counting as demonstrating courage for future humans.
Forget it.
Ultimately Hibiscus wasn't someone so concerned with world welfare—now could only care for companions within sight.
Magical Girls remained naive. Don't look at how the Church had systematically cultivated elite backbone batches—actually piles of newcomers were on the road preparing to join the era's torrent.
Next, she'd have Elsa, Minase Kaori and others worry more about recruiting newcomers. But before that, must understand fairy movements—because they naturally attracted Magical Girls with aligned interests.
How to put it? Potential competitive feelings.
She continued asking: "Fairy descent timing has estimates. Where's the location?"
Can't be the whole world suddenly swarming with fairies—everything emphasized gradual progress. Moreover, world barriers weren't so fragile.
【Later fairies indeed frequently appeared everywhere, even integrating into society to some degree. But asking about first large-scale descent points, there's only one: Congo rainforest】
【Wait, why suddenly such a primitive ecological location?】
【African grand stage—come if you have the life】
【Someone should have guessed—the previous Catastrophe Disaster Beasts Blood Tsunami was indeed closely related to dark fairies. Previously they broke world barriers leaving traces. Tracking fairies discovered weak points, so from South Africa to Congo was the optimal breakthrough. Actually in original work's same period, everyone didn't know these connections—later mentioning Jin Ruochu's background connected them...】
【You needn't continue. I know once you start speaking, Knowledge Poison contamination becomes deadly】
【Anyway, time and place are known—just wait by the stump. Best to directly contact fairies. Leading them is Julius—she's happy to cooperate with Magical Girls. You've met once】
【@Hyacinth, Holy City Association views fairies as a path to longevity, harboring strange interests. Don't let them make contact from the start】
Hibiscus's mouth twitched—what timing indeed.
If she remembered correctly, Africa had two Ancient Holy Relics permanently stationed due to experiencing catastrophe main battlefields. Besides Pharaoh, another was in South African regions.