A faint smile touched Leon’s lips.
Controlling her emotions and the words on her tongue, she turned into a slender figure covered in blazing white Holy Light the instant the Mana rushed in.
This time, her body remained enveloped in Holy Light, and the Mana absorbed into her brought a sense of fullness and blazing expansion.
However…
Leon felt that the sensation of the blazing power inside her body charging about wildly had lessened considerably.
Moreover, with this experience, she could vaguely sense that the Mana was under the constraint of her will.
The feeling was at least thirty percent better than last time!
Before the instinct to completely finish the transformation could swallow her reason, Leon forcibly cut off the Transformation Phrase and locked the violent energy within her body.
The graceful dance instantly turned into a crisp standing posture.
The girl covered in Holy Light had a sharp gaze, ready to strike.
Then…
She turned into a phantom and charged at the two pouncing Dolls!
This time, Leon hadn’t just mindlessly clicked “yes” and rushed in recklessly.
She thought for a long time, forming countless conjectures and plans based on her previous two experiences.
Then, she obediently got a good night’s sleep, ate a meal, and activated herself with her daily exercise to ensure her mental state remained at its peak before choosing to start the mission again.
For her third chance, she chose neither to run around blindly exploring the map nor to try and see how far she could go without using any Mana at all.
Even with infinite chances to make mistakes, there were still matters of varying urgency.
After all, the most important thing for a Magical Girl was, of course, the transformation.
And just now, every transformation had ended in a loss of control and self-destruction.
No matter how one thought about it, there was something wrong with this!
There was a high probability that some crucial link was broken, preventing the transformation from being completed.
So this time, Leon’s plan was to verify the most critical conjecture: The transformation mechanism of this body!
During her second transformation, she had interfered with the Mana in order to change the Transformation Phrase and movements, which made her notice something strange.
Did this mean that the Transformation Phrase, movements, and emotions could truly exert a great degree of interference on the Mana, and even the transformation process itself?
Of course, Leon couldn’t forget that in all sorts of fantasy works, the lines and actions of various spellcasting characters before using their abilities were necessary means to guide the mind and emotions, allowing power to be wielded as if it were an extension of one’s own arm.
This even gave rise to various advanced techniques such as modifying or even omitting the incantation, symbolizing greater control.
This was also recorded in [Bleach], [Naruto], and various ancient chronicles!
Since there were infinite chances to make mistakes, there was no reason this body couldn’t try in this direction.
After all, the original owner “Momo” might have had a soft and cute personality, but the current driver was Leon.
If he were to forcibly imitate those soft and shameful movements…
Leon could even remain calm when his Magic Rod disappeared, so he could indeed manage not to reject it, but no matter what, there was still a gap in mindset compared to the original Momo.
But if he were to change it directly to a completely masculine tough-guy style, the leap would be too great, and his physical instincts would also reject it.
If mana could truly be interfered with like that, it would probably explode even faster.
So this time, she chose the modified compromise plan she had listed herself.
Retain the girl’s characteristics and “cute and lively” nature, but shave off the overly affected parts, slightly shifting toward a “cool and capable” style.
The girl’s light body shone with Holy Light that began to turn red, instantly crossing paths with the pouncing Doll.
Without any suspense, the first two monsters couldn’t even make any decent counterattacks.
The Butler’s chest was smashed open, while the Maid’s head was kicked to pieces by a high-pressure split from those beautiful legs.
“The line of thinking is viable.” Leon stretched this slender body that was youthful and beautiful yet far more powerful than his original one, stood still in place, and exhaled a hot breath.
Hoo— Haa— Feeling the scorching mana that began to boil and run wild in her chest again because the transformation was interrupted, causing the whole body to start aching intensely, the girl’s lips curled up.
Following this body’s instinct, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and her emotions became active along with the mana.
This transformation should allow for personalized customization within the “character persona” of this body.
Moreover, as long as the emotions are genuine enough, making partial changes to the lines should be fine…
In fact, it might even be better this way.
Because for a Magical Girl from any world, the more sincere and true to one’s heart she is, the better!
The footsteps hadn’t ceased as three figures swiftly pounced from the black mist.
Seemingly startled by Leon’s momentum just now, the second wave of attacks followed immediately.
This time, there were three enemies.
A new Butler and Maid Doll, and a relatively short Maid holding a broom.
However, Leon gave the new Doll holding the long broom no chance to strike.
Her body moved like lightning, and braving the swelling pain of the mana boiling within her, she swiftly charged toward the opponent.
Swoosh!
Her Holy Light-covered left hand formed a blade, cleanly severing the Apprentice Maid’s neck.
Yet, at this very moment.
The critical point was reached once again.
The balance of mana was shattered, and flames seemed to coalesce inside her chest, burning fiercely as if they would scorch right through her ribcage.
Yet, the excruciating pain failed to bring even a hint of surprise to the girl’s eyes.
She forcibly swallowed the scorching heat, utilizing centrifugal force from her spin to barely maintain a form that hadn’t warped, as her right fist shattered the Butler’s skull.
Squeltch.
A rusted kitchen knife stabbed into her waist from behind.
Blood gushed.
But the next second, that beautiful, slender hand—covered in Holy Light, as if it had only ever played musical instruments and never done heavy labor—was pressed against the Maid Doll’s featureless face.
Then, she squeezed.
Crack!
The Maid swayed and fell, while the girl swayed as she rose.
A smile bloomed on her face as she opened her arms wide, looking at the several figures closing in again from the black mist.
At this moment, her beautiful eyes shone with an expression of absolute fearlessness, filled with hope and joy.
“This game is really interesting, isn’t it?” “Are you ready?!” (<ゝω·)~☆ A crimson mushroom cloud soared into the sky.
– [10th Descent] The stinging pain lasted only a moment before it ended.
The girl didn’t even wait for the black mist to clear before predicting where the first wave of monsters would appear and dashing out.
“Smile, full marks.” “Courage, one hundred percent!” Mana surged, and the youthful, beautiful figure lit up with red and white Holy Light, passing by two Dolls in an instant.
They fell silently.
The same happened the moment the second wave appeared, as three Dolls were insta-killed in a flash.
The girl chanted, “Let my mood burn together with the flames!” If the first transformation was like being drowned by an unrestrainable raging tide, then this time it was like steering a light boat through that same raging tide.
Although the tide remained fierce and the boat was in a perilous situation, the boatman became more and more at ease.