Chapter 425: The Day of Decision

In the underground base, on the 817th floor, in the entertainment area, an artificial sun hung high in the sky, casting colorful shadows on streets filled with surreal buildings, while a bustling crowd made up of AI filled the space.

The central shopping mall looked like a transparent skyscraper, its outer shell covered in irregular rainbow scales, as if it held fragments of dreams.

At the top of the building, there were huge wine glasses, overflowing with champagne bubbles that slid down the walls, and just before hitting the ground, they floated back up in the air; under the glow of neon lights at night, it would be the most dazzling feature.

Recently, even among the teams that scored full marks on the first day, very few magical girls had time to visit this dreamlike mall to happily spend their earnings and contribution points.

But today, there were rare visitors here.

In the center of the first floor of the mall, next to the escalator to the upper levels, there was an exquisite virtual fountain, a holographic map showing the layout of the entire building, and rows of smart robots carrying shopping bags.

Chu Wang Shu’s pretty face was flushed with embarrassment as she nervously stood to one side, wearing a fairy-tale themed Lolita dress with a classical touch. The thick luxurious fabric was held out by a petticoat, accentuating its fluffy and elegant texture.

The girl wore a shining pearl necklace around her neck, and a big bow on her back made a strong impression. Her dark red gloves hugged her fingers closely, and the lines of her arms made her fingers look playful as she attempted to lift her dress, catching people’s eyes.

Charlotte examined her daughter with satisfaction and sometimes asked her to twirl around. With frosty blue eyelashes blinking, her charming face was full of bright smiles. She kept taking pictures with her camera, making the lovely daughter’s heart race.

After a little while,

The Last Diva finally let her lovely daughter go, nodding with pride and saying,

“Yes, she is definitely my daughter; she looks super cute in anything!”

“Right, Little Xuan?”

Xie Qingxuan tilted her head to look at Little Moon, whose face was even redder, and honestly nodded,

“She’s cute; I also want to find someone like her.”

Chu Wang Shu couldn’t hold back her feelings. Usually, things were fine, but when Mama Charlotte was around, her teammates all became extra polite, which made her feel very stressed.

If it weren’t for this, she wouldn’t quietly use her powers to control shadows, waiting in the mission hall for 24 hours to instantly accept the highest difficulty task as soon as it became available.

Tang Liuli: ?

Unfortunately, even a certain green-eyed cat about to cry did not affect the terrifying efficiency of completing tasks.

There was no choice; even without revealing her “Calamity God” mode, she could challenge most captain-level witches. With the blessings of Sister Xie, Sister Miyuki, and Mama Charlotte, who was in full bloom during the Sea City battle, she had access to the most powerful forces of the Countermeasures Bureau.

Even Sister Liuli, when serious, was at the level of a captain-level witch, and her Patronus Magic and techniques were excellent for detailed battlefield reconnaissance, interrogation, and tracking, greatly speeding up task efficiency.

—Hmm, she could vaguely guess that the other party was working hard purely to finish work early.

In short, the pure white collaborating with Charlotte was a unique and extraordinary force known worldwide.

The chaos, schemes, and minions of the twelve “Calamity Gods,” along with the manifestations of their powers, were usually no match for them and would soon meet their end.

So, when Dream Weaver Rabbit realized she had underestimated the battle power of these magical girls, she tossed in a bunch of difficult tasks that shouldn’t have been in the competition, making the enemies they faced increasingly outrageous.

In a way, this was like a new soldier being thrust into the center of a battlefield, where they started to fight fiercely. The process of their mission often left a strong impression on a group of witches, and the level of abstraction was obvious.

Chu Wang Shu tugged at her skirt and said:

“Sister Miyuki should be bringing Liuli soon; I’ll go change my clothes first.”

Charlotte was a bit unhappy to hear this; she puffed her cheeks and said,

“Why change? It looks so cute; Mommy hasn’t seen enough of it yet.”

Fortunately, after six months of playful teasing from Ideal State and gradually getting used to it, the lovely daughter began to resist her mother’s coaxing less and less. After hesitating for a moment, she “gathered her courage” and decisively turned away, immediately using a changing spell to switch back to a simple, comfortable dress.

Instead of acting childishly, Charlotte found the “rebellious phase” of Little Moon even cuter. She slid her hand, and the space opened like a zipper, revealing a curved doorway that took all the shopping bags from the robot’s hands, clearing the way for their shopping trip.

At the entrance of the mall, Little Sakura arrived with the uninterested Liuli Cat. From a distance, she waved cheerfully and seemed very eager to start the mission.

“Charlotte, Little Shu, Little Xuan, I brought Liuli here!”

Chu Wang Shu’s small face was serious as she nodded and said:

“Then let’s go.”

Charlotte zipped up her jacket, opened a space gate with a smile, and said to Liuli firmly:

“Liuli, don’t look sad. There are surely many innocent people somewhere in the world waiting for our help!”

Xie Qingxuan comforted in a few words:

“If we defeat the enemies, we can return quickly.”

Kirimi Miyuki nodded in agreement:

“This is a mission to defeat them. The Mortal Realm Barrier is ready. We can teleport over and use our powers together. Isn’t that convenient?”

No, what battle frenzy?

The green-eyed cat looked confused, and her complaints were quickly silenced by someone. After that, the other little idols helped her walk into the space gate, and they were instantly transported above London, where they looked down at a giant centipede climbing the iron tower, lost in thought.

In the next moment, a sharp light like a sword ripped through the clouds, a dark ball of particles swallowed half the city, and a terrifying shadow covered the sky, shaking the very fabric of space and appearing behind the iron tower, roaring as it bit down.

Kirimi Miyuki’s counterfeit Mythical Armament.

Xie Qingxuan’s law granted Blessing Level A.

One of the countless powers Chu Wang Shu tested for the first time.

With these three forces combined, before Tang Liuli could take action, the giant centipede melted into dust, and the remaining wreckage was sucked into the space gate that appeared, causing the mirrored space created by the Mortal Realm Barrier to shatter.

The mission was complete.

Charlotte clapped her hands and said:

“Alright, now we can go after the next target!”

Tang Liuli raised her hand to ask a question:

“Can I ask, how many more targets are there?”

Chu Wang Shu carefully took out a tablet, counted, and said:

“Just now there were 29, now there are 32.”

Tang Liuli’s brain was overwhelmed.

No, didn’t we just defeat one? How can there be more?

Charlotte kindly explained:

“Because Little Shu said that taking on tasks that way is too slow, I just asked Little Dream for special permission and reserved all Grade C and above targets, which refresh randomly around the world. We can earn points quickly!”

Is this about how fast we can earn points?

Tang Liuli was so angry she felt like a pufferfish. She could not hold back any longer, and today she would take the attitude of the most experienced mentor in the group, ready to teach these careless “younger ones” a lesson!

However, before the cat could get upset, Little Moon nodded and said:

“With Mama Charlotte’s time and space magic, we were the fastest rescue team in the world. Together with Liuli’s [Divine Control] for searching, even in a land full of ruins, we could find all the survivors who had not lost hope!”

Tang Liuli’s spell was interrupted. Her green eyes blinked, her thick eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings, and she became confused, caught in a tangle of emotions about whether to feel happy about the compliments.

Chu Wang Shu continued:

“I knew this was hard. If it were just about advancing or even winning first place, our current scores would have been enough.”

“But if we had this ability and chose to stay in the safest place just to have fun, ignoring the tragedies and sufferings caused by the chaos in the forbidden area, then we were not qualified idols, let alone qualified magical girls.”

Tang Liuli felt as if she had been struck by lightning. What was happening? Why was Little Shu so deeply aware? It made her feel ashamed.

Kirimi Miyuki strongly agreed, her expression serious, filled with passion and joy for being able to help the innocent, and she nodded in agreement:

“Little Shu is right; magic, just like our stage, should bring joy, healing, and redemption to fans, to the audience, and to the world. If we do not give our all to share it, the shine on stage would only be a momentary glow.”

“I wanted to help more people. I wanted to save more people. No matter how tired or hard it was, it did not matter.”

Little Sakura finished speaking, smiled gently, and said with all her heart:

“The reason we could bloom so quickly was because of the light given to us by our fans when we debuted. I wanted to share this strength I received from them with more people! Everyone should feel the same, right?”

Tang Liuli nodded with tearful eyes, deciding to keep quiet. She even began to fear that this sakura girl, glowing with holy light, would ask her if she felt the same way.

Xie Qingxuan remained indifferent, similar to Liuli who had forgotten someone, she had lost her original dream of becoming a magical girl. Her spirit had been stripped of its fiery parts, leaving only a primal urge to destroy the Disaster group.

Therefore, no matter how tiring the tasks were, it was like before when she practiced dancing in the studio for 18 hours straight; for her, it was simply a change of focus in her obsessive passion.

In fact, compared to those times, now, running around killing disaster beasts felt even more relieving.

“Let’s go.” This was her answer.

Charlotte looked at her increasingly mature daughter with relief, opened a new space gate, and said:

“Although the mission was very important, everyone needed to ensure they were in the best mental state. The stage in a week was the key moment when we could truly try to save the world.”

Chu Wang Shu nodded seriously, showing that she understood.

Because of Pure White’s impressive work efficiency and strength beyond that of the new generation of magical girls, the leader of the Donghong region was basically locked in early.

Dream Weaver Rabbit simply informed them that morning that the core goal of the “Dazzling Stage” project was to use world-class Shining Magic to hold off the Calamity God longer than Pure White, so they could prepare themselves mentally.

Tang Liuli did not want to do tasks back-to-back because the news from Dream Weaver Rabbit made her start to feel anxious and afraid, making her reluctant to waste any energy for fear of messing up later.

There was no way around it; this terrifying scenario of saving the world on stage was still too overwhelming for a socially anxious idol.

However, for the others, doing tasks felt more like warming up. The more they fought the Disaster group, the stronger their belief in going on stage became, even ignoring the limits of their magic, which continued to rise rapidly.

So, including the brave and resolute Cat Cat, everyone stepped into the space gate together, teleporting to the next battlefield and starting their almost nonstop journey of battle.

Three days quickly passed, and in the major competition areas of Donghong and Sacred, most teams had already advanced and started taking on tasks from the Countermeasures Bureau to earn points.

Although both ranking lists displayed a number that was absolutely unbeatable, making it impossible to feel defeated, this did not stop them from competing fiercely with the other teams.

The live final online had actually entered the Stage Battle of the third round, with amazing and dazzling effects from [Heart Flow], matched with the live commentary by Dream Weaver Rabbit, keeping the audience outside very engaged.

This deliberately created show effect turned the final, which had no suspense, into an exciting and intense atmosphere.

After all, compared to a straightforward and boring speed run by the Demon King, the back-and-forth, suspenseful, and thrilling path of the King’s Way was much more relatable and emotional for the audience.

Because of this, even The Last Diva, who was seen as the uncrowned champion and destined to win, was edited and guided by public opinion to create a group of formidable opponents that could not be underestimated.

Phrases like “Magic is magic, and the stage is the stage; the two cannot be treated the same,” “My [Heart Flow] has surpassed its limit, witnessing supreme brilliance,” “Charlotte? One person against our five, how arrogant,” “The bones in the grave are not to be feared,” and “You are the challenger,” quickly spread among online users.

This series of internet memes rapidly gained popularity.

In the end, 《Dazzling Stage》 tried to instill hope and expectations in various fans with cheers of “We will win!” making them begin to think that Charlotte might not be guaranteed a victory, which made the final even more interesting.

Don’t worry about whether it’s true or not; the audience’s emotions were really stirred up.

As for the Donghong competition area, although pure white’s strength had never been underestimated, on one hand, the live event did not receive much attention, so no one could truly experience the shocking power of the teams, making it hard to judge the real difference in strength.

On the other hand, the special effect of their [Heart Flow] was indeed a bit plain, which made the other teams’ overly flashy [Heart Flow] appear much more impressive during the live broadcast.

Therefore, without needing any special marketing, the people of the Donghong Federation did not see pure white as a team that could consistently win the championship.

And in this atmosphere, with everyone watching and feeling that “the outcome is uncertain, we don’t know who will be the dark horse,” the day of the final showdown between the two major competition areas finally arrived!