54: Chapter 54 Time Manipulation, The Magical Girl Who Smashes Warudo

The moment the word "Activate" was spoken—

Su Bai felt himself engulfed by light.

It wasn't the eerie pink-black light from before, which looked like a strawberry milkshake mixed with abyss sludge. It was a pure, warm light, as if someone had compressed an entire pink nebula into this room.

Then, a voice echoed in his mind.

It wasn't Kyubey's.

It was the system's. Cold. Mechanical. Yet every word felt as if it were etched into the depths of his soul.

[Critical Refund—Magical Girl Transformation (Side-Effect-Free Version)—Activated.]

[Detected host's Causality Weight: Upper-Medium.]

[Detected host has not yet signed a Causality Contract.]

[Before the transformation is complete, the host has one opportunity to make a wish. The wish will determine the host's exclusive magic and combat style.]

[Note: The tier of the wish is limited by the host's Causality Weight. Wishes exceeding the carrying capacity of the host's causality will be automatically downgraded or rejected.]

[Please make a wish.]

Su Bai closed his eyes.

The light was still surging. He could feel his body being rewoven by an indescribable power—not the crude logic of the previous seven-axis Space Folding that stuffed Kyubey into a card, but something gentler, more delicate, as if someone were spinning yarn out of starlight.

But he had no time to bask in it.

He was thinking about his wish.

What should he wish for?

“To become the strongest”—too vague. The system would reject it.

“To gain invincible power”—not enough causality. Earlier, Kyubey had even rejected Li Qingyue's clone's "severing of spatial restraints".

“To return to my original world”—definitely not enough causality.

He suddenly remembered something.

He was the creator of Kyubey.

He was the designer of this card.

He was the one who stuffed the 720-degree spatial distortion into the card, who crafted that cat using 2.05 million worth of materials, and who personally carved every line of the Causality Contract framework into the card's circuits.

He was the creator.

A creator making a wish—surely there should be some privileges, right?

"...System."

[Please speak.]

“I wish—”

Su Bai took a deep breath.

“I want Akemi Homura's exact abilities.”

As for why he didn't ask for Madoka's... it was simple. He couldn't afford it; at least at this stage, he absolutely couldn't bear the causality of Madokami. Meanwhile, Akemi Homura was a bug. Her Time Manipulation was something she had from the very beginning, and could even be considered standard for a Magical Girl.

The system fell silent for a beat.

[Analyzing wish—]

[“Akemi Homura”—from "Puella Magi Madoka Magica". Exclusive Magic: Time Manipulation. Armament: Time Shield (with storage space). Combat Style: Non-magical arsenal + Time Stop tactics.]

[Evaluating—Causality Weight assessment—]

[Evaluation passed.]

[The wish is within the host's causality carrying capacity. Reason: As the creator of the Kyubey Card, the host possesses conceptual priority over the "Magical Girl" system. This wish is a targeted selection within the system, not a blind wish.]

[Wish granted.]

Su Bai let out a sigh of relief.

Then, the light exploded.

Not outward.

But inward.

All the light—pink, gold, and silvery-white—poured back into his body. It entered through his fingertips, rushed along his blood vessels, converged at his heart, and then, like a supernova—

Collapsed.

Boom!!

Everyone in the reception room simultaneously raised their hands to shield their eyes.

The light dissipated.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Quieter than when the Shadow Demon appeared. Quieter than when Li Qingyue tore through space and descended. Quieter than when Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan sat down on her Flame Throne.

Because the person standing in the very center of the room—

No, wait.

That girl.

She was about half a head shorter than the original Su Bai. A cascade of pitch-black hair poured from her shoulders down to her waist, the ends slightly curling. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent, and her features were as delicate as if someone had sketched them on porcelain with the finest brushstrokes.

She wore a dark-themed Magical Girl combat outfit—not a pink, lacy tutu, but a simple black-and-gray dress. The hem reached her knees, bordered by a faint purple pattern. A deep red ribbon was tied at her collar. On her feet were a pair of over-the-knee dark gray boots, each adorned with a purple crystal at the top.

Buckled onto her left wrist was a small, diamond-shaped shield. A miniature hourglass was embedded in the center of the shield, its silver sand grains flowing slowly.

On the back of her right hand, a purple soul gem shimmered with a faint, cold light under the illumination.

The girl opened her eyes.

Deep purple eyes.

She looked down at her hands.

She turned her palms over.

Clenched her fists.

And turned them over again.

“...Holy crap.”

The girl spoke.

Her voice was crisp, with a slightly sweet, youthful tone.

“Why did even my voice change?!”

No one in the room answered her.

Because everyone was staring at her.

Lin Xiao's Ice Bow Card had slipped out of her hand at some point, bouncing twice on the floor before coming to a stop in an odd corner. She didn't notice at all. She just stared at Su Bai—at that girl—her mouth opening and closing, closing and opening.

Chairman Lin's expression had transitioned from 'the ecstasy of surviving a disaster' to 'am I fucking dreaming?'. His lips trembled silently, likely mouthing 'holy shit'.

Director He Jin's glasses slid to the tip of his nose. He was still clutching the analysis recorder in his hand, but had absolutely no intention of turning it on. He just stared at Su Bai, as if trying to confirm whether he was hallucinating.

Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan raised an eyebrow.

“—Oh?”

She sized Su Bai up, a trace of undisguised admiration flashing in her amber eyes. “You look way better than I imagined. I thought you'd turn into some pink-themed thing. This color scheme is nice, very tasteful.”

Then she turned her head to look at Li Qingyue.

“Old hag, what do you—”

She stopped.

Because Li Qingyue was no longer in her original spot.

Li Qingyue was standing right in front of Su Bai.

Less than half a meter away.

Her twelve-to-thirteen-year-old porcelain doll face was tilted up slightly—since Su Bai was about half a head taller than her after transforming. Her crimson eyes stared straight at Su Bai's face, wide and round, her mouth slightly agape. That expression of hers, usually as cold as an auroral glacier—

Shattered.

“—So cute.”

Li Qingyue said.

Her voice was very soft, so soft it seemed to escape her lips unconsciously.

Then she realized what she had just said. A visible blush crept over her cheeks. She abruptly took a step back, turning her head away and covering half her face with her sleeve. But the tips of her ears were still bright red.

“Cough. I mean—the transformation effect is decent.”

Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan clutched her stomach.

“Hahahahahahaha!! Old Hag Qingyue, just now—did you just blush?!”

“I did not.”

“You did!”

“You saw wrong.”

“Could my Tier 9 vision see wrong? That expression of yours just now—oh my, little Qingyue, did you want to hug her?”

“ Xiao Hongyan. Watch your words..”

Li Qingyue's voice regained its coldness, but the tips of her ears remained red.

As for Su Bai—

Su Bai didn't notice the bickering between the two Supremes.

Her attention was entirely focused on her left hand.

To be precise—the inside of the shield on her left wrist.

“...Holy crap.”

She muttered under her breath.

Inside the shield—below the hourglass—was a storage space. Not metaphorically, but literally. The space wasn't huge, about the volume of a small warehouse, but it was already packed with items.

It wasn't empty.

It was pre-loaded by the system.

Hand grenades, smoke grenades, flashbangs, demolition charges, several firearms of different models, a mortar, two rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and even something that looked like a multiple-launch rocket system vehicle were stuffed inside—shrunk by some spatial compression technology to a size that fit perfectly into the storage space.

“What the actual fuck—”

Su Bai browsed through the space inside the shield. With every page she turned, her pupils dilated in shock. “anti-ship missiles?! Why are there anti-ship missiles in this shield?! System, did you get something wrong??”

[No mistake. Akemi Homura's standard arsenal configuration has been fully imported. The weapon list automatically unlocks based on the host's current magic level. Some high-firepower weapons require the host's level to increase before they can be used.]

Wait, that's not right! Akemi Homura's ability is only to manipulate time; she doesn't actually have weapons. It could even be said that her weapons were purely stolen. This stuff isn't something a Magical Girl is born with.

Wait, my wish was to have Akemi Homura's abilities, which means it was benchmarked against a certain state of hers. Clearly, the system included the state of "Akemi Homura looting the military arsenal" as part of her abilities...

Hmm...

That actually seems pretty good?

“What can I use right now?”

[Pistols, hand grenades, smoke grenades, flashbangs.]

“What about the mortar?!”

[Also usable.]

“And the rocket launcher?!”

[Also usable.]

“The anti-ship missiles?!”

[...Use with caution.]

Su Bai took a deep breath.

Forget it.

She wouldn't need such ridiculous things right now anyway.

Then, she began to sense other changes in her body.

First was her physical fitness. She gave a light hop—and almost hit the ceiling. It wasn't an exaggeration; it was real. The body of a Magical Girl completely crushed the original Su Bai, who had been a blank-slate Card Creator, in terms of strength and speed. She could feel every muscle fiber operating at an efficiency far beyond that of ordinary humans.

Next was magic power.

Su Bai closed her eyes.

She could feel the magic power flowing within her body. It wasn't like before, where she had to carefully channel it using Mental Power. It was more direct, more raw—the magic power and her body were one. No cards needed. No mediums needed. She didn't even need to think. The flow of magic power was as natural as breathing.

This was "Independent Casting".

The combat style of a Magical Girl.

And then, the most core part.

She raised her left hand.

On the diamond-shaped shield, the silver sand grains in the miniature hourglass were flowing slowly.

Su Bai stared at the grains of sand.

Then she reached out—and gave them a gentle nudge.

The hourglass stopped.

It wasn't just that the sand stopped flowing.

It was the entire room.

Everyone.

Li Qingyue, Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan, Lin Xiao, Chairman Lin, Director He Jin, Li Haoran, Li Chengyuan, and even the black mist escaping from Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan's pocket, which was the compressed ball of the Shadow Demon—

All of them.

Stopped.

Time Stop.