The 30-Year-Old Magical Girl - Chapter 7
“Haaaah!”
With a battle cry, Magical Girl Raging Flame hurled herself forward like a blazing cannonball.
Gripping a greatsword nearly as tall as she was, she charged directly at the Aberration before her.
The next instant…
She paid the price for her recklessness.
“——!?”
It… it won’t cut?!
Her flame-wreathed greatsword barely managed to slice through the surface of the Aberration known as Greatarm before stopping completely.
Its skin was unbelievably tough.
Even worse…
When Raging Flame tried to pull her weapon free and retreat, she realized the wound was already healing.
The monster’s thick, purplish-blue flesh slowly closed around the blade, swallowing it whole.
No matter how hard she pulled…
The sword refused to budge.
Like the legendary sword embedded in stone, it remained firmly trapped inside the Aberration’s arm.
This is bad!
It’s a trap!
By the time she realized what had happened…
Greatarm’s other massive arm was already swinging toward her.
Without her weapon, she had no way to defend herself.
Instinctively, she crossed both arms in front of her head.
Bang!
The impact blasted her through the air like a rubber ball.
Just as she braced herself for a painful landing…
Someone caught her.
Steady.
Effortlessly.
“Xiao Flame.”
A gentle voice spoke beside her.
“Rushing into battle is one of the biggest taboos.”
Standing there was Magical Girl Violet Lightning.
One of the veteran magical girls responsible for Shangjing City’s Second Ring.
Her weapon was a long spear infused with the power of lightning.
Her combat style was elegant, precise, and astonishingly efficient.
Because of her easygoing personality, Old Lin had temporarily invited her to mentor Raging Flame.
“I don’t remember you being this impatient during our previous training sessions.”
She smiled.
“Did something happen in your everyday life that’s affecting your mindset?”
Among magical girls…
Anything that happened while they were living as ordinary people was casually referred to as real life.
“I-I’m sorry, Senpai…”
Raging Flame lowered her head in shame.
She knew Violet Lightning was right.
Ever since speaking with Bai Mian several days earlier…
That overwhelming sense of helplessness had never left her.
She couldn’t save her friend.
She couldn’t solve her problems.
She couldn’t even find the right words to comfort her.
Because of that…
She desperately wanted to accomplish something.
Anything.
As though defeating more Aberrations would somehow erase that frustrating feeling of powerlessness.
Instead…
Her impatience had nearly gotten her killed.
In the end…
I still can’t do anything…
Biting her lip, Raging Flame felt tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
“Haha.”
Violet Lightning simply smiled.
“No need to apologize.”
“A C-Rank Aberration isn’t something a rookie like you can handle alone anyway.”
“So don’t lose confidence.”
“Yes, Senpai.”
“I understand.”
Violet Lightning twirled her spear casually.
“Here’s one more piece of advice.”
“No matter what happens in real life…”
“Never carry those emotions into battle.”
“If you ever think…”
“‘I’m not in the right state today.'”
“‘Something feels wrong.'”
“Then retreat.”
“Cancel your transformation.”
“Turn off your phone.”
“Go home.”
“And get some proper sleep.”
“And also—”
“ROOOOAAARRR!!”
Without anyone noticing…
Greatarm had already circled behind them.
Its enormous body suddenly swelled.
Standing over two meters tall, it loomed above the two girls like a moving mountain.
Its shadow swallowed them whole.
Violet Lightning clicked her tongue.
“I said…”
She slowly turned around.
“I’m in the middle of teaching my adorable junior.”
Her expression changed.
For just an instant…
The killing intent pouring from her eyes sent a chill straight through Raging Flame’s body.
“So…”
“…could you please…”
“…be quiet?”
Crackle!
Lightning erupted.
A brilliant purple current shot upward along the path of her spear.
The bolt tore through the air…
Split the sky…
And vanished into the clouds.
The spear sliced through Greatarm’s gigantic limb as effortlessly as a hot knife cutting butter.
The very arm Raging Flame had failed to damage…
Was severed in a single strike.
The massive limb spun through the air before crashing heavily onto the ground.
“ROOOAAARRR!!”
Greatarm screamed in agony.
Realizing it was hopelessly outmatched…
It immediately turned and fled toward a nearby abandoned factory.
“So…”
“So strong…”
Raging Flame stared blankly.
Is this…
…what a real magical girl looks like?
Only a few days ago, she’d proudly celebrated defeating Bubble Person.
Now…
Remembering that victory only made her feel embarrassed.
Violet Lightning pointed her spear toward the severed arm.
“That arm has been reinforced until it’s harder than steel.”
“It also has extremely powerful regeneration.”
“Attacking it directly isn’t very effective.”
Then she lightly tapped the shoulder joint.
“But…”
“The connection here…”
“…is still its weakest point.”
As they spoke…
The severed arm gradually dissolved into countless particles of magical light.
When everything disappeared…
Only two objects remained.
Raging Flame’s enormous greatsword.
And an irregular white crystal.
Among all active magical girls across Shangjing City’s five defensive rings…
Violet Lightning was renowned for her speed and precision.
That last strike could easily have pierced Greatarm’s head and ended the battle instantly.
She deliberately chose not to.
Simply to teach her junior one lesson.
Observe.
Analyze.
Exploit the enemy’s weakness.
“…Good grief.”
Violet Lightning bent down to pick up the greatsword.
Only to immediately freeze.
“…It’s this heavy?”
She tried lifting it with one hand.
Nothing.
Even after using both hands…
She barely managed to raise it off the ground.
She looked at Raging Flame in disbelief.
“You swing this thing around during battle?”
“I think you’re actually the real Greatarm.”
“Senpai…”
Raging Flame’s face instantly turned bright red.
“Hahaha.”
“Alright, enough teasing.”
Violet Lightning dismissed her spear back into her Soul Gem.
Her eyes shifted toward the abandoned factory where Greatarm had fled.
Then…
She glanced upward.
The once-clear sky had disappeared.
Dark clouds silently gathered overhead.
The air had become heavy.
A storm was approaching.
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
“Then we can both go home.”
“Xiao You.”
“Are you even listening?”
A couple of pats on his shoulder pulled You Dong back to reality.
“Oh…”
“It’s you, Old Jin.”
“Sorry.”
“I was thinking about something.”
Old Jin sat beside him with a knowing smile.
“You’ve been acting strange these past few days.”
“What happened?”
“Another argument with your precious little princess?”
Everyone at work knew how much You Dong doted on You Xi.
Before long…
The entire office had started teasing him by calling her his precious baby.
“Girls that age are all like this.”
Old Jin laughed.
“Honestly…”
“The fact that she still argues with you isn’t a bad thing.”
“When my daughter was in high school…”
“I don’t think we even exchanged ten sentences in an entire year.”
“But after she went to college…”
“Things slowly changed.”
“Now she’s working.”
“She buys me clothes.”
“She even calls just to ask how I’m doing.”
“So relax.”
“Give the kid some space.”
“And give yourself some too.”
“It’ll get better.”
You Dong forced a smile.
“Thanks.”
“I’m alright.”
At that exact moment…
His right eyelid twitched violently.
Ever since lunchtime…
A vague sense of unease had followed him.
No matter how hard he tried…
He couldn’t concentrate on work.
Am I just worrying too much…
Or is something really about to happen?
He looked out the office window.
Only a few hours earlier…
The sky had been bright and cloudless.
Now…
Dark storm clouds covered everything.
The oppressive atmosphere only deepened his anxiety.
What is You Xi doing right now?
Ever since that conversation in the living room…
Neither of them had spoken another word.
Not even exchanged eye contact.
In the past…
Whenever this happened…
It was always You Xi avoiding him.
This time…
It was different.
Now…
He was the one avoiding her.
Because every time he looked at his niece…
He no longer saw only You Xi.
He saw Magical Girl Raging Flame.
And every glance felt like twisting a knife deeper into his heart.
For years…
He believed he was her protector.
Her guide.
The adult responsible for keeping her safe.
But then Old Lin had said—
“You have no right to deny her conviction.”
And You Xi had said—
“It’s because adults can’t do anything that children are forced to fight.”
So…
What exactly am I supposed to do now?
Every time he asked himself that question…
His thoughts dissolved into chaos.
It felt as though he were trapped inside dense fog.
Every direction led toward a cliff.
There wasn’t a single path forward.
“There.”
Old Jin sighed.
“You drifted off again.”
He looked genuinely worried.
“Honestly…”
“I think you should take a few days off.”
“You need some rest.”
“I’m fine.”
“Just haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
Another twitch interrupted him.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
Trying to relax his tense face.
“You look exhausted.”
“I’m really alright.”
You Dong forced another smile.
“By the way…”
“What did you need me for?”
“Oh, right.”
Old Jin clapped his hands.
“Let’s finish this before you zone out again.”
“You remember the internal structure of Furnace No. 3, don’t you?”
“I heard you dismantled it last year.”
“Could you sketch me a simple layout?”
“I’ll use it as a reference.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“I worked on that one.”
You Dong picked up a notebook.
Then grabbed a 2B pencil from the holder on his desk.
“The entrance is here…”
“Then there’s a row of cooling fans.”
“The first heating circuit should be around…”
The pencil touched the paper.
Snap.
The graphite tip broke instantly.
The broken lead flew somewhere across the office.
Outside the window…
A distant roll of thunder echoed through the darkening sky.
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