The moment the crane fell, the world quickly lost color, only Hibiscus and Jin Ruochu, who maintained contact with her, continued moving.
Sands of Time slowly flowed, brushing past the hospital gown girl's cheek, making her gaze clearer and obviously recovering some consciousness. Finally she stopped making noise, even developing a sense of submission toward the white-haired girl beside her.
"You really don't let me rest easy."
Though complaining verbally, Hibiscus still carefully held her and leaped away from the original spot as far as possible. The next moment time magic was released, thunderous sounds spreading in all directions.
The strongest causal magic was indeed extraordinary—from beginning to end, calamity never left, following like a shadow, striking when you weren't paying attention, and the upper limit was temporarily unclear. Even with Hibiscus possessing the strongest time magic, she didn't dare be careless. Both belonged to the novice stage of mutual pecking between weak chickens—neither was much stronger than the other. One moment of inattention might lead to disaster.
She placed Jin Ruochu in a corner of abandoned materials. At this time, most of the black aura around the girl had dissipated, and her vital signs gradually stabilized.
Hibiscus hadn't taken any treatment measures from beginning to end, but the battle itself was consuming the power that the fusion technology had dissipated due to rejection reactions in the body. Once exhausted, naturally it couldn't cause trouble. Fortunately she arrived in time—otherwise the berserk magical girl's strength would have been enough to plow through the entire experimental park.
It should be over.
Paying slight attention to the surroundings without any misfortune strikes proved the magic had shut down.
She'd guard a bit and see how things went.
Meanwhile, Jin Ruochu with blurred consciousness was immersed in dreams. Dream-like but she clearly knew she was being taken over by a violent consciousness that was wreaking havoc with her body, reckless and unscrupulous, immediately pointing the butcher's knife at the experimental park treating her, as if the consciousness believed these people had harmed it.
"Stop it!" Though screaming hoarsely, that will still acted recklessly and couldn't be stopped. At that moment Jin Ruochu almost despaired, thinking she'd transform into a monster.
A figure appeared in view, breaking all this. She wore a baseball cap covering a strand of long hair, black coat appearing deep and mysterious.
Then the other party actually blocked her berserk outbreak. No mistake—in an instant Jin Ruochu understood this was that heroine. No other reason, trust intuition, intuition said so.
"Please help me."
This voice couldn't be conveyed but the other's actions had already responded, easily suppressing the rampage and taking her away from the experimental park.
Unknowingly Jin Ruochu felt an additional power within her body. It was called "Fortune and Misfortune," claimed to be causal magic, plus some inexplicable technique knowledge.
She didn't bother with it but tried to calm her emotions and weaken the rampage as cooperation.
Though this heroine's every punch and kick had boundless power, Jin Ruochu endured the pain to suppress the violent other side. But she also underestimated her own power—even moving the crane. It's over, we're going to perish together.
The moment this thought arose, the world actually lost color, all phenomena delayed and frozen, all movement no longer existed as if a pause button was pressed.
It's time!
Jin Ruochu suddenly understood why the heroine could come and go silently, even leaving under gunfire and public attention. The only free actor in a frozen world was equivalent to ruling the world—undoubtedly miraculous power. More importantly, at this moment she shared the frozen world with the other party, just these two people. Even without revealing her true face, it was enough to establish a wonderful connection.
Before the girl could think further, time's power ended. The magic in her body seemed to resonate and gradually calm under control. At this moment Jin Ruochu finally understood the truth of the rampage:
A mere rejection reaction after fusion surgery couldn't stir up waves—it was the causal magic viewing it as the misfortune side and strengthening it that caused the accident. When she realized this, all was calm.
Magic is a miracle, but must be used carefully, especially the mysterious causal type.
The girl slowly opened her eyes and indeed saw the other party sitting cross-legged beside her, gazing at the starry sky while humming a tune with contentment.
"Sorry."
Jin Ruochu lowered her head to admit her mistake. This sound made Hibiscus's mouth twitch. In the original storyline, the two had a period of cooperation before breaking up and going separate ways. This apology was like their last communication before she was sealed—not pleasant at all.
Feeling the girl's complex emotions, Jin Ruochu became more anxious, thinking the other hadn't forgiven her. She almost cried, choking out: "I already owe you my life."
"Right, so how will you compensate this time? It must be valuable enough."
"Otherwise I'll make you a life?"
Jin Ruochu blurted out and realized she'd said the wrong thing, quickly covering her mouth, face flushed red, while Hibiscus was already laughing until her sides shook.
They looked at each other, both grateful for the other's safety. Good that they survived the disaster—at least no casualties tonight, still within controllable range. The two girls at the center of the storm being safe was burning high incense—such was good fortune.
For the first time in her life feeling "I'm really so lucky," Jin Ruochu was elated, heart surging, power continuously flowing from within her body.
Magic was controllable—she had to grasp this gift, to like it, since it led to meeting the benefactor of her life.
Hibiscus patted the dust off herself and gazed into the distance. "The cleanup crew is coming soon, I should go."
"Leaving again?"
"It's not time for us to be active yet."
At least wait for fairies to descend and attract public attention—then the world would irreversibly lean toward fairy tale style, Hibiscus thought. Unfortunately that plot was after the Great Catastrophe Disaster Beast, so for now pretend they didn't exist. Though there were indeed methods to communicate with fairy kingdoms early, now wasn't the time—no need to scatter focus.
Jin Ruochu's pretty face was covered with gloom, feeling regretful. After all, her lifesaver repeatedly appearing then disappearing was too much standing her up, like punching cotton.
Suddenly a hand gently touched her head, softly saying:
"You've already passed the most difficult test. Next you just need to rest well. Don't worry, I'll come find you soon, absolutely openly, so you must help me keep the secret too."
When the delicate hand left, Jin Ruochu looked up and suddenly saw a red-eyed girl, silver-white long hair bathed in bright moonlight gently swaying, features like a painting, skin like jade. That expression was calm and composed, not at all like after a great battle, standing in the storm's center yet transcending the world, elusive, isolated from the world—mystery most captured hearts. She saw her raise a slender index finger to her lips and slightly nod. Jin Ruochu also nodded.
Whoosh!
A breeze took away the silver-haired girl's figure, leaving no trace, completely untraceable, because she was in the most distant place, riding the boat of time to bid farewell.
From beginning to end, no one knew where she came from, but actively revealing her true face was enough to prove trust. Jin Ruochu gazed long at the empty grassland and finally showed a smile—quite a few happy things had happened recently.
She straightened up and looked toward the experimental park with its renewed bustle and lit fires, as if reborn, neither causing tragedy nor encountering misfortune.
"Magic is really wonderful——"