A burst of dazzling blue light shot skyward from deep within the mountains, dissolving the earth and igniting the forest.

In the midst of the blazing inferno, a girl walked calmly through the suffocating waves of heat.

Orange light wrapped her body.

She strolled through a death zone hot enough to kill any carbon-based lifeform as if she were walking a garden path.

“Elera!“

A roar echoed from beyond the sea of fire—
Over a hundred figures had encircled the mountain by now.

Some wielded weapons no one had ever seen before.

Some radiated strange, terrifying light.

Some bore forms that could no longer be called human.

And some shifted shapes like gods playing dress-up.

The man at the center spoke with piercing clarity—
Even amid the roar of the blaze, his voice cut through like divine judgment.

“You’re forcibly breaking from the organization like this…
Do you have any idea what the consequences will be?”

“…….”

The girl in the fire paused.

She turned back to glance at him.

Her eyes were cold.

“When did my comings and goings become something you get to decide?”

“Then return the Divinity Particle.
It doesn’t belong to you!”

“That thing was mine to begin with.
The intel came from me.
I’m the one who stole it from the magical girl.
I’m also the one it resonates with most.
It was never yours to begin with.”

“Foolish!”

The leader cried out, unwilling to give up on her.

“Luo—Elera!
Why now of all times?!
The war against the magical girls has reached its fiercest stage!
You’re the strongest combatant in the entire organization!
Do you realize how badly this will cripple us?
Have you forgotten how much we’ve valued you all this time?”

She halted her steps.

After a long silence, she replied:

“I have my reasons.
Also…
The organization’s recent actions have really pissed me off.”

“You—!
If that’s your decision, then don’t blame us for what happens next!”

“Today, more than half of the Thirteen Seats are present.
Squad Zero is here in full.
Even you won’t walk away unscathed!”

A gale swept in.

The flames tilted.

The ones wielding those bizarre weapons unleashed their full firepower toward the girl standing in the inferno.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Another blood-soaked massacre erupted in the mountain woods.

Even if every magical girl from the entire southern region arrived, they’d be reduced to dust under this barrage.

No matter how many magical girls the legendary Aurora Witch Elera had defeated in the past—

In this kind of hopeless situation, even she had no way out.

“Too slow.”

Amid the roaring flood of energy, a radiant pink light swallowed every other color.

Like a dying star flashing across the heavens, it lasted only a moment—
Yet felt eternal.

“There she is!” someone shouted.

A hundred meters to the side, atop a nearby peak—
The girl stood, wrapped in a hazy aura of pink fae-like light, like dream silk obscuring her form.

“Pink light?!
She’s awakened a new ability?!”

The leader’s heart trembled violently.

This would make defeating Elera several levels harder!

Damn it!

Destructive power, defense, agility, reaction speed—

All top-tier.

And now even her last weakness—speed—was gone.

Is there any way left to beat her?

“I don’t want this to spiral out of control.”

“This is your last chance.”

“If you don’t back down—
I won’t hesitate to crush you so badly your combat structure collapses entirely.”

The girl turned, about to leave.

The others couldn’t see her trembling arm—

The pink light around her made her silhouette too vague.

“Wait!”

The leader tossed something toward her.

“A signal flare. Take it.”

She waved her hand.

A ribbon of orange light swept it through the air and into her grasp.

“What’s it for?”

“If one day you find the ‘Box’—
Or even a clue about it—
I hope you’ll fire that flare.”

“Our people are everywhere.
They’ll respond instantly.”

“When that day comes—
All past grudges between us will be erased.”

“…That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

As the words faded, the girl burst into a light as dazzling as the morning star.

When the radiance died away—

She was gone.

Only devastation remained where she’d stood.

Someone turned to the leader.

“Lord Yue… You’re just going to let her go?”

Lord Yue gave him a cold glance.

“Prepare to relocate the base.”

“Something this loud—we’ve almost certainly been exposed.”

“And remember—
None of this ever happened today.”

“Aurora Witch Elera is out on a classified mission.
She will not appear in the near future.”

“The day she succeeds—
Will be the day we seize the world.”

“Yes, sir!”

The hundred-plus personnel moved like a machine.

In under a minute, they’d vanished.

Base materials were packed.

Loose ends eliminated.

Personnel relocated or silenced.

Lord Yue stared toward the direction the girl had disappeared in.

Three thousand kilometers in that straight line—

Lay the territory of the Magical Girl Alliance.

“Sigh…
Elera…
Why choose this path?”

“The Divinity Particle is still inside you.”

“Until the ‘Box’ is found—
The organization will never let this go.”

But even if they wanted to settle scores—

Now wasn’t the time.

Right now, the battle for global supremacy was in their favor.

The Magical Girl Alliance was losing ground.

Everything had entered its most intense stage.

No way the leadership would risk a head-on fight with the powerful Aurora Witch now.

Maybe that’s exactly why she chose this moment to defect.

And when the dust finally settled…

When it was time to settle old debts—

Would the organization even be able to find her again?