Starting as a Magical Girl, I Alone Shall Rule for Eternity Chapter 45

BH City was drenched in a heavy downpour.

Beihai wasn't a place that liked rain; even when it rained, it was usually a light spring drizzle that stopped after a short while. It never lasted long enough for people to remember that Beihai even had rainy days.

But today’s torrential rain refused to let up.

The crater left by Shion and Yinluo’s battle filled quickly with rainwater. Li Yi knelt inside it, clutching her sister; half her body was soaked as if she were about to be submerged.

Even after Shion left, Li Yi didn’t react to her—she simply held her sister tightly, calling her name until the sound faded to almost nothing, then sat silently, kneeling there.

Was it because she knew she couldn’t stand up to Shion, so she gave up? Or had her grief and pain over her sister’s death overflowed to the point she couldn’t even produce anger?

Susan didn’t know. She only watched the captain kneeling in the rain, clutching her sister Yinluo without moving, and felt a sting of sadness.

In the end, Li Yi did not cry.

Susan tried to take Silver Lotus and Yinluo away, but putting aside the secrecy she still had to keep about regaining her transformation ability in front of Silver Lotus, she no longer had the power to transform herself.

Susan helped from the side, hauling Li Yi and Yinluo’s body up.

Then the Disaster Control Bureau’s reinforcements finally arrived.

With an incident this big, even the usually slow Bureau couldn’t delay too long—after all, this place was too close to their branch.

Helicopters, armored vehicles, and soldiers poured in.

At Susan’s insistence, an ambulance was sent.

In truth, it wasn’t strictly necessary.

She saw Li Yi placed in the ambulance; at first, the medical team wanted Li Yi to ride separately from Yinluo’s remains, but after Susan pleaded, they allowed Li Yi to be in the ambulance carrying Yinluo’s body.

Susan didn’t dare get in.

She squatted in the rain for a while longer, her mind full of Jiang Si and Shion—she still hadn’t processed that shocking news—and Yinluo’s fate struck her hard as well.

Medical staff gave some quick bandaging for her wounds. Although the police came to question the situation at the scene, they ultimately didn’t press it further.

She was head of the Bureau’s security department; ordinary officers had no authority to detain her.

Not to mention Yueji was at the police station.

Squatting by the roadside, watching the passing vehicles and crowds while rain soaked her through, no one paid her any mind. Susan had no energy to talk—she just stared blankly in the rain.

So many things happened today… her thoughts were messy.

A rain umbrella came down over her head. Susan tilted her head and saw Peony crouch beside her, a lollipop in her mouth. Peony held the umbrella and handed Susan one of the lollipops. “Want one?”

“No.”

“By the rules of movies and TV, we should be smoking right now, but what can we do? We’re Magical Girls—sweets instead of cigarettes.”

Susan, who had been gloomy, was amused by her friend’s remark and almost laughed, but she sighed instead. “You’ve got the nerve to joke right now.”

“What else can we do—things are what they are.”

Peony said helplessly, “The Bureau is about to form a special task force to investigate Yinluo. Your intuition was right.”

“Mm.”

Susan wasn’t surprised; Yinluo’s actions were too conspicuous to hide. Even if the Bureau didn’t want to investigate, Susan would expose the evidence she had collected.

“Li Yi…”

Peony’s expression was pained. “A first-year in high school, and she’s gone through this.”

“She may be a first-year, but she’s also the captain of the Magical Girl combat squad.”

Susan took the lollipop from her friend at last. “Trust her.”

“Yeah. Today’s really been awful…”

Peony kept chattering about the disaster in BH City today; Susan listened quietly, occasionally nodding to show she was following.

By noon, the bulk of the Disaster Beasts in BH City had been neutralized. Although there were many, because Azure Cloud Sect had prepared beforehand, they were cleared efficiently and in order.

Only two inner-disciple members had to be deployed.

Although the Bureau had been attacked, the squad captain returned in time and killed the beasts before the magic barrier was destroyed, so in reality there was little damage.

However, the Monitoring Division had been breached by unknown assailants and four of its staff were killed unnaturally.

By midday the rain finally eased.

Keke didn’t learn of Li Yi’s incident until the afternoon.

She had tried calling several times to ask what had happened, but couldn’t get through. Since yesterday Li Yi’s phone had been unreachable, so Keke wasn’t surprised at first.

After school she received word from Yueji.

Yinluo had died…

Death has a way of feeling hollow and absurd.

Like when her parents died, she could never understand why someone who’d been laughing and playing with her one day would turn into an object the next—never to respond again, soon to be gone from sight.

More than sadness or pain, it brought despair and helplessness.

No matter what you did, nothing could change it. You could only keep crying and nothing else made sense.

That gentle, bespectacled older sister was suddenly a dead person.

Keke found it hard to accept until Yueji explained the situation in detail.

She remembered Li Yi taking her to the Bureau, and Yinluo helping clear Jiang Si’s name.

She recalled yesterday when they had gone out together—Yinluo had bought her a cold drink and some sweets.

Her mature, gentle face and soft voice felt like they were still right there; it was hard to accept that Yinluo was gone.

And Li Yi…

Keke paid for a taxi and rushed to the hospital where Li Yi was.

When she arrived, Yinluo’s body had already been taken into the morgue.

She couldn’t see the older sister one last time.

There were several people around the hospital morgue.

Even though the Bureau and Azure Cloud Sect had dealt with the beasts quickly, zero casualties were impossible.

Some unlucky souls died in the chaos—sometimes not directly by the beasts but due to the confusion they caused.

Here, those who needed to vent had already vented; there were no loud wails, only low, restrained sobbing.

Thankfully the rain in Beihai had lessened; if the morning’s downpour had continued, those small sobs would have been drowned out.

Keke suddenly remembered the day her parents were buried—it had rained then too.

She had been the only one crying.

The adults were busy discussing other important matters; during the banquet guests laughed and chatted.

Although it was called a memorial ceremony, no one seemed truly saddened except her.

By the time her parents were buried, and Jiang Si wasn’t there either, Keke felt a loneliness she had never known, as if abandoned by the world and out of place with everyone.

If a ceremony is only a formality, what meaning does remembrance really hold?

When she finally found Li Yi, the captain stood quietly by the morgue door, her expression blank and her gaze utterly empty.

In front of her were an older couple. The man wore glasses; the woman wore a hearing aid—likely hearing impaired. Their faces carried traces of Li Yi and Yinluo.

They were shouting at Li Yi.

“I said you shouldn’t have let her go to the Bureau!”

“You said you would protect your sister!”

“When have you ever actually helped her? Your sister always cleaned up after you…”

“Why wasn’t it you who died…”

The harsh words were suffocating and painful even to Keke.

But Li Yi only stood there dazed, head bowed, silently enduring all the abuse. Even when slapped, she didn’t react.

Keke had meant to wait until they finished; after all, she was an outsider and didn’t want to interfere.

But when she saw Li Yi hit, she couldn’t hold back. She ran over and put herself between Li Yi and the two furious adults, angrily staring at them.

“You’re going too far! Li Yi is hurting too—stop bullying her!”

“Li Yi is my daughter. I’ll discipline her—who are you, little girl, to come here and meddle!” The middle-aged man’s face darkened. “Get out!”

“She’s grieving? She’d be thrilled if her sister were gone! We warned you the Bureau was dangerous and insisted she go!”

The couple yelled. Keke couldn’t argue; she was scolded until her eyes reddened, but she clenched her teeth and took out a Miracle Seed. “I’m a Magical Girl—I'm on Silver Lotus’s team! If you bully her again, I’ll transform and fight you!”

Her words were a little immature, but a Miracle Seed doesn’t lie.

Seeing Keke so riled, the couple realized a teenager pushed to desperation might really do something rash.

Young people are the easiest to lose control—without a full grasp of social rules, they can act recklessly. And wielding Magical Girl power made the couple aware of how dangerous she could be.

Their faces flushed in anger, but they dared not say much more.

Only when Li Yi grabbed Keke’s hand from behind and tugged lightly did Keke calm. “I’m okay, Keke—don’t worry about me.”

“I’m not going to let you say that!”

Keke grabbed Li Yi’s hand in return; it was icy cold, so cold it stung. “Li Yi is my friend. I won’t abandon my friend!”

“That’s the kind of team you manage,” the man sneered. “You’re a great captain—can’t protect your sister, your team’s unruly—where’s the discipline? The Bureau must be blind…”

Keke finally snapped.

She mimicked Jiang Si’s expression—because in her mind, when Jiang Si got serious, he was the scariest person in the world.

She copied his look, his posture, his habitual movements—and her tone matched his too.

“Want me to act? Get out!”

Even that fierce line was lifted from Jiang Si.

To make it convincing, she transformed at once.

No amount of imitation could match Jiang Si perfectly; with the transformation and the pressure of power behind her, she came closer to the terrifying presence he would give.

Her plan worked.

The couple quieted down. They muttered a bit longer, but didn’t dare shout, and eventually left the hospital.

Keke finally relaxed. She was never good at these things…

After reverting, she turned to Li Yi, who still seemed to be zoning out, as if she hadn’t processed anything. Keke pulled her to a nearby bench and they sat.

Li Yi’s small body trembled faintly. When Keke helped her sit, she felt the chill: Li Yi’s clothes were soaked, her hands cold and without warmth.

Whether the shivering came from cold or something else, Keke couldn’t tell.

The captain who always kept a soldier’s composure now looked like an abandoned little girl—lost, helpless, and terrified.

Yet she did not cry; not a single tear fell. Looking in her eyes, Keke could tell she hadn’t cried before either.

Her clothes were drenched; every so often, droplets of rain—like tears—fell from the corners of her eyes.

Keke tugged at the captain, and the hollow-seeming girl collapsed onto her, head flopping onto Keke’s lap. Her wet hair chilled Keke’s leg, but Keke didn’t move. She gently stroked Li Yi’s hair.

“Get some rest, Captain.”

“Mm.”

Li Yi pressed her cheek to Keke’s thigh. Gradually, she warmed a little.

Keke pulled out tissues, wiping water from Li Yi’s hair and straightening her tangled locks.

No comforting words came out.

Even a simple “my condolences” felt like it would stab at Li Yi, so Keke stayed silent.

Given time, she’d recover.

Keke suddenly remembered something Jiang Si often said, then shook her head and refused to accept it.

She had to do something.

“Keke.”

A weak voice brought Keke back. She answered reflexively, “Mm, I’m here, Captain.”

Then Li Yi’s words stopped her in her tracks and froze her expression:

“I don’t want to be a Magical Girl anymore.”