Chapter 242: The Good Fight I Have Fought, the Course I Have Finished

Further down, there lay only the eternal and unknowable other side, the nothingness that did not exist.

And at this moment, she could clearly feel that both herself and the Domain had reached their absolute limit. Even the power to maintain her own existence was nearly depleted.

Her wings were almost melting apart, on the verge of collapse.

The connection to that Witch's Egg had been completely severed, no longer present in her perception.

This meant...

The precipice no longer existed, having been utterly denied by her.

They, and everyone else, should have already arrived at that real world.

A flicker of daze suddenly appeared in the girl's eyes.

Her dream had always been to become the savior, to become a hero.

Looking at it that way, it did seem that the dream had indeed been fulfilled.

The good fight she had fought, the course she had finished, the faith she had kept.

The feeling.

It truly wasn't... bad at all.

Yet just as this thought arose, the radiance in her eyes suddenly blazed even more fiercely.

Because there was still one thing left unfinished.

And now, it was time to go do that thing.

Following the perception of her [Soul Link], the tattered wings behind her beat once more, carrying her forward through this world where up and down could no longer be distinguished.

Finally.

Deep within that bizarre and dazzling illusion, she spotted a slender figure.

It was a beautiful girl with her eyes closed.

Her sakura-red hair spread out like seaweed, she wore the familiar white shirt, black shorts, and those black platform elevator shoes on her feet.

Looking at her was like looking at a mirror image of herself.

That was indeed herself.

The girl named Mengmengxiang.

Lin Guang had actually always had a question.

Since the contract between this identity and the Sacred Tree had been severed, yet she hadn't received sustenance from the Abyss like those witches had... then where did her power come from every time she entered the Game?

The answer had been right in front of her all along.

Amber and Phoenix had once explained that a magical girl's power came from her contract.

Therefore, there naturally existed a contract on her.

It was the contract forged between Lin Guang and Mengmengxiang.

From the very beginning, the system's method of deployment had been simple: it let her control this body and soul through the connection of the contract.

The reason the system panel still displayed [Lin Guang (Mengmengxiang)] in her ability column was precisely hinting at this contract.

They had never communicated through words, yet they had long since been connected as one.

And the reason Mengmengxiang hadn't been completely erased into nothingness like the other Previous Magical Girls... was precisely because of this contract's maintenance, allowing her to remain suspended on the edge between existence and non-existence.

So... there was still a possibility of salvation.

The red-haired girl swam over against the boundless pressure, stopping beside the girl's body.

Two slender hands painted with orange-red nail polish joined together.

The touch was ice-cold, almost no different from the surrounding darkness and nothingness.

Lin Guang draped her arm over the girl's shoulder, hoisting the frail girl onto her own back.

Then, she swung her already broken and battered wings once more, beginning to ascend.

Yet... every single step upward was as heavy as a thousand jun.

Because she had reached her limit.

The higher she rose, the closer her existence approached reality.

In order to lift this illusory girl on her back into the real world, Lin Guang had to cede her own reality to her.

But.

To reach this place, Lin Guang had already used her Domain to negate herself to the point where she was only a single step away from disappearing.

Even ascending alone was already nearly impossible.

Two people?

The probability was 0%.

But.

The fighting spirit and Pride in her eyes showed not a single trace of decline.

It was a look of absolute refusal to give up.

From beginning to end, she was a stubborn mule who didn't know how to spell the word "impossible."

Click.

A mournful sound of some foundation being pulled away came from the depths of her soul and Domain. The dim wings formed by the Sacred Tree finally began to crack and shatter, dissolving into fireflies that scattered at the slightest touch.

But...

Another weak yet steadfast power seeped out from this already overburdened body.

Dense cracks appeared on the girl's fair skin, like shattered porcelain. The outer shell began to peel off piece by piece.

As those fragments fell away and dissipated, this blazing and fervent soul finally appeared in another form within this crevice between existence and non-existence.

It was the faint silhouette of a dark-haired young man, with a crimson Soul Gem blazing brightly on his chest.

He carried the sakura-haired girl on his back, swimming upward with all his might.

In that instant, the system, which had never taken any proactive action after entering the Game, actually sent out a warning for the first time.

[Warning! Abnormal link status!]

The young man gritted his teeth and said, "If you can help, then help! If you can't, then shut up!"

[......]

Through the contract's link, he used the talent of [Soul Link] to forcibly project his original body's power into this world, once again seizing control of the tottering Domain.

At the same time, he once again grasped hold of Mengmengxiang's existence.

If any great being who understood the significance of this act were to witness this scene, and if they still retained emotions, they would absolutely be shocked and call it an inconceivable feat.

But...

If this continued, driving the Domain to carry Mengmengxiang upward, Lin Guang's soul would truly begin to burn.

No, it seemed to have already started burning.

The young man's form grew increasingly transparent in the deep sea, like a flame about to be extinguished in water. His entire soul was already teetering on the brink of shattering.

And at this moment, the two of them were still an inconceivably vast distance from that surface called reality.

It was impossible to reach.

There was absolutely no way.

Yet those crimson eyes of the young man, already blazing with raging flames, held not a trace of fear. He still raised his head arrogantly.

He looked upward with a blank expression, showing no intention of letting go. He continued carrying the girl on his back, moving step by step toward the light.

The scene before him began to sway, and his consciousness gradually blurred like a painting soaked in water.

He felt as if his entire being was about to melt into this darkness, slowly losing all perception of everything.

"..."

Yet amidst this hazy stupor, the system's warning suddenly rang out, jolting him back to alertness like the single spider's thread holding him up.

[Warning! Connection about to be severed!]

Perhaps because he had ignored it for too long, or perhaps because it had detected the criticality of his current situation.

The system's prompt seemed to carry a hint of urgency as well.

[Ding! Forced measure initiated!]

[In ten seconds, the system will automatically disconnect and exit this Game session.]