――It was a little past 4:00 PM. Less than an hour remained before sunset.

Azuma, quietly moving from shadow to shadow, spotted a girl walking openly toward the ruins of the Star of Dawn.

The girl was small in stature, with short black hair and wearing a stark white coat, holding a large blade in one hand.

…If Azuma wasn’t mistaken, the girl standing there was Mibu Yurie, ranked third in the Jikka hierarchy.

Azuma tilted her head at the unexpected appearance of such a person.

Azuma had expected that, if anyone were to be dispatched, it would be someone with the ability to move as fast as a windmill or a magical girl capable of teleporting multiple people. But Mibu fit neither of those descriptions.

Moreover, Mibu was a combat specialist, completely unsuited for infiltration or rescuing hostages. If anything, she seemed more like the type to raid a yakuza office.

――Could she be planning on ignoring the hostages and wiping everyone out?

The thought gave Azuma a brief chill, but she shook her head, dismissing the idea. The indecisive government would never make such a choice.

Besides, if annihilation were the goal, it would be quicker to simply send Tono, who had the highest firepower.

“Well, if that’s the case, it wouldn’t hurt to eliminate her now. ――It’s nothing personal, Mibu, but I can’t have you interfering with an important ritual.”

With that, Azuma manipulated the shadows to launch an attack from behind Mibu.

The shadow silently morphed into the shape of a grim reaper’s scythe, descending upon Mibu’s back.

Up until now, no one among those Azuma had obtained materials from had ever managed to dodge this sneak attack.

However, just as the tip of the scythe was about to reach her back, Mibu leaped sideways, as if sensing something, and instantly sliced through the shadow with the blade in her hand. Without missing a beat, she threw a knife toward the spot where Azuma was hiding.

Startled by the unexpected counter, Azuma barely dodged the knife aimed at her face, narrowly escaping with just a thin graze, and quickly teleported to hide in the shadows of a different rock formation.

“No… no way. How did she know where I was?”

――The shadow that attacked Mibu was controlled remotely, so it should have been impossible for her to figure out Azuma’s location.

If there was any way she could have done it, perhaps Mibu used her ability to spread electricity throughout the area, sensing the slight vibrations from Azuma’s movements. But wasting energy like that while her body was already in poor condition would be tantamount to suicide.

…Could she have taken some kind of countermeasure?

Azuma considered the possibility but then recalled what Nemesis had mentioned before, shaking her head.

According to Nemesis, the rejection reaction from touching divine power was an unavoidable phenomenon for magical girls. It was like an allergic reaction with no cure. Even if they temporarily suppressed it with some sort of tool, they couldn’t fully prevent it. The divine power would slowly eat away at their bodies, eventually leading to physical decline.

――In other words, Mibu’s current ability to move properly was only temporary, and soon the erosion would begin, rendering her immobile.

But the problem was how long that “temporary” state would last.

…Though she hated to admit it, Azuma was the type of magical girl whose abilities weakened drastically outside of a barrier. The range of what she could do differed greatly between inside and outside a barrier.

Although Azuma had boasted to Tsugumi, in a battle outside a barrier, if her opponent was an A-rank magical girl, her chances of winning were honestly not that high.

Given that situation, Azuma had no choice but to buy time until Mibu weakened. Fortunately, her abilities were suited for distraction and stealth, so stalling for time itself wasn’t difficult.

…It was a shame she wouldn’t be able to witness the ritual, but the best strategy at this point was to keep Mibu away from the center and delay her until she reached her limit.

As Azuma formed her plan, she heard the sound of sand scraping from above.

She looked up and asked in a trembling voice…

“…How did you know I was here?”

“Heh, ――that’s a secret.”

Standing there, backlit by the deep red of the setting sun, Mibu looked down at Azuma.

◆ ◆ ◆

With Azuma fully detected by Mibu, the battle began.

Azuma’s abilities included shadow-based attacks, movement, disruption, and teleportation.

Although shadow movement and teleportation were often confused, shadow movement was strictly grounded, unlike teleportation, which involved spatial movement.

Azuma’s teleportation ability differed from Hagakure Sakura’s. Outside the barrier, her teleportation was limited by weight and stricter conditions. Despite this, Azuma prided herself on her teleportation being more practical in combat than Hagakure Sakura’s.

For instance, while Hagakure Sakura could only teleport herself and a little extra, Azuma could teleport objects or phenomena without moving herself.

What this meant was, for example, if an opponent threw something at her, she could make it reappear behind them, or she could place obstacles in their path to block attacks.

…Within her divine barrier, she could even teleport an opponent’s arm away, which caused more damage than shadow attacks in beast battles.

Unfortunately, in their current location—outside the barrier—she couldn’t perform such teleportations that could tear apart her opponent’s body.

The government was likely aware of this, and that information had probably been shared with Mibu as well. Azuma assumed that Mibu wouldn’t use projectile weapons. But Mibu, unconcerned, continued to throw knives and needles between her slashes.

Naturally, Azuma returned those projectiles, using their momentum to send them back into Mibu’s blind spots. Yet, in the fractions of a second between throws, Mibu dodged them effortlessly, as if sensing them like an animal.

…Even though Azuma tried to anticipate where Mibu might move next and teleported the knives there, why was Mibu avoiding them so easily?

It was baffling, especially without the assistance of a barrier.

Despite her unease at Mibu’s mysterious movements, Azuma used the shadows to knock down the ruins beside her and create distance between them. She didn’t want to get caught up in the rhythm of Mibu’s attacks.

Meanwhile, Mibu calmly brushed aside the falling debris with the blade in her hand and gazed quietly at Azuma.

“How long are you going to keep running? The sun will set soon, so I’d appreciate it if you surrendered before I accidentally slice you up.”

Mibu’s calm words irritated Azuma, who responded with a frustrated tone.

“…Hmph, say whatever you want, but aren’t you reaching your limit as well? If you surrender now, I won’t have to take your life.”

――Ten minutes had already passed since the battle began.

No matter how much she tries to endure, Mibu can’t have much time left.

“Reaching your limit? Well, if that’s what you think, Azuma-san, then maybe you’re right. Feel free to take it easy on me!”

Mibu laughed energetically, as she always did.

――It was then that Azuma realized Mibu’s movements hadn’t slowed down at all since the fight began.

The blade closing in on her was heavy and sharp, the crackling purple lightning dispelling shadows and cutting through paths. The sight of her, like a living thunder god, showed no sign of losing its brilliance.

“What’s going on? No matter what measures you’ve taken, the rejection should still be progressing…!”

Azuma, overwhelmed by Mibu’s relentless assault, shouted in frustration.

Mibu twirled the knife in her hand and calmly replied, “Ah, that? I’ve already overcome it…”

◆ ◆ ◆

――The story goes back to nine months earlier.

Ashamed of her failure at the amusement park, Mibu used her position as one of the Jukka for the first time to make a request to the government.

――That request was the “Rejection Overcoming Plan” for magical girls within barriers.

Mibu pleaded with the government and finally managed to secure permission to enter magical girls’ barriers during combat. In between her regular duties and schoolwork, she began conducting secret experiments.

She requested the cooperation of mostly E-rank and D-rank magical girls, with the condition that she wouldn’t be a burden to them. Some of the girls even found themselves losing to a beast during testing, forcing Mibu to step in and save the day, but that’s a story for another time.

Over the course of nine months, she conducted about one hundred tests. After surpassing fifty trials, Mibu began to identify trends in the rejection reactions, so she consulted with her close friend, Suzushiro, who was an expert in poisons. Suzushiro prepared a poison with effects opposite to the rejection response.

In the next fifty trials, Mibu adjusted the doses of the poison and the necessary antidotes after leaving the barrier. There were times when she misjudged the amount of poison and coughed up blood, but as long as she didn’t die, it was a small price to pay.

Through this long period of meticulous testing and effort, Mibu found a way to move freely within other people’s barriers. Of course, this was only possible because of Mibu’s extraordinary abilities and Suzushiro’s full cooperation. If other magical girls tried to imitate this, they would likely fail.

…Well, in the end, even after overcoming the rejection response, Mibu could only use sub-skills within another magical girl’s barrier, so it wasn’t much use in combat.

――But for this particular mission, that peculiarity worked to her advantage.

The deployment was to Akaguchi Town, a forbidden area where the remnants of a failed god’s descent were causing harm. According to Tono, the effects of a certain ritual made the entire town function similarly to a magical girl’s barrier.

Given that they were dealing with magical girls, it was only natural that Mibu, who had overcome the rejection response, would be chosen for the mission. The only issue was that, while the poison suppressed the rejection, it still put a considerable strain on her body.

There was some variability in its effectiveness, so Mibu figured she could fight properly for about sixty minutes.

――But that should be more than enough time.

Tono’s directive was to rescue the captured people and disrupt the ritual. As for the mastermind behind it, as long as they survived, the government would overlook a few injuries. Judging by the current situation, there was no way Mibu would lose.

――So maybe she could afford to relax a bit.

Even if she ended up cutting someone deeply by mistake, surely she wouldn’t be held accountable.

With the absence of her contracted god acting as a stopper, Mibu’s bad habits began to resurface.

“I have just one question for you, Azuma-san. Is that okay?”

“What? Thinking about your way home?”

Azuma asked, suspicious of Mibu’s sudden question. Mibu grinned like a child and said,

“It’s said that magical girls, after being active for a long time, become quite tough, even without using magic. ――I wonder, Azuma-san, how much would it take for me to stab you before it actually hurts?”

Seeing Mibu’s cheerful, innocent smile, Azuma forced a strained smile.

“…You’re seriously messed up, aren’t you?”

“Haha, please, don’t flatter me too much. You’re making me blush.”

Mibu laughed, pretending to be embarrassed, then gently stroked the back of her knife, as if savoring the thrill of what was to come.