Chapter 200 – Ninety-Nine Percent Output!

Ninety-percent output!

Lin Xi was getting desperate too.

Another Fireball appeared, then split into three blazing spheres arranged in a straight line.

At almost the same moment, Misaka Shirai’s lightning spear pierced through all three.

Flame and lightning annihilated each other in a violent burst of light.

Lin Xi was caught in a pincer from the left and right. Worse, Su Tang had already moved directly above her.

That meant Lin Xi was fighting on three fronts.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

Lin Xi could have cried.

“Master, fight back!” Thor roared. “If you only defend, they’ll overwhelm us sooner or later!”

Lin Xi knew that.

But she could not bring herself to hurt Xia Xun. Su Tang was Su Xiangxue’s older sister, and Lin Xi already felt terrible for kidnapping Su Xiangxue. If she injured her sister too, she would never be able to face the girl again. As for Misaka Shirai, Lin Xi might not have any personal connection to her, but that was no reason to hurt a righteous Magical Girl.

How was Lin Xi supposed to attack any of them?

Misaka Shirai and Su Tang gave her no time to hesitate.

Misaka Shirai took out two coins.

“Electromagnetic Storm: Inescapable Net!”

She tossed both coins into the air. Her thumbs flicked again and again, launching one electromagnetic beam after another. In the blink of an eye, dozens of blue-white streaks had woven themselves into a vast net around Lin Xi and Thor.

Su Tang brought her hands together and closed her eyes.

“Spatial Fold: Displacement Strike.”

When her eyes opened again, countless tiny cracks had appeared throughout the space around Lin Xi. A Spatial Blade shot from every crack, each arriving from a different direction.

Ahead of them, Xia Xun poured even more power into the freezing air.

“Frost Nova!”

A ring-shaped wave of ice expanded at astonishing speed. Even the air crystallized wherever it passed.

Lin Xi extended both hands. Each traced a flawless circle through the air, leaving a ring of fire in its wake.

The two rings expanded into enormous spinning disks. They whirled around Lin Xi and Thor, deflecting the electromagnetic beams, Spatial Blades, and surging frost one after another.

Lin Xi’s output climbed to ninety-five percent.

So strong, Lin Xi thought.

The same thought went through all three Magical Girls’ minds.

The Super-Grade Disaster was terrifyingly strong.

Yet none of them paused.

“Absolute Zero: Eternal Freeze!”

Xia Xun fired a blue-white beam from her palm. Wherever it passed, flames went out, the air froze solid, and even time seemed to stop.

“Electromagnetic Barrier: Full Release!”

Misaka Shirai stepped forward and crossed her arms before her. Her short light-purple hair lifted under the static as countless electromagnetic field lines wove a vast net around her. The Fireball struck the barrier and burst apart, scattering countless smaller flames in every direction.

“Dimensional Fold: Mirror Maze.”

Su Tang seized the opening, tracing intricate spatial runes with both hands. The space around Lin Xi and Thor warped as countless mirror-like fragments enclosed them, each reflecting innumerable images of Lin Xi and the Giant Dragon.

For one beat, neither Lin Xi nor Thor reacted.

They were pinned firmly in place.

“Master!” Thor’s voice was urgent now. “If you still won’t attack, we’re finished!”

Lin Xi gritted her teeth and told Thor to be ready.

Only then did the truth fully hit her: she was not the only one trapped here. Thor was with her. Lin Xi could surrender and accept a stay in the Undersea Prison, but she had to get Thor out first.

There was no other choice.

She would have to raise her output again.

If one of the three Magical Girls was injured, then after Thor escaped, Lin Xi would surrender to that person and accept whatever punishment came with it.

“Thor,” Lin Xi said quietly, “be ready to retreat.”

Her output surged to ninety-nine percent.

Clouds churned above the city, spiraling into a vast vortex. Within it, a “Crimson Sun” slowly rose.

Crimson flames suddenly surged outward.

They crawled along every crack in Su Tang’s folded space, melting the structure from within. The Mirror Maze trembled, warped, and shattered.

“Not good!” Xia Xun immediately changed tactics. “Frost Domain: Absolute Zero!”

A hemispherical shield of ice formed around the three Magical Girls.

The instant the Crimson Sun struck, cracks spread across the shield.

Sweat rolled down Xia Xun’s face, only to freeze against her skin. “This ice won’t hold for long!”

Misaka Shirai closed her eyes as the electricity around her grew denser. “Give me ten seconds.”

Su Tang nodded and rapidly formed a series of hand seals. She folded the surrounding space again, redirecting the flames about to strike the ice shield so they streamed away elsewhere.

Ten seconds later, Misaka Shirai’s eyes snapped open, lightning flashing in her pupils. She thrust both hands forward.

“Railgun: Full-Power Output!”

Two Railgun beams erupted from her palms. Each was several times thicker than her previous attacks, and both tore straight toward Lin Xi and Thor.

At the same time, Xia Xun dropped the ice shield and formed a single ice-crystal spear between her hands.

The twin lightning spears and the ice spear struck the Crimson Sun together.

Flame, frost, electromagnetic energy, and spatial power twisted around one another, colliding and merging into something more destructive than any one of them alone.

Xia Xun and Misaka Shirai were already close to their limits, but Su Tang continued casting.

“Spatial Restraint: Six-Sided Prison!”

“You’re not getting away today!”

“Stay right there!”

Six transparent planes snapped into place around the Crimson Sun, forming a sealed cube.

The flames battered the walls from within but could not break through.

Su Tang gasped for breath. Sweat soaked her clothes, and her face had gone ashen. She was nearing her limit too.

Once the Crimson Sun was destroyed, the Special-Grade Disaster would have no strength left to resist.

Lin Xi was gasping just as hard, equally drenched in sweat and equally pale.

It’s over, it’s over, it’s over, it’s over!

Her mind was full of one thought: she was toast.

Su Tang truly deserved her reputation as the Chief Magical Girl who had once slain a Super-Grade Disaster. She was genuinely prepared to risk her life here. Xia Xun and Misaka Shirai had also gone all in.

What a terrible sin Lin Xi had committed.

Inside the spatial cube, crimson light became blinding and the temperature soared. The Six-Sided Prison began to shudder like a glass vessel over a flame. Cold sweat formed on Su Tang’s forehead as she felt her power beginning to collapse.

Lin Xi could feel the Crimson Sun collapsing too.

The spatial prison exploded apart.

Flame, frost, lightning, and torn space burst outward in a blinding wave. When the light finally receded, the Crimson Sun was gone.

With Su Tang leading the assault and Misaka Shirai and Xia Xun supporting her, the three Magical Girls had matched Lin Xi at ninety-nine-percent output.

Lin Xi dropped to one knee on Thor’s back, breathing hard.

Only two choices remained.

She could surrender.

Or she could go to one hundred percent.

The last time she had unleashed her full power, she had lost consciousness, even if she had woken again soon afterward. She was much stronger now. Lin Xi was not worried about what full output might do to her-she was worried about what it might do to the three Magical Girls.

If she badly injured or even killed Xia Xun, Lin Xi did not dare imagine the consequences.

Lin Xi sighed and made her decision.

She would surrender.

And when they pulled off her hood, Xia Xun would be heartbroken, Su Tang would be furious, and Shirai…

Lin Xi had no idea how Shirai would react at all.