More importantly, behind the adversary stood a girl who silently unfolded a vast library, along with a pair of delicate scissors in her hand that resembled a mere shadow.
At the moment when the silken threads made contact with Hong Siyu's body, she used them as a medium to momentarily sever the concept of "qi" from her.
Thus, the prey was ensnared.
The pitch-dark Remnant Beasts, amidst the sound of gunfire and the onslaught of weapons, frantically stumbled into the trap that the Hunter had long since laid out.
In the wine glass, the black and red cocktail as if spilled, vanished a finger's breadth in an instant.
Magic Power, like ashes dancing in the sky, soared upwards, and the enveloping mist around the body visibly contracted in an instant. Enshrouded and bound by layers of silken threads, Hong Siyu's figure wavered several times before being firmly tethered in mid-air.
Hong Siyu, who had always relied on her speed to dodge attacks and had hardly sustained any damage, finally exposed her most significant vulnerability.
Of course, the battle was far from over.
For even if Hong Siyu was bound to a spot, these inherently weak threads were as good as non-existent. To her, as long as she could recover from that emotional impact, breaking free from these threads was but the work of an instant.
Yet, she still failed to find the opportunity to "recover".
Below the web that bound her were groups of Magical Girls, each already armed with Magic Armor, their hands ready to launch Magic Techniques and Magic Bullets.
Except for Bai Jingxuan, who had been blown away and fallen straight into unconsciousness, the remaining five Magical Girls gathered here solely to deliver the critical final blow.
It didn't matter whether it would truly cause injury, for Emerald Sparrow had already instructed, "just hitting the target would suffice."
Gazing at the diverse colors of the Magic Power glow, the silken web's central figure, Hong Siyu, looked stunned and then cracked a smile of utter satisfaction.
A shout from the depths of her soul erupted in unison with the Magic Power from the girls' hands.
All her magical power was summoned at that moment; even without "qi", the remaining momentum significantly amplified her strength once again, overpowering the flickering lights.
As she vocally urged herself on, she used her willpower to suppress all negative emotions and began to brandish her weapon.
She accepted her disadvantage but refused to accept a total loss due to one setback.
No matter what, she had to extricate herself from this layer of silken web and avoid the subsequent attacks.
Her speed was unleashed to its utmost; all the mist turned into phantoms as countless weapons thrust from the phantoms' hands, seemingly stabbing from her actual hands.
Fast, incredibly fast, Hong Siyu's image merged in that instant with the illusions of weapons, and these numerous overlapping shadows nearly simultaneously swung their weapons at the inescapable net above.
It was a thunderous sound like a storm's sudden arrival, tidal waves of shock and awe. In an instant, as if hundreds, thousands of slashes were made, the surrounding web of threads and even the roof of the bar were swept clean, all severed.
The dense blue threads were instantly reduced to scattered fragments, and the luminescent blue magic particles sprinkled across the heavens like stardust. The broken rooftop exposed the original pitch-black night that became as beautiful as the Milky Way adorned with the twinkling magic lights.
Bathed in this magical stardust shower, Hong Siyu, holding a knife and breathing softly, looked down towards the direction of Emerald Sparrow and then flashed a rakish smile.
Emerald Sparrow didn't respond with an expression.
She simply waved her hand, dispersing the threads wound around her fingers, now broken, and returned the shadowy scissors to Hong Siyu. She lightly combed her somewhat disheveled hair.
Then, she gestured gently towards something behind Hong Siyu.
Only then did Hong Siyu realize she might have missed something.
Turning her head, she saw five different-colored trails of Magic Power ascend from beneath her feet and stretch unrestrainedly toward the distant mountaintop.
Undoubtedly, from the beginning, those young Magical Girls never intended to clash head-on with her.
The magical power fluctuations they released, their sprints in her direction, weren't meant for a joint attack but... for flight.
While Hong Siyu had been busy clearing the web in an attempt to dodge the onslaught, these Magical Girls had already bypassed her side and set forth toward the summit.
"...How did you know it was that way?" Hong Siyu looked back with a hint of resignation and asked Emerald Sparrow.
In response to this question, Emerald Sparrow merely lifted her hand, revealing the wide sleeve cuff within which a purple-black Crystal Stone faintly glowed.
Hong Siyu immediately recognized it as one of the objectives she had been pursuing on her journey — the Source of Beasts.
"I've borrowed it for a while, as it's involved with the Remnant Beasts' Magic Power and can serve as a detector," Emerald Sparrow said, closing her sleeve and blinking her eyes, as if stating the most natural thing in the world.