Emerald Sparrow had a dream.
In the dream, she seemed to be living in the past.
In this past, she saw herself as still young, still naive, still proud of being a Magical Girl, and thus answered the Kingdom's call to join the army.
At that time, Emerald Sparrow, or rather Cornflower, was the youngest and most promising Bud Level Magical Girl in the Magic Kingdom. Having just received her word plate certification, she demonstrated her extraordinary abilities during assessments, already making a name for herself among the many Magical Girls.
As such, when the Magic Kingdom went to war with the interworld, even though the Kingdom didn't forcibly require the Material Realm's Magical Girls to participate, and most of the Magical Girls from the Material Realm were unwilling to fight, Cornflower still chose to be the exception, resolutely setting out for the Kingdom.
An Ya, or Ying, went to the Kingdom with her.
This wasn't particularly surprising, as An Ya had always been —her overflowing empathy made it impossible for her to stand idly by. Asou Haruka and Su Shengzi, although both unafraid of danger, ultimately stayed in Fangting to ensure the city's safety, persuaded by the Seeder.
This marked the first time Fangting City's team had taken separate actions since its formation, and at that time, probably no one had realized just how profound the impact of this war would be.
The Kingdom's army mainly consisted of three components: Magical Girls, Magicians, and ordinary soldiers. Among them, Magical Girls were responsible for individually targeting high-threat units, Magic Sorcerers provided support with Magic Techniques from the rear, and ordinary soldiers relied on operating Magic Weapons, using numerical advantage to create suppressive fire.
The Interdimensional Joint Army, on the other hand, was made up of Fairies, Magicians, and Remnant Beasts. Among these, Fairies were the main combat force, clashing head-on with Magical Girls on the battlefield; Magic Sorcerers provided rear support and also controlled lower-tier Remnant Beasts with special techniques; as for the controlled Remnant Beasts, they were essentially cannon fodder and large-scale ground forces, completely expendable.
At the beginning, when the intensity of the war was still controllable, Cornflower and An Ya were in the same unit, relying on their long-standing combat experience to prevail on the battlefield, repelling the Interdimensional Joint Army several times in localized battles. Considering the Joint Army's main forces were Fairies, the Kingdom didn't use excessive force, and neither side suffered many casualties.
But soon, this superficial and kindness-based mercy was torn apart.
From the first territorial loss, to the first large-scale firefight, to the first inevitable mass casualties, not only did the Interdimensional Joint Army no longer hold back, but the Kingdom's Army was also fully incited by hatred. As seeds of hatred began to sprout in the hearts of originally kind Magical Girls, the intensity of the war inevitably started to escalate. Both the Interdimensional Joint Army and the Kingdom's Army suffered increasing losses in one battle after another.
And it might have been just loss of forces, but no one expected that in order to replenish their troops, the Interdimensional Joint Army started to insanely deploy more Remnant Beasts onto the battlefield. Some of these Remnant Beasts were still under their control, while others were simply wild, attacking any creature they saw, turning the entire battlefield into chaos.
As news of Magical Girl sacrifices continuously came from the frontline, and countless Magicians perished, the Kingdom's Army underwent its first major reorganization.
Cornflower and Ying, though they had just received their word plates and were technically still Newbie Magical Girls, were both promoted to squad leaders due to their outstanding battlefield performance. Under the new organization, they were assigned to different City Defense Armies. Cornflower to the City of Knowledge, Luennolay, and Ying to the City of Justice, Domlia, each leading their own squads, rushing to their posts.
At that time, Cornflower, full of vigor if not outright exuberant, excelled in repelling the enemy while also providing excellent cover for her companions, saving many fellow comrades on the battlefield. Therefore, she was not only distinguished for her accomplishments but also held in high esteem among her colleagues. This reputation eventually caught the attention of the new Commander.
— "This is the list of your squad members; if you have any questions you can ask me now."
Waving her hand across the Magic Mirror in front of her, the Magical Girl in front of Cornflower sent out a string of Favo Runes, which seemed alive as they danced in the air, eventually landing on Cornflower's Mirror, transforming into a list.
"Let me explain beforehand, although I decided on the initial selections, after submitting it to the Army Command for review, this list has changed substantially."
The Magical Girl providing the list looked exhausted, her heavy dark circles made her appear quite haggard. She stuffed a pipe in her mouth, took a deep puff, then squinted as she exhaled the smoke: "So even if you're dissatisfied, blame me, and want to change people, I can't guarantee I'll be able to help you replace anyone, I'd advise you to pick some other topic, that way we can both save some energy."
Startled by the shabby appearance of her new superior, Cornflower quickly adjusted her mindset and looked at the list in her hands: "Does it mean that many squad leaders were dissatisfied with the list before and wanted to change people?"