Chapter 78: Return

“Congratulations! We won! No one died! Except for us, though. Hehehe. But as long as one of us survives, we will prevail!” One Yuri said, cutting the cake and handing me a slice. She was Yuri, not Black Lily—her black hair flowing just like how I styled it.

“Sorry for letting you two be the bait,” I apologized.

“Well, it was to save lives after all! As long as you survive, we will too!”

We hugged each other. I had never hugged myself before. It was strange yet comforting—our height matched perfectly, and we moved in sync. No awkwardness.

“Don’t do it too often, alright? It hurts,” one Yuri said while eating her cake.

“Yes. Of course!” I nodded.

“Hm, why so sullen?” Another Yuri asked. “We won.”

“I just keep thinking about the soldiers who died. More Anathema are coming, right? We didn’t actually win anything, did we?”

“Yeah, we just won a few essences. Basically, we traded those lives for a couple of credits,” one of the clones muttered. I agreed with her. Half of my clones nodded in agreement. But the other half, the ones who didn’t nod, spoke up.

“But we need those essences to craft weapons. If we have more, we’ll be able to overwhelm the Anathema eventually.”

“But more soldiers will perish because of that!”

“It’s worth it. They wanted to be on the frontlines. Or are you saying we should handle everything ourselves?”

My clones started bickering. I didn’t stop them—I knew I had the same conflicting thoughts. People die all the time, especially in war.

I cut a piece of the strawberry cake my clones had given me and put it into my mouth. The taste was exactly the same as my birthday party three years ago. That was the most memorable one, not because of any grand celebration, but because I had spent it with Shining Arrow and her team instead of my butlers—or alone.

It was also the simplest birthday I had ever had. We had just moved to New Mesa, and everyone was busy setting up the government offices. The new MGs had just returned from clearing the Darklands, and they chose to babysit me that day.

“Life is more important!”

“Future is more important!”

The bickering escalated as the clones began summoning their weapons. This was a dreamland, so even if they killed each other, there wouldn’t be any real casualties. They were me, so I found myself watching them calmly. It felt odd. I was agitated when others fought but I found myself calm in this conflicting moment.

“Why am I not picking up a weapon?” I muttered, thinking whether I should join one of the factions.

“Not all of us are as rough as they are, Yuri.” Another clone sipped tea beside me. “Personally, I don’t care about these soldiers’ lives. Whether they die or not isn’t my concern.”

Something inside me tensed at her words. I could understand the ones fighting, but to say she didn’t care at all—how absurd.

“I am you,” she continued. “We may come from different times, but I am still you. There have been times when you didn’t care about others, right? I suppose others would be enraged if I said I didn’t care about Shirayuki, people’s lives, or even the fate of humanity. That would be against the principles of a Magical Girl, after all.” She rested her cheek against her hand in thought. “I wonder why I became a Magical Girl. I’m not worthy. I’m evil. I didn’t care about them. I wished for the Anathema to win. There have been times when you’ve thought like that too, haven’t you?”

“…Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. You can’t control your thoughts.”

“So… is your role to be the ignorant Yuri? I don’t think I’m that apathetic anymore.” I asked her. If these Yuris were fragments of my past self, I wondered if they would stay the same or change. And if they changed… could they die? The thought terrified me. If they disappeared, what would happen to my personality? Would I change too?

“We change and grow, I guess. But people evolve based on outside influence. We don’t get much input here, so we grow slower,” the apathetic Yuri mused.

“Come on! Stop sipping tea and help us, Original Yuri!” my clones shouted, demanding my involvement in their argument.

“We are not gods. This decision was never ours to make in the first place. Felicia already said it, right? This whole operation was orchestrated by the UNH and Guardian Command. We can’t change that,” I told them.

Both factions sulked at my answer, clearly unsatisfied.

“Always putting things away. Just because you close your eyes doesn’t mean the problem is gone,” said one of the Yuris who supported protecting the soldiers. They stopped fighting and sat down with us.

“If this wasn’t your decision, why are you even stressing over it? It doesn’t make sense!” The other Yuri faction also pouted, crossing their arms.

“You can’t control thoughts, but we should still do our best to make sure everyone is satisfied, right?” I smiled.

The clones sighed, seeming to accept my answer. One by one, they faded away, leaving the dreamscape hazy until everything dissolved into darkness.

When I opened my eyes, I was back in my room inside Agneya, lying on the bed. The room was pitch black—Felicia must have turned off all the lamps, including the nightlight.

Since this wasn’t my usual room, I fumbled for the light switch. There were no windows to let in sunlight, making it even harder. But as a Dark MG, I had a special grimoire that let me see in the dark.

Activating Virtue, I switched on my infrared vision, and the world turned into a monochrome landscape. Within seconds, I found the switch and turned on the light.

“I wonder if I’m using this skill correctly. The Zenith must be crying watching me use these unique abilities for something as mundane as finding a switch in the dark,” I muttered with a wry smile.

“Skills aren’t consumed. No matter how much you use them, they won't ever diminish. So, We don't care what you use them for, as long as it doesn’t harm others, the Zenith won’t complain,” Felicia said, appearing in a purple light beside me.

“It was a joke…”

“Well, it wasn’t funny. You have failed. Your future as an entertainer looks bleak. Weren’t you supposed to be an actress?” Felicia shrugged.

Her words were a critical hit to my pride. I picked her up and rubbed her head, trying to tickle her sides as revenge.

“I am not a comedian! I’m not trying to be funny! But you shouldn’t say something like that to my face either! Where is this cat’s manners?” I laughed.

We continued playing for a while until Felicia suddenly froze up.

I immediately stopped tickling her—I knew this meant something important had happened.

“A call from Eden’s Guardian Command. We’re going home tomorrow,” Felicia said.

“Already? Shouldn’t we have several more days here?”

“Dunno, nyaa. I think the Central Guardian already got the data they wanted,” Felicia replied.

“So, did we succeed or fail? I don’t think we collected enough essence yet,” I asked.

“Our essence collection is definitely lower than expected. We only collected about half of the projected amount. However, we had no Guardian casualties, and soldier casualties were lower than expected. I don’t know what Eden’s Guardian Command is thinking. The results are far from conclusive,” Felicia analyzed, her thought process mirroring mine.

When I stepped out of my room, I saw Shining coming out of hers as well. Together, we made our way to the briefing room, only to find Freya blowing up over Guardian Command’s decision.

“This is unacceptable! We were supposed to be here for another week! They’re pulling us back too soon!” Freya fumed. “I just killed a B-rank Anathema yesterday. From that alone, we acquired over two vials. We can make it!”

“I never said we couldn’t. Guardian Command also didn’t declare us a failure. They simply ordered us to return,” Gwen replied calmly.

“Then why else would they send us home early if they don’t think we’re failing?” Freya argued. "This must be because we didn't earn much on our third day!"

I leaned toward Felicia and whispered, “Can you contact Guardian Command from here?”

“I can make a call, but I doubt they’ll answer. Freya must have already tried,” Felicia responded.

“Then call Kageyama… Uncle,” I corrected myself, “and make sure it stays private.”

“Calling.”

“Kageyama?” Shining tilted her head as she looked at me.

“Shh!” I put a finger to my lips, signaling Shining to keep quiet. Realization dawned on her, and she immediately covered her mouth.

“Moshi moshi… hello? Lily? Is that you? Are you safe? I heard expeditions into the Darklands are full of unexpected dangers. Please stay safe and don’t wander too far,” Kageyama said.

I winced, guilt creeping in—after all, I had wandered too far just yesterday. I even fought a boss monster.

“I’m safe. I’m inside Agneya right now. Do you know why we were called back home so soon?” I asked him.

“Hm? You’re going back already? That’s quick. I’m not sure about the exact reason, but it might be because the offshore oil rig was damaged.”

“Oil rig? Are we heading there next?”

“No. There are other Guardians on Earth, Lily. You don’t have to shoulder everything yourself. You also have school to consider. Unless you choose to be a public Guardian, you’re required to attend. You’ve already missed a fifth of your classes this year.

"But more importantly, we only have one Agneya. Many companies have been petitioning for Agneya to be used elsewhere instead of just sitting in the Darklands,” Kageyama explained.

“I see.”

I finally understood what Guardian Command was thinking. Rather than risking the only ship we had, they wanted to redeploy it somewhere else. Agneya was massive—about the size of a freighter. While it no longer had its arcoplasma gun, its sheer size alone made it a valuable asset.

More importantly, it ran on its own mana reactor, unlike our usual transport ships. It was also armored and shielded, which allowed us to set up bases in the Darklands like this.

“But isn’t it wasteful to use Agneya as a cargo ship?” I asked Kageyama.

“Hmm… that depends on what you call wasteful. That ship no longer has weapons. A high-level Anathema could still breach its shields and armor. I haven’t spoken to Armstrong or the President, but personally, I’d rather use it as a cargo ship than risk it being sunk by Anathema.”

This was his personal opinion, not Guardian Command’s official stance. But the fact that so many people seemed to think like him made me frown.

“But what about Anathema essence collection? Wasn’t what we were doing important?”

“It certainly was. But rather than using Agneya, I’d prefer the old-fashioned method—transporting groups of Guardians via helicopters or planes. Vials are small; we could carry a hundred of them in just two suitcases. I don’t think anyone would want to stay in the Darklands for a prolonged period anyway.”

Knowing I had no real counterargument, I simply nodded and said my goodbyes. Kageyama wished me well and reminded me to stay safe before hanging up.

“So, what did he say?” Shining asked.

“He wasn’t entirely sure, but he thinks Guardian Command wants to use Agneya for something else,” I whispered.

“Should I put this conversation into private mode? I got a request from Freya’s familiar to share any info on Guardian movements,” Felicia asked.

I nodded.

Freya might be an A-rank Guardian, but since this was an order from headquarters, she couldn’t refuse.

Soldiers soon packed their belongings, salvaging whatever was intact from the impromptu wall. There was no final battle, no gigantic Anathema attacking us, nothing dramatic.

It was just… calm.

I stood on Agneya’s deck, gazing at the vast, empty wasteland. The blue sky stretched endlessly above me as we departed from our temporary base.