Chapter 122: Conundrum

On top of a cell tower, Touka with her [Tyrant's Eye] fully active is overlooking the entire Mitakihara City. She saw countless white lines, each signifying a destiny of someone. They are too many to the point that she can still see them over the horizon. It's even more noticeable during the night.

Her casual attire, a slightly oversized white t-shirt, fluttered due to the wind. Coincidentally, she also wore blue jeans. Though, her thoughts is in another matter altogether...

"Too bright..."

Putting her right hand in front of her [Tyrant's Eye], she did a hand gesture that stopped its activation. Still, she saw that blinding light, which made her too exhausted.

"Who can possess such huge destiny. It's as if she's the center of this world..?" She murmured.

What she saw just before she turned off her UR-rated ability are countless destiny lines intertwined in a spherical shape like a ball of yarn. It's base destiny line formed a very thick pillar of white light that encompassed a large area, plus the destiny lines of a few others who entangled with it.

It became like this due to the other destiny lines splitting a part of themselves before connecting with the said light.

In short, she saw a blinding light that perhaps illuminated the entirety of Earth.

[Private] Touka: "I discovered something important."

*****

Looking at the message that Touka had sent, Shiro briefly replied before focusing back in what he's doing right now.

"Looks like she wouldn't agree with this, Shiro."

Besides him is Cardinal, whom he is able to interact with thanks to his [Augmented Glasses]. Since everyone can see his pair of charming eyes, it caused a fatal damage to the girl in his left.

"Madoka?" He called out.

"H-hai? Shiro-san?"

"Are you alright? You're in a daze."

"M-me? In a daze..."

Seeing this, Cardinal could only say: "Another one."

"..."

Shiro became speechless and didn't defend himself because... she's completely right! At first, he didn't mind this appearance of his, but the moment he got a portion of his memories back, he became more conscious towards it.

Heck, one of the reasons why is the experience of the Supreme Magus. Due to a System Reward of his, he attained the [Perfection] concept, but it affected his appearance the most.

From his extremely handsome self, he became more androgynous—it followed the concept of mortals that gods looked androgynous. While he may have gotten immense potential and power, he lost his prided handsomeness back in his Hero days...

This is also the reason behind his max-level control and charm stat. As for his max-level Willpower stat, it should've came from Fenrir who overcame countless ordeals, tempering his will as a result.

Shiro took a sip from the orange juice that Madoka prepared for him.

Clank-! Clank-!

The spherical-shaped ice made a clanking sound as he drank it.

"Do you remember what Homura had mentioned to you a few days ago?"

"Un."

At that time, the mission was published. Due to the time difference between other worlds, 3 days had passed in Madoka's world before the three of them participated in it.

That's also the time when she went to the clinic together with Homura; though, what's strange is that the latter led the former when she's a transfer student.

It's as if she's already familiar with the place.

"She told me to not change..." Madoka said.

"To be more specific, she must've wanted you to not become a Magical Girl."

"Ah?"

When Madoka's expression became confused, Shiro continued explaining.

"You know about Grief Seeds, right?"

"That's right..."

"Since you've already seen one. Do you have any thoughts about it?"

Hearing this question, she began thinking about Grief Seeds and the likes. She didn't delve deeper in this, actually, as she dismissed that thought of hers as a coincidence.

However, Shiro asked her specifically about this, thus she said it with uncertainty.

"It looks similar to a Soul Gem..?"

"That's right." He then added, "Because they are one and same."

"What..."

"Grief Seeds ARE former Soul Gems."

Without waiting for her to process this, he took out the Witch Gertrud's Grief Seed from his [Dimensional Storage]. The moment it appeared on top of his palm, it has white flames surrounding it like a garland.

What's more surprising is that unlike its previous appearance, half of the black color faded, leaving a ruby-like color in it. Also, the white flames seemed alive as it revolved continuously on the Grief Seed, serving as the eraser that reduced the black parts bit by bit.

Madoka looked mesmerized upon seeing it, but the sudden realization and Shiro's words brought her back to reality.

"D-does it mean that... Witches are previous Magical Girls?" She asked.

"Yup."

"But how..?"

With a complex look in her eyes, she further asked, "Does Mami-san know of this?"

"No, or so I believe. That Kyuubey must've withheld this information to others."

"This explains why Homura-chan is hostile against Kyuubey..."

During her and Sayaka's first meeting with Kyuubey, it's badly wounded and is being chased by Homura. If not for the fact that a Witch and Mami had arrived, perhaps Homura would've forced her way through them and 'killed' Kyuubey.

"As to how they became Witches, it might be due to the 'Impurities' that you've mentioned earlier." Shiro explained. "It looks similar to this, right?"

He pointed out to the half-purified Grief Seed, to which she nodded.

After Shiro disappeared earlier, another confrontation between Homura, Mami, and Sayaka occurred. The latter two believed that Homura isn't to be trusted, a sharp contrast to Madoka's thinking that Homura is a kind person.

When she left, Mami briefly explained things about Soul Gems. When they use more power during their Magical Girl forms, 'Impurities' would appear in their Soul Gems—something that can only be cleansed by Grief Seeds as it absorbs such impurities from the gems, making them clean.

Of course, there's a limit as to how many times it could be used to cleanse Soul Gems; thus they break when they reach the said limit.

"With all this, it's evident that Homura truly cared for you, Madoka-chan." Shiro said.

"Homura-chan..."

Thanks to this explanation of his, Madoka now understood Homura better than her original fate's. At first, her instincts told her that Homura is truly a kind person, but only now did she understand why.

Under her cold but melancholic gaze is her good intention towards her...

"Madoka-chan."

"Un?"

"Knowing all these, will you still consider it?" He asked.

Mami told her about the cons of a Magical Girl before. Still, both she and Sayaka never lost the desire to become one.

"Kaname Madoka, are you still willing to become a Magical Girl?"

"I..."

*****

A/N: Holy... I didn't expect to see such a rollercoaster plot in Integrated Strategies #3 (Arknights). Man, it almost looked like Honkai with the deaths of in-game operators alone! Thankfully, it is just an alternate universe...

Fact #74: It it recently revealed that Kal'tsit didn't leave through thousands of years in one go. Rather, she died and reincarnated continuously. Every time she gets reincarnated, she only remembers her name (Kal'tsit) before she gradually remembers her past. One of the purposes that she has is something big, which is the survival of all Terrans. It is also stated that she existed way back when originum-powered industries is not yet a thing. Though, the most interesting lore that got revealed is that... she was afraid that once Terrans masters originum technology, they would be able to go beyond the starry sky (the veil) and pierce through the sky (truth). As to what it is? There are many head-canons related to it, such as Terra being a simulated world or the Outer Gods similar to Ishar-mla (Seaborns) and the eldritch-abominations aforementioned before.