Chapter 137: The Hero Who Didn't Make it in Time

A/N: The semi-opened thing in previous chapter is only x 1.10, not x 1.50. I realized that the semi-opened thing wouldn't make sense if the increase from the semi to fully opened state is not that huge. There's also the fact that MC would become more OP. Can't have me breaking the power scaling, Te~he!

*****

"You'll stay behind for the Walpurgisnacht?"

"I owe my former mentor... many times."

At this moment, the carefree Kyoko is embarrassed. Recalling the times when she got helped by Mami as well as the times when her life was saved, her last bit of righteousness made her stay.

She then asked Shiro, "How about your student? How is she?"

"Sayaka? She's doing... quite well."

"Only 'quite' well?"

"My arrogance is to be blamed for that one." He replied.

During the times when he taught others, it all went well. They strode in their own paths whilst having the power to go further. Shinji and Sakura's fate is much better than what it's used to while Kuroneko overcame her inhibitions as a 'normal' human.

When he received his 150 year's worth of memories, he got some bits of the Supreme Magus teaching his students. With all of his previous successes and that, he never thought that something could go wrong in this student of his.

Shiro was soon proven wrong when she suddenly made a wish and became a Magical Girl.

Knowing that his student had her fate sealed into a crueler one, he definitely felt bad and blamed a part of it to himself.

What if he helped her fix her romance life?

What if he showed her Kyousuke's scumbag-ness?

What if he told her that she has to chance with him; and that it's better to move on?

These thoughts haunted him gradually. While he became much stronger than his previous self, Shiro is filled with regrets this time.

'Only if I could turn back time...'

The only way out that he saw right now is his [Time Control (SS)]. If it could turn back time, back to her state when she didn't take that contract, her life would return back to normal.

That, or the items that the Chat Group can offer.

Seeing the depressed aura that surrounded him, Kyoko was surprised for a moment. Shiro, just like her, is a carefree spirit. He gave no damns about the thoughts of others irrelevant to him as he acted out of his own interests.

That's why they became closer even though their first impression is bad and had met for around 15 days ago.

Noticing this, Shiro took out another Taiyaki from his [Dimensional Storage] and tossed it to her.

'It's been 24 days already...'

Right now, it's been 24 days since they started this mission. Mami went crazy in the first week while Sayaka made that sudden choice in the second. After that, 10 more days had passed.

During that time, all they did is to hunt down Witches, purify Grief Seeds, and analyze its composition. Roman, the former King of Magus, really did a number on it as he found out the overall structure of the so-called Soul Gems.

It surprised them that the Grief Seeds are already present in them! The Soul Gem is present in the outer core while the smaller Grief Seeds are present in its inner core. The manifestations of dark emotions are all stored in the inner part, thus the reason why a Soul Gem breaks once someone becomes a Witch.

On the other hand, the impurities are actually those manifestations. The reason why they appear is due to the magical energy that suppresses them becomes lesser the more a Magical Girl use them. The Grief Seeds 'absorbing' those impurities are actually it refilling the magical energy in the Soul Gem.

As for the Grief Seeds that he purified into a Soul Gem, only Kaede is out for now. The others are stored in the storage where the time is frozen since their current mentalities couldn't handle the overwhelming feeling of despair.

Right now, she's with Touka whom had made a new body for her using her [Tyrant's Eye]. Though, it took the three of them more than a week of preparations to do so.

Arrays that amplifies Touka's mind, another sets of arrays that would connect their stored mana briefly, rituals that would use [Origin Crystals], and so on. In the end, they successfully created a human body that matched Kaede's soul genetics.

It's all thanks to Roman who had successfully mimicked the [Third True Magic—Heaven's Feel] using his Age of God magecraft. However, its execution became possible due to the wealthiest Chat Group member, Shiro.

Its basic requirement is 1000 [Origin Crystals], which is one-fiftieth of his current stock. It also needed much more rare materials, most of which came from him, too.

If not for the fact that they possessed most of the required materials, they might take a long time to prepare for it, just like Goetia's thousands of years of preparation for his [Ars Almadel Salomonis], his Noble Phantasm that mimicked the [Fifth True Magic—The Blue].

Beep-!

A sudden alarm rang out in Shiro's mind.

'The mentorship function?'

It is the function that he unlocked the moment he accepted Sayaka as his tenth disciple. Simply put, it gave him rewards the more milestones his students can reach, all the while it makes it possible for him to let them benefit from his system, too.

[Your student 'Miki Sayaka' attains a stronger willpower! Her current Willpower: 70]

[You have been rewarded with the following: 3 Appraisal Attempts (S), 3 Random Masteries (Master)]

Just as he is about to smile at this improvements of her, more alarms rang out, covering his sight with many prompts.

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[A Level 5 Heart Demon was formed in your student 'Miki Sayaka'!]

[Immediate action required!]

[Immediate action required!]

[Immediate action required!]

[Issuing Emergency Quest...]

[Emergency Quest "Save Your Student" has been issued.]

[Your student 'Miki Sayaka' is corrupted by the Level 5 Heart Demon. She has now turned into an almagamation of dark emotions, a Witch.]

[Emergency Quest failed.]

[A mutation has occurred. Due to the Level 5 Heart Demon, she becomes a Quasi-Demon (Fake)!]

[Her power is only below the strongest Witch, Walpurgisnacht.]

[Issuing Emergency Quest...]

The moment he read this, exactly a split second later, an evil presence covered the entirety of Mitakihara City. The skies went dark, but the common populace had only thought of an incoming rain.

Shiro's expression changed to a very dark one in that split second.

The others are just the same as him. Each of their expressions became serious before they messaged the Chat Group.

Roman: "What is happening right now?! The defensive arrays didn't activate!"

Touka: "It must've happened from the inside. Did someone turn into a Witch? But there are only four Magical Girls here... Shiro?"

Although, Shiro didn't notice those messages as he pulled down his [Blindfold]. His attire turned into his usual black and white light armor, with him wielding his twin blades on his hands.

While his eyes looked mesmerizing, all it has is a look of seriousness. Kyoko was stunned by his appearance for a moment, but the presence that she felt woke her up from her daydreaming.

"What happened just now?!" She asked.

"...It's my fault."

"What do you-"

"It's Sayaka."

Upon hearing this, her brain short-circuited for a moment.

"This evil presence? Did your student turn into a Witch?!"

"No... Not just a Witch. She's now a Demon."

Shiro opened an aurora curtain before stepping in, leaving the confounded Kyoko alone. Still, she didn't dilly-dally as she took out her phone to meet up with Mami. After texting her, she looked at the distance, the place where this presence had originated, and prayed:

'Hey God, if you're there, my life sucked. So for once, please let my taiya-no... My new friend to live.'

*****

A/N: If you notice, yep, this quote of hers is in the wiki. In episode 9 (The time Sayaka became a Witch), she said this quote: "Hey God, if you're there, my life sucked. So for once, please let me have a happy dream."

That's it... The tensions would begin to rise from here. I won't give an estimate on how long this arc would be, but we're now approaching the climax of it. As for the explanations regarding the Level 5 Heart Demon, why she transformed this fast, and how she mutated to be this strong, there'll be explanations in the further chapters:)