"I say, every time you fight you always bring something back."
Looking at Xiao Hei in front of him, Fang Zheng sighed helplessly.
"Last time, Nanoha brought back one, and this time you brought back two..."
"Hahaha……"
Facing Fang Zheng's complaint, Xiao Hei gave a playful smile and then gestured embarrassedly.
"I just accidentally got a little excited... Ah, but I activated the inherent barrier, so it didn't cause any damage to the surroundings, right?"
"If you hadn't opened the barrier, I would have asked Sakura and Illya to bring you back."
Hearing this, Fang Zheng rolled his eyes helplessly, then he turned his head and looked at the curly-haired girl and the black straight hair standing not far away - the latter had followed after Xiao Hei defeated the curly-haired girl.
"Well, now that you're here, I might as well speak frankly."
Fang Zheng walked up to the two of them and looked at them.
"My name is Fang Zheng, and I am the ruler of Tiandao Palace. Can you tell me your names?"
“…”
After hearing Fang Zheng's question, the two were silent for a moment, and then the girl with long black hair spoke first.
"Akami Homura."
After that, the curly-haired girl also gave an answer.
"Tomoe Mami."
"You are all students of Mitakihara, right? Don't worry, I just have something I want to ask that guy called QB... Sakura, bring it here."
"Yes, teacher."
Sakura nodded, and then manipulated the wind card to bring QB in front of Fang Zheng, who narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at the strange creature in front of him that looked like a rabbit and a cat. At the same time, he tilted his head towards QB and looked at him curiously.
"You're looking for me? It's surprising that there are men who can see me."
Unexpectedly, this strange white creature did not move its mouth, but its voice suddenly appeared in Fang Zheng's ears.
"I have a few questions for you, please answer them truthfully."
"oh?"
Hearing Fang Zheng's words, QB lay down like a cat, then stretched out his hind legs and rubbed against it.
"What do you want?"
"I only have three questions."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng extended a finger.
"First question, did you make a contract with the girls to turn them into magical girls?"
"certainly."
QB nodded.
"I fulfilled their wishes. In return, they will fight as magical girls. This is a reasonable deal."
"Second question."
Fang Zheng didn't seem to care at all what QB said, he stretched out another finger.
"When signing the contract, did you explain to the contract-makers the true situation of becoming a magical girl? Including the information that their souls were placed in the soul gems and their original bodies were just simple shells...? If not, then why didn't you tell them?"
"Why?!"
Hearing this, Tomoe Mami's eyes widened in surprise and looked at QB, while QB was silent for a moment and wagged his tail.
"Because they didn't ask. I have confirmed whether they want to become magical girls. Since they agreed, they should have thought about the consequences. After all, I will fulfill any of their wishes. It is conceivable that they should understand that they need to pay a corresponding price to fulfill their wishes."
"snort."
Homura Akemi snorted coldly and turned away, clearly showing her displeasure with QB. Fang Zheng just glanced at her and then looked at QB again.
"Then the last question is, how did the witch appear?"
"A witch is born out of despair..."
"Don't use this kind of literary rhetoric to fool me. I mean the witch herself. What is she made of? The specific, material aspect of her creation."
“…”
This time, QB was silent for a moment before answering.
"A witch...is a transformation from a magical girl."
"Why?!"
Hearing this, not only Nanoha, Illya, Sakura and others were stunned, but Mami also showed an expression of disbelief as if she was struck by lightning.
"Will a magical girl...become a witch?"
"certainly."
After the thorough explanation, QB seemed to let go. It shook its head and tail, looking very relaxed.
"When the pollution of a magical girl's soul gem reaches its limit, and the magical girl turns from hope to despair, she will become a witch. And witches exist for this reason..."
"Wait, wait!"
At this moment, Mami suddenly screamed and interrupted QB's explanation. She stared at QB with an expression of disbelief.
"So, so what you mean is... all the witches I have defeated so far, they are all..."
"Yes, they were all once magical girls, Tomoe-Mami."
QB looked at Tomoe Mami, its tone didn't change at all.
"And you, sooner or later, will transform into a witch and be hunted by other magical girls."
“Ah…ah…”
Hearing this, Mami Tomoe's face turned pale and she kept backing away. She shook her head desperately, as if she was denying something.
"No, no, it's not like that! You lied to me, you lied to me, didn't you!"
“Haha…”
However, in response to Tomoe Mami's almost crying questioning, QB just sighed.
"You humans have always been like this. I really can't understand why you feel angry and sad for something that is no longer your own individual and endangers your existence? Even if it was once a magical girl, it is now just a witch driven by despair. And, even if it will become a witch one day, so what? Don't humans know that they will die one day from the moment they are born?"
“Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
However, at this moment, Mami suddenly screamed like crazy, and the next moment, she suddenly pulled out a rifle from the void and desperately pulled the trigger at QB.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
As the gunshots sounded, the white-haired animal standing in front of everyone was suddenly covered in blood and flesh. Bullets spun and tore QB's flesh and blood, and hit its body, which was as soft as cotton. The fur and muscles inside were crushed to pieces. The skull was broken and twisted, squeezing the blood-red eyeballs and bursting out, then fell to the ground and turned into a pool of blood like strawberry jam.
“Haaaa…haaaa…haaa…”
It was unknown how long it was before Mami stopped. She looked around in horror and shook her head desperately.
“No, this is not true. This is not true. This is not true. I am a magical girl, not a witch. I will not become a witch. Hahahaha…hahahahaha…”
As she spoke, Tomoe took out a gun again and pointed it at the hair ornament on her head. However, just as she was about to pull the trigger, Tomoe suddenly trembled and then fell to the ground without any movement.
"Huh... that really scared me."
Xiao Hei, who appeared behind Mami, shook his hands and gasped in fear.
"It's so scary. I never thought he would go crazy like this..."
"That's no wonder. After all, after hearing that kind of news... I have almost figured it out now."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng raised his head and looked at Homura Akemi who was standing next to him without any expression.
"From the look of you, it seems like you already knew this?"
"certainly."
Hearing Fang Zheng's question, Homura Akemi nodded. There was a hint of sadness and helplessness in her eyes as she looked at Mami Tomoe.
"After all, this is not the first time for me to experience this."