"Nagisa Momoe?"
Looking at the little white-haired girl hugging Su Mo's leg, hiding behind him and peeking out at her timidly, Homura was a little surprised.
She knew that witches were transformed magical girls, but this was the first time she had seen this one in her magical girl state.
"Charlotte, the Dessert Witch... Why does a witch look like a human?"
Unlike the incredibly calm Homura, Mami was completely stunned upon seeing the white-haired loli radiating a witch's aura.
She had always believed witches were purely monsters. Because they were monsters, there was no need to communicate with them, no need to understand them. They just needed to be defeated.
But this little girl before her looked nothing like a mindless monster.
Hearing Mami's confusion, Kyubey tilted its head. "Don't you know, Mami?" it asked, its tone completely detached. "Witches were originally human, you know!"
At these words, both Mami and Madoka froze.
Witches were the greatest enemies of magical girls. Mami had defeated countless witches in her memory, but she had never once imagined that these monsters were born from humans.
"You've never said anything like that before!" Mami stared blankly at the mascot before her, then questioned it agitatedly. "Why are they human? Why would a human become a witch?"
If this was true, did that mean all the creatures she had killed up until now were human?
Under Mami's questioning, Kyubey replied with perfect calm, "To be precise, humans don't directly become witches. Witches are formed when magical girls fall into despair... If I haven't said this before, it's probably because you never asked me, Mami!"
The truth that Homura hadn't dared to speak was casually revealed by Kyubey.
"What?!" Mami's pupils instantly constricted. She couldn't believe her ears.
Not only were witches transformed from humans, but they were transformed from magical girls? In other words, all the witches she had defeated were once magical girls?
"N-No, impossible... how could something like that happen? How could this be!" Mami staggered back two steps, shaking her head violently, her expression one of utter terror, her ample chest heaving.
If she accepted this, didn't it mean all the witches she had killed were magical girls?
Even Madoka instinctively covered her mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"How could... how could something so horrible be true!"
Before this, like Mami, she had believed that magical girls symbolized love, hope, and justice.
Therefore, she hadn't given much thought to witches, who were obviously villains that needed to be defeated.
But now, hearing what Kyubey said, she understood that those witches were once magical girls.
Didn't that mean the entire existence of magical girls was just for them to kill each other?
"Why... Kyubey, why would you make magical girls kill each other?" Madoka asked, confused.
"In this world, hope and despair are equal. For every bit of hope that is born, an equal amount of despair is created."
Kyubey was completely unable to comprehend their emotional turmoil. It explained methodically, "The moment hope reverses into despair, a massive amount of energy is released... As I said before, we need this energy to delay the end of the universe. Therefore, the birth of witches is a necessary part of saving the world."
"Saving... the world?" Hearing this grandiose phrase, Madoka shivered slightly.
She finally understood why Su Mo's attitude towards Kyubey had been so cold when they discussed related matters.
That's right. No one understood saving the world better than Lord Su Mo.
Kyubey's reason for existence was so righteous, yet it hadn't earned Su Mo's approval. Didn't that prove from the very beginning that there was a problem?
"To save the world, do you really have to do something so cruel?" Madoka questioned Kyubey. Kind as she was, she could never accept a method that required the sacrifice of so many magical girls.
"Cruel?" As if unable to comprehend the word Madoka used, Kyubey shook its head. "This is simply the most efficient method."
Replace old magical girls with new ones, then harvest them as witches. This way, without it needing to interfere at all, the growing magical girls would be reaped to the fullest, like leeks or wheat, harvest after harvest.
While this method might not be the optimal solution for any single individual, its reliability in terms of group harvesting efficiency was extremely high.
At the very least, the history of magical girls in this world spanned tens of thousands of years, and this process had never once failed.
"Just for efficiency..." Madoka shook her head in disbelief, completely unable to accept such a practice.
Just then, Mami, who had been silent for over ten seconds, suddenly spoke.
Recalling her past experiences, she stared intently at Kyubey and asked, "Kyubey, are you saying that from the very beginning, magical girls were fated to be sacrifices to become witches? That all magical girls, from the start, are destined to become witches?"
Madoka didn't know much about magical girls, so she might not have thought of it. But Mami knew. If a magical girl didn't defeat witches in time to purify her Soul Gem, something bad would happen.
Before, Mami didn't know what "something bad" meant. Only now did she understand: if a magical girl failed to purify her Soul Gem in time, she would become a witch.
Thinking about it, the many witches she had defeated had probably all fallen into mindless monsters for this very reason.
"By design, yes."
Faced with such a question, Kyubey actually nodded and admitted it directly.
This meant that the whole magical girl system was a sham from the start. All magical girls were destined to become witches, then be defeated by their former comrades.
"Heh~ So that's how it is~"
After confirming this, Mami let out a low, dark sound. Hearing it, Homura subconsciously stepped forward to shield Su Mo. She could sense an aura of despair coming from Mami.
"Mami-senpai..." Madoka looked at the blonde girl with concern, finally understanding why Homura had been trying to stop her from becoming a magical girl. So this was the cruel reality of being one.
"So, this is the end..." So, whether it was her, or Kyoko, or any other magical girl, they were all destined to become witches, to become monsters that would kill humans and eventually be defeated by other magical girls.
"I refuse to accept such an end!"
With a cry of despair, *SWOOSH!* a golden ribbon shot out like an arrow, aimed in three directions. One was at Kyubey, one was at Homura, and the third... was at her own head.
"As I thought!"
Seeing this familiar scene, Homura's expression didn't waver.
To prevent herself from becoming a witch, to prevent her comrades from becoming man-eating monsters, Mami's first reaction upon learning the truth was to commit suicide. If they died now as magical girls, they wouldn't harm others by becoming witches.
Such a choice was extreme, no matter when it happened. But it was undeniable that, in a way, Mami's decision could successfully prevent witchification and also prevent Kyubey from profiting.
The only price was the lives of all the magical girls present.
Homura, of course, could not accept this ending. Already prepared, she immediately activated her time stop and aimed her weapons at Mami.
However, to her astonishment, she discovered that Mami was not frozen in time. Looking down, she saw that a golden ribbon had wrapped around her ankle at some point.
Having witnessed Homura's ability once before, Mami had already thought of a countermeasure. The time stop was now useless against her!
"Crap!" A look of despair crossed Homura's face. After looping to a new timeline, after finally meeting Su Mo who had saved her, was she going to be taken out by Mami's self-destruct?
In that critical moment...
*THUD!*
An unusually dull sound echoed.
Mami's body suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground. The ribbons aimed at Kyubey, Homura, and her own head instantly disintegrated.
Only then did Homura regain control of her body. She saw, behind the fallen Mami, the figure of the little white-haired girl.
The loli was holding the massive black tome, the Avesta, in both hands. Her bright yellow Soul Gem was attached to a ribbon she held in her mouth. She looked at Su Mo as if seeking praise.
Clearly, while Mami was distracted, it was she who had taken her down with a single strike from the shadows.
Although it was different from the "headless senpai" Homura had seen many times in her loops, in a sense, Nagisa Momoe had still instinctively grasped Mami's weakness.
"Well done," Su Mo said, not stingy with his praise.
The little white-haired girl immediately beamed with a happy expression.