"Mhm, Big Brother Su Mo, I'm ready."
Under the confused gazes of Kyoko Sakura and Sayaka, Madoka took a step forward, looked up at Su Mo, and nodded with utmost seriousness, one hand clutching her chest.
"Hey, wait, why does Madoka have to be ready?" Sayaka looked back and forth between Madoka and the giant witch in the distance, then turned to Su Mo in disbelief. "Big Brother Su Mo, you're not actually thinking of sending Madoka up to fight a witch of that level, are you?"
If it weren't Su Mo saying this, Sayaka would have suspected he was deliberately trying to send Madoka to her death.
Kyoko Sakura also took a step forward to stop them. "I don't know what you're thinking, but even if this child has the aptitude to be a magical girl, she's no match for a witch of this caliber. Talking about not needing me to fight, and witnessing a ceremony... have you all truly lost your minds?"
As she spoke, Kyoko Sakura turned and glared at Mami, her eyes now filled with genuine suspicion. "Mami, what have you all been doing? Have you been bewitched?"
With Mami's strength, she shouldn't have been so easily tricked. But seeing what they were about to do, it was hard to believe they weren't crazy.
Hearing Kyoko's words, Mami shook her head. "Not at all! Just stand and watch, Kyoko, and you'll understand."
Homura also placed a hand on Sayaka's shoulder, signaling her not to get too agitated. "Trust Big Brother Su Mo."
Reassured by the two, Kyoko Sakura and Sayaka temporarily held back, their gazes still filled with confusion as they looked at Su Mo and Madoka.
"Don't worry, Madoka's mission isn't to eliminate the witch before us," Su Mo said with perfect calm.
His words made the two of them breathe a sigh of relief. That was good. Otherwise, they really would have thought Su Mo was going to make Madoka fight Walpurgisnacht.
However, less than two seconds after their relief, they heard Su Mo's next words. "Her real mission is to eliminate all witches, from all worlds, from all of time."
"Huh?!"
Sayaka and Kyoko Sakura couldn't believe their ears. Isn't that even more impossible?!
Even Mami, who already knew of Su Mo's plan, found it incredible upon hearing it aloud. To make an enemy of all witches from all worlds and all timelines, past and present, including the Walpurgisnacht before them... was it really possible to win?
Amidst the looks of disbelief and skepticism, it was Madoka, the one who was to carry it out, whose gaze was the most resolute.
"Mhm." Madoka took another step forward, coming to stand before Su Mo.
Just then, a white mascot gracefully climbed over the wall of the rooftop and stood before Madoka.
"Kyubey?!"
Kyoko and Sayaka looked at the mascot who hadn't shown up recently, their minds filled with a thousand questions. But Kyubey paid them no mind, looking straight at Su Mo. "One last confirmation, Su Mo. Is your promise still valid?"
"You should have already checked that, haven't you?" Su Mo retorted. "Are you really thinking of backing out now?"
"No, just a final verification," Kyubey shook its head. As an emotionless being, it naturally didn't feel anxiety or fear. Once a decision was made, it wouldn't change it unless there was an external variable.
"Then let's begin! Madoka!" As planned, Kyubey's gaze shifted down to Madoka.
Seeing this, Kyoko Sakura and Sayaka were stunned. What's going on? Even Kyubey agrees with this crazy plan? Can Madoka really defeat all witches from all worlds and all of time?
Under everyone's tense and bewildered gaze, Madoka took out her notebook and held it in her right hand. The ordinary notebook transformed into a thick, golden tome, radiating a sacred and gentle light.
"What's this?" Sayaka's eyes widened slightly. The tome in Madoka's hand looked vaguely familiar, as if it were the same style as the mythological scripture Su Mo had used to subdue witches before.
However, the one Su Mo had used was pure black, giving off a completely opposite feeling to the one in Madoka's hand. Sayaka remembered asking Su Mo what kind of power he was using, and he had told her the name of the scripture without any concealment.
The Avesta, Scripture of Evil.
If she wasn't mistaken, then the book in Madoka's hand must be its counterpart, the Avesta, Scripture of Good.
But what was Madoka doing with it? Whatever she was planning, if she wanted to gain the power of a magical girl, shouldn't she make a wish first?
As if sensing Sayaka's thoughts, Madoka met Su Mo's gaze once more. Drawing courage from his look, she raised her right hand.
A golden flame emblem appeared on the back of her hand, identical to the pattern on the tome she held. It was the symbol of the sacred fire, representing the Cosmology of Zoroastrianism.
"I swear, as a vassal of Big Brother Su Mo, I am the Good of Goodness, and I wish to bring about all the good in the world. I wish for a future where all magical girls who fight with hope do not have to fall into despair. I will erase all witches, past and future, with my own hands, before they are even born!"
A wish similar to the original, yet with many different details, was made by Madoka.
"Alright, Madoka's wish has been received," Kyubey nodded, lifting its paw and activating the emotion-to-energy conversion technology.
In the next moment, a clear pink Soul Gem began to form in front of Madoka, bursting forth with an incredibly magnificent light.
The brilliance, like the sun, illuminated nearly half the country. The unparalleled splendor and the surge of energy even surpassed that of the Walpurgisnacht before them.
BOOM!
An immensely powerful storm of energy sent Kyubey, who was closest, flying.
"It's really on such a massive scale?!" Hiding behind Su Mo and steadying itself, Kyubey looked up at Madoka, who was radiating a stunning aura, and was faintly amazed.
As the user of the emotion-to-energy conversion technology, Kyubey was just a trigger, like someone lighting the fuse of a bomb.
It couldn't decide a magical girl's aptitude and power itself; at most, it could only estimate the scale. But even it hadn't expected Madoka's aptitude as a magical girl to be so strong.
So strong that even without a wish, the aptitude she displayed alone was enough to take on Walpurgisnacht single-handedly.
It had previously believed that no magical girl could handle a super-dreadnought-class witch like Walpurgisnacht.
It seemed that conclusion needed to be revised. At the very least, with the aptitude Madoka was showing, she really had a chance of succeeding.
"So strong!" Kyoko Sakura felt the same energy fluctuations as Kyubey.
Even someone as proud as her had to admit that Madoka's aptitude far surpassed her own. If it was this girl, she really might be able to defeat Walpurgisnacht alone.
However...
"Even on this scale, to fulfill her wish, to eliminate all witches from all worlds and all timelines, is still impossible, right?" Kyoko Sakura muttered without bias.
Admittedly, Madoka Kaname was strong, perhaps even the strongest magical girl in history. But even so, to cross worlds, cross timelines, and eliminate all witches was still a bit of a fantasy.
And...
"Magical girls who do not wish to fall"? What does that mean? Unclear about the true nature of witches, she couldn't fully understand Madoka's wish.
"Madoka!" On the other side, looking up at Madoka's incredibly powerful aura, Homura's eyes were filled with nervousness.
Before this, she didn't know that her repeated loops would increase the karma on Madoka, strengthening her aptitude as a magical girl.
When she learned this from Su Mo, she was terrified. If Su Mo hadn't appeared, she might have fallen into despair on the spot.
After all, the purpose of her loops was to prevent Madoka from becoming a magical girl, but the result was that Kyubey valued Madoka's aptitude more and more. Didn't that mean she was doomed to fail?
Fortunately, with Su Mo's plan, there was no longer a need to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl.
Not only that, but the stronger Madoka's aptitude, the better it was for the plan. This was what had slightly calmed her down.
Out of intense gratitude and attachment, she had decided to offer herself to him after Madoka fell asleep.
And under a strong sense of illicit pleasure, she had savored the taste and secretly sought more for over half a month.
Now, watching Madoka display her super-strong aptitude and burst forth with powerful magic as planned, Homura clenched her fists nervously. She knew that the next step was crucial.
And indeed...
Under Madoka's incredibly powerful magic, her wish began to resonate with other magical girls around the world.
Whether they were sharp or slow, in the moment just before truly falling into witchhood, magical girls were able to know the true nature of witches.
So, in the second before they fell, magical girls often had the same wish in their hearts. Anyone, please, can someone save me... I don't want to become a witch!
And at this moment, Madoka answered that wish.
A pink arrow descended from the heavens, and just before a magical girl's Soul Gem was completely tainted by despair, it fulfilled her wish, ending her life.
Identical wishes will resonate. A collective wish often gives birth to a god.
And now, that resonance had begun!