Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

"Detection report is out, oh."

In the outskirts of Fangting City, within the private research institute of Emerald Sparrow.

The round fairy doll hopped off the side of the autonomous treatment bed, holding a small mirror in its claw, its surface listed with strings of runes. It walked casually to the front of Emerald Sparrow and said lazily,

"Um, how to put it, the situation seems to be more complex than I had previously speculated."
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"More complex than what you said before? What exactly is her condition now?" Emerald Sparrow asked with a grave voice, frowning and looking at the treatment bed not far away. Lying on the bed was Bai Jingxuan, who had just been brought in.

Several hours had passed since the sudden incident at Lakeside Spring. After the battle, Lin Yun, as the director, informed the other combat personnel of the Abnormal Strategy Bureau, arranged for the wounded and the deceased from the battlefield, and then brought Bai Jingxuan to Emerald Sparrow's research institute.

The purpose of the examination was, of course, to figure out what that strange black dress form was.

Emerald Sparrow had never seen Bai Jingxuan in that appearance, not only in terms of clothing and appearance, but even her personality and magic power were different from her usual state.

If asked where she had seen a similar image, it would probably trace back to several months ago, in the battle with "Sparrow," the rebellious magical girl from "Claw Mark."

At that time, Sparrow used a combat state she called "half-beast form," which covered half of her body with yellow and black striped patterns. During that time, the costume appearance she had shown indeed had some similarities to Bai Jingxuan's previous form.

This made Emerald Sparrow recall the words formerly told to her by Emerald Sparrow: Bai Jingxuan might be considered a natural "Claw Mark."

"You remember what I told you, bringing this child to me as the first reaction was right. In fact, the definition I gave you before may not be accurate."

As if guessing what Emerald Sparrow was thinking, Emerald Sparrow controlled the doll to lift the mirror, handing the reflective surface to Emerald Sparrow:

"This child is indeed a deviant, but it's not 'a magical girl who has deviated towards a Remnant Beast,' but 'a Remnant Beast who has deviated towards a magical girl.' In other words, if we are to define her based on the undertone of magic power, she is not a magical girl who has mastered the power of a Remnant Beast, but rather a Remnant Beast whose appearance and power resemble a magical girl."

"... Is there a difference between the two?" Emerald Sparrow's brows furrowed even more tightly.

"There's a big difference, young one. It means that the essence of life is different."

The doll shook its head: "A human who can imitate the howl of a wolf, and a wolf that can speak the human language. Even if they can communicate with each other, would you think that the two are similar beings?"

Emerald Sparrow opened her mouth to speak, but eventually fell silent.

"Yes, it looks like you understand too."

Seeing Emerald Sparrow's reaction, Emerald Sparrow also sighed: "Among human beings, there seems to be an old saying, 'Those who are not of our kind must have a different heart.' Remnant Beasts are inherently the enemies of humans and magical girls, anathema to each other. And to define by the nature of magic power, that child is actually a Remnant Beast that mistakenly stole the power of a magical girl, a very dangerous enemy."

"... I do not agree with such a statement. She is not the enemy, she has not harmed any innocent people."

Emerald Sparrow looked earnestly at the doll in front of her: "On the contrary, she has saved many civilians as a magical girl."

"Calm down, young one. I'm not saying she has become our enemy."

The doll retracted the mirror: "I'm only telling you what kind of speculation will arise when someone who is unaware of the truth discovers the identity of this child."

"You can try to think from a different perspective, if you did not know this child, and you were unaware of her true nature. When you find out that a stranger is in fact a Remnant Beast using the power of a magical girl, what would you think?"

"Believe me, most people's attitudes would be to keep their distance and be cautious; a few would even become hostile because of this."

Emerald Sparrow couldn't refute Emerald Sparrow's words. She knew that this was very likely the truth.

"So, why is it so?"

She could only lower her gaze, somewhat perplexed: "Why is this child's magic power like this?"

"To tell you the truth, that's because I don't know either. But it doesn't stop me from making some speculation."

Emerald Sparrow spoke leisurely: "I've heard similar rumors before, so the most likely speculation is: this is the work of Black Ash Dawn."

"... Them again?"

"Of course, them again. Besides them and Claw Mark, who else in this world is meddling with the power of Remnant Beasts every day?"

The doll spread its claws somewhat comically: "I should have told you, although Black Ash Dawn has only grown in the past twenty years, it did not just come into existence in the last twenty years. Its predecessor has been around in the inter-dimensional space for a long time."

"About a hundred years ago, I heard an inter-dimensional person say that the 'Angel Envoys'—oh, that's the name of the people from Black Ash Dawn used to go by—anyway, they were meddling with some very fresh stuff. They seemed dissatisfied with just borrowing the power of Remnant Beasts, with this pattern of using Remnant Beast power, they wanted to go a step further—create humans who were born with the magical properties of Remnant Beasts."

"And such a desire gave birth to something called the 'Divine Creation Project.'"

The doll pointed towards the research station nearby: "I don't know the specifics and the actual operation, after all, those guys always hid in the shadows like cockroaches, playing some disgusting tricks. But some of the terminology in this project inevitably reached my data station."