[CH.12] Can't change back?
The pink snow-like light on the street only lasted for a few minutes. As the last batch of particles descended, the chaos caused by the monsters gradually subsided. The stagnant traffic resumed its flow, and pedestrians returned to their established routines.
In this city without shadows, magical girls and invading monsters were part of daily life. People had already witnessed various "miracles" in their ordinary lives; it was just a matter of lights falling from the sky, nothing extraordinary.
Everyone had their own business to attend to, and many didn't even pay attention to what might fall from the sky.
Alice, her hair turned black due to depleted magic, didn't stand out in this bustling and brightly lit city. She dragged her weakened body into an empty alley and softly recited the incantation to undo her transformation.
"Love and justice, transformation release."
Her body felt unusually heavy, and drowsiness gradually overcame her. All Alice wanted now was to undo the transformation quickly and get back to bed to rest.
It was her impulsive use of all her magic power during the monster's destruction that was to blame. If she had known how uncomfortable exhaustion would feel, she would have saved some magic.
She hoped she would feel better after undoing the transformation.
After the incantation, a dazzling radiance rose from the ground, enveloping Alice's body.
But when the light dissipated, it took only Alice's energy with it. She still retained Alice's appearance; Han Huayang had not returned.
"Huh?"
Alice felt a bit puzzled and called out the incantation again.
"Love and justice, transformation release."
This time, not even a glimmer appeared, and nothing happened. Alice still couldn't revert to her original form. Instead, the incantation left her even weaker.
This made Alice quite nervous. She had no idea what was happening to her body; she had never encountered a situation where her magic failed before. Could it be that she couldn't change back?
Two consecutive failures completely drained the remaining strength from Alice. Even with the support of the wall, she couldn't remain standing. She fell to the ground, unsure of what to do.
Alice could only anxiously call out to the sky, "Boss! Are you there?!"
In response to Alice's call, a white light suddenly flew out of a small window in the wall, and in the blink of an eye, the spirit Kate descended next to Alice in the form of a cat.
Kate looked displeased, yawning as she said, "Why do you keep using the spirit contract to summon us? We've said it so many times... Hey, what's with your hair... Could it be that you've run out of magic?"
Kate quickly noticed Alice's condition. She jumped into Alice's arms and examined her body.
Soon, Kate finished her examination. She playfully pawed at Alice's face, using her soft cat paw pads to gently stroke Alice's cheek in a rhythmic manner.
Alice asked, "What have I done? I can't undo my transformation now. What's going on?"
Because she was so embarrassed about the whole situation with her senior on her mind, she hadn't thought clearly when she was battling the monster. Would Kate support her love affair if she explained everything exactly as it was? Probably not, and Alice didn't want to bring it up.
"You've exhausted your magic, of course you can't undo your transformation. Spells require magic to work, and you have no magic left at the moment. How can you change back?" Kate replied, sounding annoyed and muttering some complaints under her breath.
In this world, there are many elves similar to Kate, and their primary purpose for coming to the Earthly realm is to accumulate human popularity energy through magical girls.
For the spirits, magical girls are like their employees, and the contract is the agreement between the two parties.
As long as it doesn't involve matters that threaten the magical girl's life, the spirit acting as the boss has no obligation to interfere. Even if there is a genuine life-threatening situation, some spirits might just pretend to care.
Kate is different from those indifferent spirits; she is more human-like. Although she often appears indifferent, fundamentally, she cares about her employees. If something were to happen to Alice, Kate wouldn't have anyone else to attract popularity energy for her.
"You don't need to worry, actually. Just rest well and wait for your magic to recover a bit. Then, you can use the release spell," Kate reassured.
"What should I do in the meantime?" Alice asked.
"What else can you do?" Kate mocked, "You can only maintain this form until your magic recovers."
Kate jumped down from Alice's body and began licking her own fur, curling her soft body into a ball.
"The magic consumed by the release spell is not much. You just need to rest for a few hours to undo it... but if it's slow, it might take two or three days."
"Two or three days! I'll be stuck like this for that long? Boss, can't you use the method you used before to change me back?"
"I can't help you with this; undoing the transformation can only be done by you. Even if I had that ability, I can't do it because of the contract."
【The Magical Girl's Contract】
(2) Elf Kate bestows magical power upon the human Han Huayang, guarantees Han Huayang's safety, and pays Han Huayang a reward at the end of each month in accordance with labor results.
And Alice's magical girl's full title is "Magical Girl of Love and Justice with Spirit Contract Magic."
Spirits don't have the concept of lending something, and they dislike lying. Contracts led by them are relatively fair, at least in the description of the contract, where the status between the magical girl and the spirit is equal.
If spirits could unilaterally undo a magical girl's transformation, the magical girl's life would be completely controlled by the spirit.
Just imagine, if a magical girl were in the midst of a battle and her contractor forcibly released her transformation, what would happen?
Since the contract stipulates that Kate has the obligation to protect Han Huayang, she cannot unilaterally demand or control Alice to undo her transformation.
Of course, spirits don't have that kind of authority to begin with.
Kate explained all of this to Alice without reservation, and upon hearing it, Alice unconsciously furrowed her brow.
"But what if I can't change back for a day or two? What about my classes at school?"
"Well, that's simple! Hire someone to attend classes for you and pray that the teacher won't notice," Kate said lightly, not seeing the school as a significant concern.
"And besides, it might not take that long. You might just need a good night's sleep to have enough magic to use the release spell."
Alice asked again, "What about tonight?"
"Tonight? You can only go back and sleep. Do you have enough energy to get back?"
"How can I possibly go back in this condition? I..."
Alice couldn't continue. Han Huayang lived in a shared apartment off-campus with three other guys besides him. Sun Zhe also lived there, and she couldn't go back looking like this.
"I can't go back, there are other people in my apartment..."
"Huh? You must be mistaken. I'm telling you to come back to the office; just wait a moment. I'll contact Meiting and have her pick you up."
"You want to call my senior to pick me up?"
"Well, what's the alternative? You can't possibly walk back in your current state, can you?"
"Wait, Boss..."
However, Alice couldn't stop Kate from leaving. Kate's cat form once again turned into a flowing light and slipped back through the window, disappearing like mist settling on water.
"No need to have my senior come over..."
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