Arima rummaged through the city's junkyard, still stuck in his permanent TS state.

Meanwhile, Aile, who had lost in the battle for Eight’s affection, dealt with her gloomy mood and stress through invasion.

In other words, she led the enemies of the world in an invasion of H City. The unplanned attack prompted a concerned call from the head of the Magical Girl Association.

─Um, Chairwoman? I did mention that it's exam season right now, so could you please refrain from invading for a while…?

“What does that have to do with me? Why are exams important for magical girls? Just focus on defending the city.”

─It's not quite that simple… I understand. I’ll take care of it…

Aile, along with the enemies of the world created by Eight, began her invasion of H City. The creatures she summoned weren't the terrifying monsters that would drive people insane by just looking at them, but rather, cute and adorable creatures that wouldn't be out of place in a children's cartoon.

This was a mimicry of the evil organization she belonged to, though with the enemies of the world replacing the organization's combatants. Regardless, the invasion proceeded.

As the enemies of the world attacked the citizens of H City, it wasn’t long before a magical girl appeared in the distance.

“You bastard─!”

Without even bothering to introduce herself, the magical girl immediately unleashed flames at Aile. This was Flame, the magical girl of fire. She was known for not caring about fame and becoming infamous by destroying her enemies.

The flames from Flame instantly incinerated the cute creatures, and the citizens, horrified by the sight, screamed. Aile, however, merely smirked as she looked at the magical girl before her.

“You arrived so quickly? How surprising.”

“I could’ve been here even faster if I hadn’t been busy washing up, asshole.”

“Oh my─ Were you perhaps enjoying a romantic moment with a lover? If so, did I interrupt…?”

“Shut up. I don’t have anything like a lover.”

“I figured as much. With a personality that fierce, it would be difficult.”

As she exchanged small talk with Flame, Aile readied her staff, preparing to counter the approaching magical girl.

For Aile, who had taken down multiple magical girls on her own, facing just one wasn’t much of a challenge. She easily blocked Flame’s attacks with one hand and even attempted a psychological attack.

“It seems the other magical girls are busy preparing for their future since they’re too focused on studying to show up. But you, Flame, seem unconcerned about your future, seeing as you showed up right away. No worries for you, I suppose?”

“Don’t talk to your enemy─! You damn woman!”

“Or could it be─ you just can’t study? Judging by your rough speech, it's easy to tell how uneducated you are.”

“You’re gonna regret calling me uneducated, you bitch. Today, I’ll beat you to death.”

Flame charged at her, but Aile didn’t think much of it. She treated it like any other confrontation with a magical girl.

But that was her mistake. While the gap between them was undeniable, her complacency left her vulnerable.

Magical girls, after all, are beings capable of miracles beyond reason.

“Hah, huff─!”

“Huh─?”

“Didn’t I say I’d beat you to death…?!”

Aile, now on the ground, stared up in shock at Flame, who had climbed on top of her. How did this happen? Before she could even process what went wrong, Flame’s fist came crashing down on her.

It was Aile’s first defeat as the evil magical girl, a consequence of overlooking the rule that magical girls are often stronger when fighting alone than when fighting in groups.

Despite becoming an evil scientist, there are times when I honestly can’t tell if I’m an evil scientist or a daycare worker.

Like when I play the role of father to the orphan boss at her school, or when I help a runaway girl prepare for her high school equivalency exam.

Today was no different. I went to Aile’s personal waiting room to check her homework, only to find her wrapped up in a blanket on her bed like a cocoon, rather than diligently studying.

“Aile?”

“…”

“What are you doing in there instead of studying? Come on out…”

I forcibly pulled the blanket off, only to see Aile’s face, radiating gloom and dejection, as if she had been beaten up by someone. She was clean, but her expression gave it away.

I hesitated for a moment before carefully sitting on the edge of the bed and asking gently.

“Did something happen?”

“…Nothing happened.”

“Are you sure? Do you think you can study?”

“I’ll… study.”

“If it’s too much, you can take a break today.”

Mumbling softly, Aile dragged herself over to her desk. Watching her, it became even more obvious that something had indeed happened.

It wasn’t her period, either. I remembered that her cycle was still far off, and she wasn’t the type to struggle with it anyway.

It had to be something she couldn’t bring herself to tell me. While pretending to help her with her studies, I discreetly searched online to find out what had happened.

It didn’t take long for me to discover that she had gone on a mission as the evil magical girl and was beaten senseless by Flame. She had taken quite the thrashing.

‘Ah, so that’s what happened.’

Now I understood why Aile was so downcast. It wasn’t just the physical pain; it was the humiliation of being utterly defeated by magical girls she had once looked down upon.

Physical wounds aside, the emotional blow was likely much worse.

Her appearance remained intact, likely thanks to the barrier from the evil magical girl suit I’d given her and a red potion she must have secretly taken after returning to base… but her insides, both physically and emotionally, were undoubtedly battered.

“Um… Scientist?”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“I… I don’t really understand this question…”

Look at that.

The same Aile who used to whine about not knowing why she had to study, who couldn’t care less about the answers to the questions she kept getting wrong, was now asking me for help?

That alone was enough to understand how deeply she had been wounded. She might even be thinking that since she doesn’t belong in the world of magical girls, she might as well focus on studying.

While it was nice to see her taking an interest in her studies, I couldn’t leave her in this depressed state forever. Especially since the only way she knew to relieve stress was to go out and fight magical girls.

“Aile.”

“Yes, y-yes… oh, this problem. You showed me how to do it before, didn’t you? I’m sorry… I forgot and asked you again…”

“How about we go on a date today?”

“…What? What do you mean─”

“Get up. Let’s go.”

I lifted Aile and took her out of the base. We spent the day visiting magical girl-themed shops, knowing that would cheer her up.

Once I saw that she had relaxed a bit, we began talking about magical girls. Specifically, late-stage magical girls—those who grow stronger as their enemies become more formidable.

“So, in the first generation of Lyrical, they introduced the rear-mounted mana cannon…”

“Mm-hmm, I see.”

“You store up mana and then use it at a crucial moment for double the power! Not only that, but there were also a lot of changes to their suits─.”

As a magical girl fanatic, Aile knew an incredible amount of information about them. Things I could never have imagined, like who the strongest magical girl was, and her vision of what the ultimate magical girl would be.

I committed all of this to memory, starting to form a plan for how to upgrade Aile’s evil magical girl persona.

‘So, my evil magical girl was defeated…’

Well.

If she was depressed over losing to a magical girl…

I’d just have to make her stronger.

That’s the job of an evil scientist, and only an evil scientist can do it.

─Well done, Myongmyong! You’re truly my partner, meow!

Inside a modest 21-pyeong apartment.

Flame, her body covered in bruises, several bones broken and in casts, and her face so swollen she could barely open her eyes, glanced at her chattering spirit with a scowl.

“Well done, my ass… Look at me. I still don’t know how I won.”

─But thanks to this, the evil magical girl probably got what she deserved! Maybe she’ll never show her face again…

“That’d be nice.”

Flame grumbled as she turned on the TV. Her favorite variety show was about to start, and she could already feel the laughter bubbling up inside her. Just as she began to smile, the doorbell rang. Assuming it was a delivery, she carelessly opened the door, only to be startled by the man in black standing outside.

The man, dressed in a skin-tight outfit, raised his hand and shouted.

“Hail Eblis!”

“What the─ Who are you?”

“I have a delivery from the evil magical girl.”

“Huh? What do you mean by─”

“Yeeee─!”

The man handed her a box and quickly vanished. Flame, suspicious that it might be a bomb or poison, transformed into her magical girl form and cautiously unwrapped the package.

Inside was a red potion and a letter.

When Flame read the letter, she couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

【Duel Notice】 『On X day, at X hour. At the multipurpose stadium. A potion is enclosed. Please take it and recover quickly. From the evil magical girl.』

“Hah, unbelievable.”

A duel?

An evil magical girl, sending her a potion for recovery…?

Who’s the real villain here? Flame mused, chuckling to herself.