A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

”As everyone knows, every witch has her own unique ’true name’—or, colloquially, a ’nickname.’ For example, the true name of one of the witches in the Terminus Tower is the ’Puppet Witch.’”

Wearing her shrine maiden outfit, Kiyono Sakura sat on the edge of the wooden desk. As she spoke, she leaned into a ray of sunlight streaming through the window and looked toward the stark white figure.

Pausing, she curled her lips into a smile and spoke at a leisurely pace.

”Mr. White Jack, since you claim to have a witch for a friend, you can at least tell us your friend’s ’witch true name,’ right?”

Pinned inside a human-shaped crater on the classroom wall, White Jack lowered his eyes and stared at the floor. Blood seeped from his body, falling drop by drop.

Witch of ?? and ?? and ??... This was the name Kuroki Hitomi had told him herself. Indeed, every word in the system panel back then had been obscured by question marks.

Ke Mingqing had been confused at first, but on further thought, Kuroki Hitomi had no reason to hide it from him.

Well, since I don’t have any actual material to work with, I’ll just have to make one up, he thought.

As White Jack pondered, he suddenly recalled what Bai had mentioned right before she died—the chaos, death, and separation that had occurred in the previous timeline.

A specific title involuntarily surfaced in his mind. White Jack raised his head and spoke.”Listen closely. That witch friend’s title is...”

White Jack paused. His slit-like mouth curved upward, and his lips slowly parted to release a deep, eerie voice.

”The Witch of the Perky Ass, Apocalypse, and Reincarnation.”

A brief silence blanketed the classroom again.

White Jack tried to reach out and pry away the shattered shield embedded in his body, but his hands were repelled by an invisible force. He shrugged and asked helplessly, ”Well, are you shocked? That’s my witch’s title. Doesn’t it sound fucking badass?”

Yona slightly widened his faint cyan eyes, his face written with shock. After a moment, he finally processed it and asked, ”Wait... didn’t a weird word just slip in there?”

Kiyono Sakura had also been bluffed by White Jack’s imposing manner, staring blankly for a long while before snapping back to reality.

She raised an eyebrow and probed, ”Are you saying she’s a witch with three prefixes in her true name?”

”Undoubtedly.”

White Jack actually had no idea what she was talking about, but he played along anyway.

Prefixes? Are those the titles preceding a witch’s name? Kuroki Hitomi said that day in the instance, after my Witchification, three prefixes made of question marks appeared in my name?

As he silently pondered this, Kiyono Sakura revealed an unfriendly smile and mocked, ”It seems our Mr. White Jack doesn’t understand what a witch with three ’prefixes’ actually signifies—such a thing is fundamentally impossible in this world.”

”No, no, no. Your imagination is just too narrow. Don’t jump to conclusions so quickly.”

White Jack shook his head. A witch with three prefixes is standing right in front of you, lady, he thought.

”Alright then. Let’s hope we’ll see the ’Witch of the Perky Ass, Apocalypse, and Reincarnation’ come to our aid when the Terminus Tower attacks...”

Kiyono Sakura shrugged, too lazy to waste any more time on him.

”Filthy beast, are you done with your last words?”

Magical Girl Deep Space looked at White Jack, spitting out the words almost syllable by syllable, her eyes as cold as an ice cave.

”Holy shit, your tone is exactly like a Chinese Daoist priest’s! Could you magical girls be any more violent? Honestly, it’s a good thing you violent maniacs didn’t go the idol route. You’re perfectly suited to using the banner of love and justice to satisfy your own sadistic desires, maintaining your inner balance that way...”

White Jack kept talking while trying to pry himself free from the wall.

He twisted his shoulders and managed to pull half of his body out. However, for every inch he pulled away, the prismatic shield fragments drove deeper into his flesh. In an instant, blood soaked his stark white body.

By the time White Jack stood up straight, he had transformed into an absolute bloody mess.

”Damn it, I’m gonna have to change my name to Red Jack now.” He licked his blood-stained fingertips. ”Does Red Jack sound a bit better? Doesn’t feel quite as catchy as Jack the Ripper.”

In the next instant, the prismatic fragments embedded inside his body violently agitated. Like a blender, they shredded his flesh from the inside out.

In the deathly silence, only a patch of snow-white mist mixed with the scent of blood lingered in the air.

”So bloody...”

Yona froze for a moment before blurting that out.

He knew Ava hated witches to the bone.

When Ava was young, the Witch of Despair had single-handedly orchestrated the mass suicide of all the citizens in her hometown, including Ava’s family.

But he hadn’t expected Ava’s hatred for witches to be so intense that she would summarily execute anyone even remotely connected to them.

Magical Girl Deep Space didn’t say a word, simply taking a deep breath of the blood-scented air.

”You just killed him like that?” Kiyono Sakura asked after a moment of silence, turning her head.

”What’s the point of keeping him around?”

Magical Girl Deep Space spoke expressionlessly as the prismatic fragments combined into a complete shield and attached themselves to her right arm.

Next, a hazy cocoon of light draped over her body.

With a crack like shattering glass, the cocoon of light vanished in an instant. She slowly reverted into Ava, the short-haired, wheat-skinned girl in a pleated skirt.

”Doesn’t really matter anyway. It’s just a puppet,”

Kiyono Sakura said indifferently. ”The whole world knows White Jack is a puppet that can resurrect infinitely. Every time he dies, he pops out of a grave a few days later.”

”So, does that witch with ’three prefixes’ that White Jack mentioned actually exist?”

Yona was a bit bewildered.

”Who knows?” Kiyono Sakura shook her head. ”But so far, we haven’t even seen a witch with two prefixes, let alone three. I don’t even want to imagine how strong a witch like that would be.”

Yona thought for a moment and asked, ”If you take away the ’Perky Ass’ part White Jack mentioned, the remaining two prefixes are ’Apocalypse’ and ’Reincarnation.’ Doesn’t that sound a bit more reasonable?”

Kiyono Sakura nodded. ”Yeah, that’s a bit more reasonable...”

As the two chatted, the cry of a reindeer suddenly echoed from the far side of the academic building.

They looked toward the sound just in time to see a sudden flurry of falling snow. A girl in a Christmas dress arrived riding a Christmas Sleigh. Sitting inside the sleigh was another girl wearing a black gothic dress.

The girl in the gothic dress dropped from the sleigh, vaulted through the window into the classroom, and landed steadily. Little Red Riding Hood also jumped out of the sleigh, silently following behind her.

Ember scanned the room and asked coolly, ”What happened?”

”Nothing much. White Jack just dropped by,” Kiyono Sakura answered truthfully.

Ember paused, taking a long moment before she asked, ”What did he say?”

”The usual nonsense,” Kiyono Sakura said flatly. ”I don’t recommend taking his words seriously; it’ll only scramble our thoughts.”

Ember was silent for a moment. ”No. Even though that pervert loves talking nonsense, he sometimes hides very important clues inside his jokes.”

”Oh? Senior Ember cares that much about that white perky ass from Leijing?” Kiyono Sakura blinked, turning her head to stare unblinkingly into the eyes of the girl in the gothic dress.

Normally, if provoked like this, Xia Zili would have already lost her temper. But she owed Kiyono Sakura from before, so she simply turned her head, met her gaze, and asked plainly, ”What are you trying to say?”

”I just meant that I remember Mr. Blue Pigeon is quite familiar with this white perky ass, isn’t he?” Kiyono Sakura curled her lips into a smile. ”Why don’t we just go ask Mr. Blue Pigeon directly? That way, we’ll know if White Jack was just spouting nonsense.”

At this, she shook her head and let out a low sigh.

”It must be nice having a superhero brother. Sometimes I wish there was someone at home who could help me shoulder these messes, but unfortunately, they’re all muggles.”

”What does this have to do with him?”

Ember’s face darkened, her voice turning cold.

”Oh my, the rumors between White Jack and Blue Pigeon are anything but scarce.” Kiyono Sakura smiled faintly. ”This isn’t just prejudice on my part—it’s objective fact. After all, they put on a play together back then to lure the Clock Maker out.”

Ember had no response to that, and Little Red Riding Hood remained silent.

Ava fell silent for a moment before suddenly speaking up. ”Blue Pigeon... that boy has the scent of a witch on him. My sense of smell is never wrong.”

Ember frowned and tilted her head up to ask her, ”What about me? If you can smell the scent of a witch on others, can you smell it on me?”

Ava looked up from her book, staring at her in silence, and quickly averted her eyes.

Ember also lowered her head. Why is that? she wondered. She can smell a witch on my brother, but her sense of smell doesn’t react to me?

Could it be that the source of the witch’s scent she sensed on my brother isn’t me?

While the girl in the gothic dress was puzzling over this, Magical Girl Little Red Riding Hood had already pulled up a wooden chair and sat down. She fished a bag of potato chips from her pocket, tore open the packaging, and started munching.

”Alright, Teacher Xi Ziyue will be here soon. I suggest you guys don’t make the atmosphere so tense.”

Little Red Riding Hood sighed softly as she snacked on her chips. The Magical Girl Company is just like a girls’ dorm, she thought. It’s too hard to go without fighting.

Amid their bickering, the beam of a searchlight suddenly swept into the room.

Immediately after, a shattered, mirror-like Spatial Rift tore open, and a massive train engine roared out from the fissure. The train quickly settled; the other half of its body was still hidden inside the Spatial Rift, leaving only the tip of the iceberg exposed.

A moment later, a girl dressed in light green and wearing a bamboo hair ornament stepped out of the driver’s cabin.

Yona put down his paintbrush and walked over from his easel, nodding respectfully. ”Senior Xi Ziyue.”

As Xi Ziyue walked down the boarding ladder, she said, ”Since everyone is here, let’s summarize the latest intelligence gathered regarding the three witches of the Terminus Tower.”

”I feel like regardless of whether the intel is true or false, it’s better to tell Teacher Xi Ziyue first,” Yona suggested, scratching his cheek.

Xi Ziyue raised her eyes and finally noticed the human-shaped crater on the wall behind the podium.

White Jack’s blood had dissipated along with his puppet body, so all that remained was the crater, along with the debris and rubble scattered across the floor.

”Was that crater there before? I can’t really remember.” She averted her gaze, set her teacup down on the desk, and pulled up a chair to sit.

Ember and Kiyono Sakura exchanged a look.

”It’s like this. That criminal named ’White Jack’ was just here,” Kiyono Sakura reported truthfully.

Xi Ziyue fell silent for a moment. ”Is that so? What did he say?”

”He said he had a witch friend who might be able to help us when the Terminus Tower arrives.”

”What else did he say?”

”That witch’s name.”

”Let’s hear it.”

Kiyono Sakura shrugged and said in an exasperated tone, ”The Witch of the Perky Ass, Apocalypse, and Reincarnation.”

Hearing this, Ember couldn’t help but frown.

Hugging her arms, she lightly tapped her shoulder with fingers wrapped in black leather gloves. What the hell is this... she thought. Has White Jack lost his mind?

”It seems old Mr. White is really obsessed with perky asses.” Little Red Riding Hood hid the bag of chips in her pocket and sneakily pulled one out to nibble on.

”Quiet. Listen to Master,” Ember said.

”Yes, ma’am.”

Xi Ziyue stayed quiet for a moment. Lifting her clear eyes, pure as fresh bamboo, she slowly spoke.

”Every witch will be entangled by ’past life memories’... Once a witch’s personality develops to perfection, she awakens the memories of her previous life. At that point, they will remember their ’true names’ from their past lives. For example—the ’Puppet Witch,’ the ’Calamity Witch,’ and the ’Witch of Despair.’ These are their true names.”

The girl paused before continuing.

”And in every true name, the title preceding the word ’witch’ is called the ’prefix.’ Generally speaking, the longer the prefix, the higher the witch’s status was in her previous life, and naturally, the more terrifying her strength.”

At this point, Xi Ziyue uncovered her teacup and glanced at the ripples spreading across the tea.

”A witch with three ’prefixes’ in her true name is something not even I have ever seen, let alone you... If such a witch truly existed in the world, her strength would probably be enough to drive all of humanity to Extinction.”

Ember suddenly froze.

She remembered the day White Jack had kidnapped Blue Pigeon and confronted the Clock Maker, she’d had a dream. In the dream, she had become a little stick-figure walking through a dark, gloomy picture-book world. The art style was like one of those dark children’s tales.

Back then, Xia Zili had walked through a medieval village and stepped over a collapsed tower before seeing an altar. A weeping girl was tied to a cross on the altar, and the paper-cutout figures beside her seemed to be chanting:

”Ashes... End... Ashes... End...”

Xia Zili hadn’t understood what those words meant, but she could faintly sense that they were two different terms.

Could it be, she thought, that if I turned into a witch, my true name would have two different prefixes?

”Little Li, did you think of something?”

Xi Ziyue picked up her teacup, took a sip of tea, and suddenly asked.

Magical Girl Ember spaced out for a moment before snapping back to reality.

She shook her head and said absentmindedly, ”No. I feel this isn’t the first time White Jack has lied, and that prefix sounds completely made up. There’s no need to waste our time on him.”

Xi Ziyue nodded and set down her teacup.

At that moment, Kiyono Sakura spoke up in a mocking tone, ”Oh my. Just a minute ago, didn’t I hear Senior saying ’we should listen to White Jack, he likes to hide important clues in his jokes’?”

Ember frowned, turning to look at her. ”Do you have a problem with me?”

”I don’t know,” Kiyono Sakura shook her head. ”All I know is that on that day, shortly after Teacher Xi Ziyue conversed with Mr. Blue Pigeon, I was freed by that unknown witch.”

”So what?” Ember pressed.

Kiyono Sakura thought for a moment before speaking faintly, ”Right now, we have a chain of connections laid out in front of us: Blue Pigeon knows White Jack, and White Jack knows a witch—a witch we’ve never met before. There’s a high probability that Blue Pigeon knows this witch too. I suspect the witch White Jack just mentioned was the one who took me away back then.”

Kiyono Sakura lifted her eyes. ”And Blue Pigeon just happens to be Senior Ember’s brother. What a massive coincidence.”

With that, she turned her head and stared deeply at Ember’s profile, asking almost word by word, ”So, isn’t it perfectly natural for me to be a bit suspicious of Senior Ember now?”

The girl in the gothic dress froze.

For a moment, the eyes of everyone in the classroom converged on her.