Late at Night
Yueyue lay in bed, clutching her favorite magical girl Lilia figurine.
Every time she closed her eyes, she could recall the image of the senior floating in the air.
In her dream, she transformed into Lilia and saved the senior from having her head bitten off.
But something unexpected happened.
The senior she saved suddenly had her head explode, and a monster with her dad's face emerged! It opened its bloody mouth to bite her.
She wanted to dodge, but her body wouldn't move... then everything went black...
"Ah!"
With a terrified scream, Yueyue suddenly woke up from the nightmare.
She looked around, breathed a sigh of relief, then thought about the nightmare again, especially her dad's face, which was etched in her memory.
Her cheeks puffed up in anger. "I'm never reading Dad's comics again!"
...
Of course, Ren had no idea what Yueyue was thinking.
Even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care.
According to Ren's expectations, "Magical Girl Madoka" would truly start showing results after the sixth chapter was published. The story was divided into two parts, with the sixth chapter being the turning point.
In chapters 1-6, the main goal was to fully develop the characters' personalities, and the senior's death in chapter three was the climax of these six chapters, marking a major twist.
Unlike traditional tropes, this twist made fans even more eager to see how the story would progress.
This curiosity made those who initially dropped the comic after chapters 1 and 2 come back to continue reading.
...
In the following days, chapters four and five were also released.
Witnessing the senior's death had a huge impact on Madoka.
After all, she was still just a child, so she didn't agree to Kyubey's contract to become a magical girl.
However, while Madoka hesitated, her best friend Sayaka made a contract with Kyubey to save a boy she liked and became a magical girl.
At the same time, another red-haired magical girl named Kyoko appeared in the comic.
Kyoko clashed with Sayaka because she said something Sayaka couldn't accept—
"Can't you see? That thing is a familiar, not a witch. It won't have a Grief Seed!"
"Let it eat four or five people and then turn into a witch. Then you can get the Grief Seed!"
"You can't kill the chicken before it lays the egg!"
This made the readers' worldviews crumble.
Was this still the magical girl story they knew?
Where was the goodness, the selflessness, the heroism?
Was this moral decay or a twisted sense of justice?
Not only did Kyoko's words shatter the readers' perceptions, but they also enraged Sayaka.
Sayaka believed in using her magical power to help others and that justice would always prevail!
But Kyoko was a complete egotist, even sacrificing others for herself!
Watching Sayaka get pushed to the ground by Kyoko, almost getting impaled by her spear, Madoka was at a loss. Under Kyubey's persuasion, she nearly agreed to become a magical girl.
However, just as she was about to say "I," Homura appeared again, stopping the fight between Kyoko and Sayaka.
The readers grew more confused.
According to Kyubey, Madoka had an extraordinary talent for being a magical girl.
With such a terrifying talent, why did Homura keep stopping her? Wouldn't it be better for her to become a magical girl and save the world?
Initially, people thought Homura was a villain who would eventually be redeemed and join the protagonist's team.
But as the story unfolded, readers realized she didn't seem like a villain.
Other than preventing Madoka from becoming a magical girl and killing Kyubey, Homura didn't do much else.
So, there must be another reason for her actions.
Did becoming a magical girl have some hidden danger?
But if it was dangerous, why did Homura become one herself?
With these questions, another week passed.
"Magical Girl Madoka" reached its sixth chapter.
Homura invited Kyoko to join her in fighting the witch that would appear in two weeks, while Madoka asked Sayaka and Kyoko to reconcile and work together, which they refused.
Madoka and Sayaka had a falling out due to their differing beliefs.
Sayaka thought Kyoko and Homura were bad for sacrificing ordinary people for Grief Seeds, while Madoka worried that Sayaka would be in danger fighting witches alone and wanted them to cooperate.
To convince Sayaka, Madoka went to find her alone, hoping to persuade her. Unfortunately, her attempt failed, and their friendship broke apart.
At the same time, Kyoko found Sayaka again and mocked her.
This led to another fight between Kyoko and Sayaka. To stop them from hurting each other, Madoka threw Sayaka's Soul Gem away, thinking it would make them stop fighting and talk it out.
When Madoka threw Sayaka's Soul Gem away, the fight indeed stopped.
Because Sayaka's eyes became blank, and she collapsed into Madoka's arms.
Kyubey then said something that left all the readers confused—
"Throwing your friend away, so strange!"
The scene ended there.
In the original story, this plot didn't end here but revealed the true nature of magical girls.
However, Ren decided to create suspense and pique the readers' curiosity, so he moved this revelation to the seventh chapter.
And just as Ren expected.
The readers were extremely curious about what Kyubey meant by "friend."
But more people went to Ren's Weibo to leave comments.
"Cliffhanger jerk!"
"This jerk author is getting better at cliffhangers. Just tell us the result already!"
"I won't buy it anymore, okay? I'll just borrow it from a friend who buys it!"
Of course, for Ren, this was nothing.
Being called names by readers wasn't new; he got so many threatening letters each week he could sell them for a decent amount of money.
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