Upon realizing Chara and Curiosity’s disappearahe ghost roared in fury!

  Music, realizing this portunity, steadied her ethereal silver flute. As she drew out the hat she was already pying, the spiraling mana bullet before her spun faster and faster, until it became a raging vortex that sucked in all the wind-element mana from its surroundings.

  A colossal, pressurized mana bullet densed rapidly, its glimmering growing more intense by the sed. The air around it quivered with excitement, as if anticipating the impending explosion.

  When she ended her he spiraling mana hrough the air, rushing straight towards the evil ghost.

  [Whistling on]!

  By the time the ghost noticed what was happening, it was already too te.

  Boom~!

  As the spell collided, it exploded out with a tremendous shockwave, its shrill sound akin to a screeg train ing to an emergency stop. Broken crystal fragments rained across the devastated flower field, the evil ghost, reduced to millions of tiny mana particles and o be found.

  Musiot na?ve enough to mistake this as a sign of her victory, promptly began casting her spell.

  Toooot~!

  Suddenly, in a er not too far from her, wind element mana spiraled inwards as a fast-growing vortex began to take shape.

  The newly reappeared ghost ravenously sucked in the surrounding mana as it swirled bato existehe illusory a harp rematerializing alongside it, appeared noticeably less substantiated, its form so faint that one could imagiheir hand passing through it if they were to attempt to grasp it

  Without waiting for the ghost to recover, Musileashed her spell.

  [Whistling Bullet]!

  A glimmering et of mana zeroed in on the rec ghost. However, before it could strike its target, the illusory harp’s strings vibrated, emitting a cacophony of dissonant sound waves. Instantly, a glimmering wave of maed from the instrument, expanding outwards in every dire.

  [Dissonant Chord]!

  pared to the ghost’s earlier uses of this spell, this time its power was signifitly diminished. sequently, the whistling bullet tore effortlessly through the glimmering wave of mana. heless, its harsh dissoill mao destabilize the peing spell just enough for it to detonate prematurely.

  Boom~!

  The exploding bullet sent out a violent shockwave. Yet, because of the way explosions scatter energy in all dires, by the time it reached the ghost, most of the shockwave’s power had already dissipated.

  Not disced, Music quickly fired off a sed, third, fourth, ah spell.

  However, the raging vortex simply strummed its harp, sending out repeated glimmering mana waves that rippled outwards in every dire.

  These mana waves, as crude and wasteful as they may have seemed, left no gaps to exploit.

  Given the current situation, Music’s only ce to nd a hit would be to bloart a glimmering mana wave as soon as it was jured, and then nd a decisive hit before the evil ghost could cast the one. Or so she thought, but even as she bleart one glimmering mana wave after the , the subsequent explosion and turbulenly served to further destabilize her subsequent spells, sometimes even repelling as many as two at a time. And by the time the air had settled enough that this was no longer a problem, the ghost had already finished casting its subsequent spell, sending out anlimmering mana wave.

  Boom~! Boom~! Boom~! Boom~!

  With o no openings to take advantage of, all the whistling bullets dispersed before they could reach their target.

  Finally turning the tide against the music spirit’s relentless assault, the ghost unleashed a roar filled with bitterness and fury.

  The unbridled maliunicated through its gaze was so palpable that it momentarily sent Music’s mind reeling, her mana trag inward defensively. Even so, she was not disced. After all, whether her furious oppo realized it or not, she had unwittingly achieved her goal: to gain its full and undivided attention.

  The ghost, now focused entirely on her, charged furiously in her dire!

  The music spirit, not looking forward to beien, floated away hurriedly. Even so, she carefully maintained a subtle distance, ensuring that she was her too far—and especially not too close. At the same time, she tinued b it with whistling bullets, both to keep up the pressure and to resist the glimmering waves of mana.

  Now, all she had to do was maintain the current situation until the curiosity spirit pleted her preparations for the ghost sealing ritual. However, as she recalled Curiosity’s impudence, along with her cute and taleudent, Music couldn’t help but feel pangs of both annoyand rivalry.

  Hmph~! That curiosity spirit is so shameless and cowardly!

  Overe with a wave of unjustified rese, she took out her anger on the suddenly pitiful ghost.

  At the moment, she ying a simple battle theme that heightened her bat awareness and increased her movement speed. She had inteo tinue like this, when suddenly, an audacious idea crossed her mind.

  If I beat up the evil ghost, the little spirit will see how brave and cool I am and want to pursue a musid instead~!

  Then, we will bee friends, and the nosy spirit will have to beg me not to steal her away~!

  Feeling vinced, she acted without hesitation.

  In the instant, she slowed down her song’s tempo, transitioning from quarter o half notes. At the same time, the previously upbeat and lively battle theme gave way to a gentle, wistful melody, remi of the faint hum of wind passing by a quiet, desote ke. In accordahe number of mana bullets she was firing reduced by half, lessening her resistance dramatically.

  The music ghost, viewing this as the perfect opportunity, surged recklessly toward its seemingly weakened prey. However, as one of the oning whistling bullets collided against its glimmering wave of mana, something inexplicable happened.

  Instead of erupting with a loud and violent shockwave, the mana expanded outward in a soft ripple, calming down the air and leaving a sereillness in its wake.

  [Whistling Lulby]!

  Suddenly, the chaotic turbulehat had been hindering Music’s spells was gone!

  In the instant, she ramped up her song’s tempo, transitioning from half notes all the way to sixteenths! What had been a peaceful, soothing melody abruptly twisted into a shrill, pierg sound, not uhe wail of a bating through the stillness of the cave.

  [Whistling Volley]!

  In just two or three beats, the music ghost found itself fronted by nearly a dozen whistling bullets!

  maury