Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: I Don't Want to Become an Adult
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KABOOOM—!!
A massive explosion. Heat spreading in all directions, accompanied by the acrid smell unique to gunpowder—utterly unlike the rampage of a Demonic Beast. The scent of destruction and death, something any ordinary human could wield, engulfed the once-peaceful city center.
"They actually went through with it."
In the city center, now a sticky mess of screams and chaos blending into pandemonium... Kim Sun-ah, dressed in a black suit, wondered what reaction the nameless Magical Girl—who had just slipped through the boundary with the Demonic Beast—would show upon her return.
"...Captain."
-Yes, what is it?
Far off in the epicenter of the blast and smoke stood the small, cute new recruit, Robelia, out of earshot. Tapping her earpiece to switch to a private channel, Kim Sun-ah spoke.
"Ha-yul's strong."
The battle with her former senior Magical Girl mentor. Normally, it would have jumped straight to combat via the makeshift Boundary Inversion device Bell had created, just like in the fight with Licorice. But Robelia hadn't done that.
"She said she didn't want either side to hesitate... If it were me, I'd just do whatever it took to win."
If the opponent hesitated, all the better. That's how ridiculously powerful Magical Girls were. And this was a veteran Magical Girl strong enough that even Robelia herself couldn't guarantee victory.
-Well, Ha-yul's a Magical Girl too. She can't help it.
Listening to Bell's response as he returned.
"...Then at least we shouldn't get in her way."
Crack, craaack... Like a rigid cocoon shattering.
Shatter...!
Right before her eyes, the Magical Girl returned to reality amid the sound of breaking glass, dazedly looking around. No longer worthy of being called human—a massive spider's lower body topped with a human torso. Cracks like wounds etched across her body spewed red magic power. The modified human—Arachne—leapt forward.
I couldn't understand it.
What the hell had happened?
Why were the buildings in front of me crumbling, and why were people screaming and fleeing?
"......"
Mei Mei was a veteran Magical Girl who'd been through her share of ordeals... but even she couldn't help but panic this time.
The Seriel she remembered... had a tendency not to spare herself more than other Magical Girls, but she was passionate and just above all else.
Heh heh.
Robelia, was it? This sneering bitch in front of her, whose face alone made her want to slap her cheeks raw—she was that Seriel? Mei Mei couldn't believe it. No, she didn't want to.
'I have to... save the people...!'
But she was a Magical Girl. Saving the people in immediate danger took priority over the villain right in front of her—that was one reason she was still active. And so, just as she brushed past the grinning Robelia to blast away the collapsing building debris ahead...
Click.
Was there still explosives left? Explosions kept ringing out amid the crumbling buildings and screams. Cutting through it all, crystal clear—a button on some device being pressed, a sound that shouldn't be there right now.
"...!"
Even as she lunged to save people, Mei Mei glanced back in that split second. What she saw... was the small cylindrical device from just before the Robelia-Licorice fight began.
Whoooosh...!
The lingering heat of explosions on her skin vanished, replaced by a sudden chill wind... The screams and blasts filling her ears disappeared as if they'd been lies, in this emptied space.
"Release it. Now."
Mei Mei halted her forward step, turning back without hiding her fury-filled expression.
"What if I don't?"
The response came laced with mockery and refusal.
Snap.
Like the thread of her reason finally snapping.
Grip.
Just as Mei Mei's fists clenched so hard blood dripped from her palms.
BOOM...!
In the silent city center. The ground shook like an earthquake. Robelia blinked, and there was Mei Mei right in front of her—lowered into stance, waist bent, right fist pulled back fully, as if teleporting.
Clank.
Gazing at the pure white fist gleaming with packed magic power, Robelia drew her sword from thin air, infused with ominous purple magic.
"Haaaaah—!!"
The next instant. With a deep breath and shout, Mei Mei's fist rocketed forward.
—!!
A shockwave incomparable to the earlier city blast pulverized the replicated city beyond the boundary in one go.
—Dragon Bullet.
A simple technique that didn't even qualify as magic—just condensing magic to its limit in her fist and firing it. But combined with her mastery of Chinese martial arts and a Magical Girl's immense magic power... its might dwarfed most spells.
Slashhh—!
Unfortunately... standing before Mei Mei now was a former Magical Girl just as seasoned in close combat.
"Tch...!"
Robelia tilted her dual-gripped sword to deflect the fist sideways with minimal motion, slipping out of the Dragon Bullet's range. Mei Mei dodged the swinging blade and stepped back big.
Clang...!
Facing the sword mercilessly targeting her legs, she punched it away with a white magic-coated fist.
"Hiyaah—!!"
Again with her signature shout, thrusting both hands forward to counterattack. She momentarily pushed Robelia back.
Vrrrrm...!
But faster still, purple magic circles unfolded over every joint of Robelia's body, filling Mei Mei's vision.
"—Acceleration."
In that instant, she lost track of Robelia's movements.
—!
Ignoring the clear sword hum in her ears, Mei Mei belatedly shielded her body with surged magic.
Slashhh...!
How many times had she been slashed at once? Even full-power magic barrier sliced like tofu by purple magic blades—she was left bloodied all over.
Flutter...!
Robelia roughly shed her cape from her shoulders, revealing flushed, sunburn-reddened skin. Mei Mei watched quietly.
"......"
Drip, plop. Blood dripping from her body to the ground cleared her head a bit.
Was it the blood loss making her calm? On ground shattered like after hundreds of sword swings, she—who'd attacked first—stood gripping her sword quietly, wary of her foe.
"...You've changed a lot."
Mei Mei figured the next exchange would be the last. With that thought, she slowly spoke.
"Well, it's been a long time."
Indeed, time had passed. Around six years ago? She quietly recalled the eyes of a certain little girl sparkling so brightly it felt burdensome.
"You wanted to protect us, right?"
She remembered. When she'd asked that big-bodied kid Magical Girl what she became one for, that's what she'd answered.
"Such a cocky brat. Couldn't even control her own body, yet talking about protecting others. Adorable."
Magical Girls were all like that. At first, eyes sparkling with pure ideals. But time brought reality crashing down.
Ideals and reality differ. Once kids realized that, they slowly retired. Their precious school days passed, and most sought not what they wanted, but what they had to do.
She hated that. They were Magical Girls—meant to give dreams and hope. But she understood. No one could stay a kid forever. So even now, as her peers retired... Mei Mei stayed active. If she could make someone smile because of her, that alone made her remaining life worthwhile.
"You've become an adult."
Thus, she thought Robelia had abandoned her ideals too. Chosen some other reality over protecting Magical Girls.
Vrrrrm...!
No time for replies. She gathered magic in her right hand again. Full-power Dragon Bullet. Only that could stop the wayward kid veering off course. So she judged.
"No, I... still don't want to become an adult."
She paused. Lifting her head at Robelia's voice.
"I still want to protect you all. I don't want to hurt you."
There stood not an adult resigned to reality... but a half-child still chasing ideals.
Clank.
She couldn't understand. But she knew what to do. So facing Robelia, who readied her own dual-gripped sword...
"You're fucking insane."
Mei Mei smirked... Instead of firing a Dragon Bullet at the incoming sword swing,
Stab...!
She took the blade piercing her body head-on, wrapping her left arm around Robelia in a tight hug.
"What the...!"
Her right hand still compressed magic for the Dragon Bullet.
"Aha, found it."
Pat pat. Fumbling over Robelia wriggling in her arms, Mei Mei located the small cylindrical device she'd hidden.
Click.
Blood trickling from her mouth, vision blurring... Back in reality, the city reduced to ruins in that short time.
"—Dragon Bullet."
Not at Robelia in her arms, but to clear the debris crushing the ruins ahead. She released the magic painstakingly gathered in her right hand.
Thud.
Perhaps startled by Mei Mei collapsing after freely yielding her magic source despite the pain wracking her body. With a beaming smile amid agony,
"Why? You want to protect people, right? I'm not killing you."
Tap, tap. Like encouragement. Stroking Robelia's back with the arm hugging her, Mei Mei closed her eyes.
"I don't know what you want to do, but it won't be easy, kid."
In her final moments, Robelia's pained expression—acting forgotten—overlapped with a young Magical Girl's bold words of someday protecting all others. Mei Mei just smiled softly.