Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: I'll Give You Everything
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The black hole that had appeared in midair simply grew quietly in size, rippling with blue pupils that seemed to blaze from its unfathomably deep core.
Something like a sound could be heard. It felt just like a whisper.
What language was it from? A sound I'd never heard in my life skipped past my ears and drilled straight into my mind like a voice.
"Give up."
I was transformed, but nothing had changed from before. Normally, I could overlook the entire city. But now, I felt nothing. That's how I knew. To that thing, I was no different from some random pedestrian passing by.
"If you don't interfere, I'll let you pass."
Just pretend you didn't see it and keep walking. The being before my eyes whispered as much once more, in a language I couldn't understand.
"......"
My body wouldn't move. I couldn't even imagine winning a fight against it. The scale of its magic power was different. It had so much magic power that it crushed my entire detection range in reverse, leaving me unable to sense a thing. No matter how much experience and skill I had as weapons, what could an ant do before an elephant?
"......"
By now, the situation must have been relayed to the other magical girls. Even if it was impossible for me, surely the others could... It was the moment instinct led me to think that.
"...Don't make me laugh."
Naturally, the face of a little girl who had smiled and wished me a happy birthday today floated into my mind.
"You can't think like that, Ryu Ha-yul."
My wish was for all magical girls in this world to disappear. A world where magical girls were no longer needed. A world where kids ignorant of the world didn't have to sacrifice themselves for the responsibilities of being magical girls. And yet, here I was, dreaming of such a world while hoping for help from other magical girls. That's not right.
"Hoo..."
I gripped my trembling hand. I forced my buckling legs to stand.
Click.
And I grasped my sword.
The very next moment, darkness flooded my vision.
Foolish. Along with pain that shredded my entire body a beat late, a whisper like that echoed in my mind.
"...Kehk."
When I opened my eyes, everything around me had vanished. The trees planted in the park, the benches made for weary people to rest on. Even the streetlights that had illuminated the area moments ago and the Crisis Alert Device flickering black.
Drip...
When I lowered my head, blood poured from the white magical girl whose body had been torn to shreds in an instant. Her blue cape, which would normally hide any bloodstains, was soaked through, her form utterly wretched.
"Heh, hehehe..."
Yet the magical girl was laughing. It wasn't madness. From me as the center... traces spread out as if a shockwave had been split in half.
Click.
My hand still gripped the sword. Its teeth were a bit chipped, but the silver greatsword hadn't broken yet.
"What... you're not that big a deal after all."
My eyes and mind couldn't react. But my body did. Instinctively, I'd raised my sword to block. That was enough.
"I can parry it."
I didn't know what it was, but it attacked using magic power. So I could parry it.
Kiiiiing...!
I drew out my magic power thin as thread through my body and wove the form of a new blade atop my sword. It was the only thing I knew how to do from the start.
'Not enough.'
But it still wasn't sufficient. To fully parry an attack like the one from before, I needed far more magic power to craft a much finer blade.
"......"
And so, in this world where even the black hole rippling before my eyes had frozen still... I raised my head and gazed at a single star twinkling unusually bright in the sky.
"...Right. It's you."
Then, I felt a gaze looking back at me. An utterly cold gaze from that distant star in the heavens.
"Remember. When I made my wish. You were there too, weren't you?"
I recalled feeling it on the day I became a magical girl. I didn't know if other magical girls felt the same, but this frozen world was just like that time.
It was similar to before, but this time a whisper with a slightly different feel came. Unlike the chilling gaze, a warm voice told me it was okay to run.
"Can't do that."
I shook my head. If I fled from here, the next to arrive would be... no one but that little girl who should still be enjoying school.
"But I lack the power."
The voice fell silent. As if hesitating over something.
"I know. There'll be a price."
It wasn't the kind of being that granted power out of pure goodwill.
"I'll give you everything."
There was no hesitation. Magical girls are born sacrificing their childhood and future potential. Even if it's not a glamorous life... offering everything I have would surely be better than now.
It shall be done. With that response, an unprecedented surge of immense magic power raced through my body, and an omnipotence beyond words welled up from my heart.
"...Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped me. After all, in this state, I couldn't lose even if I wanted to.
Only then, in the resuming world, did I sense bewilderment from the being before me, now a massive hole... and truly gauge just how overwhelming its power was.
"―Boundary Inversion."
Taking in what might be the last sight of the city... I quietly bid it farewell.
Flash―!
Beneath the curtain of night that had fallen, a burst of blue light suddenly tore through like parting a veil.
"......"
And the middle-aged man who had watched it all from afar from the start... closed his eyes quietly, his face alight with rapture, replaying the image of the magical girl who had vanished with that light.
"Heh..."
Black suit, black coat, black gloves. His entire body shrouded in black made his form blur into the darkness, and his skin so pale it cast doubt on whether he was even alive. The man exuded an eerie aura that once seen, one couldn't look away from. He merely sighed, pressing a hand to his eye.
"This... is truly a tragedy too heartbreaking to witness with open eyes."
As usual, one magical girl stood against a threat that descended upon the world. Utterly ordinary. If it hadn't been in his own neighborhood, he wouldn't have spared it a second glance.
Damage? Of course it'd be massive. For that finicky Crisis Alert Device, which rarely even hit red, to immediately flash Blackout meant not just the city or country might vanish, but the whole world.
But regrettably, reality had magical girls. Girls embodying sheer irrationality, created by the world to defend itself.
That's why the man... as always, planned to subtly protect only his own turf, whether the magical girl defeated the enemy or held it off at the cost of her life until others swarmed in to finish the poor foe.
"To think such a beautiful magical girl was right beside me all this time, and I never noticed... what a fool...!"
Boundary Inversion. A spell that literally inverted dimensional boundaries to cross into another world.
The kind of magic only magical girls, paragons of absurdity, could produce. But the man knew. Without a mascot―a fixed coordinate to return to reality―Boundary Inversion meant drifting into a place of no return, a suicide pact with the enemy.
"...A life not worth throwing away for something like that."
If he'd known, he should've gone to her for an autograph sometime. The man sighed at the sight of people gathering one by one at the empty lot where Seriel had fought and vanished moments ago, then began to move.
They surely wouldn't realize how close they'd come to death just now. Come tomorrow, they'd no doubt chatter everywhere about how the neighborhood got wrecked again because of some magical girl, spouting nonsense.
"......"
Thinking about it left a bad taste.
"Hmm..."
After pondering with a hand on his chin for a moment.
"...Since I've become a fan for once, better to enjoy it as long as possible."
Recalling the final sight of a certain magical girl―Seriel―who was usually dismissed as a "pick-through" among magical girl fans... he made some resolve, expression set, and quietly swung his hand through the air.
"Boundary Inversion."
Then, space split along the arc of his swing, crackling with noise like static... and without hesitation, the man stepped through.
Crackle...!
The world changed in an instant. The back alley of the city he'd been in was gone, replaced by ruins where everything lay shattered without a trace. He'd expected it, but perhaps not to this extent. Admiration in his eyes, he scanned the surroundings, red pupils gleaming.
Step, step.
Carefully navigating the ground slashed apart like mangled flesh... soon, he spotted a white-haired magical girl collapsed in a pool of blood.
"...Sa, ve..."
As if the battle had ended only moments ago. The magical girl―Seriel―looked up at the approaching man with fading blue eyes and spoke.
"It's... dangerous here..."
"It's fine. I'm here to take you home."
"Wha... t does that..."
Wincing at her state―clothes shredded to near nudity, though he had no idea what had transpired... the man quietly removed his coat and draped it over her.
"When you open your eyes, you'll be in a hospital. Rest easy."
Cradling Seriel, still in her transformed state as if she hadn't fully lost consciousness, he whispered in her ear.
"My respects to your noble sacrifice."
Though whether the people she saved would appreciate that sacrifice was another matter.