The Girl Who Shatters the Laws
A parched, cracked floor, dried to a crisp.
"Th-this is strange-ching! Magical girls can't harm humans-ching!"
Aster cried out. It violated the laws. It went against mascot common sense too. Among the Magical Girl Laws, this was one of the most widely known alongside the cognition hazard. "Magical girls cannot kill humans." This law was even stranger than the cognition hazard. Magical girls couldn't intentionally perform actions that would kill a person. If someone got hurt by a magical girl's actions, they would be perfectly restored. This applied indiscriminately to good or evil—as long as they were "human."
"I agree-meong, but judging by the colors and phenomena emanating from the scene, it sure looks like a magical girl-meong?"
"Th-that's true, but-ching."
Leo spoke in a thick voice, despite looking like a cute lion cub with his ~meong verbal tic. Aster had seen the bright rainbow light radiating from the girl sitting in the center. But it contradicted common sense, leaving her confused.
Rubra Camellia tickled her mascot Leo's chin as she spoke.
"You know what it is, right? That's why they called us. What else? The suicide squad investigators. Shoot~ Boom."
Her slightly lighthearted, teasing tone—meant to lighten the mood—made the vice chief panic and quickly shut her mouth.
"N-no, that's not it. Please go in and verify if the subject is a magical girl, and if possible, persuade her with words. Avoid combat at all costs. Absolutely. Absolutely. When we went in to rescue the injured, there were no attacks aside from the mana waves. No signs of harming the injured either, and conversation should be possible."
The vice chief's words tumbled out rapidly, terrified by Rubra Camellia's ignorance of 0th grade phenomena.
One might think, Then why not talk to the subject first? But there were established procedures from the World Awakened Ability User Alliance for 0th grade incidents. And magical girls were perfect for these procedures. Why? Because a magical girl with a mascot could "escape" to her mascot's side and "revive" like magic if she took damage equivalent to death or got trapped in such a state. There were some limitations, but they effectively had spare lives. Due to this trait, they were often deployed for dangerous missions or containment-type weird phenomena, so Rubra Camellia calling them the "suicide squad investigators" wasn't entirely wrong.
"Sis, 0th grade isn't the same as regular ranks."
"Huh? Really?"
"Actually... it's debatable if you can even call a 0th grade an awakened ability user."
Grand Orca's past. Before Rubra Camellia debuted, she had participated in a 0th grade subjugation operation. The 0th grade mid-tier monster "Balrak" discovered in Yakutia, and the ensuing "Balrak Subjugation Operation." It mobilized three 0th grades, 210 1st grades, and 60 1st-grade-scale magical girls. Grand Orca had volunteered, full of a sense of justice. And she regretted her youthful impulsiveness. She "escaped" less than other magical girls, but it was still a horrific time. Many participating magical girls retired. Numerous 1st-grade ability users died. Grand Orca had briefly considered retiring too. If she hadn't started streaming, she might have. She couldn't abandon Aster now, but back then, she could have.
All phenomena or ability users beyond 1st grade were classified as 0th grade. And 0th grades had one unique trait: their individual mana waves began to take on physical form. At mid-tier 0th grade, those mana waves started gaining destructive power. They weren't even real attacks, which was why the vice chief specified no attacks aside from mana waves. If it were a hostile 0th grade entity—an enemy awakened being—the area within at least 300 meters would be pulverized to dust. Grand Orca had witnessed people turning to powder and dying back then. That was the gulf between regular ability users and 0th grades.
After Grand Orca briefly explained that incident, Rubra Camellia finally looked apologetic, patting and hugging her. She might seem flighty, but she was a kind girl who willingly played the clown.
Amid it all, Grand Orca wondered if she could even communicate with that girl. Seeing her sitting quietly, waiting for something, it felt possible. But it was 0th grade—tension was inevitable.
And Vice Chief Lee Ha-seon had no desire for the government to make a foolish intervention here, recreating something like the 1945 Australia Catastrophe. That would mean outright defiance. She just wanted to marry Section Chief Min Tae-kyung (42) and live happily ever after. The chic career woman whose reality was a virgin fantasizing about devouring the naive, oblivious Min Tae-kyung. No idea why she fell for that brick wall immune to all advances, but that's how hearts work.
Sizzling sounds echoed continuously. Like warming myself by a campfire, I sat hugging my magic wand, feeling languid. A bit dazed from gripping the red circle trying to tear open on its own.
Serves you right—why not die quicker like I told you? I blame myself.
I tried wide-area restoration, but the already dead wouldn't revive. I knew that was obvious, didn't I?
I watched people scurrying around, tending to the casualties. So lonely. Chewing on solitude is familiar. Not one of all those people approached me. One came close and spoke, then just drew on the floor and left. Makes sense—getting closer would just hurt more. Still, I suppressed it as much as possible. The sword that tortures gods. That's the concept of this spell. Not a specialty or anything. Just one of the random spells I naturally know. Right now, I don't want to extinguish it. Please endure the pain flowing from the sword. If I calm my anger, the barely contained rim bus will shatter. I don't want to cause a disaster. None of my mana leaked out, right? Appreciate my effort.
Sizzling, gurgling sounds popped like campfire sparks. I felt the faint twitching backlash through the magic wand's staff. Calming my heart while watching the crossing afterimages of white-hot embers.
I wasn't a doll. Inside what I thought was a fragile porcelain doll was this parched, cracked floor. What I mistook for solidified floor was emotion. The girl wasn't without a heart. Scraping it out with the plow of anger made emotions bloom. That's when I finally knew myself. Always with a steadfast heart, right?
Min Tae-kyung rubbed his cooling fingertips in his pockets, whether from tension or winter chill. He'd anticipated it when he saw Grand Orca circling the site, but now the two contacted magical girls approached his view.
"You two, you're here?"
Section Chief Min Tae-kyung's face bore an unerased weariness beneath his usual laid-back grin, more subdued than normal. Today, as always, he wore his dorky checkered shirt and beige coat—a good-natured uncle—but he was a skilled ability user specializing in power amplification.
"H-hey, ladies."
Beside him, a man chewing an unlit cigarette, wary of provoking the subject. Choi Il-mun greeted them with his usual slyness, but tension creased his face deeply.
"Whoa! You guys look beat."
Grand Orca bowed silently, her mouth dry, while Rubra Camellia raised her voice to brighten the mood. The two older men's faces relaxed a bit at Rubra Camellia's antics.
"How's the situation?"
Grand Orca moistened her lips and asked Section Chief Min.
He stroked his stubbly chin thoughtfully before speaking.
"I'd like to say it's stable, but given the subject, we have to be cautious. What do the mascots say?"
"We're treating her as a magical girl for now. But... no. We'll know once we go in and check."
Grand Orca recalled Aster's theory of a magical girl anomaly but cut herself short—it sounded too absurd to tell the chief.
"Heading in right away?"
"No point dragging it out."
Vice Chief Lee Ha-seon had already finished the briefing. Rules were strict: non-combat, verification and dialogue only.
"We've sealed it for now, but brace yourselves before going in. The atmosphere inside is totally different."
Choi Il-mun advised solemnly, a rare serious expression.
"Got it."
"No worries, uncle."
The two magical girls replied with feigned composure. But the absence of their mascots—left in the rear for "escape"—weighed heavily. And even with escape and revival, pain was real. Magical girls weren't machines. Their lives seemed cheap due to respawns, but they just had strong endurance.
"Then we'll withdraw the regular units. We're counting on you."
"Yeah, sis. Let's go."
"Okay, roll out!"
A one-way, high-density mana barrier. The work of top 1st-grade space ability user and barrier specialist Choi Il-mun. But if that girl willed it, how long would it hold? The magical girls strode resolutely into the shimmering, transparent space.