Desperate Climb to the Brink
"Damn it, damn it...!"
I barely calmed my pounding heart as I cautiously peeked my head out to scan the opposite side.
Thanks to Harin, the place we had arrived at was a ruin abandoned by the early raids of the Demon King's Army. Construction had started but was halted again.
"You must be here no matter what. So look slowly, floor by floor," she had said.
Thanks to that, I had climbed stairs from the first floor all the way to the area around the tenth, and I was nearly out of breath.
Moreover...
-Slosh.
In my hand was a tightly sealed glass bottle containing dark, rotting-looking material.
I knew the ingredients, but piling them all into one bottle and mixing them made the appearance far from pleasant.
Inside, a small tentacle wriggled.
Harin had said she didn't trust me, so she would help only this once.
"If that's the case, you should join the class fight too...!"
I muttered the small complaint as I slowly climbed the stairs.
Finally, when I reached the twelfth floor...
"Hmm, hmm~"
The girl's humming voice started coming from the stair entrance.
I slightly peeked my head out to check the surroundings and approached the source of the voice carefully, pressing close to the wall.
It wasn't close enough to reach out and touch if I fell, but if I sprinted, it would be within finger-tip distance.
I hid behind the wall, peering through the gap between the broken concrete and remaining rebar at the girl.
Then...
"Here you are."
The voice of the class president echoed across the entire ruined building floor, carrying mana and a touch of firmness.
"Huh? Ah! It's the pink-haired magical girl from before, right? Why did you come here?"
"Return my friend immediately! If not... I will remove you!"
"Kyaha ha ha! What an amusing joke!"
The girl... no, Voracious was swinging her legs on a pile of plywood, then suddenly shot up and twirled above it in a flash.
Soon she leaped toward the heavily cracked concrete floor, tilting her head with a puzzled expression and opening her mouth.
"Since you're friends with Siwoo oppa, I should let you off with just looking. Besides, isn't it grateful that I've spared you?"
"Nonsense!"
Dozens of spheres rose behind the class president's back.
"Magic Missile!"
They were fired straight at Voracious.
They streaked through the air, leaving glowing trails.
And then...
-Kwa kwak kwang!
"Uaaat! Attacking all of a sudden! That's too much!"
The girl panicked and twisted her body, then at some point hurled herself toward a flickering curtain that had appeared in mid-air.
The moment she passed through the very thin membrane, Voracious's form reversed 180 degrees.
Her hair and eyes turned purple, and her hair puffed up like a lion's mane, whipping wildly in the air.
The dress she wore was torn in places, and her posture curved forward like a beast, head and waist lowered, gazing upward.
"How is it! This is none other than Voracious's second form!"
"Ha... cht...!"
The class president stared at Voracious for a moment, then caught her breath.
She gazed at Voracious with slightly trembling eyes, then lowered her head a bit and muttered to herself quietly.
"Still... I can't give up...!"
Purification-type mana flowed from behind the class president, shaping into a sharp form.
"I absolutely will not give up!"
-Paba bba bat!
This time, a fast, straight magic sliced through the air toward Voracious.
Some struck directly, some grazed, and some missed, embedding into the empty wall.
Sharp sounds echoed through the building.
Without pause, more magic flew.
If this continued, maybe for sure...
-Kat!
"Uhm! As expected, the mana of magical girls is delicious! Since it's a purification attribute, it makes my insides feel like it's boiling... but well, it's fine!"
But the hope lasted only a moment.
Soon, with a sound of something being chewed and swallowed, the magic that had been forming shattered and fell to the ground in pieces.
At the same time, a strange and wicked smile appeared, as if it was impossible to do as I wanted.
No, perhaps it was a smile of a child similar to when she was ordinary.
The only difference was the direction of pure heart.
"Kuk...!"
For a moment, the class president gathered mana near her hand holding the magic rod again and immediately fired the same spell.
And then...
-Kaaang!
With a sharp sound, the magic's trajectory curved.
The curved magic flew straight toward me and stuck into the hidden concrete wall.
-Twitch.
"Hup...!"
That sensation returned again.
My muscles twitched on their own, and memories of the scene I had seen before my eyes flashed like an automatic replay, disrupting my thoughts.
My legs lost strength, the air in my lungs emptied, and I felt the suffocating feeling of drowning in water.
My heart was about to burst, cold sweat poured over my whole body.
Tears welled up.
But...
"U, kkeup...!"
I bit my teeth hard and gripped my collar tightly.
"It looks promising. What taste the purification-type magical girl will have...!"
From far away, Voracious's voice was heard.
She had come to help.
If she had come to help, I had to stand up.
'I can't pretend I didn't see my friend's help.'
Whatever method, I had to do it.
-Kung!
I struck my head hard against the floor.
A strong pain in my forehead returned me to my senses for a moment.
"Huh?"
A momentary voice of Voracious from far away said something, but I didn't care.
With difficulty, I leaned against the wall, slowly stood up with trembling legs, and walked toward the front.
"Then, gratefully, I will eat well."
At that moment, Voracious opened her mouth from close by.
-Jjeok.
The moment she opened her mouth wide, I tensed my arm and threw the glass bottle I held in my hand with all my strength.
-Kwajik.
The glass bottle continued flying and blocked Voracious's view, instead being bitten and entering her mouth and stomach.
Voracious wiggled her mouth, then suddenly her expression hardened.
And then...
"...Ugh!?"
In an instant she tried to cover her mouth with both hands, but she couldn't hold it and collapsed, vomiting the contents onto the floor.
"Ugh, uweeeeeek!!!"
Reddish-black blood, flesh pieces, white bone fragments, and food of unrecognizable original form—all of it poured out from her stomach, soaking the floor.
"Kek, uweeeek...! W-what kind of taste is this...! It tastes even more disgusting...! Uweeeek...!"
"Eh, eh? W-what is this...?"
The class president blinked her eyes wide, staring blankly at Voracious collapsed on the floor.
Then she turned her eyes toward me in surprise and shouted.
"Siwoo?! How did you get here...!"
"Cl-clas president! Now is...!"
The rest of the sentence didn't come out.
Because I was forcing my body to move and had struck my head hard against the floor for that, my vision was already blurring.
"U, damn it..."
I fell to the floor right there and lost consciousness.
*****
When I opened my eyes...
The ceiling was unfamiliar but somehow familiar in atmosphere.
With great effort, I gathered strength in my waist and sat up.
"Siwoo!"
"Huaaaa... Siwoo...!"
-Warak!
Kim Min-ah, who had returned to normal, jumped at me and hugged me tightly.
"Sob, hu keup... I, I was Min-ah...! I... I made a mistake and took you to a place like that... hu keup...!"
"B, class president... why are you like this..."
"It seems there are no memories of when her consciousness was eaten. She told me what happened, but she stopped there..."
"..."
Just that was too strange a reaction.
...No way.
"Siwoo. The power wave from the Demon King's Army that deflected toward your side, right?"
"U..."
Thanks to the class president's sharp insight, I nodded silently.
"Thank you, Siwoo. For helping."
-Swook.
The class president also approached carefully and gently held my hand, which was awkwardly placed on the blanket.
At the moment, to prepare for the tension that would rise in my whole body, I tensed my arm strongly, but...
"...Huh?"
For some reason, the previous unconscious sharp reaction didn't happen.
It was far too hollow compared to the strong resolve.
"Really, thank you. Siwoo."
"Sob, Siwoo... thank you...!"
"...No, well..."
I carefully looked back and forth between the two, then slowly opened my mouth.
"Because she's my friend."
Although it was still awkward, I didn't want to say it anymore or continue the relationship anew.
Especially if the target was a magical girl, it would be several times more repulsive.
But maybe, just maybe, with these people and Harin, it might be possible.
Wouldn't this warmth help me too?
That hope arose.
*****
"Hah, hah...!"
In a lightless, colorless otherworld.
Voracious, who had barely escaped, still suppressed the boiling nausea inside with trembling steps.
Storms raged on the ground, the earth cracked in the sky, and purple lightning struck one of the floating islands.
"W-what is this... Suddenly why Siwoo oppa... B-but what the hell did you feed me... Uup...!"
Voracious's ability was 'eating any target within sight.'
But she couldn't be interrupted in the short time she opened her mouth and bit, and switching targets that precisely was even harder.
She was feeling the tiniest taste in the disgusting and foul object that had been the last one she ate, amid the boiling nausea.
"It must have been the Demon King's mana...! That means the executive who helped... I see...!"
The foul smell of green tofu, sour and rotten herring pickle, and the disgusting smell and taste of raw fish cakes were hidden, but even a tiny amount was enough for me to know.
Even like this, she was a direct subordinate of Grimoire.
Of course.
"Kyaha ha ha! You look pathetic, failing, Voracious!"
"Haeut!? T-that's Grimoire-nim...!"
She had clearly come back secretly, but now she was floating behind her back with a crafty smile.
Her creator and direct superior, and at the same time one of the Demon King's Army executives.
Grimoire.
"I definitely told you!? Failure is absolutely not tolerated!"
"Ah, no...! I was just careless for a moment...! Absolutely, absolutely...!"
She had been about to claim it wasn't a failure and ask for another chance.
But...
"No, I don't like it."
Grimoire plunged her hand into her heart with a sound, then...
-Puwak!
She pulled out the dark magic book soaked in dark red blood, unfolding a page in the middle.
"Ah, aaa...! P-please save me! I won't fail again, so please...!"
"Yes, yes. It's not very clear~ especially..."
-Cheol-kang!
A black chain shot up from the floor and wrapped around Voracious's limbs.
"It's a failure's excuse!"
-Tuk.
At the same time, the book closed and the existence in front of Grimoire's eyes completely disappeared.
"You are now canceled."
Grimoire smiled and landed on the ground, stepping forward one step.
Then...
"Hmm?"
Grimoire, who had automatically obtained the information written in the book, tilted her head, and then grinned.
"Kyaa! A deserter among the executives? Really?! I never imagined!"
Executives were not closely related to each other.
They were just distant rivals competing for one goal.
But in a situation like this, the story was different.
"Hmm... Shall I write the ending of a very interesting story? Kyaha ha ha!"
Grimoire laughed wildly.