Despair to Hope
Siwoo-ya, please take care of Mina.
Yoo Seoyeon said that, and lifted Siwoo up with Anti Gravity and a bit of telekinesis, floating him about five meters into the air in the middle of the street.
“Waaah!?”
His body rose, gently pressing against a collapsed building and knocking unconscious Kim Mina to the side.
“M-Mina!”
Following Yoo Seoyeon’s words, Siwoo slowly pulled Mina away from the wall.
“Kuguk…!”
Her body shaking, Mina suddenly regained her senses, lifting her trembling eyelids.
“Are you okay!?”
“Huu… I’m fine. By the way, where did that Demon King Army go…”
Leaning against Siwoo’s shoulder, Mina turned her head in search of Grimoire and froze.
“The…?”
Even through the thick clouds and dust, one flame burned brightly in the street like it was on fire by itself.
I couldn’t understand why the Executive who had just blasted her away was gone and only the one from school remained facing us.
“Impossible… Awakening!?”
Compared to before, the total power and precision had jumped by an entire level.
The mana surrounding her body concentrated especially on her right hand and the sword.
“…”
-Keying.
Innocent Heart raised her hand to the sky and lifted the sword high.
“Silence.”
An extremely high-resolution magic, unlike anything she had ever used, wrapped around the surroundings like a barrier.
Most magic’s mana output is proportional to its power and range, but Silence Magic is extremely inefficient, so the larger the area, the more mana it consumes—several times more.
She cast it to blanket not only her own area but all the nearby ruins, preventing even secret conversations from reaching Siwoo or Mina.
And.
“Harin.”
Upon hearing her name, Lee Harin, who had been hugging herself and stiffening, raised her head.
“You said all magical girls are the same. That you would all kill me.”
“That’s right. You all… are that kind of people. You too…!”
Harin let a mocking smile curl at the corner of her mouth.
Even when she first saw me in the apartment, she had tried to kill me.
Distorted thinking and planted hatred whispered in her ear to kill the magical girl right in front of her eyes.
Tentacles sprouted from the shadows according to her will, all aiming at Innocent Heart.
Just as she was about to shoot the tentacles.
“No. I won’t do that.”
“…”
At the unbelievable declaration from Innocent Heart, the tentacles trembled for a moment.
Innocent Heart swung her sword down toward the lower right as if shaking off the one she had held high.
“I said it. I’ll accept all your twisted parts too.”
“…”
-Keyiiing.
“Don’t!!!”
A crimson-purple laser shot from Harin’s gathered mana mass.
But Innocent Heart didn’t dodge at all; she only adjusted her stance.
She gripped her magic wand with both hands and straightened the sword that had risen from its tip.
And she met the killing intent approaching her head-on.
-Chwaak!
The blade split it cleanly.
The trajectory drawn by the sword’s tip continued, forming a pink arc.
The laser vanished as if it had become dust the moment it touched the sword, disappearing without a sound.
As though it had never existed in the first place.
“What…!”
Condensing mana into a blade was hard enough, but when it was a concept without material form like light or darkness, it was even more so.
Fire is extinguished with water, rocks are cut or smashed with steel.
Light is countered with darkness, darkness with light—that was normal.
But.
“…”
Innocent Heart spoke.
“I will save you. That is why I drew my sword. Like my unnie did.”
-Kwaaak…!
Power surged into the hand gripping the sword.
In her ears, the words her unnie had spoken echoed like a hallucination.
Standing before a magical girl who had despaired, fallen, and eventually corrupted, she wielded the radiant moonlight sword with both hands.
“Come back.”
Even in the moment everyone had given up, she stood resolutely in place, gazing at her.
“No matter who you are, I will protect you.”
Even though she hadn’t been saved in the end.
Still, unnie had never bent her will once.
Even when reality urged compromise.
“It’s impossible! Even if you’re corrupted, you’re still a magical girl!”
Even if her body was injured and weak.
“Seoyeon-ah… rub my shoulders, unnie…”
Yet always with a proud smile, carrying hope and courage.
Surrounded by a pure white dress brighter than a full moon and armor sparkling several times more than the stars in the night sky, her hair had turned white.
Later, even her eyes had turned white, but still.
“I am a magical girl!”
She had spread hope.
“So, Seoyeon, if you ever see someone who looks like they will despair and break soon, just… reach out your hand to me.”
Following the pure white, hopeful magical girl.
“I’m going all out.”
Innocent Heart pulled one leg back and leaned her body forward.
And pushing the ground with all her power.
-Kwaaang!
She charged straight at Harin.
The aftershock dispersed the Silence Magic she had maintained around them in a single instant.
“Kut!”
One of the tentacles writhing from Harin’s shadow sliced the air like an arrow.
Its tip was about to pierce Innocent Heart’s head.
She twisted her body in mid-air to dodge the tentacle and thrust the sword tip forward.
-Kwaang!
The sword tip slammed into Harin’s abdomen.
Not a piercing sound, but a dull, hammer-like impact echoed through the rubble.
“Kuh…!?”
Harin’s face twisted from the sudden shock, but before she could recover, the class president swung her sword again.
-Chwaak!
This time the sound of a clean cut rang out.
Yet the sword’s tip remained unnaturally clean.
Not a single scratch marred Harin’s body either.
It was only natural.
This sword wasn’t meant to cut people.
This sword wasn’t meant to cut friends.
It was meant only to cut despair—the reason someone suffers.
-Kutangtang!
Lee Harin was flung to the ground and rolled several times, covered in dust.
“Y-You bastard…!”
Harin’s bloodshot purple eyes flashed, and sharp blades were forged in the air in an instant.
Then they sliced through the air at blinding speed toward Innocent Heart’s heart.
Right before the blade’s tip touched her heart.
-Kwa-jik!
Innocent Heart lightly swung her right hand, shattering the blades into pieces that scattered in the air.
The surface of her silver gauntlet sparkled with purple mana.
“What…!”
“I won’t cut you. I’ll only cut your despair.”
“Shut up, don’t say that…!”
Swallowing her cry, she somehow forced her staggering body upright.
It was a lie.
Everyone knew how the Association handled corrupted magical girls.
Even if they were close friends, even if they knew each other’s pre-transformation appearance.
Even if they had been friends before.
No exceptions.
It was a fact Siwoo, the magical girl herself, knew best.
She hadn’t corrupted, but what could she call her current appearance if not corruption?
Anyhow, the enemy of magical girls was the same.
She was angry.
It felt like her heart was being crushed, painful.
But at the same time, unbearably sad.
She had believed that no one would remember her or understand her anymore.
She had miraculously met her old childhood friend, resisted to some extent, but.
She had only barely held on by a thread, hanging from a lifeline toward a cliff.
But since her ugly secret had been exposed, she had grown weaker and weaker, teetering on the edge of breaking.
Instead of forcing herself to hold on while suffering, it might be easier to simply let go of her will.
“I will help you.”
At that moment, Innocent Heart’s voice rang out.
-Pazik, pajijik!
The sword on her blade gathered more resolute will and mana than ever, radiating brilliant light.
“I will become your hope.”
She gripped the sword with both hands.
The clouds parted, and strong sunlight pierced through the dust and illuminated her body.
“Finale.”
Pulling the sword inward, she twisted the direction of the blade.
And then lifted it high above the sky.
“Heart…!”
She gathered mana along the blade’s edge and swung it downward.
“Shining…!”
Hopefully her hope would reach you.
“Strike!”
-Kwaaaang!
A sincere slash, but at the same time a slash filled with hope, slammed directly into Harin’s body.
Yet not a single wound remained on her.
“Kuh…!”
Only a sense of total exhaustion washed over her body, as if all her spirit and thoughts had drained away.
She collapsed to her knees on the spot, barely moving her arms to keep her head from slamming into the ground.
Over the fallen Harin, a deep shadow fell.
“Kuk…”
When Harin barely lifted her head, she saw two sparkling pink eyes gazing down at her.
With a sword in one hand, looking down, Harin instinctively thought.
Hope or not, you’re just like me, huh.
That sword tip would pierce my heart now.
Just like when facing a corrupted magical girl, just like when facing the Demon King Army.
Just as she was about to accept her fate.
-Puuk.
“Stand up.”
Yoo Seoyeon reached out her hand.
With the sword tip that had risen from the magic wand planted firmly in the ground, she held her right hand close to Harin’s face.
“…”
Why?
“I told you I would help you. I’ll accept all your twisted parts and stay by your side until the end.”
“…”
It was unbelievable.
Just moments ago she had looked at her as if she couldn’t trust her, drawn her sword and slashed wildly.
Now she was reaching out with a bright smile.
“O-Of course I won’t always stick to you like Siwoo… but I’ll help as much as possible… I-I won’t tell the Association about this! I really believe…!”
But because she had gotten too carried away, hadn’t she spoken too grandly?
In an instant, Yoo Seoyeon’s face flushed red, and her words faltered.
“H…”
A soft laugh escaped her despite herself.
Just moments ago she had said embarrassing things without changing her expression.
Now she was acting all shy about it, so funny.
But at the same time.
“…”
“It’s fine. Let’s go home.”
-Sreureureuk…
Harin’s shadow widened, and a door leading to a sticky, empty void opened.
Just as she was about to pull herself completely into the shadows.
“…”
“Thank you.”
Having heard those words, Yoo Seoyeon waved lightly as if seeing off a friend, with a faint smile.
Harin had already hidden her body beyond the shadows.
Still.
“I’ll come find you later, so then…”
We can talk about all the things we haven’t been able to say yet.
Clear up the accumulated misunderstandings, find solutions if possible.
And if we do that, surely.
“You’ll be able to find hope again.”
Innocent Heart smiled.