The Seed Takes Root

Abandoned Mine

Nox gazed quietly down at his own form, savoring the lingering sensation at his fingertips.

"...This much will do."

When Nox lightly drew upon the power of erosion, a mass of black energy coalesced above his palm and began to take shape. It was a tentacular lifeform resembling an enormous caterpillar — a plump, swollen body divided into segmented rings. Its surface was coated in slick mucus, and with every writhing movement, the damp flesh undulated in slow, greasy waves.

Mio, still slumped and gasping for breath, noticed the unfamiliar creature only belatedly and shook her head with eyes gone pale blue with dread.

"Wh-what... what is that thing..."

An immature face peeked out between strands of damp sky-blue hair, drained of all color. She knew instinctively. The moment that thing entered her body, something irrevocable would begin.

Nox approached without a word and seized her small jaw in his grip.

Under the pressure of those fingers crushing her delicate cheeks, her clenched lips helplessly parted.

"Mmph... —eh?"

And in that instant, the slick body pushed its way in between her lips. The sensation of it gliding across her tongue was cold and viscous. The feel of something alive wriggling inside her mouth made every hair on her body stand on end.

"Uuugh!! Uuuuugh!!"

Mio thrashed her head from side to side in defiance, but the grip on her jaw did not loosen in the slightest. As the writhing body pressed down on her tongue and slid toward the back of her throat, her breath caught abruptly.

I don't want to... I don't want to swallow it, it's... it's stuck in my throat...

A primal gag reflex surged up, but with her jaw pinned fast, she had no way to spit it out. The alien mass was shoved deeper, past her convulsively tightening throat and down into her body.

Gulp.

The moment her throat bobbed in one large swallow, a chilly sensation swept through her — the feeling of something settling completely into the deepest part of her body.

"Khh... khh... ughh..."

Gagging as the tentacle flowed down into her throat, Mio retched again and again.

Something went inside... it's... moving... inside me...

At the sensation of some unfamiliar thing squirming and shifting deep in her stomach, Mio instinctively tried to curl in on herself. But her tentacle-bound body wouldn't even permit that. Only her trembling shoulders and the faint, uneven rise and fall of her chest spoke the fear she could not.

Nox paid her reactions no heed whatsoever, quietly observing the changes taking place inside her body. And before long—

Mio felt an unfamiliar warmth begin to seep, ever so slowly, from the most shameful and secret place beneath her — and then, all at once, every trace of stimulation inside her vanished. At the same moment, a shimmering mark rose gradually to the surface of that small, hidden place, glowing like a brand.

"Hyii—?! Wh-what is thaaat!"

Mio shuddered and jerked as a tickling stimulation spread around her rear.

As Nox skimmed the figures floating before him, his gaze snagged on a single number. Barrier residual rate: 0.2%. On paper, that was as good as nonexistent — but the notation beside it, rapid recovery in progress, was what troubled him.

Two hundred seventeen percent. A regeneration rate more than double that of a standard specimen. The proof was already before his eyes: the faint, blurred grain of the thin membrane within her pussy was steadily regaining its color.

...A troublesome trait, this.

It would have been ideal to shatter that thin membrane right now and drown everything beyond it in erosion. Womb-training configuration, maximum output — the numbers floating before him already proved that this specimen's most efficient answer lay within. And yet.

There is no time.

The window he could hold ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out inside this narrow rift was not long. Soon, a rescue team would come pouring in. The fact that time flowed slightly differently within the rift was his only reprieve — and it was no escape plan in itself.

The moment I step outside, I'll be surrounded instantly.

Barely scraping together the energy that had fallen all the way to nothing, snaring a single magical girl, and recovering by the skin of his teeth — that was the entirety of what he had. If he were dragged back into combat in this state, it wouldn't be a recovery. It would be annihilation.

That left only one choice: not the best path, but the one he could walk now.

Just then—

The barrier, restored to just over ten percent, forced the tentacle that had entered her body into dormancy, as though expelling it outright. At the same time, the figures floating before him blurred, scattered, and dissolved away.

Nox watched the scene without the slightest agitation.

...Still, I've gathered everything I need.

He had never expected complete information to begin with. With what he held in his hands now, what he had to do next was already decided.

"...Ah... hah..."

When consciousness returned, the first thing Hinata felt was the cold press of the wall against her back. Her body, which had slid down against the cavern wall, was slowly beginning to reclaim its senses. Her solar plexus throbbed. With every breath, a dull ache welled up from inside her ribs.

"Hhh... Mio..."

Her voice came out cracked. The moment she turned her gaze, Hinata's eyes flew wide open.

The rift was still there — it had not closed. And it had grown far larger than when she had first seen it. What had once been a crack barely wide enough to fit a person's head now gaped wide enough for a full-grown adult to pass straight through. The shattered-glass edge of the rift still glimmered faintly, steeped in that dark crimson light. Nothing could be seen within. Only a thick, blackish-red haze churned like fog, seeping steadily outward from somewhere deep inside.

Her shield lay abandoned on the ground. Even through her blurred vision, the bright light still lingering within the heart emblem stood out with painful clarity.

...I never even got to use all of it, not once.

She had held that power in her hand, and yet in the moment she needed it most, she had done nothing at all.

"Mio... Mio..."

There was nothing she could do but call the name. Tears traced down her cheeks and dripped, one by one, from the tip of her chin. With eyes swollen red, Hinata sobbed as she stared at the still-churning rift. Her body cringed in on itself at the thought that something might come bursting out of it again.

How much time passed like that? From far down the tunnel, urgent footsteps and the crackle of radio chatter began to blend together and draw nearer.

"Over here! Deep in the tunnel!"

"Secure lighting and move in! There may be casualties — advance carefully!"

Rumble—

A rush of footsteps echoed off the aged tunnel walls, all converging at once. Soon several flashlight beams cut through the darkness and fell across Hinata.

"Found her! Sakura Team 3 agent confirmed here!"

It was the Japanese Branch's rescue unit — a team of five, composed entirely of veterans deployed to rift accident sites. Every one of them wore the face of someone with ample field experience.

"Can you hear me? Are you all right?"

The first agent to reach her crouched down, checking her condition. "Conscious! Checking for trauma now!"

"Impact marks on the solar plexus. We need to check her ribs!"

Under the flashlight beams, the field operatives and five magical girls readied for immediate extraction, moving with brisk purpose.

"Hhh... M-Mio, she..."

Hinata tried to point toward the rift with a trembling hand, but her fingers dropped limply.

"Just breathe. We'll check everything, one thing at a time."

An agent with a calm voice steadied her by the shoulder. Then his gaze shifted toward the rift, still churning in place.

"...Huh? What is that."

At the low murmur, the eyes of the surrounding agents all swung that way as well.

"Captain, something's off about this."

"What is it?"

"We were briefed F-rank. But that rift is way too big to be F-rank, isn't it? And it still hasn't closed."

The agent holding the scanner frowned. As a rule, an F-rank rift was only just large enough to admit a single person, and once one entity emerged, most collapsed naturally. Yet the rift before them had grown larger than when it first appeared, holding stubbornly open and continuing to vent its dark crimson haze.

"The rating reading is definitely F-rank, but..." The man who appeared to be the team leader scowled at the scanner screen, keeping his distance from the rift. "A rift of this size carrying haze at this density is impossible for F-rank. The color's wrong from the start. That deep blackish-red — a normal rift never produces that shade."

"I felt it too. It looks ominous just sitting there. I can't bring myself to approach — I don't know what might come out."

"Nobody goes near it. Something could come bursting out at any moment."

The team leader raised his radio and issued orders to the others. "Establish a safety perimeter and scan from range. Three, check the surrounding radius for any additional signatures. Absolutely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no one enters within three meters of the rift."

"Yes, sir!"

"Copy that!"

The assigned agents dispersed, each gathering their equipment — one in a hood carefully operating a scanner at a cautious distance from the rift, one adjusting the radio channels, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one combing the ground around the rift for residual traces. It was the practiced movement of people who had spent years on sites like this.

The team leader brought the radio to his lips. "HQ, this is field commander Nakamura. We are at the Sakura Team 3 accident site."

Crackle—

A voice thick with static came through. "This is HQ. Requesting a situation report."

"Of the two members of Sakura Team 3, one has been confirmed missing — dragged into the rift by an unidentified entity. The other is injured but conscious."

"Can you track the missing agent's position?"

"Negative. The rift has not closed, and the interior is completely obscured."

"...The rift still exists?"

"Affirmative. And it has expanded far beyond its initially reported size — large enough for a person to walk through."

The radio fell silent for a moment.

"One more report. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠This rift is a clear mismatch from the F-rank classification we were briefed on. The size, the color, the density — all of it is anomalous."

"...Are you certain?"

"Certain. This should have been treated as at minimum a C-rank, possibly higher. We should file an initial misclassification report immediately."

"Understood. Absolute approach prohibition on the rift itself; maintain long-range observation only. We will dispatch an advanced response team at once. The search for the missing agent will be reassessed under separate deployment."

"Understood."

Finishing the call, Nakamura walked back toward Hinata. Even wrapped in a blanket, she was still trembling. Her gaze kept drifting behind her — toward the rift, still churning away.

"Hhh... hah... Mio, Mio, she..."

"I heard. Can you tell me what happened — even a little at a time?"

Nakamura asked in the lowest, calmest voice he could manage. With trembling lips barely moving, Hinata began to falter through an account of everything from the depths of the tunnel onward. The fallen figure they had taken for a wounded person turning out to be a mass of tentacles. Mio seized in an instant. Her missed timing on Release, the blow to her solar plexus, the way she'd been sent flying. And then — even after Mio had been dragged into that rift before her very eyes — the fact that the rift had never closed, that it was still churning there even now.

Her voice broke again and again as she spoke.

"...That's enough. You've said plenty. The rest you can write up slowly, in your report."

Nakamura broke in gently, patting her shoulder. "For now, let's get you back to base. The formal debrief will happen when you arrive."

"B-but Mio is still—! I want to join the search, too—!"

"The search will be handled by us, and by the advanced response team being deployed separately."

His tone was firm, but not unkind.

"In your current state, Hinata, staying on-site is the greater hazard. There's no telling when that rift might react, or how — and your injuries need to be examined."

Nakamura paused, choosing his words, then added in a more matter-of-fact tone, "And... after going through something like this, it often hits people hard later on, when they least expect it. Even if you feel fine right now."

"..."

"Think of it as protective care. It's better to rest properly now than to force yourself through this and collapse worse later."

Hinata couldn't say anything. She simply let her head fall. Tears slid down her cheeks again, but this time she didn't even have the voice to cry out loud.

"All right, let's move. Do you need a stretcher?"

"N-no, I'm fine... I can walk..."

An agent supported Hinata by the arm as she staggered to her feet. All the way out of the tunnel, she looked back over her shoulder again and again — at the rift that remained in place, still churning, still venting its dark crimson haze.