Code Red (1)
"Wh-what...?"
"Everyone, fall back! Hurry! If you get caught in the crossfire, you're done for!"
Police officers who had been watching from the edges immediately started backing away on their own.
I had no intention of dodging anything. The only thing that annoyed me was the persistent, chattering nuisance of Ren clinging to my skirt all this time.
"Aria is a third-year S-rank magical girl. She can't beat me! She can't beat me! Besides, her agency is a big one..."
"Shut up!"
I finally grabbed the guy and kicked him clean out of the way, sending him flying toward the police. The average civilians must be staring at me like I'm completely crazy right now.
"You really handle your mascot brutally."
"You should know better than anyone, senior. Whether it's a mascot or a fairy, the creepy ones just need a good beating to remind them who's in charge."
Her eyes widened slightly, so I grinned and answered.
"How arrogant! How dare you—kyaaah!"
"I agree with you on that."
Of course the winged pancake-like mascot was fired up and screaming, but the thing that surprised me wasn't that at all. She hadn't even looked at her mascot on her side and had just punched it away without a flicker of hesitation.
"She's one of those scumbags who pretends to pity the broken kids and tricks them into signing contracts."
"...Your senior must be pretty sharp after all."
I clapped my hands together with genuine feeling. Maybe I'd finally found someone I actually liked since coming to this Earth.
"But that's beside the point. You're you."
"Alright. Come at me if you dare—"
I was about to say "come at me as hard as you want" when the rest of the phrase died in my throat.
BOOM—
A violent shockwave rang out alongside the explosion. A dull, throbbing pain followed. The air tore apart with a deafening boom, dust and debris flying everywhere.
"...It's ridiculous to call you 'tough as nails' when you're not even budging. That's a bit harsh, isn't it?"
"Hah."
I hadn't moved a single step, but she had closed in with a single stride and slammed her full-power punch straight into my abs. This was clearly intentional.
The impact was enough to make my brows furrow. It hurt worse than the collision from earlier.
Aria's face twisted in pain as she tried to follow up with a two-hit combo to my side. True warrior. Even by Demon Realm standards, she passed. The more I watched, the more I liked her.
"You've got sharp eyes and lightning-fast reflexes."
"W-what—kyaaah!"
I flung her body wrapped in shadows. The next time she tried to recover her stance and attack, I laughed evilly and exploded a barrage of shadows around me.
Her mental strength had passed. Now I wanted to see how her physical technique measured up.
"Move your limbs like you mean it!"
Knives, needles, scissors, pliers, chains—shadows could become any of them. They were basically my tentacles.
Attacks coming from all directions at once? That was like fighting dozens of enemies at the same time.
"Impressive."
And yet Aria was actually using every single one of her skills to counter it. There was no choice but to admit it. Raw talent alone wasn't enough.
She possessed something beyond talent. Maybe endless effort, or the kind of willpower that matched it. To me they seemed the same thing.
"Hyik! What now?!"
Ren had somehow returned and was panicking. In the end, Aria had endured every single one of my attacks.
"Haah... haah..."
"You're amazing, senior. If you just polished it a little more, you'd probably be at the level of the youngest Legion Master."
She was panting hard, her chest heaving.
Every tree and building around us had been reduced to splinters and twisted wreckage. Aria stood there, covered in blood and bruises, trembling on her feet.
"But shadows don't get hurt."
I spat out another wave of shadows, lifting my own body into the sky. The police watching below let out startled cries. A few people were desperately cheering for Aria.
No wonder people see me as the villain.
"It's not over yet..."
"Eh?"
Aria still wasn't giving up. She clenched her knuckles and slammed them together with a loud crack.
"Second armament! Aria's already a veteran who has completed her 2nd Awakening!"
"What? I never even heard of that!"
No, I had. Honestly, the explanations were just a blur, and my memory was fuzzy. While I was distracted, Aria had completed her transformation.
The sight was worth the wait.
"I was told to arrest you no matter what."
"Your outfit is cool, senior."
"Guess you really do have to break a couple of limbs."
After healing her wounds, Aria's entire body erupted with burning red aura. Her flowing hair also burned bright red.
My shadow blades? She shattered them with one punch.
"You should draw out your own armament too."
"...I actually find this more comfortable."
"In that case..."
She smiled faintly, then vanished. Not disappeared—appeared behind me.
"Huff..."
I was slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash, my body crushed flat as Aria stepped on my head and pinned one of my arms.
She was twisting my arm to the point of breaking it.
"Surrender."
"Hah! What if I don't?"
"...You. What's your name? Your real name."
She squeezed my arm tighter as if giving a final warning.
"My name is Takilas."
"Alright. Takilas. Please surrender—"
"Surrender is something I can never do."
Over and over again people demand surrender from me. For the Demon King of the Demon Realm, that's completely impossible.
"Aahahah..."
No mercy in her eyes. With a sickening crunch, the bones in my twisted arm snapped and shattered.
The downside of having a physical body was that durability was lower than my core form. Plus, I actually felt pain. I wasn't some sadist who enjoyed hurting myself.
"You..."
"Good data, senior."
I exploded the shadows to fling her away and stood up. Her arm hung at a grotesque angle, dangling with unbearable pain, but I felt nothing but satisfaction.
How many challengers had dared to leave marks on my body?
"How did you..."
"Well, it's about enduring pain. You probably know it better than anyone."
Aria's eyes flickered. Was it because I hadn't been pleading or crying?
"It doesn't hurt anymore."
She activated high-speed movement again. This time my tentacles were faster.
My shadows completely wrapped around her body and automatically detected and blocked her attacks.
"This is my reward."
Immediately I shot shadow tentacles from my chest straight at her abs, which were still pinned.
Ah, that satisfying crunch of bones breaking and organs bursting. Unlike a scream, it made Aria vomit as she was blasted far away and crawled on the ground.
Even with the strongest willpower, once her muscles and organs were severed, she probably couldn't stand up physically.
"Maybe this is enough. Shall we call it a day?"
"Are... are you okay?!"
I laughed bitterly and picked up Ren, flying straight into the sky. The panicking police below shrank to the size of pebbles.
I hid my body in the clouds.
"My arm! What happened to my arm?!"
"Why are you making such a fuss?"
I flew aimlessly, spotted the tallest building in the city, and returned to Seoul. I landed on the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper and shoved Ren back down.
"If it hurts, stop poking it."
"T-this is too big an injury. For now..."
Even while getting shoved, Ren kept checking my wounds, panicking. A little touched. At least he was worried when I got hurt.
"If the injury exceeds the magical girl's self-recovery range and leaves permanent disability, the magical girl license is revoked!"
"I knew that. Shut up!"
I twisted my face and threw Ren aside, then focused mana on my broken arm. The transformation unlocked only in the local area, turning the tentacles back into a human arm.
The regeneration was already perfect.
"Ehh? How..."
"Stop the nonsense. Let's go find a place to sleep tonight. I hate sleeping on the streets."
I pressed the connect button and canceled my transformation. Right now the biggest problem was finding food and a place to crash tonight. After coming back to Earth, the fact that I had no home or money was making my blood boil.
"Money... how do I earn money? I can't do manual labor in this body either."
I walked out of the building with Ren perched on my head and started wandering aimlessly down the street.
Magical Girl Management Bureau has classified the suspect as CODE RED — Takilas.
*
"We must launch a massive search and apprehend her!"
"But..."
"Director! This is our chance! Aria has suffered a serious injury and created the perfect opening!"
Oh Yun-seo, the Policy Director, slammed her fist on the desk in frustration. The director of the Management Bureau was sweating profusely under her pressure.
"That girl, Code Red Takilas, is also injured. Estimated age 12 to 14, height 145 to 155! A girl with a fracture or worse in one arm! That's enough to find her! If we just contact every middle and high school across the country..."
"Find her? What then? She's a psychopath! Haven't you heard the police testimony? A murderer who killed without blinking an eye! Just the number of people she's killed already exceeds two digits!"
This time the director also pushed back.
Oh Yun-seo bit her lip. She had figured out his intention.
"You want the other magical girls to wait until she kills that injured girl?"
"We have no obligation to protect those who have already decided to step outside the boundaries of the law."
The director's eyes trembled but he stayed firm to the end. In the end Oh Yun-seo left the director's office empty-handed.
"...Let's look for her ourselves, Hyeongchan. We absolutely cannot give up. There might be innocent victims, or that girl might get hurt."
She still hadn't given up.
