The Helplessness of Being Able to Do Nothing

"What the hell is going on?! There's no way every single mana camera just went dark!"

"Execute restoration magic immediately! And prepare the magical girls for deployment—in case this is anything more than a glitch!"

Even inside Arantree, the strange disturbance in the air had not gone unnoticed. They kept insisting it was nothing more than a system error, but deep down they all had a rough sense that whatever was unfolding out there was anything but ordinary.

"Arantree's existence must not be exposed. Everyone, proceed with extreme caution."

The Headmaster held back the magical girls who were ready to mobilize on the spot and, biting at her nails, focused intently on analyzing the anomalous current of mana.

"Headmaster! The sky! Look at the sky!"

—THOOM

Versa, transformed into a dragon, had fortunately evaded the demon beast's pursuit and brought the children to safety. Finding Arantree—a sanctuary hidden behind layers of barriers—was no simple feat, but she had analyzed the mana lingering on the children's Return Stones and navigated her way here by scent alone.

"Doctor! Anyone with healing magic, get over here now!"

"Good heavens..."

"No time to stand around gawking! This is an emergency, move!"

"How did the three of you make it back here?"

The Headmaster approached Versa, who was frantically searching for a physician, and asked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the question.

"Is that really what matters right now? People are dying. Get a doctor, now."

"It matters a great deal. Anyone who returns to Arantree under their own power rather than by Return Stone is exceedingly rare. If the demon beasts were to discover the route here, it would mean the end of us all."

"How dare you—a mere human—presume to lecture a dragon? If you don't heed my words this instant, then I will raze this place to the ground myself, demon beast or no."

Versa unleashed a crushing wave of killing intent at the Headmaster. Her glaring eyes burned with a fury so raw that no trace of a bluff could be found in them.

"Medical team, please examine this girl."

At the Headmaster's word, Irene was immediately rushed into the operating room, while the children could only stare after her, numb and hollow.

"Irene..."

Liria and Mika, still unable to climb out of the shock, felt their legs give out beneath them, and they crumpled where they stood.

"What exactly happened out there?"

"No time to explain. I have to go save Serena, right now!"

"Absolutely not. Anything capable of cutting off mana at that scale is an upper-tier demon beast—which means at least an Extermination-class or above. If a creature like that breaches Arantree alone, our magical girls will suffer catastrophic losses."

"And you're telling me it's fine to just leave a rookie who enrolled days ago out there to die?"

"It is fine. The sacrifice of the few is an unavoidable price for the survival of the many. Even if she is a once-in-a-millennium talent—a prodigy among magical girls—there is no reason for the rest of us to die saving her."

"You psychotic, selfish bastards."

"It isn't selfishness. It's simple logic. The very fact that you three broke through our barrier to get here is alarming enough. Exposing Arantree's existence to an Extermination-class demon beast would be nothing short of madness."

When words failed, Versa transformed her body back into its dragon form and delivered her answer.

"Then if none of you will go, I'll go alone."

"If you have some way of leaving without dismantling the barrier, I won't stop you. You are her mascot, after all—I assume teleporting to your master's side is well within your power."

"Get out of my sight, you disgusting creatures."

Watching the gaggle of magical girls refuse to lift a finger even in a crisis, Versa could not contain her revulsion, her stomach churning. These were people who claimed they would do anything to save lives—yet the moment a comrade fell into danger, the survival of the majority outweighed any mercy.

"Order the rescued girls to report on the demon beast's characteristics. Every last detail."

She showed no leniency even to the children whose minds had shattered. Because that was what it meant to be a magical girl. Because that was the duty they had taken upon themselves. Mika and Liria were dragged away somewhere by the hands of active-duty magical girls.

That was where my knowledge of the story ended. Rekart's death. The appearance of a new humanoid demon beast. A battle against death itself before any official deployment. My head was swimming with things I couldn't make sense of, but there was no time for idle thoughts. Getting the children out safely had been a mercy—everything after that was the real problem. If I failed to pin this beast down here, I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that the end of the Earth would arrive today.

"What an extraordinary fighting spirit. I take it magical girls are all cut from the same cloth as you?"

"Maybe."

"Haha, you joke around well enough! Because if that were true, your comrades would have had no reason to run, now would they!"

I strapped every piece of equipment I could muster across my body and studied the creature's movements. It was savoring our conversation, drinking in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the exchange with the smug certainty that it could kill me at any moment it pleased.

I don't think I've ever been backed into a corner quite like this.

Back in my killer days, I'd have taken on a hundred-to-one odds without blinking. Not one of those opponents had been worth the effort—hollow shells with third-rate skills, the lot of them. But now. Now something standing beyond the limits of common sense was right in front of my eyes.

"Tell me. Of all the demon beasts, are you the strongest?"

"I would think so, yes."

"Then if I kill you, I'm the strongest there is."

"That's right, isn't it?"

—CLANG!

For the sake of this world's peace, there was no need to take down every demon beast in existence. Strike only the head of the pack—the strongest one—and the beasts' entire hierarchy of order would collapse, leaving them too frightened to act recklessly. The same principle as cutting off the enemy general's head. Creatures with intelligence enough would retreat on their own.

"So all I have to do is take YOU down, and it's over!"

"If you can manage it, that is."

The demon beast's fist came hurtling at my face. No feints, no misdirection—just a fist flying with surgical precision. I deflected it with my knife and immediately went for its Achilles tendon.

Vitals. Vitals only—it had to be vitals. For all its humanoid shape, the surface of its hide was as hard as adamantium, and its strength matched that hardness blow for blow.

One small mercy: it wasn't using magic. That was likely by design, in fact. To a creature that treated this fight as entertainment, a trivial skirmish would have been beneath its interest.

A war of attrition, flesh against flesh. Attack and counterattack flowing back and forth, each side straining ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to land a single killing blow. Eyes, heart, temples, philtrum—I threw everything at every vital point I could reach, desperate to land one decisive strike, but the beast dismantled every attack with the barest minimum of defense.

And this was the result.

The demon beast's total damage amounted to a few shallow cuts. It grinned, savoring the taste of its own blood as it dripped down its face. And as for me...

Left shoulder dislocated. Three ribs shattered. Nasal bone caved in. One eye damaged.

Calling myself a living corpse would have been generous. A body no longer capable of fighting. I was barely holding myself upright with mana, and even that was fast approaching its limit. The scent of death hung thicker in the air than it had moments before.

I had fought prepared to die, and this was all I had to show for it. So this was the gap between me and an End-rank demon beast. A defeat and a helplessness I had never once known in my life wrapped themselves around me entirely.

"Shall we bring this to an end, then?"

But stubbornness flared up in me. Not enough to kill it—then at the very least, I wanted to walk away with one of its arms.

There was exactly one reason I avoided the longsword: it was poorly suited to chain combat. But the me standing here now would swing it once. Just once. With the resolve of one strike, one kill—no second attack, no follow-up, nothing beyond this single blow.

"Farewell! That was a genuinely entertaining fight!"

I poured every last drop of mana into the blade. Every iota, without exception, funneled down to the very tip of the sword.

I closed my eyes and read the beast's killing intent, its presence. The wind brushing past. The blades of grass swaying. Even the breathing of the insects—let a single one escape me and I had already lost.

"If I cannot cleave the mountain, then I shall cleave the very clouds. For the path I walk is the answer itself."

—KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA-BOOM

It felt as though time itself had stopped. Neither the beast nor I had exchanged a single word after that final strike. I looked down at my chest and found a gaping, hollow hole bored clean through it. Ah. So my heart was taken after all.

"GRAAAAAAAAGH! This pain! This exhilaration! A sensation I have never known! Serena Silphiel! You were magnificent!"

The beast howled in ecstasy. The left arm that had been tearing out my heart now lay severed, clean off. Trading a heart for an arm—what a monumentally foolish exchange that had been.

"Damn it all. Mission accomplished, I guess."

My eyelids grew heavy, little by little. This feeling. I'd known it once before, hadn't I? The beast was still screaming. Was that first taste of pain really so moving to it?

"Stay with me! Stay ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠awake!"

A voice, faint and distant. Someone had come for me, it seemed. Who cared at this point? It was already over—reinforcements meant nothing. I had always fought alone; I had simply failed the mission. For a failed killer, the word death wasn't just fitting. It was conclusive.

"I have no need of interruptions. Now then, let our battle continue to the very—!"

"Hm? Are you fleeing? But right now... khh..."

An arm blown clean off, screaming like that—the backlash had to be catching up with it. Serves it right. There was no way it could launch a direct assault on Arantree in that state.

With one last glimpse of the demon beast collapsed to its knees, my eyes closed for good.

"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. How am I supposed to save her from this?"

"Somehow! Save her, no matter what it takes!"

"Lady Versa, an injury of this magnitude is beyond our capabilities. Unless she receives a Dragon Heart..."

This was Versa's homeland, the Dragon Village. Like Arantree, it was a pocket dimension sealed behind dozens upon dozens of layered barriers, impenetrable to any who did not bear dragon blood.

"And a Dragon Heart would definitely save her?"

"I cannot say for certain... but it should be possible. The only question is whether a human body will accept it..."

"Doesn't matter. We try everything we can."

Versa reached into her own chest and drew out her Dragon Heart without hesitation.

"Lady Versa. Is this life truly worth handing a Dragon Heart to—worth more than a lowly human?"

The Dragon Heart. The crystallized reservoir of a dragon's supreme mana, holding within it the sum of everything a dragon had accumulated. A dragon could survive without one, but in exchange it would have to surrender countless privileges.

The risk of losing every drop of mana amassed over a lifetime—and with it, the freedom to wield any magic at all.

"A mascot's duty is to protect its master. That is all."

It hadn't been long, and she still didn't know Serena well. But Versa refused to watch her die a death this senseless. At the very least, she despised herself for having been unable to do anything. If Serena hadn't carved off the beast's arm to buy those few precious seconds, neither Serena nor Versa herself would still be breathing.

"Understood. I will perform the surgery myself."

Receiving Versa's Dragon Heart, the elder dragon gently placed it against Serena's chest.

All of Versa's mana began to flow into Serena, drawn out of her drop by drop, and deep within Serena's chest, the Dragon Heart slowly began to take root where her own heart had been.

"Now, all we can do is wait."

Whether Serena would open her eyes again—everything now hung on a single gamble. Everything rested on her will alone.