Chapter 24
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Paladin Spica
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Deep in the mountains of Gangwon Province.
The dense forest, untouched even by moonlight, thrummed with the stench of blood.
"Huff... huff..."
B-rank Magical Girl Gunfighter Trigger hunkered down behind a tree, gasping for breath.
Her flashy cowboy-themed outfit was caked in dirt and blood, and the magical revolvers—S&W M500 variants—clutched in both hands glowed red-hot from overheating.
"No... way..."
Trigger muttered in a trembling voice.
And for good reason. A hellish tableau of carnage stretched out before her.
The bodies—no, chunks of meat—from the Hunter team she'd deployed with littered the ground everywhere.
A full five teams, twenty veteran Hunters in total. Elite squads, with no shortage of A-ranks among them.
Yet now, she was the only survivor.
"Grrr..."
From the darkness emerged the culprit behind this massacre.
It had once been an ogre.
Yes, had been.
Its current form was too alien to call it an ogre anymore.
Muscles bulged unnaturally across its body, as if ready to burst, while black-red veins writhed like worms over its skin.
And at the corners of its mouth hung the forearm of another monster—it had clearly just torn it off and devoured it.
"Kaiju..."
That's right.
It was no longer a mere monster.
It had transcended the realm of monsters into the domain of kaiju.
After escaping the arena, it had hunted and eaten the other fleeing monsters, evolving into this grotesque abomination.
Trigger didn't know it, but this was the result of Apophis implanting factors into its body during their escape from the arena, supercharging it.
"Sh-shoot... You can do this, Trigger!"
Trigger aimed her trembling gun.
But she couldn't pull the trigger.
Terror.
Primal terror crushed her heart.
No... I'm scared... I want to run...
A Magical Girl's power stems from the heart.
Convictions and delusions like "I'm strong" or "I can do this" warp reality, producing irrational miracles.
But Trigger's heart had utterly collapsed.
The moment she'd watched three Guardians block for her only to explode from a single punch, her confidence had shattered.
"Ah... stim pack!"
She fumbled desperately at the pouch on her waist.
Happy Shot.
A combat nerve stabilizer and stimulant issued by the bureau.
One hit, and fear vanished, mood forcibly elevated, battle-ready.
Minor side effects, but better than dying like this.
"Please... please..."
She pulled out the ampule, aiming it at her neck.
But the ogre was faster.
Boom!
It stomped, shaking the earth.
The shockwave threw Trigger off balance.
The ampule slipped from her hand and shattered on the ground.
Crash!
"Ah...!"
Pink liquid seeped into the dirt amid glass shards.
Her last hope, gone.
Trigger slumped in despair.
"Raaargh!!!"
The ogre roared, raising its fist high.
A massive shadow engulfed her.
She was done for.
Crushed into meat paste like the scattered Hunters.
"Mom..."
The moment she squeezed her eyes shut.
Kaboom—!!!
A deafening roar tore at her eardrums as blinding light exploded.
No pain came.
Instead, a warm, holy aura enveloped her.
"Wha...?"
Trigger cautiously opened her eyes.
And froze.
Before her fluttered a dazzling white cape.
A pristine frilled dress gleaming amid the pitch-black darkness.
And a platinum shield sturdily blocking the ogre's massive fist.
"Sorry I'm late."
A clear, haughty voice.
She turned her head slowly. A breathtakingly beautiful, confident smile greeted her.
"You aren't hurt, are you?"
She looked every bit the princess knight straight out of a comic.
A-rank Magical Girl Paladin Spica.
"S-Spica... ma'am...?"
Trigger murmured her name in a daze.
Same Magical Girl, but worlds apart.
Her very presence was different.
The aura she exuded instantly obliterated the terror that had crushed Trigger moments ago. Overwhelming.
"Grr...?"
The ogre recoiled in confusion.
It couldn't comprehend its full-power strike being blocked by this tiny woman's shield.
"An enhanced mutant. Evolved through predation, no less. Quite the tricky one."
Spica analyzed it coolly from behind her shield.
Trigger shouted urgently.
"Be careful! That thing's no joke! Bullets bounce off, wounds regenerate instantly! Unless you're a heavy firepower type like Ruby—"
"Don't worry."
Spica cut her off.
She twirled the platinum sword Caliburn in her left hand with ease.
"Justice always triumphs, after all."
She stepped forward gracefully.
The ogre swung its fist in rage once more.
But Spica didn't dodge.
Clank—!
She slotted her sword into a groove in the shield.
With a mechanical click, the shield unfolded left and right, transforming into a massive form.
At the same time, mana surged from the blade, enveloping the shield and charging it with explosive energy.
Vrrrrm—
"Begone, evil creature."
Just before the fist connected, she leaped.
And then,
Kabooooom—!!!
A flash like the sun devoured the predawn darkness.
Trigger screamed, shielding her face from the eye-searing light.
A ferocious gale uprooted trees by the roots.
...
...
Moments later.
The light faded, dust settled.
Trigger cautiously lifted her head.
The ogre was gone.
Only a massive fan-shaped crater remained where it had stood.
Not a trace of its form—vaporized down to the molecular level.
Clink. Ka-ching—.
A crisp metallic sound rang out.
Spica separated her weapon back into sword and shield, striking an elegant pose.
Not a speck of dust on her dress hem.
"Ah..."
Trigger's jaw hung slack.
This was A-rank. This was a true Magical Girl's power.
The morning sun rose in the eastern sky.
Bathed in backlighting, Spica appeared utterly divine to Trigger.
"Can you stand?"
Spica approached, extending a hand.
Trigger grasped it, entranced.
"Let's go. Everyone's waiting."
Her smile was perfection itself.
Confidence, poise, unshakeable conviction.
The Magical Girl ideal Trigger adored—and could never reach.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—
The roar of an emergency helicopter's rotors shattered the forest's silence.
Black vans from the Magical Girl Management Bureau's field response unit kicked up dust at the mountain's base.
"Move fast! Secure survivors, contain the contaminated zone!"
Agents in hazmat suits bustled about.
Strapped to a stretcher, Trigger stared blankly at the sky. Mental trauma seemed worse than her physical wounds, but at least she was alive.
"Whoa... what the hell..."
Kim, the rookie forensics agent, gaped at the scene.
The forest center was sheared away in a perfect fan shape. Trees, rocks, even the massive ogre—utterly erased.
As if a giant eraser had wiped it clean. Overwhelming destruction.
"This is Fortress-type firepower? Feels more like Assault-class."
"That's why she's A-rank. Spica's rep isn't hype."
His senior, Park Team Leader, lit a cigarette and replied.
Kim nodded, scanning the area.
His gaze halted at one spot.
"Huh? Over there..."
In a corner of the forest scarred by battle.
Spica stood alone in her pristine knight dress.
She hadn't left the scene, staring down at the bloodied lumps on the ground—Hunter corpses pulverized beyond recognition.
"Uh... sir. Spica looks kinda off. Dangerous even?"
Kim asked worriedly.
"Why?"
"She's just standing there. Fortress-types usually have weak mentals... guilt over failing to protect people."
Kim recalled the manual.
Magical Girls, especially Fortress types defined by "protection," were hypersensitive to allies' deaths.
If I'd been a little faster...If my shield were stronger...
Such self-recrimination cracked their hearts, dropping magic efficiency until they burned out. Why Fortress types retired youngest on average.
"Shouldn't we go do some mental care? She seems really shaken."
As Kim stepped forward, Park grabbed his shoulder.
"Leave her."
"Huh?"
"Mind your own business. Don't do anything stupid."
Park exhaled smoke, eyeing Spica's back with a strange glint.
"Kim. Know how old Spica is?"
"Twenty... three, I think."
"Right. Twenty-three. In Magical Girl years, that's like sixty. Most burn out or get eaten way before. Fortress types especially."
Park ground out his cigarette.
"But not her. Spotlighted since C-rank debut, maintained A-rank over three years in the Euro branch. Got stronger every year. Know what that means?"
"Uh? Ironclad mental...?"
"Nah."
Park chuckled. A mix of awe and disgust.
"She's just... different. Her mind's wired nothing like a normal human's."
"..."
Kim puzzledly looked back at Spica.
Morning light bathed the forest.
In backlighting, she seemed saintly, noble.
She slowly lifted a blood-smeared Hunter helmet from the ground.
Cradling it to her chest, she bowed her head. Her shoulders trembled faintly.
Crying?
That's how it looked to Kim.
Sorrow for lives she couldn't save. Noble mourning.
But.
He realized the truth soon enough.
The meaning of her tears.
"Ah..."
Spica—Han Da-in—shuddered at the helmet's cold touch.
Sad. So very sad.
People had died. Horribly torn apart.
What a cruel, tragic world.
And...
In this tragedy, I stand alone to the end.
She closed her eyes, immersing in the feeling.
Blood-soaked battlefield, scattered corpses, and herself—a lone lily blooming at the center.
Intoxicated by herself as this perfect tragedy's protagonist.
Guilt?
No. To her, tragedy was the cross highlighting her nobility.
A mental fragility that would break others became her fuel.
The more pitiable she felt, the more tragic the situation, the stronger her narcissism grew—and her magic output exploded in proportion.
"Don't worry."
She whispered, wiping blood from the helmet.
"Your sacrifices... will shine eternally in my sorrow."
She raised her head.
Tears glistened like jewels at her eyes.
Her face was achingly beautiful—and chillingly hollow.
Park, watching from afar, clicked his tongue.
"See? That's A-rank. In this mad world you can't survive without losing it... only the most perfectly insane bitch climbs that high."