What Beats Despair
"Ah, food never tasted so good."
I was currently sprawled out on the floor of a house so spacious it felt positively decadent for a single occupant.
And my appearance at that moment wasn't a monster's — it was that of a handsome blond young man.
So this is what living as a human feels like. Bliss.
All of it thanks to discovering I had a human form. Right after I'd grabbed a hamburger in my monster body last time, I'd suddenly transformed into a human.
At the time I'd complained about the timing — couldn't you have changed a little sooner? — but then again… hey, at least I did change.
Once I had my human form, one thing led to another: I found out I had a house, bought a phone, did all sorts of things. I have no idea how, but my bank account number and password were identical to the ones I'd used in my old life, and the account was loaded with an absurd amount of money.
Possession perk, maybe?
No ordinary means would net you this kind of cash, but whatever — good news was good news.
Ding-dong.
"Oh! It's here!"
The chicken I'd ordered had just arrived, and I opened the door with a flutter of excitement.
"Enjoy your meal!"
"Thanks so much~"
And just like that, I claimed my first chicken since taking over this body. Time Stop? Who needs it. Chicken is supreme.
Unless things got truly serious, I had no intention of returning to my monster form. If I tried receiving chicken deliveries as a monster, the hallway CCTV would catch every second of it.
Setup complete, I grabbed my tablet and opened the memo app.
Let's see, the timeline… so the fire monster appeared around here…
Chicken in one hand, I kept taking notes with the other.
Huh. It's coming up soon?
Which meant another episode was about to begin. Comet would probably get the living daylights beaten out of her again this time too…
Maybe I should give her a hand.
No matter how many times she got ground into the dirt — rolling, rolling, and rolling some more — it never actually helped Comet grow. If that was how it went, better for me to step in and fine-tune things to accelerate her growth…
Huh, not a bad idea?
Actually, thinking it over, that was a pretty good plan. I remembered seeing it in the author's notes: Comet could handle opponents up to about 1.2 times her own strength, and fighting enemies in that range fueled her growth.
The problem was, she was only supposed to dish out up to 120 percent — but her opponents kept coming at her with 150, 200 percent force. Hence the endless rolling around with zero growth to show for it.
Which is why the ending ended up the way it did…
Just remembering it made my blood boil all over again.
That's it. I'll raise her myself.
Raise her up, and then devour— no, then set her loose to save the world.
"Heh heh heh…"
Following the time-honored monster-story cliché, I'd pound her until she got stronger…!
"Ah, damn. Picked the wrong speech style."
Knowing this would happen, I should've gone with a more majestic way of talking from the start.
Time passed, until Halloween arrived — a day that barely made a ripple in Korea.
"Zehihihihihi! Happy Halloween!!"
A monster with a pumpkin for a head, a cape draped over its shoulders, and a body made of tangled vines appeared in the middle of the city.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"It's a monster! Run!"
"Shit, aren't those things supposed to stay in the West? Why here…!"
"A magical girl! Where's a magical girl?!"
"Zehihihihi! Candy! Hand over your candy!"
Woom! Woom!
The pumpkin monster swung the massive scythe in its hand. People were already fleeing far from it, so there were no casualties — but the cars and motorcycles caught by its scythe were cleaved apart like so much tofu.
"Zehihihihi!"
Step by step, the monster advanced, sweeping its scythe in great arcs. Its pace was slow, but the farther it pushed forward, the narrower the gap grew between it and the citizens scrambling to evacuate.
"Eeeeek!"
Colliding with other fleeing people, one schoolgirl stumbled and fell. The moment the pumpkin monster spotted her, it curled its mouth-corner upward and loomed closer.
"Zehihihihi!"
It raised its scythe overhead with a skin-crawling cackle.
"P-please spare me! Kyaaaaah!"
Toward the screaming girl begging for her life, the monster brought its scythe down.
Wooong!
The enormous scythe sliced through the air at blistering speed — and the instant it was about to reach the girl's forehead—
Chang!
It was blocked by a wand set with a gleaming jewel.
"Zehi?"
The pumpkin monster tilted its head sideways in confusion — and in that very instant—
"Like a comet shooting through your heart! Magical Comet, here!"
"Ze, zehi…!"
A fist, fast as a comet, flew straight into the monster's face.
Bam!
"Zehiaaaah!!"
The pumpkin monster dropped its scythe and went flying backward, the very center of its pumpkin face shattered to pieces.
"Must be the pumpkin — you're pretty weak!"
Magical Comet shouted with total confidence, sparkling smile in place. The pumpkin monster, furious at taking a direct hit, let out a monstrous shriek from its ruined face.
"Zehiiiiiiii!!"
"Stop tormenting these people and disappear, please!"
The pumpkin monster transformed its vine-made arms into tentacles and lunged; Comet leveled her wand at the charging creature.
The jewel at the tip of her wand flared to life as she chanted her spell.
"Comet Light — Rapid!"
Vmmm… ping!
Blue light swirled at the jewel's tip, then a bullet of light launched out at roughly the speed of a sniper rifle.
Pow!
With no chance to dodge, the pumpkin monster took it dead-on, and its head burst apart on the spot. Its vine-wrapped body collapsed to the ground.
"Whoa, whoaaaa! Comet! Comet!"
"You're the best, Magical Comet!"
"Thank you, Magical Comet!"
Having felled a monster with a single blow, Magical Comet received an outpouring of praise and adoration from the surviving citizens. She waved back, looking a touch embarrassed.
Job done, Comet began preparing to fly off as she usually did.
That was when the problem occurred.
"Zehihihi…"
"?!"
A small sound at her ear — that unmistakable pumpkin-monster laugh. She scrambled to cast a spell, but it was already too late.
Slam!
"Ugh!"
An impact slammed into her right shoulder out of nowhere. The powerful ambush sent Magical Comet's body flying, and she smashed into the wall of a nearby building.
"Koff, koff! What the…"
Coughing, Comet lifted her head. And there, where she'd been standing, the pumpkin monster she'd definitely knocked down had multiplied into three, wearing skin-crawling grins.
"Zehihihi…"
"Zehihihi!"
"Zehi! Zehihihi!"
The pumpkin monsters laughed to their hearts' content, as if her wall-splattered state was the funniest thing they'd ever seen.
"Zehihihihi!"
"I am different from all the other monsters!"
"You can never beat me! Zehihihi!"
Like a single being in three bodies, they passed the sentences along one after another.
"…Tch!"
Gritting her teeth, Comet peeled herself out of the wall. She was already covered in dust and bleeding — but a magical girl was not something that went down from just this much.
"Zehihihi."
"If you want another beating!"
"Then by all means! Zehi!"
The pumpkin monsters came running, scythes raised in mockery. Comet leveled her wand, determined not to fall so easily this time, then closed both eyes and shouted.
"Magical Blast!"
Fwoooom!
A beam of blue light poured from the jewel. As if determined to punch through everything in its path, the beam skewered two of the pumpkin monsters simultaneously.
KABOOM!
Both monsters lost their upper halves in an instant.
The two leg-only torsos crumpled to the ground — but the third one, whose arm had only been grazed, survived to the end and swung its scythe at Comet.
She threw up her left arm in a desperate block—
Shk!
—and the pumpkin monster's scythe carved deep into her left arm.
"Ugh…!"
Still, this much is…!
Telling herself she could still manage this, she moved to cast another spell — and then yet another aberration occurred.
"Zehihihi…"
"Zehi…"
"Zehihihi!"
"This won't be easy for you!"
"Hand over the candy!"
"Zehihihi!"
In the blink of an eye, the pumpkin monsters had multiplied to six. Despair took root in Comet's eyes.
"What is this…"
"Zehihihi! Still can't figure it out?!"
"Zehi! So long as there is fear of me, I cannot die!"
"I am the monster of Halloween!"
"Call me Jack-O!"
"Zehihihi!"
"That's… what…"
An ability at the very apex of absurdity. The despair in Magical Comet's gaze swelled larger and larger.
…If it comes to this, I'll have no choice but to use that move.
Turning Light — the ultimate technique containing everything Magical Comet was. A last-resort finisher that traded her very life for power approaching the absolute.
It was meant for the clock-headed monster, Cloak… but unlike Cloak, the pumpkin monster before her was unmistakably intent on killing people.
By any measure, the pumpkin monster was the greater threat. Comet steeled herself and clenched her fist.
"…If you can't die from fear, then I just have to make sure no one feels any fear. That's all."
"Zehihihi!"
"You think that'll be easy?!"
"Zehihihi! How naive!"
"Today, everyone in this place dies!"
"Zehihihi! Zehihihihi!"
The pumpkin monsters roared with laughter, as if her outlandish declaration had left them speechless. Watching them, Magical Comet curled her lips upward.
"Do you know what it takes to beat despair?"
Magical Comet drew the power of the comet up through her entire body.
"It's hope—"
But the moment she raised a valiant smile and moved to unleash Turning Light—
Thud.
All six pumpkin monsters in front of her dropped to the ground, sliced into pieces. And the culprit behind that impossible sight was…
"It's about time, right?"
A clock-headed monster — the very embodiment of despair itself.