Chapter 39
Chapter 39
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Prism Neph
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Magical Girl Neph has arrived.”
“Huh...? Sis... there’s two of you?”
No point hiding it from Ha Sol-ah anyway, so I just went ahead and transformed.
With two Nephs now standing there, Ha Sol-ah’s eyes spun like crazy. Unlike yesterday, her head was clear, so she looked utterly confused.
“Sol-ah. Come here. I’m the real one. That one over there’s a fake♥”
“R-Really?”
“Yeah. You know how much I care about you. We had so much fun yesterday, remember?♥ Say ‘Master~’ for me.”
Look at this bitch.
Ha Sol-ah stumbled forward like she was entranced. This dumb little brat—her memories might’ve reset, but her brain sure hadn’t.
I gave Ha Sol-ah a light kick in the back.
“Kyaaak!”
Ha Sol-ah went tumbling away pathetically.
“Aww~ Too bad. My dessert got away♥”
Fake Neph smacked her lips and glared at me.
Apparently, “dessert” meant me, not Ha Sol-ah. She’d come for me after all.
Which was exactly what I’d hoped for.
“Sorry, but there’s only one Neph. You’re just a knockoff.”
“Knockoff? Me? You?♥”
Fake Neph flashed a sleazy grin and unleashed her mana.
This time, unlike before, she struck first. Black threads shot from her fingertips.
“We’ll see if you say the same when you’re on your knees squealing like a pig in front of Neph-sama♥”
Screeeeech!
The sharp threads flew at me, ready to slice. Faster and stronger than last time. Just as Shining said—she’d gotten stronger after learning from our fight.
“Dress Code Type: Bella!”
Whoosh!
An orange dress enveloped my body, red flames igniting at my fingertips.
“Haat!”
I threw a flaming fist to burn the threads.
But Fake Neph just scoffed.
“So predictable. Fire’s weak to... no, wind♥”
Her outfit shifted in an instant. Lightning and gales swirled over her maid dress. Aurora.
Whoooosh!
She swung her hand, unleashing a fierce gust. My flames rode the wind right back at me.
“Urk!”
The fire surged toward me. I rolled across the ground and switched coords.
“Dress Code Type: Frost!”
Crack!
I raised an ice wall from the ground to block the flames.
“Ice? Then I’ll just shatter it♥”
Boom!
She switched to Bella and hurled a fireball. The ice wall melted away instantly.
The fierce back-and-forth dragged on like that.
When I pulled out Pluto’s darkness, she tore it apart with Aurora’s lightning.
When I summoned rain with Aurora’s weather control, she froze it with Frost’s chill and shot it back as ice arrows.
Rock-paper-scissors battle. But she always countered my move—and her output was a notch higher.
Bang! Boom! Thwack!
“Haa... haa...”
Before I knew it, we’d left the alley and been pushed into the middle of the bustling shopping district.
It was past five in the afternoon—peak time when office workers clocked out and middle and high schoolers headed home. The streets were packed.
And naturally, a huge crowd had gathered around us.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
“Magical Girls! Isn’t that Neph?”
“Wait, why are there two?”
“Filming something? Awesome!”
People whipped out their phones. Shutter clicks exploded nonstop.
Ugh. Clueless idiots snapping away like it was a show. Total safety obliviousness.
But for a monster, this was the perfect stage.
“Big audience, huh? Time for some fan service♥”
She grinned wickedly and reached toward the crowd. Black lightning crackled at her fingertips.
“Tch...!”
I leaped into action on instinct.
“Dress Code Type: Frost!”
BOOM!
A massive ice wall blocked the lightning aimed at the civilians. Residual current made my bones hum.
“Kyaaaa!”
“W-What the hell? She’s actually attacking!”
Finally realizing the danger, people screamed and fled.
“Don’t run, Neph-sama’s good little doggies♥”
Fake Neph gleefully unleashed a barrage of spells. Fire, ice, lightning, darkness—an indiscriminate attribute assault.
I had to tank it all like a punching bag.
“Urgh! Hngh!”
Ice walls shattered, flames grazed my skin. But I couldn’t dodge. If I did, the people behind me would die.
For the first time, it really hit me. This is a Magical Girl’s fate? So damn unfair.
The monster wrecks whatever she wants, but I have to shield with my body? I wanted to call Shining right then.
That’s when.
“Magical Girl Kick♥”
Thud!
Her kick slammed into my gut.
“Kyaaak!”
I flew back pathetically, crashing onto the asphalt and gasping for air.
My whole body throbbed.
Prolonged combat, maybe. My mana was already bottoming out, vision blurring.
“Tough little cockroach♥”
“Ugh...!”
Fake Neph grabbed my hair and yanked me up. A condensed mana orb pulsed in her hand.
“Let’s end this. I’m bored playing with you anyway. One Neph is enough—the real one♥”
This was my second brush with death’s terror.
Ah, so this is how I die. Ha Sol-ah probably ran. What about Mom and Dad? Not Yuna. But who’ll delete my browser history if I croak?
In that desperate moment.
Wiggle... wiggle...
Something squirmed on my shoulder. Slimy, disgusting texture.
Peeking through slitted eyes, a rainbow caterpillar poked its head from my collar.
Nunu.
‘Why are you here?’
I’d left it tucked away in the closet. Never summoned it separately. Did this sticky pest sneak into my clothes?
“What’s this? A moth larva? Gross♥”
Fake Neph grimaced at Nunu and reached to flick it off.
Ptoo!
Nunu spat thread right in her face.
“Ack! What the—? It’s so sticky!”
Fake Neph clutched her face in panic.
The mana-laced thread blinded her and bound her movements briefly.
Honestly thought it was gross too, but scratch that! My pal Nunu.
‘Now’s my chance!’
I whipped out my smartphone. Help!! Shining’s gotta be nearby. Time for an emergency call and smash this fake.
Shouldn’t have been stubborn and fought solo. Citizens’ safety over my pride. Yeah, that’s right.
Mixing self-justification and facts to psych myself up—then Nunu whispered in my ear.
Well, light from its body spoke to me.
Speak words, damn it! You’re killing me here!
‘Oh, right.’
If I wore the Shining costume, I could understand Magical Beasts.
“Dress Code... Type: Shining!”
Fwoosh!
I wrung out nonexistent mana like a rag and switched to Shining’s costume, landing on the ground. Meanwhile, Fake Neph had already cleared the threads from her face.
“Nunu, what’d you say?!”
Please be something useful!
I smacked my forehead. Duh! It wasn’t a translation issue—the line was just “wiggle”!
As I debated frying this caterpillar right then, something amazing happened.
Nunu started spewing threads from its mouth. Not plain ones—rainbow threads.
‘What’s this?’
Enchanted, I reached for the threads—and they wound around me.
“Eh.”
But the mana in each thread felt so familiar.
Red threads: Bella’s.
Blue threads: Frost’s.
Purple threads: Pluto’s.
Gray threads: Aurora’s.
And...
The final brilliant thread pulsed with Shining’s mana. Why the hell did this thing have all this?
A sudden unease made me glance at my chest. Threads dangled from the costume’s collar—frayed seams.
Not poor stitching. Looked chewed.
“No way... you...”
Had it gnawed on the costumes in the closet while I slept? Stockpiling their mana inside itself?
That tracked. This picky eater had devoured them all evenly.
Meanwhile, the rainbow threads softly enveloped me. Like wrapping me in a cocoon.
“What? Trying to run again? Pathetic loser♥”
Fake Neph sneered and flung needles at me.
I had to block, but the threads blurred my vision.
‘No... gotta clear these first.’
Desperate swipes did nothing. They clung tighter, binding me.
The moment the cocoon fully encased me—
‘Huh?’
A voice echoed in my mind.
A woman’s voice. Who? Not Mom, for sure.
And sadly, Seol Ha-yoon had zero romantic ties to women. Wait, that six-year-old marriage promise?
Hmm. Probably not her. Way too serene.
But weird. First time hearing it, yet it felt familiar. Like it’d always been there, at my soul’s core.
No, had I heard it before? Can’t recall.
But instinct whispered no. Shake your head.
Not Seol Ha-yoon—Seol Ha-rin.
Close your eyes, empty your mind, entrust everything, sink slowly.
Don’t resist. Stop thinking, just settle.
Soon, the rainbow threads filling the cocoon began whirling furiously.
Not Nunu’s threads—but something far greater, more primal.
Fwaaaaa!
Vision flickered.
The rainbow light surged into me like a wave.
Bad luck or good? No resistance.
It meshed with my soul naturally, like a lost piece returning home.
As Nunu’s threads spun like a kaleidoscope around me, blank color swatches flashed before my eyes—a panorama.
Six colors total. Filling the gaps?
My mouth moved on its own.
“Dress... Code... Type... Bella.”
Red flame thread wrapped my left arm.
“Frost.”
Blue chill thread wrapped my right arm.
“Aurora.”
Golden lightning coiled my legs, crackling.
“Pluto.”
Black darkness cloaked me, tightening fiercely.
“Shining.”
Dazzling light particles scattered like a crown above my head.
Finally.
“Magical Girl... Neph.”
KABOOOOOM!
A colossal mana pillar shot into the sky.
Storefront windows rattled like they’d shatter. Amid the blinding radiance, Fake Neph staggered back.
“W-What? This insane mana output...!?”
As the light faded, the cocoon vanished. The spinning kaleidoscope mirrored my new form.
Bella’s passion, Frost’s warmth, Aurora’s cool precision, Pluto’s abyss, Shining’s cheer.
All concepts blended—yet in perfect harmony.
Last time, inspired by Pluto’s concept art, I’d stayed up all night crafting this in a haze.
“Mix Match.”
Prism light through white fabric, holding every color.
And a radiant halo floating above.
Yes, this was—
“Magical Girl Prism Neph has arrived.”