A Single Beam of Light That Defies Miracles (Revised)
Swim Swim’s heart has been pierced. She should be dead. Yet she remains standing.
One technique still remains in the Path of Guiding Spirits.
Equality Swap Contract.
It can bind an equal exchange between souls.
But the price is paid in misfortune to the caster.
Before me stood a magical girl screaming while clutching the corpse of a high-school student.
“We were never colleagues, Swim Swim!!”
Top Speed’s magic was nothing worth mentioning. In the end, to survive, you only needed to kill. Top Speed was nothing more than an easy target.
I raised my knife and lunged at her, but just as I was about to strike, a voice rang out.
“Calamity Mary isn’t here.”
The entrance had been blocked. This place on the roof of the Prestige Hotel was impossible.
“……?”
“Shinomiya-san…?”
“Top Speed, run ahead. It’s dangerous.”
“But… Ripple…!”
“Just do it!”
“Okay!”
Top Speed climbed back onto her rapid broom.
I didn’t miss the opening. I snatched up the fallen knife and swung it at her again.
Any magical girl would have been sliced in half in an instant, but Gaku made not a single movement. He simply blocked the strike with the flat of his palm.
Top Speed had escaped.
Just like the recoil of striking solid rock, a light tap on the arm sent Swim Swim flying backward.
“……Who was that?”
Top Speed looked up at me. My gaze was fixed on the corpse.
“……Sazanami?”
I stared at the face before me. I only knew the name; I wasn’t close enough to call her a friend.
“Who killed her…?”
The knife in Swim Swim’s hand was soaked in blood. Top Speed was sobbing. Calamity Mary’s body was far away, so the odds of her being the culprit were slim.
“……Why? You killed her…?”
If I had known it was Sazanami, I could have helped her sooner.
The feeling of rage scorched like fire in my chest. There was no magic to bring back the dead.
This world was no fantasy game that could be revived with resurrection spells.
I shouted. The roar of rising anger filled the space.
“……Why did you kill her?! Answer me, Swim Swim!”
Swim Swim had come to the Prestige Hotel to kill Top Speed. But when the attack failed, she began to flee while evading my question.
“Ah… I see. You’re choosing to run without answering, huh?”
I began to chant.
The ice reflected in the lake, a pale moon flowing in the water.
Touch is illusion, what is revealed is immovable.
— Gyeonghwasuwol.
A low incantation left my lips. A technique that set the entropy of anyone within range to zero.
While this skill was active, the target would freeze without even realizing it and be unable to move at all. Absolute restraint, guaranteed to hit.
I hadn’t figured out Swim Swim’s magic exactly, but no matter what spell she used, there was no way to avoid this technique.
“You know? Even if the strongest magical girl, when using this incomplete magic, not a single evading magical girl has ever managed it. Well, they’d be completely frozen and unable to hear anyway….”
But at that moment, I saw Ripple’s soul desperately trying to reclaim her body.
Her soul had not yet given up.
And even within the remaining abilities of the Path of Guiding Spirits, there was still one technique left.
It could contract an equal exchange with a soul. A kind of imprisonment.
There was a price, though.
It could only be used for good deeds.
Committing evil would bring misfortune to the caster.
‘What I’m sacrificing is half of my lifetime fortune.
What I’ll receive is the survival of that person.’
If I struggled this hard, I had no choice but to help. Even if it meant my body ended up ruined.
Relax, Sazanami. You’re going to live.
“Break.”
I drove the knife straight through Swim Swim’s heart. Now she was definitely dead, so I canceled the spell.
This skill left a heavy burden on the body if used too much.
But Swim Swim was still fine.
Instead, after I pulled the knife free, she retreated.
“Wha…!?”
I had definitely stabbed her heart, yet she wasn’t dead. Was this his magic?
“Ruler told me… to use everything I can!”
Shinomiya Gaku realized. The being in front of him was not a magical girl but a murderer.
And the moment of realization was the eye he lost. One eye was now too difficult to open. His vision was obscured and he could barely move.
Even the opponent was using an illusion tactic.
Even while chanting, the weak point remained strong.
If the eye was gouged out and the head targeted, it was game over. But the hatred had narrowed my vision further and driven me to shout.
“You’re not a magical girl! You’re disqualified as one, Swim Swim! You like…!”
Swim Swim deliberately flicked her arm and knife, or rather, it was a calculated motion to gouge out the wounded eye of Shinomiya Gaku.
“Kwaaaaaaaaah…!”
The pain was unbearable. The recoil of Gyeonghwasuwol left him unable to move.
That was the last thing Swim Swim saw: Gaku staggering toward the panicked Top Speed.
Swim Swim activated Ves Winterprison’s magic and trapped her against the wall.
“This is Winterprison’s magic?”
Swim Swim burst through the wall.
“I see… Your magic is matter transmission.”
And the sound of someone clumsily walking began to reach Shinomiya Gaku.
“I wonder if I’m too late….”
He had only been waiting for his last moment. Shinomiya Gaku.
Overall Rank: Critical / A
While rescuing civilians, I glanced at the Prestige Hotel.
“Snow White, if you’re worried, go.”
La Pucelle and Hardcore Alice were rescuing citizens near the burning Nabukashi highway.
“I can’t….”
At that moment, two magical girls appeared on the road. One was hiding and invisible, but her voice in my mind allowed me to pinpoint her location.
“La Pucelle! Alice! Two magical girls are planning an ambush here!”
“What?!”
At that moment, an axe was aimed at La Pucelle, but Hardcore Alice stepped forward and blocked it.
“…….”
Then she began to transform back into her angel form.
“What!? I definitely killed her.”
“…….”
La Pucelle spoke.
“Snow White! We’ll hold them off! Run toward the Prestige Hotel! You’re worried about something… right…? Don’t worry, I won’t make you sad. Alice is here, so go!”
“Understood!”
The future where Calamity Mary had gone on such a rampage had already come to pass. It was my fault.
I blamed myself as I ran toward the Prestige Hotel’s roof.
As I ran to the Prestige Hotel, my magical phone received a notification.
My steps quickened. Top Speed was someone precious to Ripple. If things continued like this, Top Speed would be killed by Swim Swim.
So faster… I ran toward the Prestige Hotel roof. By the time I arrived.
Death always clung to Snow White’s side like a lover. I had tried to lure Calamity Mary into an attack and deliberately create an incident, but the timing had been too fast and I could not predict it.
The result was this howling Nabukashi.
It was my fault that I had made Calamity Mary attack.
I could never say that I was a magical girl myself. I knew it well.
And when I arrived on the roof of the Prestige Hotel, I realized that Ripple was already too late.
“R… Ripple?”
Snow White held one corpse. In the end I had thought I could save her this time, but the body I held was far too cold.
One body, too cold to be alive.
On the other hand, Shinomiya Gaku was twitching and moving.
Snow White was crying.
I knew well. Kindness alone could not protect anything. Even with power, I could not protect my friends. Even if I regressed to the past, I could not change fate.
Swim Swim tried to stab me with the knife.
Ting…
A light dagger of light clashed with the knife, and Snow White kicked the handle with her foot.
The knife had been dropped by Swim Swim.
Snow White slashed Swim Swim’s torso with the light dagger.
Blood spread, and Swim Swim panicked and retreated.
Swim Swim used her transparent cloak again and attacked from a blind spot.
Snow White picked up the knife that had fallen from Swim Swim.
Every attack was audible. I blocked the attack with the knife.
Minael had transformed into the exact shape of the knife and collided.
……Not Swim Swim. Another magical girl. Her voice in my mind rang out.
(First, run, Minael)
(Got it)
Snow White did not chase them and immediately ran to Shinomiya Gaku. He was still breathing and, with bandaging and sending him to the hospital, perhaps he could be saved.
“……Because of me, I’ve caused trouble for everyone.”
While bandaging, I spoke to Shinomiya. He couldn’t see me, yet he spoke.
“No… Snow White. You’ve done well. This was a conclusion that had to happen. Send Ripple to the hospital before me.”
“But… Ripple is….”
“……She’s not dead yet.”
“Eh…?”
Ripple’s magical phone had disappeared. That meant she was dead.
“As long as I don’t get caught by Fav, I’ll tune the magic for just a moment… so treat Ripple as dead and extract her. How I saved her… krugh… I’ll explain later….”
Shinomiya said, even in the place where his eye should have been, that blood would not stop from the large scar.
“Eh…?”
“I’m not sure if I can answer while alive, but…
I’ll explain the reason later.”
