Chapter 5: Kids These Days Only Know How to Scream.
Chapter 5: Kids These Days Only Know How to Scream.
“Why won't it hit?!”
The Magical Girl’s voice, thick with irritation, grated on my ears.
Normally, it would be a pleasant voice to listen to, but knowing she was an enemy turned it into a shrill screech. How ironic.
I tracked the tip of her Magic Wand.
Her next target: my right shoulder.
The moment she swung the wand upward, I threw myself into a roll across the ground.
Fwoosh.
With a cute sound effect, a gust of wind magic grazed past me. As I rolled, I quickly glanced back to assess the impact.
The wind magic, having missed its mark, slammed into the stone wall of a nearby house, shattering it to pieces.
Thud. Crash.
In the dead of night, the sound of The Wall collapsing and stones hitting the pavement echoed loudly through the neighborhood.
Lethal magic, huh? She must be quite cold-hearted. Usually, non-lethal spells are the standard when dealing with humanoid targets.
Staying low, I lunged toward the Green Magical Girl.
“Eek! What—stay back!”
She leveled her wand and began charging mana. If that spell hit me, it would undoubtedly be a fatal blow.
But she was too late.
Her aim was perfect, and her mana charging speed wasn't slow. She possessed the skill expected of a Magical Girl nearing the end of her story.
Under normal circumstances, she could have escaped a crisis with such a move.
If her opponent weren't me, that is.
I adjusted my grip on the Pry Bar and thrust it forward.
Quickly reading the situation, the Magical Girl dodged the Pry Bar, but that was exactly what I had intended.
Watching her lose her balance from the sudden evasion, I hooked the Pry Bar back toward me.
Snag.
The head of the Pry Bar caught the back of her knee, and her posture crumbled.
“Kyaaa!”
As she fell, the aim of the wand she had pointed at me jerked toward the sky.
Fwoosh.
The magic fired from the wand vanished into the empty air with that same cute sound.
I immediately pounced on the fallen Magical Girl, planting my foot firmly on her stomach and grinding down.
The squelching sensation of flesh beneath my boot traveled up my leg, making me feel instantly nauseous.
“Why are you doing this to me?!”
Still, work is work.
“....”
I looked down at her with cold, vacant eyes.
I held no particular grudge against her. She just happened to be the first one I spotted.
For that reason alone, she had become the first target of my punishment.
I didn't even know who she was.
However, seeing as the one she had been fighting was referred to as one of the Four Heavenly Kings, she was clearly a veteran.
Though that same Heavenly King was currently rolling around somewhere nearby after having his head caved in by my Pry Bar and then getting blasted by her magic.
She was weak.
Her casting speed was fast, but she crumbled the moment she failed to handle a crisis.
Was this truly a Hero capable of seeing The End of the Story?
Snap.
A stinging heat and a brilliant flash of light interrupted my thoughts.
“You let your guard down!”
A bright light erupted from the brooch on her chest, piercing through me.
Right. Every Hero has a trump card or two up their sleeve.
But this was far too predictable.
“H-how...?”
Terror painted her face.
The light had passed through me, but the only thing that had vanished was a portion of my black mourning clothes. Beneath the missing fabric, my skin was clean and unblemished.
“Let me give you a useful piece of information. A Magical Girl’s mana cannot harm another Magical Girl. It’s merely a medium for healing or transferring power.”
This was likely information unknown to the current generation, who hadn't seen Heroes fall to corruption or abandon their stories.
“Are you a Magical Girl too? Then why are you...?”
“For justice.”
The words felt wrong coming out of my mouth. Perhaps it was a relief that my face currently took the form of a young woman.
“I won't kill you.”
I raised the Pry Bar high.
Pinned beneath my foot, her face twisted in horror. She stared up at the raised tool with a look of utter confusion, as if she couldn't understand why this was happening to her.
You were just unlucky.
I swung the Pry Bar down.
“Aaaaaagh!”
A scream pierced the dark night, echoing through the streets.
First, the right arm.
Crushed by the Pry Bar, her right arm twisted in a direction it was never meant to go.
Next, the left arm.
Crack.
Along with the sound of breaking bone, the sensation of a blunt instrument mashing flesh flowed through the Pry Bar and into my mind.
I felt nothing; I had done this too many times before.
However, unlike The Hammer, the Pry Bar transmitted the sensation of crushing flesh directly into my hand.
Maybe it was because it was a solid piece of iron.
“Please save me. Please save me. Please save me. Please save me. Please save me...”
Her mind seemed to have snapped, as she began to repeat the same words over and over.
If she was going to make a wish to me, she had the wrong wish. I wasn't going to kill her, and there would be no lasting physical disability.
Whether she could continue being a Hero, however, depended entirely on her will.
I considered leaving, but another thought crossed my mind.
Maybe I should break one more thing.
Since this was the first case, if the damage was too light, it might not get much attention.
“Let’s break one more.”
“Please save me...”
Whether she was exhausted from talking or not, her voice had grown even fainter. Since I hadn't been listening from the start, I didn't know when it had started to fade.
The right calf.
If I did it here, it wouldn't leave a scar, and muscle damage would be minimized.
Crunch.
“Aaaaagh!”
Her bone snapped once more.
Ignoring the scream that tore through the air, I stood up.
What would be the best way to leave my message?
Initially, I planned to have her relay the message, but looking at her state, there was no guarantee she’d remember a word of it.
Scanning the surroundings, I saw the debris from The Wall that had collapsed earlier. A stone cleanly sliced by magic looked flat enough to leave a message on.
This will do.
Gripping the end of the Pry Bar, I slowly carved the words into the stone.
The grief of losing a friend.
The resentment toward the Management Bureau.
The rage toward society.
【Let none who have not known hardship dare call themselves Heroes. Let Heroes demonstrate their own justice.】
I placed the stone in the fallen Magical Girl’s left hand.
But she didn't even have the strength to hold a pebble; she just twitched while tears streamed down her face, and the stone rolled away.
It wasn't quite the scene I had envisioned, but I doubted anyone would steal a rock like that.
Before leaving, I took one last look at her.
Her eyes were vacant and unfocused, her limbs bent at impossible angles.
Miserable tear tracks stained her face.
Bruises were forming where the Pry Bar had struck.
And yet, even now, she gripped her Magic Wand tightly in her right hand.
Was it out of pure terror? Or was it because it was her symbol, which she refused to let go of until the very end?
I couldn't know her heart, so I simply turned my back on her, hoping she would overcome this trial and become a new kind of Hero.
* * *
“I’m back.”
“Welcome ho~me.”
The sluggish voice of the White Pig reached my ears. At least he bothered to answer.
A ball of white fluff rolled out from the room and looked up at me.
“Didn't you leave me alone for too long? I had a hard time because there was no food to eat. Poyo.”
That meant there was probably a pile of snack bags in the room. It was my fault, so I’d let it slide.
“Wait, has your aura changed...?”
His gaze traveled from my head to my toes, then he hopped closer and sniffed the air.
“The seed of evil. The scent of corruption...”
Even in that pig-like form, he was still a mascot, it seemed. He noticed immediately.
“You didn't use that power to do something bad, did you?”
“I did. I just got back from beating up a Magical Girl.”
I opened the refrigerator and shoved the groceries inside. Since it was empty, everything fit without a problem. I could organize it later.
“You know you’re not supposed to do things like that!”
“I suppose.”
I grabbed a beer I had just bought and sat on the sofa. The sensation of the cold can cooling my body was quite nice.
A boring comedy program was playing on the television. Amidst the voices of the unfunny comedians, Un-ho’s nagging continued.
“You must repent from the bottom of your heart and promise never to do it again! Otherwise...”
“No, I’m going to keep doing it.”
Until I’ve hammered some sense into society.
Until the title of 'Hero' stops being dragged through the dirt.
The restless white fluff’s gaze turned serious.
“Don't you already know what happens if you do?”
“....”
I knew. I would be designated a Public Enemy in every Hero’s story, or my power would be stripped away somehow.
“They can't take my power now anyway. You know that, don't you? My essence has already been encroached upon.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“From The Mad Magical Girl.”
The Magical Girl who had been designated a Public Enemy by all Heroes and was eventually subjugated.
I had heard it from her.
“But you can't do anything about being designated a Public Enemy!”
“I’ll figure something out.”
A Public Enemy Designation doesn't happen easily, so I had time.
“...Did something happen?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because my partner, who held a heart of justice for thirty years, has changed like this.”
Un-ho also opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. The sight of a plump ferret cracking a can and drinking until he had a foam mustache was quite funny, but I kept a straight face and asked back.
“Is a mascot allowed to drink?”
“When you’ve been on an assignment for thirty years, rules lose their meaning.”
At least my mascot didn't seem to have any immediate intention of reporting me.
“Dong-hun is dead.”
“Who is that?”
“You must have seen him. The leader of that five-member transformation ranger group from the early days.”
“Ah, the one who used to give me snacks often.”
It seemed the memory of him still lingered in Un-ho’s small brain.
“He died a pathetic death...”
My partner and I continued our conversation. Beer cans were crushed one after another, and the pile of snack bags and food trays used as side dishes grew.
“I think I understand the gist of it.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I didn't hear anything, and I didn't see anything.”
“Right.”
That meant he would remain neutral and not interfere with my actions. With that, the reason to kill my partner vanished.
“Instead, I’ll give you a gift. Bring me that Pry Bar.”
Was he going to do something useful for once?
I brought the Pry Bar, which had been leaning next to the shoe rack, into the room.
While I was getting it, my partner had spread a glowing Magic Circle on the floor and was waiting for me.
“Place your weapon in the center of the circle.”
Un-ho’s voice was uncharacteristically solemn, tinged with a primal, beastly resonance.
Following his instructions, I placed the blood-stained Pry Bar in the center of the Magic Circle.
“Grant new power to the Magical Girl who seeks to move forward. Respond to the Hero who seeks to set justice right.”
A massive amount of mana surged from the Magic Circle and flowed into the Pry Bar.
Soon, a storm of mana swirled through the room. It was the same Mana Storm I had felt when I first transformed.
Un-ho, who had been chanting the spell, vanished, leaving me alone in the center of the storm.
It was a space isolated from the world, just like when I first became a Magical Girl. The Red Pry Bar floated into the air, and a girl who looked exactly like me walked out from the other side.
“So, you have chosen this path?”
As soon as she appeared, she glanced at the Pry Bar and spoke.
I nodded silently. Seeing my reaction, she grabbed the Pry Bar without another word.
“The ritual is over!”
In the brief moment I closed my eyes, she vanished, and I was back in my room.
“Where is she?”
“She? Who are you talking about?”
Did Un-ho not see her?
Given that the situation was similar to when I received my mark, she was likely an existence like my inner self.
I slowly moved my body and gripped the Pry Bar lying on the floor.
“Nothing’s changed?”
“I’m not too sure about the specific performance either...”
Leaving aside the useless white fluff who was still good for nothing, I swung the Pry Bar to test its power.
The Pry Bar sliced through the air, but I didn't feel anything particularly different.
It didn't feel stronger, nor did it seem to have gained any special functions like The Hammer I usually used.
“I was a fool to trust you.”
What power could a lazy mascot rolling around the house possibly have? Just as I was about to click my tongue in disappointment, Un-ho suddenly started jumping around noisily.
“Mirror! Look in the mirror!”
Why was he suddenly looking for a mirror?
“Your appearance has changed! Poyo!”
What?
I ran to the bathroom and threw the door open.
Black hair, black eyes, a black dress adorned with frills, and thin gloves.
My face was the same, but a completely different version of myself was reflected in the mirror.
“Huh?”
Startled, I felt my body, but it didn't seem to be an illusion or a sensory distortion.
“Don't tell me I’m stuck like this forever?”
Or was this the power of the Pry Bar?
Just in case, I let go of the Pry Bar, and my black hair slowly returned to silver.
The black, shimmering dress also dissolved into particles and vanished, returning me to the shabby clothes I had been wearing.
“A new transformation form...?”
It was a power-up event that occasionally happened among Magical Girls—receiving new power and a new outfit in the middle of their story.
I thought I’d never experience it since I couldn't use magic, but to think I’d encounter it this way.
Just to be sure, I summoned my hammer and held it; I immediately returned to my original Magical Girl outfit.
What the hell is this?