Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: The Perfect Plan
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One of the greats in the magical girl world.
A woman who held the title of "Yellow" among the Prismatic Eight, the strongest magical girl collective.
Yellow Bella.
She certainly had talent.
She had power and ambition.
Thanks to that, she became a magical girl out of her own desire, and it was true that with enough effort, she had the potential to one day join the Prismatic Eight.
But that was all.
Bella wasn't a genius.
She was just an "ordinary" talent at best.
Exceptional, yes, but not the kind of vessel who could climb to the Prismatic Eight in a mere three years.
Normally, it took at least five years—no, ten—years of racking up achievements in the field to claim such a spot.
Yet she had been granted "yellow" in just three years.
The reason was simple.
She had secretly eliminated her more talented seniors and juniors.
"Hey, how about joining hands with us?"
"What?"
Bella narrowed her glowing yellow eyes.
"Me, a magical girl, teaming up with a disgusting monster like you? Shut up and get lost."
It was the expected response from the start.
Bella may have fallen, but she was still a magical girl.
She hadn't sunk low enough to accept a monster as a partner.
Besides, killing monsters automatically logged achievements without needing to dispose of the bodies.
The thing before her was just a simple slime monster.
Nothing more, nothing less—a mere grunt.
Bella naturally gathered mana at her fingertips, preparing to erase it.
But then.
The slime wore a ridiculous yet somehow confident smile.
"Heh... But isn't it getting tough? 'Erasing the evidence,' I mean."
"......"
The mana flickering at Bella's fingertips wavered subtly.
The slime didn't miss the opening.
In a sickeningly dripping voice, it spat out a fatal temptation.
"If I want, I can change into any affinity. Unwanted corpses, inconvenient evidence... I can melt them all into my body and make them vanish."
"...Then what do you want?"
"Achievements. Achievements!"
The slime's viscous body oozed upward stickily, extending like an outstretched hand.
"You kill fellow magical girls to climb higher, right? Me too! I want to kill magical girls and rise to base manager in the Villain Alliance. Hell, if I can, I'll aim for an executive spot!!"
Bella unconsciously furrowed her brow.
Her lips trembled slightly, but unmistakably.
She had planned to erase it at first.
No matter how far she'd fallen, letting a monster roam free was unacceptable for a magical girl.
However.
That phrase—"perfectly dispose of the evidence"—lingered in her mind.
Teaming up with a monster was shameful.
But to survive, to rise.
In that moment, the last thread of conscience in Bella's heart melted away into the slime's goo.
In front of the building housing Korea's one and only three-star restaurant.
Beneath the flashy neon signs stood Money Slime, disguised as an ordinary office worker, facing Yellow Bella who had been waiting for him.
"Heh... Who would've thought a Villain Alliance base would be in a place like this. I figured it was just for foodies."
"Hmph, right? And every guest here is executive-level or higher. Smash this place, and your achievements will skyrocket."
Bella squinted up at the building.
She called it "enemy territory," but it was really just her future hunting ground, ripe for her resume.
"By the way, you okay with this? You used to work there, right?"
Money Slime ground his teeth at the words.
Even with a normal human face, his rage oozed like slime.
"Damn it... Don't even bring it up. Look, thanks to my slime traits, I'm a pro at erasing evidence and cleaning up. That's why they hired me as a 'staffer' at the three-star spot. But all they had me do was handle food waste."
"...Food waste?"
"Yeah! Melting down scraps of meat, veggie bits, all kinds of filth left by customers—that was my job. Treating me like trash just 'cause I'm a slime."
Bella watched him silently. Money Slime vented more fury.
"I told them straight up! Feed me only pussy juice or love juices! That's 'real food' even I can enjoy. But lately, they keep spiking it with guy cum on purpose. Those bastards—think I was born to live off that shit?!"
Sticky rage dripped from every word like slime.
"So I complained, and what did I get? Mockery. Those fuckers... That's why I'm flipping the table this time. You need a few bodies to fake Pink Lumina's 'accident' anyway, right?"
Bella nodded with a cold smile.
"So you're selling out your comrades? ...Fitting for a villain. Trash of the trash."
"Who cares what others think. I'm doing it to survive, you're doing it to rise. Just trading what we need. That's it."
Their plan was simple.
But meticulous at the same time.
Time: exactly 6 PM.
As agreed, Yellow Bella would rendezvous with "Pink Lumina" in the building's basement.
On the surface, a simple team-up.
But the real goal was to lure her into the three-star restaurant per Money Slime's script.
The Villain Alliance's Base #1128.
The cover story: "Discovered a villain base and raided it together with my senior/junior."
But the true scenario was different.
The moment Lumina got distracted by the villains' resistance amid the chaos.
Yellow Bella would strike, piercing Lumina's heart with her magic.
Kill the symbol of justice, everyone's idol—Pink Lumina—with a junior's hand.
After that, cleanup was Money Slime's job.
Defile and ravage the corpse with slime to fake "killed by villains."
Wound angles, fluids— all manipulable, leaving no room for doubt.
Bella smirked smugly, already picturing it.
Herself crouched over Lumina's body, sobbing: "Auntie... I'll carry on your will...!" Performance perfected.
Once that footage leaked to the press?
Legendary 20-year veteran Pink Lumina dies tragically, and rising "new leader" Yellow Bella's name echoes nationwide overnight.
"I gotta clock in, so heading inside."
Money Slime slipped into the building, human form intact.
"Yeah, don't stand out. Hide in the kitchen corner. Cleaning trash is your specialty, right?"
Bella waved with light mockery.
Now it was her turn.
From this moment, she could already see herself standing over Lumina's corpse.
'Auntie...! Leave everything to me and rest easy...' Just say that, and they'd all tear up and buy it.
Bella chuckled inwardly.
The dead have no mouths, and truth is always on the living's side.
Time passed, and she prepared to take the stage.
In the basement shadows, transformation complete: Yellow Bella.
Yellow ribbons fluttered in the air as her battle outfit wrapped her body, confidence filling her face.
Then.
"Bella, I've kept you waiting."
A warm, familiar voice.
Right on time, the pink dress-like magical girl outfit appeared like a lit flame.
Pink Lumina.
Still the nation's hero to the public, but to Bella, just a pathetic middle-aged auntie soon to be a corpse.
"Ah, Auntie Lumina!"
Bella waved with a deliberately sparkling smile.
Naive junior cosplay was now her specialty.
"I came right away after your message. ...But seriously, can you believe it? Our country's only three-star restaurant is a Villain Alliance base..."
Lumina clenched her fist in righteous outrage.
Bella nodded, forcing tears to well up.
"Sniff... Yeah, Auntie. So many citizens ate and laughed here... And all that money went to the Villain Alliance... It's horrifying. Those poor people..."
Not a gram of sympathy in reality.
But the acting was flawless.
Tears glistening in her eyes caught the light, and Lumina, moved, spread her arms for a hug.
"Bella... I'm so glad you're here."
'...You crazy bitch. Hugging me?'
Bella gritted her teeth inwardly.
Rage surged so hot she nearly slapped her, but she suppressed it.
For now, she was just the good junior.
Soon, this over-the-hill magical girl clinging to her role would take a hit to the solar plexus from Bella's hand and crumple like an idiot.
Forcing a smile, Bella led Lumina into the elevator.
As the metal doors closed with a ding, it felt like the curtain rising.
Lumina falls, villains massacred, Bella surges as hero and next leader.
The star of her scripted stage was, naturally, herself.
However.
The moment the elevator doors opened and Yellow Bella proudly pushed open the restaurant door.
"Cough...?!"
A sudden cough clawed at her throat.
Something was wrong.
No sign of a cold.
A metallic taste spread in her mouth.
Blood scent on her tongue tip.
Then, ominous heat boiling from her gut, tearing pain.
"......Huh?"
Looking down made her vision blur.
Piercing her abdomen was Lumina's magic spear, glowing red.
Its cold blade, still hot as if forged, had impaled her midsection.
Bella's breath caught.
A shock like the world flipping upside down.
She who'd only plotted betrayal now bled from one herself.