Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Magical Girl Never Surrenders! -2
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『Espoir de l'Éternal Dark』, or Eternal Dark for short, thrust out her hand and shouted.
"No need to show you my true power—rise up!"
"…………."
"D-Damn it… Rise from the abyss, my 『Servant of Darkness』! 『Eternal Dark Wave』!!"
Beepyoo-yong!
Unlike the lame sound effect and the lame incantation, the power of the Four Heavenly Kings' Dark was formidable. The pitch-black energy shooting from her hand hit the ground, and from the shadowy puddle that formed, a massive shadow hound emerged.
"Th-That's it! A monster created by the dark organization's impure energy! You gotta purify it with pure energy, mung!"
"You're really dragging this out… just saying to smack it with magic."
"That's not it, mung! Magical girls draw pure energy from positive emotions to power up, mung!"
Grrrrr! Kraaaah!!
The shadow hound took a step forward. Then it opened its massive jaws wide and lunged. Magical Girl Oh Hyein leaped in front of Roderus, swinging her wand.
"Kyaaah!"
Bam—!!
A brilliantly glowing golden shield appeared, blocking the hound's attack. But was the power gap too wide? With the follow-up barrage from the hound, Oh Hyein got flung back shield and all.
"Nngh…!!"
Eternal Dark, lounging obliquely and watching the fight, received a transmission from outside and recited her line.
"That's right—entering this deserted mountain with no people was your fatal mistake, magical girl! The only one here who can extract emotional energy is that annoying guy… and he's brimming with negative emotions!"
"Roderus, think happy thoughts quick, mung! Hyein's gonna get hurt, mung!"
"What does that even have to do with…"
A thought flashed through Roderus's mind. The magic in this world was different!
He'd thought it odd that his own magic power had vanished. Even stranger was that his magic detection ability remained intact.
If the nature of magic power was different, it made sense. According to them, this world's magic came from human emotions.
The evil organization drew impure energy from negative emotions.
Magical girls drew pure energy from positive emotions.
And the only people here… excluding the fighting Oh Hyein, just Roderus.
"Kwaaaah!!"
"Eek, nngh…!!"
"Sh-She's really gonna get done in, mung! Roderus, think positive…!!"
"…………."
Positive… thoughts.
Thoughts that were joyful, beautiful, exhilarating, heartwarming.
Roderus's mind went blank white. Even reflecting on his past life, nothing like that came up.
Aside from the cheap thrill of crushing someone and the superiority that propped up his ego, there wasn't a speck of sparkling emotion. All that surfaced was anxiety.
Even the moment he completed Duke Redburn's orders, the only feeling Roderus had was relief at dodging punishment.
"I… I…"
"Krooooaaah—!!"
Negative emotions welled up from Roderus. The shadow hound, gorged on impure energy, swelled to twice its size.
A front paw the size of a man swung down.
Ku-bam—!!
"Guh…!!"
The shield shattered, and the magical girl went flying. Oh Hyein grazed past Roderus and slammed back-first into a tree, sliding limply down.
Fwaaah.
Light enveloped Oh Hyein's body, her frilly dress vanishing, leaving an ordinary girl in a school uniform. The transformation had released.
Thud.
Like she'd lost consciousness, a circular hand mirror slipped from the girl's hand. Roderus stared at it, then turned to the shadow hound.
The monster fattened on Roderus's dark emotions kept growing larger.
"Hyein, Hyein—snap out of it, mung! Get up, mung!"
"…Shut up, spirit."
He was thinking.
He needed magic power. To survive that fanged hound, he needed usable magic right now.
But he couldn't feel the magic power he'd once had inside him.
Oh Hyein had been leaking magic just moments ago. But now, not a trace. So probably an artifact.
There it was.
The jeweled hand mirror scattered near Oh Hyein. That was the artifact!
Pick up.
Roderus snatched the hand mirror. It still held warmth.
"W-Wait! That's Hyein's 『Transformation Device (Dreaming Mirror)』, mung!"
"Shut up, spirit! Tell me how to use this artifact! If you dawdle, O-Hyein dies too!"
"B-But a guy… uwoot, I don't know, mung!"
The cloud-shaped spirit sweated bullets, bouncing around, but finally spilled the artifact's startup phrase to Roderus.
"The emergency transformation code is, 『Pure Pure Fluffy Fluffy, the cutest in the universe, me, appearing!』, mung…!!"
"…You messing with me right now?"
"Do I look like I'm messing around in this situation, mung! It's a backdoor for when the regular transformation command fails, so they picked a phrase no one could say by accident, mung! It's bound to Hyein anyway, mung!"
It was a reasonable explanation. Transferring ownership of a bound artifact usually required more complex steps.
A secret command that bypassed that would need to be something utterly unsayable.
Reasonable… but did it have to be this phrase? Was some mad wizard stimulating his own brain with magic while picking it?
"Pure pure… kkh!"
He wanted to bite his tongue. Roderus gritted his teeth at the bizarre shame he'd never felt in his life. A grown man saying this…!!
But Roderus was an elite trained in assassin arts. His iron will, forged through torture-like drills, suppressed the shame, letting him chant the startup.
Pikang!
Beelong-beelong-beelong♪
Multicolored light swirled around Roderus's body. His prison garb dissolved in the glow, replaced by mystical radiance.
"Wh-What? What is this?!"
Shalaralala-lang!!
"What the hell is this crap?!"
The hound just stared blankly.
Amid the flashy effects, stars flew everywhere, light converged, reshaping Roderus's body. Height shrank, mass redistributing to chest and hips.
Hair turned sky blue and lengthened, blue ribbons tying at wrists and ankles. White gloves, what some called pumpkin pants—bloomers—covering plump breasts with a tunic.
Topped with a feathered hat and cape like the Three Musketeers, a skirt fluttering halfway up the thighs. A rapier hung at the waist.
Roderus's mouth moved on its own.
"Magical Girl, Pure Knight—appearing!!"
Pooof.
"…………."
Roderus's mind blanked white for a moment. What the hell. Why am I a girl, why does the artifact do this, why did my mouth move on its own.
Doesn't matter.
Roderus shook her head.
Really, truly didn't matter. Caring meant losing…! She converted all shame to rage.
"I'll teach you a lesson, mutt!"
Compared to his original mana pool, it was laughably small, but enough.
Roderus had precise technique Oh Hyein lacked.
Shwing—!
Roderus drew the rapier…
"…………."
It was rapier-shaped, but gaudily decorated with pastel cubic gems… more toy than weapon. The blade was pointy, at least…!
"…Die!!"
Roderus bellowed ferociously and attacked.
Drawing the rapier, twirling the tip with sparkles, stabbing sharply. Eyes, joints, weak points. The sword flashes poured like a meteor shower.
Shasha-shasha-sha!!
"Kyaaaaah!!"
The shadowy form roared, clamping shut its gaping maw.
But Roderus was already gone. She'd slid inside, legs wrapping the hound's neck to mount, rapier aimed at the nape.
"Shut your trap, beast!"
Stab.
Deep inside, she triggered evaporation. Magic materialization, then simultaneous explosion. A claymore blooming from the blade tip.
Bugurururu! Kigigigik. Crack.
The shadow hound ballooned like a balloon, then popped. Roderus reset her stance, glaring at Eternal Dark.
Eternal Dark, displeased at losing her hound, snorted and prepared to summon another. But.
"Good, let's see if the next one goes down the same. 『Darkness』… Huh? Come back? Why now… Tch, fine!"
"Tucking tail already?"
"Think what you want! But you're still in our Demon King's grasp! You'll be the one screaming in agony in defeat! Hmph…!"
Eternal Dark opened a portal and vanished into the dark beyond. No idea why she bailed without finishing, but lucky break.
"…Hmph, nothing special."
Roderus sheathed the rapier at her waist with bravado. No more enemies appeared—fight over.
"A-Amazing, mung! How'd you handle pure energy so masterfully, mung!"
"Basics. Can't do this much and call yourself skilled. Hm?"
Roderus lifted the girl's artifact.
That cracking sound midway—a huge fissure ran through the 『Transformation Device (Dreaming Mirror)』.
Probably clashed with his evaporation and broke. Like chaining three magestones to a one-stone frame.
More importantly: when would this ridiculous artifact's effect wear off?
"When does this transformation end?"
"When pure energy runs out, it'll fade naturally, mung!"
"I see. Then I'm not returning this junk."
Fling. Roderus tossed the artifact to the spirit.
"…Th-The Dreaming Mirror, mung!!!"
"Don't talk to me about compensation. From my perspective, hunting your mutt after getting dragged in—you owe me a hundred times over. Now guide me home, furball."
"…………!!"
"You promised room and board."
Roderus hoisted the unconscious Oh Hyein. The spirit dithered, then led to her apartment building.
No parents in sight.
The furball calling itself Munga assigned Roderus a spare tiny room. Needing rest first, he slept…
And upon waking, though the transformation outfit was gone, his body was still female.
Back to now.
At Roderus's shout, Munga and Oh Hyein peeked through the door.
"It bugged out clashing with your weird ability, mung."
"Bug…?"
"An error happened, mung."
"And I lost the 『Transformation Device (Dreaming Mirror)』."
Roderus glared fiercely, jabbing a finger at them.
"Fix my body right now!"
"I want to, mung! But the transformation half-glitched and broke while bound to you, plus…"
"I lost my magical girl powers. Stolen by you, bro."
"That's your problem—find a way quick!"
He couldn't stay calm. What man wakes up gender-swapped? His lower body felt empty, hollow.
That sense of loss fueled real-time rage.
And Oh Hyein poured a bucket of oil on the flames.
"Still, you look way better like this. You were handsome, bro, but your hysterics were annoying—now you're cute."
"You—!!"
"Ah, not bro anymore—sis?"
"Guh."
Roderus's slender body couldn't handle the spiking blood pressure. Vision spinning, she toppled backward.
Beside groaning Roderus, Oh Hyein and Munga chatted.
"Think this ill-tempered bro'll help with our magical girl stuff?"
"Fixing the 『Transformation Device (Dreaming Mirror)』 needs pure energy, which means beating kaijin and showing off cool to everyone, mung. She'll have to, like it or not, mung."
"She's from another world, right? Lacks basic common sense… super low social skills too. Since she's our age now, how about school?"
"I'll sweet-talk a government agent for an ID, mung. But needs a name…"
Oh Hyein and Munga huddled, pondering. Roderus too much? Hair's crimson, so Crimson? Then.
"Since her real name's Roderus…?"
Ding-dong-dang-dong.
The school bell rang, the homeroom teacher tapped the blackboard.
"Okay, class—we have a transfer student today. Introduce yourself casually."
"I-I'm Odaesoo… please take care of me."
Bow. Roderus dipped her head, long hair cascading smoothly. She gritted her teeth, enduring the mental torment.
"Whoa, she's gorgeous…?"
"No makeup but looks full glam…"
"Bet she has a boyfriend. Gotta, right?"
"Idiot, she's obviously a trainee. Probably doesn't."
Amid the classroom buzz, Roderus forced an awkward smile. She wanted to kill them all.