Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: S2.5. Magical Girl Never Surrenders! -4
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Oh Hye-in introduced a new magical girl who called herself Pure Rodeo.
"Let me introduce her. This is Kim Lulu. Like she said herself just now, she's the magical girl who's been teaming up with me to protect the town."
"Nice to meet you. So, your name is Oh Daesoo, right? I watched your class intro. What a super weird name."
Kim Lulu stuck out her hand for a handshake, grinning brightly as if she'd completely forgotten their earlier squabble. Roderus smacked it away lightly with the back of his hand, all haughty.
"That's not my real name. I'm Roderus."
"I learned about that in English class! Like... you're from America or something!"
"......"
"Or maybe Texas...?"
She wasn't the least bit intimidated or bothered by Roderus's sullen attitude. Was this what they called having backbone, or just brimming with self-confidence?
For some reason, it rubbed him the wrong way. Roderus scowled and glared at Kim Lulu. She just kept chatting away regardless.
"Roderus is from another world. Lulu, you saw that Meteor that fell last time, right?"
"It crashed down with a ton of pure energy! I thought it was the arrival of a new mascot, but for some reason, this Roderus was there instead!"
"A girl who fell from the sky... How unique! I was sleeping like a log at the time, so I missed it. Hehe."
Kim Lulu had nerves of steel—she could sleep through a massive surge of magical power.
She circled around Roderus, scrutinizing him, then suddenly turned to Oh Hye-in as if something had just occurred to her.
"By the way, Hye-in... You didn't fight alongside Oh Daesoo, did you? Feeling under the weather today? Or is it that time of the month?"
"Watch your mouth! That's embarrassing!"
"There was an accident! Hye-in's Transformation Device (Dreaming Mirror) is currently with Roderus! It's like a temporary loan!"
"So it could be transferred? Makes sense... Hye-in hates fighting anyway. I can't imagine why she'd hate something this fun!"
Kim Lulu waggled her eyebrows and poked Roderus in the side with her elbow. He flinched and shoved her head away firmly.
"......Why are you suddenly acting all chummy with me?"
"Well, 'cause during that fight just now... You were smiling so innocently!"
"......"
"So I figured you're in the same line of work as me. You like tussling, right?!"
Kim Lulu bounced on her toes, throwing punches at the air. Her moves were clumsy, but she looked absolutely thrilled.
Watching Lulu's sparkling eyes, Roderus felt a twinge of confusion.
Throwing himself into battle cleared his mind. The moment he escaped his worries felt exhilarating, so he'd assumed—he naturally thought—that he enjoyed fighting.
But did his eyes sparkle like this? Did his heart race and his feet fidget with this much joy? Absolutely not. What he enjoyed was liberation from pain.
Like a slave beaten with whips, genuinely grateful for a momentary pause in the violence.
Whoosh.
Roderus shook his head to dispel the unwelcome thoughts. He shifted to another topic. Kim Lulu seemed to love fighting.
But if that was the case, there were no signs she'd trained in any martial arts.
Recalling her shadowboxing just now and the punch aimed at his solar plexus... Kim Lulu's movements lacked any technique. It was like kids from some backwater village swinging wildly without a thought.
"......Your moves were pretty damn slow for someone who claims to enjoy combat. I couldn't even watch with my eyes open."
"I'm strong to begin with—if I started using fancy techniques, it'd stop being fun!"
"......??"
"The strongest don't need techniques."
Is she insane?
Kim Lulu brazenly declared she'd fight like some untrained peasant. As Roderus stood there dumbfounded, Hye-in whispered from the side.
"Lulu's nice and all... but she's got some quirks. Kinda primitive?"
"Is that something you can just brush off as 'quirky'?"
"Come on, you'll be doing magical girl stuff together from now on. Better get along, right?"
"No, I'll do it alone. I'm fine by myself."
He meant it.
An incompetent ally on the battlefield was worse than an enemy. Roderus jabbed Kim Lulu's forehead with his finger, laying down the law.
"Nyaang."
"Don't butt into my fights. I'll handle them alone, and I don't need help from the likes of you. Ever!!"
His stern warning fell on deaf ears, as the very next day, the two found themselves facing the same target.
In a back alley before a crossroad where the monster's signal pulsed, Oh Daesoo shot Kim Lulu a sharp glare and growled low.
"......I clearly warned you not to interfere."
"You idiot? No way I'd pass up a chance to fight. I never said I'd listen to you!"
Kim Lulu puffed out her chest proudly in front of the grinding-teeth Roderus. She pulled out her Transformation Device (Dreaming Mirror) and declared,
"Besides, magical girls need pure energy to get stronger. Fighting builds pure energy! So I can't just hand it over nicely."
"Then we'll settle this here..."
"And Hye-in told me—if two magical girls fight together, you get double the pure energy! No need to monopolize the magic power fighting each other."
If that theory held, fighting was pointless, but Roderus didn't buy it. She could be lying, and common sense said it didn't add up.
"What's the exact reason it doubles?"
"Two girls means double the cuteness and double the strength, so the onlookers feel double the happiness!"
"......"
Yeah, better to take her down here and monopolize the energy myself.
"Not wrong, mung."
As Roderus crept into position to subdue her, Mungae rolled in from atop an outdoor AC unit in the alley.
"......What?"
"It's all about efficiency, mung? Humans rely a lot on visual appearances, mung."
"You're saying it's about looks?"
"Laughable, but... even if a magical girl fights for you, whether you like her look or not makes a big difference in pure energy, mung."
Human instincts are honest. Sure, in a dire pinch like a collapsing building right in front of you, you'd get max pure energy (gratitude) regardless of looks—
But for spectators cheering from afar as magical girl vs. monster unfolds, one that matches their tastes pulls them in more.
And Oh Daesoo and Kim Lulu's concepts were polar opposites.
"So, having both cool beauty and bubbly beauty options... is a huge boost to pure energy collection, mung!"
"Don't put it like that!"
Roderus hugged himself and shuddered. The thought of randoms eyeing him like that made his vision blur already.
Mungae flicked his tail lazily side to side.
"Don't you love efficiency, mung? It's just a shell anyway, mung. Once you collect all the pure energy, you'll turn back into a guy, so this is... just a one-night dream, mung."
"......T-That's."
"Magical Girl Oh Daesoo isn't Roderus, mung. Why feel ashamed, mung?"
"......"
There was logic to it. It was true.
This isn't my real self. Not Roderus's real self. No reason to feel embarrassed or awkward.
Just a shell, literally.
Roderus pulled out his Transformation Device (Dreaming Mirror). The previous incantation was just an emergency code.
Even as a temporary bind, now fully linked to him, he'd crafted the official incantation with Mungae's help.
"Hup......"
Roderus gazed at his reflection in the Dreaming Mirror. The pretty girl looked extremely tense. It's just a shell. Just a shell.
She lightly touched the gem embedded in the hand mirror, tapped it twice, and extended her arm.
"Dreaming Mirror, show me my true form...!!"
Pikang!
Beeping-beeping-beeping♪
Light burst in all directions, and after a long, drawn-out wave of embarrassment...
"......Sparkle sparkle! The shining victory strike, Pure Knight!"
Even the obligatory catchphrase slipped from her moving lips automatically, completing the transformation. A glance aside showed Kim Lulu had also finished transforming into Pure Rodeo.
A red-themed outfit like a matador, customized with girly decorations. Main weapon: gauntlets.
Not thrilled about tag-teaming, but to gather pure energy fast and turn back into a guy... he'd endure. Roderus drew his rapier and charged into the crossroad.
The busy crossroad was chaos. Traffic jammed from the sudden monster, people fleeing their cars to safety far away.
High in the sky, a seductive woman in an alluring dress floated down, surveying the scene. Her hair was pink, and she wore glasses.
Her massive impure energy marked her as one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Different from that flimsy Espoir de l'Éternal Dark.
"A different one showed up today."
"Yeah, first time I've seen this Heavenly King too?"
As the magical girls looked up, the new Heavenly King placed a hand on her ample bosom and introduced herself.
"I am one of the Four Heavenly Kings, overseer of human darkness—lust. Yuri Frostlover, the Demon King's loyal secretary-friend. Feel free to call me Master."
Ping!
She pushed up her glasses, lenses flashing. Beyond them, yellow eyes gleamed menacingly. Roderus swallowed dryly.
"Every last one of them is a freak... Succubus type?"
Even as a girl, her sultriness was dizzying. If he were still a guy, he'd be too busy guarding his mind to fight properly. Small mercies.
As Roderus cautiously sized her up, pondering his approach...
"Watch this! Feel my power! Here I go, Pure Rodeo!!"
Kim Lulu charged straight in.
"......"
This Pure Rodeo was a potential foe too, in a way. She might still resent that first-meeting ambush.
Using this chance to gauge her combat skills would prepare for any future trouble.
And exactly five seconds later, she got caught.
Roderus looked up at Kim Lulu, dangling upside down in plant vines, and said,
"Hey, what the hell are you doing? Betrayal...?"
"Betrayal!? I fought my ass off!!"
She wriggled furiously. But Roderus was the one who should be mad. She'd fought terribly.
He could nitpick all day. Instead, he picked the gravest flaw.
"Fought hard? You threw a kid-won't-even-land sloppy punch! If that's your idea of a sincere attack, you need to start from basics!!"
"It used to work back in the day! This is supposed to land!"
"For that to work, you'd need 100 times more magic power! Use your brain, you idiot!"
Her as an ally was a total liability.
Heavenly King Yuri lost interest in the captured Lulu and turned to Roderus.
"You must be the new magical girl Pure Knight. I'll test your skills myself."
"You won't get anywhere like that moron. Lowly scum."
"I'll accept your apology in tears. Come forth—the hatred blooming amid humanity's pollution."
Rumble rumble rumble—!
Asphalt cracked, earth heaved, and a massive flower bud rose on thick plant stems. Over five meters tall.
"Vess Eater."
"Fancy name for just a plant stalk, isn't it?"
"We'll see..."
Yuri smirked and clapped lightly. The stalk's tip split, sprouting something utterly bizarre, gross, and unsettling.
Some oozed sticky secretions, others vibrated or spun. No clue what they were for, but...
"......"
Oh Daesoo's instincts screamed danger. Getting hit by that would spell absolute disaster.
Dodge?
"Ah, if lowly scum fears a mere wriggling plant stalk... I understand. Not all magical girls are brave and manly. I won't chase—run along, little precious baby girl."
"......I'll take your head first, scum!!"
Roderus couldn't hold back the taunt and lunged.