Chapter 123
Chapter 123
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: S2.5. Does the Butterfly Dream of Being a Magical Girl? -5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A whispering voice pierced through the downpour, ringing out with unusual clarity.
"...You're really going to keep fighting in that state?"
Lulu whipped around to find a girl in a pointed witch hat blinking at her. Lulu wrung out her drenched hair and replied,
"Yeah, so... you were one of the Four Heavenly Kings too, right? What was your name again?"
"I am, well, the 'Being of Infinite Void, Yunaris'... You don't have to use my full name. Yunaris is plenty."
"You're gonna fight, right?"
"...Yeah, but... you're hurt pretty bad. You might actually die. If you do... it's all over. I know you're from another world, so this death wouldn't be your death. But getting back to this dream afterward? That'd be tough. You sure about this?"
Yunaris spoke in a gentle murmur. Lulu had savored this world so fully—yet here she was, charging into battle without a hint of regret or hesitation. Yunaris couldn't help but wonder why.
Was it just her love for fighting? Or something else?
Lulu's answer was straightforward.
"I just... do what I want. I don't overthink it."
"...You don't think about it?"
"Nope. Sure, my brain's a little... not the sharpest. But I know that much? The heart doesn't lie. Overthink it, and you just end up lying to yourself for no good reason."
Lulu boldly revealed her secret to reading the scales of her heart.
"My heart knows I want to protect O Hyein and O Daesu... that I want to keep dreaming this dream... and that if I push on like this, I'll die. I get all that. But the urge to risk my life and fight anyway? It pulls stronger."
"......"
"So, my feelings for Hyein and Daesu outweigh even my survival instincts. That's why I follow my heart. Simple as that, right?"
"...I see. Got it. So this time, it's not just mindless rampaging. Understood."
Her words were rough, but the message was clear: she'd risk her life to protect her friends. Yunaris masked her expression with illusion magic while giggling inwardly. Yep, Lulu x Daesu is canon after all.
If it'd been another case of reckless abandon, she'd have planned to give her a good thrashing as punishment for last time—and turn her into a spare part to question Roderus with.
But with such pure motives...
Just as the mad wizard had given Roderus a chance, Yuna wanted to give the knight captain one too. Call it a faint crush.
She just wanted her favorite character to shine.
She wanted to make him the protagonist.
"...Is this what playing TRPG feels like?"
"You've been muttering to yourself this whole time... Are you giving me a break or something?"
"Oh, sorry."
She sensed Roderus—Lulu's prince charming—heading their way. Estimated arrival: five minutes. Perfect timing.
Time to play the mid-boss for real.
Yunaris slowly tilted her head back, extending four translucent arms from beneath her witch hat. Her eyes gleamed intensely as violet mana gathered at each fingertip.
In the lamplight, her shadow stretched long across the street—like a massive spider.
"......!!"
"Let's begin."
BOOM──!!
A beam of violet light sliced across the road.
He ran.
Flashes of light and explosions erupted everywhere, screams echoing through the storm. Two massive energy signatures: one directly below the black vortex, the other a short distance away in the shopping district.
He could even pick out the individuals from the mana fluctuations. O Hyein at the vortex, Kim Lulu in the shopping district.
Roderus couldn't split himself in two. He had to choose—and he picked the shopping district. It felt... less reliable, somehow. Or so he told himself.
He vaulted over air conditioner units, cleared obstructing fences, taking the shortest route possible. And then—
"......!!"
A chill ran down his spine. He dropped flat. A violet beam streaked past where he'd stood. He'd faced this before. The "Being of Infinite Void."
Sizzle.
The wall grazed by the beam melted into blackened scorch marks. Even with mana, it'd be a critical hit. Without? Instant death.
Right—mana.
All Roderus had was his body, honed to the limit.
Fine for handling civilians or thugs, but against mana users? A teacup in a typhoon.
If only he had the transformation device.
If only he could transform into a magical girl...!!
Roderus gauged the beam's origin and moved stealthily. He climbed a villa's drainpipe, slipped through an open window, leaped between buildings—pressing forward.
Until he reached the battlefield: a magical girl clashing with a monster.
"...Kim Lulu."
She was a bloody mess. Her gruesome state made Roderus clench his fists. Yunaris was toying with her, firing beams in every direction.
Roderus hunkered inside the building, peeking through the window from the cover of the wall.
Hovering thirty centimeters off the ground, Yunaris waved her hand at Kim Lulu.
"I'm built for wide-area bombardment. My durability's lower than the other Heavenly Kings... but as you can see, my firepower more than makes up for it."
"...It's hot as hell!!"
"So, even in your wrecked state, you might take me down. If you can just break through the barrage... What do you say, magical girl? Got the guts...?"
"Cut me one beam, and I'll make it work!!"
WHOOSH──!!
KABOOM!!
"Say it before you fire...!!"
The explosion's shockwave hurled Kim Lulu to the ground. She couldn't count how many times she'd fallen now—the pain was starting to fade.
Anyone could see she was on death's door. If it didn't hurt anymore, that meant she was really done for, or so the deputy had said.
"Damn it..."
Still, she couldn't give up. If she was going down anyway, she'd self-destruct and take some damage with her. As Lulu steeled herself with grim resolve—
"......?"
Something odd caught her eye.
Beyond the window of the building Yunaris faced, orange hair fluttered. Her heart skipped, thinking it was O Daesu—but no, it was a man.
He looked enough like Daesu to pass for a cousin. What if Daesu were a guy? The thought crossed her mind.
Their eyes met. Or so it felt.
Roderus prepared to leap from the window, golf club in hand. He planned to drop straight down and strike Yunaris.
"...No, wait. That's way too risky..."
Too far for her mutter to reach. Yell a warning, and Yunaris would hear. He'd be vaporized by a mana blast before he even jumped.
Then she'd draw her attention some other way. Coughing up blood, Lulu forced herself up and bellowed with all her shredded lungs.
"Hey, weird-makeup shortstack──!!"
"...Out of nowhere? Oh."
Yunaris smiled sweetly, gathering all her arms in one direction and compressing vast mana. Enough to cross the distance in an instant.
"Here it comes. You won't dodge this one. I'm putting everything into it...! My defenses drop a bit, but you can't teleport anyway!"
"I don't teleport—I got telekinesis!! Eat this──!!"
Thud.
Roderus leaped from the third story, putting his full weight into a golf club swing. Ignoring landing, the club arced toward Yunaris's unguarded head as she charged her mana blast.
Crack.
The club struck her head, and Yunaris's form wobbled like jelly before morphing into a pitch-black slime.
"...A human guise? This is her true form!"
Whiiiirrr──!!
The slime wobbled, emitting a bizarre shriek. A round core gleamed where her head had been—cracked faintly from the blow.
Roderus jabbed the slime's surface with his club, but the gelatinous ooze absorbed the hits without damage. He couldn't pierce to the core.
"Damn it all...!"
The slime seemed to be recovering. Its wobbling slowed, tentacles extending from its surface with flashing lights.
That's when—
"Catch──!!"
Something arced through the air. Roderus jumped in place, snagging it and landing. He opened his fist: Kim Lulu's transformation device.
Transform?
No. He knew the emergency override, but transformation took time. Enough for the slime to recover—and unleash its barrage.
No time. Then—
Roderus channeled a sliver of Insect Transformation power into the device. Crackle-crackle!! It strained, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface.
Overload, not shutdown. Make it explode.
"...Bomb time—eat it!!"
He hurled the overloaded device at the slime and dove back.
KABOOOM──!!!
Mana blasts erupted wildly, melting everything in indiscriminate fury. The slime shrieked grotesquely, boiling where beams grazed it.
One beam struck its core dead-on—pop!—and the ooze burst, losing all form.
"......"
"......"
No movement. Dead.
Throb.
Roderus glanced at his hand, pierced by stabbing pain. Cracked skin bled from the clash of powers using Insect Transformation.
"......"
Confirming Yunaris's death, Roderus rushed to Lulu.
Roderus took Kim Lulu's blood-smeared hand, checking her wounds. Her body was a shredded rag—death could come any second.
"...You okay? Still conscious? Open your eyes, Kim Lulu!"
"......"
Lulu cracked her eyes open, lips parting faintly.
"What're you saying? I can't hear a thing..."
"......"
Roderus leaned in close to her ear. Her breaths were shallow, on the verge of stopping. With a ragged wheeze, she forced out words.
"...Who the hell are you?"
"......"
"Who, I said."
"I'm... uh... O Daesu's cousin."
Hyein and Daesu didn't look alike at all, but these two? Identical. Lulu thought that as she turned her head.
The raging vortex. O Hyein was still fighting.
"...Hey, you some kinda special forces? Jumping from the third floor... cough, cough. That was badass."
"Something... like that."
"Then... mister soldier... Hyein's out there alone. Hate to ask, cough, but... could you go help her...?"
"......"
"Or don't... whatever..."
Lulu chuckled through bloodied coughs, then noticed something odd. Who interlaced fingers with a stranger's hand like this?
And it felt... familiar. Sizes differed, but the grip—the distribution of strength.
Lulu slid her thumb over his. Daesu would always counter by flipping hers back, refusing to lose.
This stranger did the same.
"...Ah."
Lulu's brain cells fired for once, instantly piecing together the playground exchange's meaning. Right—Daesu was a guy.
Of course. That explained the struggle. Even bleeding out like this, her heart raced.
"H-Hey."
"...I'm listening."
"You're Daesu's cousin, right? Tell her... I like her. Guy or not, it's fine. Got it, cough, you hear me?"
"...Loud and clear. I'll pass it on properly, so don't worry... peasant."
What kinda roleplay was that? Face like he might cry, spouting weirdness.
Lulu gasped for air, knowing she'd wake from the dream soon. She squeezed her lungs for final words—no need for worry.
"I'm... from another world too. So... not really dying. Got it?"
"......"
"I'm... actually super strong. So..."
Thud.
Strength drained from Lulu's hand.
Roderus stood in the rain for a long moment before gently closing her eyes and rising. Time to help O Hyein.
Below the black vortex staining the sky, a massive hand clawed through from the dimensional rift.