The Black Mage is Hungry (1)
Psssh. A repulsive, slippery sensation like rummaging through a fish's guts. Magi Black gritted her teeth and chanted the invocation for her finishing move.
"Miracle Screw Full Charge!"
She planted her right foot forward, shifting her weight. The recoil from her toes fueled a twist in her hips, condensing all her power into her fist. And then—explosive mana burst forth. The spiral mana wave, which had purified countless villains before, shredded the horrific tree made of hands.
But the result was different this time. Clashes between villains and magical girls usually ended in "purification." A beautiful sight of pure white mana fading ethereally into the air. This enemy was the opposite. Rotten flesh and dead blood sprayed everywhere, the thing writhing grotesquely until its very last moment before finally going still.
"Tch, disgusting! Begone!"
Salamandine timed it perfectly, scattering flames. The fingers writhed in agony as they burned away—nightmare fuel if there ever was any.
"White! You okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
The hand tree had kept multiplying but hadn't assumed a clear attack posture. Schne judged it was because the hand tree hadn't fully formed yet. If that sinister spell had completed, just how horrific would things have gotten?
Shivering for a moment, Schne immediately called out.
"Papirun."
Got it mo-hu. I'll track the Ivory Tower's Four Heavenly Kings right away mo-hu.
"Hey! Cotton Candy! You think our elegant Ivory Tower Four Heavenly Kings would make something that gross?!"
Sargasso's sneakiness is more than enough for that mo-hu.
"That old geezer might have a twisted personality, but he wouldn't go making crap like that!"
Sparks flew from Salamandine's hair. Papirun shook her head. Maybe because she was the baby of the Ebon Four Heavenly Kings, the last to awaken, she sometimes saw the world too beautifully.
If not for the rules set by the Mother of Fairies, the cunning Sargasso would've overturned the world a dozen times by now.
"...Papirun. Salamandine's right."
Mo-hu?
"I saw it. A bizarre hand piercing the villain's body, a mage stealing its mana."
Mo-hu?!
Papirun was flustered. The more she heard, the worse it got. The entity siphoning mana from the Ivory Tower's villains was something entirely different from "Ebon's spirit."
Ebon's spirit was spiritual in the literal sense—physically powerless so far. But the shadow mage Magi White described was intensely material. No, "physical" was the better word. Casually reshaping its own body, crafting a monster from a single hand. Nothing like the Ebon Papirun knew.
Magi Black slapped Salamandine's back.
"Hey, hey. Don't tell me some hidden fifth Heavenly King's body double popped out or something?"
"There's no such thing! Our magic doesn't even work that way... Hot!"
Salamandine snapped to her senses. She was about to spill Ivory Tower secrets to this terrifying underling of the "Mother Fairy"—a Magilister!
Kicking off the ground, she leaped up, spinning dramatically to perch atop a streetlamp.
Magi Black nodded approvingly. Yeah, you had to get high up to drop an important line with style.
"We teamed up today to deal with that abomination, but don't expect that luck next time! That's when I'll crush you!"
"Sure thing. You left your stamp card at the rabbit cafe, so go pick it up."
"Argh, that's exactly why I hate you, Magi Black! Just you wait!"
Magi Black waved until Salamandine's shadow vanished completely, then turned to Schne and Papirun. The two were still gravely discussing the shadow mage—though Papirun's cotton-candy seriousness was just plain cute.
'Eh, not my place to butt in, I guess?'
Magi Black—Nai Hyun—wasn't the thinking type. She tackled vacation homework in one burst based on mood, not schedules. The class president Schne was smart, Papirun cautious. They'd handle it.
"Guys, I'm heading out first!"
Releasing her transformation, Nai Hyun bounded cheerfully down from the park.
...And she ran into the weirdest old dude.
"Mister, this is private property."
"Guhk."
Hikarius City's outskirts, a lone Western-style house in the woods. Neighborhood kids called it the "Witch's House." That was Nai Hyun's home. Legally, at least.
The gloomy vibe did stir her sensibilities a bit, but the Black Forest house wasn't somewhere she'd choose to live. Bad memories lingered.
But there was a "promise." Come home a few times a month—at least on full and new moons. Tonight was moonless.
So she dragged her unwilling feet there—and spotted the old guy munching grass.
On the Black Forest path by the Witch's House, face practically in the dirt.
"Uh... you some Na Ju Pharma industrial spy digging for secrets?"
Munch munch munch.
The guy, mouth full of grass blocking his tongue, hurriedly worked his jaw. Swallowing the last of it, the pitiful man rapped out his words like lyrics.
"Wait just a sec. This is a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding my ass. I was kidding."
No industrial spies had anything left to dig up in the Black Forest these days. Rumors said Na Ju Pharma experiments blackened the woods. But Nai Hyun, who'd played here since childhood, remembered it always being kinda creepy.
"What misunderstanding with a guy foraging mugwort out of season? The spy heyday's ancient history."
Nai Hyun eyed the pathetic man with pity. How starved did you have to be to crawl here and graze? Healthy limbs, yet sneaking into the woods at midnight to impersonate a herbivore. Must've racked up huge debts and fled.
"Hikarius City Hall's got a homeless rehab program. Or tons of religious spots with free breakfasts."
"No!"
Raban was baffled. Him, treated like a bum?
'Kuh...'
He had
been munching mugwort, and he was hungry. But crucially, mugwort was a historic catalyst for witchcraft. No wonder the image of a witch granny brewing weeds in a cauldron stuck.
Raban's grazing was rational. Normally, touching this city's produce—Hikarius, from what he'd overheard—was unwise. Observing days, the whole city's mana belonged to some unknown force. Villains popped up, magical girls swarmed; damage anywhere got restored instantly. Some powerhouse—Raban suspected the mascot faction—had the city under a barrier.
Mess with mana in a dictator's city, ping the barrier, draw magical girls? Total hassle.
But this outer forest was different. For some reason, the barrier weakened here, letting residual mana spew freely. The weeds soaked it up, reaching spirit herb level.
Raban had eyed this Black Forest spot. Emergency mana refill for crises. He'd held off approaching, assuming some mage claimed it. But these past days, no one entered—not even the house.
Low on mana and starving, so mugwort it was.
'Of course someone shows when I'm finally eating...!'
Was his luck this bad? Dropped into this dimension from a normal Earth life—luck bottomed out then. Survival had at least granted bad luck as a companion.
'Does the world's law hate me or something?'
The pitiful homeless dude, mid-protest, deflated and lost for words.
Nai Hyun approached cheerfully, thumping his back a couple times.
"Hang in there, mister! No idea what led to grazing desperation, but everyone's got a story or two in Hikarius. With two arms and legs, you can stand back up!"
She recited numbers brightly, even tearing a page from her notebook to jot them down—consideration for a debtor who'd ditched his phone.
"Gambling addiction hotline here, payphone in that park. Or head straight to City Hall; their job placement's solid. Got any certifications?"
'This brat...!'
Raban took a sudden dislike to the cheeky silver-hair.
"Oh, right. Hungry? Wanna grab some food before you go?"
The plastic bag in Nai Hyun's hand swung.
"All retort pouches, but I stocked up plenty. Decent enough."
Raban was suddenly grateful for the kind silver-hair!