Chapter 59
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Magical Monkey VS Magical Buddha
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Tch."
Sora clicked her tongue in frustration.
At first, when she'd gone out alongside Taishi, she'd figured they'd nab the Monster in no time flat.
But.
'Not easy.'
It hadn't taken long for Sora to ditch that idea.
The reason was simple.
'Hit something already!'
Landing a solid Magical hit on the Monster was damn near impossible.
Sora wasn't some greenhorn Magical Girl by any stretch—she was a full-fledged Magical Private—but this was her first time up against a sky-soaring Monster like this.
And so, every spell she conjured went wide.
Not that they fizzled out pathetically, no.
Each time Sora manifested her magic, the Monster would barely slip aside, flaunting its leisure like it was all a game.
"Oh, that was really close, huh?"
In a tone utterly devoid of any real peril.
Taunting her, like go on, give it another shot.
If it at least attacked, she could've exploited the openings for a Magical counter. But unlike before, the Monster wasn't launching so much as a half-hearted strike anymore.
It was laser-focused on dodging her spells, all while tossing in snide remarks.
"How long you gonna keep flailing around?"
Still at it, even now.
Not an unreasonable play, all things considered. If its curse was just gonna get nullified by Taishi's magic anyway, far better to minimize its own spending and grind her down instead.
The Monster had zero reason to rush.
Sora, on the other hand...
'Ah, for real!'
Which only made her impatience thicken all the more.
She had to pin this thing down ASAP to ease up on Kim Siyul's Magical load—but forget pinning, she couldn't even finish it off properly.
"It's okay. It'll be over soon yo."
"I know."
Even so, Sora forced herself to steady her nerves and conjured another spell.
"Fire!"
Just like Taishi said—really, it wouldn't be much longer.
Separate from the regret of yet another miss, things were unfolding exactly per Taishi's Magical blueprint.
Taishi's plan was straightforward, but ironclad.
Herd the Monster using spells.
Until the moment it could dodge no more.
How long had Sora been chasing it down in line with Taishi's scheme? By the time even a Magical Girl's stamina started leaving her winded and gasping...
Taishi gave the signal.
"Now's the time yo!"
"Got it!"
Sora immediately began constructing her spell.
Squeezing out every last drop of mana and stamina.
To end it all with one decisive blast.
But Sora wasn't the only one who reacted.
"Fun."
Taking Taishi's words as her cue, the Monster suddenly fixed Sora and Taishi with a sharp glare.
"You thought I wouldn't notice?"
A sinister sneer curling her lips.
An inexplicable unease writhed faintly—but unmistakably—within Sora.
"You weren't herding me."
And then, once more.
"I was herding you."
The unease throbbed hard.
Something was off. Terribly off.
No... it was off.
Precisely...
'W-when did...?'
It'd been off for ages already.
Before she knew it, the Monster's Magical mist had begun slowly converging on Sora and Taishi.
From every direction but the sky above.
And this Magical mist was on a whole other level from the gray haze it'd shown so far.
It was dense.
No longer gray—the color had condensed into an impenetrable black, impossible to peer through even an inch.
It was heavy.
Mere mist, yet it felt like it carried actual weight. Less mist, more like an oncoming Magical barrier wall.
'Ah, so that's why.'
It'd stuck to dodging. Sora finally got it.
Brilliant move. Toss a mediocre Magical curse, and it'd just get countered by Taishi.
So instead, unleash a curse so overwhelming even Taishi couldn't offset it. Advantage or no, everything had limits.
Of course, easier said than done. At that level, the Monster had probably poured every resource it had into this.
In other words, a one-and-done ultimate.
"Well, couldn't pull it off twice anyway..."
As if confirming Sora's hunch, the Monster showed fatigue for the first time.
Enough drain that it couldn't even keep up that smug leisure mask anymore.
"But once'll do the trick."
Still, even exhausted, it clung to a sliver of composure.
"And so, it's over."
Enough to sneer.
- Hiiiiss.
The sound of a serpent slithering. But what surged forth was no mere snake.
A pitch-black Magical wave crashed in.
Toward Sora and Taishi.
To finish them for good.
'What the...'
How was she supposed to handle this? Sora reeled in confusion.
Her spell wasn't ready to fire yet. She needed more time.
No helping it, even if unfair—this was the most powerful spell in her arsenal.
Cancel and flee? Not an option either.
'Where even to dodge?!'
Black mist blanketed every side. And it towered impossibly high—even a Magical Girl's leap wouldn't clear it.
Fly now? Don't make her laugh.
If she could, they wouldn't have struggled this much.
Despair and impatience darkened Sora's amber eyes.
At that moment, Taishi's clear voice rang out.
"Happen to know the Monster yo?"
Sora whipped her head toward Taishi.
'What?'
Taishi wasn't fidgeting like Sora, nor fretting over the encroaching Magical mist.
Just exuding maximum Magical nonchalance.
In this do-or-die pinch.
Sora couldn't fathom it.
'Why?'
Not just her—the Monster tilted its head at Taishi too.
Then Taishi spoke again.
"Know the legend of the Magical Monkey yo?"
"What the hell outta nowhere?"
The Monster's bewilderment deepened.
Taishi pressed on undeterred.
"There was a fierce Magical Monkey decked out with Magical Buddha's Magical Metal Cross medal yo."
Sora stared silently at Taishi.
Her eyes screaming: Shouldn't that be a crown, not an Iron Cross?
"Rode straight across the skies of the Magical Wasteland atop a Magical Cloud Dragon yo."
Of course, Taishi ignored Sora entirely.
"But."
Instead.
"The Magical Monkey didn't know. Ignorance meant no fear yo."
Clack, clack—she began stepping forward slowly.
"No matter how far, how endlessly he flew across that vast Magical Wasteland... it was really..."
Thud—she slammed her staff into the ground.
"...just Magical Buddha's palm all along. The Magical Monkey never knew yo."
And finally.
"Ain't that pitiful yo?"
She flashed a smirk at the Monster.
Utterly baffling words, on par with Taishi's unflappable poise.
Which was why the Monster tuned out.
"The fuck you on about, bitch."
Just spat a couple curses.
"Die already."
Sneered and clenched its fist tight.
On cue, the Magical mist encircling them contracted in a rush.
Sora let out an inward sigh.
'Just a few more seconds!'
Exactly that, and she'd unleash her spell.
But.
The more Sora lamented, the faster the mist closed in. No mercy for even those scant seconds.
Right then, Taishi clasped her hands.
"Bird drinking gas!"
What manifested: a single Magical Black Eagle.
"Pointless struggling?"
But the Monster barely reacted to Taishi's spell.
"Bet even you can't handle this one?"
Just a few light jabs. That was it.
Total faith in its Magical curse.
But.
The instant the Magical Black Eagle began wheeling around Sora and Taishi, the Monster betrayed a new emotion for the first time.
Disconcertment.
"Huh?"
Not an odd reaction.
Sora herself was stunned speechless inside.
'Wh-what?!'
The Magical Black Eagle was guzzling up all the surrounding black Magical mist.
And that was just the start.
As it drank the mist, the eagle ballooned in size at breakneck speed.
Outgrowing mere massive eagle territory—now rivaling a Magical fighter jet.
At last.
With the Magical mist fully vanished, only one colossal Magical Black Eagle remained.
In that moment, Taishi thrust out her right fist.
"I will be Buddha."
Diagonal, straight at the Monster.
Sora mumbled under her breath despite herself.
Buddha? More like Führer.
Of course, words aside—Taishi's Magical Black Eagle hurtled fiercely toward the Monster.
"W-wait—!"
The Monster finally scrambled in panic, but the eagle was already upon it.
Body locked up from all that smugness? Or judgment lagged by the unforeseen?
Didn't matter which.
Either way, no dodging it.
Next, the Monster collided with the Magical Black Eagle.
──!
A ferocious sonic boom rocked the air.
"G-guh! What the—!"
The Monster's face twisted in agony, every syllable dripping pain.
But it wasn't over.
The Monster's own Magical curse, nestled within the eagle, detonated in a Magical explosion the moment of impact.
And turned back on the Monster.
"...!"
Now the Monster couldn't muster words.
Just garbled half-sounds amid frantic thrashing.
A scene straight out of some Magical history tome's brutal war crimes.
Sora inwardly marveled.
Come to think of it, of course the Monster's curse would rebound on itself.
Magical Girls could hurt themselves with their own spells. No reason the Monster's curse was any different.
She'd been too frantic to clock it, but Taishi? Night and day.
Sora nodded quietly to herself.
'That's why she was so chill.'
No Magical bravado.
Certainty that the curse would bite back.
Confidence she could overwhelm the matchup.
Those two factors sealed it.
Taishi's opening parable about the Monkey and Buddha fit to a T. No matter the Monster's tricks, it'd all been in Taishi's palm.
Right now, Taishi was Buddha incarnate.
Especially with that serene smile.
"Monsters truly shine brightest when steeped in Magical gas yo."
Well, the smile's vibe might differ a tad.
Anyway.
Seeing the Monster cease resistance, Sora slowly lowered her spellstaff.
'Should be fine.'
Capturing it per Kim Siyul's request wouldn't be tough now.
So Sora thought.
"Ahahahahaha!!!"
Until the Monster's raucous laughter erupted.