Chapter 98
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Magical Ikusa Battle (1)
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It started with a single casual remark.
"Red Moon."
A blood-red moon, redder than spilled blood, flickered into existence.
Splat.
The sound of blood spraying.
And then.
"Ah, you fucking asshole!!!"
Dickhead's bellow echoed out.
Had anyone truly foreseen this moment?
A heavy silence suddenly descended.
In that instant, a Magical Girl's voice, laced with bewilderment, tentatively pierced the quiet.
"That... there's no way that's magic, right...?"
From there, the surrounding Magical Girls began murmuring among themselves.
"W-Wait a sec! How the hell is a guy using magic?!"
"What kind of attribute is that? Looks like fire attribute, but it's not! Never seen anything like it!"
"Doing that much without a magic wand?"
"And something's off about it? Is that even normal magic? Why's it lingering like it's been painted on?"
They all seemed utterly incredulous.
Not just Whitey watching from the sidelines—even Octopus and Lez Major wore dumbfounded expressions.
Meanwhile, Dickhead clutched her bleeding left eye, glaring at me with her remaining one as if she wanted to kill me.
I smirked faintly at the sight of her.
"Gave you a circumcision, and you're not grateful?"
But inwardly, I couldn't just laugh it off. Truth be told, I was a bit anxious.
I'd underestimated her.
Of course, I had some excuses. Dickhead was a Magical Girl specialized in defense, tough as nails. The 'current' Red Moon wasn't fully perfected yet.
Even accounting for that, though, I'd still underestimated her badly.
I could guess why.
It was because of this steel pipe I was holding right now.
I'd cast it just in case, but already the weapon in my hand felt like it was creaking under the strain.
A steel pipe might be sturdy enough on its own, but it was nothing compared to the Moonlight Sword. A standard-issue magic wand might've held up a bit better—such a shame.
At this rate, it'd shatter after just a few spells.
I needed to avoid spamming attack magic recklessly. At the very least, direct clashes had to be completely off the table.
This was definitely a disadvantageous fight.
Certain spells were off-limits.
I'd have to baby the weapon to keep it from breaking.
What could I do, though?
This wasn't my first unfavorable battle. I'd fought in far worse conditions plenty of times. Compared to those, this was much better.
Plus, if I had to nitpick, my condition wasn't bad. I'd already recovered to about three-quarters of my peak.
I'd vaguely heard the chains loosening just moments ago, and it seemed like I'd regained even more strength from that.
At this point, even if I couldn't match a Magical Girl's physicality, I could still reinforce my body decently. Channeling magic power into non-Moonlight Sword objects should be possible too.
Anyway.
I shoved aside all those complicated thoughts, boiling it down to just two simple directives.
What to protect: the lump of metal gripped in my hand.
What to discard: my body and everything else.
That would be enough.
"You sneaky bastard, ambushing with Magical Girl tricks?!"
"Dumbass, ambushes are fair game once per fight."
What a thick-skulled bitch—her brain really didn't turn at all.
If she hated ambushes so much, she should've called out first. Complaining about it now? Please.
And wasn't it hilarious anyway?
"Since when was there such a thing as 'fair play' in a fight?"
"Hah, fuck. You sure got a mouth on you, you dogshit prick."
Where the hell did she get off yapping about fairness?
She'd thrown that out the window ages ago.
Still, since I'd ambushed her, it was only polite to greet her now.
"I don't know you, Dickhead-san. I am the Hero of th—"
Dickhead suddenly appeared right in front of me, thrusting forward a massive shield conjured by magic.
She'd closed the considerable distance in that split second with a charging rush.
For an instant, it felt like a giant wall had materialized.
"What kind of evil Magical scum are you?! Attacking during a sacred Magical Girl greeting is a total Magical taboo!"
Her momentum didn't falter at Octopus's protest—in fact, it surged even stronger.
Dodging sideways was impossible. Parrying was out of the question from the start.
In that case.
A moon erupted from behind Dickhead's head. My body teleported to its position.
"Huh?! Hey, isn't that Magical Phase Shift?!"
"What the hell even is that guy?!"
I ignored the voices around me, accelerating my thoughts within my shifted field of view.
Falling Moon required direct weapon contact—sealed.
The remaining moons with colors? Hold off just in case.
One option left.
The instant I decided, I heel-kicked where Dickhead's head ought to be.
"Ack!"
Dickhead stumbled forward, sprawling awkwardly. Her rear was now completely exposed.
An opening.
I spun half a turn, carrying my momentum.
In midair, inverted.
Drawing a sharp moon.
A razor-thin line etched across Dickhead's back as she tried to stand.
Not enough to finish her like this.
So, once more.
The same spot gained another line—deeper, clearer this time.
But Dickhead wasn't just taking it lying down.
"You think that'll hurt me?!"
By the time I landed, she'd already regained her footing and closed in with heavy steps.
Then, she took one more stride and swung her magic wand wide.
Mint-green shields manifested along the wand's arc, barreling forward with shockwaves.
An attack that crushed space itself.
A declaration that not even evasion via Rising Moon would be tolerated.
But that didn't mean I couldn't dodge.
I drew an icy hoarfrost moon on the ground—right where Dickhead's foot landed.
"Whoa?!"
Dickhead slipped on the frosted surface, losing her balance.
Two steps were all it took to evade her assault.
-Boom!
I ignored the shockwave grazing my head, preparing to draw another moon.
But she wasn't incompetent; even as she fell, Dickhead managed to conjure a shield.
Complete with a sinister grin.
"Try it if you dare!!!"
It was a red shield.
The exact same hue as Red Moon.
Probably meant one hit would let her follow up with near-impenetrable defense.
Eh, no big deal.
I just drew a different moon this time. The blue moon utterly canceled the red shield—devoured it whole.
Gazing at her vanishing shield, Dickhead's face fell even more hollow.
"...What the fuck is this?"
I paid her no mind, drawing another moon toward her exposed form.
A mournful half-moon manifested along the pipe's swing path.
"Shit!"
"Your head's fucked, so how's your mouth working?"
Dickhead snapped back to her senses and retreated, but a chunk of flesh still caught in the edge got shredded.
And with that, I closed the distance too.
Three steps.
Regulating my breath on the final one.
A brilliant full moon blazed into being.
"E-Emergency Protection!"
In sync with Dickhead's incantation, countless small shields shinged into place, encasing her body like plate armor.
Then, the radiant full moon collided with the shields.
──!
A flash of light accompanied by shockwaves and thunderous roar.
Crack. The sound of fractures followed a beat later.
Precisely two places.
One on the shield that had clashed with the full moon.
The other on Dickhead's standard-issue magic wand.
Meaning her defensive magic hadn't fully blocked the full moon's output.
The backlash pushed me back slightly; Dickhead went flying far away.
I snickered at her as she flopped face-first into the ground.
"Your condom ripped, dumbass."
I slung the steel pipe over my shoulder.
"Back to how you were born."
Of course, things weren't perfect on my end either.
I'd dialed back the power, but a full moon was still a full moon. It had stressed the weapon considerably.
I hadn't even followed up with Remnant Moon, yet the pipe was already trembling.
Remnant Moon required direct contact, so I'd held it in reserve just in case—but if I'd used it, the pipe would've snapped for sure.
Sticking to range like I'd planned from the start was the way to go.
No telling what might happen up close.
Meanwhile, starting from the cracks, the shields enveloping Dickhead's body dissolved away. Grinding her teeth behind the fading barriers, she snarled.
"You cock-sucking prick, thinking you can toy with me."
"What're you gonna do if I don't hold back?"
"This, you fucking shit!"
Dickhead slammed her magic wand into the ground viciously.
Countless shields filled the space—around Dickhead, even behind me.
Each shield clinked into position, edges facing me like an army of bucklers aligning in formation.
Dickhead leveled her wand at me.
"Set."
And bellowed the final command.
"Chase!!!"
With her incantation, the shields surged toward me in unison.
AOE battle, huh.
Mana-intensive, but no choice.
In a flash, sharp blades erupted from the ground in dense array, shooting down the incoming shields.
Any shields still flying strong, I dodged or stomped hard.
The aftershocks from the two AOE spells rippled outward.
The watching Magical Girls yelped and backed off farther; some lights shattered, casting shadows here and there.
Under the broken lights, Dickhead's shadow stretched long behind her as she let out a monstrous roar.
"Aaaarrrgh, you fucking bastard!!!"
She seemed seriously pissed that her spell got blocked so easily.
"You've been pissing me off since earlier—!"
But Dickhead's shout drowned in the sudden downpour of blades—like a scream lost in dark rain.
Only then did she frantically gather her remaining shields to guard her head, crouching low with hands clasped over it.
And through the blade storm, I charged.
Right then, a shield popped up in front of me—one Moonrise and Moonset hadn't caught.
No problem. In fact, perfect.
I kicked it straight toward Dickhead's view.
But as it neared her, the shield halted midair, blocking me—as if determined to protect its cowering master.
I hadn't anticipated that, but it wasn't a game-changer. It was her magic, after all; she could control it.
To shove the shield aside, I focused magic power into my empty hand, gripped the edge, and wrenched it hard.
"Ah, wait! That's dangerous!"
Lez's sharp voice rang out in that moment.