Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Magical Girl (2)
A red flower blooms.
It felt unexpectedly light.
That made it even more unsettling.
Plop.
Rumble.
The girl’s small head rolled across the asphalt.
Thud. The ownerless morning star fell heavily to the ground with a dull impact, and the violently swirling pink mana scattered like smoke and disappeared.
Silence settled in.
I flicked my blade to shake off the blood.
I clenched my teeth as I looked at the spreading red stain on the ground.
Cutting down monsters was one thing. Cutting down a human was different.
I had just taken the life of a child who had been breathing moments ago.
The sensation still clung vividly to my hand.
Nausea surged up, and I forced it down.
So much for “salvation.”
It was just murder.
“C… Captain?”
A trembling voice came from behind me.
Park Seongchan.
He was sitting on the ground, staring back and forth between the beheaded body of Primrose and me in shock.
“How… how did you just do that? Captain, you…”
I was supposed to be a non-combat officer. And yet I had just decapitated a disaster-level magical girl with superhuman speed.
It was only natural his mind had broken.
“Lieutenant Park.”
I called him in a dry voice, suppressing the rising discomfort.
“Y-Yes, sir!”
He answered while shaking violently.
“Give me a briefing on the remaining targets.”
“R-remaining targets?”
“Rosemary, Marigold, Lobelia.”
At those names, Park Seongchan’s face turned pale.
I didn’t know exactly how the Tower had inserted me into this world, but if I was exposed as someone not originally from here, I doubted things would end well.
Worst case, I might be dragged off and turned into a brain in a jar.
Better to finish this quickly.
“Are you… planning to eliminate the rest of the battle weapons yourself, Captain?”
“Battle weapons?”
“You know, the magical girls you just mentioned.”
Weapons. Disposal.
Words not meant for human beings.
My mouth felt bitter.
“Yes.”
“…Captain, did you perhaps awaken or something?”
“Briefing first.”
I rested my hand on the sword hilt and pushed forward with intent.
Park Seongchan flinched and hurriedly pulled out a tablet from his chest.
“Ro-Rosemary is currently inside the Sinjeondong containment zone. She is in a dormant state, so we haven’t engaged her. Military forces are only maintaining the perimeter.”
He swiped the screen nervously.
“As for Marigold and Lobelia, their locations are currently unconfirmed. I’m sorry!”
I loosened my tie completely and tossed it to the ground.
The tightness in my chest eased slightly.
“Let’s go to Rosemary.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for support? And deal with Primrose first…”
“They’ll handle it.”
From what I understood, drones were already monitoring the entire area.
They would already know Primrose was down.
I got into the car driven by Park Seongchan.
This world was similar to the Seoul I knew, yet fundamentally different.
Scars of battle were everywhere, and giant LED billboards featuring magical girls lit up the streets.
It was as if magical girls had replaced idols from my world.
“I’ve heard there are extremely rare cases of men awakening abilities. I didn’t expect Captain to be one of them. Headquarters is probably blowing up your phone. Did you hide it from the Management Bureau?”
Park Seongchan spoke carefully.
He seemed to think my martial arts were some kind of ability.
“Yeah. Recently.”
“I see. Then how do we contact the Bureau?”
“Ignore them for now. Can I borrow the tablet?”
“Of course.”
He handed me the Management Bureau tablet.
It was connected to their secure network, so the data was more detailed than I expected.
Magical girls.
The only hope humanity had found against dimensional invasion.
Rarely manifested in females aged between ten and sixteen.
Operational lifespan around ten years.
Failure to retire them on time increases risk of corruption.
Corruption is believed to occur when impure mana from the other world infiltrates the magical core.
There was also information about today’s incident.
Four designated battle weapons of the Management Bureau: codename Rosemary, Primrose, Marigold, Lobelia, all showing simultaneous signs of corruption.
Their profiles were listed in detail.
Codename Primrose.
Age twenty.
Height one hundred sixty-two centimeters.
Weapon: morning star.
Abilities: physical enhancement, weapon transformation, mana bombardment.
That was the girl I had just killed.
Codename Rosemary.
Age eighteen.
Height one hundred sixty-seven centimeters.
Weapon: magical staff.
Abilities: plant manipulation.
The one I was about to meet.
“Captain, you were originally from the General Affairs Division, right?”
Park Seongchan glanced at me through the rearview mirror.
“So?”
“Was this incident caused by some experiment from the Research Division? You know, the high-density dimensional core and magical girl core fusion experiments. Smells fishy if you ask me. It would’ve been a jackpot if it worked.”
They had experimented on humans like components.
Children, no less.
“Well, it was probably doomed from the start. Magical girls can’t even handle dimensional mana properly.”
I said nothing and turned off the tablet screen.
Using children as tools and discarding them when broken.
It made sense in a twisted way for a world like this, but it still felt disgusting.
The mission condition appeared in front of me again.
“Save the corrupted magical girls.”
Rosemary.
Primrose completed.
Marigold.
Lobelia.
A completed mark now appeared next to Primrose.
Salvation.
The Tower called their deaths salvation.
Was this truly the only way?
“Captain?”
Park Seongchan glanced at me cautiously.
“It’s nothing.”
I looked out the window.
The closer we got to Sinjeondong, the more ruined the landscape became.
“Sinjeondong is just ahead. Military forces have set up barricades starting one kilometer out.”
The area was completely sealed.
Tanks and armed forces surrounded it in layers, separating Sinjeondong from the rest of the city.
Soldiers aimed their rifles tensely as we approached.
“Management Bureau Operations Division, Lieutenant Park Seongchan. This is our Captain.”
He showed his ID through the window.
“Salute!”
The soldiers opened the barricade.
“How is Rosemary?”
I asked.
“She is at the center of the containment zone, near Exit 1 of Sinjeondong Station. She hasn’t moved for three hours.”
The car stopped abruptly.
“From here on, it’s her territory. Vehicles can’t proceed further.”
I stepped out and looked at the wheels.
Thick black thorny vines had wrapped around them.
Not just the wheels.
The entire path ahead was blocked by dense, tangled vines.
“Captain, this is your first time seeing this in person, right?”
Park Seongchan asked.
“Yeah.”
“Rosemary used to be the pride of the Bureau. She wasn’t like this… sigh.”
He clicked his tongue.
On the tablet, her abilities had been described as producing beautiful blooming flowers.
Now it was just rot and corruption.
“Lieutenant Park, wait here.”
Park Seongchan was only a surveillance officer. He had no combat ability.
“Y-You’re going alone?”
“Yes. You’ll get in the way.”
“…Understood. If there’s no change in two hours, air force bombardment will begin at 18:00. That decision is final. You’ll need to be out before then.”
Bombardment for a single girl.
Ridiculous.
“Can you hand over surveillance control?”
“We can’t give you air or satellite control, but we can transfer drone surveillance. Shall I proceed?”
“Yes.”
“Understood, sir.”
With a salute, I moved forward.
This Seoul was similar to mine, yet completely different.
Empty. Silent. Ruined.
Vines crept through cracked asphalt, blocking my path.
I cut them down with a single swing.
The moment my blade touched them, the vines melted away.
I advanced steadily.
The closer I got, the denser the vines became.
Almost there.
I prepared to use Blood Shadow Step to close the distance when—
Crack.
The ground split open.
I jumped back immediately.
A massive figure over four meters tall rose from beneath the earth.
A humanoid mass of vines and thorns, with a pale purple flower blooming on its head.
The half-withered flower tilted toward me.
It felt like it was observing me.
No face, yet it was clearly aware of me.
A familiar guess.
Rosemary’s summon.
It hadn’t looked this grotesque in the data.
It struck down.
I dodged using Blood Shadow Step.
The asphalt exploded where I had stood.
It raised its arm again, swinging horizontally like a whirlwind.
It was annoying.
I blurred my presence with Blood Shadow Step.
The creature paused, confused.
So it reacts to energy signatures.
I focused my energy into my feet.
I leapt.
Sword drawn.
Heaven Severing.
The blade struck the flower.
Crack.
The monster collapsed from within.
I sprinted toward Exit 1.
The air was thick with the smell of plants.
The plaza had become a garden of decay.
And there she was.
A girl with braided lavender hair, sitting in the center.
She kept whispering.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
She looked up at me.
At that moment—
BOOM.
The plaza was surrounded by hundreds of her summons.