Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Magical Girl (5)
A golden aura swallowed the surroundings.
Kugugu— the overwhelming force pouring out from Marigold’s entire body made the building tremble as if an earthquake were striking it.
Marigold gripped her spear with both hands.
Dark, tainted mana swirled and compressed at the tip of the weapon.
Swaeak!
It shot forward like a beam of light aimed directly at me.
Unfortunate.
But in order to save you.
I still can’t afford to die here.
The sword and spear collided.
Just as the spear that tore through space was about to pierce my heart.
“Ugh…!”
Marigold’s murky eyes wavered violently.
From her chest, at the core, dark mana burst upward like a seizure.
The spear that had been charging at me lost its trajectory and sliced through empty air.
Clang!
The spear, having lost its target, ricocheted off the stone ground beneath her feet.
And Marigold, having lost her grip, collapsed forward toward me.
I twisted my blade and let it drift into the air, then caught her unsteady body with my shoulder.
The crushing pressure that had weighed down the surroundings vanished as if it had never existed.
Marigold rested her forehead on my shoulder, gasping for breath.
“I tried to kill you…”
She whispered weakly into my ear.
“But… it doesn’t work…”
Her voice no longer carried any of the earlier killing intent or madness.
Only exhaustion, deep and bone-deep.
“In here…”
Her hand clutching my shirt trembled.
“I keep hearing a child crying. Saying I can’t. Saying I shouldn’t kill people who aren’t bad…”
Now that she was this close, I understood.
Marigold had destroyed her own core with her own magic.
The core was located in her heart.
Naturally, it was a fatal injury.
“Now…”
She bit her colorless lips and forced out her words.
“Let me rest. Ten years of breaking my back like this… I think I’ve earned retirement…”
A relieved smile formed on her face.
“I did well.”
I spoke sincerely.
“Rest in peace.”
At my quiet words, Marigold slowly closed her eyes.
I lifted her into my arms and walked outside.
The golden barrier that had covered the entire research complex began to scatter like shattered glass.
Rumble rumble—
The roar of helicopters approached.
Soon after, hurried footsteps echoed, and special forces in black uniforms surrounded me.
Hundreds of laser sights locked onto my body.
A middle-aged man walked forward under the escort of the unit.
The ID card hanging around his neck confirmed his identity.
Director of the Magical Girl Management Bureau.
A thin man with a sharp gaze like a dried tree stared down at me coldly.
“Marigold’s condition?”
He asked.
“Dead.”
I answered.
His eyebrows twitched.
There was no trace of grief or sorrow on his face.
He gestured to the special forces.
“Send Marigold’s body to the research division and detain the operations chief. I will interrogate him personally.”
Suppressing the rising anger, I obediently allowed myself to be restrained.
If I overturned the board here, I wouldn’t get any information on Loberia.
I still had a duty to see this through.
They took Marigold’s body away from me.
Cold handcuffs locked around my wrists.
They confiscated my sword, placed a black hood over my head, and shoved me into the helicopter.
I did not resist.
Even with my vision blocked, my senses clearly read everything around me.
The breathing of the soldiers beside me, the helicopter’s trajectory, the ascent and descent, and the faint fragments of mana at the destination.
The management bureau headquarters.
After being dragged through a series of movements, the hood was removed.
It was an interrogation room lined with gray metal on all sides.
Clunk.
The heavy door opened and the director entered.
He sat down across from me, crossing his legs arrogantly, and tossed a file onto the table.
Kim Mu-han, Operations Chief. Recently transferred from General Affairs Department to Operations Department. In just one week, a man who used to handle paperwork had swung a sword and taken down three corrupted magical girls.
The director flipped through the file and stared at me as if trying to see through me.
“What are you?”
I leaned back comfortably.
“Why do you care?”
His eyelid twitched slightly.
“You should cooperate when I’m being polite. Don’t test my patience, Chief Kim.”
“Torture?”
“If necessary.”
So that’s how it is.
This world’s Republic of Korea was very different from the one I knew.
A place where human experimentation and torture were carried out without hesitation.
“I’m a genius.”
I replied with a shrug.
“What?”
The director frowned in disbelief.
“I didn’t know it either, but I’ve got a natural talent for swordsmanship and mana control. I channel mana into my blade and swing it. I’m probably the only one in the world who can do this without a core implant.”
“That’s nonsense…”
“I know it sounds ridiculous. But it works. Take my body to the research division if you want. Even if you break it down to the cells, you still won’t understand anything. It’s all instinct.”
No matter how magical this world was, they would never understand the secret of my martial arts.
Even in my world, modern science could not comprehend it.
The director rubbed his forehead.
“Your ability as an individual officer isn’t even relevant to me. At best, you can swing a sword a bit…”
“Let’s be honest.”
I cut him off.
“Marigold said something interesting before she died. That you implant unpurified cores and turn them into disposable weapons. And she was subjected to forced fusion experiments. People above you don’t know this, do they?”
His expression turned cold.
“Are you threatening me?”
Bang.
He slammed the table.
“And do you think I was planning to let you live in the first place?”
Silence.
He tapped his fingers on the table.
“Fair point,” he muttered.
He gestured toward the wall.
Men in suits appeared and fastened a collar around my neck like a leash.
I understood immediately.
An explosive collar.
“Of course it is. We need insurance. It has tracking as well. Try anything suspicious and I’ll blow your head off.”
He unlocked my cuffs with a remote.
“Wait for further orders.”
With that, I was thrown out of the building.
I adjusted my sword at my waist.
Still the most reassuring thing I had.
“Chief!”
Park Seong-chan ran toward me frantically in front of the building.
“We were ordered to monitor you closely. What happened in there? And what is that around your neck?”
I chuckled.
“Isn’t it usually a secret from the person being monitored?”
“I don’t care. That’s an explosive collar, isn’t it? It looks exactly like the ones used for rookie magical girls…”
So this world really had all sorts of things.
Apparently they used these on magical girls too.
“It is an explosive collar.”
“Are you serious?”
“Think of it as basic accessories. Nothing special.”
Clear Condition
Rescue the corrupted magical girls.
Only Loberia remained at the final stage.
I had already learned the truth about magical girls.
Even if I died now, it wouldn’t be so bad. I had done enough to consider it a completion.
If I got blown up by this collar, maybe it wouldn’t even hurt much.
“Chief, seriously. Aren’t you angry? You stopped three corrupted magical girls and this is your reward? An explosive collar? This is ridiculous…”
He was more furious than I was.
But this organization was already rotten beyond repair. Getting angry wouldn’t change anything.
I stopped him.
“I’m not angry at all, Park. Don’t get yourself blown up too. Just let it go. I’m tired. Take me to that hotel we went to before. That place was nice.”
Park sighed deeply.
“Fine.”
I got into the car and headed to the hotel.
On the way, I listened to Park’s complaints and half-heartedly responded.
And I reviewed Loberia’s information again.
Codename: Loberia
Age: 15
Height: 155 cm
Weapon: None
Magic: Void Magic
The youngest corrupted magical girl, just a 15-year-old child.
About the same age as Hyun Seo-ah, maybe.
Unlike Seo-ah, who looked tall and mature enough to be mistaken for an adult, Loberia was physically small even on paper.
Her only ability was void magic.
I watched recorded footage of her abilities.
With a single gesture, she sent monsters into the void, and all physical attacks were nullified by her void barrier.
Her range of magic exceeded even Marigold’s.
She could expand the void barrier wide enough to replicate effects similar to Marigold’s domain.
And since everything was handled so effortlessly, no one even knew her limits.
Her mana capacity was practically infinite.
This…
Is there even a way to win this?