Half-Asleep, Half-Awake (2)
Locating the rift wasn't exactly smooth sailing. I'd definitely gotten more used to the process, and it wasn't my first time, but... that warm, prickling sensation rising from my lower belly—like static electricity stinging me—kept tormenting me. It felt like I'd been circling the same patch of sky for over ten minutes already. I couldn't be late... My heart was just racing needlessly.
"Ugh, nngh... Please, just... come on...!"
Still, if I flew up as high as possible, closed my eyes, and focused, I could sense something. Over there—it didn't feel so far away anymore... Let's go.
I opened my eyes and flew toward the direction where I felt the rift. The place I arrived at was a building still under construction. No people around... Wait.
"Down there, people... running away."
From up in the sky, I could see a few men fleeing from the construction site, sprinting outside. What? Why... are they running?
Suddenly, I remembered what Altair had told me during our first meeting. People near rifts can get corrupted by the Abyss, lose their minds, and turn into villains. If that happens to someone, we magical girls have to subdue them and restore them to normal. Got it?
Did I get here too late, and someone got corrupted?
"...Let's go. Can't be any later."
My hand gripping the magic wand trembled a little, but I took a deep breath and gripped it tighter. I descended slowly toward the building's entrance and landed on the ground. Biting my lip hard, I glanced up at the sky once more, then stepped toward the interior of the building.
I could feel it. There was a rift in this building. The queasy sensation grew stronger with every step up the stairs.
"...Here, I think...?"
I didn't know what floor this was, but I stopped walking for now. Heading into the passage to my side, my senses led me right to the rift, just as expected.
"......"
And next to the rift, someone was standing.
A person...?
At first glance, it looked like a human shape standing on two legs. But its face was blank... like a black mannequin wearing nothing. Its entire body was covered in a sticky black substance, like slime or tentacles. But it wasn't moving at all, just standing there?
Was this what Altair had talked about...
"H-Hello...? C-Can you... hear me?"
I tried talking to it first. Maybe we could communicate.
"......"
...No dice? It's okay, Yuseong-ah. Altair said we can restore them to normal. If I was a little late and this happened... then I just have to fix it myself, right?
I raised my magic wand, aiming it at the steadfast black figure next to the rift—the person... no, the monster? Whatever it was.
"It might hurt a little, so please bear with it. I haven't learned power control yet..."
I'll end this as quick as possible. Honestly, I don't have the luxury either. But if I fire a Shining Spica Beam... won't that punch a hole through its body? Better to go with something explosive... Like yesterday, after the trade, I got stronger.
I aimed the wand again at the black monster—formerly a person—that was still just standing there.
And I shouted.
"Spica Burst Shooting!"
Rather than firing a beam, it felt like gathering light and launching it to explode. And the wand understood my intent perfectly. I thought to myself that I'd gotten a bit stronger, since the technique activated surprisingly easily.
Shwooo—
Fist-sized glowing orbs shot toward the monster at high speed. They should've hit and exploded... but they didn't.
It wasn't a misaim. Suddenly, the monster moved faster than the orbs, dodging sideways.
"Eh? It, it dodged?"
It was just standing still until a second ago? Okay, then again, try again...
"Spica Burst Shoot..."
Thud. A heavy sound echoed. Not something colliding—it was the recoil from the monster kicking off the floor and charging straight at me.
"Kyaaah! F-F-Fast, so fast...!"
I barely dodged by flying sideways... but the real problem was now.
"N-No good, sorry! Shining Spica Beam!!"
One hole should be fine. Probably. The beam I fired with full focus had some effect. The moment it hit the monster's body, its charge toward me faltered. And luckily, no hole appeared.
"Ooh, g-good...! One more time! Shining Spica Beam!!!"
But it wasn't going to let itself get hit by the same attack twice. This time, it ducked low to dodge the light beam, then charged at me incredibly fast again. Why does it keep coming at me?
"Why, wh-whyyyyy! Kyaaak!"
To evade the monster now right in front of me, I flew sideways with all my might—but in that instant, I forgot. We're inside a building.
Bam—
...Ow. I slammed full-force into the nearby wall. Cracks spiderwebbed across it, dust billowed everywhere, and I... crumpled to the floor.
I'd dropped my magic wand too... it flew off somewhere far away.
"Ugh, ah... ouch, ah, nngh..."
I'm... still so clumsy. I thought I'd gotten much stronger than my first time. To make such a stupid mistake, heh, heh...
"......"
Through the dust, I could see the monster approaching me again. I had to get up. Fly again, fight... But then—
Zing—
"Hngh, ah, nngh...♡"
The moment I tried to muster strength and stand, my womb twitched and quivered. The short but dizzying jolt drained all power from my body, and I collapsed back to the floor.
"Ha, ah... Oh no, this is b-bad..."
The monster was right in front of me now. Up close, the black slime enveloping what used to be a human body was wriggling all over. It covered every inch, hiding the original form... But that, that thing down there—what is that? No way, right? Am I seeing things?
A thick, pitch-black pillar-like thing between its legs. Not just attached—it's rearing up, pointing straight up. No matter how I look at it, that's... a guy's dick...
At that moment, the monster's black hand slowly reached toward me.
"Wh-Why? What are you... trying to do..."
The sticky hand gathered my wrists above my head... and lifted me up.
"Wha... huh?"
My body was hoisted so easily. I thrashed around, even tried kicking at the monster, but it was useless.
"Nngh, let... go...!"
With one hand gripping both my wrists, it lifted me until my feet left the ground. I had no idea what it wanted or why it grabbed me. Then something touched me.
"...Huh?"
My stomach. The magical girl dress didn't seem designed to cover it much, and that black... dick I'd hoped was a trick of the eye was pressing against my belly.
A familiar stickiness and lukewarm warmth spread across my skin.
"Wha... wh-what? Why... why?"
What is this... It's not like it's going to fit all the way in or anything. That thing couldn't possibly...
Zing—
"Higup—♡ Ha, haa...♡"
Was it reacting to the sticky black dick pressing gently on my belly? Right beneath the skin it pressed against, my womb spasmed again. And without my control, an image flashed in my mind.
The sensation from yesterday's dream. My pussy and womb stuffed full of tentacles—but now replaced by this dick.
"N-No... don't, do it...♡"
Th-That's impossible. This isn't a dream; it's real... This can't happen? The monster was starting to pry my legs apart little by little. And the dick was inching lower, toward my...
"N-No, I hate it...!"
"Freeze."
A calm, icy voice cut through the air. Instantly, ice crystals sprouted from the floor, adhering to the monster's feet.
The monster released me and spun toward the voice, charging—but
"Glacier Spear."
While the ice held its feet, long, transparent ice spears materialized. "Shot." With Sirius's word, they flew and struck the monster's body precisely.
"S-Sirius..."
The monster had dropped me to the floor, but it didn't hurt at all. I just lay there dazed, watching Sirius approach the impaled, immobile monster.
"Don't go easy on these things."
Sirius raised her hand, and an ice axe formed in midair. She grabbed it and swung, smashing the monster's head. I worried the head might come off... but instead, the ice axe shattered with a clang.
But it worked. The monster toppled forward, the black slime enveloping it dissolving away. And there... a normal unconscious person lay face-down on the floor.
"Don't hold back just because there's a person inside. Got it?"
"Y-Yes? Oh... yes."
Does she think I lost because I was holding back? N-No, I just crashed into the wall while flying...
"Listen seriously. If I hadn't come, you would've..."
"......"
"...Never mind."
I... probably would've lost right there. Lost, and then...
"I can't always help you. Remember that."
Sirius sealed the rift in an instant, left those final words, walked to the window, and flew off without looking back.
"...Yes."
She couldn't hear me, but I answered. Because she was right. The reality of my near-defeat hit me all at once, my heart pounding so loud I could hear it.
Like Sirius said, I can't always rely on help... My body feeling off today was just an excuse in the end. The enemy doesn't go easy because I'm not at my best.
A moment of carelessness, one mistake—it leads straight to defeat.
"Nngh, ugh, cold..."
Stumbling, I got up from the floor and picked up my fallen magic wand. The person on the ground... yeah, they'll come to on their own.
Sirius didn't take the Abyss fragments again today. The black shards on the floor floated to my earring and slowly absorbed into it.
"...I have to get stronger."
If I don't want to lose in reality... I need to trade with that eye in my dreams. That's how I grow stronger, how I can fulfill my magical girl duties without anyone's help.
The magical girl I dreamed of isn't someone who always relies on her allies. Even if she gets help, she grows from it... and accomplishes things on her own.
Will tonight's dream pick up from where I was caught...? Without Sirius, I lose completely. Then it all... goes in? It felt like it could reach all the way to my womb...
"Ah, n-nooo! I haven't even fallen asleep yet, what am I thinking?!"
I shook my head vigorously to dispel those thoughts, then hurled myself out the window, soaring into the sky where the sunset was already beginning.
"Hoo... Let's go."
I'm heading to dream now. To get stronger, by dreaming of defeat.