Final Battle at Danae's Castle (5)
The magical tool known as the Debuff Orb.
It was an orb roughly half the size of a fist, activated by shouting a specific keyword.
As the name implied, its effect was to remove debuffs. It was an incredibly rare item capable of dispelling every kind of status ailment, seal, or curse imaginable.
It could be purchased from the Point Shop, but the required points came to a staggering 390,000. It was hardly cheap.
For an effect so powerful, it came with heavy restrictions. After a single use, the cooldown until the next activation was quite long—roughly three days.
That was why it had to be used with extreme caution. According to the Point Shop description, the area of effect was approximately a five-meter radius centered on the orb. On top of that, there were tricky conditions: the effect would fail to activate if obstacles blocked the light, among other things.
The magical girls held captive in Danae's Castle had all their points seized by Danae, so none of them could have bought the item. However, after hearing Danae's advice while trapped in the underground prison, Blue Sapphire had emptied out every last point she possessed to purchase it.
The points awarded for rescuing magical girls were substantial. When the number exceeded ten, the reward grew even larger. If they also thoroughly exterminated the monsters occupying Danae's Castle, she believed she could earn far more than she had spent. With that calculation in mind, she had made the purchase.
...That was how she justified it to herself, but the truth was she would have bought it without hesitation even if she never recovered the points.
Because Blue Sapphire was the kind of magical girl who followed her heart rather than calculating profit and loss.
In any case.
At this very moment, inside the banquet hall of Danae's Castle.
Exactly as planned, Blue Sapphire had served as bait to gather all the magical girls in one place. Clara, her body hidden beneath an Invisibility Cloak, had then activated the Debuff Orb.
All the Magic Power Seals Danae had placed on the magical girls were now being lifted...!
Crunch―!
Crack―!
Whoosh...!
“Uwaaaaaagh!”
“Th-the magical girls…! Their magic is back…!”
The magical girls who had been dragged forward to be thrown into the Teleport Gate began breaking free of their restraints one by one and rising to their feet. Eliminating the nearby monsters in the process was simply a bonus.
All around them, flames ignited in empty air, electricity crackled and sparked, and droplets of water floated in midair.
“You… bitches.”
Faced with that ferocious sight and the overwhelming pressure rolling off them, Il-mun—the Level Over modified human from the anti-magical-girl special modification district—stumbled backward.
“Tch!”
He spun around, intending to recapture Blue Sapphire so he could at least use her as a hostage again while he charged at Clara, who held the Debuff Orb.
But before Il-mun’s hand could reach her—
“Don’t touch that girl with your filthy hands, you piece of filth.”
Whoosh—!
Smack!
“Huh…?”
A gust of wind brushed past him, and his face burned. At the same time, the Blue Sapphire who had been in front of him vanished. All that remained was the ice pillar imprisoning Kei.
The missing Blue Sapphire was now cradled in the arms of a magical girl standing some distance away.
Using Acceleration magic to blitz forward in an instant, the girl had rescued Blue Sapphire and, in the same motion, driven her fist into Il-mun’s face.
“You rotten bitch…!”
“...To think you’re this badly hurt… You worked so hard. I don’t know who you are, but… thank you. Truly….”
The magical girl holding Blue Sapphire gently stroked the injured girl’s face—covered in cuts, forehead bleeding—with a look of deep pity.
At the very least, Clara had grown familiar with the faces of those working inside Danae’s Castle, but this magical girl was someone she had never seen before. A complete stranger had thrown herself into danger this deeply for their sake.
Something warm swelled in the hearts of every magical girl present.
Not only that, it threw fresh fuel onto the fire burning inside them.
The spark that had begun to blaze from Kei’s resistance now roared even hotter, fed by the kindling of Blue Sapphire’s selfless devotion.
Thud.
“I’m not letting you die a clean death, you human garbage.”
The one who stepped forward with those words was Danbi, gripping a massive axe in her hands.
Fwoooosh…!
“I’ll peel your skin off and burn you alive.”
The magical girl wearing a witch-like hat glared at Il-mun, her body wreathed in flames.
Whirl—crack! Clack!
“I’ll beat you so hard you’ll look like dust flying on a rainy day, you brainless bastard. Just so you know.”
The one who said that was the magical girl in a chi-pao outfit, swinging her nunchucks in a dazzling display.
“The way he talks is fucking hilarious.”
“He doesn’t even see women as human beings.”
“Not all men are like that, right?”
“They say bastards like him need their dicks chopped off.”
“Is that tattoo supposed to be fashion? It’s so tacky it’s blinding~.”
“Seriously, the more I look at him… Does he not realize he came out of a woman’s belly too?”
“Let’s beat him until he wants to crawl back inside his mom’s womb.”
“Sounds good.”
“Are we killing him? We’re killing him, right? Let’s start with the fingers and cut them off one by one. Hehehehe.”
“Should we smash that place like Kei unni…?”
“E-everyone, f-fight hard…! L-let’s beat the crap out of him…!”
“I’m here, motherfuckers!”
“Kyaaahoo!”
“Yahooo!”
“Well, people with loud voices tend to have empty insides, and every action is clearly a reaction born from inferiority complex. It’s a sign of human inferiority, wouldn’t you say? Yes.”
“He’s probably never even dated a woman.”
“Maybe he had to pay for it.”
“Sugar dating?”
“Oh my, oh my, oh my… To think there were creatures like this in the world… How pitiful….”
“Friend, you’re wrong. That’s not a race… how should I put it… anyway, it’s not human. That much is certain.”
“Should we just call it a monster?”
“Monster~ Monster~.”
Chatter chatter chatter.
Whisper whisper whisper.
The monsters froze at the sight of the magical girls gathered in unprecedented numbers, radiating overwhelming pressure. Il-mun, now surrounded and made the target of their collective condemnation, looked around with dark circles carved beneath his eyes like exhaustion given physical form.
The surroundings were saturated with pure hostility.
No—it had always been this way.
These things called magical girls were strange.
No matter how thoroughly you trampled them, their will refused to vanish.
Whether they could use magic or not.
They stared at him with the exact same eyes they had a moment ago.
They wouldn’t break. Wouldn’t fall. Wouldn’t despair. Wouldn’t weaken.
‘…Fuck….’
Il-mun hated it.
‘Fuck… fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.’
“—Avert your eyes.”
Don’t look at me with those eyes.
Don’t look at me like that.
Don’t look at me like I’m trash.
Why are you looking at me with those eyes?
“Avert your fucking eyes, you bitches!!!!!!!!”
BOOOOOOM!
When Il-mun stomped violently, the banquet hall floor caved in deeply and spiderweb cracks raced across the ground. Dust billowed upward.
Yet the magical girls’ eyes did not change.
In the silence, they continued glaring at him with wary hostility.
Why?
Why?
Why are you looking at me with those eyes? Why won’t your eyes die?
After receiving this much humiliation, shouldn’t they droop their heads like flowers and give up?
Shouldn’t they be in despair by now? Shouldn’t they abandon hope and crawl across the floor like insects?
—That’s what I did!
—That’s exactly what I did!!!!!!!!
Just why could these women keep those eyes whether they had power or not?
Just why?
“……Give up. You can’t possibly believe you can win against this many magical girls.”
The mature-looking magical girl spoke quietly, trying to persuade the beast-like, glaring Il-mun.
“What you’ve done cannot be forgiven. However, as an Earth human, you won’t resurrect like the monsters if you die. …Therefore, I recommend surrender. We will restrain you, but we will guarantee your life. None of us here wishes to commit murder.”
The other magical girls looked like they wanted to complain, but none of them openly opposed her.
That didn’t mean they lowered their hostility, though.
‘Ah… So that’s it.’
Within that stinging, lukewarm gaze, Il-mun slowly looked over each of them with indifferent eyes.
One by one. The magical girls who had been naked only moments ago were now dressed in colorful costumes that reflected their individual personalities, their eyes sparkling.
Only then did he feel like he finally understood.
Il-mun convinced himself.
These things.
These women… had clearly gone insane.
Being a magical girl was a disease. It had to be some kind of virus.
A crazy, drug-like virus that deluded you into thinking you were a magical girl, made you believe anything was possible, convinced you that hope existed in any situation and that you were always in the right.
If that was the case, then it made sense.
That was why these women had those eyes.
Yes. Now that he thought about it, that blue magical girl was the same.
Sacrificing her own body to save others. Turning herself into bait until she ended up in that state just to create an opportunity.
Those were absolutely not the thoughts or actions of a sane, normal human being.
They were abnormal.
Therefore.
Therefore….
I.
Only I.
I am—the normal one.
“………Ha.”
Amid the rising dust, Il-mun let out a chuckle.
“Ha.”
“Haha.”
“Hahahahaha.”
“Hahahahahahahahahaha.”
“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!”
It was maniacal laughter. Vicious laughter. Roaring laughter. Cold laughter. Explosive laughter. Mocking laughter. Great laughter. Insane laughter. Jeering laughter. Wide-mouthed, face-splitting laughter.
A great laugh carrying every possible meaning reverberated through the hall.
At that terrifying aura, the magical girls knitted their beautiful brows and took combat stances, ready to strike at any moment.
Il-mun’s laughter, which had seemed like it would never end, suddenly cut off as though someone had flipped a switch.
“……That’s enough.”
Il-mun let his arms hang loosely and stared at the magical girl directly in front of him.
It was the same calm, mature magical girl who had recommended surrender earlier.
“That’s enough.”
“You’re agreeing to surrender, then. Understood. Someone, prepare a binding spell—”
“The auction, the merchandise, all of it—that’s enough, you brain-dead bitches.”
The calm magical girl’s eyebrow twitched.
Il-mun did not stop.
“You crazy bitches. That’s enough. Enough. I don’t like it. Really, I won’t be satisfied until I make every last one of you cry. Until I ram it into your cunts and make you sob and beg for mercy. Now it’s enough. Mekrak, the rest of it—all of it is done. Prepare yourselves, you bitches.”
A faint light began to glow across Il-mun’s skin.
The circuits implanted inside him for Level Over were humming at a fever pitch, spinning as though they were about to burn.
His condition was perfect. Right now he was at his absolute strongest. He would not lose to mere magical girls.
“Training time. Come at me all at once.”
Whirr—! Fwoooooosh!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Flames flew toward him, winds howled, and water droplets carrying physical mass surrounded Il-mun.
The magical girls attacked him with everything they had.
Each of them possessed different specialties, so the moment one attack was blocked, two or three more would slip through his defenses.
Their one-sided assault swirled like a storm. No ordinary monster should have been able to withstand it. Even the creatures who had been standing nearby were caught in the aftershock and shredded as if tossed into a blender.
However.
“Haa… Haa… You bitches…!”
Despite everything, Il-mun remained on his feet. His clothes were torn and ragged, but he was still perfectly intact.
“Is this all you’ve got?! Huh?!”
Thud!
“……Ugh…!”
One magical girl took a brutal punch to the solar plexus and collapsed, vomiting. Il-mun mercilessly kicked her chin while she was doubled over, knocking her unconscious.
Fewer than three magical girls remained standing. Among them were Danbi and Er. Clara had long since been reduced to a rag doll by Il-mun’s hands and now lay collapsed among the others.
As an anti-magical-girl weapon, ordinary magical girls could do nothing to him. His body had been designed for exactly that purpose from the start.
Magical girls could not defeat him.
“Haa… Haa… Ha…!”
“You girls have lost your minds. You’ve been infected by the magical girl virus. Got it?”
Il-mun had been muttering the same thing over and over since earlier. Even while fighting, even while ruthlessly sending magical girls flying and beating them until they lost consciousness.
The content of his words and the eerie look on his face sent a chill down the spines of the magical girls facing him.
