Decisive Battle at Danae's Castle! (7)
> ‘Witch Girl Rubii Costume’ unique trait ‘Protagonist Correction’ has been activated.
> Attack power receives additional correction the more allies are injured or attacked.
> Additional attack power correction applies when only you remain able to fight.
> Attack power receives additional correction proportional to the opponent’s hostility.
> Attack power is further corrected upward based on the strength and size of your resolve.
Thud! Clang! Boom!
Il-mun’s body spun five full rotations in midair before crashing down hard.
“Ghk, aaaaaah……?!”
It wasn’t the usual burning or stinging pain. This was a heavy, crushing agony that made him wonder if part of his face had caved in. Il-mun screamed.
“It hurts… it hurts so much…!”
What the hell?
What just happened?
One moment he saw a red-costumed magical girl stepping out from between the ice shards. The next, his body was flying through the air.
In the distance, Kei now stood where he had been. She had closed the gap in an instant and punched him. Was that it…?
‘Did the <Anti-Magic Barrier> fail to activate…?’
Nothing else could explain this situation. Nothing else could explain this pain. With the barrier up, he shouldn’t be feeling anything like this!
Speed wasn’t the issue—he’d already seen a magical girl use <Acceleration> before. He could accept that she had used some spell to move fast. Or maybe it was something like <Illusion>.
A low hum sounded as purple lines of light raced across his skin.
Good. The barrier was definitely working now. He wouldn’t take any more damage from that woman’s attacks.
‘Hah, I’ve seen it once… I won’t miss it next time….’
Beneath the hand covering his face, one of Il-mun’s eyes rolled grotesquely in its socket. The artificial eye, modified specifically for anti-magical-girl combat, recorded and analyzed magical girl spells on sight.
Once seen, it memorized the spell and analyzed it instantly.
Invisible speed was impressive, but it was still just a magical girl’s magic. He could handle it.
‘I won’t fall for the same spell twice… This eye will mark everything.’
Where she would come from, how she would approach, the scale, the speed—everything would be laid bare.
“Get up, you bastard.”
“Huh?”
While he was busy gloating over his analysis, someone suddenly grabbed him by the collar and hauled him upright.
‘What? When did she get here again? Magic? Huh? But why didn’t my eye react…?’
“Bite down. You’ll die in one hit if you space out.”
“Ah…?”
Whoosh—thud!
His head snapped to the left.
Crack!
Then to the right.
Thud! Crunch!
Solar plexus, then stomach.
Thud, smack, crack! Snap! Thud, thudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthud—!
And then his entire body.
“……!?!”
“Yaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
Kei unleashed a relentless storm of punches and knees, using her supple arms and legs without mercy. Il-mun’s vision spun wildly in every direction.
Even though his barrier absorbed the magical power saturating the magical girls’ attacks and reinforced itself in real time whenever Kei’s fists connected, the impact still transferred straight through.
“Guh…… ga……?!”
‘Th-this……’
A punch to the jaw sent his head snapping upward. His brain rattled, his vision spun, and he nearly blacked out.
‘The barrier… is working……’
Every time he tried to move even a finger, two or three more punches landed first. He couldn’t move. He had become a complete punching bag.
‘Insane…! Even the barrier… can’t cancel it……!’
His analyzing eye rolled frantically, yet it detected nothing.
It wasn’t magic. Her movements were simply too fast. Her fists were simply packed with an enormous amount of magical power. Fists carrying magical energy far beyond what the barrier could handle slammed mercilessly into his body.
‘N-no……!’
His vision blurred.
‘My mind… is going hazy——’
“Magical girrrrrrrrrrrl!!!!!”
Sparks flew from Il-mun’s eyes. He threw his body forward with all his strength, shoving Kei away.
“Ah.”
Boom!
While Kei’s eyes widened in surprise, Il-mun stomped the ground hard enough to shake it, then put distance between them and retreated.
“Huff, huff huff huff… it hurts… it hurts so much…!”
“At least you can feel pain.”
Il-mun clutched his face and body, glaring at Kei with a murderous aura. Blood streamed from both nostrils. Several bones were broken; every breath sent waves of agony through him. His face had swollen to nearly twice its size.
Yet the fact that he was still in one piece was a miracle in itself.
Kei’s fists had carried terrifying magical power, but his <Anti-Magic Barrier> and his durable Level-Over body had endured. Even his cracked bones were rapidly healing as he burned through the magical power stored inside him.
Il-mun’s eyes darted around. He opened and closed his mouth, unsure what to say, then pulled a knife from his pocket and finally managed to speak.
“L-look down…!”
“Hm?”
“L-lower your eyes… you bitch.”
Was he still sane?
Kei blinked a few times, then looked down at the knife tip with cold eyes.
Il-mun’s eyes, wet with fear and pain, still glared at her with deadly seriousness.
“I taught you… I educated you! You became a bitch who submits to any man! So why! Why are you moving on your own…! Why are you rebelling…!”
Kei clicked her tongue.
Il-mun growled, clearly displeased by her reaction.
“Every last one of you… none of you are normal….”
“……”
“Listen carefully, magical girl! Magical girls are a disease! A virus!
You don’t know your place and think you can do anything! Your brains must be paralyzed, right?!
Normal people with their feet on the ground would never act like this. Am I wrong?!”
“……”
“You magical girls beat up monsters and cheer about justice, don’t you? Without ever thinking about the monsters’ circumstances!
Pathetic creatures who think they’re always right! That’s why you have those eyes!
Because you think you’re righteous, because you think you have power, because you think you can do anything!”
“……”
“Brain-dead bitches! Junkies! Patients! Your heads are messed up! So I have to fix you! Make you come to your senses!
You too, Kei! You think you’ve become something just because you woke up in this situation? Just because you can use a little magic now, you think you can do anything?!
Not a chance! You idiot! There’s no hope, no dreams, nothing——”
“Is this your cigarette?”
Kei cut off Il-mun’s frenzied rant and casually picked something up from the floor.
It was a half-empty cigarette pack that had fallen from his pocket while she was beating him earlier.
Kei took out a cigarette, put it in her mouth, and lit it with a small flame created by magic. It was a daily-life spell she had bought from the <Point Shop> before—quite convenient.
She inhaled deeply, then exhaled with a satisfied “Phew~.”
“……Hey.”
“?”
“Did I ask for your opinion, you bastard?”
Kei spoke with the cigarette dangling from her lips, sounding thoroughly annoyed.
“I don’t get it at all. I took a nap and woke up to some lunatic treating me like I’m crazy.”
“No….”
“Look, I’m not a feminist, and I’m not gonna say ‘you shouldn’t hit women.’ I’m not saying it. Not at all.
These girls are stronger than most guys and they use violence just the same.”
If you can’t protect yourself with violence, then you shouldn’t wield it in the first place.
Anyone who uses violence should be prepared to receive the same violence in return.
Thinking that, Kei looked down at the fallen magical girls—especially Blue Sapphire, whose face was covered in wounds—and felt a surge of anger.
“But scarring a woman’s face is a bit much.”
“……”
“When fighting, guys go for the balls, girls protect the face—absolute no-touch zone. You know that, right? You got pissed at me for hitting yours.”
“……”
“I hit your balls, so I don’t care if you burn my face or whatever. You even stepped on my face first. But did these girls hit your balls?”
“……”
“Hearing common sense from someone who has none is seriously depressing.”
Kei took another deep drag, then stubbed the cigarette out on the floor.
“And even without that, I just don’t like you, bastard. So I’m beating you up.”
Click, click—her footsteps echoed.
“Eek! D-don’t come…!!”
“So——”
Kei walked toward Il-mun one step at a time, ignoring the knife pointed at her.
The fluttering hem of her red dress and her graceful steps made her look like a noble young lady.
Il-mun stared at her in a daze, captivated by how elegant she appeared.
But in the time it took him to blink, Kei was already right in front of him.
She grabbed the blade of the knife he held and snapped it cleanly with her fingers.
Clang!
Kei tossed the bladeless handle aside and smiled brightly. It was a bewitching, cat-like smile.
“Try reading the room for once★?”
Thud!
“……?!”
A powerful front kick to the stomach.
The red high heel of Witch Girl Rubii’s shoe drove deep into Il-mun’s abdomen.
The impact far exceeded both the barrier’s tolerance and a Level-Over’s durability. Agony like his body was being torn apart from the inside spread from the point of impact.
“Ghk… hah……!”
Crackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrack!
A horrible sound like something twisting and breaking reached Il-mun’s ears.
Kei’s eyes sparkled as she poured even more magical power into her heel.
Following <Radical Fire>, one of Witch Girl Rubii’s explosive-type finishing moves.
“【Anything that blocks a magical girl’s path shall explode】!”
With her clear incantation, Kei’s heel glowed red.
“【Bomber Rear Fire】!!!!!!”
Boom!
A deafening explosion followed.
Il-mun’s body was blasted away like a cannonball, sent flying by the flash of light and sparks.
His tattoo-covered frame smashed through several walls before finally embedding itself in the rubble. Dust billowed into the air.
“Tch… piece of trash.”
Kei tapped her heel against the floor as if shaking off dust.
* * *
Was that it for now?
The tattooed man had vanished completely behind the cloud of dust. She belatedly regretted not beating him more.
She had originally planned to finish what she started last time and crush his balls, but her past self as a man had ultimately held her back at the last moment.
‘Ugh. I chickened out. They were softer than burst tangerines. I should’ve hardened my heart and finished off that human garbage who even sells stars.’
If he was still alive, there would be other chances to torment him. She decided to hold onto that hope.
“Amazing….”
While she was wondering what to do next, a sweet, honey-like voice reached her ears.
She turned to see Danae, still bound with both hands restrained, leaning against some debris and looking her way.
Right. There was still one more person she needed to get revenge on.
Kei strode over and stopped right in front of Danae.
She tried to put on a menacing expression, but Danae simply smiled brightly back at her, completely unfazed.
“Hey, got anything to say?”
“Kei, you’re so cool~.”
“What should I do with you?”
“Take me, Kei~.”
“Stop messing around!!!”
“……You’re the one messing around, Kei.”
Danae looked up at her with cold eyes.
“『Sit』.”
Danae muttered quietly.
At that moment, Kei’s knees gave out and she dropped to the floor right in front of Danae.
“……Eh?”
“I still have this in my hand, you know?”
As she spoke, Danae raised her hand. A pitch-black Magic Stone emerged from her body—the very one that had been controlling Kei!
“Wh-wh-wh-why do you still have that?!”
“You don’t need to know. With this, you can’t do anything anyway, right?”
“Khhh……!”
“How about it? Should I make you masturbate naked while walking around?
Oh, or we could broadcast it! Show the whole world Kei’s lewd appearance.
Wouldn’t that be nice? Kei would get tons of donations! You’d become a billionaire overnight!”
Kei ground her teeth and glared at Danae.
“You really… are a terrible woman…!”
“That’s right, I’m a terrible woman. You finally get it?”
Danae laughed brightly, then slowly narrowed her eyes and looked down at the Magic Stone in her hand.
She gripped it tightly—
Crack!
—and crushed it.
……Huh?
Huhhhhhh?
In Kei’s stunned vision, the Magic Stone shattered into tiny fragments and fell to the ground. The pressure that had been weighing on her body vanished in an instant.
“That’s enough… Do whatever you want.”
Danae spoke calmly, her expression resigned.
