The Magical Girl Believes in the Power of Bonds (4)
"No way...!" S clutched his perforated stomach and hurriedly raised the hand holding the magic stone. A strange light began pouring out from the stone. He was clearly trying to manipulate the space again at will to restrain Alpha. But—
Bang—!
"Graaaagh?!" The muzzle of the gun in Alpha's hand spat fire, blasting S's hand clean off.
"I said no way! Today is the third Saturday! Today is the limited-edition Witch Girl merchandise sale day! Are you insane?! More than that, the only reason I came here today was to save up for that special bonus! And you're telling me I have to put up with this?! No way!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Shaking her head in disbelief, Alpha fired wildly without even looking. It looked like she was shooting at random, but every shot either pierced S or blocked his path whenever he tried to reach for the magic stone again.
"So... how are you going to compensate me, you trash?"
"H-Hiiiiiiiiiiik~~~~!"
At the sound of her ominous voice, S began crawling away from her, blood pouring from his wounds. The more he moved, the farther he got from the magic stone.
"Someone—someone help me! A magical girl! Kill that magical girl!"
"Shut up."
Bang—!
Clang—!
The bullet had been aimed at his head to silence him, but a shield suddenly dropped from the ceiling and deflected it. S's hand glowed faintly. Apparently he could still do that much without the magic stone.
"Protect S!"
"Throw yourselves at her if you have to! If S goes down, Mera Studio is finished!"
In an instant, monsters surrounded Alpha. Grotesque, hulking figures encircled the slender woman. Yet Alpha's face showed no trace of panic. If anything, the monsters themselves were the ones breaking into cold sweats.
They knew exactly how monstrous and absurd magical girls were. Even with overwhelming numbers, at least half of them would have to be prepared to die. That was why filming the videos where they humiliated these untouchable beings brought such an indescribable sense of catharsis.
"What, you're not coming? A bunch of guys standing around doing nothing against one girl? Hurry up and move already, you pathetic squids who can't do anything but act like perverts. Let's leave your pathetic faces out of it, yeah? That thing dangling between your legs looks just as pathetic as squid legs, you know."
Provoked, the monsters lined up around her flared with anger.
"That little—! She was crawling on all fours in front of us just moments ago, and now—"
Bang—!
A hole appeared in the forehead of the monster that had shouted in protest. Its massive body collapsed with a thud, slowly turning to dust.
"If you've got something to say, say it. How about it?"
Alpha spun the gun in her hand and casually swept her gaze over the rest of them.
"Hey, are we just gonna let her mock us like this? If we all rush her at once, even a magical girl can't do anything!"
"That's right! There's a reason they say numbers beat skill!"
"Yeah, yeah! ...So, uh, you guys go first? My stomach kinda hurts...."
"I think my hemorrhoids are acting up...."
"My hair's falling out—"
"If you go first you'll catch a deadly disease—"
"I'm pregnant—"
"There are only guys here, why are you pregnant?! And stop faking it!"
"Is this gender discrimination in this day and age?! Huh?! Guys can't get pregnant?! You wanna fight?!"
"Say something that makes sense! Let's just fight! The last one standing gets to jump her first!"
"""Let's do that!!"""
The monsters united as one—only to immediately start brawling with each other.
"H-Hey, you guys... if you're gonna fight, fight the magical girl over there!"
S's hollow cry went completely ignored.
Desperate. Isolated. Alpha looked around with a bored expression when a sharp crash echoed through the room.
"Whew... the outside air feels so fresh."
"It's still underground, though."
"Ugh, I'm still dizzy, you two."
Kei and two other magical girls had escaped from the glass dome they had been trapped in. Yura tapped the floor rhythmically with the club she had used to smash the glass wall moments earlier. The nearby monsters watched her with wary eyes.
"What, you can move? You okay?"
"Ah... mm. The drug's still lingering a bit, but I think I'm fine."
In response to Alpha's question, Kei rotated her arms to check her condition. With a casual flick of her wrist, the plain knife appeared in her empty hand. She swung it lightly—shhhk—and the head of the bull-headed monster that had been watching from a distance fell to the floor with a soft thud. It was the same one that had tormented Kei earlier. The severed head blinked in confusion on the ground, not yet realizing what had happened.
Kei smiled brightly, looking refreshed.
"Haa... that feels good...."
Licking her lips, she trembled with a smile that was more seductive and terrifying than any expression they had seen from her before. The monsters who had been fighting, the ones watching the situation, and even those preparing to flee all fell silent.
Then, moments later—
"""Uwaaaaaaaaah!"""
Overcome with revulsion, the monsters turned tail and fled in every direction.
"""Where do you think you're going?!"""
The three newly freed magical girls, faces twisted with vicious intent, charged after them.
* * *
Boom—! Crash—! Crackle—!
Everywhere, grotesque monsters were sent flying, split apart, sliced, shattered, and frozen. S could only stare with his mouth agape, blood pouring from his body, as the word "ruin" seemed to hang in the air.
"A-Aaaah... it's over... Mera Studio is finished...!"
He crawled forward on all fours. His destination was the magic stone lying on the floor. He couldn't let it end like this. For the sake of his ambitions, he couldn't let it end here...!
I... I can't die here...!
The distance to the fallen magic stone was only about ten meters. Under normal circumstances it would be nothing, but with a hole in his thigh and his body in shambles, dragging himself across the floor made it feel impossibly far. If he had not possessed a monster's durable body, he would have already died from blood loss or shock.
"I can't... I can't let it end like this. I won't allow it...."
"Then let it end, you pathetic pervert with the mustache."
A foot stepped down in front of S as he desperately tried to crawl forward. Blonde hair. Golden eyes. A golden magical girl clad entirely in gold. Alpha, who had used the point shop to restore her original frilled dress that clung tightly to her body, blocked his path. The familiar gun rested in her hand, now adorned with heavy golden decorations.
"You've had your fill, haven't you? I used to be a guy too, so I get it. I understand. These things happen."
Alpha shrugged with both guns still in hand.
"But since you did whatever you wanted, you have to take responsibility. Don't you think?"
"H-Heh... responsibility, is it...."
S lowered his head as if resigned.
"...Hohoho. Indeed, refusing to take responsibility would be unsightly."
"Right. So stop making a fool of yourself and just accept your death, old man."
"But I don't mind being unsightly."
S pressed his remaining hand against the floor and began dragging himself forward again. Even with Alpha standing right in front of him, he desperately reached for the magic stone, inch by inch.
"I... I have a dream... Even as a monster, even as trash that invades your world and uses you as actresses against your will, I have a dream. I know better than anyone that I'm nothing but a nuisance."
"...What is it?"
"The ultimate masterpiece."
S muttered bitterly, still dragging his broken body forward.
"Someday, I want to create the most perfect erotic video imaginable. So perfect, so flawless, that no one could ever call anything greater. A work that has no equal before or after it."
Monsters did not truly die. Even if they turned to dust, their data remained, and they would be revived in new bodies prepared by Mekrak.
"But there are risks. You lose all the experience points you've accumulated. You regress. You lose everything. The energy required for revival is enormous, so no one knows if I'll wake up again in one year, ten years, or a hundred years!"
Cough— Blood spilled from S's mouth. Yet his eyes remained fixed on the magic stone as he continued to drag himself forward. Alpha coldly stepped on his outstretched hand.
"Ghk...!"
S groaned in pain.
"Then just make it again when you come back. If you're going to create something that has no equal before or after, that is."
"Haa, haa... A work... isn't created from nothing... Cough... It's something you've painstakingly built up... To gather this level of equipment, this many people, this much power again... who knows when that would be... To have the dream you've chased for so long slip away again... I can't allow that...."
He wanted to keep moving out of sheer stubbornness, but with one hand already blown off when he dropped the magic stone, and his remaining hand pinned beneath Alpha's foot, he could no longer advance.
Click. The black muzzle of the gun was pressed against S's face.
"Yeah. I get your dream. I get what you're after. But that's that, and this is this."
"......"
"Nothing's more boring than listening to someone else's dream."
"Is that so...."
Alpha continued.
"But if you come back within a year or two, and you still need actresses, and they have to be magical girls... then come after me again. Or go after Kei over there. Though if possible, I'd prefer you target me."
"......?"
"Listening to other people's dreams is boring, and honestly, erotic videos aren't exactly my thing, but as a Witch Girl fan, I respect creators. All those works wouldn't exist if those people hadn't done anything. They're the ones who carve new paths where there was nothing before. Even if the content is ridiculous, there are people who pour their blood, sweat, and tears into creating new things, and people who enjoy them because of it."
"What you do is unforgivable. If you try the same thing again, I'll stop you with everything I have. ...But I won't mock you. I'll raise hell to keep you from causing trouble, but I won't look down on you for doing something pointless. ...So if you still want to create the ultimate masterpiece, and I'm still young and healthy when that time comes... feel free to come after me as an actress."
That's the best encouragement I can give.
S stared up at Alpha blankly before bursting into laughter.
"......Haha. Hahahahahahaha!"
He laughed hollowly yet refreshingly, rolling his dust- and blood-covered body across the floor. Whether it was genuine amusement or simple resignation, he lay on his back and laughed joyfully.
"Hahaha...! Cough... Ow ow ow... Haa... It's a shame, but there's no point struggling now... I guess it can't be helped."
"You ready to die?"
"...I'm ready to go back a little before reaching my dream."
"Do you regret capturing us?"
"Huh?"
"If you hadn't captured us, maybe we wouldn't have wrecked the place this badly. We might not have even found this studio. Then you could've kept peacefully filming all the videos you wanted."
"Haha. I suppose. Maybe so... No, I have no regrets."
S smiled faintly through bloodstained lips.
"The video I shot with you was the best one I've ever made. It's a shame I can't do better, but I have no regrets. ......Now, don't drag this out any longer. Just kill me cleanly. I'll be looking forward to next time."
The surrounding monsters had been almost completely dealt with. The three magical girls, including Kei, had mowed them down like autumn leaves. With Peter and S—the two leaders and executives—eliminated, this wretched Mera Studio would finally come to an end.
Alpha calmly tightened her grip on the gun, ready to pull the trigger for the last time.
"Whoa, what a mess. Good thing I got here late, real good. S, you okay~?"
Just before the trigger could be pulled, a carefree voice completely at odds with the chaos cut through the air. Alpha reflexively spun around and fired.
Bang—!
The dry report echoed as the bullet pierced the head of the uninvited guest who had appeared behind her. There was no doubt about it. Yet—
"Whoa whoa, scary~."
The figure—a silhouette so black it was impossible to tell if it was male, female, shadow, or something else—casually waved its hand as if having part of its head blown off was no big deal.
"Black...? You were alive!"
Color returned to S's face at the sound of his voice. The newcomer was Black, one of the three executives of Mera Studio. A monster whose form was nothing but a pitch-black silhouette, impossible to discern.
"Looks like things got bad. Whoa, you're bleeding a lot~ You're not gonna die, are you, S?"
Bang! Bang!
"Whoa whoa whoa, take it easy, magical girl~."
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Alpha opened fire with both guns, unloading everything she had at Black as he strolled toward her. The magically created bullets were endless. There was no need to worry about reloading. Black's arm flew off. His skull was blown away. His knees shattered. His thighs were pierced. His waist was torn apart. His heart was punctured. His neck was ripped open. His insteps were crushed. His face, the back of his head, his shoulders, his fingers, his elbows, his shins, his calves, his groin, his stomach, his ribs, his ribcage, his lungs, his heart—all were sequentially destroyed. Yet Black's form instantly regenerated, and he continued advancing toward the magic stone without pause.
"Oops. So this is the magic stone."
"Khh...!"
Targeting Black was pointless. Alpha fired at the magic stone on the floor instead, but a shield rising from the ground blocked the shot.
"S!"
"This is my last bit of strength!"
Rumble— Boom—!
A tall, thick wall dropped from above, cutting Alpha off from S. With a sickening crunch, the arm Alpha had been stepping on was severed by the falling wall. The three-meter-high wall looked impossible to jump over without assistance.
It was S's final ability, used without regard for the consequences. While Alpha hesitated at the sudden turn of events, Black had already reached the magic stone.
"So this is the magic stone. Hmm. It's big~."
"Black! Well done! Hand it over to me right now! You can throw it over the wall! Or use the magic stone to defeat the magical girl! If it's you, if it's your power—"
"Ah, is that so? Should I do that?"
At S's pained shout from beyond the wall, Black swayed unsteadily before smiling and raising the magic stone in his hand. Just like S had done, a strange light began emanating from it.
What is he trying to do with that power...?!
Alpha backed away warily, bracing for an attack. But Black wasn't aiming the magic stone at her.
Thud—!
"Guh... kuh... kuh... kuh...?!"
From beyond the wall, behind Alpha, came S's agonized scream.
"............................................Huh?"
She turned around in shock to see S impaled on a sharp spear and lifted high above the three-meter wall, as if reenacting some ancient Romanian impalement legend. His body, riddled with countless spikes both large and small, was displayed atop the wall like a gruesome warning. The once-noisy second filming set fell into instant silence. All eyes turned to the impaled S.
"Guh... kuh...!"
S coughed up blood in agony.
"Huh? Not dead yet?"
Black looked up at him innocently and raised the magic stone again. A strange light shone from it once more—
Crunch—! Crackle—!
Spikes erupted from every inch of S's body, turning him into a literal hedgehog. He looked like a cruelly blooming otherworldly flower. Blood and bodily fluids rained down. With a final groan of pain, S's body—his fingertips, his toes—slowly turned to dust and vanished.
That was the utterly hollow end of the director who had been one of Mera Studio's pillars and had pursued the "ultimate masterpiece."
"""......"""
"Bye bye, S! I'll put this magic stone to good use~. Love you~!"
In the stunned silence that followed the incomprehensible scene, Black alone waved his hand cheerfully, as if nothing had happened.