The Encounter
Is it possible for the dead to come back to life?
In my previous world, the answer was an unequivocal no.
Even in this world of magical girls, where all manner of supernatural powers run rampant, resurrection is no exception.
At least, not as far as I know.
That leaves only two possibilities.
Either it's a mythical being, or a corpse revived through some unholy method.
Could it just be my imagination?
“How could I mistake Pania’s magic for someone else’s...!”
The odds of it being a mistake were lower than the odds of the dead rising again.
How many days had I spent huddled inside that tent with Pania?
It was recent, too. I might confuse another magical girl’s power, but never Pania’s.
The image of her dying was still vivid in my mind.
Her face crushed by Gem’s fist.
Her insides turned to pulp by that finishing move, the Strong Fist.
Her right leg mangled in the modified bear trap.
Her body riddled with holes from Serafina’s lasers, reduced to rags.
So how was she alive?
How? I had buried her myself!
“Where are you...!”
I had already left the Serafina Memorial Sphere behind. Gem was no longer important.
I ran blindly toward the source of the magic. The long hem of my dress kept catching on my feet.
Even so, my mind raced faster than my legs.
‘It can’t be a mythical being. Ordinary magical girls are out of the question, and even an awakened one wouldn’t qualify.’
Then had Serafina done something?
If it was her, experimenting with forbidden methods to revive someone wouldn’t be surprising.
What about outside interference I didn’t know about? And was it even really Pania? It could be a puppet under someone’s control. That’s a common cliché, after all.
Or, since this was the magical girl world, maybe a zombie brought back by magic... something like that?
Countless theories flashed through my head, but nothing could be confirmed until I saw her with my own eyes.
At that moment—
—Thud!
A dull impact. A sticky sensation on my face.
I reflexively wiped it away and found red broth smeared on my hand.
A toppled food cart lay at my feet.
“What the hell? Tteokbokki sauce...?”
“H-Hiik...!”
I looked up to see a man sitting beside the cart, staring up at me in terror. A yellow puddle had formed between his legs.
“You little shit...!”
Who leaves garbage like this in the middle of the road when I’m in a hurry?
And what the hell is this mess? It’s sticky!
Should I just kill him?
This is the magical girl world.
Magical girls can do whatever they want.
The man trembled, tears welling in his eyes as I glared at him, sauce dripping from my face.
“I-I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, Magical Girl... P-Please, spare my life...”
He prostrated himself over the filthy puddle.
Something flickered above him.
A useless dog, forehead pressed to the dirt, begging.
[Please... save Pania. No, please save her... I beg you...]
The feeling was unpleasant, yet somehow pitiful.
My anger vanished in an instant, replaced by a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Well, I’m sorry about that. But you should know it was mostly your fault. Anyway.”
I apologized as politely as I could manage.
I had seen something disgusting.
The sticky tteokbokki sauce felt even more repulsive now.
‘Right. This isn’t what matters right now.’
I sighed, stepped past the man, and ran again.
He remained kneeling in the puddle.
* *
The place where I sensed Pania’s magic wasn’t far.
It was now a shelter for the homeless—the same place that had once served as a temporary refuge for evacuees back when Serafina was still sane.
In other words, the underground passage that had collapsed after the Demon invasion.
Lucky, in a way. I already knew the layout.
I also knew the far end was blocked by rubble.
No need to worry about an escape route on the other side.
Looking down the stairs, I saw a gaping, pitch-black entrance.
A gust of wind carried the smell of dust.
I descended the broken steps and stepped inside.
Thanks to a magical girl’s eyes, I could see clearly even in the dark.
The dust smell grew thicker the deeper I went.
A musty mold scent mixed with a faint trace of blood.
“Blood. So there really is something here.”
Clatter.
Farther in, the rubble piles lining the walkway began to shift.
What emerged from them—
“Guooo...”
Two small golems.
They looked about my height.
Like the ones I had fought with Gem, only scaled down.
I could feel Pania’s magic from them, too.
The giant golem hadn’t been much of a threat. What could these downgraded versions possibly do?
I smirked and released threads from my fingers.
Shrrrk.
The threads wrapped around the golems and melted into their bodies.
“What? Don’t tell me this is...”
“Uwooo!”
No time to think. The other golem was charging straight at me.
To test what I had just discovered, I tugged my index and middle fingers.
As intended, the connected golem was pulled forward and raised its arm.
—Clang!
The golem I controlled perfectly blocked the attack aimed at me.
No wonder its abilities had seemed strangely weak for a 1.6 danger rating.
So that was it—an ability to connect with and manipulate objects made of magic.
Still a worthless power, though.
After all, there were no “magic-made objects” worth controlling in the first place.
And I couldn’t create any myself.
“Interesting.”
Using the threads allowed far more precise control than moving my own body.
It felt like operating a game character.
On impulse, I shot more threads from my left hand and connected to the second golem.
Now I could control both hands. My movements became even more delicate and precise.
I pulled my left hand back while spinning my right hand forward.
The golem twisted its body to dodge the incoming attack and drove its fist into the other golem.
With spin added to the punch—
—Boom!
One hit was all it took.
Unfortunately, the arm of the golem I was controlling shattered and became useless. The material had been too fragile. Maybe I shouldn’t have added the spin.
Still, learning how to use the ability was a meaningful result.
Whether I would ever need it was another question.
I shook the threads off and continued deeper inside.
The faint smell of blood grew stronger the farther I went.
Amid the now-clear metallic scent, something caught my foot.
I kicked it lightly. A man with a cracked skull and rolled-back eyes stared up at me.
Probably one of the homeless who had lived here. Now just a corpse.
Looking around, I saw bodies scattered all along the walkway.
Each in different states. Some with crushed heads like the one at my feet, others with holes in their stomachs, others cut clean through at the waist.
Similar to the corpses I had seen in the slums.
If I had still been Porim, the sight of so many bodies would have triggered a panic attack. But now that I was in Xena’s body... who knew?
Xena’s mind was proving useful in moments like this.
Still... whose work was this? Pania’s?
“No... That can’t be right.”
Pania wasn’t the type to do something like this.
In the original story, she was a woman who couldn’t even kill an ant. That was part of why I had once thought of her as the ideal magical girl.
Her very nature made it impossible.
Then who was it?
Was it a zombie wearing Pania’s body, just as I had feared? Or another magical girl?
“Hmm...”
I kicked the corpse again. Another body lying in the corner twitched.
Wait. This bastard...
“You. Get up. I know you’re alive.”
The man didn’t move. He stayed face-down on the floor, back turned.
Even now, his body trembled faintly as he tried to hold his breath. It was almost pitiful.
I calmly pressed my fist against his temple.
At that moment—
“No, no no no! Wait! I’m alive!!”
The homeless man who had been playing dead scrambled up and dropped to his knees in front of me.
His hair was matted into a single clump, whether from sweat or its natural state.
Ugh. The smell was revolting.
“What happened? Who did this?”
“W-Well, you see...”
In normal circumstances, I would have waited for him to calm down before getting a proper answer. But I didn’t have that luxury now.
“If you can’t explain it in a way I can understand within ten seconds, this won’t be an act anymore.”
“Y-Yes!! It... It was a magical girl! N-No, a Magical Girl, ma’am!!”
I frowned slightly at his answer.
I had already guessed it was a magical girl. Who else could have done this?
The homeless had been numerous and armed with broken kitchen knives and clubs. Even gangsters would have taken some casualties.
Only a magical girl could wipe them out without a scratch.
Reading my expression, the man hurried on.
“Wait! Please wait! I’ll tell you everything! We were checking today’s haul with the others at our hideout when suddenly a woman walked in...!”
I raised a hand to cut him off.
So they had attacked without realizing she was a magical girl.
Of course they had.
It had been dark, so they couldn’t make out her features. Seeing a woman enter, they must have thought it was easy prey.
After all, no magical girl would come to a place like this.
“Right. You saw your friends getting slaughtered right in front of you, so you got a good look. What did that magical girl look like?”
“I couldn’t see clearly in the dark, but... pink. I think she was pink!! And her hair was tied to one side!”
“......”
Pink magical girls weren’t common to begin with.
And if her hair was tied to one side, that narrowed it down perfectly to Pania. It had to be her.
Leaving the man’s sigh of relief behind, I pressed deeper into the underground passage.
The passage wasn’t very deep to begin with. I was almost at the end.
I had confirmed it was Pania. The only question left was whether she was real or fake.
I walked through the empty passage for a while.
The path gradually narrowed until it ended in a dead end blocked by rubble.
Atop the pile of stones in the center—
Two murky pink points of light floated in the darkness.
I stopped and stared blankly at the woman sitting on the collapsed debris.
“You...”
The seated woman smiled.
“Hello? You must be a magical girl, right?”
Her outfit. Her voice. Everything was exactly as I remembered.
How... She was definitely dead...
And...
Name: Pania
Type: Villain / Magical Girl
Position: -
True Name: ■■'s Magical Girl
Ability: Object Creation, ■■
Danger Level: 8
Why was she marked as a villain?
And why were her True Name and abilities censored like that... Did that mean she was awakened?
And what was with the danger level of 8...?
Higher than even Serafina?
Where the hell did that number come from?
“Hey~? I asked if you’re a magical girl.”
Pania stepped down from the rubble and waved at my face.
Her attitude was as friendly as if we were old friends.
I had to say something. Anything.
I needed to ask who she was, why she was here, whether she was the real Pania, and what state she was in now—but my mouth wouldn’t move.
Pania smiled brightly and met my gaze.
Ah, right. She had asked if I was a magical girl.
“Yeah... That’s right. I’m a magical—”
The words died in my throat.
In that split second, an axe appeared in Pania’s left hand and flew straight toward my neck.