The Three-Way Standoff
Do you know the three-gunmen theory? The classic example of a three-way standoff where each party keeps the others in check, so no one can move easily. A, B, and C. Three gunmen in a deadlock. Let’s say they have hit rates of 100%, 70%, and 30% respectively. Applying that to the current situation, Gem—the strongest and currently at full strength—would be A. I, with my physical abilities, would be B. And the weakest, Fania, would be C.
So what is the best choice for me, the 70% gunman B? That was the answer I had to find in order to survive. Ah, damn it all—according to this theory, B has the lowest survival rate. The one small mercy is that, unlike the example, magical girls don’t die from a single bullet.
“How the hell are you still alive…”
“......”
Gem and Fania were watching each other warily. Strangely, the sight of them doing so made the extreme tension that had been choking me ease just a little. I guess people’s minds all work the same way.
Now what?
In my case, the ideal scenario would be to team up with Fania and focus fire on Gem. Take Gem down, then quickly finish off Fania. …The problem was that Fania didn’t look like she had any intention of siding with either of us. Even now she was sprawled on the floor, glaring at Gem. There was no way she’d join me either. We’d just been trying to kill each other moments ago.
Gem would have come to the same conclusion. Teaming up with Fania to attack me would be ideal. But as I said earlier, that wasn’t going to happen. So then?
The straightforward approach would be to take me down first, then deal with Fania. If I were in her position, that’s what I would have done. Both Fania and I were heavily injured, and Gem had more than enough power to pull it off.
But I knew. Gem would never willingly take on the risk of facing two opponents at once. She had too much to lose now.
In the end, the answer Gem reached was this.
“Magical girl visiting Talos City? I am Gem, chief of security for Talos City. First, I’d like to thank you for your assistance. That bitch over there is a subversive trying to overthrow our city. If you help me apprehend her, I’ll make sure you’re properly rewarded.”
She chose to side with me. Just as I expected. She’d use me as a shield and fight passively, then once Fania was down, she’d turn on me immediately. The enemy of my enemy is not my friend. Just another enemy. She knew that fact very well.
In that case, the best move I could make was to ambush Gem before Fania could be taken out. To do that, I first needed to show at least some surface-level trust. And the usual way to start that was with introductions.
“... I’m Xena.”
The moment I signaled that I would accept the temporary alliance, Fania’s face turned deathly pale. She frantically summoned an axe and gripped it with both hands. Her trembling fingers couldn’t hide her panic. On the other hand, the corners of Gem’s mouth slowly curled upward.
“Thank you once again. The mayor will reward you handsomely as well. I’ll charge in from the right, so Xena, if you could take the left, that would be perfect.”
The left, huh. That was the side where Fania’s dominant right hand was. Her intention was so obvious that I couldn’t even feel annoyed.
“Fine. What’s the signal?”
“Who needs a signal? Right now!”
The moment those words left her mouth, Gem and I simultaneously charged forward. The sound of our footsteps filled the underground passage. As planned, I veered left, and even while running in the opposite direction, Gem kept glancing at me. She was probably adjusting her speed so she could jump in right after I collided with Fania first.
She seemed to think she was the only cunning one in the world.
I silently stretched my hand forward and fired a thread with the same motion I’d use to cast a fishing line. From the outside, it would look completely normal. To anyone watching, it would appear as if I were attacking Fania.
But my real target wasn’t Fania. It was the axe she was holding.
I intended to ambush Gem immediately. The moment right after the alliance was formed was the perfect timing. If I fought too passively, Gem’s wariness would only grow stronger over time. But if I fought too aggressively, I’d just be dancing to her tune. From the start, Gem didn’t see me as an ally. She just saw me as one suspicious bastard fighting another suspicious bastard.
The moment I realized her goal was to pit me and Fania against each other to exhaust us both, I knew that the longer this alliance lasted, the worse it would be for me.
Fania was backed into a corner, pressed against the wall and curled in on herself. Even so, her tightly shut mouth never once uttered any words about siding with either of us. What incredible stubbornness.
The thread finally wrapped around the axe Fania was holding.
“Y-you bastard…!”
I felt a heavy weight at my fingertips. Fania thrashed wildly, trying to shake off the thread as she swung the axe in a frenzy. But it was all in vain. I hooked my index finger and yanked hard. The axe flew out of Fania’s grasp, spinning like a propeller through the air.
She must have been utterly shocked—her face had gone white as a sheet, and a bead of sweat trickled down her chin.
The instant Fania was disarmed, Gem shouted.
Her voice was urgent, but her legs weren’t moving. She was waiting for me to charge in first.
Yeah. Now’s the time. Time to go in.
I pretended to take a leaping step forward while yanking on the thread. This was the only chance I had to land a truly fatal blow on her.
The high-speed spinning axe twisted in midair and flew straight toward the back of Gem’s neck.
Gem, who had been staring blankly at the axe for a moment, finally registered the sound of it tearing through the air. Her face filled with shock.
“This son of a bitch!”
I knew it. She wasn’t the kind of person who would normally fall for a surprise attack like this. She must have already anticipated that I might stab her in the back. But it seemed she hadn’t predicted the exact timing of the betrayal. She probably knew the alliance was fragile and could break at any moment, but she clearly hadn’t expected me to turn on her the second it began.
Gem reflexively raised her gauntlet to knock the axe away. Too slow. I flicked my finger downward, and the axe slipped past the gauntlet guarding her neck and chest, burying more than half its blade into her thigh.
─ Crunch!
“A-aaaagh! Gaaaaah!!!”
It was like a bullet striking the exact center of the frontrunner’s forehead. The flow of the three-way standoff began to shift. The metallic scent of blood grew thicker, mixing with the musty odor of mold.
Of course, this wasn’t enough to take Gem down. But I had succeeded in dragging her down to roughly the same level as me.
If I can keep this momentum, I can win.
That left only one variable in the current situation.
When I turned my gaze, Fania was blinking blankly at me and Gem. After a moment, she seemed to regain her composure and slightly straightened her hunched posture. From Fania’s perspective, this development wasn’t bad at all. She had to know that the more Gem and I tore into each other, the better it was for her. So she chose to watch and wait.
For now, it didn’t look like Fania would become a variable.
I roughly yanked on the thread connected to the axe. The blade tore free from Gem’s thigh, ripping through flesh as it came out.
“Ugh…! Hah… you hyena bitch… pulling such dirty tricks!”
“Weren’t you planning to do the exact same thing? Why waste your breath on such pathetic whining?”
I snatched the axe out of the air and sneered at her. We were both hyenas here. It was ridiculous for one of us to act all betrayed when we were the same kind of scum.
Gem spat blood onto the floor and stood up. She was breathing raggedly, half-mad with rage, her fists trembling violently.
“I’m not going to let you die easily… It’s going to be a public execution… I’ll crush all your limbs and hang you from the gallows!!”
Even though her thigh was shredded, she didn’t seem to feel the pain as she stomped toward me. This was… that classic scene. The one where a magical girl backed into a corner burns with even greater fighting spirit. Ah, what a cliché. If she had just stayed behind Serafina, wiping her ass and shaking down thugs for protection money like usual, would she have ever shown a scene like this? No way.
This was how magical girl stories were supposed to be. Magical girls overthrowing the government, becoming dictators, desperately clinging to their privileges by spying on and executing people—this could never be a real magical girl story!
This world’s first step toward returning to Serafina the magical girl’s world. I was the one who had created that beginning. With my own hands.
“Are you laughing? You crazy bitch, you’re actually laughing?!”
At that moment, a gauntlet flew out of the darkness with a chilling whoosh.
“Damn it…!”
I had exploited the moment when Gem would be most off guard, and yet here I was letting my own guard down. I hastily raised the blood-dripping axe to block the attack.
Gem’s ability was the Indestructible Fist. Even if her entire body were torn to shreds, her fists would never break or be damaged. I knew I should dodge rather than block, but I had noticed the attack too late to evade.
The axe handle shattered into pieces. Through the flying fragments, the gauntlet drew closer and closer. The entire sequence played out in my vision like slow motion. I found myself resenting a magical girl’s dynamic visual acuity.
Then came a blinding white flash. My whole body felt like it was floating through the air as something surged up my throat. I didn’t even have time to register the impact.
─ Thud!
I tumbled helplessly across the stone floor. In my gradually fading consciousness, I realized I had rolled right next to Fania, slammed into a corner. Only then did the delayed pain hit me, snapping me back to alertness.
“Guhk!!”
The world was spinning. It felt like I’d been hit in the chest, but the actual spot that was struck felt completely numb. My whole body creaked like I’d been run over by a truck. My side felt like it had split open even wider.
Still… I’m okay for now.
A magical girl doesn’t die from something like this. Rough calculations told me that two more hits of that power would kill me. I was still within the safe zone. Of course, if Gem used her finishing move, her strong fist, the story would change. In my current state, taking something that brutal would mean instant death. But Fania’s presence made that possibility irrelevant. Using a finishing move while already heavily injured would bring a massive recoil on Gem herself. Even if she succeeded in killing me, afterward she’d be completely incapacitated and unable to move for a while. There was no way she’d do something so insane while Fania was watching with wide eyes.
In the midst of that, I caught sight of Fania looking down at me. Her expression was strangely mixed—half mockery, half concern.
The mockery is mine to bear, and the concern is hers.
She’d be in trouble if I died without even draining Gem’s stamina first.
“Kuh… kuhahaha… Ahahaha!!”
Even as she limped closer, Gem laughed loudly. She must have really enjoyed landing that hit on me. But the same went for me.
“Heh… hehehe.”
After the Demon King fell and Serafina established the Association, I thought I’d never see this sight again. It had been so long since I last witnessed a magical girl burning with fighting spirit toward her enemy even in the face of crisis.
But it seemed Gem didn’t like that look on my face at all.
“So I said! Stop! Laughing!!!”
Her face twisted in an instant, as if she had never been smiling. I met that face with my own as I lifted the fallen axe blade with my thread.