Symbol of Peace (6)
“So you were alive after all.”
Pulling himself free of the smoke from the lightning strike, Libra marveled. Far stronger than before. This wasn’t even a technique—just an ordinary swing, yet it carried this much force.
He turned his eyes upward. A murderous crimson glare was fixed on him. A monster of a new type, its constellation formed by forcibly stitching together disparate stars.
The second transforming monster to emerge after Watcher. Commonly called Cassiopeia.
Despite the shock of losing every subordinate in an instant, Libra’s response was composed. As always, he placed gold coins and Starlight upon his scales.
“Shouldn’t disputes among monsters be settled by monsters?”
Before the scales could tip, lightning already slashed across his shoulder. Crunch! A crude white line, drawn in a single stroke, continued carving its path even after embedding itself firmly in Libra’s shoulder.
Libra was dragged a considerable distance, hanging from the tail of that line.
“There was no need to involve humans.”
“It was a necessary sacrifice.”
“Bullshit.”
He gathered the inertia of that movement into the axe-head and swung. Like splitting firewood, he brought it down cleanly onto Libra—KABOOM! A sound like an earthquake shook the ground as sparks erupted across Libra’s body, bursting like gunpowder.
“There’s no such thing as a necessary sacrifice. Since when was something unilaterally forced upon people called sacrifice?”
Watcher threw the monster he’d been carrying over his shoulder, dropping it onto Libra as if stacking them together.
“Do you have any idea how many people are suffering right now because of your pathetic games?”
Libra examined the monster now lying atop him.
“Urgh... g-guhh....”
A peculiar appearance, as if parts of an old sailing ship had been torn off and fashioned into armor. A pirate hat sat conspicuously on its head, and the stench of fish was overpowering.
One of the Argo Family’s core officers—the very objective of this expedition. Their similar-looking exteriors made it hard for a first-time observer to tell which brother was which, but Libra had prior knowledge.
A blue feather adorned the hat, so this was the second-born. The Argo Family’s second-in-command—October of Vela.
“Monsters playing at brotherhood is laughable enough, and aping after capitalists is just as ridiculous. Creatures who exploit humans pretending to be human—it’s revolting.”
Watcher raised his axe, its edge blazing with a fearsome blue-white gleam. He showed no mercy for whatever they might say.
“You can enjoy your turf war in the afterlife. I’ll send you both there together, nice and friendly. You can fight to the death after you’re dead—wouldn’t that be a happy ending for everyone?”
“You cowardly wretch!”
October, who had been unconscious until just moments ago, erupted with indignation.
“Repaying kindness with betrayal? For your wicked deeds, my brothers and I will personally make blood run from your neck! We will spit upon your corpse and cast it into the sea!”
Utterly indifferent, Watcher gathered lightning into his axe. Watching that ominous glow, October quietly regretted everything.
He shouldn’t have listened to the youngest.
“Who do you think saved you from that bombardment? We did! We, the brothers—“
“You certainly did something pointless.”
Libra chuckled as he seized October by the throat from behind. Watcher brought his axe down immediately, but it was too late.
“As if that madman would ever tolerate a monster.”
Clack. The sound of the scales perched on Libra’s shoulder shifting rang out. Instantly, black smoke like exhaust fumes poured from his body. The ink-dark smoke was enough to obscure vision and obstruct pursuit.
“The plan is a failure. Still, there are gains to be had.”
The axe tore through where the smoke was flowing. An instant was enough to clear it. But an instant was all Libra needed.
Where the black smoke had been, no one remained.
“Fast as ever when it comes to running away.”
He’d always been ugly, but today he looked uglier still. A consistent ugliness. It felt like just the other day he’d been posturing as a man of strength, and now here he was, a mafia boss scrambling to flee.
Well. Maybe that’s what makes a mafia boss.
“...I’m losing my mind.”
His left eye was hurting worse today. It had been ever since he laid eyes on Libra.
‘Ah-yoon, I think we’ve set up shop on way more troublesome ground than I’d imagined.’
Irritation rising for no reason, he kicked a guiltless pebble toward the spot where they’d vanished.
**
Han Jae-jung was shaking his leg with visible annoyance.
“Jae-jung. You’re being noisy.”
“...Sorry.”
Only after Jo Ah-yoon scolded him did he manage to stop. Han Jae-jung glanced at her. He wasn’t the only one struggling.
“Hah.”
A sigh carrying an indescribably immense weight of resentment escaped her small mouth. She’d invested her own money—of course she’d be the most upset.
“Extermination really is the only answer for those monster bastards....”
It seemed she’d found a dream. The dream of monster extermination. A psychological state perfectly suited to sharing a more human bond with Yoon Seol-hwa.
“Why the hell are they fighting their turf war here!”
“Ah-yoon, that’s shop property. Let’s put it down. Put it—“
“I’m the owner of this café!”
Crash! Property destruction occurred before any customers had even arrived. Han Jae-jung let out a pained groan at this shocking turn of events. The shop had been entrusted to him with instructions to treat it with care. He silently apologized to the former owner.
“And this is my land! My land!”
She stomped her feet irritably and shouted. Not a single word was wrong.
A bombardment caused by monsters, and a large-scale assault—an unprecedented situation. And the cause had been revealed as a territorial dispute between monsters.
Monsters fighting each other over human land—not even over Dark Matter. Those words carried weight beyond a simple conflict.
It was practically a case study demonstrating exactly how much monsters disregarded humanity.
Even among people, if a couple of thugs started brawling in your own yard, you’d be dumbfounded. And they were doing it on a city-wide scale.
Fortunately, there had been no casualties this time. But would the same outcome repeat itself next time?
No one would be optimistic enough to imagine that. Or if anyone did, they’d be in the minority, and the people of this city would simply keep leaving, one by one.
“Quiet down. Don’t wreck the café we worked so hard to open.”
“You’re one to talk!”
In response to the indignant Jo Ah-yoon, someone who’d been quietly sipping tea spoke up.
“If you worked so hard to open it, why did you come here?! You’re bringing bad energy! Get out!”
“Wh-what?! I graced you with my presence and instead of thanking me—!”
A bombardment and a large-scale troop assault. Even with just one of those, it would have been front-page news, and yet both had erupted in succession—and the magical girls’ reputation had risen.
Sacrifices had followed, naturally.
The most prominent: Red Vega and White Dabih. They’d sustained multiple injuries from the bombardment and were now in the hospital.
Han Jae-jung frowned as he thought of them.
Right before he’d reached for the Belt to transform, White Dabih had thrown herself over him and Jo Ah-yoon. The beast zombie she’d been riding had thrown itself over them as well, shielding them.
‘If I’d reacted just a little faster, we could’ve gotten through without a scratch....’
Lightning and teleportation. Either would’ve let him escape. Han Jae-jung reflected on his failure to act quickly, too consumed by the fear of his identity being exposed.
Though the two had been forced to withdraw without a proper showing, the media packaged them as courageous figures who had boldly stood their ground to minimize the damage from the bombardment.
And then there was one more person. Someone whose reputation rose, though she’d essentially lucked into it.
“Don’t come whining later about how I didn’t post about your café on my personal social media!”
“If you post something like that, our reputation will tank. No way. You want to destroy our image?”
“Wh-who said I was going to?!”
Orange Altair. The one who had boldly shown her face in defiance of Libra’s threats.
Though she’d stepped forward based on a misunderstanding, the result was that she’d genuinely become a source of hope and courage for the civilians who’d been dragged outside under threat.
And on top of that, she’d put on a performance of blocking bullets.
The truth was that this incident had been concluded by the same thing that caused it—a dispute between monsters. But looking only at the outcome, it was possible to interpret it as heroes protecting the citizens.
Convenient, but valid. In hard times, some people grow more pessimistic, but others cling to hope and peace however they can.
A society that needs heroes is generally the latter.
“A recommendation from a girl who cried in front of a monster—you’d get branded a haven for cowards.”
“Wh-who’s a coward! When did I ever! When did I!”
They should’ve been exhausted, yet the two showed no sign of fatigue as they hurled aggressive remarks at each other. One was a timid outcast with a short fuse, the other a coward. Their personalities hadn’t changed much even now that they’d grown up.
Han Jae-jung used their bickering as white noise while he recalled the day’s events.
‘A fight between monsters....’
Right before the bombardment fell. A high, sharp sound that tore through the air. Its tone was close to a bird’s cry.
White Dabih seized the arm he’d been extending toward the Metal Sphere to transform, and pulled him to the ground.
The disaster disguised as birdsong drew closer for a long moment, then brought an enormous roar to his ears.
And then, he heard real birdsong.
The cry of a brilliant parrot, the kind you’d only see on some southern island. With no time to even panic at the sudden bombardment, Han Jae-jung had to register that he’d been moved somewhere.
White Dabih, who’d been shielding him, had powered down. She was unconscious—she hadn’t escaped the bombardment unscathed. Not a critical injury, but not a minor one either.
Beside her lay Red Vega. She was unconscious as well, with wounds similar to or possibly more severe than White Dabih’s.
Han Jae-jung and Jo Ah-yoon brushed the sand off and got to their feet.
What met their eyes was a white sandy beach and a vast open sea. Behind them stood palm trees and the lush, broad-leaved plants characteristic of a tropical rainforest. Even more conspicuous was the large building erected in the very center.
The Goldilocks Zone he’d seen before. A monster’s space.
The Argo Family. He was turning that remembered name over in his mind when—
“Welcome, comrade!”
He turned toward the voice that greeted him. Jason was smiling brightly as he welcomed them. As if his delight wasn’t purely the joy of reunion, a faint expectation and desperation clung to his voice.
“Lend us your aid!”
Naturally, they ignored him.
It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to hear them out, if only to understand the situation. Unfortunately, they didn’t have that kind of time.
The exit method was simple. Jo Ah-yoon kept a butterfly at the café. A butterfly hidden out of sight. Using it as an anchor point to teleport was straightforward.
But to hold them back by force, the second-born, October, appeared.
“Agh! No, my brother! Don’t do this! Now is not the time for us to fight among—“
Left with no choice, Han Jae-jung had to transport himself with October in tow.
‘Well, I did manage to gather some information.’
Thanks to Jason’s incessant noise, he’d succeeded in learning that a conflict had broken out between Libra and them.
’...He’ll come for revenge, won’t he?’
He’d originally intended to kill them both at once and eliminate future trouble, but Libra had bolted immediately. Han Jae-jung’s feelings were complicated.
The Argo Family, having lost a core officer, would now keep him in check, and Libra, as always, would make him the top-priority target for elimination.
His head was a mess. He really didn’t want to deal with politics or power struggles.
[If you don’t want to, I recommend not doing it. Violence will always lead you to a good answer.]
“Shut up.”
The Belt had been strange lately. It wasn’t spamming quests like before, and it wasn’t detecting many threats either. Even today, it normally would’ve alerted him to the bombardment in advance and forced a transformation.
Where had it stashed that grand principle of protecting magical girls?
“What? D-do you think I enjoy being ignored too?!”
“Huh?”
Orange Altair, mistaking Han Jae-jung’s words as directed at her, reacted sharply. Han Jae-jung floundered, considerably flustered.
“No, I wasn’t talking to you, Altair—“
“Ah. Yes. I see. I get it! Of course you’d take your friend’s side! Birds of a feather—how rude!”
“N-no, that’s not—“
“This bitch is starting shit with Jae-jung now? You wanna die?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m aiming for natural causes! I’ve no desire to die by your hand!”
Orange Altair gave a prim little sniff and rose from her seat.
“To think I was worried when I heard a monster attacked you—no, I came here to make fun of you, and I’m the one who lost out! Excuse me!”
And without a single backward glance, she strode out of the café. The weather outside didn’t look particularly pleasant.
The sound of rain pounding against the windows was fiercer than crashing waves.
“It’s raining out there....”
Han Jae-jung grabbed an umbrella and stood.
“Leave her! Let the bitch catch a cold!”
“You shouldn’t treat someone who came because she was worried about us like that. I should at least get an umbrella into her hands.”
Han Jae-jung could carefully guess at her feelings. She’d obviously been worried about Jo Ah-yoon, so she’d thrown aside all the post-incident follow-up work and rushed straight to this café.
He picked up two umbrellas and followed Orange Altair out of the café. She probably hadn’t gone far.
“Excuse me! Altair—huh?”
Had she transformed and flown away? She was nowhere to be seen on the street. Even if she’d run, she couldn’t have moved this fast.
“...Did she really fly off?”
Han Jae-jung turned back, puzzled. And then—thwip—an arrow embedded itself at his feet.
“What the—“
Instantly, a flash erupted from the arrow, blazing with intense light.
“Agh!”
“Hey. You.”
The moment his vision was stolen, someone snatched him up and flew into the sky.
“Who are you?”
The voice gave it away. Orange Altair.
“I truly apologize for the rudeness of an abrupt kidnapping, but I had no choice.”
What was she talking about? Before he could even assess the situation, he was slammed against a wall.
“Let me be direct. I currently suspect you of being a monster.”
At the far end of his barely-recovered vision stood Orange Altair, her face taut with fear.
“I’ll ask again. Who are you?”