Something You Must Do Even If It Means a Loss
Something You Must Do Even If It Means a Loss
“...What is that?”
Red Vega asked, her voice full of doubt. She hadn’t gotten a good look, busy tracking civilian movements and the monster’s actions at the same time.
Apparently, the person standing next to him had been a monster too.
“An S-rank monster... Scutum.”
“...?!”
“Ah... I can’t tell if my luck is terrible today or incredible. Seeing two bastards you’d be lucky to spot once a year.”
Unlike their junior, the two seniors knew who he was. A monster who had killed a single magical girl and then vanished without causing any further casualties.
Scutum, the Shield constellation.
“No! My name is not Scutum. It’s Contradiction. Contradiction. Just because you people introduce yourselves by your constellations doesn’t mean you should lump me in with them. We ought to respect diversity, don’t you think?”
Contradiction cut into their conversation and corrected his name. It was absurd chatter that would make you laugh, but nobody was laughing.
“Why should we respect you, a Dilemma?”
“How heartless.”
Contradiction chuckled. Every single action felt deeply unpleasant to Han Jae-jung.
“Th-then that monster is also... with Dilemma...?”
Red Vega was making wild assumptions, so Han Jae-jung quickly corrected her.
“No, he isn’t.”
“What do you mean, no? Just seeing you two together proves it. Denying everything, you lunatic.”
Lunatic was right, but the idea that this bastard was an ally was intolerable.
Han Jae-jung was about to raise his voice but held back. Because his head was pounding.
Right now, that kind of explanation wasn’t the issue.
“Haha, he is correct. I tried to persuade him to join Dilemma, but I failed. We are nothing more than temporary collaborators at the moment.”
Contradiction shifted the shield on his right arm to his left.
The shield split open, a handle popped out from inside and extended to full length, and the separated pieces of the shield recombined in the opposite direction, forming not a shield but a blade.
It was shaped like a shield, yet functioned as a spear.
A contradictory weapon.
Looking at it, Han Jae-jung thought he was carrying a truly obnoxious weapon.
“So, I intend to cooperate and kill all of you first, and then fight him.”
The declaration was arrogant, but it wasn’t something you could dismiss as a mere bluff.
For someone who possesses the power to realize his words and the decisiveness not to hesitate in execution, even arrogant remarks no longer function as mere arrogance.
You’d have to see it as a statement brimming with confidence.
Contradiction. The final boss of Magical Girl Golden Age.
He is the monster of the Scutum constellation, which has one of the smallest numbers of stars, but he is stronger than anyone.
This is based on his ability.
The Contradiction Principle.
His one and only ability—his all-encompassing ability.
To copy and identically use the starlight of anyone he defines as his enemy.
There is no limit to that restriction, nor any limit on the number he can copy or the time he can maintain it.
An eccentric who grows infinitely stronger the stronger his opponents become.
‘So he should have stayed hidden until the very, very end...’
The villain who only revealed himself once the magical girls’ growth was complete.
The ultimate spear, created because the ultimate shield existed.
The clash between those two would collapse the world from the aftershock alone, ultimately bringing it to ruin.
Among monsters, he is one with a particularly limited window against magical girls.
Unlike monsters whose growth is finished, a magical girl’s light has the potential for endless development.
‘But a guy like that, declaring he’ll kill magical girls?’
It’s strange. Far too strange.
A situation completely incomprehensible considering Contradiction’s goal.
At this, Han Jae-jung reached one conclusion.
‘Because a variable named me appeared...?’
This was the only way he could think about it.
If so, what kind of change had Han Jae-jung’s existence brought about in Contradiction? How had his state of mind changed?
There was only one thing.
Contradiction had chosen Han Jae-jung instead of the magical girls.
‘So you chose me, instead of the magical girls, as the ultimate shield.’
Lunatic.
Han Jae-jung muttered inwardly.
He felt deeply disgusted, as if he had glimpsed a shard of madness.
“Temporary? What, did being a monster make you feel some sense of camaraderie or something?”
“Haha, that can’t be. The reason is simple. Because it was not an equitable fight.”
“Right, we did get our asses kicked.”
“No, that’s not it. You were many, and that individual was not. Therefore, it was not equitable.”
Standing nearby, you could feel it even more clearly.
The star energy he emitted... just being close to it felt like it would crush you to death.
Han Jae-jung was not the only one who felt that way.
The magical girls also broke out in cold sweat, feeling an intense pressure. The screams of the people were loud, and the sound of a helicopter somewhere was low and fast, like a heartbeat.
Contradiction tightened his grip on his spear. One side of his previously blue-glowing lens was tinted red.
It meant he was fully entering a combat stance, and it was a sign that he had now absorbed the combined power of all the magical girls present.
Contradiction was resolute in his intention to kill every magical girl here.
This was an improvisation, but it would be as firm as a conclusion reached through deep deliberation.
The reason was simple: the individual named Han Jae-jung was being harassed by a large group of magical girls. It wasn’t that he was losing. This guy had simply joined in because it was a fight that grated on his sensibilities.
“Therefore, I shall balance the scales. Oh shields who protect the citizenry, are you prepared to be pierced by my spear?”
Han Jae-jung was thinking.
To stop this.
What do I need to do right now?
What must I protect, and where must I step?
To the north where I, who hold the Big Dipper, must go, where is that correct direction?
‘He said he’d kill the magical girls, and that he’d fight me.’
Contradiction has no intention of killing me right now.
What he wants at this moment is to confirm my power. To resolve his curiosity about how far this starlight can reach.
His top priority right now is balancing this inequitable battle.
He intends to gain a justification to join the fight, and thereby witness the annihilation of the magical girls.
‘Then there is only one path for me.’
Han Jae-jung shed his exhaustion, his fatigue, and the revulsion rising from the past, and chose to walk his own path.
The conclusion reached in that physical state was slightly unhinged, but just as the Magi followed the Star of Bethlehem to find the Messiah, for Han Jae-jung, that path was a starlight he would not hesitate to follow.
Han Jae-jung placed his hand on his Belt and turned the buckle. As if adjusting the focus of a telescope, at the end of his turn, he reached a single star.
[MIZAR.]
Mizar.
No, two stars.
[ALCOR.]
Alcor.
The two stars’ names rang out simultaneously.
A binary star. Mizar and Alcor.
Opening Yang, Mizar, and the Death-Omen Star, Alcor.
He activated the eighth star, the one surpassing the seventh star.
[Warning. This form places a heavy burden on the current Guardian.]
“Don’t get the wrong idea.”
Ignoring the Belt’s warning voice, he continued to draw up the star’s power.
“You say the scales aren’t balanced?”
He had not a shred of leeway. Contradiction was ready to hurl his spear at the magical girls at any moment, and the magical girls were likewise prepared to face both Han Jae-jung and Contradiction simultaneously.
If that happened, it would be irreversible.
“Don’t judge things with your narrow vision.”
Mizar and Alcor shone simultaneously.
The Death-Omen Star, a force of death even greater than Alkaid’s, billowed up ominously.
[Warning. This form places a heavy burden on the current Guardian. Sustained use of the transformed state and consecutive technique usage may cause severe side effects to the body.]
The Belt tirelessly repeated its warning. Han Jae-jung ignored it.
The starlight scattered wide like an aurora, and just as Blue Sirius had done moments ago, the light gathered and began to form human shapes.
But not just one, like Blue Sirius—a total of four shapes were molded into being.
The power of the binary star: clones.
Unlike the binary ability, this didn’t just borrow power; it could create clones that fully replicated an individual.
Four clones, looking as if they were made of green neon signs.
A single halo appeared on each of their legs.
[SET. Seven-Star Step Kick.]
[SET. Seven-Star Step Kick.]
[SET. Seven-Star Step Kick.]
[SET. Seven-Star Step Kick.]
It happened in an instant. Before Contradiction could hurl his spear and cut someone’s throat—during that brief moment, it all occurred.
Two of them raced up the ground, the other two scaled the walls of a building, taking seven steps.
With each individual step, starlight was engraved, and on their legs, the seven halos overlapped and activated into a massive disc-like form.
On their final step, the ground they kicked off split into the shape of the Big Dipper.
“What the hell—!”
“Deneb, get out of there, right now!”
The two clones who had scaled the building rushed at Pink Deneb and Blue Sirius respectively. By the time they grasped the situation, the ominous green was already about to touch their shoulders.
KA-BOOM!
An attack so bewildering they couldn’t properly react. They had no choice but to take the kick head-on. Just as Han Jae-jung had done earlier, they plummeted downwards, kicking up clouds of dust. But the distance between the air and the ground wasn’t large, and they could do nothing but roll helplessly on the ground, without even a chance to right themselves.
“Uh, ugh...”
“We... let our guard down....”
Both groaned in agony, their bodies trembling. Faint halos of light bled out from them.
Power Down.
Their transformations were forcibly cancelled to prevent overexertion of the users.
“Deneb-unnie...? Sirius-unnie...?!”
Red Vega looked back at the two in shock. In front of her, a dizzying green starlight began to flash.
There were three things a magical girl must not fear. No one else had made this rule; she had sworn it to herself.
One was monsters.
Another was death.
And the last was not being acknowledged.
But right here, right now, Red Vega broke two of these.
She feared that monster who had inflicted her first defeat, and she feared that the leg that had so easily sent even her seniors rolling on the ground might be death itself.
“...Gah!”
A green-tinged foot slammed into her chest. Sparks and embers flew wildly as if cutting through steel, and unable to withstand the impact, Red Vega was thrown backwards.
Soon after, like her seniors before her, her transformation was cancelled and she tumbled across the ground.
Her vision blurred into a haze, and the throbbing pain in her chest was enough to make her wince.
And so, within her fading consciousness, she.
Saw that terror rushing towards Contradiction.
**
[Seven-Star Step Kick manifestation successful. Replication Rate: 50%.]
I’m not sure why, but my replication rate went up.
An increase in power is a good thing, but in this situation, it was a boost that came with a lot of regret.
“Tch....”
I didn’t manage to deal any significant damage to that bastard. Just like yesterday, he countered with a kick, and the strain purely affected my leg instead.
[Blue Sirius has been incapacitated. Confirmed to be in a state where she can no longer pursue the Guardian. Quest complete.]
What was the point of a quest where you couldn’t even defeat a monster and gather starlight? I gritted my teeth and looked ahead.
“Was this your choice?”
My clones dispersed, and the backlash they had been holding back all surged into me at once.
My stamina was utterly drained, and my starlight was heavily depleted too. My legs were shaking so badly I could barely stand.
“Balance? Don’t give me that crap. Even just counting the number of stars, this was a fight in our favor. If anything, your intrusion is what would cause a collapse! It was a fight where you had no reason to butt in at all!”
I shouted in a surge of anger.
Even if it was different from my usual way of speaking, the emotion was contained in it entirely.
This manner of speech is also part of the replication.
Maybe this arrogant tone was the ideal image Han Jae-jung desired, because whenever I transform, I end up talking like this.
Contradiction chuckled as he spoke.
“And so you did that? To prove that you alone could have taken all of them down? Was your pride wounded? Hm... but that doesn’t seem to be your only objective.”
His gaze was on my legs. Legs shaking too much to possibly continue a fight. Legs that had been overworked time and again from night until day without a single moment of rest.
The Belt was right. I feel like I’m dying. Including the fact that my trauma has flared up, I could clearly see that the moment I powered down, I’d be vomiting and bedridden with a fever.
“I see. You wanted to save those young ladies. That impressive attack from a moment ago was to eliminate any reason for me to lay a hand on them. You sought to unify my enemies into a single target: you.”
Bullseye. That bastard is a monster with the insane ability to copy the power of anyone hostile to him.
If I had attacked him while the magical girls were wide awake and present, he would have absorbed my power too and slaughtered them in an instant. And possibly even me.
The attack just now was both a performance to show that I could handle the magical girls, and a move to eliminate his reason to attack them.
“Was that the right judgment? I know that you are human, but they do not, do they? Now they will misunderstand you even further and fully define you as an enemy. And that’s not all. Weren’t they the very people attacking you until just moments ago? What good is there in helping them in such a way?”
“It’s good for society.”
I answered without hesitation.
“It’s a world where people who do the right thing dying unjustly is a common occurrence, so shouldn’t I at least contribute a little to making it a better world? Those girls were just doing what they had to do. They didn’t commit a sin worthy of death. Misunderstandings? Let them misunderstand. Then I just have to run away again. It’s not a reason to give up on someone’s life.”
“Is that your answer? In the end, there’s nothing good in it for you at all. If I may dare to judge, it was an act of choking yourself with your own hands.”
Contradiction took a step closer to me.
“Did you really have to? Now you have lost any possibility of defeating me. With a wreck of a body like that, what exactly do you intend to do? Why did you commit such a foolish act? It was a monumental loss. There was no gain whatsoever for you.”
While someone is on the verge of death, he’s calculating profit and loss.
Dumbfounded, I answered immediately.
“Someone’s life is more precious than my own gain, I suppose.”
Contradiction asked one final question.
“...Are you not afraid of death?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. You’re asking the obvious. I’m afraid. Terribly afraid. If I fight you now, I’ll die instantly. No matter how much you hold back, I can see it as clear as day: I’ll die as helplessly as an ant crushed under an elephant’s foot.”
It was his last question because I was going to make it so.
“But, when did I ever say I’d fight you?”
I placed my hand on my Belt and turned the buckle.
[ALKAID.]
Alkaid. Since the quest is complete, I can naturally use it.
Thick smoke scattered outward, and my body flickered like a blinking star. My form, which had been alternating between transparent and solid, soon began to blur in time with the smoke.
“Hahahaha! Yes, you’re right. That is the correct answer. Today’s encounter was delightful. Your perspective on balancing scales by the number of stars rather than the number of people was intriguing. Let us balance those scales together next time.”
“Didn’t I tell you? Get lost.”
“My apologies, but I cannot respect that request. Ah, one last thing.”
Libra will be resuming his activities.
His words scattered along with the smoke.
Landing in some back alley, the instant I powered down, I vomited up everything in my stomach.