Much Has Changed, Yet Nothing Changed
Much Has Changed, Yet Nothing Changed
“Were you pretty disappointed that I showed up?”
I spoke to Libra with a polite grin. The shelter was right behind me—the instant I moved from this spot, he would slaughter the civilians.
Hold the line. The quest’s instructions were clear enough.
I was already in a foul mood after the run-in with my ex-girlfriend. Running into a monster on top of that only made it worse. I was grateful the bastard at least gave me an excuse to bolt from that conversation.
Still, what this monster had done was unforgivable. On the way over, I had the Belt run monster-detection scans—beyond this location and the hospital, monsters had been deployed to several other sites.
Most of them were places you absolutely could not leave alone.
“It is true that learning what sacrifices a magical girl would choose was the purpose of this raid. What would they dismiss as an acceptable minimum sacrifice? The elderly, whose days are already numbered? Children, who can be reproduced at will? Capital, perhaps? Hmm... yes. Your arrival here has certainly distorted the plan.”
The places he’d struck were only those sheltering the vulnerable or vital resources. Malicious.
“But disappointed? You must be joking!”
Libra spread his arms wide in delight.
“On the contrary—fascinating! What outcome will your sacrifice reach? A monster’s sacrifice surely carries a far smaller aggregate of sorrow than a magical girl’s sacrifice. Truly, it is a just sacrifice for the greatest happiness of the greatest number. That is my view, however...”
A viscous, oil-like mass welled up inside his golden hands. It surged ceaselessly and spattered across the ground. From the spilled oil, metallic soldiers took shape.
“But is it not true that no one can know the future? Whether the result will be a just sacrifice that harms no one, or whether the butterfly effect will bring irreparable ruin. Which way will the scales tip? Truly fascinating.”
The lunatic was still obsessed with sacrifice.
“I do hope you will become my answer.”
The scale decoration connecting both shoulders along his back tilted to one side.
So he paid the price to create monsters.
Libra’s most defining ability: Transaction.
Pay a set price, and produce a miracle commensurate with that price.
Originally, price and miracle were meant to be equal. Under Libra’s relentless pursuit of efficiency, that principle had warped.
Minimum price, maximum profit.
Contradiction and this bastard both. Their goals and their abilities fit them disgustingly well.
I brought my hand to the Belt.
“Sacrifice? Bullshit. I’m not dying here. So without a single sacrifice... no. This ends with your loss of time and effort.”
[MERAK]
Merak.
The second star of the Big Dipper, situated at the bear’s waist.
Also known as the Giant Gate Star (巨門星).
The star that welcomes others paradoxically holds the power to refuse any approach more firmly than anyone.
My body was dyed a heavily mechanical yellow, like those bronze monsters—as if I were a piece of 19th-century machinery. Ornaments like a great gate formed on my shoulders. A long rifle was now in my hands.
Open Gate (開門).
That is this gun’s name.
I leveled it forward. The golden barrel, gleaming in the sunlight, was beautiful.
“The gate is open.”
Inside the muzzle, a blaze gathered that would shatter even the brilliance of the day.
“Come if you can.”
I pulled the trigger.
A flame belched forth. The meteor-like blaze drew lines through the empty air as if starlight itself were the pen.
The lines traced a constellation in a single unbroken stroke, weaving everywhere. The iron bodies caught in their path crumpled, burst, flew apart in sparks, and collapsed.
“What’s wrong? Weren’t you trying to come here? Why can’t you?”
Shwoo. In the aftereffect of ignition, smoke and wind blasted from Open Gate.
“The gate is always open.”
I fired again. This time not a single shot. Rapid fire.
Kwabababang!
The bullets moved as if drawing the positions of the Big Dipper, asserting control over an immense area.
A wind rose from the muzzle like a gate swinging wide, and fireworks erupted everywhere as if to celebrate the arrival of an outsider.
A magnificent sight.
“Come. I’m waiting inside the gate.”
“Is thaaat so?”
“...?!”
What I saw was a comet.
A baleful star, in other words. An ominous, dark-red starlight that seemed to rip the sky apart descended as though it meant to murder everything on this earth.
A baleful star—and a killing (殺) star.
Boom!
The starlight struck the ground. Simultaneously, the various things that had occupied the area rose upward in reverse.
Floor tiles, dirt, dust, even the monsters. They enjoyed a brief levitation before coming back to earth.
And then they were torn apart by the starlight and killed.
The force, whetted and sharp as a blade, left the ground carved not with a crater but with the marks of a violent slashing.
Amid that harrowing scene, a woman rose. A somber dress of only black and deep violet. At its center, the jewel on the ribbon shone purple. Her pupils were entirely black with no whites.
Short hair, a violet so dark it was nearly black, streaming behind her, she stood imposingly upon the earth.
The Corrupted Magical Girl, Virgo.
“Ahaha! Knock-knock! Can I come in?”
“The gate just closed. I’d appreciate it if you left.”
“Huh? But it was open just now! Oh, is it because of these guys?”
I was screwed.
I felt it the moment I saw her.
“So if I chase away these uninvited guests, I can come in, right?”
“The uninvited guests include you and every—“
“Aahahahaha! Here I goooo!!!”
Virgo moved without listening to a word. A single motion from her butchered several monsters.
Accompanied by dark-crimson starlight, blood like oil splattered across the ground. The monsters collapsed, helplessly spilling small Star Fragments—their own life force—out of their bodies.
A slaughter.
There was no other word for it.
‘What the hell...’
Virgo was bad enough, but why was Libra just standing by and letting it happen?
He had already moved behind a wall and was watching this side. I called out to him.
“Hey. Why are you just watching?”
“...”
“Isn’t that technically betrayal? Those monsters you went to such trouble to make are getting ripped to shreds.”
Libra held his silence, simply gazing at the spectacle without a word.
Right. A little detail like which way things went—your objective gets fulfilled either way, doesn’t it?
Damned bastards.
I swallowed the curses and turned my head back.
“Knock-knock.”
Before I knew it, Virgo was tapping the back of her hand against my chest.
The sound of iron rang out.
“Can I come in now?”
“No.”
Bang.
By way of reply, I knocked on Virgo’s chest with a bullet.
“Oh my!”
Staggering back a step, Virgo rubbed the area around her chest and then grinned.
“Okay! So I can come in?!”
“What the hell did you hear in my answer?”
I also stepped back a little and reset my stance. Just then, the Belt flashed.
[Quest Complete.]
The hell is this nonsense all of a sudden? What did I even do?
’...Ah.’
Holding the line against Libra’s army—that was the quest objective.
So when Virgo wiped them all out, it counted as complete.
‘Give me a break...’
Now there was nothing forcing me to stay pinned here. Charging at those two would objectively carry a high probability of death.
But.
Behind me, the shelter. In front of me, an S-rank monster.
Beyond any quest as an excuse, here was the real reason I couldn’t retreat.
If damage occurred here, the blame would fall on the magical girls again.
They’d be wounded all over again. That cannot happen.
Monsters ought to be the ones who shoulder the resentment.
A hero cannot be expected to hold responsibility for every person they fail to protect.
I know.
My role hasn’t changed.
Hold the line.
Hold the line without a single sacrifice. Hold so that not even a scratch can be inflicted on anyone.
I know.
It’s insane. I’m violating the most fundamental survival priority that any living thing should observe. It’s suicidal.
I don’t care.
I’ve done nothing but insane things for the past four days. What difference would adding one more make now?
I gripped the gun and stepped forward.
“The gate is open.”
Once more, light gathered at the muzzle.
“Come. I’m waiting here.”
“Okaaay~!”
Bwoong. A fierce wind blew. A wind produced just by her movement.
Riding that wind was Virgo’s fist.
Krak!
I met it by thrusting the muzzle against it. Without a beat, I pulled the trigger.
Bang! Silver starlight surged toward Virgo alongside a burst of sparks.
The impact launched Virgo back into the air. Now was my chance.
I swiftly moved behind her. She would only be looking at me; I could avoid splash damage reaching that direction.
I fired again at her back.
Bang! Once more, Virgo tumbled ahead, caught in the tide of the Big Dipper.
Ideally, I’d love to widen the distance even more, but it wasn’t easy.
Retreating too far and losing her interest would be just as problematic.
I had to keep her eyes fixed on me while blocking and dodging every attack.
Like a satellite orbiting a planet, I circled around Virgo, continuously feeding her bullets.
On the surface, I appeared to be dominating the situation. But as the combatant actually leading this fight, I could feel the truth.
‘It’s not working!’
She was far too durable. That pale skin and the dress that seemed so soft—the barrier encasing her was absurdly sturdy. At best, all I could manage were abrasions.
“Nnn~ it hurts!”
Whoosh. A wind rushed in. Right next to me. No—it hadn’t rushed in. It had gathered there. The air collapsed toward that spot and pooled.
“But it’s not enough. I guess you’re only four days in, huh~? No, wait! Considering that, then you’re fighting amazingly well! Are you, like, a genius!?”
Libra was still off to the side. So what was this current—
‘Ah, binary star.’
Spica in Virgo is also a binary star.
Which means she can use Multiple Magic.
Where the wind had gathered, a human form gradually shimmered into being. It took on a shape that seemed traced along Virgo’s silhouette.
Thud. A hand came to rest on my chest.
“Bang!”
The real Virgo shouted. The duplicate gathered magic and fired. Watching a monster wield a magical girl’s power was unnerving.
Kwaang!!!
An impact like being hit by a heavy cargo truck slammed into my chest, accompanied by a high heat like a blast furnace.
Not even a technique. Just star power condensed and fired in a beam.
But when the sheer caloric output is that overwhelming, it becomes a single, crushing force that surpasses ten thousand techniques.
Fifteen stars in the Virgo constellation alone. Rich combat experience from her magical girl career. She was a possessor of absolutely overwhelming physical ability.
Red Spica.
The magical girl who once held the Red title.
Sent flying backward for a long stretch, I had to absorb the impact of the fall on my back when I finally landed.
“Hehehe... how is it? Feels like dying, right? It hurts!”
She was having a grand old time. When I tried to respond, my mouth was full of blood, and only a painful cough came out.
“Yeah. It’ll hurt.”
Suddenly she grew calm.
“It reminds me of the old days! Right? You got beaten by me and rolled around just like this before too!”
Now her excitement spiked again. I’d noticed it even when I read the original work—she’s a monster whose next move is impossible to predict. Multiple personalities, or just severe mood swings? The story never properly explained it.
But wait. What did she say?
“What?”
“You’re talking well? Mm, it’s nothing special. I mean, come on—a few days ago, you got beaten to a pulp by me and ended up like that.”
“No, what does that— ugh!”
I tried to rise but doubled over from the pain in my chest. A few days ago? This was supposed to be my first fight with Virgo.
The pain climbed from my chest and reached my head. Virgo’s words, carrying magical power, dredged up a piece that had been lurking in one corner of me.
What surfaced was a memory.
A starry night.
Me, fleeing like mad, desperately churning my arms and legs.
Following behind me were monsters. Monsters who were more frightening because they possessed reason beyond simple monstrous form.
Virgo, Pegasus, Gemini, Pyxis. Monsters like those gathered together and chased me.
In the end, I was struck by Virgo’s beam under an overpass and collapsed.
Reflected in that ripple was the exact same face as mine now...
Han Jae-jung’s face.
“What, you don’t remember? Honestly, I’d sort of forgotten too. I thought you looked familiar somewhere, and it turns out I saw you back then.”
Virgo murmured it as if it were nothing.
The memory didn’t stop there; it kept playing back.
Through the sharp pain and my blurring vision, I saw starlight of many colors being cast upon me.
“You were a monster, weren’t you?”
No. I’m just a stranger possessing this body.
Not a lost child who has forgotten and is wandering.
That I was Han Jae-jung, who underwent monsterization and lost his memory?
No. I’m not a character from a webtoon. I had my own life.
I—my name is...
What was it?
“That’s right. You were. Poor Jae-jung. You’d forgotten everything, hadn’t you?”
Virgo approached with bewitching steps.
“Suffering for something that wasn’t even your choice... it’s too pitiful. Jae-jung. It hurts, right? But it’s all right now.”
She had come right up to me and now bent down to stroke my head.
“If you’re with me, things like that won’t happen.”
A moment ago she was trying to kill me and ignoring me, and now she says this.
I couldn’t understand. Her attitude right now. My own situation.
“Jae-jung. Become the answer to my question.”
In that instant, the madness disappeared from Virgo.
And from me as well.
I brought my hand to the Belt.
And powered down my transformation.
“...!”
An unadulterated, vivid arc drew itself across Virgo’s lips.
How had Dilemma been able to find me practically the moment I started operating?
They hadn’t found me.
They’d known all along.
Starlight flared and scattered from my body. Even then, I didn’t release my hand from the Belt.
[ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION.]
The seven stars rampaged and shoved the nearby Virgo away. With her now airborne, this was my opportunity. I advanced. Starlight lay in my steps.
“Why...?”
“Because forced release and re-transformation is dangerous, you see. I have to manually power down and then transform again each individual time.”
So, is there anything that changes my answer? Has what I have to do changed?
Nothing.
“Monster? Did you think that at this point I’d get confused about my identity and lose my way?”
It’s been only four days since I came to this world.
Already four days.
That time is based on my own perception. Still, I know what I know.
I can at least discern right from wrong.
[THE BIG DIPPER.]
Even if I become a stranger, even if I become a lost child, the sky remains clear.
The path heading north—the stars are so beautiful.
Anguish is a luxury.
Philosophy is the belch of the well-fed and warmly dressed.
Am I strong enough right now to agonize over something? I haven’t even managed to anchor myself anywhere, yet how presumptuous.
After all that hardship, I still haven’t managed to settle my heart.
I’ve truly had it easy.
Don’t be confused. Don’t get it twisted. Don’t waver.
I already settled on the answer a long time ago.
“I’m human. I believe I told you before.”
[SET. Seven-Star Step Kick.]
“That is the path I must walk. I won’t walk the same path as you bastards.”
Hold the line.
Hold the line to protect.
Quest, identity—none of it matters.
I will simply push forward stubbornly with this.