Memory Recovery (5)
Memory Recovery (5)
Virgo is an exceptional monster. All monsters are exceptional, of course, but Virgo stands out even among them.
Her exceptional nature reveals itself in nothing less than her stated purpose.
World destruction.
A solution too violent to call an answer for realizing one’s own self.
Destruction isn’t an incidental byproduct of her search for an answer—she made it her goal from the very beginning.
A goal could be reshaping the world in some particular way, but simple destruction without method or reason?
What sort of absurdity is this?
In that regard, she’s the monster most estranged from what a monster is, and at once the monster who most perfectly embodies the word.
No one even knows what question Virgo originally held. The original work never revealed it.
“Kyahahahaha!”
“Laughing like that. Don’t you feel embarrassed?”
With laughter that virtually advertised “I’m a crazy bitch,” violet light scattered in every direction. Each fragment was a mass with heat rivalling molten lava.
Watcher advanced while dodging the light clusters. When some were unavoidable, he knocked them aside with fists or feet.
“Hm? Why would I be embarrassed? Only people who care what others think feel anything like shame!”
Shhhk! The airborne Virgo wrapped violet light around her hand like a blade and descended. The slash she swung with that momentum carried formidable destructive force.
“I don’t see! I don’t hear! So why would I be embarrassed?!”
“You’ve abandoned being human. How like you.”
Watcher chose not to defend. He slipped his body sideways as though gliding, then drove his foot hard at her once she had landed. Virgo took to the sky again and evaded the attack.
“Hmm, missing the ability to fly must be inconvenient, right? You should put on some wings, like me.”
“As if you can just grow wings because you feel like it.”
The Megrez bike Contradiction had destroyed flashed briefly through his mind, but he erased it at once.
It could be repaired later. Losing flight was painful, but right now he had to devise a solution for the present.
Watcher surveyed his surroundings, then ripped a signpost from the ground and hurled it at Virgo.
It flew, slicing through the evening glow that settled darkly upon the earth like an ebb tide. It was enough to impede flight.
“Too slow!”
But not enough to announce flight’s failure. Virgo evaded nimbly in the sky and laughed a ringing laugh.
Watcher paid it no mind. The attack had been meant exactly for that.
He kicked off the ground. Then off a wall.
Then, off the signpost he had just thrown.
“Even someone who can’t fly can stay in the air for a moment.”
Among monsters, Watcher’s leaping ability alone was exceptional—a feat made possible by it. He kicked off the signpost at once.
[SET. Rising Star.]
Verdant light welled up in his fist. A light like the aurora that splits the arctic night pressed heavily upon the city’s evening.
Virgo’s spine lay below. The trajectory transmitted directly into his mind once again targeted the enemy’s vitals without a millimeter of error.
The fist split the sky vertically and a sharp flash blazed.
The haze of dusk became saturated with the artistry of violence. Green light and violet light intersected, and Virgo sank like twilight. As the starlight crashed down, the sun’s remaining hold on the sky confessed its end.
Boom!
His fist accompanied Virgo in her fall. Even as asphalt cracked anew, his hand remained against her back.
“Kugh... kahack!”
[Rising Star manifestation successful. Replication rate 100%.]
While Virgo shuddered in pain, Watcher immediately withdrew his fist and shifted the Buckle.
[PHECDA.]
Phecda. The star’s voice resounded lowly.
The circle on his chest was dyed blue.
Two azure maces materialized in Watcher’s hands and enclosed his hands like gloves.
The name of those orbs was Celestial Pearl.
Orbs that rule the atmosphere.
A gale like a storm raged violently. Virgo’s wings trembled like leaves in a typhoon.
The air whirling around the Celestial Pearl robbed flying creatures of their free will. Any attempt to take off again within this vortex would merely lose direction and stagger.
“You won’t be flying again now.”
“Hehehe....”
Virgo laughed. There was nothing like emptiness within that laugh.
“Good! I like it! Because I’m not a magical girl! Flying was strange for me anyway!”
But contrary to her words, the laugh was more impassioned.
She extended her index finger straight. A posture like firing a gun.
“Bang!”
Raising the pitch of her voice as though in aegyo, she tilted the tip of her index finger slightly upward.
From its tip a beam streamed out. A line that did not waver inside the wind but stretched perfectly straight.
Kwaaaaang!!
A massive explosion followed. Where the beam, having grazed past his head, struck, a new wind surged.
It stirred his muffler.
“Saying your own onomatopoeia out loud. Isn’t that embarrassing?”
“Hm? I told you!”
She closed in swiftly and aimed her index finger under his chin.
“I don’t even know what embarrassment feeeeels like~!”
He moved the Celestial Pearl and swept that finger aside. A violet beam burst from the fingertip at once. A beam that would have taken his life if he had been even a moment slower.
Though Virgo was clearly in front of him, he sensed a presence behind him. A clone. Multiple Magic—one of a Binary Star’s hallmarks.
He extended the Celestial Pearl backward and fired a violent gust. The clone that had been there moments before shot upward and discharged its beam somewhere useless.
“Don’t know! I don’t know a thing! I forgot everything!”
She continued firing beams like a maniac.
Virgo’s endurance is lower than other monsters, but her explosive power is far above theirs.
Inside the storm, a baptism of beams raging harder than the storm itself. Virgo’s victory or defeat hinges on whether she can endure it.
Of course, even if she can endure, that doesn’t guarantee victory.
At least for a magical girl, no matter how long she endures, she can never win.
“What do you think is insane?”
“What?”
Amidst dodging Virgo’s beams, deflecting them, and sending them flying with wind, she asked him.
“What is madness, in your opinion?”
“What are you on about all of a sudden?”
“The madness I believe in is oblivion!”
Without listening to another’s words in the slightest, she laid out her own.
“Doing something, even after you’ve forgotten! That’s why I’m a crazy bitch. I don’t know if by your standards a crazy bitch calling herself a crazy bitch is an embarrassing thing to do, but anyway I’m a crazy bitch! I forgot all about shame! I forgot everything!”
Gradually the frequency and intensity of the beams diminished.
“When, where, who, why, how, what. The grand premise of the six questions. I’ve lost most of them!”
As if wringing out the last of her strength, Virgo began to spray beams even more wildly.
“I don’t know when I began to harbor this intent! I don’t know where I first conceived it! I don’t know who angered me! I don’t know why I’m doing it! I don’t know how I’ll do it! But what I want to do—I know perfectly well! World destruction!”
Wild laughter and beams intermingled, scattering light across the world hanging on the edge of evening.
“What could be more insane than carrying something out while having forgotten the reason?!”
Watcher approached Virgo, sometimes evading the beams, sometimes taking them. In the end, he succeeded in standing directly before her.
“I just now forgot why I tried to turn you into a monster, too! It’s useless even if you beat me down and try asking things!”
The beams that had been stabbing down like rain ceased.
[SET. Heavenly Secret Unleashed.]
That meant the offensive had shifted to him. Every gust of wind from the battle converged upon the azure orb in his hands.
Then he thrust that gathered wind at Virgo. The compressed air, packed like a snowball, burst upon meeting its obstacle.
[Heavenly Secret Unleashed manifestation success. Replication rate 100%.]
Puhbuhbuhboom—!
A tremendous roar resounded, shaking the very earth’s crust.
“Huhuhuhu!!! Kugh... keuheok... I forgot everything... I forgot everything....”
Even as she rolled upon the ground, Virgo did not cease her manic laughter. Not even while coughing up blood from her mouth.
Watcher released Phecda and readied a new stance.
To prepare the Seven-Star Step Kick.
Virgo was an exceedingly dangerous monster. If he intended to go on calling himself the magical girls’ guardian, killing her here was the correct course.
“Our Jae-jungie! What’s got you so rushed? Is it because you’re the same as me? Because you forgot everything? It’s fine! You get used to everything! You get used to it~”
Her story had no context. Watcher did not hide his displeasure at the one-sided conversation, dizzying just to hear.
“Don’t call me by that name.”
“Hoho, you’re angry? Sulking? Come on, what’s so important about names and memories?”
Virgo rose, swaying.
“You also forgot the time we spent together, didn’t you? Right?”
His movements halted on the spot.
“Hey, an opening!”
Virgo swiftly fired a beam.
Kwahng!
It struck him squarely in the solar plexus. Fragments of armor went flying. Then melted from the searing heat.
“Kuugh....”
“Oh my, a hero shouldn’t be listening to a villain’s words! Or maybe... aha! You wanted to take my side! Right? That’s it, isn’t it?”
“As expected... you... my past....”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
Virgo wiped the smile from her face. She stared into the empty air, pupils swimming as if deep in thought, then grinned awkwardly again.
“Did I say something?”
Watcher rose with a bitter smile. It was a serious wound, but at least it wasn’t fatal. He could still fight on.
“Fine. Whether that’s acting or sincere... you appear to know me, regardless. Me from an era I myself have forgotten.”
He had always wondered. Why did Virgo try to attack Han Jae-jung and turn him into a monster? What exactly did she want to gain by making him a monster?
According to Jason’s words, he had tried to turn people into monsters because he wanted comrades who had lost their purpose.
On top of that, her earlier words about becoming the answer to her question.
She had wanted him to become a monster who had begun as human, wanted him to abandon his humanity, and wanted him to be her answer.
“Do you want me to be your ally?”
When he muttered that, Virgo, who had been preparing the next beam to fire, stopped moving.
“Hmm... hmm? Hmmmm... hm!”
She folded her arms and began to ponder furiously.
“Uh, was it? Was that it...? Ally is... I don’t think so....”
After agonizing so intensely it seemed to bring on a headache, she eventually answered.
“As if I can answer when I’ve forgotten!”
She gathered light in both hands and launched it at him. Watcher kicked off the ground and evaded the beam.
Discharging beams short and fast like a machine gun, she continued talking.
“Madness is oblivion! Madness is oblivion!”
Anger gradually mixed into that curtain of fire.
“Don’t ask my intentions! Because I forgot them!”
The conversation’s context was vanishing rapidly. Her emotional swings were so extreme that following them was difficult.
“If you’ve forgotten, if you don’t know, then there’s no need for responsibility!”
Her starlight filled the world, ever more distant, and her voice only rose further.
“If you were chosen against your will! If a role was forced upon you! Must you absolutely consent to that role? Does responsibility follow even a coerced choice?! Even if it was a choice made in ignorance, does that responsibility rest solely on the chooser?!”
Virgo rained beams down madly. They flowed across the sky, splendid as a lantern festival. Even their direction was gone now. As though the entire world were her enemy, she poured destruction in every direction, at random.
Everything the light touched melted and flashed violet.
“Even if it’s a power I never wished for, must I know that responsibility?! Why am I the only one who has to know! Why must it be forced on me!”
This was unmistakably a rampage. Light upon light folded and exploded as though in a dream. Opening one’s eyes inside this festival of starlight was difficult enough.
Flashes erupted endlessly—you could almost call them eternal light rather than flashes.
“Jae-jung. You know, don’t you? If it’s you, who had starlight forcibly injected....”
Abruptly. As though a faucet had been turned off, her rampage halted without an instant’s delay.
“...what did I just say?”
It was the Blessing of Oblivion.
Watching Virgo frozen inside that blessing, Han Jae-jung asked.
“Is that... your question?”
Virgo chuckled wryly.
“Ah, right... oblivion isn’t the only thing needed for madness. Now and then you need to remember again. And then forget again. If that repeats, the memories vanish and only the emotions remain. Uh... what was I saying? You know, oblivion isn’t the only thing you need for madness. Ah, I already said that.”
Noticing her own lapse, Virgo smiled a soft, vacant smile.
“Anyway, I like being a crazy bitch. Because if you don’t know, you bear no responsibility. Even if my actions have no reason, even if my violence knows no mercy, my madness alone explains it all away.”
She pulled her lips into a sinister smirk and murmured.
“For ignorance, oblivion is necessary. You know that? Madness is oblivion. I said this already, right? Ah, I think I did.”
Han Jae-jung forgot what he was going to say. She was, literally, a crazy bitch. A crazy bitch who had chosen a muddled madness with a lucid mind. Every word she spoke sounded like a dirge.
He felt pity for her life, forced to bear responsibility with a power she never wanted.
But none of those circumstances grant her actions legitimacy.
She was someone who had already, and would yet, claim innumerable lives.
‘Just what the hell was I doing to get involved with a bitch like that?’
Han Jae-jung grew curious about his past self. Had he really gone into Dark Matter? With what sort of confidence?
Ignorance is fear. If you don’t know, you imagine, and imagination is greater than reality.
What if this woman was his benefactor? What if he himself was one of the reasons for her madness?
Han Jae-jung knew he must not hesitate, but faced with a responsibility he could not even recognize, his movements seized.
“World destruction! World destruction! What delightful words!”
A single bird alighted upon the hand she was raising so vigorously. Her words and her movements stopped.
So did Han Jae-jung. He forgot speech and stared at it.
“Crimson-Winged Crow...?”
Crimson-Winged Crows. Pink Deneb’s power. At this moment, Virgo had become the new master of one of those Crows.
She flew in from far away. Halting above Watcher, she shouted urgently.
“Hey, monster over there! Finish that bitch off right now! You fight her all the time! Quick! In the meantime I’ll handle the civilian evacuation around here....”
“Hah.”
Matching her urgency, Han Jae-jung raised his voice.
“No other magical girls came besides you, right?!”
“Of course! Would I be crazy enough to bring anyone else when I’m up against that bitch....”
“Hyahah!”
Virgo’s laughter, as she looked at the bird, began to spread wider and wider.
“Thanks for the present, junior~”
Every Crimson-Winged Crow that had formed wings on Pink Deneb’s back began gathering behind Virgo. Behind her violet wings, freshly formed wings started to take shape.
The birds that originally belonged to Deneb all moved over to her side.
Virgo’s power is one designed specifically to counter magical girls.
A power meant to become their natural enemy.
Four Seasons, One Violet.
A power like dyeing all the diversity of the four seasons a single shade of violet.
She seizes any color, encroaches upon it, and makes it her own.
Steals it and uses it as her own strength.
Usurpation of magical power.
Magical girls—beings who purify starlight, mold it into a form suited for human use, and manifest magic.
Virgo can steal their magical power and wield their magic.
Behind her, the Crimson-Winged Crows plundered from Pink Deneb bloomed falsely.
“So, is it round two, then?”
This is why Virgo is such a troublesome opponent for magical girls.
It isn’t only Virgo’s inherent strength—by stealing a magical girl’s power, Virgo strengthens herself while simultaneously weakening her opponent.
Thus, the magical girl who has come here bears a certain humiliating title: the weakest in battle—meaning an ability so inadequate for combat that having her power stolen poses no problem.
Pink Deneb gritted her teeth.