Cut Marks (11)
Cut Marks (11)
The lightning pulsed as densely as someone’s veins. The sky, as if enraged, changed its complexion without warning, and the ominously flickering streaks of light announced that calamity was arriving now.
“What the fuck! Seriously! What the hell is this... fuck...!!”
Jo Ah-yoon, cursing under her breath, looked up. The massive form of a bird obscured her view.
The figure riding atop its back maintained silence.
“Hey! Hey! Hey, you piece of shit!”
She shouted at the metal sphere floating around her.
“What are you doing, you bastard! You said you had a transformation function! When are you going to let me use it?! Huh?!”
Of course, Jo Ah-yoon still had a strong aversion to fighting. But it was better than dying.
“Let me transform too, you bastard!!!”
An attack arriving during a midair kidnapping. In this situation, anyone would be hard-pressed to remain calm. Jo Ah-yoon was no exception.
She had just been checking out real estate, looking for a nice spot to open a quiet little shop, when suddenly a giant eagle snatched her from the sky—and then lightning struck the eagle.
Her head spun. The peculiar dizziness and haziness of high altitude. Her vision swayed as if she were in the middle of waves, and her thoughts swayed with it.
In the face of a death crisis, even her aversion to combat grew faint.
“Hey, let me transform too! You fucking moron!!”
“...Quiet.”
A voice cut through the sound of lightning.
“Pull yourself together. It is too early to give up.”
An unfamiliar, stern tone. Yet somehow, it felt affectionate. Jo Ah-yoon looked up as if entranced. The kidnapper’s body still blocked her view, but she felt more reassured than a moment ago.
“...Jae-jung?”
“Yes. I am here, so rest easy.”
The lightning that had been shaking the sky subsided, and his voice grew clearer.
“Jae-jung! It’s really you, right?”
Jo Ah-yoon cried out joyfully. Her excited voice gradually grew thick with tears.
“J-Jae-jung... I... I was... I was really scared...”
“I know. Just wait a little longer.”
Watcher’s voice was thick with noise and electronic crackle, like listening to a bad radio. Jo Ah-yoon assumed it was a side effect of the transformation.
She wasn’t far off.
Han Jae-jung was experiencing the side effects of the transformation with each passing moment. His consciousness was gradually clouding over, and even the urgency to save her was fading. What now governed his thoughts was the trajectory of cutting this eagle’s neck right now and dropping it.
He hadn’t intended to use the Ursa Major form. But right after his transformation, Ursa Major had activated automatically.
[Current Guardian’s star count: 11. It is no longer possible to maintain the Big Dipper form.]
It was because he possessed stars that the Big Dipper form could no longer contain. It was possible to hold back his power, but only when he could consciously control all of it.
Han Jae-jung still could not freely handle the power of Ursa Major. Whether it was due to his state of mind, his inability to activate all the stars, or a side effect of forcibly drawing on Ursa Major’s power, the Ursa Major form was far more monster-like than before. A cold-hearted, savage power.
‘I should consider it a stroke of luck that I’m still keeping my consciousness and emotions.’
Watcher raised his axe without a moment’s delay.
He had never gone on a rampage while people were still around.
What would happen if he degenerated into a monster-slaughtering machine? A machine that massacred monsters without caring about civilian deaths. The mere thought sent a chill down his spine.
‘I’ll end this within three minutes.’
He would slice off this bird’s head, protect Jo Ah-yoon, and then abduct Contradiction to a remote location.
The eagle that had kidnapped Jo Ah-yoon was one of the mounts handled by Aquila. He could deal with it without any trouble.
“It will be a little dizzying.”
After delivering his warning to Jo Ah-yoon, he brought the raised axe down. The eagle’s head fell away as smoothly as tofu being sliced and dropped below.
“Huh? Uh-uh-uaaah!”
The eagle’s body began plummeting as well. Jo Ah-yoon, momentarily baffled, couldn’t help but scream at the top of her lungs at the sensation of falling.
Perhaps it was cadaveric spasm; the talons gripping Jo Ah-yoon’s waist dug in even more painfully. In a moment dominated by pain and terror, the axe flashed once more.
Watcher cut off the leg that was holding Jo Ah-yoon. He took her, freed from the talons, into his arms and turned so his back faced the ground. The fall continued.
Jo Ah-yoon clutched his arm and yelled.
“Jae-jung, I’m not gonna die, right? Really, right? Shit, I haven’t even had my first kiss yet—I’m not gonna croak like this, right? I trust you. I really trust you?!”
“Trust me.”
Watcher declared forcefully.
“Even if I lose my life, I will save yours.”
“Don’t bet your life, just save me safely! Why the hell would you think about dying, you crazy bastard! Oh shit! So fucking scary! Aaaaagh!”
“It’s obviously hypothetical!”
An arrow flew in from a distance. An attack precisely aimed at Watcher. The precision was remarkable, enough to snipe a falling target accurately.
It was Orange Altair.
Watcher moved his axe again. Before the arrow could even touch him, lightning split it and turned it to ash. The sniper must be clicking her tongue right about now.
Jo Ah-yoon, cradled in Han Jae-jung’s arms, thought quietly. Even though she was held against his body, which was overflowing with lightning, she wasn’t being electrocuted. Even as ferocious bolts of lightning sparked like embers, Jo Ah-yoon didn’t have a single scratch.
Even while shrieking in fear of the fall, she could feel that strangeness.
It didn’t hurt. It wasn’t hot.
’...Warm.’
It wasn’t simply because he was blocking the wind for her. The lightning offered warmth to Jo Ah-yoon, who had been exposed to the cold air for so long. It was the same temperature as blood.
More arrows came, not stopping after the first. Of course, the lightning tore them apart the moment they arrived. That lightning wasn’t gentle toward them like it was toward Jo Ah-yoon. It pushed them away with cold, blade-like force and let out a savage resonance.
Rumble. Thunder followed the flashing light.
As she fell, whether it was her life flashing before her eyes or something else, past memories absurdly surfaced.
Han Jae-jung, who had come to rescue her when she was locked in a remote warehouse crying. Even though he was covered in blood and bruises, he smiled the moment their eyes met. He had been holding smashed guitar pieces and a steel pipe. ‘Ah-yoon, I think my life is ruined. The ambulances out there right now are insane. If I become a murderer, don’t visit me and just live your own life, got it?’ He laughed immaturely even as he said that.
Jo Ah-yoon still couldn’t forget it.
‘I must be crazy. Why am I thinking about that now?’
This was no time for romantic memories. She was dealing with a magical girl sniping Han Jae-jung, mistaking him for a monster—though perhaps it wasn’t a mistake—and a body plummeting from the sky. Dying at any moment wouldn’t be strange.
“We’re about to hit the ground. Clench your teeth so you don’t bite your tongue.”
Jo Ah-yoon clenched her teeth and braced for the impact to come.
Watcher raised his arm again. This time it wasn’t to swing the axe. It was his bare hand. Five ferocious-looking fingers tore through the air and formed a fist. Lightning coalesced in response, creating a circle of electricity on his arm. It was a shield.
He adjusted his angle so the shield would hit the ground first.
Boom—!!!! A massive shockwave slammed into his back. The ground didn’t just crack; it cratered, and hazy smoke billowed like after an explosion.
“Augh!”
Jo Ah-yoon let out a pained groan. Her back hurt considerably, and her breath caught in her throat for a moment. Jo Ah-yoon couldn’t even scream.
“Are you alright?”
“Ugh... hah, yeah. I’m okay.”
“That’s a relief.”
But soon her breathing returned to normal and she could move her body properly. Jo Ah-yoon was unharmed, making the anticipation that she’d shatter a couple of ribs feel almost ridiculous. If there was a wound, it was near her waist where the bird had grabbed her earlier.
“Once you’ve collected yourself, run immediately. It’s fine. There are plenty of people here who will protect you.”
Jo Ah-yoon relaxed her wrinkled expression and steadied her shaking vision. The smoke gradually cleared, revealing Han Jae-jung clearly.
“...Jae-jung?”
“Do you understand? Collect yourself and run right away.”
An arrow was lodged in one of his shoulders. It must have been because he’d been too focused on protecting Jo Ah-yoon from the fall’s impact to defend himself.
“J-Jae-jung, your shoulder!”
“This is hardly the time to worry about me, is it?”
His red lenses began to gradually darken to black. Even a moment ago, lightning had been engulfing most of his body, but now it was even more so. His entire body was lightning.
“Run. Ah-yoon.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a slash cut through the smoke. A skeletal soldier had begun swinging its sword at him. Of course, it couldn’t harm his body.
His axe swung faster than the sword could touch him. Crackle. Sharp lightning split the skeletal soldier and spread wide like the branches of a tree.
A single slash cleared away all the smoke and also succeeded in crushing the skeleton charging from behind.
“Senpai!”
An urgent voice called out from beyond the grave of those skeletons.
“Hey, you electric shock machine! Give back my senpai, can’t you?!!!”
“W-wait!”
Before Jo Ah-yoon could stop them, the two clashed. It was closer to one-sided violence, to be precise. A monster, an indiscernible mishmash of forms like some kind of beast, struck his body.
Unlike before, he did not defend himself at all; he went flying, scattering trails of lightning.
“Senpai, get on!”
It was too fast. White Dabih, who had been watching it in despair, grabbed the arm of the dazed Jo Ah-yoon and pulled her onto the beast.
“Senpai, your luck is terrible! How do you manage to get kidnapped by a monster?! If Fake Cowherd hadn’t tipped us off, it would’ve been a disaster.”
“Fake Cow...? No, that’s not it! Hey, you! What did you just do back there—you just...”
“Huh? Uh... monster-killin’?”
White Dabih asked back, sounding genuinely baffled. Jo Ah-yoon choked up and raised her voice.
“That’s not what I meant! Right now, you...”
“Ah-yoon!”
A worried voice cut off her indignation.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“...Senior.”
It was Blue Sirius, the woman Jo Ah-yoon respected. She took Jo Ah-yoon’s hand and murmured. Perhaps because she had been handling ice just moments ago, her hand was truly cold.
“I’m sorry. I should have paid more attention... I’m so, so sorry... I’m sorry...”
“N-no, that’s not it. Right now, that’s...”
“Are you okay, Deneb?”
Red Vega flew over behind her.
“Are you hurt anywhere... Phew, looks like you’re not! Thank goodness! Altair was super worried about you!”
[Who said I was worried, how annoying!]
“You probably can’t hear her, but she’s still super worried right now.”
[No, that’s a lie. I have never once worried about you.]
Surrounded by magical girls, Jo Ah-yoon felt it once again. The fact that she had been a magical girl. The fact that she was the same as these beings who gave off light.
And if there was one more thing she realized.
“Aah! That lightning monster is starting to move again!”
“I’m sorry, Ah-yoon. Dabih. You keep Ah-yoon properly protected. The creatures you’re handling right now are enough.”
“Understood! Leave it to me!”
Taking the form of a monster meant becoming an enemy to all of these people.
It meant having to endure the one-sided hostility of these friendly girls.
Once White Dabih took a stance of loyalty, Red Vega and Blue Sirius dashed out. Toward the monster that had been scattering lightning moments ago, naturally.
“Vega!”
“Got it!”
Red Vega jumped without a shred of thought that it might be another form of Watcher. She engulfed her foot in flames and launched a kick.
Again, he did not defend himself. He took the flames and scattered lightning. Following behind her, Blue Sirius unleashed dozens of ice spears.
The lightning surged and lashed at his body.
Again, he did not defend himself.
“This guy’s pretty tough!”
“Yeah... Wait, he’s moving again!”
The movement of the lightning couldn’t be tracked by mere human reaction speed. Boom! The sound followed the impact this time as well.
“Block him!”
“Yes!”
The magical girls, mistakenly thinking he was charging at Jo Ah-yoon, swung flame and ice once more. Dozens of arrows flew in from the distance, and hundreds of skeletal soldiers swung their swords at him.
He defended only against the attacks that blocked his path, accepting most of the strikes. His lightning remained unhindered nonetheless.
“Ehh? What a weird monster.”
White Dabih watched him and murmured. His behavior was consistent.
“Senpais! That bastard!!!”
She shouted loudly and declared her realization.
“He doesn’t attack magical girls!!! Push him back!!! He’s not making any attack that would harm us!! Yoshi!! I can see the rule of victory!”
“...What?”
The place where he, moving along with the lightning, arrived was right in front of Contradiction.
“Aha. So it was you.”
Grabbing Contradiction brutally by the throat, he kept running. In the places he passed, a trail like veins remained.
Even with his emotions cut away, even at the severed edge of his consciousness, he did not forget his mission. Where his humanity had been cut away, the strongest will remained, paradoxically.
Protect the Guardians.
That alone was the mission he had to carry out now.