Transformation or Death

Chapter 37

Let’s be friends (5)

[Guardian, I should quickly contact the other magical girls….]

‘No, it’s okay.’

Rejecting the aid, Red Vega dodged Watcher’s attack. 

She had an interest.

She was curious about his true nature now.  

She was curious about how far she could reach him right now.

Unlike the fight he just watched last time, she wanted to face him sincerely. Of course, her current physical condition was quite poor, but originally, one’s condition can never be fully maintained.

She thought this was also part of the trial.

Red Vega swung her fist wrapped in intense flames. The flames wrapped around her hand stretched like a whip and tore through the air.

“Did you choose me as the first target…because I’m weak?!”

Watcher dodged the flames nimbly by throwing his body to the left. In the narrow back alley, the evasive movement caused him to almost collide with the wall.

Just before impact, Watcher rotated his body in mid-air and planted his feet on the wall. His legs bent greatly like a grasshopper about to jump, hinting at his next attack.

A downward strike, whether with feet or fists, it was obvious an intense blow would come the moment he jumped off that wall.

His legs moved. He threw his body towards the homeland of wingless beasts, the ground. Red Vega crossed her arms in an X-shape and spun the flames right in front of her, creating an excellent flame barrier.  

Whether it was feet or fists that struck, she would be the one injured. But Watcher was one step ahead of her.

[ALIOTH.]

In his hand appeared a red triple-blade in the shape of nails, it was Rust. Similar to the flame shield Red Vega created, his blade was wrapped in flames. The sharp blade tips prodded at the flame barrier like nails.

Bang!  

The two flames collided. Like pouring water on oil, the flames exploded. In the heat comparable to a smelting furnace, the two continued increasing the size of their flames.

Finally, one of them was knocked to the ground.

“Let me clarify your remark. I don’t particularly pity you any more than others. In reality, you are weak, but that alone cannot be a reason for me to attack you. There are far weaker beings than you.”

It was Red Vega. Even the flames that had always accompanied her since becoming a magical girl were ineffective against the villain. She felt miserable. The misery spread, making her feel slightly resentful.

“Is it overconfidence…or pride? Are you overreacting a bit because I’m the first person to give you a defeat?”

Watcher continued as he forcefully shook off the flames stuck to his arm, resembling shaking off blood. His flames still clung to his blade intensely like lava.

She has more talent than him. Yet that talent alone overwhelmed his entirety. He was weak, just as he had heard from her so many times.

“It’s your fault for making me misunderstand!”

Red Vega voiced the various distressing emotions on her tongue while grabbing her aching waist. Was she hurt somewhere?   

It didn’t matter either way.  

Her body, bouncing with excitement, secreted adrenaline and endorphins that quickly numbed the pain, allowing her to move somehow.

“Whose side are you on! Why did you help me before but now you’re attacking! Was your concern for me last time just a whim! What do you want to do!”

She drew magic power from her heart. Unlike the villain’s power, it shone beautifully and softly – the star-like radiance unique to magical girls. The vibrant light illuminated the shadowy back alley, gradually gathering in the girl’s hands.

Flames flickered in her fists. A round ring appeared on her wrist, resembling a halo of stars or angels. It vibrated like a sound wave, the lines rising and falling repeatedly, forming a ring of pure magic power.   

“What do you mean by eliminating magical girls! Then why were you worried about my life!” 

Her unique technique, symbolizing her life as a magical girl.

The technique she first perfected.  

A homage-like technique created out of respect for Sky Polaris.

“If you have so much power, why don’t you use it to protect the weak!”

One Path. Harmony (Fire Sound).

With the speed of a roar, Red Vega charged forward, leaving a trail of red light and sonic booms in her wake.

Watcher also prepared his technique, bending his waist, pulling his arms back, and gripping Rust – a stance for thrusting. A dark red ring formed at the tip of his blade, rotating and generating more light.

Seiengakuro (Falling Path of Blazing Stars)

Red Vega extended her fist, and Watcher extended his sword.  

The two flames and two clusters of light collided.

KWAAAAAANG!!!

An explosion of intense light flashed in the back alley, causing the asphalt ground and walls to tremble from the shock, unable to withstand the impact. The earth shook.

As the light faded, the winner was revealed once again.

“Let me ask you instead.”

It was Watcher again.  

“Again…”

“With so much power, why don’t you protect yourself?”

The giant’s shadow loomed over Red Vega as she struggled to stand up. Watcher’s foot stomped on her hand.

“Ugh!”  

“It seems the injuries from your previous fight haven’t fully healed.”

“But you too…”

Red Vega met Watcher’s gaze. Her chin, covered in soot from the dry asphalt ground, could only be raised with great effort. Despite being so close, it was difficult to meet his eyes, he seemed distant.

“…Recovered already?”

Red Vega remembered the injuries he sustained while fighting the powerful Libra. But Watcher now looked perfectly fine, unbelievable even for a villain’s body.

It was just yesterday.

“And why did you choose to fight? This place is close to a hospital. I heard there were magical girls there… Why did you fight alone? For fairness? Were you pursuing that in a life-or-death battle? Do you even have civilians to protect?”

“It’s not like that… Agh! Ugh!”  

Watcher lifted his foot that was stomping on her hand, but not out of kindness. Without a moment’s delay, he moved his leg to kick her stomach.

“Cough… Ugh, no. I just… wanted to learn your goal… and get revenge for that day’s defeat…”

Red Vega clutched her stomach and stood up.

“Revenge? You say amusing things. Is defeat a disgrace to you?”

Watcher’s leg rushed at her again. He struck the same spot in the stomach that was hit before, causing Red Vega to painfully roll on the ground heated by the battle, not a comfortable place to lie down.

Rolling around only caused Red Vega mild burns, and she let out another pained groan. 

“Was defeat a disgrace for a magical girl? Then what does that make your seniors who have been defeated countless times? Is that an insult to them?”

“…”

“The proper response would have been to immediately fly off and bring reinforcements when you transformed. There are no civilians here for me to ambush. My intention was not to regret watching you flee or protect anyone. Did you simply charge in recklessly just to solve your sense of disgrace?” 

The tone that had become more disdainful weighed down on Red Vega.

“It seems you’re not just weak, but foolish as well.”

Smack.

This was the third time a powerful impact struck Red Vega’s body.

“Cough! Ugh…ugh…”

She could no longer swallow the pain into her throat. Along with the breath and saliva hiding in her lungs, her agonized groans burst out.

She could no longer maintain her transformation. The clothes enveloping her body dispersed into light, slowly revealing her ordinary girl’s flesh and clothes.

Yet, Belt did not announce Quest Complete.

How did the quest system evaluate this situation to not mark it as complete despite her suffering so much?  

To begin with, what was the purpose of this quest’s existence?

Han Jae-jung once again traced back to his original wish. What he risked his life for was none other than obtaining the power of the stars. If he cannot fulfill his ideal, if he cannot take responsibility, he dies.

Seeing that the penalty for not responding to the quest is death, it seems the criteria for issuing quests should help in achieving that ideal. Most quests do involve eliminating the harm caused by magical girls, after all.

But what about this current quest? The command to ambush Red Vega. Even forcibly canceling her transformation didn’t trigger a completion, implying there is still more to do.  

How will this help him achieve his ideal? He pondered while resting his hand on his chin.

He watched Red Vega’s pitiful form, crouched while clutching her stomach.

Then, a thought struck him.  

His past experiences of being surrounded by villlains and suffering a lynch mob, nearly dying to Libra, Red Vega is now in a similar situation to him back then.

Simply directly rescuing magical girls whenever they’re in danger is not enough to protect them.

Like teaching a hungry person how to fish, it’s important to enable them to protect themselves.

Han Jae-jung realized the meaning behind this current quest.  

Just as he did back then.

“Hey Red Vega.”  

Make her feel fear.  

Paradoxically, make her realize the preciousness of life in the face of a risk of death.

Become her fear.

“Yes…?”

“Have you ever seen the stars?”

Now he realized. What he needs now is not pity, but ruthlessness.  

Imagine it. What he went through back then. What were his feelings in front of the mocking villains.

“People often say they ‘see stars’ when they receive a strong shock. It’s the optic nerve being shocked and flashing. You… have you had that experience?” 

Watcher’s voice had a tinge of laughter in it. It sent chills down her spine. He was being playful, but she wasn’t. The games played by an overwhelming power become a matter of life and death for the weak.

Even though his transformation had been undone, his shadow showed no signs of disappearing. 

“Yes?”

Red Vega repeated blankly. There was a slight tremor in her voice. It resembled the whimpering of a child before being beaten. Watcher lifted his foot again, only half-listening to her response.  

And brought it down.

“Kughh!”

Stunned, Red Vega mustered her will and struggled to get up. Without even transforming, she clenched her fists and charged at him.

“Uwaaahh!”

Watcher didn’t even bother dodging.

Thud. Her fist bounced harmlessly off his solid metal armor. Instead, her attacking hand started bleeding.

“…What are you doing now?”

“I can’t… retreat like this… I’m a magical girl…”

Without even wiping away the tears welling up, Baek Ah-hee shamelessly dragged out her words.

Suddenly, Han Jae-jung felt anger.

The kind of indignant anger one feels when seeing children, unaware of danger, roughhousing on playgrounds or in valleys or mountains. He was angry at seeing a child reckless about her own life. 

If this had been another villain instead of him, what would have happened to her? He didn’t even want to imagine it. He had painstakingly tried to persuade and explain to her, but she still didn’t understand how to value her life.

He recalled her character from the original work, who was often criticized as a cancerous character. Only activating at the very end, having survived until then thanks to the sacrifices of her seniors, an infuriatingly helpless character.

Powerless justice. 

It was fine when just fiction, but actually meeting her in person and communicating with her made him understand why she received so much hate back then.

A person acting recklessly without a plan is always a public nuisance.

“You’re standing before a villain. Do you understand what that means?”

Han Jae-jung grabbed the girl’s arm that was on his chest and pulled. Losing her balance, he tripped her wavering legs and slammed her down.

“What you should be doing now isn’t resistance, it’s running away. Don’t you know what defeat means for a magical girl? It’s not shameful. You should feel relieved to be alive. Having lost a life-or-death battle but survived is proof that you can save more lives going forward. You should have run away right now. Why are you meaninglessly wasting your life?”

Han Jae-jung raised his foot again and brought it down.

“Did you look down on me? Did you think that just because I’ve been helping you, I’d indulge your pathetic tantrums? Did you think I wouldn’t kill you?!”

And again.

“Please! Understand! Your value! Your life!”  

And again.

“Fear is hope itself!”

He didn’t listen. He didn’t look at her. He focused only on Belt’s voice, moving his feet as much as he could until the notification to finish came. Raising his leg and bringing it down again.

He wasn’t using full force, but it surely wasn’t painless either.  

More than the pain, the sheer terror must have been overwhelming.

Baek Ah-hee tried hard to resist at first, but an injured civilian had no chance against a villain’s power. Any attempt to get up would only get her trampled again.

Gradually, the girl’s movements ceased. Instead, trembling began.

The Watcher didn’t stop. Her fear had to be instilled more definitively. The value of life becomes clear only at the brink of death.

How many seconds passed? No, perhaps minutes. Or had a whole day elapsed already? It was a prolonged act of violence, the most one-sided he had ever committed. Horrific. With each movement of his foot, it felt like sinking deeper into a swamp. A nightmarish duration.

[Quest Complete.]

He immediately withdrew his foot. Underneath was the girl, curled up protectively with her head covered by her arms, trembling violently.

“Hick… stop… st…op…”

Success.  

The confident, self-assured Red Vega was gone. Only the tearful Baek Ah-hee remained, assaulted by the villain.

“Hick…ugh…ugh…”

As the violence stopped, Baek Ah-hee slowly raised her head.  

“Why…?”  

It was a question, just a single word. But it contained disappointment, betrayal, incomprehension as to why this was done to her, doubt as to why she had to go through this, all tangled up in that single utterance.

There was no burning rage. No vengeful humiliation that she might have ignited.  

In the face of such an overwhelming power disparity, such utter powerlessness, one cannot feel anger. 

Only fear remains.

Unable to watch any longer, Han Jae-jung covered his mouth and barely suppressed the urge to vomit. He took a few steps back, shuddering at the horrific sight he had wrought.

However necessary it might have been, had he gone too far? Her injuries were lighter than ever before, yet the girl looked even more wounded, filling him with doubt.

“You bastard!!!”

A despairing voice cried out, and an incoming kick sent him staggering back. It was Pink Deneb.  

Unable to watch any longer, the mascot took independent action, contacting the one with the highest mobility, Pink Deneb.

She quickly transformed while wearing her hospital gown like a coat.  

Swiftly deploying her Bird, she shielded Baek Ah-hee while also lashing out at Watcher.

Individual sparrows swarmed him blade-like, driven by her fury, justified.

“What did you do to our Ah-hee!”  

Pink Deneb glanced back at her junior. The usually bright junior who would have cheered her arrival was now silently trembling. Her patience, which she didn’t think existed, had reached its limit.

Unfolding an unprecedented number of Birds that engulfed the entire alley.  

“I must have thought wrong… There’s no way a bastard like you is my brother… You rotten piece of shit…! Is this what your parents taught you? What did she do wrong?!”

“As you just said, she did nothing wrong. But there are many in this world who don’t know that.”

Watcher calmly replied. 

“So sometimes, people need a catalyst to realize that.”  

That’s enough. He no longer wanted to resort to violence today. The time for abuse was over. Han Jae-jung knew what he had just done could never be excused as discipline or education.

“It seems you understand.”  

[ALKAID.]

Smoke scattered from the Watcher. Pink Deneb charged through, swatting it away.

“Fuck! Don’t you run away! You’re gonna get the same beating you gave Ah-hee! Stay right there! Hey! Hey!”  

She furiously thrashed at the smoke, but his form had already vanished within.  

“Damn bastard!”  

Pink Deneb’s fist struck the wall, the impact reverberating like a voiceless scream.