NOVEL NEXT Episode 8 – I Became a Noteworthy Magical Girl (3)
The power of the Magical Girl is expressed in color, stemming from one’s potential and emotions. The black wave aimed at me was imbued with the pain and injustice of a single girl.
“Disgusting.”
I swatted it away with one hand wrapped in magical power. The wave ricocheted off my hand, soaring to the roof and exploding, blowing the lid off.
“Yeah! Let’s take them all down and rack up some results!”
“Shut up!”
I kicked the suddenly cocky Ren away and summoned thorns from the shadows.
The thorns erupted, smashing the ground, walls, and ceiling, instantly impaling all the monsters that resisted my assault like skewers.
“Kyaaaak!”
A pitiful experiment subject, late to react, lunged at me with clawed hands. Her nails buried themselves into my bare abdomen, breaking and twisting her fingers.
I frowned. It didn’t hurt, but that sticky dark power felt unpleasant.
The darkness I possess, my magic, is certainly not this pitiable and miserable power; it’s a proud dark force.
“Ugh…”
“Time to relax.”
With a swift motion, I severed her neck, cloaked in shadows.
“Ugh, but there are still some left!”
“We can handle those later.”
“But…”
“They’ll keep racking up those damn results on their own. So, just shut up.”
I glared at Ren, who was whining and showing his teeth. Startled, he soon shriveled up in fear. I left the few fleeing survivors behind and dashed through the wreckage of the ship.
I could still sense faint magical energy provoking me.
Deep within the ship. In what could easily be a panic room, there was a thick iron door that seemed impervious to bombs.
“Why are we here?”
“There are more of their experiment subjects inside.”
I directed shadows towards the thick iron door. A uselessly thick door that I couldn’t break down in one go, even with my power.
But it only took a little more time. Soon, the shadow I sent shattered the lock and swung the door open.
“Ahem.”
“Ha.”
Even Ren and I sighed at the sight before us. It wasn’t just an ordinary laboratory.
If this were simply one of the basic labs, I couldn’t imagine how messed up this world could be.
“What do you think of this?”
“An A-rated evil plan… ah, no, how tragic. So tragic!”
I grabbed Ren’s ear and stretched it. Listening to his screams, I slowly surveyed my surroundings.
This place was a lab, but on a massive scale.
It looked like something out of a movie, a sight unseen even in the Demon Realm. People were living, trapped inside tubes. Various nationalities, all teenage girls who appeared to be in their early to mid-teens.
There were a few boys too. All of them were naked, submerged in tubes filled with an unknown liquid, wearing respirators.
“These kids…”
“Half are dead, and half are alive. But can the survivors really continue to live normally?”
“How do you know that…”
I murmured absentmindedly as I stood before one of the test tubes.
The girl inside appeared to be about the same age as me—a young Asian girl. She was hooked up to hoses, and the tumors wriggling on her upper body were horrifyingly swollen.
It was simple to tell the state she was in. All the children here had faint magical energy.
As the pinnacle of dark magic, I couldn’t possibly be mistaken.
“It’s impossible to create a Magical Girl without Yggdrasil. I don’t know the principle, but they are, in fact, cultivating monsters instead of Magical Girls.”
“…Right.”
“If these kids wake up, they’ll become enemies. Your enemies. Or should I call them results?”
I let out a hollow laugh. Maybe because I kept getting burned by my own personality, Ren remained speechless.
“I can’t let that happen.”
I once again summoned my power. To grant peaceful rest to the suffering children. At the very least, I hoped they could live a new life in another world like I had.
“Stop it!”
But just as I was about to bring my raised hand down, someone smashed through the ceiling and landed behind me.
“Who could this be?”
I smiled wryly at my opponent. Dressed in a cute pink frilly dress with adorable decorations.
A little girl, obviously trying to flaunt her Magical Girl status, wielding a hefty wand in her hand. And perched on her shoulder was a black weasel.
“Umm?! Retina!”
Ren recognized the weasel. Is it because they work in the same industry?
“It’s been a while, Ren. Didn’t you get yourself demoted for screwing up the Delight’s care?”
“Shut that nonsense up!”
Ren jumped back in surprise and looked at me nervously. And what did she say about being demoted?
“Anyway, we were here first! You get out!”
“Get out? I didn’t come here to steal your results. What are you doing, Ren? Aren’t you supposed to discipline and correct her when she goes off track?”
The weasel openly mocked Ren. No matter how I looked at it, he was just a regular mascot brimming with arrogance and superiority.
“…Hi?”
Instead, I initiated a conversation with the little one, who was in a similar situation as me. Friendly, with a smile.
“Newbie… speaking informally?!”
But the cute girl frowned at me in disbelief.
“Hey, how old are you? You’re the newbie, right?!”
“…?”
“Don’t you know me? Kayni!”
She widened her eyes and pointed at herself. I was momentarily buffering at the odd way the cute girl spoke.
“I’m 17, you know? And I’m your senior, so don’t talk back to me!”
“Aha.”
Now I understood. Her transformed appearance is fixed, meaning even as she gets older, she returns to that form when transformed.
“…What kind of expression is that?”
Had I twisted my face in disbelief? Her face darkened.
Of course, it would contort! It’s shocking that kids old enough to be 17 still walk around looking like that.
But then again, it’s no different that tentacle monsters wear girl skins.
“So, mighty senior, why’re you here? As you can see, this is an illegal facility where terrible experiments are carried out.”
“Heh… Don’t worry, I’m not here to steal your results.”
She furrowed her brows and took a step back. However, personally, I found it quite displeasing that she kept droning on about results even after seeing this scenery.
“In any case, stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Trying to kill those kids!”
“Such a senior! If you have experience, you should know? These kids are hopeless. Even if we leave them, unless a blessing from an angel arrives, they’ll be infested by corrupted magic and mutate beyond comparison to cancer cells.”
I scoffed. At just 17, she’s caught up in naive notions of happiness and virtue.
But you should know when to let go in this world.
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
But I was the one still not accustomed to this world.
“If you leave those kids, you’ll only give birth to a new stream of results.”
“…”
“Don’t you know the basics? Didn’t your mascot teach you that?”
“Yikes.”
Ren seemed to realize and bowed his head. Now that I understood the situation, I smirked.
“What’s wrong? Why are you shrinking?”
She clicked her tongue and glared at me. For a moment, I thought it might be fine to pluck those eyes out.
“Can’t you think a bit more comfortably?”
“What the… ah, right, you said you were a newbie. I used to be like you. But that wouldn’t work. Results are supposed to be manufactured and stacked.”
I made a comment, but she just giggled, seemingly unfazed. I decided to give up on communicating here.
Honestly, what communication was there? I came here for a visit, not to stress out at work. I snapped my fingers.
“Whoa!”
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?!”
The swirling shadows erupted violently, breaking all the test tubes and snuffing out the lives of the subjects inside in an instant.
That wasn’t the end. The shadows surged, lifting my body draped in a fluttering robe into the air.
“You foolish one! How dare a mere Magical Girl…”
The deluge of shadows struck the weasel, silencing its irritating chatter and sending it flying far away. It seemed to have tried to endure, but from my perspective, I just pressed it down effortlessly.
Now the shadows were creeping all over the ship.
“I heard that competition among Magical Girls is free and natural. So, can I kill you here?”
I floated closer to her. Her terrified face was right in front of me.
I placed my hand on her frozen neck.
“What shall I do? Should I snap this slender neck? Results? Are you just some petty merchant? If you’re a warrior fighting a war, act like one and guard your honor. That’s a basic principle even upheld in the Demon Realm.”
Her eyes reflected the red light from my own.
Amidst all that, I heard a wet sound. Unable to bear the murderous intent I exuded, she ended up soiling herself.
“Such a clever act for a 17-year-old.”
As I chuckled, her face turned bright red before she finally burst into tears. I released her choking neck.
My interest was lost. I wasn’t a butcher.
“This, this is…”
“I certainly acted according to the regulations you taught me, Ren.”
I retrieved Ren and soared into the air.