Transformation or Death

 Picking Stars from the Sky (1)

A dazzling white flash burst forth, disorienting the two eyes. The lightning that gushed from the earth, not the sky, defied the law of all things flowing downwards and soared endlessly upwards. Even from afar, that lightning could be clearly discerned.

“Hoo.”

Libra, observing it from her domain, let out a small exclamation of admiration. It was a beautiful starlight. Clean and brilliant, like a pure gemstone. A starlight that seemed to reside between a villain and a magical girl.

“Impressive. Wasn’t that the domain of that imbecile? To think someone with that level of power would go there. Virgo is quite fortunate. Isn’t that how they survive?”

The ecology of dark matter is complex. While strictly adhering to the principle of the survival of the fittest, the possibility of the weak becoming strong is always open. Moreover, there are numerous powerful beings of similar strength.

Those who have already become powerful cannot help but feel uneasy.

For them, there was nothing more unjust than losing their lives in conflict before achieving their goals.

The members of the Dilemma formed various treaties to prevent this. Of course, blood was shed in the process. This was one of the reasons why S-rank villains had remained relatively quiet.

The domains were part of that treaty. While managing and obstructing the growth of lesser villains, the creation of constellations among the villains prevented conflicts by prohibiting unauthorized entry into each other’s domains.

However, this treaty lacked substantial enforcement. Whether to abide by it or not was left to individual discretion. In reality, there were not many constellation villains with domains.

Nevertheless, the domains were respected.

Unnecessarily entering and becoming embroiled in pointless conflicts, only to expend one’s strength, was an act devoid of purpose.

“I see…”

Libra responded glumly to the man’s words in front of her.

“Yet, fate remains unchanged.”

He caressed the vinyl pack before him, not even sparing a glance at the lightning flash.

“What’s there is a lion.”

A lion.

Certainly, this expression did not refer to the animal lion.

It was a term used to address the nameless villain of the Leo constellation. Peculiarly, despite being a constellation villain, this villain lacked intellectual abilities.

Unable to use language, conversation was impossible. It also had no inclination to follow orders, always acting according to its own will.

Even if the Pyramids attacked it from the front, it would remain undisturbed and fall asleep, or suddenly wake up and head somewhere, putting every living being there to death.

With such an unruly disposition and a strength incomparable to other villains, it differed from other villains who drew their power solely from the stars forming their constellations, it used all the stars within its domain as its source of power.

No one knew when or where it came from, nor its purpose. It belonged nowhere, followed no one’s orders, and while its actions were free, it was fundamentally aggressive. It would arrive unpredictably, destroy everything in its path, and move on.

It was truly a walking calamity.

To the villains, the lion was a villain itself, a beast.

Libra, who had subordinates report the lion’s rampages hourly, equated the notion of confronting the lion with challenging a tsunami or an earthquake.

“Wherever the lion passes, only ashes remain.”

“Wasn’t there someone who had once driven that lion away? My master, wasn’t it?”

The man reclining on the luxurious leather chair in front of Libra laughed.

“I sense the same possibility from that starlight as back then.”

“Don’t speak such inefficient nonsense as senses. Just continue with the transaction at hand.”

Libra paid no heed to his words.

“Sagittarius should focus solely on the target before his eyes, as befits his name.”

“You were the one who looked outside first, so why are you scolding only me?”

The one called Sagittarius furrowed his brows and quietly turned his head away.

“I wonder why the lion went there…”

The lion had a habit of falling into a deep sleep for a long time, then suddenly departing as if in a trance, to a certain place. And upon arrival, it would destroy everything there.

As if it had received a mission in its dream to destroy everything in that place.

Like a villain from mythology receiving a prophecy.

According to Paradox, one of the maniacs who had challenged the lion, the lion’s abilities included not only physical prowess but also a predictive ability.

Though he said the activation conditions were unknown, rendering it unusable.

“Why did the lion move again, specifically now…”

After remaining still for a while, why did the lion suddenly head towards Virgo again? This was already the second time the lion had gone to Virgo’s domain.

Was there a problem with Virgo? Or did it sense something special within that domain?

Sky Polaris, the one who had once made the lion flee.

However, the constellation villain Sagittarius, who had witnessed that scene, could not describe it as the lion having ‘fled’.

There was no battle between them.

Sky Polaris had merely spoken a few words to the lion, and the lion had left.

The scene was closer to Sky Polaris having tamed the lion rather than it fleeing.

Was it a mere coincidence that a starlight similar to Sky Polaris’ was now felt in Virgo’s domain, and the lion was there?

As the constellation villain Sagittarius injected Libra’s drugs, he was consumed by regrets.

The lion did not back down from the lightning and let out a roar. That ferocious roar shook the earth once again.

Following the roar, a raging fiery ball was unleashed. The air became dry, and his lips became parched. The area around the lion was engulfed in flames. 

Within the range of those flames were the unconscious Joo Ah-yoon, White Davi, Yoon Seol-hwa, and Red Vega.

With a thunderous boom that could hardly be mistaken for the sound of passing flames, the surroundings were filled with fire. In the place where they had been, only glowing ashes remained.

“Dangerous.”

With a sigh, Watcher set down the two bodies he was holding. They were White Davi and Blue Sirius. Before those wicked flames could burn and pass through them, he had succeeded in protecting them.

“Stay healthy too.”

If such a thing rampaged, the human world would surely be destroyed. With the starlight he now possessed, he could see.

Considering the power possessed by that villain, the calamities it had wrought upon human society until now were mere child’s play.

Literally, they were nothing but breaths exhaled.

Watcher turned his gaze to Virgo. She was currently the most severely injured. Her wounds were so severe that it would not be strange if she stopped breathing at any moment.

Fortunately, since he had just picked her up along with the magical girls, she would not be caught in those flames.

The woman on his back tightly embraced Watcher’s neck with her right arm, the only uninjured limb she had left.

“How did you fight against something like that?”

“Fight? You think I fought it? A fight requires evenly matched opponents.”

Virgo spat out in a self-deprecating tone.

“What I did wasn’t fighting. I endured.”

Watcher turned his gaze back to the lion. Its appearance was ferocious. It looked like something that could only appear in an old villain movie. The difference in physique alone was so overwhelming that he almost burst into laughter.

“…I see.”

That was the enemy that had killed his parents. He surveyed it with his coldly settled red lenses. His anger was burning, but not expressed. It was simply operating as a force to act, like boiling water to turn a turbine. He was not ruled by that anger.

At the same time, his purpose did not dominate him either. He did not try to defeat it without any hesitation.

He held a clear motive, controlled it with reason, and acted.

His heart burned hot while his mind stayed cool. The vague saying was starting to make sense.

Even as he calculated various ways to defeat an opponent so powerful that there seemed to be no answer, he did not forget why he had to defeat it.

It was not revenge.

It was not to honor the loss.

It was not to be consumed by the past.

This was protection.

It was to prevent loss. To not let it happen again. To break this chain that had extended from the past to the present.

Without looking at Virgo, Watcher continued speaking, “First, let me convey this.”

The lion is his enemy, and Virgo’s enemy. 

This same symbol held a greater meaning.

If the day he lost his parents was the day the Red Spica fell to the earth,

Then the one who protected him from that hellish path would also become the Red Spica.

“Thank you for protecting me until now, Virgo.”

Neither Han Jae-jung nor Virgo knew this. They did not share many stories with each other. They were always silent and fleeing.

But that fact does not change. 

Whether as a magical girl or as a villain, the Red Spica had always protected Han Jae-jung.

“So this time, it’s my turn.”

For someone, it could be an opportunity to become a hero; for someone else, an opportunity to break free from being a hero. Having reached completely different results from two identical experiences, now…

He told the enemy the hero must defeat, the benefactor who had saved him, “Run away. I’ll take care of this.”

Virgo laughed as if dumbfounded. 

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m telling you my thoughts.”

He raised his finger and pointed at the lion’s eyes.

“Those eyes that appear most vulnerable right now. I will pour all my strength into that point.”

“What?”

“Virgo, I’m going to fight.”

His words were firm.

“This is different from when I was in a state of certain defeat and did my best to minimize the damage. Now, this is a ‘fight’ to win. I’m fighting so I don’t lose anything.”

Watcher truly believed he could win.

“Virgo, you said defeating a villain is like plucking a star from the sky.”

After gently setting Virgo down, he grabbed his axe.

The blade of the axe resembled the shape of the Big Dipper. Like that great beast drawn in the night sky, it was rugged yet warm like the guiding light of clustered stars.

“So I’ll bring you a star from the sky.”

Lightning gathered around that axe. It was lightning that could burn everything, and carried the freezing temperature that could freeze everything.

“I’ll show you a star.”

Cold lightning. This contradictory light was who he was now.

“I’ll show you starlight you can never say you’ve forgotten.”

Wielding the power of a villain with a human mind, protecting by shattering, challenging an unbeatable foe and achieving victory.

Contrary to his words about showing starlight, Virgo was already seeing starlight.

For he was her star now.

As he leapt into the sky, lightning as brilliant as the sun gathered around his axe. The lightning following the axe dyed his whole body in white light. Unlike before, it wasn’t ferocious but rather solemn.

The lion quietly watched him. Its earlier roars, as if trying to destroy everything in this world, were nowhere to be seen, making one think it had become docile. Its huge, frozen body made it look more like a statue than a living creature.

Like a star falling from the sky, the lightning fell. It was his axe. The axe he had thrown with force was embedded in the lion’s eye. Even the lens of the lion’s sturdy body was tough, but unfortunately his axe did not sink in deeply.

He had already known. His eyes that could read the future had long predicted this attack would fail. Instead of feeling disappointed, Watcher extended his leg.

The lightning surrounding his body gathered around his leg. The lightning gathered at the tip of his leg was spread out in the shape of a bear’s head.

Heavenly Descending Beast Kick.

The roar that could even bring down the heavens gathered at the tip of his leg, aimed at the lion.

Kwaaaaaang!!!

His kick pushed the axe embedded in the eye deeper into the lion’s eye socket. Lightning then flowed from his axe, as if taking root.

The lion’s head, which didn’t seem like it would fall, dropped heavily to the ground.

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