Transformation or Death

Symbol of Peace (14)

Orange Altair didn’t understand the term ‘immortal villain’, but her question would be answered in just a few minutes.

“Vega!”

“Got it!”

At Orange Altair’s signal, Red Vega spewed out flames. Alongside the path of the fire, arrows flew together.

The two spells, flying straight without any disturbance, shook one villain.

It was a villain with a peculiar appearance, as if parts of a ship had been patched together, with a cape resembling a sail fluttering on its back.

The arrow inflicted a wound on its shoulder, and the fire melted its body. While the arrow’s impact was minimal, the fire was different. It made the villain’s entire body melt like a snowman greeting spring.

“Now, quickly. Run!!!”

But they fled without looking back even once. Although it was an attack that dealt considerable damage, they had no intention of continuing this battle.

The reason was simple. That damage would soon become useless.

Orange Altair, while fleeing, briefly looked back to check the villain’s condition.

“Heh… Hehehehehe.”

With an unpleasant laugh, it shook off the flames. Its grotesquely melted body was truly impressive.

Soon, the melted wounded areas began to heal again. Beyond regeneration, it was as if time itself had been reversed. It was a sight that truly befitted the term ‘immortal’.

“What is that!”

“Right?! We should run, right?”

A miraculous recovery ability approaching that of the Shield constellation villain. From what they had heard, even when Blue Sirius had buried its entire body in ice, it quickly returned to its original state.

It seemed to consume little starlight, as it remained vigorous even when the magical girls had almost exhausted their magical power.

“Wind on the left! Dodge it! Aaack!”

White Davi’s body was swept up by the wind, her scream almost buried in the fierce wind sound. Soon, numerous scars were etched on her body as if she had been slashed by blades.

Starlight gathered again in the villain’s hand. Without any delay, a vicious wind blew again.

“Davi!”

“Ve-Vega!”

Red Vega immediately rushed out, spewing flames, embraced White Davi, and quickly began to retreat.

Having already wasted magical power, there was no reason to abandon Orange Altair, so she picked her up too and flew upwards.

“Me too?!”

“Might as well make the most of what we’ve used!”

“Vega, it’s coming again!”

“Alright… Yah!”

The wind blew again from behind. Even though the distance was still far, the flames were constantly shaken by the wind’s influence. Literally a candle in the wind. Red Vega flew her body even faster.

“Why is this place so wide?!”

“I know, right! This place is really strange!”

It’s frustrating enough that such villains are roaming around, but the building’s structure is making the situation worse. The interior size that widens as you go up the floors and the unusually numerous alleyways. The stairs are not even visible.

It’s closer to a maze than a building.

And there’s another problem.

“St-stop! Don’t interfere with the boss!”

“You’re the ones who should stop! Don’t come in front…”

“Hiyah!”

White Davi swung her horn flute at the person who suddenly rushed out from an alley. With a crisp impact sound, the assailant rolled back into the alley. Thanks to this, they were also able to escape the wind’s slashing.

“Wh-what are you doing?! If they get hurt like that…”

“At worst, it’s just a facial collapse! Better than dying, isn’t it?”

Orange Altair couldn’t understand at all. Why were humans siding with the villains?

“Why are people on the villains’ side…”

“Their families must be held hostage, right? Those villain bastards must be threatening their parents! Such filial piety, how touching!”

White Davi was indignant. It was a sarcastic remark implying that it made no sense unless that was the case.

Threats. Of course, it’s an effective means. But their attitude was far too proactive.

“St-stairs! Over there!”

“Okay, great! Now we’re going up~!”

As soon as the stairs came into view, Red Vega actively exploded flames under her feet. Accelerating her body at a speed like a fighter jet taking off, the three of them went up.

They climbed about three floors through the space between the stairs. This staircase seemed to have reached its limit as it didn’t continue to higher floors and was cut off.

Red Vega, who had been accelerating rapidly, forcibly turned towards the interior of the floor, and as a result, collided with the wall right in front.

“…Oof!”

“Please move carefully…”

Although the wall even cracked, the magical girls’ characteristically sturdy bodies were quite intact. Rubbing her aching head, she looked ahead.

Boom! Crash! The stairs they had just been on were torn apart by the wind and collapsed.

What would have happened if their escape had been even a little delayed? Orange Altair shuddered at the scene that was terrifying even to imagine.

“…It-it’s over.”

The uniqueness of being immortal, coupled with attack power capable of demolishing buildings with just a light gust of wind. It would be a troublesome opponent with just one of these traits, but it possessed both simultaneously.

“Sister Altair?”

“There’s probably more than just one or two of these guys here…”

If we assume that the villain is an executive of the Argo Family, it means there are more villains of that caliber here.

Plus, the one we saw on our way here. A villain that might be human.

“If there are several of those… The magical girls are finished.”

***

Ippotranslation 

***

“Weak.”

He laughed as he pressed down on the third’s head who rushed at me as soon as I reached the top floor. As expected, that second one was the unusual one.

As Jason said, we stormed into the building. Since this space would disappear on its own once we took down the enemy leader, I headed straight for the top floor without hesitation.

There were things that interfered in between, but they couldn’t cause any delay. It only took a few minutes to reach this place.

“Ah, no, this is too much…”

“What’s too much?”

“B-Brother, run away! I’ll hold here…”

“You talk big for someone who couldn’t hold at all.”

I threw forward the axe as tall as myself. The axe, spinning like a storm as it flew, barely grazed his cheek and stuck into the wall.

The top floor of a bleak concrete building. In its center. The strange man leaning on a noticeable red single-person sofa was in the middle of pouring an entire bottle of high-quality whiskey from who knows where into his mouth.

After the whiskey bottle was emptied, only then did he look behind to see the axe thrown at him.

“Oh, how scary.”

He muttered mockingly as he leaned back on the soft sofa.

“No, youngest. You shouldn’t betray like that. And you third there too. Why are you getting beaten so weakly? Won’t you get your act together properly?”

“I-I’ll correct myself!”

“I only did what was right!”

He was the boss of the Argo Family and the owner of this island. The Dragon Bone Seat, September.

“Looks like our youngest and I have a bit of a different perspective. Well, there wasn’t much detailed conversation during the recruitment process. Let’s have a thorough talk later… But you there, mister. What are you so dissatisfied about? I believe I even saved your life before.”

“Do I look like I have no complaints? Besides, that favor was from this inadequate guy, not you. Don’t misunderstand.”

“Ha… You’re right.”

No sooner had he finished speaking that September threw the whiskey bottle.

“Damn right.”

The hand that threw the bottle soon transformed into a cannon. Without any delay, gunpowder exploded from that vicious hunk of metal.

The crude cannonball flew, breaking the glass bottle, and its fragments scattered like a shotgun, pounding my body. I took all those fragments with my body without retreating even a bit.

I was only slightly scratched with no other damage.

“Oh? Haha! Your guts are impressive. Oh, I admit it. I really do.”

I wanted to quickly slice his mouth with my axe for making such a fuss over nothing. There’s no use in getting recognition from someone who kidnaps people and forces them into labor.

September briefly erased his smile and stared at me quietly.

I couldn’t sense any feeling of crisis or desire to win from him. Only a tedium like cleaning up laundry scattered around the house lingered in his eyes. It was the same attitude as when doing a chore that’s annoying but can’t be put off.

“Ugh.”

He let out a strained groan, put away the cannon, and stood up from the chair.

“Our youngest and third. And our brothers behind.”

The numerous humans gathered behind bowed their heads. This was currently the biggest headache.

Humans.

And of all things, humans who sided with the villain and received a share of starlight.

Humans who can’t exert power even at the level of a low-grade villain but are stronger than ordinary people.

“How many of you are not here right now?”

“About… A dozen or so.”

“You’re lying. Tell me properly.”

“…About twenty.”

“Wow, shit, you exaggerated by double? You guys are dead later.”

I thought about whether to kill them or not, but in the end, I couldn’t. Of course, there’s no restriction on killing humans in my mission, but I still had ethical limitations.

“In my personal opinion, I recommend you deal with it. That kind of human is fundamentally no different from a villain, just with a different appearance….”

“Kids.”

Belt’s nonsensical chatter was cut off by September.

“I think it’s about time we leave this city.”

At those words, the third one, November, who was at his feet, flinched angrily.

“W-what are you saying, brother! For you to make such a cowardly statement….”

“Shut up.”

“Yeah, that guy’s right. It’s fucking noisy. If you’ve been beaten, it’s cool to just shut up.”

September sighed and scratched his head.

“Me? I wasn’t like this when I was in America. I know. But we’ve grown our forces here, haven’t we? Then there’s no choice. Right, third?”

Pointing at November, he raised his thumb to indicate the group of humans gathered behind.

“If we fight here, all these friends will die. They’re valuable comrades I haven’t even finished teaching yet. Huh? Without loyalty? Huh? That’s not right. If you’ve taken them in once, you have to take responsibility and protect their lives too, right?”

It was a truly strange gathering. While enslaving and forcing labor on those who didn’t follow his will, he took in those who did and even spoke such empty words to them.

Is there loyalty even among villains, do they cherish even humans if they’re together?

Of course, it’s bullshit. Even the guy saying such touching things will abandon them without hesitation when an important moment comes.

“A-are you listening to us, brother?”

“Of course. Have you ever seen me say one thing and do another, little brother?”

“I’ve fucking seen it!”

“Well, then you’ve seen well.”

Hearing Jason’s innocent answer, September nodded and chuckled.

A cannon appeared in his gesturing hand, and he aimed it at the sky before firing. Bang! Along with the massive gunshot, his shout shook the building.

“Brothers, what’s our purpose?”

-To fight and win against strong enemies! Challenge! Victory! Conquer!

The men’s voices combined to resound so loudly that they even drowned out the gunshot. It reminded me of my military days, which made me quite uncomfortable.

“That’s right. Well said.”

September approached my axe embedded in the wall.

“Hey, mister. We’re not really doing anything bad. Do you know what the kids gathered here used to do? They’re poor kids who couldn’t get jobs, had no money, and were starving to death. On top of that, it happened to be an area prone to villain appearances, so their lives were in danger too. Hey, isn’t that too cruel?”

Creak. After forcibly pulling out the deeply embedded axe, he raised it.

“Huh? It’s hard enough to live, let alone not knowing when you might die unjustly. That’s why these friends came to me. Rather than dying like losers, let’s challenge. Whether you die running from villains or die fighting villains. Of course, the latter is more valuable, right?”

Then he swung it as if chopping firewood. Bang! An impact sound louder than the gunshot moved the floor.

“I just gave them an opportunity. And these friends are the smart ones who seized that opportunity.”

-Th-that’s right!

-Correct! Correct!

-Rather than trembling not knowing when we’ll die, we’d rather charge in and die in action!

It was quite an impressive speech. Except for the fact that it came from a bastard who exploits those who didn’t seize that opportunity.

“Our ultimate goal is to catch the three beasts. The lion, the snake master, and the scorpion.”

The three beasts.

It refers to the three villains who wield the power of the galaxy.

It seems his words about pursuing strong opponents weren’t lies after all.

“Isn’t that a wonderful goal? So. We can’t lose valuable comrades here. So, I’ll back down this time. I have to protect our kids.”

September raised the axe again and threw it towards me. I caught it. The sharply flying axe became as quiet as an obedient puppy as soon as it touched my hand. I put the axe on my shoulder and watched him with an intrigued attitude, wondering what nonsense he would spout next.

“We’ve already recruited as much as we can from this city anyway. And since a madman like you is trying to kill our kids, I have to leave. Hah. In the old days, I would have fought.”

With those words, the entire building began to shake. No, it was more like the beginning of a collapse rather than an earthquake. Along with the trembling, the outlines of him and the people behind him began to blur.

“So I’m leaving.”

“W-wait, brother! What about the slaves?”

“What? Why should I manage that? You take care of it and come. And you, third! This is punishment for getting beaten without landing a single hit.”

In other words, only they were escaping from this island. I immediately threw the axe. It passed through him futilely and got stuck in the wall.

“Take care of your brother and come back. Got it?”

“B-brother! Wait!”

His figure completely disappeared.

And the building collapsed.

TL NOTE; Hi @everyone, I am glad to say I am not dropping this novel as the support you guys have shown has increased and I thank you for that as I do not really like dropping a novel. Bad news is that I will have to take a month break as I have a very busy schedule and that time will give me the chance to take a breather so as to come back stronger. P.S, have a great month!

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