Chapter 54 : The Flame Reignites

Wooooaaahhhh!!!

“At this moment! As I said, the magical girl of [Barrier] has deployed her unique ability to trap her opponent!”

“If she moves the walls to physically crush her opponent like this, it’s too much for a born 1-star!”

Rumble

With a huge sound, rectangular stone walls about 5 meters in size appeared and completely trapped the opponent.

Thud thud thud thud

New barriers were stacked on top, forming a large square stone block, and then thrown towards the trapped opponent.

It was a desperate situation like dropping an iron ball on a mouse trapped in a box.

The audience watching through Glass Stars and the internet held their breath in worry and anticipation of the brutal scene about to unfold. Since the tournament began, they had been startled by the surprisingly vivid battles, but as they gradually got used to the intensity of the fights, the magical girls of [Reporting] and [Eloquence] continued their reactions at the top of their lungs.

‘No matter what, her back is way too exposed…!’

The weakness of fortification-type magical girls was that they became fixated on moving the surrounding terrain themselves, creating blind spots. They often forgot the obvious fact that opponents could move three-dimensionally through space teleportation, even during war, and were frequently ambushed.

Magical girls are not bound by space.

Trying to dominate the battlefield through space is a method used against demons or ordinary people.

Whoosh

Whoosh

[Flame] used consecutive teleportations in an instant to target [Barrier]’s back. [Barrier] turned around with a startled expression, but…

“Aaah!! [Flame] has appeared behind [Barrier]!”

“The magical girl of [Flame]!! She slashes the magical girl of [Barrier] in one strike with a sword made of flames!”

“[Barrier], who had toyed with all her opponents up to the Round of 16, has been neutralized by a single attack!”

“An unbelievable ultra-high-speed 3 consecutive wins!! Advancing to the quarterfinals!! The magical girl of [Flame]!! A strong candidate to win the 1-star division!!”

Woong

The star vibrated and the two magical girls returned to their original positions.

The magical girl of [Barrier] from China had a dumbfounded expression, and Yuki chuckled seeing that.

It had been so long since she had seen a magical girl with such an innocent expression…

Yuki offered a handshake and quietly spoke with her face red from embarrassment. Inside the arena, Laura had cast [Unity]’s magic, so they were not bound by language.

“In-instead of trapping the opponent… I think it would be better to create the most advantageous place for yourself and lure them in.”

“Advantageous place…?”

“Yes… for example, if you had irregularly floated barriers… and changed positions by teleporting from behind… hiding and throwing stones, it would have been much harder…”

“Ah… oh my… I didn’t think of that… thank you.”

The magical girl of [Barrier] shook her head and expressed her gratitude with a dejected face before leaving the arena.

Wooooaaahhhh!

[Flame]!

[Flame]!

[Flame]!

‘Aaaaaahhh…’

Even for Yuki, who had experienced countless battles, being the center of attention for so many people was not something she was used to. Yuki covered her completely red face with both hands and fled to the waiting area.

Whoosh

“Phew…”

Yuki crouched down in the quiet garden called the waiting area and clutched her slender chest.

Thump thump thump thump

Her heart, which hadn’t been overly nervous even when fighting giant demons, was pounding, and her ears and face felt like they would explode like a volcano.

She just couldn’t get used to this gently changed world.

She had just won because she knew things from fighting more than others, but every time she saw the praise pouring in from all over the internet and social media, she wanted to hide in a mouse hole.

Glance

Even so, Yuki took out her smartphone and sneakily checked the praise for herself, clutching her chest.

Thump thump thump thump

In her first match, when the summoning-type magical girl surrounded Yuki with summoned creatures. She quickly knocked down and burned two summoned creatures to create a small trench, then defeated them one by one as they jumped in.

‘Summoned creatures can be used not only as a means of attack but also as combat terrain…!’

In her second match, when the emission-type magical girl was firing her powerful energy. Yuki condensed flames into small swords to cut through or accurately deflected the impact points with curtains while approaching.

‘If it’s the same emission type, it’s more efficient to fight by weaponizing energy!’

While other magical girls advanced by fighting nail-biting battles that filled the full 10 minutes, the audience preferred the coverage of Yuki’s matches, where she won refreshingly with bold strategies that struck at the core.

[The magical girl of Flame is amazing! We might be disappointed watching the 2-star tournament instead?]

[I think I’m going to become a total fan…]

[Her face that looks like a small animal, her swaying short hair, the red ribbon tied only on the right side, her eyes that turn red when fighting, everything is cute!!!]

[A hero of the 1-star world has appeared!]

[Why are all the real names of the participating magical girls hidden!!]

[Flame! Flame! Flame! Flame!]

[Someone working at the council just told me that they’re getting bombarded with requests to reveal Flame’s real name.]

Tremble tremble

“Is it okay for me to receive so much praise…”

After being despised since she was 9 years old when she got her burns, and her heart gradually turning gray as she fought until the moment of destruction, Yuki felt like she would cry from emotion as her father’s love, [Beginning]’s kindness, and people’s praise flowed into her heart.

Yuki couldn’t come to her senses due to the goodwill shining in full color.

If [Beginning] were to see her and say she was wonderful while taking her hand, she felt like she would collapse right there.

The warm praise was breaking her down more than the intense killing intent of powerful demons and plunderers.

Wipe wipe

Yuki wiped her eyes with the red ribbon wrapped around her right hand, and left the garden looking forward to tomorrow’s main tournament while reminding herself of her plan to meet [Beginning].

* * *

Among the Japanese born 2-star magical girls who had recently bloomed rapidly, an incredible one had appeared.

Bloomed born 2-star magical girl of [Transfer].

She was a magical girl who had bloomed the ability to bestow long-distance teleportation magic that magical girls could use on objects above a certain size.

Surprised by this amazing news, companies and headhunters from various countries contacted Sumire begging to meet her just once. However, [Transfer] herself expressed that she didn’t want to use this power for money.

‘…Respecting the magical girl’s own wishes, I stayed up all night refusing.’

I too held my wildly beating heart and had an urgent meeting with Sumire in the Garden, and put on the Grand Council agenda the installation of [Transfer]’s ability in each country’s self-governing body domains and buildings.

Even in the original work, they relied on physical means of transportation except for born 3-stars who could freely enter and leave their own domains.

‘This is really revolutionary…!’

In an emergency Grand Council meeting attended by [Transfer], Sumire, Kang Dorim, Li Meilin, Laura, and myself, we agreed to install 5 gates each in the buildings and domains of each country’s magical girl self-governing bodies.

“Then, regarding the management of entry and exit for the warp gates of each self-governing body…”

Sumire said while carefully looking at me.

“According to the Magical Girl Self-Governing Body Treaty proposed by each country’s leaders, let’s have each self-governing body autonomously judge visits to countries belonging to the Grand Council for service or support purposes.”

The exchange of magical girls through the installation of [Transfer]’s warp gates.

Judging and allowing that would be up to each country’s magical girl self-governing bodies.

“…”

I looked around nervously, feeling like I was throwing too heavy a responsibility on the self-governing bodies, but as soon as we sounded out opinions from each country’s leaders, they expressed their welcome.

Even Japan’s major corporations led by Fujimoto and state institutions expressed their welcome to the fact that magical girls they had privately connected with could freely come and go.

“The recent influence of friendly match training has also greatly reduced the minor disturbances caused by magical girls.”

“Miss Fujimoto, is the friendly match progressing well?”

“Yes, it’s the first day but it’s proceeding without any problems. We stayed up all night discussing sponsorships with companies and chose the most uncontroversial prizes.”

“…”

Is she complaining to me that there’s too much work…?

But it’s true that I irresponsibly dumped work on her and left, so I decided to let it go.

Glance

It wasn’t noticeable due to Sumire’s sophisticated appearance and makeup. But the dark circles under her eyes were gradually getting darker.

‘Come to think of it, Hana-chan said she wouldn’t participate in the friendly match.’

Sato Hana had somehow reached the point of openly talking about magical girl activities with her parents.

Stories about the yellow Flash Girl who helped people in trouble while zipping around Tokyo had already spread as much as they could through social media like Witch Talk.

The Sato couple were proud of their daughter and were sharing the miracle they had received with others by going on weekend volunteer activities instead of weekend walks.

-Mom and Dad said they’re happy helping others too!

Hehe

-So I’m sorry to Hikari-chan who prepared, but I don’t think I can participate in the tournament!

As soon as I heard the news of Sato Hana’s non-participation, I completely lost interest in the born 1-star tournament.

Rather, I was only praying that the green magical girl who shamelessly participated in the born 2-star tournament would just take it easy.

‘…Shameless indeed.’

I glared at Ichika, who had expressed her intention to participate, with narrowed eyes.

-What? Leader? Why are you looking at me like that? Why? Aren’t I a magical girl? Hm?

Heh… heheng…

The smile of that girl, who seemed embarrassed even by her own thoughts, came to mind again.

Since it was clear that she would win the 2-star division anyway, I turned my attention back to discussing the locations and installation methods for the 40 warp gates we were about to set up.

“If it’s this kind of structure, I think I can do it with my cyberbrain world?”

Kang Dorim, who had received the scale and rough structure of the warp gate framework required by [Transfer], answered readily.

“Making them isn’t the problem, but who’s going to carry and distribute them is the issue. We’re talking about 40 door-sized objects here.”

“Since I’m the only one who can go through all the domains, I’ll do it. The magical girl self-governing bodies in each country can receive them through the domain and install them, right?”

“You’ll do it personally, [Beginning]? Then we’re grateful, we’ll have people standing by on our end too.”

Laura answered with a gentle smile.

“Eh? The King will do it personally? But the dignity…”

Sumire looked at me with surprised eyes and spoke hesitantly.

“If dignity is that important, please uphold my dignity too, Madam Chairwoman…”

Hiing

Li Meilin looked at Kang Dorim and Sumire, who usually treated her roughly, with a hurt expression, twisting her shoulders and naturally exposing her nape.

“Oh, just stay still for a bit.”

Fwip

“Ugh?!”

When Kang Dorim threw a paper airplane, Li Meilin hid under the table. Laura quietly laughed seeing that.

The magical girl of [Transfer] was also surprised by the unexpectedly cheerful atmosphere of the Grand Council and laughed along.

“Then let’s begin now.”