Chapter 56 : To Meet You

Whiiiiir!

“Ugh?!”

[Heavy Armor] hurriedly raised her shield but began to be caught in the recoil of the golden cutter.

Whiiiiir!

Crack crack

“It’s useless.”

The double-layered circular saw blades rotated at an incredible speed, making a chilling sound that seemed to make one’s head ring. [Heavy Armor] hurriedly discarded her shield and filled her armor with dense yellow starlight to deflect the saw blades.

Drrrrr

Ting!

[Aaaaaaah! My armor!]

As the plate armor flashed, vibrations occurred and the magical girl of [Heavy Armor]’s height increased rapidly.

“So you’re an enhancement type?”

[Nursing] flashed her golden eyes and deployed golden medical instruments from her unique weapon, a medical bag.

Chink chink

Golden hammers, chisels, awls, scalpels, syringes, and saws poured out of the bag. And they floated around [Nursing], deploying a golden protective barrier.

Woooong!

When the armored giant, who had grown to 6 meters in size, stomped her foot, a huge sound like the world turning upside down occurred.

Booooom!!

Tap

Tap tap tap

[Nursing], who shot out from inside the dust cloud, elegantly held the hem of her long skirt and ran up [Heavy Armor]’s foot. Her legs, visible under the raised white skirt, were moving at an incredible speed.

[Damn it! Get off!]

Along with the giant’s terrifyingly resounding voice, a huge gauntlet chased after [Nursing] to grab her.

Slash slash slash

But thousands of golden surgical tools floating around [Nursing] began to move and disassemble the armor.

Crack

Crack

Crack

Crack

[Get off!]

Woooong!

Power was released from [Heavy Armor]’s huge body along with a dazzling light. The surgical tools that had been scraping the armor fell off in droves.

[Where are you…?!]

[Heavy Armor] lost sight of [Nursing], who had been climbing up her body, as she was busy shaking off the surgical tools.

Whiiiiir!

Responding to the sound, she looked up to see [Nursing] descending from the air, elegantly swirling her skirt hem and holding a golden chainsaw.

She inserted the golden chainsaw deep into the gap of the helmet’s faceplate and turned it.

Whiiiiiiiiiir!

Kagagagagagak!

Splat

* * *

Boom

With the sound of a drum, a grizzly bear fell bleeding.

“Ooh! Such passionate summoned beasts!”

[Martial Arts], who had slaughtered to the point that her dyed blonde hair was stained red with the beasts’ blood, lightly dusted off her fists and charged at [Beast].

“It’s not over yet!”

The magical girl of [Beast], wearing a bear skin, roared with glowing eyes.

Awoooooo!

When a storm of fallen leaves flew in from somewhere, the surrounding 50-meter radius was filled with wolves, bears, and leopards.

[Beast], riding on an autumn leaf-colored lion, shouted with flashing eyes:

“It’s hunting time!”

Awoooooo!

Woof woof

Grooooowl!

All [Martial Arts] could see in front of her were teeth, teeth, and more teeth. Dozens of beasts rushing in with their mouths wide open and eyes glowing.

The pure will unique to animals.

Grin

“Now this is passion!”

[Martial Arts], emitting a light blue light, swung her hands and feet so fast they were invisible, her dogi fluttering.

Whoosh

Bang

What burst forth from her hands and feet were crude and primal, but also primal in the killing intent contained within, punches and kicks. What remained where her fists extended were only traces of pure destruction.

One punch shattered a wolf’s face.

One kick tore open a bear’s belly.

One wind strike broke a leopard’s claws.

Boom!

Crack!

Finally, even the ambush of boar tusks, her hidden trump card, was blocked.

“This isn’t enough! You need to burn with passion!”

“Ugh?!”

The clear-eyed maniac wrapped in light blue light shot towards the final beast, the lion, and the girl.

“Passion!!”

* * *

Beep!

Rustle rustle

With one blow of [Order]’s whistle, the entire space was covered in a maze-like pattern of yellow police lines. And as the floor protruded, it blocked all the paths [Flame] wanted to advance on.

Bang!

When [Order] fired a blank into the sky, dozens of searchlights floating in the air all shot towards [Flame] at once, interfering with her vision.

“From now on, this is my investigation area!”

Swish

Swish

[Order] moved between the numerous obstacles using teleportation and rolling, making it impossible for [Flame] to pinpoint her location.

‘This level of trap is…’

[Flame] calmly closed her eyes and created weak flame waves around her while firing arrows into the sky.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Clang!

Clang!

[Flame] fired volleys of over 10 arrows at once towards the front where her vision was facing.

Thud thud thud

Clang!

The searchlights quickly diminished as their persistent pursuit to ruin her vision actually helped pinpoint their location.

‘Paralyzing vision is a prelude to ambush.’

…And behind!

Bang bang bang bang bang bang

Swoosh!

Feeling the heat colliding with [Order]’s body that had suddenly approached from behind, [Flame] repeatedly teleported left and right while opening her eyes and firing.

“Ugh…?!”

[Order], who hadn’t considered that she had come to where the searchlights were shining due to her obsession with ambush, frowned and failed to hit with her gun, retreating again.

Click.

The sound of reloading.

[Flame] immediately teleported towards the direction she felt the sound coming from. But the one holding the gun was a doppelganger resembling a male police officer.

A trap.

“Inspector Yamashitas!! Open fire!!”

Bang bang bang bang bang bang

Two doppelgangers broke cover and stood up, firing at [Flame].

Born 2-star level doppelgangers can’t show sophisticated movements unless they’re summoning types.

[Flame] didn’t panic and simply bounced her red shoes to fire flames, escaping with a backstep.

Bang bang bang

Thud!

Thump

Thud!

Thump

[Flame], who calmly achieved one-shot-one-kill amidst the shower of bullets going astray, immediately drew out her flame sword and twisted her body.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang

All the bullets missed through the naturally twisted body.

“Ugh, missed again…?!”

When a space distortion type magical girl spreads doppelgangers, it’s to guide attention.

What she wants is the second ambush.

And [Flame] had intentionally used a backstep towards a structure good for cover.

“I can’t lose!!”

“Ugh?!”

The red glowing eyes of [Flame] rushing in with her flame sword and the navy blue glowing eyes of [Order] aiming her gun barrel intersected.

* * *

“Huff… huff…”

Kaede’s men’s suit jacket was torn and her left arm was broken. All the poisons, hidden weapons, and shurikens she had prepared so far were crumpled or missed, discarded on the floor.

This was the limit of an unbloomed magical girl.

No matter how many hundreds of hidden weapons and poisons she prepared, they bounced off the unreasonable starlight.

“…”

Ichika wasn’t teasing like before, but quietly staring at Kaede with burning eyes.

“…I lost again. Kill me.”

Kaede closed her eyes as if she had already accepted the outcome.

In this illusory space where life and death are meaningless anyway.

She accepted the result cleanly.

This sticky emotion in her chest was one she couldn’t resolve.

To quietly return to the young lady…

“…Why did you want to fight me?”

“What?”

Kaede opened her eyes and looked at Ichika.

“For Fujimoto’s sake? No. You came here now wanting to kill me, even if it’s fake, of your own will. Right?”

“…Stop talking nonsense and kill me.”

“Stand up.”

Ichika spoke while burning her green eyes.

She had to fulfill her duty as an opponent to one who came seeking revenge against her.

I am your opponent.

A wall you must overcome.

“Stand up of your own will.”

Her own will.

Hearing those words, Kaede’s entire past life flashed through her mind.

From being a nameless orphan until receiving the name Kaede, it was nothing but training.

Meaningless training.

A puppet.

The day Master Fujimoto gave her a name.

-From now on, your name is Kaede.

From that day on, Kaede’s life of meaningless training was defined by loyalty.

‘It had to be that way…’

After fulfilling her duty as a touchstone in her first mission and being defeated, she ended up serving the young lady instead of Fujimoto. Still, Kaede didn’t feel too bad about it.

Why?

Why.

Why did the defeat by the person in front of her hurt more than the training she had devoted her whole life to and being called a ‘ninja abandoned by Fujimoto’?

The first human she met who was in a similar situation to herself.

“I…”

Creak

Ignoring her broken bones, Kaede stood up.

“I…!”

What was in my heart.

“I wanted to be like you…!”

Why are you so free when you were also a nameless child like me?

Why am I so shabby when I was also a nameless child like you?

We’re both magical girls!! Why am I!!

“I wanted to be like you!! I was jealous!! How could you be so strong and free on your own when we’re both orphan bastards!!”

The first true feelings Kaede revealed.

And responding to her true feelings, a dark green star vibrated.

What appeared wrapped in dark green light was…

“Ughh, this really pisses me off.”

“…”

A sailor uniform exactly the same as Ichika’s.

Unlike Ichika’s white-based outfit, a dark green muffler covered the black sailor uniform.

Bloomed born 2-star magical girl of [Jealousy]

Kaede

Kaede, who first realized her own desires by being jealous of someone, truly understood.

That the only emotion remaining in her heart, which she thought was an emotionless puppet, was not loyalty but jealousy.

Grrrr…

“Come.”

“I will… defeat you!”

Ichika welcomed her in a green storm, with struggle engraved on her back.

Kaede rushed in, emitting dark green mist all over her body.

Bang!