Chapter 73 : The Fist of Freedom

She had lived freely like a flower blooming on a mountain path.

When she was weak, even if blocked by those who stood in her way, she lived with her heart burning while gazing far away.

After growing stronger, she used her strength to make only right things happen, distinguishing between right and wrong as much as her simple mind could.

17 years.

A life that’s short if called short, and like eternity if called long.

Today, for the first time, that life was about to fade away under a life-or-death battle fought to kill an opponent.

There were not few people who truly wanted to kill Ichika.

Street thugs who stole wallets from innocent people would often pull out pocket knives when she stopped them.

“Who are you? Sailor uniform? Some high school thug?”

Mischievous troublemakers who had heard rumors of the green chivalrous hero would playfully ask for her help and then throw bricks at her head.

“You won’t die anyway since you’re a magical girl! Boring!”

…Though she wasn’t hurt by the bricks and beat them up as soon as they were caught.

And Kaede.

“I’ll defeat you!”

She had often challenged Ichika to duels even after blooming and losing in the friendly match. But the first fight had killing intent under Fujimoto’s name.

The Fujimoto underlings she met in the seaside warehouse were so insignificant she honestly barely remembered them.

‘Well, the Leader was clumsy then so I had quite a hard time.’

Now that she had realized her own strength, she should be fine since she had become strong enough to be no match for even 10 Ichikas.

Leader.

Shirogane Hikari.

The benefactor who helped Ichika, who had lived freely like a flower in the mountains, to fly like the wind without being plucked by anyone.

‘Leader… I’m sorry. I lost.’

Heng.

If it was her request, she who had saved herself from Fujimoto’s clutches, she could gladly fight with her life. She only regretted not being able to properly fulfill that request.

Thud

Thud

The magical girl of [Sword] approached slowly with an expressionless face.

The strange resentment emanating from each of those footsteps was chilling.

As if 100 ghosts were attached to her feet…

“Hey, why do you train in martial arts?”

The question the old monk had once asked her younger self.

“To appease the souls of martial artists who were wronged here 40 years ago.”

Lee answered in one breath as if stating something very obvious.

Ichika laughed bitterly at the sight.

“…Were the 100 magical girls you killed to light your starlight related to that incident?”

Lee answered naturally.

“Revenge knows no emotion. I committed it because it was necessary for revenge.”

“…Were the young children waiting in the hospital and the parents waiting for their children related to that incident?”

Lee answered naturally.

“If they live subordinate to the concept of nation that my masters wanted to take revenge on, they are my enemies.”

“…”

A slave.

To Ichika’s eyes, this girl looked like a slave who had lost the ability to think and ponder for herself, trapped by concepts and karma. A slave who mechanically gave predetermined answers without any thought.

Did she not think even once whether it was right to kill those girls?

Did she not ponder even once whether the patients she killed were truly targets for revenge?

“You… your revenge is not right. There’s nothing you’ve decided for yourself.”

“Is that your sense of justice?”

“No, it’s just common sense.”

Ichika’s blood-covered face hardened coldly as she shot back at Lee. Green energy flared up in response to her anger.

“You have no conviction. You just recite what someone else told you and avoid responsibility.”

“…”

“If you’re!! A martial artist!! You should have at least thought and acted for yourself when trying to kill someone!!”

“…”

“You slave possessed by ghosts!! Are you just ruminating on plausible words someone whispered to you?!”

Freedom begins by denying bondage.

Ichika denied the ten thousand karmas the girl before her was shouldering.

‘You are not right.’

Ichika defined the revenge Lee was advocating as unreasonable bondage.

A body in tatters.

A missing left arm.

None of that mattered anymore.

Sorry Leader.

Sorry Kyoko.

Sorry little Sato.

Sorry Shikishima.

Sorry everyone.

‘I guess I’m really an idiot.’

If she begged for her life here, she might be able to avoid that girl’s revenge.

If she took even one step back here, it felt like her 17 years of life would all be denied.

Ichika stood up.

What was martial arts?

‘Why are you training in martial arts?’

What do you want to put in this fist?

“Freedom…!”

Ichika shouted, squeezing out a voice that sounded like she was chewing and swallowing from her throat where blood was boiling.

“I put my freedom in this fist!!”

Just towards where her heart leads.

Towards what she believes is right.

A strike from a girl in tatters.

A strike so slow and insignificant that even the approaching magical girl of [Sword] quietly raised her sword to respond.

But within the green line drawn by the fist was contained the girl’s entire life.

Born in the womb of a mother whose face she didn’t know, abandoned at the door of an orphanage, watching an old monk training in a dilapidated temple, enjoying the joy of growth while training every day, grieving and bowing to her master who died alone in the cold winter, despairing after being kidnapped when discovered to have become a magical girl, saved by a mysterious girl and truly living freely.

The life of Yamanaka Ichika was as free as a flower blooming in the mountains.

The green line drawn by the girl’s fist was the stem and bud just before a flower blooms.

What hung at the end of the stem.

What the bud was supporting.

Was a world where a girl was born, lived, helped countless people, and practiced the teachings of ancient martial artists.

A free world.

The girl’s life was truly a free life.

Boom

When Lee started to be wary of the tremendous power that began to be contained in the slow and unimpressive fist.

Ichika’s free world blossomed.

The answer to a lifetime realized by seeing the appearance of a mortal enemy standing at a completely opposite point.

Ichika had always been putting freedom in her fist.

For Ichika, martial arts was embracing freedom.

When Lee, pushed back by the spreading green storm, raised ten thousand swords.

Behind Ichika stood a green giant with a thousand arms.

Fully bloomed 3-star magical girl of [Freedom]

Ichika

The green storm enveloped Ichika and the hearts of countless people who had melted into her life freely melted in.

Breaking free from the bondage of all things and simply stubbornly doing what was believed to be right.

The concept called martial arts truly became one with her world and blossomed.

Not the sailor uniform symbolizing rebellion and struggle, but the silver light armor meaning enlightenment fluttered, and her eyes and hair shining green burned brilliantly.

“…”

“…”

The two girls realized that the words they had uttered to each other denied each other’s lives.

They aimed ten thousand black swords and a thousand green arms at each other.

Ichika neatly put together her left and right arms that had somehow reformed from gathered green energy and put her palms together. And when she stretched out her fists again. She wished that the world of that girl full of improper bondage would end without hurting others.

Lee gathered dark gray energy and combined all the black swords into one. What she was imitating was the form of a ferocious dragon. She deployed the final technique created by 100 martial artists who ultimately wanted to kill all the people in the world while resenting them.

Arhat God Fist

Black Dragon Heaven-Breaking Sword

As the energies created by the two worlds collided, an explosion bigger than dozens of bombs occurred.

A flash that seemed to blind both eyes and a roar that seemed to tear off both ears.

A vibration that seemed to completely mix up the world occurred, and green and dark gray energies tangled chaotically, drawing a threatening taiji symbol.

Boooom

The already damaged stone floor of the Forbidden City was completely overturned and disappeared due to the collision of the two energies.

A thick dust cloud.

Terrible debris.

Even after the dust cloud passed by, brushed away by a cold winter wind blowing from somewhere, the two girls were still standing looking at each other.

“…”

“…Cough.”

Ichika, her green hair now loose and flowing long, had her fist against Lee’s chest.

The scar from her fist, which extended 100 meters behind Lee, started from her heart.

Hundred Step God Fist

“…Didn’t you have any regrets while taking revenge?”

Ichika asked Lee.

“Regret.”

Lee’s gaze was directed at the clear sky visible through the gray smoke that had been completely pushed away by the collision of the two girls.

“I don’t know what that is. My masters didn’t tell me.”

Thud

Lee spat blood from her mouth and fell backwards.

The sky shining through her slowly closing eyes was piercingly beautiful.

“…”

The ten thousand black swords gradually fell silent with her death.

For the first time since Lee was born, complete silence came.

Peace.

The world of black swords, born for revenge and taught only revenge for a lifetime, ended.

Ichika quietly put her palms together in the way her master had taught her just before Lee died.

Li Na, who had woken up again at the sound of the fight, quietly approached Lee’s corpse and checked her pulse.

“…”

“…”

One girl cried thinking of her dead comrades and people.

One girl silently put her palms together.

The revenge of a girl who had massacred countless people and plunged Beijing into chaos was simply blocked by a girl who thought it was not right.

All that was left for those remaining was a heavy silence.