Chapter 117 : Raging Rapids

July 6

[Announcement from Elysion Observatory! The omen of red sky has been confirmed!]

[Threads of Fate protocol activated… stabilization confirmed. Assigned operators, please check warp gate status.]

[Each warp gate status stabilization confirmed. All points currently normal.]

[Confirmed. Each ship please standby at designated positions.]

-Sirius, standing by!

-Vega, standing by.

-Pollux, standing by.

[Deployment confirmed. We will inform all combatants deployed at each location about real-time changes in Threads of Fate activation! First…]

“…”

Incessant radio chatter in my ears.

Sea breeze blowing under the hot summer sun.

Sound of raging waves.

Swoosh

Swoosh

Unlike the first trial in Tokyo, there was no tension that felt like it would explode at any moment.

Because magical girls had gained experience exterminating demons while traveling around the world for the past month, and their confidence had increased as much as the perfect first victory. All civilians had been evacuated and they were just calmly waiting for the approaching battle.

-Elysion Observatory, refugee evacuation confirmed.

-We received contact from governments of each country where signs of small-scale rifts were confirmed that evacuation orders have been completely carried out from coastal areas and rift occurrence points.

I had issued evacuation orders to citizens in areas adjacent to the English Channel and Dover Strait two weeks ago.

[We received radio confirmation that evacuation is complete from the governments of Britain, France, and Netherlands.]

“Magical girl of [Hope], confirmed.”

Unlike the first Tokyo evacuation order that was barely achieved by mobilizing all means of threats and persuasion as the leader of magical girls, the evacuation order for European coasts, who already knew about the existence of trials and their general flow, was carried out smoothly.

After confirming that the designated ships and combat teams had boarded the dozens of white makeshift fortresses floating on the English Channel, I came down from the sky and approached the response team waiting on the shore.

Three magical girls standing in full combat readiness on the beach.

“Is everyone ready?”

“Yeah! Hikari! We can go anytime!”

“Yes! Of course!”

“N-no problem.”

Hong Nayeon, the magical girl of [Sea] with a pale face, had ribbons engraved with fish scale patterns fluttering over her blue magical girl outfit reminiscent of a sea fairy.

Awakened 2-star magical girl of [Flame] Yuki.

Born 2-star magical girl of [Lightning] Chen Lihua.

Born 2-star magical girl of [Sea] Hong Nayeon.

I formed a combination that could project as much firepower as possible to deal with the huge sea serpent floating on the water.

‘Looking at it like this, it’s quite a formidable combination.’

A combination superior to born 3-star magical girls except for me and Animus in naval battles and instantaneous firepower.

These three had been coordinating for a few days before the day of the trial, confirming synergies of each other’s abilities such as exploding water, controlling sea temperature, or increasing destructive power.

And now, with the second trial just around the corner.

Nayeon was breathing heavily non-stop while sweating. Seeing Nayeon like that, Chen Lihua tilted her head instead.

“Hoo… hoo…”

“Hm? You’re still that nervous?”

“Isn’t it stranger not to be nervous…?”

“We just have to do what we have to do as magical girls.”

“It’s not such a simple matter…”

“It’s simple, isn’t it? The enemy is evil! We are justice! We just have to defeat them!”

Yap yap

At Chen Lihua’s carefree answer while throwing punches, Nayeon gestured to stop talking anymore.

“…”

I was a bit surprised at Nayeon’s nervous appearance.

Judging from the brief description in the original work as the guardian of Busan and her confident appearance before blooming, I had guessed she had a bold personality.

‘She was so confident in Busan. Is she the type that becomes weak when not in a familiar place?’

Even though she was fighting in the sea, which was most advantageous to her among the three born 2-star magical girls gathered here, Nayeon’s tension wasn’t easing. As we were standing like that for a while, an urgent radio call came in.

[5 minutes until the trial time!]

I had to respond to all situations from the sky right before the battle broke out.

“Then I’ll be watching from above.”

“Okay! Good luck!”

“Let’s all do our best to defeat the trial demon together!”

“Ugh… I feel like I’m going to throw up from nervousness.”

Nayeon finally used magic to draw seawater and create a small ditch, lying face down in it.

“…”

Nayeon returned with a relieved face after emptying her stomach a bit in the ditch.

“…Please take care of Nayeon.”

“Yeah. Good luck to you too, Hikari.”

Lihua and Yuki desperately need Nayeon’s power to fight properly at sea. I entrusted Nayeon’s care to Yuki, who was the most accustomed to fighting among the three. After exchanging words of encouragement with the response team again, I went up to the sky to watch over the whole situation.

Hundreds of magical girls standing on dozens of white platforms.

Radio communications from magical girls waiting in areas where rift reactions are occurring around the world.

Silver ships floating in the sky watching the situation.

One divine doll Galatea deployed on each ship.

Preparations were complete.

[Trial time imminent! Starting countdown!]

[59… 58… 57…!]

Swoosh

Swoosh

The sound of relentless, violent waves.

Only the sound of waves echoed indifferently over the summer sea where all ships and people had been evacuated.

[3… 2… 1!]

The time of trial had come.

Guuung―

The sky instantly turned red.

Black airflow gradually gathered.

Not a warm color like the evening glow, but an eerie color as if blood was flowing out.

The gathering black airflow made a chilling sound and spread like roots over the sky that had turned red.

Swish―

A large rift slowly opened.

A snake falls from the hole filled with chaos and darkness.

The writhing black body twisted its entire body as it came out of the hole. From the wide sea, it looked like just a snake falling, but the sound it made after falling onto the water surface was as loud as its huge body.

Baaaaaaang―

The black snake that fell with an explosive roar slowly raised its head in the water.

“…”

The snake, with a body above the water surface so huge it was like seeing a surreal giant waterspout, glared at us with shining red eyes.

No.

More precisely, it was looking at me.

-Observation team Zone 1. Confirmed appearance of giant demon.

-Observation team Zone 2. Confirmed appearance of giant demon!

-Observation team Zone 3 also confirmed.

Reports from observation teams on aerial fortresses installed every 10km continued one after another, and finally all observation teams up to the platform at the very back reported simultaneously.

A size so huge it could be seen tens of kilometers away.

A black lighthouse hundreds of meters tall grown on the English Channel where waves endlessly surge.

[Announcement from Elysion Observatory! The estimated size of the enemy is about 1… 1km!]

I contacted Yuki while facing the giant sea serpent.

“Yuki. How does the situation look?”

[It’s exactly the same as the memories from other trials.]

“What about the enemy’s level?”

[I’m not sure exactly… but except for the dragon of destruction, there’s not much difference in atmosphere from demons in other trials.]

“…”

The trials in the original work.

Although the trial Yuki participated in was from the third one with the boar, she was supposed to let me know if there were any differences compared to the process of the original trials starting, not the ones changed by Animus.

‘No changes…?’

If that’s true, I just need to join the response team to carry out the sea serpent subjugation operation, and issue small demon alerts to each region. But Yuki and I simultaneously felt a strong sense of dissonance and fell silent.

Other magical girls seemed to start feeling that dissonance too, as they began to murmur.

“Wait, why aren’t the small demons appearing?”

“Y-yeah? Why?”

[…Unnie, nothing’s happening in Korea. Are the rifts really open now?]

[Leader! This is China but only the sky turned red and nothing’s happening.]

[Hikari-chan! Nothing’s happening at the Middle East rift! What should we do?]

[The relief team reports to the magical girl of Hope. Currently no changes are occurring at the African rift.]

[The Council reports. Currently nothing is happening at the Japanese rift.]

As radio reports kept coming in from 3-star magical girls deployed as leaders at each rift occurrence site, strong suspicion was growing.

‘…There are no small demons.’

I contacted Alisa and the Divine Maiden deployed in Russia and the US.

“Alisa, how’s Russia?”

[Nothing’s happening.]

“Divine Maiden, how’s the US?”

[…Nothing’s happening. This is clearly an anomaly.]

“Observatory. Please report if there’s any unusual situation!”

The more the sea serpent silently stared at me.

The longer this silence continued.

The deeper my anxiety grew.

[N-no unusual situations. The red atmosphere is still there but nothing has happened.]

“…”

[Ah!! U-unusual situation occurring!]

“Where did it occur?!”

[At the scene where the trial demon appeared! Hundreds of small flying objects presumed to be magical girls are rapidly approaching from tens of kilometers outside the scene!!]

“What about other places?!”

[Currently not detected except at the scene!]

Intense starlights gradually felt approaching.

But I never deployed magical girls there.

A sense of dissonance felt simultaneously.

“Kugh!”

I quickly rose much higher than the platform of the aerial fortress.

Swoosh―!

“Divine Manifestation! Galatea!”

Pop

Pop

Pop

The Galateas arriving one after another all spread out with serious faces without a word to protect the white aerial fortresses they were each assigned to.

‘We’ didn’t need to exchange opinions separately to carry out something.

At the same time, the black sea serpent opened its huge mouth that seemed like it could swallow even the sun and howled towards the sky.

■■■■■■■―!!!

Waves vibrate and whirlpools surge greatly under the ominous red sky.

I now realized the clearly felt sense of dissonance.

‘Starlight is being rapidly sucked somewhere!’

Although it was meaningless to me since the infinite starlight I possessed was immediately recharged, it would be a hindrance to other magical girls here.

[Reports keep coming in from each combat team at the scene that starlight is being rapidly consumed!!]

“Hahaha!! Freedom!! Freedom!!”

“So this is the real world!!”

“It’s our world!!”

“It’s the world the goddess promised!!”

Born 3-star magical girl of [Plague]

Hundreds of ‘them’ with joyful expressions appeared from beyond the sky, with only black bandages wrapped around their bodies.

The curse of birth.

[O apostles of Plague, your endlessly dividing souls will now be reborn not in human bodies, but in the bodies of demons.]