Public Enemy (1)

Public Enemy (1)

“The flow of magic is quite peculiar. Are you an experimental subject? Stay still for now.”

From a quick glance, I could roughly guess the creature’s identity. I left it pinned to the wall and went hunting for the rest.

Like blood vessels clogged with arteriosclerosis, the vermin were trapped at the still-blocked emergency exit. I wave my hand, and my shadow ripples in response.

Where the black curtain brushes, bodies burst open, their lives extinguished, and red blood sprays across the room like rain.

Faced with this scene, Ren, who was usually talkative, is now speechless. Because the kill count is rising in real-time.

And no one could stop me. Because they were all too weak.

“You son of a…! Stop! I’m a prosecutor… no, the chief prosecutor! The chief prosecutor of this country!”

“That’s of no help in this situation. What do you think you can do with that flabby belly of yours?”

Here we go again. Another insect mistaking their social status for actual power. Of course, that might work in a functioning society, but in the face of overwhelming, chaotic violence, only strength can protect you.

That was the rule of the Demon Realm that had overturned my values for 100 years.

“Ugh, aaaaargh!”

I split open the belly of the one who was screaming about being a prosecutor. After all, I’m a being from another world. Though I certainly wished to return to Earth, I had no intention of changing my allegiance.

I’m not human, but a Demon King, and now a Magical Girl.

“So. What crime have you committed?”

I turned my gaze away from the one rapidly dying while trying to scoop up his intestines with trembling hands, and looked at the woman who had been next to him until just moments ago.

“Ta…Killers…”

Jeon So-hyeon’s eyes shook violently as she slid down from the chair.

I snickered inwardly. The revealing and explicit bunny girl outfit somehow suited her.

“You, compared to other women, have less malice.”

I muttered while pointing at her trembling figure. Did she catch on to my intention? She suddenly opened her eyes wide and hurriedly knelt down on the floor, begging.

“Pl-please spare me. I, I never wanted to do this… It was because of debt, my father’s gambling debt. I thought I’d do it just once and quit, but then they took pictures and blackmailed me…”

“I wasn’t planning to kill you anyway. Your inherent nature isn’t bad, so live a good life from now on.”

“…What?”

“Hide yourself well.”

I smirked and turned my back. The fact that I was going to kill everyone was an exaggeration to begin with. I certainly only killed those who deserved it. Even that was just my own decision.

I could overlook Jeon So-hyeon to this extent since she had once shown me kindness.

“Are you newcomers? You’re lucky.”

I spared all the women who had similar levels of shame as Jeon So-hyeon.

After taking care of everything that needed to be dealt with, I returned to find that the guy I had pinned to the wall had already escaped somewhere, leaving only bloodstains behind.

“Sh-shouldn’t we chase him!? Illegal experiments and human modifications are incomparable to such trivial prostitution…”

“I suppose so. But it’s bothersome.”

I kicked away the nagging Ren. This wasn’t a job to report results on in the first place. To be honest, I came here after checking the ledger mainly because of Jeon So-hyeon.

“Hands up!”

“You won’t escape today!”

And when I came back to the surface, dozens of blinding spotlights simultaneously illuminated me.

“It’s been a while, senior.”

“You, I won’t let you go today.”

Magical Girl Aria, she glared at me with her full-power second awakening armament ready in an instant.

The problem wasn’t just Aria. Other magical girls also drew their weapons and aimed at me.

On top of that, even the police were pointing their lasers at me.

I’m being treated like a terrible villain. After becoming the Demon King, if I had changed my course to management instead of invading the human world, I wouldn’t be treated like this in the human realm.

“I feel wronged. I just diligently performed my duties as a magical girl.”

“…Keep your boundaries. This is a world where we all live together.”

“If that’s how you think, there’s nothing I can do.”

I smiled slyly. After all, there’s no reason for me to comply with such slander.

“W-What’s this…”

“The ground is shaking!”

The area began to vibrate. Currently, my power was ‘restricted’ to SSS-class.

But since falling into this world, I had never once used my full SSS-class power.

“If you want to assert your beliefs, come with the power to match them.”

Something began to rise from my shadow, lifting my body that stood on top of it. I could see people’s eyes filling with shock.

And the magical girls were equally shocked.

It’s probably because they, being more sensitive to magical power than ordinary people, could gauge how much power I was emitting right now.

“Can you handle it?”

I looked down at them and sneered.

*

“Ah, demon…”

Even a magical girl who had lived long enough to be considered mature flinched and took a step back.

Tequilas, the magical girl of Code Red who recently became a hot topic. Although she was nicknamed the demon girl, her strong power made her uncontrollable.

However, no one really thought that control was truly impossible.

Despite the talk of her being a demon girl or a bloodthirsty murderous girl, at her core, she was still a teenage girl. They believed there must be a weakness.

“Kuk… Tequilas!”

However, Aria gritted her teeth with a pale face. What Tequilas summoned from her shadow was a giant… dragon, or something similar to a snake.

But the black armor covering its entire body was similar to a centipede, and its wings, which looked like rotten tree branches sprouting out, had torn membranes dangling.

‘Can you handle it?’

A bead of cold sweat ran down Aria’s forehead. Even she, who had always believed in her own power, honestly felt she couldn’t handle it.

The earth dragon from the Demon Realm that Tequilas pulled out of her shadow was emitting a power that made those it considered weaker than itself freeze in primal fear.

“Move… I said move…”

Aria struggled to move her stiff, trembling legs. Compared to the other magical girls or ordinary people who had already fallen and were cowering in fear, her mental strength was truly like steel.

“Senior. What are you trying to do when you can’t even move your feet.”

But the moment Tequilas mocked her and snapped her fingers.

The mouth filled with sharp teeth like those of a shark opened wide, and a chilling roar burst forth.

‘Ah…’

It wasn’t just a simple cry.

It was the magic of a lord who rules over fear, drawing out what the opponent fears most. In an instant, the light faded from Aria’s eyes, and she staggered and collapsed to the ground.

“Th-th-this is…”

“You seem fine. Is it because you have a different thought process?”

Ren, who was on top of Taquilas, rolled off trembling at the scene that unfolded in an instant. She said Ren was fine, but that was only from her perspective.

Right now, even the mascot Ren was in a state of terror.

“Uh, uwaah! Don’t come! Don’t come!”

“Ren… I’m… in pain..”

Ren flailed her legs in the air, horrified at the vision appearing before her eyes.

The image of a magical girl holding her own horribly torn-off neck.

“Please… Delight..”

“Pathetic.”

She smacked the sobbing Ren’s head once. The vision disappeared, and Ren caught her breath. She grabbed Ren by the scruff of her neck.

“Let’s go. Time to sleep.”

And with that, she took off. The summoned demon realm earth dragon had already returned to a handful of shadows, and they crossed the air before others could come to their senses.

No one could interfere with their path.

“…Wow.”

All that remained were videos on the phones of clueless people who were filming from places beyond the dragon’s effect. Once again, news and videos about Taquilas started trending on the internet.

“She fought against something like that and survived?”

“Yes, Director.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

And among them, there were also those who were becoming interested in her while watching those videos.

“Phew. Somehow I’m feeling a bit tired.”

The dim corridor. She crossed it straight and entered the room, deactivating her concealment. Her roommate was, of course, sound asleep, oblivious to the world.

“Go ahead, tell me.”

“W-What do you mean?”

“What kind of story it was.”

She deactivated her outfit and lay on the bed, smirking at Ren. Drowsy, Ren couldn’t speak easily and just opened and closed his mouth.

“…It was an accident. A simple… accident. Something any Magical Girl could experience… an accident.”

Ren sighed and muttered absent-mindedly.

“An accident, you say. While fighting?”

“Yes. Died fighting villains. They were monsters. Delight fought hard, but they showed no mercy.”

Ren spoke in the most nonchalant tone possible, but she, having just confirmed that this incident was Ren’s trauma, didn’t believe his nonchalance.

“Is it something you never want to experience again? Is that why you retired from active duty?”

“Hmph, you speak as if you know everything.”

“Then why did you decide to take me on?”

“T-That’s…”

Ren flinched and averted his eyes, but Taquilas had already guessed the reason.

“There’s no need to be afraid, Ren. I won’t die.”

That quietly uttered voice momentarily carried the dignity of a Demon Lord.

Even though it was the voice of a girl lying in bed, Ren recognized its caliber and froze in place.