Lord of Despair and Hatred (2)

Lord of Despair and Hatred (2)

“My brother said there was no problem. Still, because he was there, I could endure it.”

“…”

Park Tae-jun said calmly as we walked together.

Certainly, after learning about my true identity, his unstable appearance had largely disappeared. This was clearly the kind of behavior I had wanted.

“Is it okay for us to go out like this without the manager?”

“Manager Jang can’t just look after me anymore. And, because you’re here. Ahem.”

He cleared his throat unnecessarily. As he said, we were out playing after school. It was because of Park Tae-jun’s strong request.

Even Manager Jang Woo-seok, who always used to accompany us, wasn’t here.

It wasn’t like before when he used to hang out with troublemakers. It was pure leisure time for young kids.

“It’s certainly a bit chaotic.”

In the midst of this, I absentmindedly lifted my head and looked into the distance.

There was definitely a faint magical energy mixed in with the strange aura felt from that place.

It’s a common occurrence since the increased activity of intruders from the outside world and the start of competition between the Awakened Special Forces and the Magical Girls.

“Why, why are you like that? Is there a problem?”

Park Tae-jun asked with a trembling voice as he looked at me standing still. Well, of course, it wasn’t a presence that ordinary people could detect.

Because it was still quite far away.

“There’s a battle going on quite far ahead. I don’t know if it’s Magical Girls or Special Forces. Wasn’t that the direction we were heading?”

“Magical Girls?”

Park Tae-jun’s eyes widened when I told him the truth.

Originally, he wasn’t particularly interested in magical girls, but after experiencing that incident that day and learning about my identity, Park Tae-jun seemed to show a dramatic fondness for magical girls.

“You want to go see? It might be dangerous.”

“I trust you.”

“Ha.”

Park Tae-jun chuckled.

In the end, we didn’t turn back. Our destination was in that direction anyway, and except for the Mammoth incident, the culture of enjoying magical girls’ battles like a spectator sport was still prevalent.

“It doesn’t seem like an ordinary incident.”

However, as we got closer to the place, Ren, sitting on my head, muttered in a tense voice as the energy became clearer.

“Should we hurry and enter the building?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Yeah, and it’s a bit of a troublesome one.”

I frowned and looked around. I couldn’t tell exactly where the problem had occurred.

The intense negative energy mixed with the atmosphere that had settled in this area was clear enough for even me to feel. It seemed that the magical girl hadn’t arrived in this vicinity yet.

“…Did you hear that just now?”

“Run. Quickly.”

The moment I heard faint screams and shouts, I clicked my tongue, thinking I had done something unnecessary, and started running while grabbing Park Tae-jun’s hand.

We came to see a magical girl hunting a monster, but we had misjudged the timing. It was still the monster’s hunting time.

“Gunshots!”

Even Park Tae-jun, who hadn’t completed his military service, could recognize the consecutive bang sounds of gunfire. As the surrounding people who had been murmuring started to flee, I noticed a flow moving precisely towards us.

“This way.”

The monster and I were running exactly parallel, separated by a block of buildings.

Having figured out its purpose, I immediately ran with Park Tae-jun into the underground parking lot of the adjacent building.

“Are you crazy? Is it coming towards us?!”

“More precisely, it’s detecting me within its range and coming for me.”

Ren also realized that the creature was targeting me.

“Are, are you going to transform? Here?”

“You, turn around right now.”

Before the creature could barge in, I hid Park Tae-jun in a corner of the parking lot. Then I activated a magic spell I hadn’t used in a while.

It was a magic that caused an intense electrical explosion, which could be controlled to create an electromagnetic storm capable of destroying all electronic devices in the area, including CCTV cameras and vehicle black boxes.

“Did you… transform?”

“Yes. Don’t turn around. Ever. You’ll only regret it if you look.”

I transformed right there, after destroying all cameras and vehicles in the parking lot, leaving no possibility of exposing my appearance. Now the monster was right in front of us.

Reading something from the rapidly approaching creature’s aura, I inwardly clicked my tongue.

Intense anger and hatred. And sadness. Though called a monster, it was an existence that could be called an evil spirit.

“Uh, ah, uh…”

“What on earth is that?”

What came down to the parking lot with a sloshing sound was a kind of beast.

Covered entirely in black, writhing, bulging slime, the only traces of humanity left in this monster were its babbling level of language and bipedal locomotion.

Even Ren was so shocked by its horrific appearance that she was at a loss for words.

“This isn’t a simple monster like the parasites we encountered last time.”

My voice involuntarily turned cold. I couldn’t help it, as I had a sense of what kind of being this creature was.

“Do you want to eat it? This overflowing magical power of mine.”

“Ugh, graaah…”

As I spoke while exposing my chest, the creature, gripping its own head with large hands bearing huge claws, panted heavily.

Despite its claws and mouth already being drenched in blood, it was still conflicted.

“…It’s okay, come at me. I’ll make it easy for you.”

“Graaaagh!!”

Finally, unable to resist, it charged at me, tearing up the ground with its claws.

“Kehek.”

“A very unstable and fluctuating magical power. It’s a power manifested using negative emotions as fuel. The principle is similar to Yggdrasil.”

I moved the shadows to wrap around the charging creature’s body and brought it right in front of me. No matter how much it struggled with its bulging muscles, it couldn’t escape my power.

More importantly, I examined the nature of its power more closely and discovered its disgusting origin.

“It can’t be…”

“Of course, it’s dirtier and lower quality than Yggdrasil, so the result is just this rampaging monster. It probably charged at me with its eyes rolled back to try to devour me alive and maintain its real-time collapsing body, since I possess magical power.”

I snorted at the shocked Ren.

Unlike Yggdrasil, which draws out magical power based on the emotions and potential of magical girls, this merely burns their emotions and souls as fuel, causing them to go berserk.

“And personally, I despise these kinds of acts.”

I was not in a good mood at all.

It reminded me of those annoying necromancers during the Unification War who would drive their subordinate troops berserk and send them charging at me.

Each of those berserk troops was a precious resource of the Demon Realm, yet those bastards used them like disposable items.

I can praise you for not being picky about means and methods, but power obtained in such a way is never true strength.

“Kyahak!”

“Relax. Let out all those emotions now, and let go of your resentment.”

I completely enveloped the immobilized creature with shadows. I thoroughly suppressed and decomposed the rough magical power that made up its body, erasing it as if detoxifying poison.

Then, the blackened and swollen body of the monster quickly collapsed, revealing its true identity.

“It really was an ordinary human. Looks quite young too.”

“If we know this one’s identity, we’ll find out what happened.”

Ren sadly brushed aside the victim’s hair. Inside the black, slimy body was an ordinary-looking young man.

Although he had already breathed his last, having burned even his own life force as fuel, it should be easy to identify him now that we’ve seen his face.

“Is, is it over now?”

“Yes. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

The sound of sirens from outside. Having undone my transformation, I led the obediently turned-around Park Tae-jun out of the parking lot.

***

“Are you planning to take action?! I thought you said you’d stay put for a while!”

“That’s right. I certainly did.”

That night, after experiencing an unexpected commotion in the afternoon.

I left my room as usual and stood on the facility’s rooftop. The city’s night view was still bright.

“There’s an unidentified monster that incites despair and hatred in normal humans, turning them into evil demons, but it seems our esteemed Awakened Special Forces are barking up the wrong tree. Or do they even care in the first place?”

“They’re absolute trash.”

“They look just like those magical girls who were obsessed with results.”

Ren, who had been agreeing, fell silent at the mention of magical girls.

“The reason I didn’t want to step in wasn’t just because it was troublesome, but because it wouldn’t be helpful for us.”

“Y-Yes. That’s right.”

“However, that doesn’t mean I’ll stand by and watch those arrogant fools who dare to challenge me, those who don’t know their place and try to climb up despite being weaker than me.”

I transformed right there. My hair instantly grew longer, and the frilly short skirt fluttered in the strong night wind.

“Their behavior has put me in a bad mood. That’s the only reason I’m moving.”

The uniform draped over my shoulders soon became the wings of a giant shadow, soaring straight into the sky.

It seemed necessary to give a strong warning to those who have become complacent lately.

To those human fools who are intoxicated with the tiny bit of power they’ve accidentally obtained, to the magical girls who are moving too cautiously and complacently.

And to that unknown monster who dares to taint the land where I’m living a satisfying and cozy second life with its ugly and disgusting tricks.