The Unbreakable Flower (1)

The Unbreakable Flower (1)

“Honestly, there was a lot of talk about Taquilas, but wasn’t the conclusion to hold off unless she made the first hostile move?”

“That was true. Until today.”

“Until today… I see.”

Right before Aria, who had completely changed her mind after being shocked by the Smalilian incident, was about to act more aggressively.

Lee Jong-pil, who had avoided the impact due to being near Seoul at the time, received a call from someone and smoked a cigarette with a serious expression.

“Taquilas’ actions were consistent. She didn’t move even though she clearly knew our intentions. Probably only her own will could make Taquilas move.”

“But why on earth are they talking about ‘overthrowing the Demon Lord’ now? And from their higher-ups, no less.”

“Isn’t it obvious? Regardless of her own will, Taquilas has now grown too big. To be honest, they were also greatly shocked. It’s a fact that she’s an unprecedentedly strong magical girl.”

The person on the other end of the phone scoffed at Lee Jong-pil’s words. As if asking why he was questioning something so obvious.

“But this was inevitable from the start. Do you think we want to fight such a monster? However, if we submit and become wary of her, we’ll have to live under pressure, unable to do anything, constantly fearing a conflict with her. We have to achieve our great cause, and we absolutely cannot do that.”

“So… you’re saying you’ll catch Taquilas. Is that even possible?”

Although they were clearly on the same side, Lee Jong-pil inwardly mocked his counterpart.

Even though he had joined hands with them for his own desires, he found it absurd that they were talking about killing Taquilas, who was still a citizen of this country, as they pleased.

Above all, he couldn’t believe there was a way to counter the overwhelming, monstrous presence Taquilas had shown.

“Nothing is impossible. Certainly.”

‘Hmm, I can’t tell what’s going on deep in that continent. They seem to have something they believe in, but it’s not like one or two haven’t been crushed for messing with that crazy kid.’

Lee Jong-pil clicked his tongue at the confident demeanor of his counterpart. In fact, this was his only option.

Once ‘they,’ who were practically the main body, had decided to fight Taquilas head-on, he had no choice but to cooperate.

From the beginning, this was a competition between apex predators for their territory and prey.

Given how much Tachylas’s presence has grown, it’s naturally impossible for other predators eyeing the vested interests to ignore her.

For those predators, being told to give up their vested interests was no different from being told to commit suicide. They thought it was better to die fighting.

“So. What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing much. We can just use the Special Forces facilities already established in Korea. We’re already heading there.”

The other party’s response was quick.

Lee Jong-pil, not knowing all the facts, had to have his son Lee Su-chan find out what they were up to.

“I’m glad you arrived safely. But these people…?!”

“…They are the proud magical girls of the continent.”

And Lee Su-chan and Lee Jong-pil were shocked to learn what those who crossed the sea were plotting.

***

“How is that possible?! The Special Forces have to work with magical girls?!”

“Shh! This is top-secret information only being shared with team leaders for now. From now on, some Special Forces teams will carry out special missions with them. That’s why your team’s workload has increased a bit.”

Special Forces Team Leader Park Su-hyeon. As one of the few Korean team leaders in the Special Forces, where The One Road agents still held key positions, he was flustered by the orders from above.

The order was that some teams would carry out special missions with magical girls.

However, for him, who had joined the Special Forces inspired by their belief in being the righteous power in society, cooperation with magical girls, who stood at the opposite end, was incomprehensible.

After all, the Special Forces were created to gradually and completely replace magical girls.

‘As expected, the higher-ups are clearly operating the Special Forces with a completely different purpose.’

After the guiding staff member left, he sighed and slumped in his seat. He was already feeling extremely fatigued from the sense of helplessness and devastation felt after the Smalilian incident.

As a former special forces member, he was one of the rare Special Forces agents who joined with a sense of mission to serve society and justice.

That’s why he willingly agreed to conduct human experiments on his own body and became an awakened one.

However, enemies with extraordinarily powerful abilities and internal dissenters with dark intentions were truly like an insurmountable wall.

“Hey, Antonio.”

“Yeah?”

After pondering for a moment with his head down, he stopped a team member passing by. Though the foreigner belonged to a different team, they had become close and interacted comfortably.

“I heard your team is going on that top-secret mission.”

“What? You guys knew about it too?”

Park Su-hyeon casually brought up the topic with a smile, as if it was no big deal. Antonio also chuckled and answered without much thought.

“It’s nothing special. I just wanted to know what it’s about. They only said it’s cooperation with Magical Girls, but didn’t tell us who or what we’re doing.”

“Ah, same here. Our team leader suddenly contacted me to come.”

“So, can I take a look at your body cam?”

Grinning at Antonio’s seemingly nonchalant reaction, Park Su-hyeon pointed at the body cam attached to his suit. If he could use that, he’d be able to find out exactly what they were doing.

“You’re curious about everything. Then… are you buying drinks this time?”

“No problem.”

Antonio fell for it without suspicion.

In the end, Park Su-hyeon succeeded in obtaining a copy of the body cam footage that night. Antonio, who handed it over, just looked a bit tired but showed no signs of anything unusual.

‘Is it a battle with an unknown monster? Well, if a monster appeared right after the catastrophe when everyone was struggling, we’d have to fight together, Magical Girls or not.’

Sitting in his chair, he leisurely made coffee and watched the video. Up until this moment, everything seemed normal.

“…Huh?”

But as the fast-forwarded video progressed and the setting changed to an eerie abandoned factory outside the city.

He couldn’t believe his eyes at what was unfolding. The enemy they were fighting was neither a monster nor a criminal organization.

The magical girl with a familiar face and flaming red hair was being lynched by them as a group.

“Ahaha!!”

And one of those facing her was another magical girl who seemed to be rampaging like a madwoman.

‘Why is Aria…?’

The face of Lee Su-chan, who accompanied Antonio’s body cam without directly participating in the battle, did not appear. To begin with, he couldn’t understand the current situation at all.

“I… won’t lose.”

For one thing, Aria was strong.

Even while facing multiple opponents alone, she kept throwing punches, scattering blazing flames. Her practical combat experience was overwhelmingly superior from the start.

As the special forces fell one by one from the barrage of her punches that could even distort steel suits.

It only proved that with the awakened research still in its very early stages, it was impossible to suppress a magical girl of S-class or higher.

[3rd Awakening · 3rd Armament Ignition]

A massive gust of wind engulfed in flames burst forth from Aria’s extended fist. Aria was truly pushing back all opponents by herself.

“Kuhuk…”

“To control your strength even in this situation. You’ve gone soft.”

However, against the one opponent who was also a magical girl like herself, it was impossible to subdue easily.

While subduing the special forces, Aria staggered after taking a strong hit to her abdomen from the other girl’s strike with tonfas flickering with viscous green flames in both hands.

“Ah, Aria!”

Along with the cry of her mascot Lulu, before she could raise her guard, Aria’s entire body was hit with merciless strikes several times per second.

‘…She’s strong. S-class? Or even higher?’

In the end, with one knee buckling, Aria ended up coughing up a mouthful of blood. Her body and limbs were broken and cracked in various places, her skin torn, and bruises forming.

“Your eyes are wide? Because I’m stronger than you thought. But you know what, I’m actually just B-rank?”

Looking down at Aria, she swung her tonfa around and sneered with a twisted smile.

“Your eyes got bigger. Surprised? You don’t need to worry too much. It’s not that you’ve gotten weaker. Actually, I’ve gotten stronger. In ways that a bitch like you couldn’t even imagine.”

Watching Aria’s wavering eyes, she gripped her tonfa long and raised it. Ready to bring it down and crush Aria’s head.

No one tried to stop her attempt to kill Aria.

“You’re dying because of your arrogance. If you had fought with the resolve to kill, you could have lasted longer. I heard you beat up those corrupt pigs without caring about the law or public security. Yet, when it really matters, you hold back your power because you don’t want to kill. Coward.”

Coward. That word pierced through Aria’s heart as she lay with her eyes half-open, bleeding.

At the same time, Aria gritted her teeth.

And then the tonfa, wrapped in blazing magical power, came down.

“Huh…?”

Bones rattled and muscles tore as blood burst forth. Yet Aria moved her body.

She flinched for a moment when her tonfa was blocked by Aria’s knuckles.

“How are you moving when all your limbs are bro-“

She couldn’t finish her words. Aria’s fist, which had pushed away the tonfa and struck the ground in an instant, tore through the air in that brief moment and slammed into her cheek.

Aria’s own fingers broke as she delivered the impact that shattered the jaw joint. A thunderous sound like a cannonball being fired rang out as the shockwave erupted.

“Ca- catch her!”

“It’s already too late. Mei! Are you alright!”

The girl’s body, with half her face and jaw shattered, flew through the air without even being able to scream, spraying blood as she crashed into the ground, and Aria, suppressing her intense pain, launched her body through and broke the abandoned factory’s window, barely managing to escape outside.