Chapter 1: Magical Girl of the Crescent Moon (1)

There is no sensation below my knees.

This is because my legs have been replaced by prosthetics made of shape-memory alloy.

I didn’t cut them myself.

I don’t have such sadistic tendencies.

During my “magical girl” activities, my legs were bitten by enemies repeatedly, and just before retiring, they were crushed to the point where I had no choice but to amputate both of them.

Creeeek

“Sir, we’ll be on the ground soon.”

“…Thank you.”

After retiring, the agency provided me with a top-of-the-line wheelchair.

The aide who could be used as a substitute for my limbs was an added bonus.

Even with high-end prosthetics, walking is unfamiliar.

It’s difficult to balance my weight.

So, I’ve been relying on my aide’s help to move around recently.

Creeeek.

Along with the wheelchair.

“Today, we won’t be able to go far. It’s a shame, but please settle for looking around here.”

“Okay.”

The aide spoke with a small smile.

I notice their grayish uniform and long brown hair.

It’s a familiar sight by now, the aide I’ve gotten used to.

‘…’

I got into the narrow elevator heading to the surface.

The elevator was surrounded by mirrors. These mirrors were installed at the request of the magical girls, who always had to keep an eye on their appearance, no matter when or where.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were all covered with mirrors, making it feel a little eerie.

My white hair reflected in the mirror.

It’s long enough to hang down past my shoulders and even to the wheelchair.

It’s my hair.

It wasn’t from dyeing or bleaching.

It had turned completely white, as if I had contracted Marie Antoinette syndrome.

Given everything the body’s previous owner had gone through, it was almost inevitable.

The pale white skin, the white hair, and the hazy pupils in one eye all came into view.

I can still see clearly, but it looked pretty severe on the outside.

My pupils looked cloudy, like someone on the verge of blindness from cataracts.

‘…’

Staring blankly at my face, my body trembled slightly.

Fear, anxiety, resentment, betrayal, and other inexplicable feelings began to surge from deep within my heart.

It felt almost like an instinct.

The pale skin drained of colour, the hair turned white from the unimaginable terror I had suffered, and my eyes, no longer functioning properly, made me look like a tortured victim who couldn’t perform basic functions anymore.

The more I looked, the more the body’s owner’s memories came to mind.

My body shuddered.

I couldn’t control the tremors.

My nerves were becoming sharp.

My senses were heightening.

I couldn’t relax, even for a moment.

The reflection of my two eyes in the mirror began to lose focus.

I felt as if my body was slowly melting away.

I felt sick, overwhelmed by an indescribably horrid sensation.

“…Sir.” “…”

The aide gently patted my head, then took a sedative from their pocket and injected it into my neck.

This sedative was customized for me with a higher dose.

As the orange liquid flowed down my throat, my mind settled, and I began to feel calm.

This wasn’t the first time this happened.

Every time I looked in the mirror, I’d experience these seizures.

It was just that simple.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Despite the needle piercing deep into my neck, there was no pain.

That’s because I no longer feel pain in this body.

I couldn’t endure the pain anymore, so I severed all sensations in my body.

I couldn’t even say I was alive anymore.

This body was nothing more than a corpse stitched together into a semblance of life by modern medicine.

A walking corpse, or something like a living dead.

And that was the situation of this body’s original owner, “Ianna.”

…Now, it’s my situation.

Clunk.

When the aide placed the ID card on the scanner, the elevator, which had stopped, began moving again.

For confidentiality and security, the elevator stops every three floors.

At those times, passengers need to scan their ID cards.

It’s a quite cumbersome and inconvenient process.

This place was about 100 meters underground, roughly the height of a 40-story apartment.

I lived in the deepest part of it, the ‘Management Room,’ so whenever I had to go up to the surface, I had to go through this complicated process.

But still, I couldn’t give up on seeing the surface.

Surrounding me were abandoned houses without owners, and small mountains stretching as far as the eye could see.

Occasionally, stray garbage or animals like deer or wild boars could be spotted.

It was an uneventful, ordinary sight of a mountain behind a neighborhood, but it held great meaning for “Ianna.”

The peace that ‘magical girls’ had burned their bodies to protect.

The only way to see that with my own eyes was…

To look at the view around the ‘Magical Girl Correction Agency,’ located 100 meters underground in the far east, a central and crucial hub for all magical girls.

…Honestly, it didn’t matter much to me.

I was just faithfully following the actions of “Ianna,” who had been eagerly waiting to see the outside world once a month.

‘Magical Girl Correction Agency.’

The name of the organization responsible for overseeing the scattered magical girls in the Far East, tasked with combating the enemies from beyond the world.

“Ianna” was once called the strongest magical girl.

And she was the current Director of the ‘Magical Girl Correction Agency.’

Though she was nothing but an empty shell now.

Ianna’s body had long since lost its strength.

The magical powers known as “Lemegeton” had disappeared.

Without the constant care of the agency’s medical team, she’d likely be dead any moment now.

Once the object of awe and reverence for all magical girls, she was no longer that.

Her fame had faded, and her strength had vanished completely.

Now, she was just a puppet of the ‘Agency.’

A forcibly kept corpse, a scapegoat who absorbed the complaints of magical girls directed at the agency, a tail that could be cut off when necessary.

That was Ianna’s role in this story.

The beginning of the novel.

‘The Magical Crusade.’

The holy war that struck at the heart of the enemy from another world was ultimately concluded with the victory of the magical girls.

While the “unknown enemy” continued to tear through dimensions and enter this world, their numbers had significantly decreased.

However, the number of magical girls hadn’t diminished.

From those who naturally acquired “Lemegeton” to those who had their bodies artificially transformed except for their brains and spinal cords.

Magical girls had become numerous enough to challenge entire armies on their own.

Moreover, magical girls’ minds were often unstable.

Since they drew powers from other dimensions, their minds often became warped or driven mad after prolonged exposure.

The decision reached by the global councils, including the ‘Agency,’ was simple.

‘Purge.’

They began eliminating the bloated magical girls, preventing them from uniting by making them turn against one another.

The goal was to reduce the number of magical girls, as one would eradicate pests.

And.

Ianna, as the symbol of the Agency, was forced to give impossible orders that led magical girls to their deaths.

She became the scapegoat for the purge of useless magical girls, pushed into the abyss unnoticed.

The antagonist, who would be the first to be eliminated in the ‘Revolt of the Girls,’ was a tragic figure—a kind of sacrificial lamb.

In the story’s middle, Ianna becomes aware of her own condition, protests the deaths of the magical girls, but each time stronger doses of drugs were administered.

Her condition deteriorates, and by the time the protagonist ignites the ‘Revolt of the Girls,’ she has been reduced to a mere puppet without a sense of self.

She dies with a smile on her face, unaware of why she meets her end, at the hands of the protagonist.

That was Ianna’s miserable fate in the story.

However.

It wasn’t Ianna who issued those orders.

Currently, Ianna’s self was restricted.

She moved according to the electric signals received from the central command, unable to make independent decisions.

She couldn’t even speak properly, as the words that came to her mind wouldn’t come out.

The one forcing magical girls to commit impossible tasks and drive them to death was the ‘Deputy Director,’ who had taken control of the Agency under the guise of Ianna.

As the story progresses, Ianna becomes aware of her situation and protests against the deaths of the magical girls.

But every time, stronger drugs were administered.

Her condition worsened, and when the protagonist starts the ‘Revolt of the Girls,’ she turns into an empty doll, devoid of her own self.

She dies smiling, never understanding why she had to die at the hands of the protagonist.

That was Ianna’s role.

‘…Wow.’

The more I thought about the story, the more my head began to spin.

Returning to my original world safely.

That was my goal.

To twist the predetermined fate of this novel and the miserable death that awaited me.

Clunk.

“We’ve arrived, Director.”

“Okay.”

The first thing I smelled was the musty odour of dust, and I could hear the cries of wild animals in the distance.

The creak of the container door as it opened sounded, and stepping out, I was met with the sight of a sky full of stars.

It was the sky that Ianna had tried to protect.

The dawn sky was incredibly bright.

‘…Well, it doesn’t seem so bad when I see it like this.’

It felt a bit like I was on a retreat, so it wasn’t all that bad.

Most of all, the air was clear.

For a while, I stood there, blankly gazing at the sky, thinking about the tomorrow that was to come.