Chapter 50: Open Your Heart

“Hah… hah… Just give up… ugh… and surrender.”

The aftermath of the fierce, minutes-long battle was laid bare.

Broken tree roots were scattered haphazardly, and the ground, churned up as if dug out multiple times, spewed dust from its exposed, reddish-brown flesh.

Fragments of stone mixed with shards of ice rolled across its surface.

Glacia Azure wiped her bloodstained face with a hand and stared ahead through her blurred vision.

She could see her enemy, clad in a tattered pink frilly dress, barely leaning on a staff held in a limp arm.

She checked her own condition.

An immobile left arm, a limping leg, and more than ten gouges and puncture wounds.

She had performed first aid, freezing her wounds and sealing the holes with ice, but beneath it, clotted blood and spreading frostbite created a constant, throbbing pain.

But she still had plenty of magic.

The only thing she lacked was time.

Rosa Alisa and Materia Viridis, who had been thrown back, were slumped on the ground, gasping for breath.

Both wore torn and tattered dresses, their bodies dirty and singed, their eyes devoid of light.

They were in no condition to fight any longer.

Therefore, Glacia had to completely subdue her enemy in the short time before she collapsed from her own accumulated injuries.

Fortunately, the enemy was also on the verge of death.

The mouth that had been chattering ceaselessly about what a magical girl is, what the true mindset of a magical girl should be, and about killing, was now only letting out faint breaths.

It was worth betting everything on one final move.

“Odette. Your power.”

She spoke to the small fairy perched on her shoulder, who was looking at her with concern.

She would borrow its power, the power of a spirit.

Sharper, and sharper still.

She created ice, compressed it, and refined it into a single, sharp awl, infusing it with magic.

Using all her remaining magic, she even poured in the spirit’s power, tempering it to a razor’s edge.

Her quiet, cold fury took the form of slender needles.

It manifested as dozens of extremely condensed ice awls.

“Ice Queen’s Wrath.”

And so it was complete: a hundred pure white ice awls surrounding the enemy.

Even at this point, Glacia had no intention of killing Soda Pop Ritalin.

She was, to the core, a righteous magical girl.

Instead of killing, she would completely incapacitate her.

If even one ice awl struck, her entire body would freeze solid, rendering her unable to move an inch.

If she put up a magical barrier, the awls would freeze the barrier itself and shatter it, allowing the next one to pierce her body.

If she had armor, it would be frozen and shattered, and dozens of awls would then swarm her defenseless form.

It was a spell designed to fight Sanguine Obsidia.

It was her final, inescapable move, crafted to take down the blood-wielding killer no matter how many defensive layers she created with others’ blood or her own magic.

‘It’s actually for the best.’

‘I get to test it out before using it on Sanguine Obsidia.’

‘Ah, my magic… My head…’

Gritting her teeth to keep from collapsing, Glacia raised her right hand.

She would fire dozens of shots, avoiding vital spots.

If even one of them pierced that skin, it was over.

An arm, a leg, even the tip of a finger—it didn’t matter.

The moment the compressed ice touched her skin, it would spread throughout her entire body.

As she lowered her raised right hand, a hundred ice awls flew silently, yet swiftly, toward the enemy.

And Soda Pop Ritalin smiled.

“Immit Rosio Atritas.”

To Glacia, the scene that followed looked as if the world had frozen in time.

Because nothing happened.

A black shadow seemed to flicker past for an instant, and then every single one of the ice awls Glacia had summoned vanished without a trace.

It was as if they had never existed in the first place.

“How… to use something like that twice…!”

Soda Pop had already used that spell once at the beginning of the fight to erase a massive chunk of ice Glacia had dropped on her.

Because it was an absurd ability that eroded and nullified magic, and because Soda Pop’s movements and power had visibly weakened right after using it, Glacia never thought she could use it again.

No, even if she could use it two or three times, Glacia never imagined it could erase magic of this scale in an instant.

The spell had been created specifically as a countermeasure against Sanguine Obsidia, who used the very same incantation.

That was why she had painstakingly squeezed out all her magic to create over a hundred awls, designed to attack from all directions.

And yet…

“Kek, kek, kek. Because I am the real magical girl. Something like this is… ah. It hurts. D*mn it.”

Staggering with a crazed laugh in her unfocused eyes, Soda Pop suddenly clutched her chest and collapsed.

Her magic and stamina were at their limit, but Glacia still had enough strength to take down one defenseless person.

She stumbled forward, dragging her feet.

Forcing strength into her trembling, spasming hand to keep from dropping her staff, she squeezed out the last dregs of her magic to form a chunk of ice.

She aimed for the enemy’s head.

This opponent was too dangerous; Glacia clearly felt it.

She should have fought with the intent to kill from the start, instead of trying to be clever and just incapacitate her.

“But now it’s over.”

“With this…”

She was close enough now.

A direct hit to the head with the ice chunk would leave the gasping, chest-clutching Soda Pop on the brink of death.

Glacia was about to release the magic gathered at the tip of her staff when—

“…Stop. That’s enough.”

She was enveloped in violet magic.

A magical girl with lavender hair, dressed in a formal suit, had appeared suddenly and restrained Glacia.

Wizard in Violet.

Or rather, the Head of the Magical Girl Association, Yu Ji-hye.

Ignoring the bewildered Glacia, she surrounded the fallen Soda Pop with dozens of spherical magic circles and erected several thick layers of magical barriers between Soda Pop and Glacia.

Seeing the violet defensive sphere that had also been cast around her, Glacia asked.

“Jihye… what is all this, so suddenly…?”

Her eyes then fell upon her two younger sisters, lying lifelessly on the ground.

“Jihye… no. Chairwoman, why are you stopping me? I can take her down! No, I will take her down. That woman did this to Alisa, to Materia…!”

“I’m sorry, but that terrorist is in a dangerous state right now. The pseudo-magic organ implanted in her chest has become extremely unstable.

If we’re not careful, this entire area could be caught in an explosion of runaway magic.”

A cold sweat trickled down Yu Ji-hye’s face as she manipulated the magic circles surrounding Soda Pop.

“I’ve been watching this place, watching you fight, for a while now.

I wanted to see you fight to your limits, as long as your lives weren’t in danger… but it seems I’ve done a great disservice to the children. And to you as well.”

Both statements were true.

It was true that Soda Pop was in a dangerous, pre-detonation state.

And it was true that she had been watching, believing that as long as no limbs were lost, any other injuries could be healed by Blanc, and wanting to see Glacia pushed to her absolute limit.

But there was one thing she didn’t tell Glacia: the terms of her deal.

A deal with Saint Jimmy.

He had offered to cooperate with monster defense and the capture of Sanguine Obsidia in exchange for an incomprehensible condition: to simply be allowed to observe the moment Obsidia was captured or eliminated.

As payment, he offered several pieces of information, including the secret to processing spirit corpses into weapons.

Since his organization was rogue anyway and the Magical Girl Association had nothing to lose, Yu Ji-hye had accepted the terms.

It was a deal kept secret from the other magical girls, and even from her own mascot, Gazer.

The only part that displeased her was the condition that she had to guarantee Soda Pop’s safety.

“Soda Pop Ritalin. Can you hear me?”

After confirming that the pre-detonation magic from the pseudo-magic organ had stabilized somewhat, Yu Ji-hye approached Soda Pop.

Instead of starting her usual nonsense about not forgetting the ☆, she was only heaving ragged breaths, still not recovered.

“You must have some way to return to your little hideout. Go back and get repaired by your precious leader.

Either that, or explode over there. I’d rather not be caught in the explosion of your defective products.”

“…Tch.”

With a click of her tongue, Soda Pop pulled a dagger from her clothes and slashed it through the empty air.

The next moment, her body and the oppressive weight of her pre-detonation magic vanished.

As if she had never been there at all.

All that remained was the clearing, scarred by battle, the three fallen magical girls, and Yu Ji-hye.

“Alright. The injuries on these two aren’t as bad as I thought. It seems they’re just exhausted from severe magic depletion. Can you stand?”

Blanc could easily heal bruises, cuts, and even puncture wounds.

She couldn’t regenerate major injuries like lost limbs or destroyed organs, however.

‘Perhaps the strategy of deploying magical girls across all regions and using Coral Echoes’ magic for command and control was more effective than anticipated.’

They had already succeeded in capturing or eliminating dozens of demons.

Considering that, letting two young girls like Alisa and Materia rest in a hospital room for a few days would be fine, Yu Ji-hye thought as she helped the two to their feet.

“Yes, thank you…”

“Let’s head back for now. Alisa and Materia, both of you get some good rest until you’re fully healed. You’ve worked hard.”

Yu Ji-hye placed a hand on each of the girls’ heads and stroked them gently.

Everything she did as the Head of the Association, whether righteous or dirty, was ultimately for the sake of her junior magical girls.

Therefore, Glacia’s efforts to protect the two girls deserved praise.

“Glacia, you did well too. Thank you for protecting the children.”

“Ugh…”

She gave her a light hug.

As she helped the slightly blushing Glacia to her feet, she pulled Alisa and Materia by their shoulders.

“Both of you, hold on tight. We’re flying. Now then, Glacia, wait just a moment. I’ll be right back to get you.”

Watching the figure disappear toward the distant Association headquarters, leaving a violet trail, Glacia collapsed onto her back.

She didn’t care that her tattered blue dress was getting dirty.

Because her heart had become warm, like the sunset glow in the sky above.

For Glacia, the safety of her two juniors, Alisa and Materia, and the praise from Yu Ji-hye—the greatest magical girl she had always admired—was more than enough.

“Ah, Jihye.”

“What are you doing? Let’s go back.”

Seeing Glacia lying on the rough, magic-scarred dirt floor, the returned Yu Ji-hye offered a wry smile.

“I’ll look after Alisa and Materia.”

“What are you talking about? You need to get treated and return to your post. You’re on the night shift today.”

There was a strange intensity in the hand she extended with a smile.

The exhausted Glacia’s small wish to spend a peaceful time with the two in the hospital room was mercilessly crushed.

“Ah.”

Unfortunately for Glacia, in the face of the Magical Girl Association’s manpower shortage, there was little time to wallow in sentiment and emotion.