Chapter 38 – Seoul battle (3)

Rea​d​ on KatReadingCa​fe

As soon as I split the monster’s head and emerged outside, I diagnosed everything holistically.

My body was like an immature and foolish dragon that had been recklessly flung around, resulting in injuries here and there. However, it was still crafted well according to my original intent.

Due to the foolish dragon recklessly charging out before the final adjustments were complete, some areas were left somewhat rough. Still, it was usable.

Now, having assessed the physical body, next was the mind.

The mental state was completely outside expectations. The self-awareness of the dragon, which was never meant to awaken and should not have awakened, had fully emerged.

The cause was unknown. The result? A clueless hatchling was treating my body as its own and using it at will. Whether it was truly clueless, I couldn’t say for sure.

One thing was certain: it knew nothing. If it had properly grasped the situation—if it had even the slightest idea of what it was—there were things it would never have done.

The only fortunate thing was that, whether consciously or unconsciously, it had adhered strictly to the ‘principles.’

I hated every bit of it, but I was at least grateful for that one thing.

After all, I had no desire to become a monster that achieved nothing.

Lastly, the starlight. I lightly summoned starlight and examined its quality. As expected, it had diminished significantly compared to when I was a magical girl.

Was it because I had severed my contract with the constellations? Or was it due to my transformation into a monster?

Regardless, it didn’t matter. Lost starlight could always be replenished. Normally, I would have gathered it gradually, but now, refined starlight was scattered everywhere. I could simply take it.

I turned to look at a particular magical girl—a clumsy and timid one with sky-blue hair.

The moment our eyes met, she let out a disgraceful scream and clung desperately to my younger sister, who stood beside her.

—Pathetic. Weak. There were those who burned with determination despite having even less starlight than her.

Yet she cowered in fear, even while those weaker than her fought with all they had.

She was worthless. Therefore, she needed to be removed.

‘W-what? What are you trying to do?’

The dragon’s voice echoed in the back of my consciousness, babbling nonsense and telling me to stop. But I knew that, from its position, all it could do was shout. Without hesitation, I acted.

I accelerated my body and leaped toward the sky-blue magical girl. Immediately, the tiger-like entity that had persistently hindered me accelerated as well, rushing toward me again.

…Should I deal with that thing first instead of the girl with sky-blue hair?

A monster is a sin just by existing.

I halted midair, spewing blood from my wings and forging it into weapons, then launched them all along the trajectory the monster would take.

The monster twisted its limbs with all its might, deflecting or breaking the dozens of incoming weapons.

Seeing that, my first thought was how pathetic it was.

How did something so dull-witted get designated as a top-tier threat?

If it was designated as such for being ridiculous, then maybe that made sense. The way it fought was quite laughable for a monster.

Spinning midair like a tornado, desperately swatting at the relatively slow-moving weapons—

Well, I suppose that amount of blood was enough for it.

Any more would be a waste.

“Hah… Haah… Hahaha! Is that all you’ve got?!”

Despite using all its strength, the monster was wounded in several places. Still, it grinned wildly at me, proud that it had managed to block my attack.

Hmm, well, I suppose that’s about right.

For you, not for me.

I manipulated the shattered fragments of the weapons with blood magic, redirecting them toward the monster. Then, I clenched my fist.

“What—”

The hundreds of shards, broken by the monster’s own hands, embedded themselves into its body, severing muscles and bones.

As I pressed my thumb downward, the monster—perhaps due to its top-tier designation—managed to avoid being completely torn apart. Instead, the shards, rather than slicing through, were forcefully embedded deep into the ground along with its body.

“Kuh… Guh…”

Perhaps because the momentum had been drained from it after my attack, the monster was noticeably slower now. I stomped onto its back, my foot piercing through and embedding itself into its body.

“Consider it an honor to at least be of some use to the world in the end.”

Through my foot, I absorbed the monster’s starlight and blood.

The quality of its blood was poor due to its nature as a monster, but the starlight it contained was abundant, so it didn’t matter.

It was less than what I could obtain from a magical girl, but if I could eliminate filth and gain starlight in the process, that was all that mattered.

I drained everything except for a few drops of blood and a handful of starlight.

The once-muscular creature was now reduced to a shriveled husk.

Even in this state, it was still clinging to life. Should I consider that impressive?

Well, it didn’t matter. I had left it in this state to use as a blood reservoir.

I kicked away the shriveled corpse and turned my gaze back to the magical girl with sky-blue hair.

She was still clinging to my younger sister like a leech.

Disgraceful.

Even if her abilities weren’t suited for combat, her behavior was utterly pitiful.

She was unnecessary. Someone like that had no place in the world my sister would live in.

I flew straight toward her. As I did, a few of the magical girls who had been silently watching finally began to move.

…Unfortunately, my younger sister was not among them.

At least, she was now able to follow my movements with her eyes.

If things continued at this pace, she would eventually be able to move just as quickly.

I only hoped that day would come soon.

For now, I focused on the magical girls.

Most of them were slower than me. They flailed about sluggishly, as if wading through honey, unable to keep up.

Only two of them were even close to my speed.

One emitted starlight resembling fire from her body, while the other radiated starlight akin to electricity. That was at least somewhat interesting.

Strong. And righteous. Even in the face of a formidable foe, they do not cower, nor do they forgive evil.

They were the kind of girls the world needed.

So, if possible, I had no intention of harming those two.

They seem like they could become excellent mentors for my younger sister.

I easily dodged the fire and lightning coming toward me and unleashed a barrage of blood arrows at the magical girls who had begun to move.

About 40% was shot down by flames and lightning, but the remaining 60% rained down on the magical girls.

Since I wasn’t seriously trying to take them down, just restricting their movements, even the relatively weaker ones should have been able to block the attack without much difficulty.

That said, not all of them managed to do so.

“Kyah!”

“Ugh…”

About a dozen or so magical girls were hit by the blood arrows and fell.

Among them, around five seemed to have taken enough damage for their transformations to be undone.

There were few things as tragic as those with strong will but lacking power, so I gazed at the falling girls with pity.

I prayed that one day, they too would become stronger.

And with that, I continued flying toward the sky-blue-haired girl.

The girl wreathed in flames and the one crackling with electricity were fiercely pursuing me, but they could not catch up once I started flying at full speed.

With no real resistance, I grabbed the sky-blue-haired girl, causing the dragon within me to start making a ruckus.

‘What the hell are you doing? Let go of Sky!’

Sky, was it? Now I knew something I had no interest in knowing.

As soon as I grabbed Sky, desperation flickered across the faces of the two girls chasing me.

“Let go of Sky!!!”

“Damn it, let gooo!!!”

They must have known the difference in speed, yet they were still desperate enough to cry out uselessly and simply keep chasing me.

They weren’t attacking because they were afraid of getting their ally caught up in the attack.

…Alright. I changed my mind.

Originally, I had planned to dispose of this thing that would only hold my sister back.

But if those two treasured it so much…

Perhaps I should reduce its punishment to merely reclaiming some starlight.

I tossed the increasingly terrified Sky into the air for a moment, then transformed my body into a pool of blood and charged at the brainless monster.

As my body collided with the creature, a hole in my shape was instantly gouged through it, and I absorbed its blood and starlight.

Rising back into the air, I reached for Sky again, but instead of grabbing her, I plunged my still-liquid hand into her stomach.

The expressions of the two magical girls chasing Sky were instantly consumed by despair, but I wished they wouldn’t look at me like that.

I was merely taking back something that an unworthy person should never have had.

As I drove my hand into Sky, I felt starlight flowing into me.

At this rate, I might even be able to manifest the power granted by a contract with the stars.

Perhaps it would be worth testing.

Just as I had absorbed about half of her starlight—

A beam of pure white light nearly severed my arm that was lodged in Sky’s abdomen.

I knew the owner of that light. Even when crushed under the dragon’s power, she had still held her pride high—my younger sister.

More than the pain, I was simply astonished that she had moved.

Turning my gaze, I saw that Jua was moving, albeit slowly, as if swimming through honey.

She had grown through the intensity of her emotions.

For a moment, I forgot I was in the middle of a battle and smiled at her.

“You’ve grown.”

Yes, this was enough.

Losing all of Sky’s starlight wasn’t a significant problem at this point.

I withdrew my arm from Sky’s stomach and tossed her toward the people desperately reaching for her.

“Sky…!”

Being strong is good, but you shouldn’t let your guard down when I’m right in front of you.

Just as I was about to throw a spear at the lightning-clad girl reaching for Sky—

‘You, that’s enough! From here on, I’ll take over, so get inside! Right now!’

The dragon’s ego within me stirred violently, and suddenly, my head reeled.

…How ridiculous.

As I was dragged back into the depths of consciousness, I thought, once again, that a dragon was still just a dragon.