Ch.11. Prologue of the Victorious Magical Girl

# I Am a Magical Girl

Hmm, let me start with my story first.

Mine is just as clichéd as any ordinary magical girl’s tale, but I’ll tell you if you’d like to hear it.

I think it was when I was still a student.

During those naive, carefree days, misfortune struck without warning.

A monster suddenly attacked our school.

Absurd, isn’t it? A monster attacking a school without any warning.

Well, back then there was already a system in place to detect specific magical wavelengths and alert us about monster appearances, so truly sudden attacks were nearly impossible.

Yet this monster came without any warning from the system. It was completely unheard of.

And the first place this unexpected disaster targeted was our school.

Specifically, the library.

As luck would have it, I happened to be there for library volunteer work, which was unfortunate timing.

Oh, do you know how heavy library books can be?

They’re heavy enough to potentially kill a fragile student.

Being buried under a cascade of falling books is an experience I never want to repeat. Haha…

As I lay there dying under those books, a white cat appeared before me.

And then it spoke to me.

It said I had talent as a magical girl and asked me to defeat the monster that had suddenly attacked our school.

Naturally, I was shocked at the idea of becoming a magical girl.

Back then, magical girls were perhaps even more reliable than the military, yet also friendly figures who were our wonderful allies.

They were our idols who devoted everything to protecting citizens’ safety and peace.

They always stood on the side of justice, bringing joy to everyone.

The thought that I could become one of them seemed like a dream.

Even as I lay there with blood streaming from my head after taking a direct hit from a thick book. Haha…

And then, well, it was pretty much the standard cliché, wasn’t it?

I awakened my magical girl powers and defeated the monster with the powerful strength gained through my transformation.

My first weapon, the wand, was what I obtained then.

I fought with all my might using that wand. My strongest motivation was that if not me, who would protect my school friends?

Looking back, with my current power, that monster—the weakest grade that I could now defeat with a single normal attack—was nothing.

But I was so weak back then that I barely managed to win the fight.

Yes, that’s the birth story of me, Magical Girl Blanc. Quite ordinary, right?

Well, for a magical girl, this kind of story is actually quite standard.

Some magical girls have stories about playing baseball with friends in the park, encountering a monster, attacking it with their baseball bat without even awakening their powers, defeating the monster, and nearly taking out the mascot too.

And without going that far, my best friend inherited her powers from her older sister to become a magical girl.

See? As you can tell from hearing it, mine is pretty ordinary, right?

Just a typical magical girl awakening story that you’d find in any magical girl-themed creative work.

Hmm, what happened afterward is why I started telling this story in the first place.

After I painfully defeated the monster, I noticed a young girl who had been watching everything from behind.

Long, dark hair like the night sky surrounding her. In contrast, a face as white as starlight, and between them, amethyst eyes that were glaring at me intently.

At first, I thought she was just another victim caught up in the monster attack, so I tried to approach her.

Back then, I thought she was glaring at me because she had lost something to the monster I had just defeated.

That is, until my mascot urgently tried to stop me.

Thinking about it again, if she had been an ordinary child, she would have shown a frightened expression or thanked the magical girl for saving her.

But she was staring at me with a calm face filled with pure anger.

Yes, looking again, she was clearly not ordinary.

An ordinary child wouldn’t be floating in the air, would they?

And an ordinary child wouldn’t be holding a weapon, would they?

Especially while looking at me with such an angry expression.

Then she suddenly lashed out at me.

“Seriously!!! That monster took so much effort to bring here! How could you just destroy it like that! Ugh… I couldn’t even collect the misfortune energy!!!” she said.

Yes, I had nearly died because of that monster, but she was yelling at me for interfering with her energy collection.

So, what did I do? I simply asked for her name.

Yes, I was quite out of it. Asking for a name in that situation. Haha…

Perhaps at that time, I thought I should at least ask the name of someone I was meeting for the first time?

She seemed momentarily flustered by my question, then introduced herself.

You know, like those introductions villains always seem to do when they appear.

“I am the 2nd Division Head of the great secret organization ‘Eden,’ the dark vine that covers the world, Vin— ‘Vine’!”

She must have stumbled over her words.

Her expression didn’t change, but her face turned quite red. Being so pale made the blush even more noticeable.

Later, when I had a chance to ask a senior about her, I learned that Vine’s appearance at that school was her first. There had been many evil organizations before, but she was the first member of an evil organization to bring a monster, which is why my senior remembered her specifically.

Hmm… somehow, we ended up making our debuts together.

Me as a magical girl, and Vine as a villain.

Walking completely opposite paths, we became rivals.

After that, well… it seems like there’s not enough time to tell the whole story here.

To summarize briefly: wherever I was, Vine would appear, and wherever Vine was, I would be dispatched to confront her.

This went on for about 10 years.

Quite an incredible connection—or rather, a fateful antagonism, wouldn’t you say?

During those 10 years, I faced off against Vine countless times.

My overall record against Vine: 855 wins, 854 losses.

Truly… as I rose to become a top-ranked magical girl, Vine also grew stronger.

When I reached the pinnacle as a magical girl, she too had grown to a dimension beyond other magical girls.

After fighting her for so long, I began to wonder why such a young girl would threaten citizens like this.

She was really just a child—she looked even younger than me when we first met.

And because she was my only arch-nemesis.

I investigated, and investigated more.

Using all the power available to me as a magical girl, including government intelligence networks.

After digging deeper and deeper, I discovered she was a victim of the “Dimensional Rift.”

The Dimensional Rift, rare even on a global scale—she had been swept into it. And she was the only person to return alive from that rift. That was who she was.

In the Dimensional Rift, that world of nothingness, she was torn apart and decomposed before reappearing—she must have had nothing left.

Having truly lost everything, with only pain remaining.

What could have turned someone in such a state into the worst villain in history?

Eden’s boss? He merely delivered the final blow to an already cracked glass.

The real culprit that made her this way was this harsh world.

As a young girl, she wandered from place to place, asking for help.

But all she received were contemptuous glances and cold indifference.

When no one would help her, as she fell deeper and deeper into despair, the one who extended a hand to her was Eden’s boss.

I was furious.

At the people who didn’t help her?

No, they weren’t at fault.

They were just making inevitable choices to live their own lives.

I was angry at this country, this system.

Despite having the ability to detect magical energy from the Dimensional Rift, they failed to investigate thoroughly.

And I was angry that they took no action whatsoever.

But there was nothing I could do.

This country continues to flow nobly.

Yes, like water flowing from mountains to the sea. It simply follows the natural order.

Unfortunately, I lacked both the power and ability to change that flow.

Even at the peak of magical girl power, I couldn’t completely change this country.

Still, I had enough power to change at least one person’s fate.

Ah, turning back time to save her? That’s not it. Even with magical girl powers, reversing time is impossible.

Time only flows in one direction.

So I thought and thought hundreds of times about the best solution.

Finally, I found an answer.

But to save her this way, she would inevitably have to suffer.

And I would have to defeat her.

So I continued fighting her.

Fighting, and fighting again. Until she was captured.

No. Until Eden collapsed.

And then came the day of the final battle. Operation “Ragnarok” began.

Whoever named the operation clearly had some serious misconceptions, but let’s skip over such trivial matters.

The situation during Ragnarok was urgent.

Every available magical girl in Seoul was deployed to Eden’s headquarters.

A total of 25 magical girls were mobilized, along with three special forces companies, in this massive operation.

The battle began with clearing out the remaining forces and led to the confrontation with Vine.

A grand battle: 20 magical girls versus Vine.

In the end, numbers prevailed. Although 17 magical girls were injured, we succeeded in capturing Vine alive.

As soon as I heard about the capture, I engaged in battle with Eden’s boss and succeeded in bringing down Eden.

I thought I could save her now.

I thought I could rescue her.

Because I knew the truth about her. I knew she was also a victim.

But the world saw it differently.

To them, she was just an axis of evil. An existence that needed to be eliminated.

In the end, as she was a top executive of Eden, the death penalty was sought.

Knowing her circumstances, I thought this was absurd.

However, she had committed many evil deeds, and many people had suffered because of her.

I made every effort to at least spare her from the death penalty.

Still, being the magical girl who had single-handedly brought down an entire secret organization gave me considerable influence.

Her death sentence was commuted to just over 10 years in prison.

And with good behavior reductions, she was released after only 3 years.

I kept visiting the prison where she was held, wanting to talk with her.

But she refused all visitors, including her lawyer.

And now, about 5 years have passed since then.

I have become the strongest magical girl, the most beloved and respected by people.

I’ve accumulated many good deeds and saved countless lives.

To the point where I’ve earned a nickname.

The Magical Girl of Salvation.

Even though there’s still someone I haven’t saved.

The very person who is the reason I perform these good deeds in her place.

When her whereabouts became unknown after her release, I searched for her.

And finally, I found where she was.

On the outskirts of Seoul, halfway up a mountain in a shantytown.

“Happy Village.” A truly contradictory name for the neighborhood.

The smallest and most dilapidated shack there, looking like it might collapse with the slightest breeze.

So this is where you’ve been.

My old nemesis, the only one the Magical Girl of Salvation couldn’t save.