Ch.137137. Marina Battle (4)

KWANG!

Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-

“Hnngh…!”

“You’re good at nothing but running away…!”

She’s moving faster than I expected.

…Perhaps I’ve been underestimating this magical girl.

That was a mistake.

Blanc must have gained something from hunting monsters.

Still, it’s fine for now…

We’re evenly matched at this point…!

“Bine!”

“Ugh!?”

A rapier-like thrust aimed sharply at my abdomen.

I barely managed to twist my body to avoid the attack.

“…Ha. Are you finally counterattacking after just running away?”

I tried not to show my panic.

I really tried.

“…Right, I finally counterattacked. Hah… I forgot, Bine. Bine… yes, Bine.”

“…Blanc?”

Blanc withdraws her rapier and adjusts the blade.

That stance.

“Yes, yes… I think I was confused for a moment.”

…I back away.

This is genuinely dangerous.

Blanc’s body emits a bright light, gradually transforming her clothing.

It becomes more elaborate, but more suitable for combat.

Is she doing this…? So suddenly?

Well… I understand she’s in a hurry.

No need to wait for her; I’ll throw in a light feint.

As expected, she blocks it with her sword.

Then, she charges at a much faster speed.

I deflect her attacks with my tail.

Clang-!

Chang-!

I track her movements with my eyes.

“Wasn’t that a rapier?”

“I don’t just use one type of sword, you know?”

“Ha.”

If it’s not a rapier, she’ll slash rather than thrust.

I evade all her attacks.

Now it seems I’m the one being chased.

And so it goes.

Block, attack.

Attack, block.

Slash, shoot.

She doesn’t just swing her sword; she conjures magic with her other hand.

If she’s coming at me like that, I need to take a more defensive stance.

…I’m a bit low on magical energy due to the warp earlier.

Meanwhile, she must be overflowing with magical power.

Plus, she’s awakened.

Further fighting is meaningless.

I need to escape completely.

And she’ll chase me to the end.

I’ll take a warp somewhere.

I need to properly erase my magical traces and disturb space as little as possible.

If the spatial closure is slower than Blanc’s movement speed…

Our hideout will be discovered.

The meaning of rescuing the Boss will be lost.

Until the Boss fully recovers, the location of our hideout must never be revealed.

For that…

“Ellie!!”

“Bine?”

She must be fighting a difficult battle too.

Ellie is facing magical girls with unfamiliar faces and… is that Crybaby…?

Crybaby…?

Wait, a magical girl nicknamed Crybaby…

There’s no such magical girl now…?

Citrus, that person… was called Crybaby…

Ugh, my head.

“Ellie! Set off a smoke screen! Escape first!”

“Ugh… If I could have done that, I would have already… Bine?!”

“Eek.”

Whoosh!

A magic arrow flies right past my head.

…Red hair.

…My already insufficient magical energy against the awakened Blanc.

I’ll have to resort to tricks…

First, I need to create some distance.

I use my remaining magical energy for movement.

That’s the only way to put distance between Blanc and me.

As soon as my movements become more predictable, the redhead’s arrows hit me.

But that can’t be helped.

It’s truly painful to use precious magical energy just to block arrows.

But it’s a necessary choice to deflect Blanc’s attacks with another attack.

Creating distance, one, two.

I channel magical energy into my legs, kick off the ground.

I throw my body backward.

While doing so, I toss a grenade toward Blanc.

“…!?”

“I wonder if you remember my fighting style. Though someone like you probably does.”

Two, one.

BOOM—!

Dust clouds heavily obscure the view.

I leave a message to Ellie and the other department heads through the receiver.

“I’ll lure Blanc away from the battlefield. Warp directly to the hideout as soon as possible. Ellie. Let’s go see the Boss when I return.”

Then, with a short leap, I open a warp gate.

To another island some distance away.

If my magical energy is insufficient now, this would be the end.

“Blanc! Farewell then!”

With those words to bait her, I throw myself into the gate.

As the door closes, the spatial connection breaks.

According to my prediction, Blanc should tear open space again and…

About now.

She should open it about now…?

Why isn’t she following?

Blanc…?

Beyond the closing gate, through the settling dust, I see Blanc.

She was stopping Ellie, who was desperately trying to collide with her.

The last thing I saw was Ellie’s white hair and small body colliding, before space was severed again.

As if it had always been that way.

* * *

“BLANC!!!!”

“?! Wait…!”

CRASH!

Though blocked by a barrier, I managed to catch Blanc’s attention.

I need to protect Bine first.

In his current state, Bine can never gain the upper hand against Blanc.

His magical energy must be low, and after such exertion, he thinks he can return safely?

Don’t make me laugh.

The only ones who can return from here are…

Hela, who has plenty of magical energy left.

And Voltorn, who’s lingering near Hela.

The other combatants, no.

The artificial monsters are just disposable pieces.

And warping the Boss consumed more magical energy than expected.

…Because we forcibly isolated the core with a device.

I didn’t anticipate the inefficiency.

The output seemed normal.

But when trying to produce excessive output, the device nearly breaks.

The core would either explode or return under Blanc’s contract magic.

If that had happened below, rescuing the Boss would have been impossible.

Bine has rescued me from the Association before.

So maybe he can rescue me this time too.

“Garnet! I lost Bine! Quickly, the magical traces…!”

“Can’t track him…! Someone’s interfering… footprints all trampled… Elise!”

“I’m as strong as Bine, you know?! Look here! Do I have time to worry about Garnet?”

…I no longer consider saving magical energy for warping.

That much magical energy becomes power I can fully use in combat.

I think about space.

I visualize it.

In the three-dimensional space forming in my mind, I analyze movement.

Then, here.

I place a magical point.

And by adding explosive properties to that magic and converting it…!

BOOM—!

“AAAAARGH!?!?”

I can blow Garnet away.

The battle between Blanc, Garnet, and me.

From a 2-versus-1 situation back to a 1-on-1.

“Seohyun!!”

“Instead of worrying about her, worry about me? These calculations are hard, you know?!”

“Elise! What are you doing?!”

“Can’t you see? I’m Eden and you’re a magical girl. I just saved my comrade Bine, and now it’s time to save another. Face me head-on. Think I can’t fight you?”

Of course.

In the videos I watched while living with magical girls, Blanc was…

Much more developed.

Almost perfect.

If I can find more ways to confuse Blanc in this situation…

I can send back more organization members.

Then Bine will somehow come back to rescue me.

Well…

Sorry to Garnet, but I deliberately controlled it.

Made the blast pressure go in the opposite direction to minimize injury.

Just lots of dust and loud noise.

“Elise… where is Bine.”

“I don’t know either. He probably went somewhere to lure you. Why don’t you search the entire Earth?”

“…Warp. Right. You don’t have much magical energy left, do you?”

“Well… I need some to escape too, so I saved that much?”

“…Haah.”

She’s flustered, and so am I.

The way to fluster her more is…

Attack another magical girl.

…Not Arin.

Bine already attacked her earlier, claiming not to know her.

If I attack her, they’ll have countermeasures ready.

We continue our standoff, playing mind games.

“I don’t want to get hurt either, so how about letting me go?”

“…Are you in your right mind?”

“The mission’s failed anyway, right?”

“…It’s not over yet.”

“How do you know I haven’t planted a bomb on another magical girl?”

“You’ve already used that trick, so I’m aware. Quickly tell me Bine’s location.”

“Tell you? Hoooo—”

I pout my lips and blow air.

Blanc frowns.

I know I shouldn’t do this when things are serious, but…

To buy time.

The explosion sounds around us gradually subside.

Hela and Voltorn must have escaped too.

I look around.

Magical girls are converging on me.

“…Surrender.”

“Surrender? Am I crazy?”

I’m still Eden, after all.

“…If you surrender, I promise your safety and Bine’s.”

Magical girls approach me with weapons drawn.

Yes, the aftermath of battling Eden’s department heads is expected.

Magical girls bleeding, clothes in tatters.

They surrounded me, the last one standing.

“Pfft… Oh? Hello, Arin?”

“…? Elise…? You remember me?!”

“Arin, long time no see? But, sorry about this.”

I compress air with magical energy and push Arin away.

“Kyaah?!”

Creating an opening.

“I can beat you too.”

I soar into the sky.

“ELISE!!!”

Well, I expected this.

I’ve bought enough time, so they should have warped from that island by now.

Hmm…

What game should I play with the Association Director this time?

I don’t like pain though.

So, I’ll pass on the “Truth Game.”

The magical girls’ combined attacks engulf me.

Before I could even feel myself falling, I lost consciousness.

* * *

“…How many captives or casualties?”

“One.”

“…Elise?”

“Yes.”

“Kugh…”

The white-haired magical girl clenches her fist in frustration.

Until the weapon she was holding cracks and dissolves into magical energy.

“Sis?!”

The blue-haired magical girl who had fallen from an attack regains consciousness and worries about her senior.

“…For now, we need to put the seal back on her?”

“…Yes.”

A black device recovered from the fallen girl.

Slightly smaller than a fist.

“…It doesn’t seem to be a communication device or bomb. Yunseul.”

“It’s probably something forcibly blocking contract magic.”

“…How do we deactivate it?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Haah…”

“For now, let’s return to the Association.”

A magical girl places a cold metal ring around the fallen white girl’s neck and carries her.

“…Haah.”

“Yunseul.”

“No, it’s fine. At least… we recovered half. Half.”

“…Right.”

The magical girls who failed their mission boarded their bodies onto the plane.

Gloom and despair.

And the plane carrying the girl flew high into the sky.

It was night, as the sun was setting.