Ch.155155. To Protect My Sister.

Magical energy explosively churns through my body.

I’ve never felt anything like this…

Is this what awakening feels like…?

Or is it a magical overload…?

No, it’s not a magical overload.

I should have asked the older girls who’ve experienced awakening at least once…

Then…

I look at my weapon, which is vibrating warmly.

Like a beating heart.

As if showing my current emotions.

My pulsating, glowing weapon…

Has transformed into something different.

It’s still the scythe I’ve been using.

But now there’s a blade on the opposite side too.

Though this change happened suddenly during combat.

Just by holding it, I feel like I know how to use it.

When I first… held a weapon.

When I first awakened as a magical girl.

When my mascot friend appeared.

Even though I knew nothing, I knew how to use my weapon.

I knew how to use basic magic.

That feeling. The feeling of familiarity, as if I’ve always known how to use it, has returned to me now.

“…Ugh?!”

I can see Vine unnie’s—

No, Vine’s surprised expression.

Even with that poker face… she actually has quite a range of expressions.

Yunseul unnie, who’s been with her for a long time, seems to notice right away.

And I can tell too, despite only spending a few months with her.

Really…

I think about Vine unnie just as much.

Why doesn’t Vine unnie…

…

I’m definitely going to win.

“Here I come!”

I put strength in my legs and adjust my grip on the scythe.

Holding it in the middle, I aim for her.

For her who has hidden her surprise again.

Toward her who readjusts her sword, analyzing me.

I kick off the ground toward her.

Just one wound.

If I can just inflict one wound…!

I swing.

I swing my scythe.

Vine blocks it easily with one hand.

In that moment, there must be an opening.

If I can just create one gap.

But…

Even as I press my attack.

Even as I keep coming at her with my new weapon, showing moves she’s never seen before.

New attack trajectories.

The sharpness of my new weapon, she blocks everything.

Everything, everything.

It’s frustrating how she only blocks attacks coming at her.

She doesn’t even fall for my deliberate feints.

I’m the one on the offensive.

I’m the one attacking, so why is it so difficult?

Rather, I’m making unnecessary movements trying to avoid Vine’s sword strikes.

At this rate, I won’t be maintaining the offensive; it’ll be reversed and…

CLANG!

“Huff. Is this all? I was watching with interest because something seemed to be changing… but it’s only this much. Well, what more could I expect from a magical girl who just awakened?”

“Haa, haa…!”

“Oh? Your appearance has changed slightly too. But… it’s so minimal that it hardly looks like an awakened form. It feels like a temporary awakening.”

“Don’t… haa… look away!”

BOOM!

“Sigh. Who’s looking away… Don’t worry, magical girl. I’ll end this quickly. Without pain… that is.”

“Ha, haa… haa… I don’t need that kind of consideration! Just take my attacks properly!”

“If I took all the attacks you tell me to take, my body wouldn’t last. Why don’t you use that good brain of yours for something better?”

“Ugh! What are you saying!”

WHOOSH!

CLANG!

SLASH!

With each exchange, I feel the overwhelming difference between us.

But somehow, I feel like I could reach her.

I feel like I could reach her.

If I could be just a little faster, just a tiny bit faster.

If I could succeed in inflicting even a slight wound.

I can see it.

I can see that possibility.

“Hah… I think it’s time to end this quickly. I need to prepare for tomorrow. And conserve my strength. Magical girl. I don’t have time to waste on a magical girl like you.”

“Not yet… just a little more…”

“I think I’ve entertained your offensive long enough. I don’t know what more you can do in that ambiguous awakened state. Is this a showcase of your inadequacy?”

“No…! I can, I can do…?! Kyahk!?!?”

It happened in an instant.

With just one swing of her sword, she left a mark on the back of the training ground.

The ground was deeply gouged in the shape of her sword strike.

If I hadn’t detected it, if I hadn’t dodged…

“Ah, what a shame. I could have ended it in one go… and rested. Wouldn’t it have been better for you to just take the hit?”

“Ugh…! How could you…!”

“Hah… Then… shall I get a little serious?”

Vine, who had only been moving to dodge until now, lifted her feet and flew at me.

Except for her preparatory foot movement, I couldn’t see her with my eyes,

Just the sensation of wind brushing against my skin, and the sound.

And my animal instincts.

CLANG!

“Huh? You blocked this?”

“Haa, haa, haa, haa… haa… kugh…!”

I barely managed to deflect her rushing attack.

That single attack was too perfect.

There was no room for a counterattack, and the direction she aimed for.

That movement without any waste, like what I’d seen.

Yunseul unnie.

The kind of movement I’d only seen in the battle footage of Blanc and Vine.

That means…

Until now, she’s been deliberately holding back.

While facing me.

Even during the battle at Marina.

Vine is stronger than I thought.

Even during that duel in the training ground, she wasn’t being serious…

No, back then she fought using her tail.

I thought her mobility would be reduced without her tail.

Was that just… my misconception?

Just because she doesn’t have a tail doesn’t mean she can’t freely use the training ground.

In reality, I had to block Vine’s attacks from any direction, up, down, left, or right.

And I had to do it with just my instincts.

Without any basis for judgment.

I had to block Vine’s sword aimed at me.

But I can’t block everything.

It’s beyond my ability.

For every one attack I block, Vine attacks three times.

As time passes, the damage accumulating on my body keeps building up.

Rather, in this situation.

In this situation, I should take hits… and look for openings…

But I can’t see any openings.

Each attack feels like it knows all my movements in advance.

If I twist my body, the sword comes from the opposite side.

If I’m sent flying from that sword, I take another hit from behind.

If I somehow break out of that vicious cycle, another attack comes.

While taking attacks that come so fiercely it’s maddening.

If I block, how can I create an opening?

How can I create an opening somehow?

Like that, to the limit of limits.

Completely driven to the edge, now I’m not moving with my head anymore. The thought of wanting to live.

Wanting to live, so I run away, dodge, and attack.

My head isn’t working, it’s just my body moving as it wants to, to that extent.

“Haa, haa… haa…”

“I think you’re reaching your limit now. Shall we end this, magical girl?”

“Kugh… I can… still… fight…!”

“Your legs are already trembling, and your arms holding the weapon, those delicate arms, aren’t they pitiful? It’s time to let them rest a bit.”

“Stop saying that! For the sake of saving my unnie! To save my unnie! I… I can’t give up!”

“Well… of course you won’t give up. There were conditions for victory and defeat, weren’t there? Well… was it ever possible in the first place, with that level of skill?”

“No! It’s not, haa… impossible! If I, if I…! If I can protect unnie…! I can do it…!”

“…Well, fine. Let’s end this quickly and go back.”

Vine takes a ready stance.

“Then.”

This is the last one.

This is the final attack.

I can’t withstand any more attacks.

This is my limit.

But, but.

If I don’t let go until the very end.

If I don’t let go of that hope.

If I don’t let go of that determination to save unnie.

WHOOSH!

CRASH!!!

THUD-

After that.

My consciousness faded away.

* * *

A halo of light appears around Arin and then disappears.

The weapon that was enveloping Arin turns into light, and her transformed state returns to her original appearance.

Since Arin has twintails when transformed.

Her hair is now loose, and she collapses to the ground with a thud.

“It’s over.”

“…Blanc.”

“I’m going down. Wait here.”

Blanc, who had been watching the end of the battle, comes down.

The other magical girls came down to take care of Arin.

They pick up Arin who collapsed on the cold floor and check if she’s injured anywhere.

Blanc approaches me.

“…You lost.”

“…Indeed. I lost. Hah… Originally, I only lose to Blanc…”

“Why, during Ragnarok…”

“That was then. Now is… hah.”

I run my hand over my neck.

The part where my collar was.

It stings.

“Want a bandage?”

“Well… I’m a monster, so it’ll heal quickly.”

“A monster with a sturdy body, then that wound must actually be quite serious. Disinfect it and put on a bandage.”

“I didn’t take that much care of the cuts you gave me either. Well… just give me the bandage. If I wear the collar without it, the collar might get dirty.”

“Why? Isn’t the inside black too?”

“Even if it’s black… it’s unpleasant when blood gets on it, isn’t it?”

Arin ultimately landed an effective hit on me.

The attack she aimed at the end, slightly missed its mark.

I made a bit of a mistake too.

But still.

A loss is a loss.

“Ugh… if only I hadn’t been distracted then.”

“Hmm? Well… even though you were matching her pace, that last moment was strange. What were you thinking about?”

“Well… it’s nothing.”

“Come on. Tell me.”

“Just… I was thinking about what would happen after Arin lost like this.”

“…Huh? You’re telling me right away?”

“Why… do you ask?”

“I thought you’d try to change the subject.”

“Why would I change the subject with you?”

“…Huh?”

“You practically read all my thoughts anyway. You’d figure it out through deduction anyway, so I just told you to save you the trouble. Ah, never mind. Just give me the bandage quickly. My clothes are getting dirty.”

“Ah, okay. Let’s go to the infirmary with Arin.”

“Yes. Ugh… my body feels stiff after moving around so much after a long time. Where’s my collar?”

“I’ll give it to you later.”

“Yes… well. Let’s go up.”

Looking at Arin sleeping peacefully.

I wanted to protect that appearance.

I didn’t want to send her to that desperate battlefield.

Hah.

Really.