Ch. 21 Descent (2)
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 21 – Descent (2)
It wasn’t just the voice—just the radiance she emitted was enough to recognize that Radiant White had arrived.
The moment I realized it, I kicked away the magical girl I had been standing on, sending her flying toward the blue-haired one in the sky, and leaped away from my spot.
Radiant White had a nasty habit of firing a beam the moment she made her entrance.
Sure enough, less than 0.1 seconds after I took off, a pure white beam exploded where I had been standing, melting everything in its path.
…Wow, at this rate, the one I was standing on probably didn’t make it out unscathed. If you tell me to move my foot, White, and then fire an attack they can’t dodge, what exactly do you expect to happen?
“With light, like a hero! Radiant White has arrived to banish the darkness!”
Let’s just move on. White must have judged that the attack was something the one I stepped on could withstand.
Surely she wouldn’t have fired an attack that put them in serious danger, right?
No matter how reckless White could be, she wasn’t that irresponsible.
As soon as Radiant White arrived, she told the blue-haired girl—who had just inadvertently caught the fallen one—to leave this to her.
“B-but… Senpai! No matter how strong you are, this is too dangerous! I-I couldn’t even see them move…!”
The blue-haired girl, perhaps relieved by White’s arrival, let her tension slip and started whining.
“A magical girl must be a role model for everyone. Showing such disgrace is unacceptable.”
I see.
Shining White always spewed such toxically strict words that they made me flinch, but I couldn’t entirely disagree with her.
If a magical girl, who was supposed to lead the evacuees, started whimpering, what would people think?
That wouldn’t do. No matter how hopeless the situation was, they had to at least say, “Everything will be fine.”
Magical girls were human, so despair was inevitable at times, but they could save that for after the world had already fallen apart.
“It’s okay, Sky! I’m going to win! So you guys focus on evacuating the people! If there are any monsters on the way, take them down!”
Yeah, just like Radiant White over there. Or at the very least, have a resolve as firm as the pink-haired one who was just being trampled on.
I wasn’t fond of the blue-haired girl’s constant weak words, so I picked up a blood spear and threw it her way.
Not too hard—if she dodged out of fear, the civilians behind her could turn into mincemeat—just strong enough that she could reasonably block it.
However, instead of the blue-haired girl, the pink-haired one, who had been sprawled out, sprang up like a ghost, crossed her arms to block it, and then collapsed again.
“P-Pink Senpai!!!”
Seeing the starlight that had been enveloping her scatter, it seemed that single strike had knocked her out completely.
I didn’t even throw it that hard.
She was surprisingly frail.
I barely had time to make that judgment before twisting my upper body to evade a beam that nearly pierced through me.
“Where the hell are you aiming?!”
Whether it was because she felt ignored or because her comrade had been attacked, Radiant White was in a frenzy, continuously firing beams from the tip of her magic staff.
Each shot left massive holes in the buildings behind me or melted the streetlights and traffic signals into slag.
“How could I just stand by when she was practically begging to be attacked with all that pathetic whining?”
I acted nonchalant, but I knew that the moment I took a direct hit, I wouldn’t be able to keep up the act.
Radiant White’s magic was literally light.
That was why “Radiant” was in her magical girl name—she was Radiant, quite literally.
When you compared it to Shining White’s magic, which hardened light, you could see how the two were similar yet distinct, like true siblings.
…Of course, that small difference was precisely why people compared her to Shining White so often.
Shining White had such efficient magic that she could harden ambient light into massive walls without collateral damage, whereas Radiant White had to emit it herself, which made her magic incredibly wasteful.
The collateral damage was significant, too.
But that aside, it was time to move this fight elsewhere. There were other monsters to deal with, and neither White nor I could unleash our full power in a place like this.
I smirked mockingly as I took to the air, and sure enough, she was irritated enough to follow me up.
“Where do you think you’re running off to?!”
No longer needing to worry about damaging buildings or harming civilians, she ramped up her magic, shooting her beams more aggressively.
At first, she fired them in short bursts, but now, as if tired of aiming, she unleashed an uninterrupted stream of light.
From below, the sight must have been quite a spectacle.
Her attacks were pure light. Not only was it dazzling, but above all else, it was inescapable.
No matter how fast a monster moved, nothing was faster than light.
But since the one firing was a human—Radiant White—the trajectory could be predicted by watching the tip of her magic staff and the movement of her wrist.
Plus, right before she fired, the starlight gathered for a brief moment, creating a tiny opening.
“How about you stop firing already? It’s not like it’s working.”
I shot multiple blood bullets, forcing her to intercept them, while flying in an unpredictable path that she couldn’t keep up with. Then, I closed the distance and struck her magic staff with my blood spear, forcing it downward toward the ground.
I was getting tired of dealing with her constant beam spam.
She finally ceased her barrage and conjured a sword of starlight atop her staff to clash against my spear.
To maintain that sword, she had to keep emitting starlight. Her energy efficiency was really bad.
But, as expected, that also meant her attacks were that much stronger.
Even now, my blood spear was slowly but surely cracking and crumbling under the pressure, proving just how powerful she was.
That was how badly she wanted to defeat me.
Her face was filled with unwavering determination.
I wished she would stay that resolute.
But then, her expression shifted to one of utter shock.
“You… That face…”
It seemed she had overlapped my face with Mina’s.
Hmm.
It would be strange to make excuses now, so I simply gathered starlight into my wings, increasing my output as I pushed her back even more fiercely.
“Ugh… Kh!”
For a moment, she staggered, shaken by her wavering resolve, but she quickly steadied herself and tried to resist. However, with no wings to support her, there was no way she could stand against me in midair.
“Hm? You were attacking so confidently earlier, but now you look utterly pathetic!”
As I continued pressing her, I considered where to land. Eventually, I decided to just head toward the nearest place where I sensed starlight.
After all, I planned to drag her all over Seoul anyway. Did it really matter where we went first?
I kindly waited for Radiant White to recover from the shock of the fall while surveying my surroundings.
I could still feel starlight, but it wasn’t from an elite—just a magical girl. I had secretly hoped for an elite opponent to appear.
“There was just an impact from the sky… A special-class threat?! And even Radiant White?! W-White! Are you okay—ugh, these damn things!”
Just like before, things didn’t look good here either. There were plenty of monsters, but there were just as many evacuees, making the situation even worse.
The magical girls, who should have been guiding the civilians, were too busy fending off the monsters. As a result, the citizens were panicking and scattering in all directions.
No matter how strong magical girls were, it was nearly impossible to protect civilians while fighting off monsters in such chaos.
At this rate, countless humans would end up dead.
I didn’t want that.
‘I haven’t determined whether they’re gems or mere pebbles yet.’
“Go and help them.”
“…What?”
Radiant White, who had just barely regained her stance, stared at me in confusion.
I ordered her to go and assist the magical girls.
Hearing that, she furrowed her brows even more, looking completely baffled.
“Isn’t that your job? Go, guardian. Go and defeat those bandits who dare covet what is mine.”
“People’s lives aren’t possessions you can claim as yours!”
Furious at my words, White tried to summon her sword and attack again. However, when I scattered my blood into the air and conjured hundreds of spears, she hesitated.
“If you don’t attack, I won’t do anything. But if you do, everyone here will be caught in the crossfire.”
White looked at me with a face full of disbelief. That was only natural. Words from a monster weren’t something to be trusted.
“You really expect me to believe that?!”
“If I truly wanted to kill everyone here, I would have done so already. But I have no such intention. What kind of fool would destroy their own belongings?”
White glared at me for a moment, then clenched her teeth and finally turned away to aid the struggling magical girls.
She wasn’t the strongest, but when it came to sheer firepower, she was top-tier. With her joining the fight, the horde of monsters was quickly reduced to lifeless corpses.
As I leisurely absorbed the blood from their remains, White, after entrusting the civilians to the magical girls, approached me once more.
She still held her sword of light, but she no longer seemed like she was about to charge at me.
“…What the hell are you up to?”
She now seemed more focused on extracting as much information from me as possible.
It was a little disappointing, but I understood.
If an ultra-powerful special-class monster suddenly appeared and showed a strangely neutral stance, gathering intel would be the smartest course of action.
My plan, huh?
To minimize casualties, waste time with her, and eventually dump her at Suhyeok’s house in Incheon, just like in the original story.
But I couldn’t exactly say that outright.
…Ah, I know. Let’s throw this out there.
“My plan? I have no plan. What purpose would I have in ordering those beneath me to protect what is mine?”
White’s expression twisted in distaste at being treated as a subordinate, but since I was still in character, I ignored it and declared my—just-now-invented—ambition.
“These audacious thieves dare to damage what belongs to me. As the rightful master, I have merely come to protect it.”
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