Ch.67Chapter 12. Requirements (3)

Well, okay.

Let me deal with the convenience store robbery later. First, I need to handle what’s right in front of me.

Fortunately, today there aren’t any other humans trying to attack us.

With the company’s “robots,” kaijin, and magical girls all tangled up together, anyone who tries to attack would just complicate things.

Actually, maybe orders have come down not to attack us directly.

In the video I broadcast last time, there was footage of police firing at me while I was helping people.

Public opinion hasn’t completely shifted in my favor, but thanks to that video, it’s at least divided.

People still aren’t sure whether I’m a terrorist or not. Especially now that even the magical girls are on my side.

In this situation, if they want to reassure people, the best approach is to show that everything is under their control.

And to turn public opinion against us, they need to show that we’re threatening that safety and stability.

So what should we do in this situation?

Simple.

Show that they actually have no control whatsoever.

Again and again.

I cranked my hammer’s output to maximum and charged forward with full thrust.

The hammer swung with a sound of cutting wind. The sound of air burning behind it was threatening enough to sound dangerous even to me as I wielded it.

“GRAAAH!”

As if annoyed that I kept interfering, the white robot swung its arm at me.

CLANG!

Metal struck metal.

“Oh.”

I was slightly impressed.

The previous robots’ parts fell off quite easily when I attacked them. When I hit their fingertips or toes, they would crumple along with whatever was inside, and sometimes the armor would fall off, revealing the interior.

Perhaps they wanted to show these weren’t kaijin, because the armor was much more reinforced than before.

Hmm.

Doesn’t that mean it needs more energy to move properly?

How do they plan to control it without me?

Well, I suppose if they deployed enough combatants, getting energy wouldn’t be completely impossible.

Maybe that’s what they’re counting on.

In this situation, if I step away, the company and government are the ones in trouble. Are they hoping I’ll notice and back off?

They can capture the kaijin using old methods and then advertise “we caught it.”

I adjusted my hammer head and persistently targeted the monster’s arms.

BANG! BANG!

Whenever my hammer came at it, the robot struck the hammer head head-on to push it back. It could definitely transfer “energy” enough to push my hammer back, but unfortunately for my opponent, rocket-like propulsion continued behind the hammer.

Even when pushed back, the hammer was driven forward again by that propulsion force. Naturally, the impact wouldn’t reach me as I held the hammer, so the longer this dragged on, the worse it would be for the opponent.

“GRAAAH!”

The robot must have realized this too, as it finally dodged backward instead of deflecting my attack.

After retreating significantly, it dug its metal claws into the ground to brake its backward momentum. Some of those alloy claws were completely shattered. So my attacks weren’t completely ineffective after all.

CRASH!

My hammer, having lost its target, slammed into the ground.

Not a big problem. Before it could get up and charge, I just needed to adjust the angle—

But before I could turn using hammer propulsion to dodge, someone was blocking my path.

No, multiple people.

Rose and Hayun.

Rose with gauntlets on both hands in a defensive stance. And Hayun standing beside her, pointing her blade at the enemy.

“…”

While the robot was distracted by the two of them, I got up and readied my stance.

Again came the sound of air being sliced.

This time from my left.

Perhaps after seeing me fight the robot, the kaijin had decided I was the more threatening presence.

Rather than being allies, it made more sense to eliminate the stronger, more threatening entity first and then subdue the weakened remainder. Even in its impaired mental state, it seemed capable of that much instinctual reasoning.

But again, before I could even turn my head—

PA-BA-BAK!

A rather unusual sound.

The sound of multiple small, hard objects colliding with something very forcefully.

“Got it!”

Looking to the side where the sound came from, I saw Dalia firing what looked like a shotgun-like spell.

Unlike before when she fired large projectiles at high speed, this time she was spreading smaller projectiles over a wider area.

I didn’t need to think hard about where that idea came from.

Click.

There was a sound like operating machinery, and something fell to the ground.

A fuse.

In Iris’s hands was a gun shorter than what I usually saw her with. It looked like a shotgun, but its shape hadn’t changed. It seemed like she had cut off the front part of her usual rifle, making it look like a shortened version.

Or maybe it really was a shortened version. It wouldn’t be strange if she could adjust it according to the situation.

Iris pulled the trigger again at the momentarily stunned kaijin. The kaijin’s body flew backward, and small orb-like mana fragments embedded themselves all around it.

Click.

As she pulled back the bolt, another fuse ejected.

Had she thought of new applications after fighting with me?

And before the kaijin could get up, a thin wall rose around us.

Formed like a dome, it semi-transparently showed what was beyond it. But not just transparent—it distorted the outside view enough that you couldn’t clearly see what was out there.

Looking back, Delphinium had her eyes closed while waving her staff.

Like an orchestra conductor, she moved her staff-holding hand gently as if drawing a picture. In her other hand was an open thick book.

The kaijin got up immediately and tried to run, but when it touched the wall, it was startled.

A wall that damages enemies on contact.

Of course, it wouldn’t be very effective against magical girls. Even a kaijin could probably break it if determined.

But for the kaijin, magical girls are unfamiliar opponents. It doesn’t know what this wall is. And it doesn’t have time to think about it in detail.

Above all, most kaijin act as if they don’t understand the concept of retreat.

The kaijin’s posture changed.

It turned away from Iris and Dalia, facing Delphinium behind them and taking a stance.

Dalia and Iris fired simultaneously at the kaijin, but it seemed to anticipate their firing range, twisting its body and running in a zigzag pattern to strangely evade their fire.

The two of them don’t have physical abilities as exceptional as Rose and Hayun. If the opponent moves faster than that, their aiming, firing speed, and spell-casting speed would inevitably be inadequate.

Still, a few of those small projectiles seemed to hit the kaijin’s body, but perhaps because the projectiles were smaller, their power was reduced. They didn’t seem to have enough force to completely stop the kaijin.

Delphinium has less physical strength than those two. Her reflexes are also weaker. Plus, she currently had her eyes closed, concentrating on her magic.

…A sight I never even considered when fighting alone.

That composure is only possible because she trusts those fighting alongside her. Different from me who fought alone.

It’s not something I particularly like to admit, but right now I’m fighting alongside them too. We haven’t completely reached an agreement yet. We haven’t reconciled either.

If I had to compare, it’s similar to my relationship with James. We’re just joining hands to fight because there’s no other option right now.

Still, well, I have no choice at the moment.

I rotated my hammer.

…No choice. That’s why I can fight.

I leaped with all my might.

I ran toward the direction the kaijin was charging, and before it could reach me, I swung my hammer with full force.

I don’t overestimate my abilities. If it can dodge bullets from Iris and Dalia, it can certainly dodge the speed of my hammer swing.

But, I am a magical girl after all.

I can’t use magic to create things, grow plants, or do other hopeful things like that.

But I do know that I can create black holes whenever I need to. And that black substance that envelops my body whenever I transform.

Not that I’m going to create a black hole here,

But that sticky, viscous substance would be perfect for this situation.

I swung my hammer horizontally.

At the same time, I cut off the output. And I concentrated. I tried to recall the sensation of when I transformed.

It wasn’t as difficult as I thought. Just like how I figured out how to float in the air at some point.

It was quite different from Dalia and Delphinium creating and firing mana bullets, or Hayun creating blades,

From the half-open back part of my hammer, where the output would normally burst out, black substance gushed forth. Like all the mana that the generator couldn’t fully expel was being converted to energy and released.

“Eek!?”

Dalia shrieked in terror at the sight of that tar-like substance. Iris quickly soared into the sky.

With Delphinium behind me, I poured that substance in front of me like I was applying a coating.

The kaijin running toward us stepped on that substance.

“!?”

Squelch.

And the kaijin’s feet stuck to it.

At first, it didn’t stop the kaijin. The momentum in its feet carried enough energy that the first few steps tore away the black lumps stuck to its feet.

But with each step, as more energy was drained by that sticky substance, its speed decreased, and the substance had more opportunity to stick.

Splash, splash.

Eventually, the kaijin’s feet couldn’t immediately break free.

It only needs to fall once. That’s enough. Then the black mana grabbed the kaijin’s shins and thighs, its stomach and shoulders.

Click.

I closed the back part of my hammer.

And with the hammer in one hand, I slowly walked toward the fallen kaijin.

“…!?”

Seeing me approach, the kaijin raised its flat face to look at me.

Its appearance was bizarre, but at the same time, I felt a bit of sympathy. This person probably didn’t choose to become like this either.

The mana doesn’t trap my feet. It’s the substance that envelops my body whenever I transform.

I don’t know how much influence it has on my body, but at the very least, my clothes are definitely made of this substance.

I raised my hammer and struck the kaijin’s head with the handle end. I controlled my strength. It would be troublesome if it died.

The kaijin collapsed limply to the ground.

“…”

A bit anticlimactic.

If I had tried to catch it alone, I would have struggled a lot. But just having someone to guide the kaijin’s direction made it simple.

“GRAAAH!”

From the other side, the kaijin that looked like a robot from the outside roared.

Rose and Hayun… weren’t struggling either.

Slash.

Hayun’s magic is powerful. The kaijin’s armor had some kind of coating that could defend against mana to some extent, but that didn’t mean it took no damage. In fact, comparing by mass ratio, it might be more effective than the hammer I’m holding.

Rose’s fists, wrapped in mana through her gauntlets, were similarly delivering proper damage to the enemy.

But that didn’t mean the opponent would collapse right away.

I watched for a moment, then turned to Delphinium.

“I’d like you to turn off this magic.”

“Huh?”

Delphinium opened her eyes, a bit surprised at my words. She seemed more surprised that I spoke to her first than by my request to remove the magic.

“I’ve caught the one that was jumping all over the place. It would be more effective to bombard that one over there.”

“Oh… okay.”

Of course, she’s probably faced kaijin much more often than I have, so this advice might be unnecessary.

But I had something else I wanted to try.

Iris reattached the barrel to the front of her rifle. So it was indeed detachable.

Dalia turned her staff toward the robot and began casting. She wasn’t verbally chanting spells though.

The wall surrounding us slowly dissipated.

I picked up my hammer and slowly approached the kaijin that looked like a robot.

Looking closely at the kaijin’s armor, it was already cracked and broken in various places. But not enough to see who was inside.

However, the structure inside those broken parts was somewhat interesting.

“James.”

“What is it?”

I called out to James, who was watching us from the air without doing anything, and his extremely peaceful voice irritated me a bit.

“Can you tell me where the control parts are in that thing’s armor?”

“Control parts, you say?”

“Like joints that I can grab to immobilize it.”

“Ah.”

From my words alone, James seemed to understand what I was trying to do.

I spoke to Delphinium again.

“That wall from earlier, could you make it much thicker?”

“It’s possible… but I couldn’t block everything like before.”

“That’s fine.”

As long as she can block urgent areas in an emergency, that’s enough.

“Be ready to cast it if civilians might get hurt. Put it up immediately if there’s danger.”

“What?”

But I didn’t answer and floated up into the sky.

Then I turned on the propulsion device.

“First, you should see joint-like structures on both sides of the arms and legs, like braces. Hmm. So that’s why the movements seemed a bit unnatural. If there are joints gripping from both sides, the range of motion would be limited.”

“What about the spine?”

“They’re more concentrated around the sides. From here, it’s hard to see clearly, but judging from the exposed parts, it’s probably a corset-like structure. Though it wouldn’t constrict the body.”

Instead, the waist area would be rigidly fixed.

“There seems to be something near the neck as well, but thanks to Iris, it’s quite tattered. If you want to do it ‘as you think,’ you won’t need to worry much about it.”

“Good.”

“What are you trying to do?”

Iris asked.

Iris, who always watched from the sky when fighting me. Of course she would come up to talk to me.

“You’re not thinking of setting that thing loose, are you?”

“I’m thinking of showing them that I could.”

Obviously, I have no intention of causing a massacre.

If I had wanted to, I would have done it long ago.

“If it really gets dangerous—”

“If it doesn’t get dangerous, will those people listen to us? They didn’t even respond when we asked for basic necessities, let alone thousands of dollars.”

I looked at Iris as I spoke.

“They probably think this way. That we’ll surrender if we’re starving and unable to fight.”

But should I just give up? I don’t want to.

There might not be victory at the end. ‘Eventually’ it might come to that. I could be arrested, tried, and end up rotting in prison for life with the false charge of being a terrorist.

Or maybe subjected to some… biological experiments.

Just thinking about it made my circuit spin rapidly.

But I’m too angry to give up over something like that.

If the outcome is the same whether I give up or fail while resisting, isn’t it obvious to choose the path where I at least get to properly beat someone up?

In negotiations, it’s important to pressure the other party, but it’s also important to show how beneficial it is when they make choices favorable to me.

The government hasn’t changed its stance so far. Even though public opinion isn’t entirely on their side, it’s understandable.

If I’m proven innocent, the government becomes either complicit with those who falsely labeled me a terrorist, or so incompetent that they tried to hand me over to external forces.

And since I’m not the type to just stop, I’ll eventually try to expose everything that happened behind the scenes, revealing everything the government tried to do to me.

So, from the beginning, this was never a negotiation. It’s a fight where one side must decisively win or lose.

“Maybe next time I should crack the president’s head.”

“What?”

Leaving Iris’s surprised voice behind, I jumped toward the kaijin that Hayun and Rose were facing.

CRASH!

My attack landed on the shoulder of the kaijin that was blocking the attacks of the two.

“GRAAAH!”

The kaijin roared like a bear.

Its shoulder managed to block my attack to some extent.

But my hammer scraped down forcefully along the side of the kaijin’s arm.

Something caught briefly near the shoulder, then a breaking sound was heard. At the elbow too. Seems James was right.

CRASH!

My hammer hit the ground—

“…!”

With one arm freed from constraint, the kaijin swung its claws at me so naturally that I had to quickly roll on the ground.

…Hmm.

Still, maybe it’s better if it has constraints on at least one leg or arm.

For a brief moment, I seriously considered modifying my plan slightly.