Ch.85Chapter 14. Chaos (8)

I could see the company controlling those kaijin?

That question was soon answered.

The kaijin we hadn’t managed to deal with inside were now breaking free.

While the explosion likely affected our entire floor, none of the circuits I’d been throwing against the walls where we were fighting the kaijin seemed damaged.

No, that’s not quite right. Saying “none were damaged” would be incorrect. Some had fragments embedded in them and were bleeding.

But what’s the defining characteristic of kaijin? They’re beings that recover quickly and charge at you even if they lose an arm or a leg.

They even use circuits, making them similar to magical girls in some ways. Their danger level is incomparable to ordinary kaijin.

…Though their appearance is completely different.

Alright.

They’ve broken through the wall and emerged, but what will they do next?

“Was it really worth risking your life like that?”

“Now? Do you really need to ask that?”

James interrupted my thoughts, which annoyed me.

I snapped at him, but he seemed just as angry.

“We’ve secured the footage. Of course, they’ll claim it’s fabricated, but at least it will cause enough confusion—”

“Hey.”

I glared at James as I spoke.

“I’m an Earthling.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“No matter how much I dislike this world, I still have to live here. How can anyone live in peace knowing there are people creating humans to use as weapons?”

It wasn’t a righteous reason. To be honest, it was closer to wanting to crush them all simply because they bothered me.

But at the same time, I felt sorry for those beings over there.

What if I had been captured?

If I had been caught between the company and the Federation, would I have become something like that too?

It wasn’t easy to determine gender based on appearance alone. Besides the circuits embedded in their chests, there were various tubes connected throughout their bodies, obscuring much of them. Some were completely bald, while others had long, unkempt black hair.

But considering all these features, the beings over there looked like Earthlings. I couldn’t tell their gender or age, but they were Earthlings suffering horribly.

Whether artificially created or kidnapped and modified, I felt a sense of kinship with them, and combined with my resentment toward the company, I wanted to restore them to normal.

If we could get their testimony, it would be disastrous for the company.

“If you’re scared, stay far away.”

I said this while looking up at the kaijin jumping through the hole.

The company hadn’t sent other kaijin yet. Were they deliberating whether sending kaijin made from modified aliens was a good decision?

Without waiting for James’s response, I rushed forward.

Bang!

The kaijin’s fist collided with my hammer. Crack. Something broke on their side, but they weren’t incapacitated.

Then I heard another similar breaking sound, without anything colliding.

As if time had reversed, the kaijin’s broken arm returned to normal. That fist flew straight at me again.

A rapid exchange of blows followed.

The hammer felt heavier. After using enough energy to overload the circuit once, was hope appearing again?

It felt just like when I used to fight as a combatant. Like when I fought Iris and briefly felt hope, only to have my energy drained.

But this time, there was a different kind of hope.

When I feel hope, Hayun gets stronger. I don’t understand the principle. Do I harbor enough hope to influence magical girls’ circuits?

In reality, each magical girl was holding their own against one or two kaijin.

It reminded me not of when they fought combatants, but of Hayun fighting impressively in that webtoon.

Black and white, with rough pen lines that might have been drafts or finals, with about half the panels so roughly drawn they were hard to make out, updated maybe once a month if at all, the kind of comic someone drew for fun on their blog.

Most scenes were absurdist humor mixed with nonsense, and some jokes were too cliché to be funny… but long ago, I really liked that comic.

In it, Hayun—Blossom—fought in a way that made it okay to admire her.

Just like the “Happy Blossom” I see before my eyes now.

Always smiling.

Bang!

I was pushed back. The kaijin swung its fist without making a sound. And the force of those punches was getting stronger.

The circuit was spinning vigorously.

Seeing my despair circuit’s energy weakening, it was clear their circuits weren’t powered by “my” energy.

I looked up ahead.

Whether they were moving on orders or purely by instinct.

But either way, their expression was contorted. Like a terminal patient in terrible pain, or someone with a jaundiced, pale face just waiting to die.

A face of pure despair in the middle of that hulking form.

What were they trying to do by creating this being?

A combatant? Did they plan to scatter them in war zones, let them fight until self-destruction, then claim the land?

Or did they intend to bind them so they couldn’t move, like they were buried in concrete, and use them as fuel for ships?

Crack.

I got up, gritting my teeth.

I was out of breath. To be honest, this circuit made by the hamsters was garbage.

Energy created by constant despair—it’s beyond bad taste, it’s almost criminal. And the condition that you can’t give up feels like some sick joke.

“…Yeah, I still can’t give up.”

Isn’t it unfair?

If I gave up here, everything I’d endured would feel too unfair.

Since coming to this world, I’ve always persevered with that thought.

Hiss, hiss.

The energy in the generator was almost depleted, as the propulsion behind the hammer gradually weakened and flickered. The hammer felt surprisingly heavy compared to its usual weight.

Bang!

But I raised the hammer and blocked the attack.

Soon, magic rained down on us. The kaijin retreated to avoid it.

So they do feel pain.

The sky was already letting sunlight through again. The black hole I created had disappeared. Fortunately, it had served its purpose. At least no one seemed to have died from falling debris, though that was just my guess for now.

As I staggered momentarily—pop, a sound quieter and weaker than a normal gunshot was heard.

What followed was—a wire.

The same kind that had flown over my head when I was running away.

But this time, it wasn’t aimed at my head.

Thud!

Ah, it makes quite a brutal sound when seen from the side.

The heavy wire quickly flew in and struck the kaijin.

Several layers of wire piled on top, creating what looked like a metal grave mound, so thick you couldn’t see what was underneath without looking closely.

I turned around.

I made eye contact with several pale-faced police officers.

They weren’t looking at me but at what was beyond me.

Had they just fired at a dangerous-looking kaijin?

But gunshots were already being heard everywhere, aimed at the kaijin, not the magical girls. When magical girls and kaijin were engaged in close combat, the firing would pause or slow, then resume focusing on the kaijin when they separated. A single bullet wouldn’t immediately neutralize them, but the damage accumulated with each hit.

Like when I was shot while running away.

Bang!

One of the kaijin, apparently finding the police officers bothersome, flew toward them instead of the magical girls.

But Iris instantly changed position and blocked it. She stopped the kaijin’s fist with her rifle, jumped back slightly, and then Delphinium blasted the kaijin with magic. This was followed by a barrage of bullets raining down on the kaijin.

Though unintentional, it was excellent coordination.

Sizzle.

“…”

I heard a suspicious sound in front of me.

Turning my head, I saw the bottom of that bulging metal grave glowing red-hot.

Soon, a black blade emerged from it.

It was a much longer blade than anything I had created as a combatant.

This blade was cutting through the wire—which was about half as thick as my wrist and already layered several times—as easily as slicing pudding.

I could hear someone shouting, and more layers of wire piled on top, but the black blade paid no attention.

No, another one emerged. From above, two blades cut from the side and top, forming a large L-shape.

Crack.

Fingers appeared at the corner of that L-shape, grabbing the melted metal plate and wrenching it outward.

Thud.

From inside, a foot emerged.

For some reason, it looked bigger than before.

Could it be growing? No, that must be my imagination. I hope so.

Bang!

The thing that burst out like someone forcing open an iron door was already covered in blood. It was bleeding red… and black blood from all over its body. Actually, I couldn’t tell which color was the natural fluid from its body. There were too many tubes covering it everywhere, and many were ruptured.

The kaijin walking toward me disappeared in a shower of light. Dalia, who had been fighting two kaijin, was now directing her magical barrage this way too. Her rapid flight through the sky made her look like a bomber, but—

I heard several sounds like “lightsaber swings” from movies—electronic humming noises—and some of those magic masses were sliced into pieces and disappeared. Explosions sounded, the ground was gouged, and black powder from shattered asphalt flew into the sky.

There was a smell like something melting, and—

Thud.

Something stepped through the smoke.

“…”

I heard people around me holding their breath.

The kaijin walking toward us with black blades drawn from both arms… could it even be called a kaijin “person”?

Monster, beast… such words came to mind.

It already appeared to be well over 3 meters tall. About twice my height, so normally it would be difficult to support such weight.

Both arms of this being had blades longer than its arms attached to them. These black blades were boiling and melting the asphalt they touched with each step.

Touch it and you die.

I swallowed involuntarily.

Could I win with just the circuit running on my wrist right now?

What’s truly troubling is that part of my mind thinks the magical girls would surely protect me even if I died here.

The hope I’d already embraced clung to a corner of my heart like a tumor, impossible to erase or tear out.

Are fear and despair different?

But I gripped the hammer tightly again.

No kaijin had fallen yet. That means the others probably don’t have much leeway either. At the very least, I need to protect the police officers nearby.

Even if I can’t fly easily right now, I can help by keeping one kaijin grounded.

Damn, this is hope too.

Does being able to lift the hammer mean the circuit is running at least minimally?

Or is it some other kind of power? It’s possible my body was modified somewhat when I became a magical girl. The other girls used resonance devices at the hideout, but there were already descriptions suggesting the girls themselves had special powers apart from that.

Well, it’s not magic, but…

…It might be related to these “Earthling kaijin” in front of me.

As I stood there with trembling breath—

“Shoot! Everyone shoot! Pour everything on it!”

Someone shouted, and they began firing everything they had at the kaijin.

Wires, shotgun shells, slugs, and regular lead bullets. Maybe even rubber bullets and bean bags were mixed in.

It seemed to be… having some effect on the kaijin.

The kaijin moved.

Being able to block it was purely luck. The kaijin moved almost too fast to see, and guessing “which way” it would go was just intuition.

At least the hammer—or rather, the generator inside it—wasn’t cut by the blade.

I blocked the blade that had dug deep into the hammer by forcibly twisting the hammer handle. Behind me, I heard a voice tinged with bewilderment. Was whoever I was protecting surprised that I’d defended them?

Well, honestly, they couldn’t have good feelings toward me. We were in a chase situation not long ago.

A hand suddenly appeared beside my face.

It seemed to be the arm of the police officer I’d pushed back with my body.

There was a gun in that hand.

And that gun was aimed at the kaijin’s other arm, which was raised to smash my face.

Bang!

The bullet was fired and hit the arm.

It wasn’t just that gun.

Numerous guns behind me hit the kaijin’s arm. The bullets didn’t penetrate, but the arm bent in an unnatural direction as if it had taken hundreds of punches at once, and the blade curved in the opposite direction.

Ha.

I swallowed a hollow laugh and pushed the hammer with all my might. The kaijin staggered due to its arm being bent sideways while stuck in my hammer.

I jumped forward with all my strength and struck the circuit in the middle of the kaijin’s chest with my head.

Someone behind me cheered.

Now?

It’s strange.

Did public opinion change in just one day? I did hear something like that on the radio.

That thanks to the bomb I risked my life to throw, and the black hole I created above, people weren’t hurt. Not just the elderly who couldn’t evacuate in time, but many police officers below weren’t injured.

That despite such treatment, I didn’t kill anyone. That if I were a terrorist, I wouldn’t have cared about police officers’ lives.

Now they say such things and expect me to forgive them?

I got up, gritting my teeth.

Right now, we’re just temporarily cooperating. Damn, I think I hear something like cheering from behind. Am I hallucinating?

Those people don’t even know what kind of energy I’m using, and honestly, they’re still just using me.

If I fall, those humans will be in danger too, so.

Strangely, no one seems to be running away.

They still seem to be helping by continuing to fire at the kaijin—

I don’t know.

People’s hearts, I really don’t understand them.

I got up, staggering.

These emotions were poison to me. The more I felt them, the weaker I became. What kind of nonsense is that?

I thought I’d abandoned all hope long ago.

Everything’s ruined now.

Revenge and all that. Now I think of Hayun. I can see the kaijin over there regaining its posture, preparing to charge at me again.

I think of Hayun and Jihye too. I wonder if they’re okay. If only people knew I wasn’t a terrorist, she would be okay too.

I don’t want to die. I have no intention of dying.

The reason I can endure while having these thoughts—

Bang!

As if incredibly angry, Hayun came down, stomping on the ground.

She had small wounds all over her body and was bleeding a little. She was covered in even more dust, and for some reason, something dark and oily was smeared on her.

In one hand, she held a sword of light that shone more brilliantly than ever.

A being that was, in itself, synonymous with hope that no one could tarnish.

Hayun looked back.

There was a smile on her face.

As if to reassure me. As if everything would be fine now that she was here.

It was strange indeed.

Just earlier this year, I had only feared Hayun’s appearance.

Now feeling hope instead of despair was strange.

Hayun turned back around.

Meanwhile, I looked at the circuit.

It was shining brightly. As if the screen couldn’t display anything more.

My body went completely limp.

“Haha…”

At this rate, I’m no different from a hostage—

“Huh?”

And at the end of that empty laugh, I heard my voice.

It was filled with question.

As if I’d seen something impossible to see.

No, I really did see it. A situation I had only imagined or dreamed about.

Light was coming from the non-vibrating circuit.

Light bright enough to illuminate my face.

With trembling hands, I touched the circuit screen to switch to a different mode.

Like the combatant circuit I often used before, it showed what looked like an analog clock with only an hour hand, like a compass with the needle pointing in only one direction, but in digital display mode.

That needle was flickering madly.

As if trying to express that it was “spinning very rapidly.”

Like my despair circuit when I repeatedly overloaded it.

…

But this time, the direction was a bit strange.

It was spinning in a completely different direction than usual.