There Is No Right Answer (7)

There Is No Right Answer (7)

‘Daughter.’

In the moment when his body finally couldn’t withstand the massive impact and shattered, Gyeongsik Lee thought of something other than his own body.

A small body with limbs torn apart before his eyes, hit by a drunk driver.

A voice he would never hear again.

And the perpetrator who was released with a light punishment due to reasons like diminished capacity. Gyeongsik Lee later found out that the perpetrator was the son of a powerful politician.

That’s when a true miracle descended upon him, who had abandoned even the god he had believed in and followed all this time.

His daughter returned, and the perpetrator was found as a miserably shattered corpse in prison. From that day on, he pledged his loyalty to Smalilian, who was nothing else.

“Da…ddy…”

“Ah…”

With only half a sunken face left, he laughed helplessly as he watched the being start to crawl over the shattered window. Not yet. They could still fight.

“Is this the miracle you spoke of? Do you think it’s possible for the dead to come back to life? Wake up! That’s just a corpse being controlled!”

Renee gritted his teeth and looked at ‘it’ with trembling eyes.

The final stronghold that Smalilian had left behind wasn’t Lee Kyung-sik. The true vessel that contained and held the most of Smalilian’s power was Lee Kyung-sik’s daughter, whose body had been reconstructed and remade from scratch.

“What is that?”

“It’s… disgusting…”

Even the others who were battling the monsters recoiled in shock. Lee Kyung-sik’s daughter, who began to inflate and transform her body here and there, had only a normal girl’s face intact as she grew her body larger than a dump truck.

She crawled on the floor with multiple hands protruding from various places, and her neck, elongated like a giraffe’s, moved freely like a snake.

“This trash of a monster…!”

Lee Min-hyung, who had already known about Lee Kyung-sik’s situation from his background check, was also furious.

He couldn’t help but be enraged at the sight of the girl’s remains being thoroughly exploited and manipulated.

[Are you afraid?]

And finally, a deep male voice flowed from the faintly smiling girl’s mouth.

“Smalilian!”

[You were too arrogant and stupid. The moment that Takillas girl warned you, you should have searched for me with all your might. You should have taken care of humans’ anger and despair somehow]

As he controlled this enormous monster’s body, Smalilian’s mockery, distorting the girl’s face, echoed in people’s minds.

[But that didn’t happen. This is the result. High-quality despair, high-quality hatred. I have evolved by consuming all of that, and I will continue to do so]

He laughed heartily. It was a disgusting voice that mixed both a girl’s laughter and a man’s laughter simultaneously.

[Keep fighting. Keep trampling. I am clearly a being born from human conflicts. I know well that the human species cannot avoid conflict. So… be trampled like that]

“Oh no. Everyone, take cover!”

Renée noticed the movement of magical power and shouted, but Smalrilian was one step ahead.

The mouth on the face attached to the end of the long neck opened wide, and it shot out condensed energy in the form of a beam.

The beam caused a massive explosion, devastating everything in its path.

The asphalt shattered and scattered, and ton-unit cars exploded and flew through the air like sheets of paper.

“R-Renée.”

“We must punish it without fail.”

Jeon So-hyeon, who had been slow to react, was startled by Renée’s action of wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. Pressed tightly together, the two barely withstood the bombardment inside the barrier Renée had created.

“Ugh.”

Nevertheless, the impact was transmitted. Jeon So-hyeon, terrified, couldn’t hold back and supported the staggering Renée, who had coughed up a handful of blood.

“I’m fine. More importantly, your power is absolutely necessary to defeat that monster. That unknown power that drives out magical energy, I mean.”

“Defeat it? Us…?”

Jeon So-hyeon looked around at the surroundings as the thick smoke cleared.

In the middle of this devastation where nothing was intact, at this moment when not only the Management Bureau agents but also other magical girls were severely injured or even killed.

[It’s already too late. You think this body is my full power? I will become stronger and soon take this land. I will become the Demon King who rules over darkness and chaos!]

“Looks like you’ve got a bad case of chuunibyou. How dare you falsely claim to be the ruler of demons.”

Smalrilian, who had captured other monsters and absorbed them into its body, and crushed Lee Kyung-sik’s head by stomping on it, laughed excitedly, intoxicated by its own surging power. Renée looked upon this sight with genuine contempt.

The reason was nothing else.

It was anger at the audacity of casually mentioning the name of the Demon King.

The Demon King she had known could not be compared to some unknown monster before her eyes.

“Acting like you’ve won everything.”

[Ugh…?!]

Simultaneously, a chain slicing through the air and the iron ball at its end struck his body.

SS-class Magical Girl Karin. Having withstood the beam without much damage, she too had brought out her ultimate weapon and was grinding her teeth in anger.

“This is manageable. Quite so.”

“But, isn’t this not its true form? Then the real body that’s even stronger than this…”

“That’s not for us to worry about. What’s important now is how we overcome the calamity before us.”

Looking at Jeon So-hyeon, who was still flinching, Renée spoke without wavering. Being the same age but with a difference in the density of life experiences, Jeon So-hyeon saw confidence in that demeanor.

“Somehow, it feels like everything is rolling out on an intended board.”

Just before steeling their resolve for battle.

Renée muttered while glancing at Jeon So-hyeon’s side. Gabi, whose invisibility had been pierced by the magician’s eyes, twisted the corner of her mouth as soon as her eyes met Renée’s.

[Arrogant youngsters. Then shall I play with you a bit? Three girls showing their final resistance. It’s an appropriate picture]

Smalilian, already certain of victory, indulged in leisure as he watched the three people who continued to oppose him even when everyone else had collapsed.

“Girls?”

“L-let’s move past that! More importantly, do you have any ideas? Renée, you’re the smart one. Should we just smash it?”

Karin, actually in her 30s, flinched at the gazes of Jeon So-hyeon and Renée looking at her and changed the subject.

“…This child’s power creates an opening in that thing. Apparently, that power is also a type of magic. I’ll create an amplification formation, so you shoot that light towards it.”

In a split second, Rene saw the estimate and devised a plan to strike. The plan itself was simple. To pour all their power into driving out the enemy.

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

“In the end, you want me to block it with my body, don’t you?”

The other two also eventually agreed to the plan.

If it’s the last chance anyway, they have to put everything on the line.

***

“Heh, hehehe…”

Smalilian laughed. His eyes, floating in the air, could see two scenes simultaneously. The three girls preparing for the final battle with his clone, and the large city sprawled beneath his feet.

Dawn is slowly breaking. The sun rises and the city awakens from its slumber.

The people of the city, under the same sky, won’t have any idea what kind of battle is taking place. Nor will they know what will come to rule over them from this moment on.

“From now on, rage and despair to your heart’s content. I… will make that possible.”

He smirked as he looked at the city shining beneath his outstretched hand.

He had moved thoroughly, concealing his identity until the end. So that no one would know who he was, what his ultimate goal was, or what methods he intended to use.

Thanks to this, even at this moment, nothing was known about his true power.

“Sleep.”

He raised his hand and shot a black beam high into the sky. Soon the beam split and became a single veil, which slowly began to descend, enveloping the city. His power had already reached this far.

A huge dome large enough to cover this entire massive city. The dome blocked out the sunlight with a dark shadow, stealing the light from the ground.

He could see and feel people’s confusion.

He savored it. To an outsider, it might look cringeworthy, like he was showing off, but it was clearly a process of becoming the ruler who would dominate the world. And he actually had the power to do it.

“You’re putting on quite a show.”

“So you’ve noticed, Magical Girl… Takiras!”

There was a presence that appeared behind him, splitting the sky.

He turned around with a grin, as if he had been waiting.

There, a black-haired girl with narrowed red eyes was looking at him with her arms crossed and a blank expression.

“Your reaction suggests you knew?”

“That’s right! According to my calculations, excluding you, there’s no one left on this land who can hold me back. And… no women either.”

He smirked under his hood, but Takiras showed little reaction.

“Hold you back, you say. Thanks for the high praise.”

“Don’t act too cocky, kid. Of course, it’s true that I think highly of you.”

Smalilian chuckled and shook his head. His words weren’t lies. He was indeed keeping an eye on Takiras.

“Your thoughts, your logic. I like it all. You’re right, the strong are the order and the law. Only those who prove their worth can have everything.”

“So?”

“Why don’t you just accept it? You said to challenge you, win, and exercise your rights, but is there really a need to fight and get hurt?”

By now, the entire city was completely trapped in the dome. This proves his power. He had gained the ability to control everything inside this dome at will.

Smalilian smirked and pulled out something. Seeing it, Takiras’s brow furrowed slightly.

“I originally planned to tear all the magical girls apart alive, but I’ll give you a chance. How about it? Working as a cute and loyal hunting dog by the side of a true strong one, in my world.”

What he held out was none other than a dog collar with a chain attached.

Faced with such a low-grade provocation after quite a long time, Takiras rather snorted.