Chapter 13: When Despair Strikes (1)

My chest trembles.

The last time Ianna had seen Mirage in person was years ago, just before their relationship completely fell apart.

Since then, Ianna had never met with another magical girl privately.

Most of the old-generation magical girls she had fought alongside had either died or gone mad, and the younger generation saw her as a disgrace.

Even among the artificially mass-produced magical girls created in the hundreds Ianna’s infamous reputation was well known.

She had made enemies of every magical girl in the world.

And not by her own will, but due to the Bureau’s meticulous manipulation.

From the Bureau’s perspective, it was nothing short of a lucky break.

Ianna had reigned at the top of the Twelve Stars of magical girls for decades, saving countless lives and defeating endless foes.

She had earned tremendous respect from her peers.

But now, Ianna was utterly broken.

She had completely lost her magical power.

Without the Bureau’s life-support systems, she wouldn’t even be alive.

Her once-exceptional brain was now subject to constant regressive episodes.

Her era had ended.

Just as no moon shines forever, Ianna was slowly dying.

And it was all because of the humans she had devoted her life to protect.

The Grandis-class Unidentified Entity.

An enormous unidentified entity, far taller than a 20-story building.

When it manifested, it would obliterate entire cities—an extremely dangerous entity.

To defeat a Grandis-class, it took hundreds of artificial magical girls and at least six members of the Twelve Stars.

Yet Ianna had slain three Grandis-class entities by herself.

Like Oksana, she had been dispatched to buy time—but she pushed Lemegaton to its absolute limit, severely injuring her body in the process.

She had done it to save other magical girls from dying.

To minimize their casualties, she had pushed Lemegaton’s output beyond safe limits.

As a result, she lost both her legs.

The overwhelming energy output had been too much for her limbs to withstand.

She used her own legs as bait to lure in the Grandis-class entity and destroy it in one blow.

Completely drained, Ianna collapsed on the spot and lost consciousness.

When she awoke, what awaited her was hell.

The humans she had sacrificed everything to protect.

They tortured her—only enough to keep her from dying.

She didn’t even know why.

She couldn’t remember their faces.

Her brain had deliberately erased those horrific memories.

Even I could sense it vaguely—those memories must never be recalled.

The collapse of the self would come instantly.

Now, Ianna was a mere puppet of the Bureau, barely clinging to life day by day.

At first, she had some sense of her situation before the drugs dulled her mind.

Ianna, who had endured even the most horrific torture,

The thing she couldn’t bear was how the people she loved had turned their backs on her, one by one.

All her relationships unraveled starting with the magical girls and spreading to countless others.

She had no attachment to her life.

Even if she died tomorrow, she could accept it easily.

I couldn’t, but she could.

What Ianna truly clung to was the restoration of relationships.

Just once.

Even just once, she wanted to get along with the other magical girls again.

To lean on them, back to back.

What Ianna sincerely wanted was to make friends.

Someone to trust, to rely on.

The loneliness from years of isolation was overwhelming.

A twisted longing.

Her only wish.

A dream that had never come true.

“…Not anymore.”

It could still be fixed.

Ianna’s excited mind repeated the words in self-hypnosis.

If she could meet them face to face, clear up the misunderstandings just once, that would be enough.

Even occasional visits would be fine.

All she wanted was for them to open their hearts to her.

Her heart wouldn’t stop trembling.

Like a child on Christmas Eve who couldn’t fall asleep waiting for Santa, Ianna’s entire body brimmed with anticipation.

She gently set down her white teddy bear and put on her prosthetic legs.

Clank.

They looked quite different from real-world prosthetics.

Mechanical parts latched perfectly onto the stumps of her severed legs.

She carefully stood up.

Walking was unfamiliar.

If she moved too fast, she would surely fall.

[Your Excellency, the two guests have arrived. Shall I open the door?]

“…Yes!”

What should she say to greet them?

She had seen Mirage many times, but this was her first time seeing Libra’s magical girl.

“Would ‘hello’ be enough…?”

She took several deep breaths.

Right now, she felt she could look them in the eyes.

Screech—

The double-locked, heavy metal door opened with the sound of clashing steel.

And then, their faces came into view.

She couldn’t control her body.

She felt so happy she could spin in circles.

She was truly grateful they had come to see her first.

Her hands were trembling.

She was so excited she couldn’t calm down.

Carefully, she reached her hands forward.

“U-uh, um…”

Smack—!

“Uh, huh…?”

A sharp sound filled Ianna’s room.

Specifically, the sound of Mirage’s magical girl slapping Ianna hard across the face.

The force knocked Ianna to the ground.

She toppled over on the marble floor, only realizing what had happened after hitting the ground.

Her cheek turned bright red.

Ianna was utterly flustered.

As she touched her swollen cheek, she felt it had ballooned.

The first thought that came to mind—

‘Why…?’

The shock left her unable to think straight.

On the floor, she looked up at them, her entire body trembling in disbelief.

Even her pupils were shaking.

A past trauma surfaced.

It was completely unexpected.

She was so stunned, she couldn’t speak.

“Get your filthy hands away.”

Mirage’s icy words stabbed straight into her heart.

“W-why…?”

Ianna asked in a trembling voice, but neither Mirage nor Libra replied.

They just approached her with blank expressions.

“Kuh…!”

Mirage grabbed Ianna by the neck and lifted her into the air.

Ianna instinctively thrashed.

Her prosthetic legs, only loosely attached, fell to the floor.

Mirage’s grip was tight.

Considering the difference in strength between a magical girl and a normal person, Mirage was actually holding back to kill her slowly.

“Guh… kuhk… gah…!”

Ianna clawed desperately at Mirage’s arm, but she couldn’t overcome the gap in power.

Her pale skin gradually turned red as blood surged to her face.

“I let it slide until now, but this confirmed it. You’re better off dead.”

“W-what…?”

“Your plan to purge the magical girls—we know everything. And the unforgivable thing you did…!”

“Keugh…”

Ianna believed Mirage had misunderstood.

She tried to protest, but Mirage’s grip only tightened.

She could barely breathe.

Her consciousness began to fade.

Mirage’s face contorted in rage, while Libra watched with indifference, blowing a bubble with her gum and recording the scene on her smartphone.

“Libra, how many died in the past year?”

“…Sixty-eight. Quite a lot.”

Mirage clenched her fist.

“You heard that, Janwol.”

“Keh… kehuk…”

Ianna tried to shout something, but Mirage’s fingers dug deeper into her throat.

Forgotten pain resurfaced.

Ianna was growing terrified.

“Sixty-eight strikes. Hold still. I’ll make it hurt.”

“Huff… guuhk…!”

Ianna flailed, but it was no use.

At some point, Libra restrained her midair body tightly.

Mirage tightened her grip around Ianna’s neck and raised her clenched fist.

A pale belly.

Ianna’s white abdomen, faintly marked with surgical scars, was exposed.

Then, Mirage said—

“Let’s begin.”

—and started driving her fist into Ianna’s stomach.