Chapter 139 : What Remains Unchanged (1)

September 6

Vast wilderness

Red sky

On a straight road cutting through, it was so barren that nothing could be seen except the boundary between sky and earth in the American West desert, where only tumbleweeds and eagles used to pass. Now, magical girls and giant horses were racing through.

Black demons and silver ships crossing the desolate desert.

■■■■■—!!

Gugugugugu—!!

Every time the horses with overwhelming sizes like skyscrapers built on four pillars took a step, vibrations could be heard hundreds of kilometers away. The continuous charge of these massive bodies that should have collapsed under their own weight was destruction itself just by existing.

A sandstorm arose with each step, and a giant canyon formed with each leap.

Baaaang—!!

The explosion of starlight restraining them

Along with a massive explosion fired by dozens of 2-star magical girls who had caught up riding silver ships, one of the giant horses that ate corpses collapsed. Unable to handle the force left by its own charge, it was violently thrown several kilometers away.

Kuuuung—!

[One of the large demons has been defeated!]

“We got another one!! Just a few more to go!! Keep it up!!”

[Estimated time of arrival to populated areas is 6 minutes! Please hurry!]

“Already?!”

[Notice from the Magical Girl of Hope: I will instantly defeat the groups breaking through to the front, so please intercept the lagging groups from behind.]

“Understood!!”

“Don’t worry!!”

The start of the fourth trial began with the demons’ feeding.

Horses with eerie blue ghost fire flickering inside their black skeletons. They appeared above a small town in the California desert.

As soon as they came out of the rift, the horses ran to a cemetery in a town abandoned for decades and began to eat the skeletons of the dead.

Hundreds of skeletons disappeared into the horses’ mouths with each swallow.

Crunch crunch

Munch munch

■■■■■—!!

It wasn’t enough.

For the cursed demons that would normally be satisfied only after devouring tens of millions of living people, these mere remains were utterly unsatisfying. So they began to charge towards the human realm indicated by the will of stars.

A mad charge with the desire to devour.

■■■■■—!!

The charge of calamity, which ordinary humans would fear to even face, began spreading terrifying malice.

-We can’t let this happen!!

Silver ships quickly surrounded the four giant monsters that had run out from the town cemetery, but the demons that had inherited the characteristics of division and multiplication left by the Magical Girl of [Greed] broke through the encirclement and fled.

If they survive clumsily, they resurrect as two.

-Notice from the Magical Girl of [Hope]! The demons of this trial divide and recover like the [Plague] and [Greed] we faced before! Please concentrate firepower to defeat them in one go!

The horses that would normally charge while tearing at the flesh of living people ran towards the direction indicated by the will of stars. The chase that had begun in the middle of the desert was now advancing towards a small city.

Swoooosh—!!

A yellow meteor passed by silver ships moving at continental-crossing speeds.

A small girl wrapped in starlight.

Thousands of stars scattered across the red sky poured out from her all at once, fired towards the middle group running far ahead.

A curtain made of the Milky Way.

Yellow star clusters engraved on the desert shone brilliantly following the black horses, covering their hideous appearance with beautiful starlight. Decomposing from the yellow starlight slowly invading their black bodies, the black horses were finally forced to stop their charge.

Pababababat!

“We hit them!!”

[The second group has been defeated!! The last third group is advancing 200km ahead!!]

“I’ll run ahead!! Like a meteor!!”

[Yes!! I’m counting on you! Magical Girl of Meteor!!]

“Of course! I’m the fastest magical girl after all!!”

Faaaash—!!

Hana answered confidently, wrapped in light like her nickname, and crossed the red sky that had risen over the California desert like a meteor.

Meteor.

A nickname given by magical girls because of her brilliant appearance, rather than her real aliases [Swiftness] and [Friendship].

A small girl who deals with numerous demons and shares dreams and smiles with people.

Though the youngest among all magical girls, there were none who did not respect her.

Just like the confidence Hana had shown so far.

The fourth trial was completely cleared by the Milky Way scattered by the yellow meteor in front of the city guarded by [Hope] and [Love].

[Notice from Elysion Observatory! The trial demons have been completely defeated!]

* * *

The midday chase that took place in the hot desert.

After that tremendous battle had passed, Yuki and I returned to Elysion and sat on a bench overlooking the beach.

-Mister! More spicy chicken stew please!

-Me too, another plate!

-Today was amazing, wasn’t it?

-Yeah! I’ve never felt my heart race like this before!

Elysion, passing through the coast of the western United States, was filled with joyful cheers from magical girls and ordinary people.

Delicious food and girls’ smiles rose like lanterns illuminating the city of magical girls, and girls who couldn’t come to Elysion climbed up the threads of fate to enjoy the atmosphere in the plaza that only magical girls could enter.

Magical girls always return victorious from the continuing massive battles.

Ordinary citizens rest on this island cheering for their brilliance.

The human world gradually advanced towards a future of dreams and hope thanks to magical girls.

‘It’s really hopeful.’

A scene that seemed to paint the word hope.

Yet we couldn’t join in and rejoice together.

“…”

“…”

The fourth trial, defeated more favorably and easily than ever before.

The magical girls felt the joy of continuing overwhelming victories. As soon as they returned to Elysion from California, they held a feast late into the night, boasting about their exploits in today’s battle while enjoying delicious food and cheerful songs.

-Hahaha! And then Sato-san appeared from far away going swoosh!! And flash!

-She really is fast, that kid…

-It’s hard to believe she’s actually the most senior, having been active as a magical girl since last summer.

-She has a bright personality, amazing abilities, and lots of fans too.

The magical city built on Elysion, which used to be a quiet island with nothing, went from being a somewhat lively town to a place full of energy reminiscent of a daily festival. We were recalling today’s events on the beach where the lights could be faintly seen.

“It was the same.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s strange.”

“Yeah.”

Tuk

A small hand landed on mine.

I grasped it, and felt uneasiness in that warmth.

We understood each other’s intended words so well that our conversation might seem contextless to others by now. But I thought it was better for just us to carry this anxiety, at least regarding these conversations.

‘Actually, the fully bloomed magical girls and representatives of self-governing bodies who know about the destroyed world probably feel it too.’

The third trial where the Magical Girl of [Greed] and the goddess of [Death] appeared.

Since then, no anomalies like interference from the three goddesses or fake magical girls had been detected.

Black lion

Black snake

Black boar

Black horse

The demons that still occasionally popped out through small rifts from the wounds of stars remained the same, but the demons melting under the starlight of magical girls were no longer objects of fear and terror.

Gradually growing confidence through continuing battles, and familiarity that prevents losing oneself. Because of these, the world where humans live had not collapsed so far, having passed the midpoint of the trials.

‘I thought the three goddesses would definitely place a curse during the fourth trial.’

The trial demons that simply appeared from quietly opened rifts, and the trial proceeding exactly as Yuki originally knew. A trial proceeding without any changes was itself an anomaly to us.

Because I appeared.

Because it changed because of me.

It shouldn’t have been unchanged.

“This world has changed, but.”

Why are the trials no longer changing?

Why are the goddesses no longer interfering?

“…Is it because of Erebos?”

“Probably.”

Some great ritual the goddesses were preparing.

But Erebos commented that it was an energy familiar to her, and threw the memory of destruction into the throne of nothingness. And the goddess of [Death] truly despaired seeing that sight.

‘What on earth happened in the throne of nothingness?’

As if reading my thoughts, Yuki also muttered.

“What could be in there?”

“…”

We didn’t know.

That’s why we couldn’t rejoice even amidst the overwhelming victory in the trial.

We were rather more anxious in a world progressing as we knew.

The only fact we could know now was that some distortion had clearly occurred somewhere beyond our perception.