Chapter 6: Magical Girl of the Crescent Moon (6)

“…Understood.”

Hojoon’s response was unexpected.

I couldn’t say he was moved.

His gaze remained fixed on me—amused, intrigued.

An emotional appeal wouldn’t work on a psychopath who was prepared to dispose of magical girls, even his own daughter, once they were no longer useful.

He had something else in mind.

One more step here, and I’d draw suspicion.

In the worst case, part of my brain would be removed and I’d be turned into a real doll.

Now that Hojoon’s personal curiosity had shifted the mood, I had to act.

The magical girls wouldn’t die.

At least, not today.

“Deputy Director?”

“Cancel the deployment. Let’s trust them.”

“…Cancelling now.”

Hojoon looked down at me in the wheelchair, staring directly into my eyes.

I tried to look away, but he stepped closer.

Far too close.

“W-What are you doing…?”

“I don’t mean any harm.”

He gripped my body and lifted me up.

My adjutant tried to stop him, horrified, but Hojoon ignored them.

He hoisted me up and turned to face the front.

My feet—more precisely, my prosthetics—no longer touched the floor.

Suspended in the air, clutched in Hojoon’s arms.

“You’ve gotten lighter.”

“…Yeah.”

Ianna was barely 140 cm tall.

Chosen as a magical girl at a young age, her aging and growth had ceased.

And her weight was even lower than average for her height.

After extensive body modification just to survive, she could no longer absorb nutrients properly.

Only the essential organs remained inside.

The rest of her body was composed of biomechanical parts.

Hojoon gently cradled me with one arm, angling me to face the monitor.

“Watch closely. Let’s see what those two choose to do.”

Our eyes locked onto the monitor.

‘…What are you thinking?’

Hojoon was undeniably a villain.

With a massive, muscular body that clashed with his intellectual appearance, he relied not on strength but cunning when opposing magical girls.

After the failure of “Pest Eradication” and the mass incursion of entities, the world would plunge into chaos.

Hojoon, the deputy director responsible for it all, would be found dead on a beach—cold, impaled through the heart by a massive sword.

No one knew why.

For all the importance he held in the novel, his end was hollow.

Killed by none other than his daughter.

The Stellar Magical Girl.

Readers never learned the reason behind his death.

The author left room for speculation, but the novel’s shocking finale left few readers pondering it.

[Hff… hold on…]

[Just a little more.]

The entity’s attacks intensified.

Having consumed magical girl corpses and regenerated repeatedly, its power was now overwhelming.

It focused on Illusion, who held Libra.

Where its attacks once missed entirely, they were now closing in.

The force of its punches had grown so immense that Illusion’s arms were cut just by the air pressure alone.

It swung at such speeds that her limbs turned bloody.

Even one direct hit would crush their bones and rupture every organ.

The monitor alone made that abundantly clear.

Ianna’s brain lit up with urgency.

If this entity defeated the two magical girls and absorbed their power to manifest in the real world—

It would be a catastrophe.

A global apocalypse.

Unless magic—specifically, gamma ether—was used, no physical attack could harm it.

Bullets, missiles, railguns—even nuclear weapons—were ineffective.

The surrounding area would be utterly obliterated.

Every organism in its path would be devoured.

Eventually, no life would remain.

Ianna had seen it again and again.

From the ‘Chernobyl Disaster’ she heard about from her now-deceased mentor and partner, to the Eastern Japan Earthquake where she personally took down a Grandis-class entity, to the massacre of Western magical girls in Beirut.

She knew what entity manifestation meant.

Her hands began to tremble.

Not from fear.

Countless lives were on the line. For Ianna—the “Magical Girl of Janwol” who valued human life above all—it was an unbearable burden.

Her psyche might collapse.

What she feared most was seeing people die before her eyes. Over and over.

Those childhood memories were now trauma.

They were why she clung so tightly to life.

The duty of a magical girl, burned deep into her chest, shook her body.

Even in this powerless, barely-breathing shell.

She had never forgotten her mission to protect people.

“B-Beta ether levels… 58.2%! We predict new rifts will open soon!”

“Elevate the threat level from Medium to Murtus! We need magical girl reinforcements per protocol!”

Agents reported the situation in trembling voices.

The beta ether levels were rising unimaginably fast, and the maps of surrounding areas turned crimson.

It was a projection of the minimum damage radius.

The Russian Far Eastern District would be obliterated—along with Manchuria, northern Korea, Sakhalin, and Hokkaido.

“No reinforcements, including Ae-won, will be dispatched.”

“B-But…”

“Trust them. The next minute will decide everything.”

“…Understood.”

Everyone stared anxiously at the monitor.

Libra’s Lemegaton glowed brilliantly.

If she could condense her magic to the limit into her golden scythe—

They might just win.

They had to.

At that moment—

A green blip on the map raced toward Zone 79: Chumikan.

“Deputy Director! The Stellar Magical Girl is heading to the scene despite direct orders!”

“Ignore it. If she dies in the crossfire, that’s not our fault. We warned her. She disobeyed.”

“B-But…”

“That’s enough.”

Hojoon’s voice dropped.

Calm, cold—unlike anything I’d heard.

He didn’t care if his daughter lived or died.

She was a magical girl.

[H-He stopped attacking… huff…]

The entity on-screen had ceased its assault.

It realized it couldn’t get through.

Instead—

“S-Sir! We’re seeing massive beta ether activity! The entity is concentrating it into one point!”

From the space between dimensions, composed entirely of beta ether—

The entity began gathering it above its palm.

A dark orb appeared instantly, like a sun covered in black spots.

The more time passed, the smaller it grew.

It was compressing.

Just as Libra condensed her power into her Lemegaton—

The entity was compacting the surrounding ether into a dense sphere.

Its mouth twisted into a terrifying grin.

Drool spilled from its jaws, its sharp, shark-like teeth aiming for the two girls.

“This is the end.”

Libra didn’t wait.

She swung her golden scythe, infused with all her magic.

It cut through the air—

And then—

Crackle—Zzzzzzt

The monitor feed cut to black.

“W-What happened…?”

“That… is the power of a magical girl. Their strength is already beyond human comprehension. They are giants. If they desired, they could wipe humanity out with ease.”

Hojoon gently placed me back in the wheelchair and removed his glasses.

It was his doctrine—his belief: Magical girls with overwhelming power must be kept under human control.

That meant eliminating artificial girls created in excess, unstable ones, and those who were no longer useful.

“…”

Hojoon looked down at me with a cold expression.

“Director.”

“…Yes.”

A strange silence.

And then—

In the corner of the monitor, beta ether levels were still rising.

A sign the rift hadn’t closed.

Over 70%. Everyone stared in shock.

“…No life signs.”

“…I see.”

Beep—

Both of their life signs vanished completely.

This meant one thing.

Failure.

Hojoon’s chilling stare wasn’t just disappointment.

He was going to use this failure to destroy me.

I had insisted on sparing the two “Pest Exemption” magical girls.

Now, because of me, residents across a massive region were at risk.

He would scold me, disgrace me, and use me as a scapegoat to maintain power.

That was his aim.

The operation had failed.

Now came judgment.

“…It’s my fault.”

I muttered softly, closing my eyes and waiting.

No matter what he said—I would accept it.

My heart pounded.

I felt on the verge of tears.

Then, at that moment—

[Ugh… guh… blegh… I-I thought I was dead…]

[Th-That was really, seriously… way too close… ugh…]

The speakers broadcast both of their voices.