Chapter 60: Goodbye, Blue Sky

I should have moved faster.

Instead of focusing on deploying police and magical girls to eliminate Sanguine Obsidia’s escape routes, just launching long-range bombardments, I should have flown there myself, as fast as I could.

If I had, Sanguine Obsidia might have noticed the situation and fled before the encirclement was complete, but Glacia Azure might not have died.

It was arrogance, and it was irresponsibility.

During the ten-odd minutes it took for the encirclement to be completed and for the second wave, and myself, to arrive, I irresponsibly left the first magical girl who encountered Sanguine Obsidia to bear her madness all alone, to fight her all alone.

I never thought we would achieve victory without any sacrifices, but that didn’t mean I was prepared for someone to die.

And for that, I was arrogant.

I boasted to Blanc about having a thorough plan to overturn the world, yet I couldn’t even properly take responsibility for the life of a single fellow magical girl, a junior at that.

And it wasn’t even as if I had made the plan with the cold resolve to sacrifice that one life from the beginning.

…My mind is a mess.

This wasn’t what I intended.

I never meant to sacrifice Glacia.

And then,

“Blanc…!”

On the screen suspended in mid-air by Coral Echoes’ magic, Blanc’s tattered form appeared, shredded by the dozens of blades Sanguine Obsidia had thrown.

“She is fine, Association President.”

I had been about to rush out, forgetting even the most basic objective of waiting to track Sanguine Obsidia when she inevitably tried to escape through spirit form, but I stopped at Coral Echoes’ words.

“Bistour Blanc’s magic signal is stable. It appears her wounds have already healed.”

Echoes spoke in a tone tinged with sorrow, yet gentle, with a blue magic arrow nocked on her giant bow, ready to be fired at any moment.

Perhaps she, who had faced countless giant magical beasts in the sea, was more accustomed to sacrifice and death than I was.

“Yes… It seems I lost my composure for a moment.”

I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my flesh, hiding my bleeding palm within my glove.

I’m agitated.

Even if I regain my composure, it’s not fully restored.

I tapped the rooftop floor incessantly with the tip of my shoe, my eyes fixed on the screen.

If I had gone to save Glacia, it’s possible I would have been too late, losing both Glacia and letting Sanguine Obsidia escape—the worst possible outcome.

But the fact remains that I, the one in charge of the plan, led Glacia Azure to her death.

Even if another magical girl had encountered Sanguine Obsidia instead of Glacia, she likely would have died as well.

Because I underestimated Sanguine Obsidia and overestimated the response speed of my plan.

And despite all that, the moment Blanc, someone precious to me personally, was injured, I was about to rush out.

This is no way for a leader of magical girls to act, not one who avoids wrongful control.

“This won’t do.”

Watching Blanc express her rage through gunfire at the cowering Sanguine Obsidia on the ground, I told myself.

“If I cannot anticipate and control all the variables, then at the very least, the outcome must be perfect. That way, Glacia’s death will not have been meaningless, but a heroic sacrifice.”

If Blanc were to kill Sanguine Obsidia, that would be fine in its own way, but Sanguine Obsidia was certain to flee using her spirit form the moment she was on the verge of death.

“I’m going down. Brief Blanc and the other magical girls on my position and status.”

“I wish you good luck, Association President.”

Leaving my instructions with Coral Echoes, I enveloped my entire body in magic.

I confirmed Sanguine Obsidia’s signal appear on the map displayed in the air, then pinpointed her exact location with my eyes.

With the ground above my head and the sky beneath my feet, I kick off the sky and accelerate toward the earth.

My destination: the small park where Sanguine Obsidia had fled.

KWHAAAAAANG-!!!

Like a meteor, I crashed down in front of Sanguine Obsidia.

Her pure white hair, now stained a dark crimson from the blood and darkness of the night; her red eyes, like rotten clots of blood; her tattered black suit; and her right arm, mangled like a wrung-out rag.

The fallen magical girl, Sanguine Obsidia.

The atmosphere around her is distinctly different from eight months ago, when she single-handedly infiltrated the Magical Girl Association and challenged me.

She has grown stronger, sharper, and,

“Sanguine Obsidia.”

I called her name.

Like an executioner confirming the name of the condemned.

Before I descended, Coral Echoes’ final analysis stated that Sanguine Obsidia was exhibiting a magic recovery rate far beyond the normal range.

It meant she was in much better shape than she appeared.

Based on a compilation of past battle records and testimonies, Sanguine Obsidia often managed to escape perfectly fine even after being in a near-death state, or displayed abnormal power output even after consuming large amounts of magic.

Almost as if she were a vampire from the rumors, feeding on blood and death to gain magic.

Licking the blood from the corner of her mouth, she smiled, raised her magic, and lifted her right arm, sucking the blood—the very traces of life—from the corpses of the dead police officers.

Streams of blood flowed from the three corpses, converging into her right hand to form a massive, dark red shape.

That right arm had transformed into a form larger than the shield I had seen in the video earlier, resembling the massive foreleg of a giant beast.

“Wizard in Violet.”

The voice that uttered my name was clearly different from the gloomy murderer of eight months ago; it was the voice of a mad monster.

***

My last escape route was cut off.

And my worst enemy appeared before my eyes, literally falling from the sky.

The ominous violet magic filling the space feels like it’s crushing my entire body.

Her presence, the pressure, the sheer density of her magic—it feels like my lungs are being flattened.

My heart pounds wildly, and the tumor in my chest throbs.

Even more violently and impulsively than when I faced Glacia Azure, than when I faced Bistour Blanc.

I feel magic surging from a place I can’t identify, from the depths of my heart, as if gushing from a deep pit.

Yes.

I just have to kill that goddamn Association President.

Magical girls keep appearing, but if I kill the leader, that should stop.

Eight months ago, I infiltrated the Magical Girl Association with the stupid, naive thought that killing the president would throw the association into chaos and they would stop chasing me.

There, I encountered the Wizard in Violet.

And I barely escaped, bitterly regretting my foolishness.

The place is different, the time is different, but I recall that purpose once more.

If I just kill Yu Ji-hye, I can truly be free.

With the president herself here, it’s unlikely there will be more reinforcements, and seeing as there were only a few police officers stationed in the park, their encirclement can’t be perfect.

If I kill her, I can use the gap when the magical girls can’t track me to return to Yujin.

My head clears, my chaotic vision sharpens.

My body feels at ease with the magic circulating through it.

Even the agonizing screams of every organ and tissue in my body sound sweet, and even my shattered right arm looks beautiful.

The me of the past, who was not dead but merely extending my life, is a different person from the me of today.

Because Ahn Yujin exists.

From the memory of her warmth, from the recalled touch of her lips, and from my memories with her, I have found the strength to kill magical girls, the will to do so, and the reason I must return.

I check the corpses of the three policemen I just killed and raise my right arm.

In its raised position, the torn muscles and broken bones threaten to collapse under gravity, but,

The next moment, blood, life, and magic gushed from the three bodies and gathered in my right arm until it overflowed, forming a crimson-black shape like the massive foreleg of a giant beast.

As a test, I clenched and unclenched my hand.

I could feel the hard sensation of the massive, sharp red claws, the power of the right arm forged from coalesced blood and magic.

“Wizard in Violet.”

I called my enemy’s name, imbuing it with a declaration of my intent to kill.

I’m not fully recovered, but I can use my strengthened right arm, and I have enough magic.

Before the other magical girls arrive and surround me again, I will kill her.

As Yu Ji-hye flew backward and waved her hand, dozens of violet magic circles appeared in the air.

Each one held a level of magic and pressure comparable to the entirety of Glacia Azure’s ice spikes.

KWAAAAA-A-A-A-A-

With a deafening roar that tore through the air, one magic circle erupted in fire.

A blinding light of pure white magic rushed toward me, and I thrust out my right arm, spreading my giant palm to receive the light.

“Ugh…!”

It’s hot.

My right arm, encased in crimson-black armor reinforced with magic, sizzled and burned, its surface melting away.

It’s painful.

The agony of a thousand stakes being driven into me, the pain of the burn, assaults my mind.

But,

“I blocked it.”

I put strength into my left arm holding the sword and kicked off the ground, dashing forward.

It’s a tactic I’ve used countless times, and my opponent knows I’ll charge with a sword, but this time, I have my right arm, and I have overflowing magic.

Blinding white light filled the purple magic circles aimed at me and my path, and the circles sequentially unleashed their light, their magical bombardment.

I block the thick beams of light with my right arm, evade by twisting my body, and I dig the claws of my right hand into the ground, using my right arm as a pivot to spin through the air and dodge.

Yu Ji-hye flies backward to evade, trying to stop me by mixing small violet magic bullets between the bombardments of her massive magic cannons.

But I’m closing the distance faster.

“Ahahahaha!”

Laughter escapes me automatically.

This is exhilarating.

The fact that I am pushing back an opponent clearly stronger than me, that I will soon take her heart and steal her life, fills me with joy.

Even the taste of blood flowing in my torn mouth is sweet.

As I charge, the blood dripping from my right arm forms a zigzagging line, and from the resulting bloodstains on the ground, I pull out dozens of red magic chains and launch them toward Yu Ji-hye’s rear.

She tries to parry, break, and cut the chains with her magic, but both the severed and unsevered chains formed a dense net, sealing the space behind her.

And finally, Yu Ji-hye was caught in the net of my chains.

“Caught you.”

A few more steps.

Rush in, crush her head with my right hand, and plunge my blade into her heart, and then,

“That’s my line.”

I hear a voice, and Yu Ji-hye’s form vanishes.

I feel a sense of wrongness from my feet.

They won’t move.

I’m being crushed.

As if the entire atmosphere, the very earth itself, is pressing down on my feet, I cannot move them.

The brick blocks beneath my feet crack, and my feet sink into them.

My legs won’t move either.

My arms, my shoulders, my head are being crushed.

“Hah, ugh…”

I fall to my knees, and even planting my blade in the ground isn’t enough to support me.

My elbows hit the ground, and finally, my shoulder, my chin, are slammed into the dirt floor.

Whether I was being crushed by the weight of the atmosphere, by the gravity of space itself being intensified around my body, or by the immense magic itself, it didn’t matter.

What mattered was that I had fallen for a trap like an idiot.

That I had been lured into revealing my hand by her intentional provocation of my charge and magic, and then ensnared in her trap.

I don’t know why she chose to subdue me instead of killing me in the trap, but it certainly wasn’t for my benefit.

“You still rely only on brute force, rushing in recklessly, blinded by blood and magic. It makes no sense that a foolish berserker like you was granted this much power, more magic than the children who died.”

Her right hand glowing as she slowly approached, speaking in a deliberately provocative tone, a violet dagger materialized.

Thump, thump, thump.

The sound of her shoes on the dirt floor, approaching one step at a time.

“Haeuk… haa…”

I can’t breathe under the weight crushing my lungs and abdomen.

My body still won’t move.

It’s heavy, so incredibly heavy I can’t lift a hand.

I have to use my arm, my right arm.

I have to get out of this place.

Move.

I pour magic into my arm, and it circulates through my heart, which feels ready to burst.

Just a little more, so I can break the enemy’s magic.

Thump, thump.

Death, the violet blade, approaches.

Only a few steps remain.

“…At the very least, I hope this death can bring some small comfort to Glacia.”