Chapter 71 : The Fist of Freedom

Sizzle

On an early summer day at 4 PM. The heat in the mountains, already scorching hot, tormented the whole body as if it was steaming. Ichika thought the unusually flowing sweat today was due to the hot weather.

‘This is the last set…!’

Warming up the lower and upper body intensely as preparation before full-fledged training was the daily routine carried out at dawn before everyone woke up in the orphanage and after elementary school classes ended in the afternoon. When peers carrying randoseru backpacks went out to play holding their parents’ hands, Ichika trained in an old temple.

“Thirty… four!… Thirty-five!”

Tremble tremble

“Phew… th-thirty-six!”

In an age where people around the world could communicate via the internet and know real-time news from the opposite side of the earth. As if going against that era, an old monk living holed up in an old temple in Osaka without even electricity lay on the floor scratching his belly.

“Th-thirty… seven!”

A small kid whose head barely reached the waist of an adult male repeated the squat position the old monk had taught. If it were the method the monk had been taught in his youth, she should have originally learned the horse stance, maintaining a squatting position for hours, but…

‘…What’s the big deal about the old method that only destroys the knees of later disciples.’

Even when the monk’s eyebrows were as dark as thick ink, not a single proper internal energy cultivation method was preserved, so they just followed the old training methods while wearing out all the joints of the body. Now in an era where martial artists had completely disappeared, with the monk having eyebrows the color of clouds floating in the sky.

Even the distinction between internal and external energy disappeared.

The distinction between swords and sabers became meaningless.

The distinction between righteous and evil sects was laughable.

And the ending that disappeared pathetically under the madness of the times.

That was the last of the martial world the monk had experienced.

‘It’s futile… a futile act.’

The monk had no intention of turning the one foolish child he came to teach in his old age into an idiot who only knew the old ways, nor did he intend to teach all the outdated rules of the sect. It was possible because the monk had become somewhat enlightened while fleeing from China to Japan long ago.

An age of madness that blamed everything old for poverty and tried to eradicate all old things.

The monk was the last martial artist who had escaped from that age of madness.

“Kid, why are you doing that?”

“Th-thirty… thirty… oh I forgot! You said I need to concentrate when doing lower body!”

Since the day the girl secretly watched the monk training alone and came into the temple asking to be taught, he had never seen her remember the warm-up count correctly.

“So why are you voluntarily doing such a hard thing? It’s been 2 years already.”

“Huh? Because it’s fun.”

“What’s so fun about it? Aren’t you at an age where you should be chatting and sharing snacks with friends your age, rolling around trying to catch butterflies sitting on flower beds, and thinking about what to play tomorrow while watching the evening sunset?”

“You really talk like an old man.”

“Why you.”

Snap!

“Ouch?!”

As the monk flicked his thumb playfully, a peanut he was forgetting while watching the kid train shot precisely onto the kid’s crown. One of the throwing skills the monk once prided himself on was now only used to tease the rude kid.

“Ugh… geez, that hurts more than you’d think!”

“You rude child, why are you training in martial arts?”

“I told you it’s fun!”

Ichika wiped her face, completely soaked with sweat, with the hem of her T-shirt and laughed with a ‘heng’.

A refreshing smile like a sunflower blooming on a summer day.

“It’s fun to do one more squat than yesterday!”

As cheerfully as the sound of cicadas buried in the ground for two years crying with all their might.

“It’s fun to do one more push-up than yesterday!”

It was a clear laugh like a summer sky without a single cloud.

“It’s super fun to punch and kick more accurately than yesterday!”

“…”

“My mind feels refreshed and free like I could fly!”

What meaning was there in martial arts?

‘Just strike out where your heart leads, that’s all.’

He shuddered at the truth that came back to his foolish question.

The monk’s heart ached painfully seeing the girl’s smile.

“…Your words are right.”

* * *

“Huff…?!”

“Shh. Be quiet. [Sword] is still nearby.”

Li Na, the magical girl of [Dagger], one of the Chinese magical girls who had been jointly fighting to battle the magical girl of [Sword] until just now, whispered to Ichika with a gloomy expression. Ichika, who had just regained consciousness, gasped for breath and unconsciously stretched out her left arm to get up.

Flutter

But only the bloody sleeve cut through the air indifferently. Ichika looked at the empty sleeve with a bitter expression and muttered as if chewing and swallowing:

“…Damn it. I thought if we laid out that much, we could at least hold out even if we couldn’t win.”

They had evacuated all civilians to shelters and spent the whole night laying out all kinds of traps, weapons, and magical girls’ magic. Even Ichika herself thought it would be difficult to break through all these traps. Plus the soldiers who had set up defenses through the state of emergency.

“…I have no face to show the dead children.”

Out of the 12 who volunteered to fight against [Sword] among the Chinese magical girls, the desperate charge of 6 who had families in Shanghai, [Dagger]’s cover, and the sonic support magic [Harmony]’s magical girl Li Meilin had prepared to be heard throughout Beijing were all mobilized, but completely blocked.

Ten thousand black swords decorating the sky.

They shot down at the group from the sky, drawing different sword techniques as if they had their own will.

The pressure of fighting ten thousand swordsmen.

The magical girl of [Sword] broke through the sky net that the Chinese government and magical girls had laid in Beijing head-on. And as if mocking them, she slowly went around destroying all government-related facilities.

‘Even with my fighting instinct, I couldn’t see a way at all.’

Only Ichika’s fist even reached [Sword], who was floating leisurely on a sword above Beijing’s sky. Even though she narrowed and raised her fighting instinct to the maximum and pulled her into the domain of the green storm, blocking the sword thrust by the magical girl of [Sword] for 30 minutes was the limit.

“…You cannot stop me.”

Finally, after a fierce battle, Ichika, whose arm was cut off, fainted from shock, and they escaped taking advantage of the gap when Li Na fired daggers by squeezing out all her starlight.

“…I requested support from the main force in Russia. They say the situation there has been somewhat sorted out.”

“What about the Leader? If it’s the Leader, she could come right away.”

“The magical girl of [Beginning] blocked the nuclear weapons from Russia and America… and then lost contact, they say.”

“Damn it.”

It was bleak.

Ichika closed her eyes tightly and sighed. Seeing this, Li Na quietly surveyed the surroundings.

Rumble

Bang bang bang bang bang

Due to the helplessly collapsing buildings from earlier, Beijing’s sky was hazier and darker than usual today. The ten thousand black swords, which persistently chased the magical girls while weaving through the endlessly scattering gray smoke, gradually herded the soldiers and girls like a black net.

Slash!

Slash!

The sound of black swords flying that had killed the people and magical girls in Shanghai that day.

Grind

Li Na felt pathetic for helplessly hiding even though the one wielding those swords that had harmed her comrades and innocent people was right in front of her. If they stayed still like this, innocent people could get hurt again by the attacks the magical girl of [Sword] unleashed near the shelters.

Li Na was just anxious because she couldn’t imagine at all where the magical girl of [Sword] was trying to go.

“Hey. Li Na.”

“What?”

“What’s something in China that would really piss people off if it was destroyed?”

“…”

There were too many.

How many people live in Beijing, and it’s the capital of the huge country called China. The city’s infrastructure had already been destroyed countless times as the magical girl of [Sword] passed through, so she couldn’t even guess what was left.

“There are too many.”

“Not like strategic or important facilities, but a place where everyone would faint in shock the moment that crazy woman plants her flag.”

“…”

“From what I see, she seems more urgent about that than killing your country’s government or people. When we fought, it seemed like she could destroy politicians or national facilities while picking her nose if she wanted, but that didn’t seem to be her goal.”

Bang bang bang bang

Along with the faint gunshots heard from far away, the black swords floating in the sky flew like arrows towards the source of the sound.

Slash

“Look at that. She’s only responding minimally to those trying to stop her while constantly looking for something. Most guys who act like that in battle aren’t looking for a clear goal, but for how to screw someone over.”

As soon as she heard those words, a certain place flashed through Li Na’s mind.

“The Forbidden City.”

The Imperial Palace.

“Let’s confront her there.”

“Can we do it just by ourselves?”

[Sword] had already easily crushed numerous traps, armies, and even the desperate resistance of magical girls.

And Ichika, the magical girl of [Freedom], had lost one arm.

“No matter how you look at it, don’t we have no chance of winning?”

“Our goal from the start wasn’t to defeat her. It’s to buy as much time as possible.”

“…”

“Don’t we need to do something crazy to get a crazy woman’s attention?”

“…Follow me. I’ll guide you.”