Chapter 77: Don’t Leave Me

I clenched and unclenched my hand, turned it this way and that, and moved my arm to change the angle of the light.

No matter how I observed the object in my hand, I couldn’t get used to it.

Its shape, its pure black body devoid of any gloss.

The object I held was a dagger so pointed and thin-bladed that it was closer to an awl.

Black, so black it couldn’t get any blacker, a sharply honed blade waiting only to pierce someone’s neck and heart.

To think this is the shape of my soul.

It only makes me scoff.

When I thought of making it disappear, it vanished suddenly.

When I thought of summoning it, it appeared on the dining table, falling with a dull thud.

It seems I need more practice to specify its appearance location precisely to my hand.

“Mmm…”

What did that strange person say?

I recall the evening of a rainy summer day, a few days ago.

‘A pleasure to meet you, Miss Ahn Yujin! Seeing you in person, the beauty of your soul truly stands out. I am Saint Jimmy. As for what I am a saint of, well. Let’s say I’m the patron saint of the arts for now.’

The strange person greeted me with a joyful smile, drenched in a lukewarm midsummer shower.

A man in a fedora and coat, like a figure from two centuries ago, his face obscured as if painted black, with a deep, resonant voice.

A masked criminal?

Or an intelligent monster?

I began to regret leaving my pistol in the room just before coming out.

‘I am not your ally, Miss Ahn Yujin, but I am not your enemy either. I am merely a human who enjoys meddling, loves to chat, and possesses a few special talents.

However, I can offer you one piece of assistance in the process of achieving what you desire, your goal.’

He spoke his next words without caring whether I was frozen or tense from seeing such an incomprehensible figure.

Helping me achieve what I desire.

How does he know what I want…

‘Lee Seoa, or Sanguine Obsidia.’

And then, the man uttered that name.

The moment my ears registered it, my pupils dilated, and my body, having made an instinctive judgment called impulse, moved faster than ever before.

I opened the door, grabbed the pistol I had intended to leave behind, and pulled the trigger at the strange person.

Over and over, until my palm, drenched in cold sweat, slipped.

‘Hah… hah… hah…’

The clicking of the pistol and my own ragged breathing brought my consciousness back to reality.

The strange person, despite having several bullets lodged in his body, looked perfectly fine, without a single wound.

‘It seems I have caused a misunderstanding. I do not intend to meddle with or harm you and Miss Lee Seoa. All I will do is… offer a little help, as I first said.’

‘What… what kind of help could you possibly give…?’

‘For example, something like this.’

Then, a jet-black sword appeared in his hand.

A purely black sword, without any luster.

‘I possess a method to draw out power from the soul and create a weapon. A weapon that can even stand against a magical girl. Yes, to explain it in a way you can understand…’

‘…A Spirit Weapon.’

The weapon of a magical girl, the materialization of magic and soul.

As someone who prided myself on knowing quite a bit about magical girls among ordinary people, I couldn’t help but think of it.

But for this man to be able to create something similar, it was as if he were…

‘Let’s say I’m closer to a demon than a mascot or a spirit. Miss Ahn Yujin, you are on the verge of achieving what you have long desired, on the verge of completing a task you have put great effort into, but you are agonizing because you lack the means, the power, are you not?

You have talent. The qualification to draw out this power and become a comrade of the Black Holy Relic.’

Hearing those words, I agonized.

It was impossible to believe the words of this strange person who had appeared so suddenly, who called himself a saint yet claimed to be a being close to a demon.

But he asked for nothing in return, only saying that he wanted me to become his comrade and achieve what I desired.

‘Now, feel your black soul, your dark soul where viscous grudges and desires swirl, absorbing all light.’

The power to stand against a magical girl.

A sure means to complete my beloved Seoa with my own hands.

In the first place, from the moment this man appeared before me, I had no choice but to refuse.

‘…How you use it is up to you. If you are safe after your work is done, I will visit you again. Then, my new comrade, farewell.’

“But even if I have something like this.”

I hold the dagger and stare blankly at its tip.

It’s the object that the gentlemanly strange person drew out of me that day, what he called a Black Holy Relic.

There was no grand contract, no pain or pleasure that usually accompanies the drawing out of new power, like in old comics.

But I saw it with my own eyes, the black haze gathering on my hand with a feeling of my soul resonating and being drawn out, so I couldn’t say it was a hallucination or a fake model.

Even so, it doesn’t feel like a proper power or contract.

If I were a magical girl, I wouldn’t just be able to summon my weapon, but also feel magic and use spells, but I have none of that.

At best, I can only feel the subtle presence of a subtle power with a subtle sensation like feeling static electricity in winter.

Seeing as I could cleanly cut the blade of an old kitchen knife with the dagger’s blade, it seems to be a very good weapon, but I can’t test it against monsters or magical girls, so I don’t know if it’s really ‘useful.’

The important thing is not whether I have some special power like magic.

With this blade, can I kill Sanguine Obsidia?

As the question leaves my lips, my chest aches.

It wasn’t about whether killing her was physically possible or impossible.

A pain I have rarely felt.

My pulse quickens, my heart constricts and screams.

I know the name of this pain, but I dare not speak it.

Instead, I changed the question.

Can I kill Lee Seoa, my beloved?

Thud, thud, thud.

The sound of a heavy knock on the door startles me, and I jump to my feet.

After confirming that the dagger has dissolved into the air, I approach the front door and look through the peephole.

“Seoa…?”

It’s her black-haired form for when she’s outside, but she looks so exhausted and covered in blood.

The image of her dying form from that night, that dawn, etched deep in my memory, overlaps.

I hurriedly open the door and support her.

Thankfully, she wasn’t as cold as she was back then.

“…Sorry, I’m late. Something… unexpected happened.”

But her weary voice is mixed with a bloody froth, and fresh blood is seeping from her stomach.

Her unfocused red eyes are heavy with fatigue, and her left arm hangs limply.

It’s okay.

She recovered from that terrible injury last time, so she’ll surely heal this time too.

I don’t know for sure, but her power must have gotten stronger.

So, I won’t worry.

If I show that I’m worried, she’ll be sad too, so I smile and hold her.

With deep love, with affection for her who relies on me, I rub my flushed cheek against her cheek, where clotted blood sticks coolly, and share our warmth.

Talking about the dangers of her outdoor play, asking what happened and what to do next, are things to think about after I’ve fully savored her warmth and weight as she depends on me now.

“It’s okay… You must be very tired, right? For now, just rest. Rest, and tell me what happened later.”

But my right hand, the one wrapped around the back of her neck, is gripping a jet-black dagger.

The tip of the dagger’s blade is against her weakened neck.

Slowly, it gets closer.

The tip of the blade nears her skin.

It touches her skin, and a single drop of blood is added to her blood-stained body.

If I just push the blade in by a finger joint or two, I can have her.

I can have her death.

I’ll never know what happened, but seeing her so exhausted is an opportunity that might never come again.

I clench my right hand so tightly that it bleeds.

The handle of the dagger, a metallic black mass, tears the skin of my palm and sticks to it.

My hand, the blade, trembles.

I move my right hand to find the best angle to stab, yet it still trembles.

“…Just for a moment, like this.”

And then, a faint voice pierces my eardrums.

“Just hold me.”

Her sigh, as she leans against me, completely entrusting her weight to me, tickles my ear.

The smell of her fresh blood invades my nostrils and seeps into my brain.

I,

my trembling blade,

in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to stab her.

***

“Did you see something interesting?”

“If you were to divide it into interesting and not interesting, it would fall into the former.

Yes.

A battle between magical girls is something that never gets old.

Miss Sanguine Obsidia’s skills have improved quite a bit as well.”

The large, coated gentleman in a large silk hat said in a flat tone that suggested he hadn’t felt the slightest bit of amusement.

“Hmph.”

And the small-statured girl in an oversized, ill-fitting hoodie, leaning back on the sofa, just snorted.

The girl’s gaze seemed to be on the maps, documents, and pins that covered one wall of the dark room, but her focus was unclear.

“You still seem to be interested.
Even though you were spouting so much criticism last time.”

“Isn’t that just how it is?

Words are bound to change.

I, too, have recently realized that I need to be more cautious in my attitude and look further ahead.

With a new comrade about to join us, shouldn’t I adopt a more responsible attitude?”

Hearing those words, the girl swept back her long silver hair and made a look of disbelief.

“Hey, Boss.

I’ve told you time and again, haven’t I?

Your confident delusions are ultimately just delusions, neither faith nor science.

And now…”

“That’s right!

It’s a pity.

To think there would be no results from anywhere on the entire planet.

To think even the last attempt would fail!

I must have been too hasty, don’t you think?”

The gentleman suddenly struck an exaggerated pose and shouted loudly, as if appealing to someone.

If anyone who knew the situation had seen this scene, the attire of the hooded girl and the coated gentleman, they would have known that they were members of the unidentified armed organization that had gained global notoriety in recent months.

“Well, your actions themselves seemed cautious enough.
You confirmed it yourself.”

The girl placed her hand on a pile of documents scattered on the table.

It was the report on the last planned attempt, what happened on the west coast of North America a few days ago, which he had written himself and reported to the Boss, the gentleman in the coat.

“You were watching that Sang… what was it again, Boss?
Anyway, she wasn’t what you were looking for either, was she?”

“That’s right.

At best, it was just a remnant with only a faint impulse and power left… It’s a pity.

So disappointing that I impulsively gave up.

But to be honest, I didn’t have high hopes from the very beginning!

We’ve only just begun our full-scale activities, so there’s no way we could find everything we want so soon, is there?”

“You might end up like a cicada that rots underground for ten years only to disappear in an instant, you damn Boss.”

“Even a cicada, if preserved, can live for a hundred years.
If it’s in a book, it might live for a thousand, don’t you think?”

As if already fed up with the gentleman’s shamelessness, the girl clicked her tongue and popped a sour candy into her mouth.

Like most of the other members of the Apostle Council, just having a ‘conversation’ with this shamelessly brazen boss was a considerable ordeal.

“So I’ve decided to take a longer view.

Gathering strength while waiting for the coming day, increasing our comrades… that sort of thing.

The saying ‘the more haste, the less speed’ must be for times like these.

So, did you bring it?

Not the true trace… but that remnant.”

“Here.”

The girl took out a fist-sized transparent case from her cute bag and tossed it.

The gentleman who caught it laughed loudly as he checked its contents.

An oval, jet-black jewel that reflected no light.

But both of them knew that it was fundamentally different from the pseudo-magic engines created and used by the Apostle Council.

“You did well to retrieve it.”

“It was a mess, you know… I quickly tore it from her chest before those magical girl bastards found the body.

While I was at it, I placed a concrete block on her chest, so those idiots won’t even know someone tampered with the body.”

“Haha!

Excellent.

Excellent.

This is the very poison that will kill the world…”

Taking out the jewel, Saint Jimmy smiled joyfully.

“I think I’m really going to get sick of your delusions and lies.
I’ll follow you in the end, but…”

With those last words, the girl picked up her bag and left the room.

“But it certainly exists.

If the poison vial is real, how can there be no master of the poison?

It’s just… we just haven’t found it yet.

Besides, now that I have seen the traces with my own eyes…”

The mad gentleman’s mumbling simply melted away into the dark, cold air.