Chapter 81: Sin And Curse (6)

“Haaaang, I was scared…!!”

“Yeah yeah, unnie’s here so don’t cry too much. Let’s stop, stop.”

“Unnie! Unnie! Are you a magical girl too?”

“…”

“It’s best not to talk to her. She’s a scary magical girl.”

What kind of magical girl is a magical girl?

Seeing her giving hope to the children she saved made me feel nauseous.

Ugh, it feels like the apocalypse inside me is going to awaken…

In the meantime, the hope of the human children clinging to me was creepy.

It felt like maggots were stuck all over my body.

“Come on, don’t bother unnie.”

“But, she’s pretty…”

“Sure…”

“What are you looking at? Stop talking nonsense and take care of the children.”

Garnet stared at me without knowing what she was thinking.

Even if a magical girl were to evaluate her appearance, she wasn’t happy at all.

I took a few steps back as Garnet started walking first, leading the children.

I felt like I’d feel nauseous all day if I stayed near her.

“Stop, stop, stop!”

“… This is it.”

Well, if it ends like this, it won’t be fun.

She sighed inwardly at the armed humans that filled the hallway.

It was natural for Garnet’s expression to harden upon seeing those humans.

‘The magical girls’ attacks don’t work on normal humans, after all.’

Physical attacks with increased strength would work, but physically defeating that number of humans would be quite difficult.

There were even loads of luggage next to her.

Human children were weaker than she imagined, so even a single graze from a blind bullet would be fatal.

For Garnet, this was literally the worst-case scenario.

“There’s an order from her superiors that any test subjects who try to escape can be shot.”

“… You crazy bastards, you’re going to kill all the children?”

Those humans seemed to be quite serious.

Well, it was already a headache because the fact that there was a lab underground was revealed, and what if it was revealed that the lab was operating again? That would be the end.

The humans above who wanted to use this place would have tried desperately to stop them.

Even if it meant killing the magical girls.

‘Even though magical girls are stronger than normal humans, they are not immortal.’

Now Garnet had to make a choice.

Either abandon the human children and survive alone, or defeat all of those humans and live on.

Either way, it wouldn’t have been easy for Garnet to choose.

No, she probably hadn’t even considered the option of abandoning the children.

In that case, it would mean defeating all of those humans—

“…Akari.”

“Hmm? Did you call?”

ㅡAh, right. Garnet had one more option.

A choice that would take care of those armed humans without harming Garnet or the human children.

“Can you help me?”

“Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

But if you were to ask if that was a good choice, well, I don’t know.

Maybe because the situation was so urgent, she didn’t seem to be able to make a proper judgment, so she asked again.

Are you really asking me to do something?

Are you sure you won’t regret making that choice?

“No regrets.”

“That’s what you said.”

Garnet still looked like she didn’t understand the situation.

Her expression seemed like she didn’t know why she should regret stepping forward.

It could easily have been so.

Not knowing wasn’t a sin.

But not asking why could have been a sin.

“Haa…”

[Quickly activate the despair circuit. Kill all the humans in the world.]

“You don’t intend to activate the despair circuit, do you?”

As soon as I raised my despair, Apocalypse’s voice began to whisper to me.

Let’s kill the humans quickly. Let’s get rid of the magical girls quickly.

Let’s dye this world in despair.

It felt like I was being persuaded by a cult.

It was a different feeling from hopeful energy, so I felt bad.

“Uh, what is that…”

“You guys—”

ㅡYeah, dog food would be good.

With a short mutter, the head of the dog monster rose from the shadows.

***

The reason Garnet asked the question that she would regret.

If there was a reason, it was simple.

It was because I couldn’t activate the despair circuit right now.

No, I could activate it, but I didn’t know what would happen after I did, so I tried to restrain myself as much as possible.

So…

“W-what’s going on?!”

It was inevitable that this would happen.

Her body was riddled with holes. Her clothes were painted red all over.

She wouldn’t die just because she got hit by a human bullet, but it would look pretty serious to human eyes.

It was natural for Emerald to be so surprised.

“She did that.”

“…Garnet?”

When he pointed at Garnet, who was in a good mood after saving the children, Emerald’s eyes lit up.

Even without that, their first meeting wasn’t so good, so what would happen if he heard that Garnet had made him like this?

“……Me?”

“You threw me in front of armed humans, and that’s why I ended up like this.”

“Oh, no, that’s—”

“Garnet, what on earth did you do to Akari?!”

Emerald rushed at Garnet. Emerald had already won by a landslide from the weight class.

Garnet seemed to be trying to make an excuse, but Emerald’s eyes were already averted, so Garnet’s voice seemed inaudible.

“You should have listened carefully when I spoke.”

He had asked her if she was confident that she wouldn’t regret it, and Garnet had answered that she was confident that she wouldn’t regret it.

In the end, it was only natural that she would pay the price for that choice.

“Now, wait a minute… Listen to me! Listen to me!!”

“Fighting, Midori.”

“Ah, Akari, go inside and rest.”

“Yes.”

I slowly pulled away, watching Emerald shaking Garnet’s collar with dynamic movements.

When I told her to cheer up, her movements became more intense, so it seemed like she was shaking it with more sincerity than sincerity.

A magical girl who gets stronger with the support of a monster, what on earth is that?

Anyway, I walked into the bathroom, thinking I should at least wipe off the blood on my body.

Swish, swish—

[Why didn’t you kill her?]

“…”

[It would have been easy if you had killed her. Why did you let the humans live?]

I heard a voice.

Aren’t you sick of it?

Apocalypse began to chirp fervently in a voice that sounded like it was burning.

Yes, yes, speak fervently. I’ll do my job.

[And, you could have followed the Doctor. It’s because you weren’t by his side that the Doctor went to the trouble of creating such an inferior being—]

“Why, are you jealous?”

[…What?]

“I asked if you were jealous of such an inferior being next to you, Doctor.”

Oh, there’s a bullet embedded in here.

He pulled the bullet embedded in his forearm out with his finger.

“You should have been taking the initiative. If you can’t even take control of your own body, who else are you to say you’re inferior to, tsk.”

[W, what?!]

“Don’t raise your voice. It’s disgusting.”

Actually, there was no reason for Apocalypse to act like this.

In the original, he was the guy who destroyed the world, and that guy was even coveting control of his body.

But, how should I put it… I guess I should say it made me angry.

‘Is it because a guy who didn’t say a word in the original is talking…’

It was annoying. And it was irritating.

The Apocalypse I knew wasn’t like this! It felt like that.

It might have been different if I had just stared silently.

When I started talking, it felt like even the illusions that had remained in my memories were shattered.

[You’ll regret it.]

“Is that what you learned from me today? You’re a good kid. The doctor will like it.”

[You’ll definitely regret it.]

Me reflected in the mirror—Apocalypse’s eyes were glowing red.

Did that mean he was really angry?

Well, that could be true. If someone took over his body and started living with cockroaches, anyone would be angry.

He didn’t think that he was actually living off of the cockroaches’ despair.

‘In terms of mental age, he’s a child, but…’

He let out a sigh.

It was originally much more dangerous and unpredictable for a child to cause an accident than for an adult to cause an accident.

I’m already worried about what kind of accident our Apocalypse child will cause.

A child who’s always waiting for an opportunity to press the nuclear launch button…

“Ha, surrender… Okay, I was wrong…”

“Huh, apologize to Akari first.”

“I, I’m sorry… Akari…”

Garnet, who seemed to have lost her soul, offered me an apology.

I didn’t need an apology from a magical girl at all.

Garnet looked at me as if she were looking at me as her savior, but unfortunately, monsters weren’t the type of beings that could save magical girls.

“Please, just a little more, Midori.”

“Yes, Akari.”

“Wait a minute… Akari? Akari, Akari!!”

The desperate cries of a magical girl filled the house.

Of course, that had nothing to do with the monsters.