Transformation – 1

Just as he was about to unleash magic at his face, he sensed someone behind him.

Turning his head, he saw a girl with a chilling expression.

She seemed momentarily unable to grasp the situation.

“Hyeji, step back… Ugh!”

Suddenly, pain struck, and an alien sight began to unfold before her eyes.

An arm, covered in crimson red, had pierced through her chest.

“What… is this…”

With the sensation of blood draining away, her legs began to lose strength.

“To think you’d be a Magical Girl… Ha, unbelievable.”

The girl, wearing Lee Hyeji’s face and speaking with Lee Hyeji’s voice, looked down at her collapsing form with a sneer.

“Hye, Hyeji?”

The arm that had pierced her twisted. Lyrical Star’s eyes rolled back in her head from the pain of being violated from the inside.

“Kyaaaaaa!!!”

She collapsed, writhing in pain as her flesh tore and a foreign object invaded her.

With a schwoop, the arm that had pierced her withdrew.

The Magical Girl’s bright red blood soaked Lee Hyeji’s hands.

Lee Hyeji licked her hand, her body shuddering as the Magical Girl’s blood touched her tongue, as if she were eating sweet chocolate.

“Why… Hyeji…”

Lyrical Star wore a look of utter despair in her wavering vision.

“Do I still look like ‘Hyeji’ to you?”

Lee Hyeji flicked her hand with a sneer.

Lyrical Star’s blood scattered on the ground.

A dark aura enveloped Lee Hyeji’s body. Just for a moment, as if the curtains of a dressing room were opening, the dark aura vanished, and a voluptuous woman she had seen before was looking down at her.

“…!!!”

Lyrical Star’s eyes widened at the sight of the figure that came into sharp focus even in her fading vision.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Lilith of the Four Heavenly Kings. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

She greeted her brightly, snapping her fingers.

“Since when…”

The Magical Girl spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Hmm, I wonder since when? Maybe since the moment I spoke to you?”

“……..”

“I was worried you might be wary, but you were unbelievably unguarded, to the point where it was absurd.”

Lilith leaned back and laughed.

“Ah~ Not even like a stray dog. Just show it a little attention, and it wags its tail like crazy.”

“Where’s the real Hyeji…?”

“What do you think happened to her?”

“You!!!”

The Magical Girl screamed and lunged at Lilith.

She reached out as if to tear the sneering enemy’s face off.

But her hand didn’t reach Lilith’s face.

Because a giant man grabbed her leg and slammed her into the ground.

“Kuh-ack!!”

Her entire body crashed onto the asphalt, and she coughed up blood from the impact.

“Krrr… I’ll kill you.”

Thols, his muscles bulging, growled. He seemed quite offended by being slammed into the ground.

“We’re even now, right? I saved you from almost dying.”

Thols didn’t react to Lilith’s taunt.

His bloodshot eyes were fixed solely on the Magical Girl.

“Die!”

His massive fist came down.

“…Star of Protection!”

As she raised her arm and chanted, a translucent blue barrier formed.

Bang!

Thols’ fist was blocked by the barrier and bounced back.

Zhiing, zhiing

The barrier trembled, and the vibration was transmitted to her arm.

“Ugh…”

The Magical Girl grimaced in pain, even though most of the impact was absorbed.

Thols huffed and raised both hands high.

Again, Bang!

His fist fell with the force to crush the Magical Girl.

The barrier blocked the fist again.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

But the barrier’s durability was nearing its limit from the Four Heavenly Kings’ continuous attacks.

Crackle

Cracks began to appear in the center of the barrier, and the intensity of the impact grew stronger.

“Ugh, ugh!”

Feeling her body sinking into the ground, the Magical Girl struggled to maintain the barrier.

“Ahahaha!!! You’re going to be crushed like a bug, aren’t you?”

Lilith cackled as she watched the desperate struggle.

Bang! Another fist came down.

Her tactless body spat out blood again.

Ah… It hurts.

A beep sound rang in her ears. Was this tinnitus?

Bang! Another fist came down.

She barely maintained the barrier.

Again, pain assailed her.

Looking at the cracks all over the barrier, she figured it would only hold for about three more hits at best.

Three times at most, with willpower, stubbornness, or a miracle.

Bang! One time.

Her entire body was covered in blood.

Ah, it’s a pretty outfit, what a waste. This is the end of my Magical Girl outfit.

Still, I took on this mission with a sense of duty… and now it’s over.

I was thinking of defeating a Witch and retiring, but instead, I’m being taken down by a Four Heavenly Kings, not even a Witch.

Haha… What a terrible ending. I hate it.

Bang! Two times.

Maybe it’s for the best. I don’t have to live so hard and lonely anymore.

It hurts now, but when I die… maybe I can see Mom and Dad.

There are Magical Girls, so maybe there’s an afterlife too.

Yeah, if that’s the case… I can accept my death.

Bang! Three times.

The barrier looked like wet paper. It felt like a hole would form if you poked it with your finger.

Shatter!

The barrier broke. The fragments of starlight scattering were beautiful.

Yeah, this is the end.

The end of a Magical Girl will be this lonely.

I started alone, so it’s fitting that I end alone.

“This is the end, Magical Girl!!!”

Ah, that brat’s voice is so loud. My ears already hurt, and now they hurt even more.

Yeah, hurry up and kill me. I have no regrets now.

The muscle-bound fist came down to crush me.

A huge shadow fell over my body.

That must be my coffin.

This city’s asphalt will be my grave.

People see their life flash before their eyes before they die, but I don’t have anything like that.

Well, I guess it’s because I had a life with nothing to regret.

……

……

……

“Ahjussi, I miss you.”

I miss you.

Bang! The fist came down.

“Hmm?”

Thols tilted his head. It didn’t feel like he was hitting the body of a fragile Magical Girl.

Rather, it felt like he had punched a solid lump of iron.

“What is it?”

As the scattering dust gradually settled, he tried to make out the shape in front of his fist.

“Huh?”

Surprisingly, it was Lilith who made the sound, standing a distance away next to him.

She rubbed her eyes several times as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“You… what are you?”

Thols growled at the being blocking his fist.

“……..”

Yet, the other party didn’t answer.

Without hesitation, Thols pulled back his fist and thrust it forward again.

The gust of wind created by the giant’s fist cleared away the dust.

A neatly dressed man stood before him.

The man stepped back, extending both hands to meet the fist flying towards him with the force to crush his body.

It was a rather clumsy stance to block Thols’ fist, but

Bang!

Surprisingly, the Four Heavenly Kings’ fist stopped.

“Thols! That’s him. The man I said I was looking for!”

Lilith’s sharp cry rang out, and Thols’ eyes narrowed.

“He wasn’t a regular person?”

“Thols, get back, something’s wrong!”

Despite Lilith’s warning, Thols flexed his muscles.

“This Thols is supposed to back down??!!!”

He picked up his battle hammer that had fallen to the ground.

Unlike before when he swung it with his left hand, this time he gripped the weapon with both hands and raised the hammer as high as he could.

His excessively bulging muscles twitched.

“Be flattened like a bug!!!”

The battle hammer began to fall with the force to obliterate the man without a trace.

The neatly dressed man stared at it blankly, then covered his face with his right hand.

“Ah– I didn’t want to show it in a place like this.”

“Now that I’ve shown it. I can’t let you two go unharmed.”

A huge flame surged from his right hand and began to cover his face.

Even though the flames burned as if to melt his face, the man didn’t even flinch.

Lilith felt a familiar energy from the swirling flames.

“[If it goes on like this.]”

The man muttered from beyond the blazing flames.

The flames enveloped his face.

And began to take shape. Creating its own surface, attaching to his face, and revealing flame-like patterns.

The explosively surging flames disappeared, revealing the man’s face.

The mask that covered his face.

A half-mask that only showed eyes full of hostility.

From inside the mask, the man recited the final incantation.

“[Rider.]”