Congratulations on Your Magical Girl Duties

53 – Each Their Own Fight

Sora and Taishi quickly get their feet moving.

“Taishi, can you run? Is your injured arm going to be alright?”

“No problem-su. Already healed-su.”

“That’s a relief.”

The goal, of course, is only one.

“Then let’s go just a little faster.”

“Understood-su.”

They sought the aberrant one who’d cast the hypnotic curse upon Rei, so they might undo the enchantment.

The circumstances were thus:

Kim Siyul’s red medicine proved too potent, and Rei’s hypnotic curse only intensified as a result.

It was then that Kim Siyul abruptly offered a suggestion.

— “I’ll hold him off somehow, so while I do, you two go deal with that freak.”

A division of labor, it was.

One side to restrain Rei’s rampant state.

The other to battle the aberrant one.

Here, Kim Siyul would handle the former, Sora and Taishi the latter.

However, Taishi, inwardly concerned for Kim Siyul on his own, voiced his unease.

“Even so, is this truly alright? Inferior-kind are merely ordinary inferior-kind, aren’t they?”

“That may be, but it’s unavoidable.”

Indeed, it was unavoidable.

To break the curse, a fight with the aberrant one was inevitable, but the aberrant one, as fate would have it, flew through the sky.

Kim Siyul, on the other hand…

“Senior can’t do anything to the aberrant one, can he?”

“Well, that is so.”

He couldn’t even use magic, let alone fly.

Approaching the aberrant one was impossible. And even if he somehow did, he wouldn’t land a decisive blow. What could one expect from an ordinary person, after all?

Of course, Sora and Taishi couldn’t fly either.

Even so, their situation was better than Kim Siyul’s.

They possessed ranged capabilities of their own, and Taishi’s magic, in particular, held an overwhelming advantage against curses.

Thus, Kim Siyul naturally assumed the role of holding Rei back.

‘He said he was more comfortable with it anyway…’

Well, it wasn’t as if he had no recourse at all. Considering the art he’d previously displayed, he might have prepared another trick.

And then.

— “Don’t worry. I won’t die.”

Kim Siyul dismissed Sora’s concern.

— “Because I’m a hero.”

Mentioning a fictional being once more.

Therefore, there would be no problem. Sora thought this, forcing down the worry for Taishi.

“It’ll be alright. Senpai’s not exactly easy to kill, you know. He’s pretty good at dodging things in his own way.”

“Indeed, he is like a magical cockroach, is he not? Likely to survive anywhere, he seems.”

Of course, there was also the option of the three of them holding out until other magical girls could deal with the aberration.

Certainly, this was the more reasonable plan. It wasn’t as if the other magical girls couldn’t handle the aberration, and now they were free of the hostage shackle.

However, Kim Shiyul had rejected this option.

— “That aberration, is there any way we can capture it alive, instead of killing it? Just release the curse in a way that makes the aberration lose consciousness.”

For the single reason of capturing the aberration.

Well, it wasn’t completely outlandish. Magical extermination was the rule when dealing with aberrations, but there were a few cases of magical capture.

Besides, the target they were going to capture this time was a talking aberration.

It wouldn’t be easy, considering its intelligence, but if you considered that they could extract information through various means, the benefits outweighed the losses.

— “There’s something I want to ask it, you see.”

In fact, Kim Shiyul had asked for it for that very reason.

What she was so curious about that she wanted to capture an aberration and interrogate it, Sora didn’t know. But she didn’t feel the need to confirm it.

It was because Kim Shiyul’s atmosphere was unusual.

‘Something…’

It was frightening. Sora trembled without realizing it.

Although it was only for a brief moment, Kim Shiyul at that time was not the Kim Shiyul Sora knew.

It was like looking at a sharply honed sword.

So Sora didn’t pry.

She just brushed it off, thinking, ‘Oh, okay.’

To add to this, the fact that Sora’s mana reserves were precarious also lent weight to Kim Shiyul’s proposal.

Just then, Taishi pointed this out.

“By the way, are you feeling a bit better now? Earlier, you seemed in a bad way, as the inferior species said.”

“I’m okay. I’ve recovered a lot.”

No matter how chantless the magic may be, magic is still magic. Each time she blocked such magic, she felt her mana rapidly dwindling.

‘Defense magic is inherently draining, after all…’

Frankly, even Sora herself couldn’t be sure at the time.

How long she could last.

Fortunately, Kim Shiyul seemed to have considered Sora’s limits to some extent. A guess, but one that felt certain.

He kept asking Sora if she was alright, between every other word. Saying she looked pale.

‘I appreciate the concern, but…’

For someone who seemed to live without a thought, he had unexpectedly thorough sides. He was observant.

One more reason to try and connect him with my sister.

He was definitely someone to be liked.

‘No, but that crazy person really talks!’

Well, he was ‘liked’ in a different sense, too.

Anyway.

The result was that Sora and Taishi were now hunting a monster.

To capture the monster and undo the curse on Rei, at the same time.

Of course, they didn’t forget to ask the magical girls for help beforehand.

“So, there’s only one curse-casting monster left, and that monster can talk?”

“Yes, so we’d like to ask for a Magical Capture if possible. We might be able to get information we didn’t know.”

“I understand. It’s definitely best to use a Magical Capture for this.”

They explained it as concisely as possible, and the magical girls readily agreed to help.

However.

“But it might be difficult to provide immediate Magical Support.”

“Why is that, now?”

It seemed difficult to hope for a speedy helping hand.

“Since it’s a Magical Capture of a special monster, we’ll need to prepare a Magical Capture Wand separately. But we don’t have one on hand right now.”

“Oh… is that so?”

“It’s not impossible to do a Magical Capture without it, but we don’t know what variables might arise. We’ll bring it as soon as possible.”

The first reason was that they needed to be fully prepared, given who they were dealing with.

“Besides, the number of magical girls who are Magical-Combat-Incapable has suddenly increased, with latent curses activating later on.”

“Is that so…”

“Honestly, with the current manpower, it’s going to be tight just getting the Magical Capture Wand. And even without getting the wand, Magical Reorganization will still take time.”

The second reason was a lack of people.

In other words, the only immediately available people were Taishi and Sora.

Taishi and Sora were quick to decide.

“For now, we should probably just assume it’s just the two of us.”

“I think so too, I do.”

It was something both of them had sensed to some degree.

“Truthfully, I’m worried, I am. I don’t think the Inferior Species will last long, I don’t.”

“Well, it’s not like they absolutely *can’t* last. But how effective will they be against a Magical Girl…”

Even if it was Kim Shi-yul, he wouldn’t be able to hold out against Rei for long.

“Especially the stamina problem, I think. The black-haired Inferior Species isn’t a Magical Girl, you see.”

“It can’t be helped, I suppose.”

But simply waiting until the Magical Girls’ preparations were complete… they couldn’t be certain of Kim Shi-yul’s survival.

“And that Magical Executive seems to have solidified her plan to capture the Kaijin, I do. It looks like she’s just making up Magical excuses, you see.”

“Probably because of Magical Achievements. The more unique the monster, the higher the score. We should have just asked for help without saying anything else.”

From the start, they’d had their doubts about fully trusting Magical Girls blinded by Magical Achievements.

If that was the case.

Even if it meant risking it, they needed to capture the Kaijin and dispel the curse as quickly as possible.

To increase Kim Shi-yul’s survival rate, and to prevent Rei from committing a murder she didn’t even want to commit.

To prevent a tragedy that should never happen.

“But if a Lesser Retriever kills an Inferior Species, I think Magical Self-Defense will apply, I do.”

“Oh, uh…”

Well, whether it’s a tragedy or a realization of Magical Justice… that required some deeper consideration.

In any case.

How long did Sora and Taishi run around like that? They finally found the Kaijin.

Quite a distance from the building where Kim Shi-yul and Rei were facing off, floating in the air.

The Kaijin was there, leisurely floating.

“Taishi, did you see it?”

“Yes, I saw it, I did.”

Coincidentally, the Kaijin seemed to have noticed Sora and Taishi’s presence as well. Its bizarre, oversized grin visible even from a distance was proof of that.

They couldn’t hear what it was saying, but somehow, it felt like the Kaijin was saying something like this to Sora and Taishi.

You’ve come, it seemed to say.

That was the feeling, fleetingly.

Sora tightened her grip on her Magical Wand.

“Let’s go!”

“Understood, I shall!”

Sora and Taishi swiftly dash toward the grotesque figure. The thunder of a magical girl’s leg, *thump, thump*, heavily drums the ground.

In response, the grotesque figure’s form gradually shifts.

From a tiny point.

Becoming a faint silhouette.

Until, finally, it settles in their vision as a distinct image.

“I’ll be done with you two soon enough.”

Before they knew it, the grotesque figure had raised both hands. A menacing, grey fog began to swirl.

The manifestation of a curse.

“Bloom!”

Taishi brandishes her scepter-like magic wand. The conjured magic obliterates the grey fog, and brings forth a multitude of blooming lotuses.

“Tch. You’ve been a nuisance since the start.”

The grotesque figure openly expresses its displeasure. But Taishi and Sora paid it no mind.

“It is now, I say!”

“Understood, Taishi!”

They merely exchange a brief signal.

Through the scattering lotus blossoms, Sora surges forward, swinging her *gohei*-shaped magic wand.

From high above, with a fierce strike.

“May fire descend!”

A streak of azure flame plunges from the sky toward the grotesque figure. Sadly, the magic only grazed it.

But, Sora did not despair. She simply continued to prepare another spell, once more.

‘Sis, and Senior. Please, you must be safe.’

Wishing for Lei and Kim Si-yul to be safe.

And, at that very moment.

Kim Si-yul was facing off against Lei.

In truth, it was closer to a lull than a full confrontation. The surroundings were chaotic and disheveled, as though a storm had just passed through.

In the space where the aftershocks still lingered, Kim Si-yul stood before Lei, roughly catching his breath.

“Hah.”

With hands that had few fingers left, and even those were twisted and broken, practically nothing more than a lump of flesh.

“The heroes are all dead, goddamn it.”

Cramming my guts back in, before they spilled.