Overpowers: Life Is Magical

When they reached the second floor of the house, Yoshino and her companions found themselves in a dimly lit corridor. Two doors on the left flanked the narrow hallway and two on the right. At the end of the corridor, a small window looked out into the eternal darkness outside—a haunting reminder of how they were trapped in one of these barriers.

Yoshino scanned the corridor, searching for any signs of Judai. The intact window at the end of the hall suggested he hadn't tried to escape through it. 'The corridor window is still intact. Then he's probably inside one of these rooms...'

She quickly exchanged glances with her companions, then nodded to reinforce her plan. "The doors. He must have gone inside one of these rooms!" Without waiting for confirmation, she selected the nearest door on the right and carefully opened it, ready to slam it shut if Judai tried to ambush her.

She peered inside to see a neatly arranged queen-sized bed, a clothes closet, and a dresser. The room's window showed no signs of damage. "Not here," she announced, her voice tinged with frustration. "Any luck on your side?" Although the room appeared empty, Yoshino didn't step inside to confirm, wary of potential traps.

Nozomi, determined and brimming with anger, flung open the nearest door on the left. She let her glowing index finger light up the room, ready to fire immediately. "Nope, not here!" she called out after a few seconds. Her heart pounded with a fierce determination to make Judai pay for almost tricking her into killing her best friend.

When Seiza opened the far left door with magic, his answer wasn't much different from Nozomi and Yoshino's. "Not here either!" He tried to smell Judai's presence but couldn't pinpoint his location again. His smell was all over the house, and when he tried to locate him by sound, he only heard his friends and the many insects crawling their way up to them.

Seiza couldn't help but curse himself again for his weakness. It almost felt to him like Judai made sure to counter any way he could try to locate him. 'But that wouldn't be possible, since we had never met before, unless...'

Life approached the far right door, a thought striking him just as he was about to turn the handle. 'Wait… back then, before Judai lost his arm, he was blinded by the flash of light, delaying his reaction to Yoshino on the floor. Could his senses be vulnerable to sensory overload?' A mischievous grin spread across his face as he decided to test his hypothesis. 'After all the stress today, throwing the girls a bone wouldn't be too bad.'

Deciding on his course of action, Life activated the silvery liquid that leaked from his glove. 'Flashbang grenade, 0.5 seconds until activation.' Faster than the eye could follow, Life opened the door, tossed the flashbang inside, and closed it, raising a hand to his ear theatrically. 'Wait for it...'

BANG

THUD

He nodded to himself, satisfied. 'There we go, that's the sound I like to hear.' Opening the door, he found Judai near the window, disoriented and trying to regain his senses after the surprise flashbang. "Found him!" Life yelled out, signaling the others.

Nozomi, Seiza, and Yoshino rushed to Life's side, driven by urgency and a shared resolve. As they reached him, they saw Judai struggling on the floor, his movements sluggish and disoriented. Seizing the moment, Nozomi stepped forward, her finger glowing with a searing, potent light aimed directly at Judai, ready to finish him off. Her eyes blazed with sheer determination as she sought a clear shot, the aura around her finger intensifying by the second.

"Wait, Nozomi!" Yoshino's urgent voice cut through the air, a plea tinged with worry.

But before Nozomi could pull the trigger, a rain of insects descended from the ceiling, crashing onto her with the ferocity of a living storm. The swarm enveloped her, their tiny mandibles biting furiously at her exposed skin, nipping at her flesh, and crawling into her clothes. Dark, chitinous bodies writhed over every inch of her, aimed with horrific precision to tear at her eyes, face, hands, and the rest of her body.

Desperate to maintain control, Nozomi gasped in sudden, searing pain. "What the—argh!" Reflexively, her glowing finger discharged a misshapen bolt of light, narrowly missing Judai and searing a hole into the wall behind him. The agony overtook her, and she collapsed to the floor, the relentless biting from the insects overwhelming her defenses and tearing screams from her throat.

"NOZOMI!" Yoshino screamed, her heart racing in distress. She rushed to her friend's side, her schoolbag swinging with furious intent as she frantically swatted away the swarming insects. The bag connected with satisfying thuds, dislodging bugs from Nozomi's skin, but more seemed to appear in their place. The smell of crushed insect bodies mixed with sweat and fear was overpowering.

Life watched the unfolding chaos with what could only be described as his 'Face of Utter Bafflement.' 'What are they thinking? Judai will recover from the flashbang any moment now and make his escape. Why are they wasting this opportunity?'

True to his predictions, Judai began to rise, making his way towards the window. Life noted that the arm Judai lost had yet to regenerate, still affected by Nozomi's attack.

When Nozomi saw Judai trying to make his escape, her immediate reaction was to aim at him, her glowing finger pointing unwaveringly. But before she could line up her shot, one of the insects buried itself into her fingers, its mandibles biting down hard. Pain exploded through her hand, and before she knew it, blood spurted from the wound, spraying into her eyes and blinding her momentarily.

Nozomi gritted her teeth, pushing through the pain with sheer determination. She refused to let the darkness swallow her vision or let Judai slip through her grasp. Every nerve in her body screamed in agony as she forced herself back up, driven by an unyielding resolve. Though she could no longer see him, she harnessed her instincts, knowing precisely where he would head.

Despite the seething disgust she felt as bugs crawled through her clothes, their mandibles carving their way through her flesh, Nozomi's focus remained unbroken. Each step was a testament to her inner strength, every movement forging her path forward through sheer willpower. "Stop. Right. Thereeeeee!!!" she yelled, her voice vibrating with raw emotion as her right hand glowed ever brighter, bolting straight to where she thought Judai would.

Judai tried to dodge out of the way, but the lingering effects of Life's flashbang rendered his movements slow and uncoordinated. Nozomi, bloodied and enraged, tackled him with such force that he shivered under the intensity of her gaze. Their collision was enough to take down not just the window but part of the wall surrounding it. "Wha—!" Judai managed to utter before being forcibly dragged outside by the unrelenting Nozomi.

As they plummeted towards the ground, Nozomi's primary focus was to end Judai once and for all. She tried to bring her glowing finger to his head to deliver the final blow, but Judai, snapping out of his initial shock, bit down savagely on her index finger. Blood poured from the wound, but the pain only fueled Nozomi's fury.

Desperation colored Judai's thoughts. 'Yes! With her finger damaged, she won't be able to shoot! I've won!' His satisfaction, however, was short-lived. A loud bang echoed through the air, and Judai's vision split as the entire right side of his head disintegrated. 'W-what?!'

Confusion reigned as he struggled to comprehend what had happened. He desperately searched with his remaining eye for an explanation. His gaze finally landed on Nozomi's glowing hand. 'I-it can't be!' he thought in disbelief.

Nozomi's index finger was indeed too mangled to fire, but her middle finger remained functional. The sheer brightness emanating from her hand had masked the fact that she was ready to shoot with another finger. In his overconfidence, Judai had missed a crucial, and in the end, fatal detail that cost him everything.

Judai cursed himself for not seeing this coming before he and Nozomi finally hit the cold dark ground side by side.

Life looked through the broken wall and saw both Judai and Nozomi lying on the ground. Nozomi's magical girl uniform and hair were stained red and black, but she was alive, even if barely. With Seiza rushing to her aid, she'd soon be physically fine. 'Phew, that was something. Nozomi, I didn't expect you to jump out a window to get the guy. Well done.'

Turning his attention to Judai, Life watched as the darkspawn began to fade, his body disintegrating little by little. 'I wonder what dying as a summon is like. Technically, they aren't alive, as much as Technology likes to boast otherwise. The patterns I see seem to indicate pure, unadulterated desperation.'

A sadistic smile curled Life's lips as he savored Judai's suffering. 'Look at him, desperately clinging to life despite his fate. He almost got what he deserved.'

But Judai's desperate struggling ceased abruptly. Moments later, he completely dissolved. Life's smile faded. 'Huh? Did he just accept his death?'

"[Detect Magic]." The pupils of Life's eyes brightened, altering his vision. 'Let's see if you're really dead.'

He scanned for any lingering traces of Judai and saw a dim aura of ominous energy blending with the ground. 'There you are.' He raised a contemplative hand to his masked chin. 'What to do with him? I can't just let him go and spill everything to his summoner. But he may have useful information...'

Life's musings were interrupted as Seiza and Yoshino emerged from the house, Seiza healing Nozomi while Yoshino ensured no insects remained on her friend. Life noticed most of the insects were scattering, likely due to Judai's apparent 'death.'

Jumping out of the hole in the wall, Life descended with dramatic flair, his cloak billowing and his landing perfect. 'This is a bit overkill, but harmless fun never hurts. Surely, they must be in awe...'

"Is Nozomi gonna be alright?" Yoshino's voice, rife with distress, cut through his thoughts.

"Yoshino, calm down! Nozomi's gonna be okay. Just let me concentrate," Seiza replied, trying to soothe both his own nerves and Yoshino's.

Yoshino nodded and stepped back to give Seiza space to work.

Feeling ignored, Life rolled his eyes. 'I guess I expected too much. Fine, I have other matters to attend to.' A sadistic smile returned as he turned to leave. 'I have a certain bug to catch.'

But before he could fully exit, Yoshino's voice halted him. "Wait!"

Life turned slightly, seeing Yoshino approach. She stopped a few feet away, looked up at him for a moment, then bowed lightly. "I... want to thank you. Honestly, I didn't fully trust you at first. But you saved my life when you shot that monster. So yeah... Thank you, and sorry for doubting you."

After a second of consideration, Life chose to remain silent. He turned to face her fully, offering his hand for a handshake.

Yoshino sighed with relief and accepted the gesture. "Phew, less awkward than I thought it would be. Thank you for understanding."

After they shook hands, Life turned to leave again, only to be stopped by Yoshino once more. "Wait! Excuse me, I understand if you don't want to reveal everything, but... could you at least tell me why you're helping us?"

Life paused for a moment before replying, "Because I didn't want either of you to die." It was the truth, even if his reasons were mostly pragmatic. Not sparing her a backward glance, he continued to walk, casually waving goodbye.

Once out of sight, he jumped, breaking through the barrier effortlessly. Landing outside, the barrier quickly repaired itself. 'Alright, if I were a creepy bug guy who likes kidnapping teenage girls, where would I be?' Life wondered, a grin spreading across his face as he readied himself for the hunt.