NOVEL WEB Chapter 31
The magical girl has no name.
The wind was blowing.
It was slightly cold, a sea breeze that felt like needles pricking the skin.
The sea, reflecting the starry sky, sparkled and rippled quietly in the night.
The waves crashed against the shore…and froze.
“Damn it! Don’t act cool just because you’re low-rank!”
When the magical girl with the large scythe swung it, the frozen waves shattered and continued to freeze towards the sea.
“Tohoku Branch, respond! Tohoku Branch! This can’t be happening… What did I do…?”
With one swing of the scythe, and dodging the ice, the magical girl sought help, but for some reason, she couldn’t connect with her branch.
As anxiety and fear threatened to overwhelm her, the magical girl remembered a rumor circulating within the Tohoku Branch.
Magical girls who rapidly climb the rankings are quietly eliminated…
Such was the rumor. The attacked magical girl had been active as a magical girl for about four years.
She ranked 29th and was considered a promising magical girl among her peers.
Originally from the Shikoku Branch, she had just transferred to the Tohoku Branch about a month ago for career advancement.
Now, she was being targeted for death by another magical girl from the same branch.
She also began to feel distrust toward the Tohoku Branch, which she hadn’t been able to reach.
Today, there were many monster extermination requests, and while she was fatigued, the large scythe-wielding magical girl appeared, targeting her.
(“I’ve been set up…”)
This thought consumed her heart.
Even if she wasn’t in perfect condition, she should have been able to escape, but after battling monsters, she was too exhausted now.
Moreover, their compatibility was poor. Her opponent wielded a large scythe and ice magic.
She used a bow and ice magic.
Since both used ice magic, unless she surpassed the other in magical power, it would be difficult to defend against her spells.
Despite this, unwilling to die here, she launched a counterattack but ended up only defending herself.
“Recently, kids like you acting all cool without magic power are so fragile. Just die already!”
“What’s the point of doing something like this?”
She defended against the large scythe’s strike with her ice-encased bow but broke out in cold sweat from the murderous intent transmitted through the scythe.
Though she managed to distance herself, she didn’t have the energy to launch an attack on her own.
“How long do you think you can run? Ice Coffin!”
Ice spikes sprouted around the archer magical girl, forming walls that pressed in to skewer her.
“Snow Hail!”
She unleashed her magic to carve away at the approaching walls, but colliding ice magic proved ineffective, and before she could create an escape route, the ice spikes grazed her.
Though not unscathed, she managed to escape the ice coffin successfully.
However, escaping didn’t improve the situation.
Holding her left arm grazed by the ice spike, she glared at the scythe-wielding magical girl.
“Fufu, how pitiful~ Shall we finish this soon?”
Blocking her escape route, ice walls emerged behind her, cutting off her retreat.
Fortunately, her right arm, capable of drawing her bow, was uninjured, but this offered little comfort.
As the large scythe was raised and cold air gathered, she closed her eyes in terror.
(Someone… please help me!)
The large scythe descended, and ice spikes surged forward. And then…
To her closed ears, the sound of shattering ice echoed.
“Who’s there! Where are you?”
Opening her eyes slightly, she saw the disoriented scythe-wielding magical girl.
Around her lay scattered ice spikes fired by the scythe-wielding magical girl, none of which had pierced or even grazed her.
She didn’t know what had happened, but she was certain she was still alive.
“Good evening. And nice to meet you.”
A voice resonated from atop the ice wall created earlier by the scythe-wielding magical girl.
The voice was calm and exuded unwavering resolve.
“There you are!”
The scythe swung, sending ice spikes flying, but they were stopped before reaching the source of the voice.
After deflecting the ice spikes, the speaker leapt down from the ice wall and landed beside the archer magical girl, revealing a young girl.
Her silver hair shimmered under the moonlight, and her black attire fluttered gently in the wind.
The magical girl, carrying a Black Sword in one hand, had arrived to aid the archer magical girl.
“Should I say it’s good that I made it in time, or unfortunate that I interfered? What do you think?”
The newly arrived magical girl taunted the scythe-wielding magical girl.
Frustrated at having almost finished her off, she gritted her teeth and revealed her anger.
But thinking she could kill both of them together, she shifted her mindset.
Still, she ranked 23rd.
She wouldn’t lose to just any magical girl, she smirked.
Had she known the rumors about this Black-Sword wielding magical girl, her fate might have changed.
On the contrary, the archer magical girl knew the rumors about this mysterious magical girl.
She supposedly appeared during disputes between magical girls to mediate.
She supposedly defeated two magical girls without injury.
They said her appearance was as beautiful as the princess of the moon.
Indeed, her form was beautiful and captivating.
However, from a brief glance at her red eyes, she sensed deep hatred.
She understood that this girl had come to save her based on her demeanor.
Still, she couldn’t stop her body from trembling.
“So, you suddenly appear and intend to protect her?”
“Protect…you could say that. More accurately, I’m here to defeat you.”
Cautiously, the scythe remained wrapped in cold air, observing the situation.
On the other side, she stood naturally, her sword pointing downward.
The scythe-wielding magical girl wanted to quickly settle things, having expended much magic power until now.
Thus, she hesitated whether to observe further or deliver a decisive blow.
“What’s your name, huh? You must have one since you’re a magical girl.”
“…Name, you say? Unfortunately, I don’t have one.”
Nowadays, even designated targets as magical girls have names. Yet this magical girl claimed otherwise.
From her aura, she didn’t seem like a newcomer.
Perhaps she simply didn’t wish to reveal her name?
If she wouldn’t reveal it, that was fine. The scythe-wielding magical girl released the cold air she had gathered in her scythe.
“Ice Death Scythe!”
A cold air slash aimed to take down both the archer magical girl and the newly arrived one.
Freezing the sea breeze as it approached the magical girls.
“Hmph. I was worried when you suddenly appeared, but this is nothing.”
To the scythe-wielding magical girl, this was her most powerful magic.
It required adequate preparation time and consumed significant magic power, but it possessed enough strength to fell an S-Rank monster.
So, she thought—she believed—it would end here.
“Air Cut – Magic Breaker”
That faint voice barely reached the scythe-wielding magical girl.
The ice slash collapsed before reaching the archer magical girls, and the sword-wielding magical girl appeared, swinging her blade.
“Indeed, this way is easier. Farewell.”
By the time the scythe-wielding magical girl realized it was bad, the mysterious magical girl had already closed the distance and swung her sword…
The archer magical girl watched and envisioned blood splattering.
But it was just a vision; no blood actually splattered, and a dull thud resounded.
She thought the scythe-wielding magical girl had been killed, but she wasn’t.
“Are you not going to kill her?”
“You may kill her if you wish, but such matters are resolved by those above or higher-ranked individuals.”
The sword didn’t cut the scythe-wielding magical girl; instead, it struck her head with the flat of the blade, causing her to collapse onto the sandy beach.
“…Do you have a terminal? I’ll borrow it for a moment.”
Snatching the archer girl’s terminal, she quickly operated it, making a call somewhere.
Caught off guard, she could only watch.
“Hello, this is the mysterious magical girl. There was a rather malicious magical girl, so I disciplined her.
There’s also a victim, so please hurry. I’ll send you the location. That’s all.”
After ending the call, the mysterious magical girl returned the terminal to the archer magical girl.
“Reinforcements will arrive shortly, so please wait. I can’t heal injuries with my current abilities, so bear with it.”
“Um, don’t you really have a name?”
During their exchange, the mysterious magical girl had claimed to have no name, but she suspected it was a lie. Not having a name meant being an unregistered magical girl.
Unregistered magical girls cannot exchange defeated monsters for money nor appear on the rankings.
Occasionally, there are magical girls who don’t care about money or fame, but surely they register as magical girls.
“…Yes, it’s true. With that, my business here is done. Excuse me.”
The mysterious magical girl slowly bowed her head, then turned and walked away.
Her figure slowly faded, making it seem like everything that happened might have been a dream.
However, the frozen sea and the fallen scythe-wielding magical girl told the story of what had transpired.
The archer magical girl sighed in relief at having survived the life-threatening ordeal.
Thoughts of the scythe-wielding magical girl who attacked her and the unresponsive Tohoku Branch crossed her mind.
(What was the purpose of trying to kill me?)
Until reinforcements arrived, she submerged herself in her thoughts.