Transformation or Death

Chapter 7 – Groups Are Always at Extremes

It was a pathetic day. 

Red Vega evaluated today as such.

Being defeated is being defeated. It’s already an unchangeable past. 

Yet that defeat was stuck in her heart like a thorn, and she couldn’t properly finish the work she had steeled her mind to do.

Red Vega’s secretly held suicide counseling session.

Such work is just as important as the work of a magical girl.  

But.

‘I was immature.’

Since an unstable counseling recipient could act strangely, she should have calmly handled it, but she panicked just because the person was asleep. From the very start, she failed to show the proper attitude of a counselor.  

That’s not all. She couldn’t properly apply the manual she had memorized for days due to distracting thoughts, and in the end, she ended up being cared for by the counseling recipient instead.

She abandoned a counseling recipient who couldn’t even have a positive influence properly and went into action.

Moreover, she couldn’t make any notable achievements in that action either.

‘I went crazy… I went crazy… Aah, I’m so frustrated!!!’

For two consecutive days, she made a spectacle of herself.

They were things that should not happen to Red Vega, who aims to be a perfect magical girl.

[Hey… Guardian?]

Ribbon called out, but she didn’t hear it. Her ears were currently blocked by the roar of regret raging inside her. It would have been better if only her dream of being undefeated was shattered, but she showed consecutive failures instead.   

Within the shattered fragments of her dream, the echoing regret broke through another calmness, and echoed again within those fragments. Repetitions of rolling regret, like dominos falling.

The only thing that grew within that endless regret was self-loathing.  

Hope began to fade from the magical girl who should give hope.

[Guardian? Are you okay?]

‘I’m not okay… But I have to be okay.’

Once again, Red Vega pulled herself together amidst that regret and shame.

‘Because I’m a magical girl.’  

She’s an existence that mustn’t lose her light no matter what hardship or failure she faces.

‘If I mess up again, I really will…’

[Guardian?]

‘Really…’

She tried to punish herself from a self-reflecting standpoint, but couldn’t think of any punishments.  

‘…What should I do?’

[Um… How about giving one of your collections to the girl you hate the most?]

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” She accidentally blurted it out loud.

“Ahi.” 

Red Vega quickly covered her mouth and looked around. It was already too late after she had let it out. The past can never be gathered back up. Everyone’s eyes began turning towards her.

“Ah, hey. What are you doing? Not paying attention?”

“Deneb. Don’t use real names during meetings.” 

“Yeees~”

After Blue Sirius warned her, the snarky Pink Deneb shut her mouth.

“Vega, you too. It’s fine to talk to your mascot but focus during the meeting time.” 

“Yes…”

This is all because of that freak from yesterday. That freak is the one who made her so exhausted.

-Even professional fighters take 15 days of rest after a single match. You must have had a tough time flying around yesterday, so wouldn’t it be better to take a rest instead of being so passionate?

Red Vega suddenly recalled his words from today, but firmly dismissed them.

‘Flying around? He’s mocking me while telling me to rest?’

He deliberately chose each expression to be grating. It was clearly a sarcastic remark telling her to quit being a magical girl and live an ordinary life. How vile.

“Haha, you got completely beaten!” 

“Hey, who taught the brat to say something like that? Was it you, Ahi?”

“I’m not a brat! I’m the cute and lovely White Davi! You say bad words the most!”

“What? You wanna go?”  

“Guys, please…”

Holding meetings with these colorful personalities is always a pain. As the eldest, Blue Sirius, who inherited the reluctant leader position, pressed her forehead.

“No! We’re in the middle of a meeting for everyone’s sake!”

“You used the wrong conjugation. Yeah, I guess you’re right. We’ll talk later.”

“I don’t want to! I’m going straight home!”

“Everyone quiet. You’re giving big sis a hard time.”

“You were the first one to start yapping…”

Thankfully, the commotion didn’t persist further, and silence arrived. A brilliantly blue silence, like the sky after a storm passes.

‘They’re good kids at heart…’

People do end up ruining their personalities if they fight for too long.

Ahem. Clearing her throat, Blue Sirius looked at Red Vega with her signature chilly blue eyes.  “…Then, shall we combine the information we have on that freak to review the situation?”

Her long, slender fingers pointed to the screen behind her. 

It showed a photo of the S-grade freak that wasn’t released to the media, taken during today’s emergency dispatch.

A giant in black leather skin without any human skin showing, clad in an armor with many green ornaments.

Apart from the uniquely designed belt around its waist, its appearance was similar to most other S-grade villains.

“It arrived at the site you were supposed to go to beforehand and massacred the villain there.”

When the news came that it had arrived at the scene Red Vega was supposed to handle, all magical girls were ordered to observe it instead of their original dispatch. Red Vega was one of them.

She had to watch it skillfully dispose of the villains far more adeptly than she could, sweeping them away like falling leaves in the wind. 

“It was crazy strong… That thing wasn’t just wielding one stellar power.”

“Multiple magic! Constellation-level!”  

Originally, only one type of magic is permitted per star.

Like how Red Vega wields fire magic, and Blue Sirius wields ice magic. Until now, every magical girl had one star, one magic.

And they had a few ultimate techniques created by training that magic to the extreme.

“It even had techniques… At least three confirmed ones.”

Since every magical girl’s magic is different, direct assistance in creating ultimate techniques is impossible.   

That’s why every magical girl has to build the tower called an ultimate technique from scratch on a completely barren field with no foundation.

Must Kill.

With the mind to absolutely kill, with the constant readiness to die.

Ultimate techniques are forged by imbibing blood with the hearts of moths drawn to flames and of those ready to kill.

“Each one was powerful… And there were three of those. No, there are definitely more.”

An extraordinary level of power.

There’s already a huge gap just from the raw stellar power, and it also possesses techniques that maximize that power.

A solemn atmosphere dominated the room.

“Oh right! It also seemed to have good sensing abilities! Even though Senior Aldebaran used her magic to conceal all of us, it noticed Vega!”

“…Davi. Saying things like that will only demoralize us.”

Aldebaran sank the bright-voiced Davi’s remark, and the solemn atmosphere returned to the room.

“Ahi. You were the first witness, right? Don’t you have any good intel?”

“Intel…?” 

“Deneb, I… Ah, nevermind.”

After Blue Sirius’ sigh, Red Vega began pondering. As the one who conversed with it the most here, it was a natural question.

“From our conversation, it seemed incredibly arrogant…”

“We all confirmed that too today. It was so casual, like it couldn’t even sense a threat from us. With that much power, it’s only natural I suppose. Anything other than that? Maybe a clue on how to beat it?”

Red Vega placed her hand on her chin and recalled her conversation with it. Most of it was just grating arrogance, but there were a few things that stood out.

-I earnestly ask that you surrender. If you don’t, it might get a bit troublesome, you see…

-…Wouldn’t it be better to take a rest instead of being so passionate?  

‘…Huh?’

Red Vega’s eyes lit up. “That villain… We might not even need to beat it.”

“What? Did you get hit in the head?” Pink Deneb reacted sharply.

“Of course not. Even if I did, it would just leave a bump. Ah, that’s not what I mean… That villain. It doesn’t seem to have hostile intentions towards us.”

“That’s…”

Aldebaran looked at her sternly and questioned. “Is it because that villain was created based on a human?”

The breaths in the room seemed to pause momentarily. It was that serious of a matter.

Human villainization.

When a person is exposed to stellar powers for a long time, they can be reborn as a villain by also absorbing negative emotions. 

A person turned into a freak loses all memories of their previous life and lives according to the villain’s instincts.

“You’re sure about that.”

“Yeah… There are a lot of clues, like how it was well-versed in human culture with things like cameras and professional fighters. If it had been lurking in human society for years or was originally human… There’s no way it would know those things.”

Villainized humans are invariably powerful.  

With very few samples, there may be errors in the average, but based on the statistics so far, they are outputting at least A-grade levels of power.

Such villains are a major enemy of magical girls. Of course, the aforementioned power was one of the reasons.

But the biggest issue was the origin material of those villains. Villainised humans failed to protect the very existence they were supposed to protect.

It meant they had to kill what they were supposed to protect.

“Ah, no. It’s not that. It’s based on my conversation with it. Right when it met me, it suggested I surrender, and even in our confrontation today, it showed no intentions to fight and chose to flee instead…”

“Trying to understand a villain’s thoughts! Your head must be a flower bed!” 

“Hey, who taught the brat to say stuff like that.”

Although her words were harsh, no one denied what she said.

“Vega, you’re new, so you might not know this well… But there have been villains like that before. Ones that don’t commit unnecessary killings if it doesn’t align with their goals. However, if it does match their goals…”

Blue Sirius clenched her teeth tightly.  “They mercilessly kill anyone, regardless of who the target is.”

Pink Deneb nodded her head. “That’s right. And there’s even an organization made up of just those kinds of villains.”

“Huh? There’s something like that?”

“You can assume all the unsubdued S-grade villains so far belong to that. The organization has been keeping a low profile for years and operates in extreme secrecy, so it’s understandable you don’t know. What was its name again…”

***

Ippotranslation

***

“Dilemma.”

If it was a stellar side group, they would stubbornly name it something like the Twelve Constellations of the Ecliptic. Dilemma, what kind of name is that? Clicking my tongue, I surveyed the faces gathered around me.  

“Oh, so you knew about us? I’m pleased.”

“Impressive. I wonder where you got your information from?”

“Don’t spout nonsense. You probably just guessed right.”

“Hahaha! You always speak so unintelligently, don’t you? I kindly ask that you don’t open your mouth, lest my own intelligence drops.”

I’ll snap.

I was just walking down the street when it suddenly went dark around me. When I came to, I was in the midst of an enemy organization.

“Please don’t mind those two imbeciles’ conversation. Personally, I prefer enjoying leisure time. But since you might find it vexing, let me get straight to the point.”

“Belt.”

Dilemma.

A gathering of S-class villains. 

There is no particular leader, nor is there a goal.

That’s not to say each individual lacks a goal, just that the group itself has none.    

If one had to define the group’s purpose, perhaps it would be a temporary cooperation to more easily achieve their individual goals.

In any case, there is no cohesion whatsoever.  

So what’s the problem with such a group?

“Prepare to transform.”

The problem is that these bastards are the culprits behind killing all magical girls and destroying the world.

Clack. The metal ball bearings floating around me attached to my waist, forming a belt.

“Haha, you’re quite fast. Anyway, let me get to the point…”

“Belt, what are the chances of me taking all of them down here?”  

A voice came from the belt attached to my waist.

[0.2%]

“How fortunate.”

That’s good enough for me. I immediately placed my hand on the belt.

[However, the survival rate is 0%.]  

“…What is your goal?”

The fallen magical girl on the right shouted. “World destruction!”  

“Transform.”

[ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION.]

Whether I die from destruction or from fighting here, what’s the difference?

‘They still won’t give me the quest to the end…’

No more excuses to make.

Grumbling, I charged at them.

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