Mr. Magical Girl

Chapter: 174. And So, the Gears Began to Move

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“What’s that sound?”

After hearing the child’s tale, I was surprised again.

I looked back at the Librarian, but he stared at the enemy without changing his expression.

Following his gaze, I could see a curious scene.

For the first time, he, who usually wore an artificial expression, exhibited a natural one.

“…Amazing. To discover that?”

“Did you think I couldn’t? You did hide it well. Though I honestly never thought of digging through my own gaps.”

What the heck is going on?

I don’t care which of you explains, but could someone please explain this to me?

At that thought, I started hearing a sound in my ears.

Creeeeek.

The sound of gears grinding.

Woooo.

The sound of a cooler operating.

Bzzzzt.

The noise of escaping heat.

Then, one corner of my vision began to fill with darkness.

The Librarian, having equipped his armor, started to darken the previously shining silver.

The beginning of maximum output reality manipulation.

“What I asked for wasn’t your surprise.”

Starting with the Librarian’s mechanical voice.

Ggggk.

The world began to change.

The classroom where students attended lessons vanished into the distance, and simple white tiles began to fill my surroundings.

The floor, the ceiling, the walls. All of them.

Bzzzzzt.

Steam began to spew forth.

When the world was entirely tinged white.

“I will ask again. Is this chip programmed by you?”

A voice devoid of any emotion flowed from beside me.

“Yes, I designed it. So, your actions are just as I expected.”

A voice filled with joy, completely unlike a machine, emerged from the enemy.

“I am not your child, Curator.”

“Do you seriously think you are still human? That’s beyond expected range. I believe I should continue the lecture I had earlier with the students.”

Wiiiiing.

The boosters that erupted from the Librarian’s back began to roar.

As if rebuking the calmness and coldness of its master.

“Yes, I am human. The child who died that day… without a name.”

I shut my mouth.

This is his story.

I was managing everything from backstage.

“How interesting. Are you judging your own continuity by memory? Your actions, your way of thinking, all of it was created by me.”

In contrast to the Librarian, who spread his equipment and prepared to charge.

The Curator merely stretched both arms out while standing up straight.

As if attempting to embrace the approaching child.

“My blood still flows. The blood left by my parents.”

“That’s just a matter of time. Eventually, everything will disappear.”

Blood and flesh.

It’s been ages since I saw my own.

I wonder what happened to my original body.

“Yes, that’s why I came to settle things before that. While parts of me that are still human remain.”

The Librarian, who had been moving like a machine, finally made a human-like gesture after speaking those words.

He glanced at me briefly.

What. What do you want from me?

Help?

I waved my hammer to convey that meaning, but he shook his head as if he didn’t need it and looked back at his enemy.

“Then, Curator. I’ll ask one last thing before we fight.”

“Hm. So if I don’t answer, we don’t have to fight? I have no intention of fighting my child.”

That was a truly awkward smile, like a friend joking around.

“Is everything I’ve done up to this point according to your plan?”

The Librarian completely ignored him and asked his final question.

“Yes, everything is a planned harmony. Even the outcome of this battle. I can hear small parts, but they too lie within the error range.”

He said that, widening his mouth and lowering his stance.

“Think as you will.”

As he matched the enemy, the Librarian lowered his stance as well.

The air trembled once.

Fwoooosh.

With that, flames burst forth from the boosters behind him, and the Librarian charged straight ahead.

Without drawing his weapon, his blackened hands stretched out in front.

His posture looked incredibly unstable to me.

His center was misaligned, and his left hand couldn’t facilitate the right hand’s connections, even the shape was sloppy.

Like a creature expressing anger for the first time.

Yet, untold energy was packed into those hands.

Tearing through space, surpassing cognition.

Standing opposite the Librarian, the Curator abandoned his welcoming stance and bent deeply at the waist.

As if to bow.

However, I quickly realized it was just my misunderstanding.

Once the Librarian edged a bit closer, the moment the Curator straightened his back, an explosive sound erupted, and countless mechanical tentacles sprouted up.

It clearly extended from his body, yet I almost missed the moment it burst forth in a flash.

Covered with tattered gloves, sparking, what appeared to look firm moved fluidly and quickly coalesced into a wall, blocking the Librarian’s charge with its weight.

Had it ended there, it might have been somewhat okay.

Even as a bystander, I found myself startled and took a battle stance at the sight of it sprouting from the wall.

Countless weapons I had seen countless times on the way here.

Plasma launchers, flamethrowers, heavy-caliber armor-piercing cannons, and the chain-explosive claymore where each sphere exploded in succession.

All of them were horrifying devices.

Due to their scope and power, even if they didn’t target me, I’d undoubtedly take damage.

Immediately, I drew my hammer, gathering its energy, leaped back, and positioned myself to dodge the coming attack, turning my gaze back to the Librarian.

And I found him.

The metal-tentacle wall, with its multitude of weapons sprouting.

He didn’t halt in the slightest at the sight of it.

Does he have a way to counter it?

I pondered that briefly while observing him.

He just maintained his stance and charged forward.

At this rate, everything’s going to go wrong.

In a frustrated mood, abandoning my duties as a bystander and observer, I was about to interfere with the Librarian’s actions when—

Bang.

A loud sound erupted.

No, I thought I heard it.

It was so powerful that I felt a tremendous force surge forth.

A massive force of the otherworldly essence that had not been contained within the Librarian’s black armor gushed forth, and the surroundings began to twist violently.

His environment changed into something akin to a kaleidoscope, viewing parallel realities or other worlds.

Is reality manipulation spiraling out of control?

The moment I thought of it.

Huh.

Just like when I heard that explosive noise a moment ago.

Everything grew so still, I might as well have imagined it.

Yet, in contrast, I was engulfed by unease.

Charging toward the wall.

Who is that guy?

For just a moment, a fleeting instant, such doubt took over me.

The black armor, the feeling of power.

Identical to the previous Librarian, but something crucial felt flipped around.

My reason insisted everything was the same, yet my emotion and intuition denied him.

While manipulating reality, the black armor breaking through the wall felt ominous like an invader.

What should I do? Is he the enemy? Should I draw my weapon?

Events that might validate my doubts began to unfold.

“Very well. Facing the walls of Theodosius and abandoning your humanity. Good choice. There’s a slight error, but it’s within the planned range.”

Despite being on the other side of the wall and clearly unable to hear me, the Curator’s voice distinctly reached my ears.

It was enough to amplify my suspicion.

Did the Librarian call me for this reason?

To stop himself from spiraling out of control?

Did he intend to end it all, sacrificing everything?

I could understand self-sacrifice.

I too had made choices without hesitation, and I’ve seen many such people from my perspective.

But still, is it truly okay?

To let him go like this…?

Countless thoughts swirled in my mind.

While carrying that weight, I gazed at the Librarian.

“Do not worry.”

With an emotional voice, the black-armor hand met the wall.

No sound. No shock.

The wall, touched by the black armor, shattered away from the fingertips like a sugar sculpture.

The weapons aimed at the Librarian all hung their heads like they were abruptly shut off.

“I am—creak—the Librarian.”

His voice mixed with metallic tones.

Bang.

The boosters that had briefly paused to break the wall resumed roaring through the air.

“I am a blood-flowing—wooo—human.”

A human voice resonated with a howl.

Fwoooosh.

Flames belched forth, and he moved ahead.

“On that day, betrayed by everyone and the child who betrayed all.”

His voice seeped from within the armor, devoid of even a gasp.

The black armor, set against white tiles, pierced through the swirling silver metal as it flung itself away.

“You are a machine, just like me.”

The Curator’s voice governed everything, yet.

“No, I am a child of man.”

That voice, filled with decision and pride, drowned itself amidst the clamor.

“Even if I lost my blood and flesh and became a machine.”

Bang.

Once more, the world shuddered, and tentacles burst forth from the Curator’s body.

Ripping through clothing, a torrent of mechanical tentacles erupted from his right hand.

Tentacles equipped with countless gun barrels instantly aimed at the Librarian.

However—

With a light reverberation, the moment they touched the Librarian’s hand.

Clang.

A sound of shattering glass erupted, and they broke apart.

“Even if everything was arranged according to your words.”

Bang.

Now, the left hand.

After all this, the struggle of the Curator, who still could not abandon everything that’s been claimed.

“All that I built stems from human strength.”

Clang.

Bang.

As the left hand blocked the Librarian, the right hand restored itself.

“Knowledge too.”

Bang.

Again, the left hand.

“Memories.”

Clang.

Bang.

“Connections. All of it, you see.”

Clang.

Cutting through all obstacles, the Librarian reached the Curator.

“If you hadn’t claimed to be a complete machine, this power wouldn’t have worked on you.”

…I am a wholly unwilling machine.

“Everything is woven upon a scripted algorithm.”

“So are you.”

“Is that so? What a pity.”

The Librarian slowly raised his hand.

To finish off the enemy.

And as that hand descended—

“Emergency stop signal sent! Target OVERWRITER-A—5723-0-001!”

The Curator urgently blurted out the core attack.

Losing all composure, for the first time.

At those words, the Librarian briefly flinched.

“What a pity. I removed that command from my home a long time ago.”

The descending hand did not stop.

Landing on the Curator’s shoulder, he said, “Did you not expect this?”

With the Librarian’s sneer.

Clang.

The Curator’s body shattered into pieces, dissolving away.

Such an utterly meaningless end.

Once occupying portions of America, he had prompted the first cooperative action with other countries, fled under the attacks of every hero, and even after the establishment of the Association, handled entire regions by sealing them off.

He met such a bland conclusion.

The Librarian, having ended it all, stood quietly, gazing out at the swirling debris.

How long had it been?

“…Is it over?”

I slowly walked over to stand beside him, breaking the silence.

“Yes, it’s over. I’m fine too. Maybe it was just my anxiety…”

Creeeeek.

“It turned out as calculated.”

“Now, let’s begin again.”

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