READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 178
Thud.
I pick up a tiny Vira that looks like a chess piece rolling on the floor. Behind me, five nameless citizens follow suit. Eight, with his blank expression, looks at the still-dazed Snowa as he snaps his fingers.
“Snowa, let’s go.”
“E-eh? Professor, what was that just now…?”
“No time to chat. I’ve stopped them, but who knows how long that’ll last?”
With that, Eight starts walking briskly, and Snowa follows him, recalling the strange sight she had just witnessed.
A woman emerging from the darkness and five citizens slowly disappearing as if they were given a choice. Panicked, Snowa wanted to pick the five citizens, but Eight moved faster.
He didn’t choose either option; he chose both. Somehow, he stopped them and shrank them down like chess pieces, packing them away.
‘What on earth…?’
Snowa felt embarrassed to be caught up in the world of magical girls as she couldn’t comprehend what Eight had done. It felt as if their time had just been abruptly cut off. That was all there was to it.
Yeah, it was like time had stopped.
‘No way, right?’
Snowa shook her head, trying to dismiss her thoughts as she looked at Eight’s back. Even if he was a professor, he couldn’t possibly have such technology.
…Couldn’t he?
* * *
—Save me.
Stopped.
—P-please, choose us—!
Stopped.
—Scientist! Good timing. Next, let’s see if we can hit ghosts—
Stopped.
Walking down the hallway, I gather whoever I encounter. My pocket is now stuffed with dozens of people.
At this rate, one would think I’d return to the original way soon, but since that isn’t happening, it seems that changing the rules also comes with its own requirements.
‘Well, if that were possible, there’d be no reason to set traps like this.’
Adjusting strategies based on the opponent is great in theory. But why has no one in history ever taken that path?
Resources are inherently limited, and that holds true even for transcendent beings.
If Ayle had unlimited resources, there’d be no reason to set such traps. She’d just toss me into a black hole and call it a day. However, Ayle—specifically, whatever is attached to her—did not grant her that kind of power.
‘Did she think I’d be stumped with a trolley problem or something?’
If I were outside with no defenses and fell into such traps, maybe so. I would have been forced to make a choice.
But this is the headquarters of the Evil Organization, where my lab is located. Scientists usually achieve the most within their own labs. I have access to countless tools that can’t be used outside due to security, risk, and practicality concerns.
Right now, I’m like a cheat character in a game with a “win” button option. Even if Ayle forces me to choose to kill one of two options, I can pick a non-existent third option to dodge it.
“Professor.”
“Yeah.”
As I spam the “win” button and move forward, we finally arrive at Ayle’s room, before a door that screams ‘here’s the mastermind!’
A black flower decorates the door. It looks just like the tattoo that had grown on Snowa’s hand. The thorny stem curling around the door was lightly dismantled by spraying it with disinfectant.
Watching the stem snap cleanly, Snowa smirked.
“That stuff really is all-purpose.”
“All-purpose? No way.”
This disinfectant barely gets rid of the grime. It’s a stretch to call it all-purpose just because it cleans well.
With a light chuckle at her joke, I yanked the doorknob. It was as if getting this far was the real trial, as the door swung open without a trap in sight.
And as we stepped through, there she was—Ayle, sitting on the bed with one leg curled up, greeting us.
“Hehe, you made it, Scientist—.”
“You brat—!”
“U-uh, eek—!?”
I dashed over and flipped Ayle onto her back, giving her a good slap on the behind, just as we had agreed. It sounded less like a slap and more like a thud.
“Oww! Wait, hold on!”
“Casting magic on people? Even on your allies!?”
“I-I’m sorry! Th-that’s enough! N-no more—!”
—Enough.
In the midst of my playful slapping, something erupted from inside Ayle. A fierce wave enveloped everything. I was sent flying backward and landed right in Snowa’s arms.
“Are you okay!? Professor!?”
“…Ah, yeah. I’m fine. Thanks.”
“N-no, more importantly—.”
As Snowa gradually helped me up, I glanced at Ayle, who was slowly stepping down from the bed. I wasn’t the only one surprised.
When we entered the room, Ayle appeared somewhat different than we remembered, but now she was practically unrecognizable.
Her pupils were blackened to the white, her hair was undulating, and thorny stems started sprouting all over her body.
She looked less human and more like a twisted entity.
‘I knew it.’
The behavior Ayle had displayed before was far too cruel for someone we could call Ayle. Using magic effortlessly against people and taking citizens hostage was completely out of character.
Ayle is maladaptive. She’s an emotionally troubled child who grew up without love. But she doesn’t express this on the outside. Instead, she keeps everything bottled up, even harming herself but never affecting others. That’s Ayle.
“Who are you?”
—…Stop, die.
“So you won’t talk, huh?”
I tried spraying the disinfectant on her, but the thorns only recoiled slightly; they showed no signs of disappearing. Unlike the previous monsters made purely of magic, this one was inhabiting Ayle’s flesh.
Anyway, a straightforward route has been blocked. Guess I’ll have to take a detour.
“Snowa.”
“—Yes, Professor.”
“I’m counting on you.”
I stepped back and pushed Snowa forward.
Snowa raised her staff as if waiting for this moment and flashed a grin.
“This is what they call being in the right place at the right time, right?”
“Exactly.”
She aimed her staff at Ayle and opened her mouth.
“—As your friend, I’m going to smack some sense into you, Ayle.”
Friendship, passion. The Magical Girl who once was far removed from those sentiments is.
For the first time, she shattered her own shell.
—…Come.
That one word Ayle uttered.
I didn’t know who spoke it.
* * *
Snowflakes and flower petals swirl around. White crystals dance about, clearing the petals away, only for more petals to come and block the snowflakes.
But Snowa didn’t care; she fired off new snowflakes. The room was now a blizzard, as if it was the Ice Age.
“What are you doing, Ayle? You’re way weaker than before, right?”
—…
To my surprise, Snowa was pushing Ayle back. Considering that dozens of Magical Girls, including Snowa, once struggled against Ayle alone, this was unfathomable.
Yet, it wasn’t surprising. Ayle back then was…more of a special being than a Magical Girl. As Eight said, she was closer to a rider or a tokusatsu hero.
But the current Ayle was fighting like a Magical Girl, and if it was against a Magical Girl, Snowa wouldn’t lose. She had been a Magical Girl for over a decade. Losing to a newbie would be an impossibility.
“You’re weak. This is boring. Get back to being the Ayle I knew.”
Having quickly subdued Ayle and pinned her beneath her feet, Snowa said this while pointing her staff at her.
The Evil Flower lurking inside Ayle was panicking in this situation. She had no idea how things had come to this.
—Die, ugh…
Eventually, the Evil Flower’s choice was an act close to self-detonation. Using up all of its host’s life energy to unleash explosive power. It was a reckless thing to do that would surely damage its host in no time, but that was the last thing on its mind…
“Found you.”
—!?
But in that moment, the Evil Flower felt a strange grip pulling it up, bewildered at not knowing where it was being grabbed from.
The Evil Flower, forcibly yanked out, thrashed its stems and looked around frantically.
“What the hell is this? This can’t be Earth… If it were Earth, there wouldn’t be things like this around.”
Eight, holding the mastermind, glared at the Evil Flower.
The Evil Flower felt a deep, penetrating gaze that dug into the very bottom of its soul and slowly lost consciousness.