Chapter 12
It Was Simply Sad
Woojin’s uneasy premonition proved right once again.
The shadows, which had seemed to melt away like slime, suddenly began reacting strangely.
Bwooooom…
The rooftop shook as if an earthquake had struck, and the shadows were all dragged toward the rooftop entrance as though being sucked into it.
This is bad.
His instincts blared one warning after another.
“Looks like we’re in serious trouble.”
Thanks to Woojin’s efforts, they had successfully defeated the Void itself.
However, perhaps because of the limitations of human strength, he had failed to completely destroy its core. The price for that incomplete destruction was the Void going berserk.
From here on out… it’s all improvisation.
“Let’s get out of here first.”
Heavy thuds echoed from the rooftop door.
The Remnants, startled by their host’s death, were climbing upward without even caring about the moonlight that had once repelled them.
“Y-Yes. I think that’s the best idea.”
Unibel held out her hand to Woojin.
With the rooftop entrance completely blocked, the only escape route was the schoolyard.
Woojin took her hand, and just like before, they floated into the air.
But only for a moment.
They landed back on the rooftop.
“…!”
Unibel gathered her magic once more.
Again, they rose slightly into the air…
…only for their feet to return to the rooftop almost immediately.
“…Huh?”
“Looks like you’ve finally reached your limit.”
Watching her desperately try again, Woojin gave a bitter smile.
He had expected this.
Unibel weighed around 40 kilograms, while an adult man like Woojin weighed around 70 kilograms.
Together, they weighed nearly 110 kilograms.
She had flown at full speed while carrying all of that.
There was no way she could keep doing it forever.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
Seeing Unibel lower her head in disappointment, convinced she’d become a burden, Woojin gently patted her on the head.
She had done more than enough.
She had fought bravely against both the Harvester and the Void—enemies that, in the original story, she had been completely helpless against.
Without question, she had grown far stronger than the Unibel of the original timeline.
“I-I’m… I’m sorry.”
“Really, it’s fine. You don’t have to feel so discouraged. We’ve still got a way out.”
Those weren’t empty words meant only to comfort her.
The crimson tide of shadows that had poured out endlessly stopped the moment the main body was destroyed.
Looking carefully, he could even see some of the shadows gradually fading, dissolving into mist.
The destruction had been incomplete, leaving the shadows behind…
…but they had already lost their terrifying regenerative ability.
Shadows that couldn’t regenerate weren’t nearly as frightening.
“They’re coming.”
Right on cue, the rooftop door burst open as the shadows emerged.
Perhaps because their master was dead, their colours were much fainter than before, and their movements were noticeably slower.
“Grrrk…”
Even the Remnants were among them.
But they too had been affected by the destruction of their master, unable to maintain their proper forms.
They looked like something halfway between a human and a lump of slime.
“I’ll help too!”
Watching Woojin stomp the shadows underfoot and shove them aside, Unibel joined in.
She could no longer use magic, but she swung her staff with all the strength she had left.
Without their regeneration, the shadows were unbelievably weak.
Combined with the narrow rooftop entrance acting as a bottleneck, holding them back wasn’t particularly difficult.
Just when Unibel finally began to feel relieved…
Something changed.
BANG!
The rooftop’s metal door let out an ominous sound.
“Grrrrrr!”
At the same time, the endless wave of charging shadows suddenly came to a complete stop.
Realising how abnormal this was, both Woojin and Unibel’s expressions stiffened.
Don’t tell me…
BANG! BANG!
The already trembling metal door shook violently—
Then, with a deafening CRAAASH, it was ripped apart, the entire door flying off its hinges.
Woojin let out a weary sigh.
“…We really didn’t need this cliché.”
Woojin let out a laugh of disbelief.
Just as he had said, what appeared before them was a gigantic shadow.
It looked like every shadow below had melted together into a single grotesque mass.
“…What… is that?”
If that had been all, Unibel would not have been this horrified.
Upon its slimy, sludge-like surface protruded what looked to be hundreds of human faces.
They wore expressions of unbearable agony, as though they belonged to victims who had once been devoured by monsters. Merely looking at it filled her with the overwhelming revulsion of witnessing the end of the world.
That’s definitely not Void.
It was something that surpassed every monster she had ever encountered.
Her survival instinct screamed at her to bite off her own tongue and die immediately.
Her brain had already concluded that being caught by that thing would be worse than death.
“…W-We have to run! That thing is—!”
Snapping back to her senses, Unibel grabbed Woojin’s arm.
She had never retreated, not even when she first encountered Void’s shadows inside the school.
Despite her vow never to run from any battle, she had completely panicked and could think only of escaping.
“Calm down. That’s just a Remnant. It only looks frightening.”
“…A Remnant?”
“You could say it’s a manifestation of nightmares buried within someone’s memories. It must’ve gotten mixed in when we entered that monster’s shadow earlier.”
Woojin silently stared at the creature.
There was only one monster in the magical girl world that looked exactly like this.
Pandora Requiem, one of the Earthly Heavenly Stars, a Mental Corruption-type entity.
Of course, this wasn’t the original.
It was merely a replica created from his memories.
Its abilities weren’t even close to the original’s.
Though, judging by its current state, even creating a replica had been more than Void could handle.
“Grrrk…?”
With a bizarre cry, Pandora Requiem’s replica began collapsing.
As if it had been its final desperate struggle, the shadows gradually faded in colour before dispersing into the air like mist.
“…Let’s head back.”
“…Okay.”
Perhaps because she had just witnessed something even more terrifying than a monster, Unibel’s face had turned deathly pale.
…I ended up showing her something truly awful.
Woojin smiled bitterly as he looked once more at the crumbling remains.
It was an enemy she would have to face someday.
But that day had come far too early.
Unibel, the protagonist, still had to grow much stronger.
Strong enough to defeat the true final enemy—
The one who made even something like Pandora Requiem seem insignificant.
***
“…Why won’t this damn thing break?”
A girl grumbled as she stood before a crimson-black barrier.
Beyond it lay another dimensional barrier that had swallowed an entire middle school.
According to her Crystal Tiara, the monster was on the rooftop.
Since another barrier had been erected inside, fighting was already underway.
Her opponent was probably the rookie magical girl who had transformed only a few weeks ago.
From the countless black shadows visible even from this distance, this monster was almost certainly Void.
A notorious enemy known as the “Rookie Killer.”
Without knowing how to defeat it, Void was an incredibly troublesome foe.
“So?”
“Why exactly are you stopping me?”
The girl’s gaze shifted toward the tiny floating creature before her.
A being capable of creating barriers that even a veteran magical girl like herself couldn’t break.
There was only one creature capable of that.
Mungmung.
— Because there’s something I want to watch.
You’d only get in the way.
“Oh, is that so.”
The magical girl standing before the barrier, Rania, asked nothing further.
She already knew from experience that Mungmung would never give her a proper explanation.
“So? You like this new girl that much?”
— Of course.
She’s the most talented one I’ve seen.
The kind of genius that only appears once every several hundred years.
Mungmung’s tail swayed happily.
“You’re being awfully strict for someone who’s so impressed.”
“Normally you cling to talented magical girls and babysit them every step of the way.”
Just as it had once done for Rania herself.
Mungmung was, by nature, an extraordinarily kind companion to magical girls.
It always cheered them on.
Always offered advice whenever they faced danger.
At least…
Until it had fully assessed their talent.
The moment it decided someone fell short of its expectations, it abandoned them without hesitation, never appearing before them again.
In other words…
The fact that Mungmung called this newcomer the greatest talent in centuries should have meant it would stay beside her to ensure she didn’t die.
Yet instead, it had left the rookie alone to face Void—
An enemy far beyond what any beginner should be capable of defeating—
Just to stop Rania from interfering.
— Hmm…
The one I wanted to watch today wasn’t Unibel.
But I suppose this works too.
As soon as Mungmung finished speaking, the barrier blocking Rania disappeared.
At the same time, Mungmung itself vanished as though it had never existed.
It truly had no interest in Rania whatsoever.
“…What an irritating little thing.”
The blue ring on Rania’s finger glowed, and her magical girl transformation dissolved.
If Mungmung had withdrawn so willingly, then everything inside was already over.
Going to the school now would probably be pointless.
“Unibel… was it?”
Rania knew exactly what Void was capable of.
It wasn’t an opponent that could be defeated through brute strength alone.
Unless…
The rookie possessed power far beyond what anyone should have at that stage.
Ring… Ring…
Her mobile phone vibrated.
It was her manager.
Right…
She had run out in the middle of work.
“…Maybe I’ll go meet her next time.”
Rania turned away from the school as the dimensional barrier slowly dissolved.
***
What… was that?
Even after returning home, Gayeon’s thoughts remained consumed by what she had witnessed.
Void’s berserk rampage after its core had been destroyed.
Within that chaos, she had seen something strange.
In its final moments…
The shadows had gathered together and formed another monster.
A nauseating creature made from hundreds of writhing human faces.
It was a sight she knew she would never forget.
Yet…
That wasn’t what continued to bother Unibel the most.
Just before every shadow disappeared…
One face had stood out far more clearly than the others.
According to her teacher, those were Remnants—
Manifestations of nightmares pulled from someone’s memories.
It had definitely been a schoolgirl.
She wore an unfamiliar school uniform.
She looked perhaps two or three years older than Gayeon.
It wasn’t a face Gayeon recognised.
…Someone Teacher knew?
At first she assumed it must have been one of his former students.
After all, he was a teacher.
But what happened next completely confused her.
Unlike every other shadow—
It neither attacked them…
Nor tried to merge with the others.
Instead…
The mysterious girl quietly removed her shoes…
Then stepped off the rooftop.
Teacher had been facing the other way and apparently never saw it.
But Unibel had been watching carefully.
She remembered it perfectly.
That girl…
Had been smiling.
A terribly…
Terribly sad smile.
“…Nightmares buried within someone’s memories…”
If it hadn’t been Gayeon’s nightmare…
Then those memories had belonged to her teacher.
…Did something like that really happen to him?
For some reason…
The thought filled her heart with overwhelming sorrow.
— I’m back!
“Oh… welcome home.”
“Where have you been? I was worried.”
— Sorry.
I got lost on the way.
…But why are you crying?
“…I’m… crying?”
She looked into the mirror.
There she was.
Tears streamed endlessly down her face.
Huh…?
Why…?
Once the tears began, they refused to stop.
Without understanding what hurt…
Or even why she was crying…
Gayeon continued weeping for a long time.
“…I’ve made up my mind.”
— Unibel?
“I’m going to become even stronger.”
“So that something like that never happens again.”
At the very end…
She had been paralysed by fear.
Despite proudly calling herself a magical girl…
She had ended up relying on an ordinary teacher.
…She hadn’t been able to do anything.
And that made her feel…
So frustrated.
So heartbroken.
And above all…
Simply, unbearably sad.
