Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 18 - Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

THE MAGICAL-GIRL HUNTER

  Snow White

She didn’t know how far Frederica had gotten. Her inner voice was like a flicker of fireworks, and she’d been able to hear it until only a moment ago. She couldn’t pick it up anymore. But Frederica was probably running pretty quickly. They, on the other hand, were only able to somehow move forward at a walking speed at most, and at this rate, Frederica would eventually catch up to them.

The obvious assumption was that she’d catch up to them before they reached their goal. It was a straight path, so there was no way Frederica wouldn’t find them, and letting her go past them wasn’t an option. There was no point in that, when the goal was to keep Frederica from reaching the depths.

Once she caught up to them, it would be difficult to fight her off. It would be so difficult that, if Snow White wanted to save Tetty and Mephis, begging for their lives would have a higher chance of success than fighting back.

All Snow White could do right now was to move forward as fast as she could. They would reach their goal ahead of Frederica, somehow. How much time would it take in order to destroy the seed? If they couldn’t destroy it immediately even with Tetty’s mittens, then, to buy time, they would show off the seed Frederica sought and threaten to destroy it if she didn’t back off. Snow White didn’t really think this would work against Frederica. She would see through this, quickly drive them off and steal the seed.

So then the condition for victory would be to reach their goal somewhat earlier than Frederica. Could they even do that right now, the way they were?

“Hey,” Mephis said.

Snow White looked over to see she was pointing. She focused her eyes. Ahead on the path were some dangling yellow threads. They’d been stained by the green moss, changing their color a bit, but it was the first time in a while they’d seen something not green.

The three of them walked like they were dragging their legs through snow, and Mephis gingerly took the end of the thread in hand. The thread continued down the slope. Whatever was ahead, they couldn’t see from here.

“Isn’t that Lillian’s yarn…? What’s going on?” Mephis wondered.

“I think… No.” Snow White looked up at the ceiling, then looked down, then ahead. “This is her trying to help us.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“She’s clearly trying to do something different from what the ruins want.”

“The ruins…?” Tetty asked timidly.

Snow White was about to tell her, but the words caught in her throat with her mouth open. It wasn’t that she’d stopped talking because she couldn’t explain it. She could explain it, and it was because she didn’t understand even herself why she could explain it that the words caught in her throat.

Snow White put her right hand on the wall. It felt wet and soggy. It felt like her hand was going to sink into it, so she peeled her hand away and looked at her glove, dirtied with the green fluid. Her once-white glove wasn’t just speckled in green—there was no part of it that wasn’t green. She’d wound up like this just from walking along.

“…I see. It’s a voice.”

“The voice?” Mephis echoed.

“An inner voice. I’m most likely hearing the ruins’ thoughts.”

“What do you mean, most likely? Can’t you tell when you’re hearing thoughts?”

“It’s like being hit with a sound outside of your range of hearing… But the closer we get, the stronger the sound gets, and I can almost understand it… Or maybe I’m starting to understand it…?”

She’d thought that she’d been aware herself that she’d been hearing the voice of the ruins. But she hadn’t been able to grasp that fact properly until she’d actually tried thinking about it. She’d dimly accepted it in her hazy mind, and for some reason, she hadn’t been able to go past that. She’d just wondered what was going on.

Snow White looked at Mephis. She seemed confused. Tetty was visibly frightened.

“Okay,” Snow White said quietly, clapping her cheeks with both hands. Instead of a normal smack, it sounded like she was hitting water, so her face must have been mucked up.

“What was that for?” Mephis asked her.

“To get me going. And to keep me from getting drawn in any further. Anyway, what should we do about that yarn?”

“I dunno. I feel like it means we should keep going, though.”

“But…um…we already know the route, don’t we?” asked Tetty. “It’s a straight line, so we shouldn’t get lost.”

“Yeah, probably.” When Mephis tugged on the string, the string tugged back. She staggered. “Whoa… What’s up with this?”

She grabbed the string again. The string pulled Mephis firmly, and Tetty clung to Mephis, and Snow White hastily wrapped her arms around Mephis, too, but the pulling didn’t grow any weaker—in fact, it was gradually growing stronger. The three magical girls did not let go of the yarn, their feet popped out of the moss, and they were dragged along, flying through the air.

  Pythie Frederica

The way was blocked yet again. Frederica came to a stop, slicing the yarn that was strung up across the whole passageway, and started running again. Lillian must have learned that a basic trap like that of a child wouldn’t work, as it wasn’t trying to trip her, and there were more obstacles simply trying to get in her way. Getting covered in moss juices and dyed green as she moved down the path was already like an obstruction—if she came to a stop over every little thing, she would be at a turtle’s pace. She would be unable to make the best use of an incarnation’s excellent athleticism.

Thinking such thoughts, she came to a stop yet again. Though it should have been one straight path, there was no path at all. It was blocked with moss. Frederica wiped the moss juices off her face and flicked them away. It was as if she were swimming in green liquid.

Nobody would try to go in here.

With the body of an incarnation, she was just barely able to proceed normally. An ordinary magical girl would be worn down just from being here and before long would collapse on the moss, losing even her human shape, and not even leaving bones.

She drew a Lightning’s dagger out from her sleeve, stabbed at the moss, and cut it to the sides. And there, just like the one she had seen earlier, was strung a wall of yarn. By layering moss on top of the string that was strung up, they had made it look like there was no path.

Frederica made quick work of the yarn and moved on. She cut the green fluid to either side and slid forward rapidly, but she did not focus only on speed, expending resources on various things as she made her way along: keeping on eye on the terrain around her, and watching for anything unnatural, or any traps or surprise attacks. Of course, it would be faster to move along with no obstacles, but one couldn’t underestimate the danger in proceeding without caution.

The farther she went, the thicker the moss became, and the more green fluid there was. The smell became stronger, the air thinner, and yet heavier, and even with the body of an incarnation, her feet slowed. With all this going on, even if the traps gradually became more sophisticated, she had nothing but doubts about how far these magical girls could go, being pursued. They were magical girls, not specialized craftspeople, technicians, or tomb raiders. But she still had to keep her guard up. She didn’t want this to end with her tripping and falling.

Frederica quickly came to a stop. Where there should have been a way was filled with moss. She unerringly kicked it away and was about to keep going when she came to a stop again. Just beyond the yarn that was strung up, a single piece of yarn had been hung.

She very much felt that they were trying to irritate her. Frederica avoided the yarn, grabbed onto the wall at the right side, and started running.

Her sense of time had gone awry. Her magical phone wouldn’t display properly, and it was also difficult to say that her internal clock was working right. Those in pursuit of her might already have forces encircling her outside of this labyrinth.

But they can’t come in here.

The Magical Kingdom had been having repeated, endless internal conflicts. Frederica had done some rather extreme things in order to get ahead of the opposing factions. And these were ruins that those people had sealed without touching. The one thing that was really understood about them was that they were dangerous. Frederica would not scoff at them for believing that, despite the lack of specificity. If the First Mage was involved, it was most likely nothing good. Even Puk Puck, who had tried to save the Magical Kingdom by sacrificing all magical girls, had not included it in her plans.

  Snow White

Flying along being dragged by the yarn did not last long. Eventually, they were thrown out into an open space. The area may have been rather bigger than the school sports field. As for the height—it was hard to say which was higher, the gymnasium from floor to ceiling, or here.

She wasn’t able to tell where their goal object was, on coming in. Gazing around the room for a while, she noticed that the floor, walls, and ceiling were overgrown with plants like vines. Each and every one was so thick, you would need one or two people to wrap your arms around them, and they packed the area so tightly, she hadn’t realized they were plants. Just as other plants would, they were trying to expand their territory as much as possible. Though the sight should have been grotesque, for some reason, she had accepted it without any resistance. Snow White bit the inside of her cheek and told herself not to be taken in.

Tetty was looking up at her imploringly. Mephis let out a long breath. Snow White had never once before had an interest in the relics of the Magical Kingdom, but just by being here, she was overwhelmed by its size and presence. Words like sacred and sublime crossed her mind, and she hastily shook her head.

This wasn’t the time to be distracted by such thoughts.

She released the yarn. It slid back into the ceiling and went out of sight. In her head, she gave a silent thanks, settled her heart for the moment, and looked around the area.

The surface of the plant was all covered in moss. It might have been thicker than that in the hallway. And along with that, the smell was thick. It was suffocating. She kept a wary eye around her, but she couldn’t see anyone.

She came forward. The fluid that oozed from the moss felt like it had gotten more viscous. The act of taking a step forward was heavy and sluggish. A heavy, watery sound was the only thing that echoed out in the otherwise silent space.

Keeping her guard up, Snow White approached the center of the room and looked around. Plants gathered, twining together to comprise the walls, floor, and ceiling. The ceiling was domed, and the floor had a gentle slope in the middle filled with watery liquid. It looked like a little pond.

“Is there…anything that looks like a relic?” Mephis asked.

Snow White shook her head. “I don’t see anything, but it should be somewhere.”

Mephis circled left, Tetty went to the center, and Snow White walked around the right side. She checked behind the roots, the upper areas that were out of view, feeling impatient, but still being careful.

What is that…?

Faint light was peeking in from the left corner of the ceiling. Snow White squinted: It was a flower—a charming flower, like a violet. It didn’t yet have any fruit.

“There it is!” Mephis cried.

Snow White ran toward Mephis’s voice. On the middle right wall was a dainty vine that was as tall as three people. Something round and brown was sticking out of the end. Just like the flower, it was glowing faintly.

Snow White wiped the moss juices from her face. It helped a bunch that this object was shining. She didn’t want to imagine how long it would have taken to find it, otherwise.

“This has to be the relic…right?” Mephis asked.

“Probably,” Snow White replied.

Even just looking at it from a distance, she felt her throat go dry. Supporting her dizzy head with her right hand, Snow White measured the distance with her eyes. She wouldn’t reach it even if she stretched.

Right after confirming she couldn’t reach, she felt a chill down her spine. She had been unconsciously reaching out. Even though she knew Kana had told her she shouldn’t touch it so readily, she had been reaching out as if it were the obvious thing to do.

“All right,” Mephis said. “I’ll fly over and knock it down.”

“Wait.” Snow White put her right arm out in front of Mephis to stop her. “I think we should proceed with caution.”

“Maybe we can use Tetty’s mittens?”

“But…I can’t reach that high,” said Tetty.

“Then we’ll do this.”

Mephis put her hands underneath Tetty’s arms and flew. Snow White had been worried about whether she could support the weight of two magical girls with her little wings, but they bobbed up into the air. Tetty timidly reached out to the little round thing in front of her eyes and then caught the crystal ball that came whizzing at her all of a sudden with her mitten. Tetty lost her balance, and Mephis failed to support her, and the two of them spilled down onto the moss along with the crystal ball.

There wasn’t even time to be surprised. Snow White faced the entrance and went on guard.

“Just in time, I suppose. Or perhaps I’m too late?”

She was different from the person Snow White knew. Details of her costume had changed, and most of all, the power she felt was entirely different. But Snow White would never mistake her for someone else.

“Frederica…!” Snow White muttered, like a groan.

  Kana

There was no helping Halna.

Since Calkoro was a magical girl, she was in a better state than Halna, but due to her position, she’d taken more fire than Halna. She was just barely clinging to consciousness, but her bleeding and the wounds to her body were all terrible.

Having taken a direct hit from a crystal ball, Dory remained lying there and wasn’t able to get up. She still had enough energy to continue wailing incomprehensibly, but you really couldn’t say she wasn’t badly wounded based on that.

Arlie’s warped helmet and damaged armor were automatically repaired, and then after that she stopped moving.

Kana couldn’t see Tepsekemei anywhere. She had vanished.

Kana was also wounded. Her leg and throat had been hurt. It was difficult for her to walk. It made her chanting broken, and it was difficult to heal herself with magic. That had been Frederica’s goal. She had destroyed Kana’s ability to move and heal herself, saying, “You’re in the way, so don’t follow,” before going into the ruins.

Calkoro was chanting a spell to heal herself, but she wasn’t keeping up with the wound and bleeding. Dory was still wailing with energy, but Kana didn’t know how long she would hold on. Would the time even come when Calkoro was able to go heal her as well? She continued to chant in a vanishingly quiet voice.

Kana leaned against the wall and kept asking questions. Frederica was closing in on Snow White and the others with frightening speed. Snow White’s party had gained some temporary speed with Lillian’s help and had somehow managed to arrive at the ruins ahead of their pursuer, but Frederica had caught up to them right away.

At this rate, Frederica would accomplish her goal. Kana could do nothing. She was an observer who did nothing but keep asking questions. She would let Snow White and the others die.

Calkoro’s chant was the only thing that rang out in the stone room. Kana gripped the sleeve of her tattered uniform. Mephis would die. Tetty would die. She couldn’t stop it, if she was here. But she could not leave this place. Even if she did crawl there with her arms, she would never make it in time. Even on the off chance that some kind of miracle happened and Kana were able to reach the ruins, how could she be useful at all, just crawling with her arms?

She was helpless and unsightly. Now she couldn’t even heal Calkoro. Just by using her voice, she would spit out blood along with it. This was not a wound that would heal quickly. Even wailing would be difficult. All she could do was ask questions. This was the result of her hesitating, dragging her feet and putting off announcing the truth of the incarnation system. It was hopeless.

Kana’s body heat transferred to the sleeve, warming it. But she couldn’t even bear that warmth right now, and she released her sleeve, clenched her fist, and struck the wall like Mephis, looking toward the stairs.

She could hear it. It was no trick of the ear or hallucination. Someone was approaching. And not one person. There were two sets of footsteps, and both were those of trained magical girls. She could also hear the sound of one more person—thing, rather, the sound of striking metal. It was a heavy sound. She had heard it before. The sounds of her footsteps running through the gymnasium during their class rec time had been bigger and heavier than anyone else’s.

Who’s coming with her?

Ripple. 0 Lulu.

Kana asked more questions. She learned of Ripple’s and Lulu’s magic. The latter had transformed Miss Ril’s body.

The sounds of rushing down the stairs grew louder. Right now, Miss Ril and Lulu would be able to heal Calkoro and Dory. Never mind healing Kana; there were more pressing things to attend to.

As for Ripple’s magic…

Before Kana could get an answer to her question, a ninja magical girl missing an eye and an arm appeared.

  Pythie Frederica

Frederica acted composed as she stood before the three magical girls, but on the inside she was not as cool as she was acting. Far from it—she was so discouraged, she wanted to collapse on the spot. The mental damage was far greater than the physical exhaustion.

“What are you doing? You work for me,” she said to Mephis, who was trying to stand up. Frederica sounded irritated. She wanted to calm herself down, so she bought herself some time by talking.

“Get off your damn high horse. You hijacked the faction,” Mephis replied.

Frederica understood at a glance. Mephis Pheles and Tetty Goodgripp as well as Snow White—the three of them were no longer the magical girls she so loved.

An ordinary magical girl would not be able to bear being within the ruins. They would immediately become covered in moss, collapse, and be unable to move. The fact that the three of them were facing Frederica with open hostility—though Tetty looked ready to flee—was basically proof that they had already been modified.

Frederica now understood what was behind the bad feeling she’d had. While she’d had a vague sense of it, she had been averting her eyes from it. Snow White was no longer Snow White.

She’d had that feeling since she’d seen the open door to the ruins. She hadn’t caught sight of Snow White inside the school and had received no reports about her. Considering her personality, if there were a way, she would volunteer to search the ruins. It was because Snow White was like that that Frederica loved her. But that was over now. She had stopped being a magical girl.

“Why? All of you—why…?!” Frederica cried. “You would so easily let go of something important, without a care for the person’s feelings?! And you call yourselves magical girls?!”

“I don’t want to hear that from you, asshole,” Mephis spat.

She flew at Frederica in one swoop, scattering moss as she went. She was far faster than Frederica had known. She made it seem like she was grabbing at her with both hands, and then her pointed devil’s tail made to stab Frederica’s leg from her blind spot, but Frederica stepped on it to stop it.

Mephis grabbed her shoulders with both arms, but Frederica ignored that and swung a knife hand down on her. Right before it could reach her neck, a mitten grabbed Frederica’s arm to stop her.

Oho…!

Tetty Goodgripp’s magic activated automatically against attacks. It was possible for her to capture Frederica, even with her attack speed. Frederica let herself be grabbed by the mitten.

Unlike Mephis just now, the grip of Tetty’s mitten made even Frederica’s current body creak. Even if it wasn’t enough to cause serious damage, it kept her from moving her right arm. With her still-free left hand, Frederica pulled out a crystal ball, and she shattered it to turn it into four sharp crystal fragments and threw three of them. The fragment that she threw at Tetty was stopped by her other mitten, Mephis twisted her body to block a fragment with her shoulder, and Snow White repelled her fragment with her naginata-like weapon. The remaining one stabbed into her own wrist, piercing Tetty’s mitten from above to hold it there.

Still with her grasp on Tetty, Frederica leaped vertically and landed on a head-sized crystal ball that was floating in the air. Without missing a beat, Snow White jumped for a sweeping strike at Frederica, and Frederica held Tetty up to make Snow White stop her attack, then moved the crystal ball horizontally, further descending.

Snow White landed with a dirty wet sound and pointed her weapon at Frederica.

Even filthy with muck, she still looked like Snow White. She was the magical girl in white. But she was too strong.

It had to have really exhausted her to get this far. And her continuing to remain here would slow her down that much more. But in spite of that, her slices were far stronger and faster than those of the Snow White Frederica knew. There was no way she should be able to repel and knock down the crystal fragments thrown by an incarnation. This was beyond the level of simply having grown, or having trained.

All three of them were physically capable, but Snow White was a head or two above them. Assuming she had been modified, was her being especially excellent the principal’s preference, or had it been out of necessity?

“You sure you should be ignoring me?” Mephis asked mockingly.

Frederica did not move her gaze from Snow White. This was no time to be paying attention to Mephis. There was magic in her words, but if you were aware of it, then you wouldn’t be greatly affected by it.

Feelings were a magical girl’s weapon and also her weakness.

Her once beloved student had been killed, and now Frederica was in a frenzy. Even understanding that it was not logical, that this could only harm her, she couldn’t restrain her feelings. She was moved then, to discover that she had a protagonist-like nature, that she could abandon herself to emotion. But ultimately what made a righteous magical girl was her expression in action, and Frederica was just not suited to that.

Snow White was different. She had possibilities. That had all wound up in the past now, but still, Frederica didn’t want to throw her away like a broken household object. At the very least, Frederica wanted to offer her a memorial on par with that of a once-treasured stuffed animal.

She felt pain in her left arm. Following her right wrist, Tetty was grabbing Frederica’s left upper arm. Her expression was serious, with teeth clenched and bared, but she was trembling and even had tears in her eyes. It was the look of a frightened little creature desperately doing its best. The places where she’d grabbed Frederica’s arms creaked. She had underrated Tetty, thinking that with her current body, it would be no problem, but this was a little—no, things had become quite dicey. Was there no upper limit to the effects of her magic, or was she trying to overcome that upper limit? It was also possible that there was an upper limit that Tetty herself had assumed, and it was actually not so. Then, rather than being embarrassed of her own overconfidence, she should be praising Tetty.

With the tenderness of a mother holding a child, Frederica smiled.

Snow White leaped. While leaping, she pointed her weapon at Frederica in a javelin-throwing stance.

Frederica swung up both her almost-broken arms to bring Tetty’s body in front of her face. If a weapon were being thrust at her, then she should just stop the attack with Tetty’s body.

“What the hell? A hostage? What kind of magical girl does that?! Guess you don’t know how to do things fair and square!” Mephis shouted.

She was trying to make sure Snow White’s attack would hit. But Snow White neither thrust with her weapon nor threw it. Still in that jumping stance, about five steps from Frederica, she tossed not the weapon ready in her right hand but something she held in her left.

It looked like an Eastern dragon. The small, cartoonish dragon flew at Frederica. There was no time to worry about what to do: block with Tetty or dodge. Frederica swung up a leg and kicked the dragon. She had meant to kick it back at Snow White, but the dragon was unable to withstand Frederica’s kick and shattered to bits, and the moss packed inside rained down.

The moss spread out through the air as if it had its own will. Her field of view was dyed in green. The moss rained down on Frederica’s face.

Kumi-Kumi.

She wasn’t here. So she had just left an item? Wonderful. They had even gathered the strength of those friends who were gone against a great enemy to aim for victory. That was righteously magical-girl-like.

The moss that was sprayed on her face, she left there. The leg she’d swung up, she swept back down hard, turning her body around and making use of the centrifugal force, leaping and dragging Tetty with her.

Her field of vision was blocked. All she could smell was the moss, too. But she still had a grasp on what was around her. Jumping together with Tetty, as she swapped positions with Snow White, she rolled on the moss.

“Don’t you dare run, Frederica!”

It was a nice voice, coming from the gut. It made her want to stop and fight. All three of them, Snow White at their head, were desirable magical girls. Frederica could see how this was going to end, but perhaps there was some merit in taking these three on.

Her sense of smell had dulled ever since she’d entered the ruins, and now with the terrible smell of moss stuck to her, she finally could not smell at all. Her field of vision was also blocked. She had relied on her ears, but Mephis was getting in the way. Relying on the vibrations she felt from the soles of her feet, Frederica turned to face the other direction.

Snow White was coming at her. Frederica’s hands were both still occupied. Snow White threw the weapon. It was frighteningly fast. There was no hesitation. Just, she was a little too hasty.

Right before the weapon could reach Frederica, a crystal ball suddenly appeared to swallow the weapon, and at the same time, Snow White leaped. She dodged the weapon that had come around to her back and grabbed the handle. She had read Frederica’s mind and evaded the attack.

Frederica exhaled, blowing away the moss on her face without using her hands.

“Wonderful, Snow White,” she said. Praise from the bottom of her heart.

  Snow White

“The hell is so wonderful, you piece of shit?!” Mephis yelled.

She flew in, aiming to get Frederica in a pincer with Snow White. Snow White worked with her, making minute adjustments as she went for Frederica.

Frederica picked up her fallen crystal ball with her left foot, her gaze still on Snow White as she threw it at Mephis. Tetty, who was clinging to Frederica, caught the crystal ball with her right hand the moment it was thrown. But Snow White had heard Frederica’s thoughts and knew—that was just what Frederica was aiming for. Tetty using one hand meant that Frederica’s left hand was open. Snow White cried out. She wouldn’t make it in time.

With her now-free left hand, Frederica made a knife hand and struck down with it on Tetty’s right arm. The knife hand cut Tetty’s arm right off, and with the green all around, bright-red blood spurted out.

Frederica swung Tetty’s severed arm. Tetty was unable to block or to stop it.

“Tetty!” Mephis called, and Tetty tried to reply, but before she could say anything, Frederica’s elbow struck her right in the temple and her head dented inward.

Snow White slammed with her weapon. Frederica threw Tetty’s arm at Snow White to keep her back and dodged Mephis, who charged in at the same time. Meanwhile, she peeled off Tetty’s other arm, now that she had gone slack, and thrust her at Mephis, then leaped on top of a crystal ball.

“You can hear my thoughts, can’t you, Snow White? Do you understand just how disappointed I am right now?”

Snow White struck with her weapon, but it didn’t reach. Her swing went awry, as if it were withering away. Even though she should just swing her weapon without thinking anything, she kept trying to figure out the meaning behind Frederica’s words. Had Frederica done all of this out of her feelings for Snow White? If Snow White hadn’t been there, would the magical-girl class not have been attacked? Would her classmates not have had their lives stolen? If Snow White hadn’t been there, would nothing have happened?

When Mephis caught Tetty, Frederica kicked her in the chest. Her kick wound up striking Tetty’s mitten, and Mephis spat blood and fell.

Frederica used the two of them as a foothold to leap once more, jumping on top of a crystal ball. Snow White clenched her teeth and thrust with her weapon. Frederica did a half spin on top of her crystal ball, then looked down at the three magical girls with a smile.

Even with her legs caught in the moss, Snow White came forward. But Frederica was even faster, leaping from crystal ball to crystal ball, and yet another crystal ball, and another, keeping Snow White from fixing her aim as she kept moving. Frederica turned aside her weapon with her left hand as she struck Snow White on the shoulder, then side, then right arm, then waist—each time Snow White took an attack, bones broke, and she slowed down, and when she was right about to fall onto the moss, Frederica sent her flying with a final attack.

Covered in green liquid, she rolled over the moss, crashed into the fallen Tetty and Mephis and bounced upward, then tumbled some more before she got up. Though she was standing, she couldn’t even hold her weapon anymore and dropped it.

While Frederica was struggling, she removed the moss that was stuck to her face with only her left hand and threw it away.

“I…I was truly looking forward to the future you would create. You were always, always on my mind. It was because of you, Snow White, that I was able to do my best.”

As Frederica looked down at her, Snow White glared back.

“The truth is, I never wished to fight you like this. Once more and more magical girls—all of them—hated and feared me, I wanted you to defeat me. Not the fake that you are right now, but a pure magical girl.”

Snow White was breathing hard enough that her shoulders were heaving, and she was unable to reply. Besides, she’d never had a reply for Frederica in the first place. She just stared right at her. She observed her. And she told herself—Stay calm, don’t try to figure out what she means. Rather than the words coming from her mouth, listen to the voice of her heart. Wasn’t there anything she could do now?

She couldn’t hear Tetty’s inner voice. Mephis’s was vanishing, too. She was hearing it at the same time as Frederica’s. The moss was stealing away her body heat through her boots. The wounds all over her body felt hot. She wanted to collapse, but she couldn’t. Even though she was telling herself not to listen to what Frederica was saying, that, if not for her, many people could have avoided death, Snow White’s heart just couldn’t help but think too much.

“This is the first time in a while that I’ve gone head-to-head with you, and it made me realize something,” said Frederica. “You use what I taught you when you fight. That should make me happy, but instead, I’m very sad.”

Snow White was struggling to breathe. No matter how much time passed, she was still panting. Her legs went weak, and her knees buckled. Her hands hit the moss-covered ground, just barely preventing her from collapse.

“I was sad with Cranberry, too. Now I am even sadder… But nevertheless, I must get over these feelings. After Cranberry left, you appeared. Once you’re gone, I’m sure someone else will appear… Yes, from heaven, you may watch over me or shower me with taunts.”

Snow White could hear Frederica’s thoughts. She wanted to close her eyes, but she had to keep them open.

Her head was spinning.

“Surely, someone like you…no, a magical girl with even greater potential…will be born. Perhaps she already exists. I must find her.”

As Frederica spoke, she continued to leap from one crystal ball in the air to the next. Her inner voice had been calming down since their first encounter, and now she sounded like she was enjoying afternoon teatime.

“I did plan to kill you with my own hands…but it seems you no longer have the energy to move. I suppose I could let you live and have you watch me in my moment of triumph until you expire… Hee-hee. This is my meager revenge for how you trampled on my feelings and ended up a fake.” Frederica leaped close to the ceiling and kicked down the flower. The petals scattered and fluttered away. “There’s no longer any need for this.”

Next, by the wall, in front of the round fruit that grew on a branch of the relic, Frederica brought the crystal ball she was riding to a stop. She easily plucked the fruit, peeled off the skin, and the exposed the red flesh. Then she removed the flesh and pulled out the contents: a small seed.

Snow White could hear Frederica’s thoughts. If Frederica swallowed that seed and then submerged herself in the pool at the center of the room, she would get what she wanted.

“Well, then—”

Right as Frederica was about to swallow the seed, she froze. Her gaze was not on Snow White. She had her eye on the entrance, the way they had come. She must have heard something.

Soon after, Snow White heard it, too. Not footsteps—it sounded like something was flying. As the sound came closer, Snow White heard new inner voices.

Frederica’s expression contorted. Snow White knew why; she had the same look on her own face.

  Pythie Frederica

Frederica saw something difficult to believe: Gliding through that mossy corridor without touching the walls or floor was a magical girl in a school uniform—Kana.

Just what had happened? Kana was still as beat-up as she had been before. Unable to read the situation quickly, Frederica put the seed in her mouth and leaped out of Kana’s way.

“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you,” came a sudden voice.

It sounded like a buzzing mosquito on the verge of death, but the magic in it momentarily stopped Frederica from trying to swallow the seed. It stuck in her throat, and she unthinkingly looked toward the voice. Mephis Pheles was lying on her back, sneering up at Frederica.

Mephis was still conscious even though she should have faced certain death. Tetty’s mittens must have inadvertently saved her life. But that was no use—a pointless miracle.

Frederica kept herself from choking and once again tried to swallow the seed. That delayed her reaction when Kana changed her trajectory. Frederica had seen that change in trajectory many times before—with Ripple’s kunai and shuriken.

Frederica should have avoided Kana’s approach, but Kana got right in front of her, body-slamming and grabbing her. Frederica had made sure to crush both her legs; Kana couldn’t run, let alone walk—but she could still use her arms. This magical girl on the verge of death dredged up her remaining strength to grab Frederica’s wrists.

“The seed!” Snow White cried. “Don’t let her swallow it!”

The magical girl on Kana’s back haltingly lifted herself up.

The right half of Ripple’s body was already covered in moss.

These ruins would completely neutralize an ordinary magical girl. Without an extraordinary body like Snow White’s, there was no telling whether someone like Ripple would just barely make it out alive.

It was too late. Ripple was beyond saving. Together, the heavily wounded magical girl and the dying magical girl with her restrained Frederica’s wrists and pierced her throat with a kunai.

This was no different from earlier. It wouldn’t be enough to kill Frederica.

“Gah…guh…”

But the kunai had stopped the seed inside her throat. It couldn’t go any farther. The kunai was blocking it like a dam.

That was when something soft touched the back of Frederica’s neck. Despite the chaos, Frederica remained strangely calm; she knew what this was.

It was Snow White.

She had read Ripple’s mind and saw what she was planning to do. Snow White put on Tetty’s mittens and grabbed Frederica’s neck from behind.

With Tetty’s mitten, she could destroy the seed. She could crush it and Frederica’s neck together.

Snow White’s hand tensed. She felt no pity, no mercy—there was no holding back. She was giving everything she had to the kill, true to her moniker, the Magical-Girl Hunter.

Ahh.

Bones snapped, flesh was crushed, and a flood of light followed. Frederica could no longer think.

  Snow White

Frederica’s throat was crushed, and then it shone. It took a split second for Snow White to notice that the seed had been smashed, but by then, the light was already swallowing it.

“A dog has a dog’s way…and a wolf…a wolf’s way,” Kana muttered hoarsely, smiling. And then, she leaped at the light.

She was attempting to hold it back. As the light scorched her body, she began chanting a spell.

Snow White heard Kana’s inner voice: She was protecting everyone.

Meanwhile, Snow White was too weak to flee. She couldn’t move.

Ripple’s mouth fluttered. Snow White could tell that she was trying to say something. Knowing Ripple, it had to be an apology.

I should be thanking her, Snow White thought with a smile.

Ripple could no longer make a sound. She wasn’t looking at Snow White. Her eyes were entirely green; moss covered her whole body. She was still alive. But it was too late.

The light became a coursing river that spread.

Snow White didn’t want to say good-bye to Ripple. She hadn’t wanted Ripple to charge in prepared to die only to perish right after. Ripple had come here with Kana ready for death. She’d been prepared to go down with Frederica. But Snow White wouldn’t have that. Even if it meant besmirching all that Ripple had done for this moment, she would make her survive this. Snow White never wanted someone to die for her—not Ripple, of all people.

She could hear Kana’s voice.

Snow White prayed: Please save Ripple.

A pretty flower petal fluttered down onto the back of Snow White’s hand. She thought she heard someone say something.

Snow White closed her eyes. Everything was enveloped in light.