Episode 12: Thorns
Strawberry Pink’s severed torso fell.
Leaving the lower half of her body behind, everything below the navel, her upper body had been flung forward by the force of her charge, then fallen to the ground.
A crimson carpet of blood connected her upper and lower halves. Entrails of steel, pipes, and flesh lay tangled together. The blood pouring from her body was enough to kill her. Fatal.
The girl’s scream, the operating sound of the Magus Engine, gradually faded.
The pink phosphorescent magic that had surged into overload grew dimmer.
The transformation magic drained from the girl’s body.
“…”
The silver shadow flicked the blood from her sword.
It would dull the blade otherwise.
The battle was not over yet.
“…Heart-mounted Magus Engine.”
Even as her life ebbed away, even after consciousness had abandoned her, pink phosphorescence still drifted in the air.
Proof that the Magus Engine was alive.
Proof that the magical girl’s power source was still operating.
M-particles, the particles of magic, had changed the world.
In an age when weapons could be wielded through thought alone, limbs that moved by thought alone were not uncommon, even if illegal. The organisation behind the magical girls would have no qualms about implanting such things in young girls.
Even if her torso was severed,
a magical girl could be revived with the right treatment.
Even if she bled to death,
her Magus Engine, and the combat logs recorded within it, could help the magical girls who came after her.
Erasing information.
Then ensuring the kill.
Tear out the heart. Hack it. Destroy it.
That was how a battle between a magical girl and a Witch truly ended.
“…Huuu… Huuu…!”
Beneath her mask, the silver shadow steadied her ragged breathing. She was not letting her guard down. Her nerves remained taut. She was merely a little exhausted. She would not relax until she had torn the heart from the magical girl who had lost her lower body. After all, even a magical girl on the verge of death had managed to destroy her sword’s scabbard.
The silver shadow swept her dress around herself, stepped onto the carpet of blood, and approached the fallen Strawberry Pink.
She kicked the upper half of her body with her high heel.
Strawberry Pink had been lying face down. Now her face was exposed.
Black twin tails, her magic dispelled.
A rumpled pink hoodie.
Pale cheeks, flushed pink and soaked with blood.
A young girl’s face, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, frozen in the shape of a smile.
*
“…Haruchan?”
*
There was no room for mercy when killing a magical girl.
That was how it was supposed to be.
That was how it was supposed to be!
Then why had the silver shadow stopped?
Why, the instant she saw the girl’s face, had she stayed her blade?
All she had to do was tear out the heart.
Just that. A single, simple act. So why…?
*
Her hesitation was fatal.
The change began at that very moment.
*
A girl’s singing voice rang out.
It belonged to neither of the two girls present.
Clear and pure. Sweet and delicate. The melody stretched softly through the air, filling the heart with warmth.
“…!”
The silver shadow brought her sword down.
Her target was the Magus Engine. Alarm overwhelmed her hesitation, and she struck before the uncertainty in her thoughts could catch up. A blow to pierce, tear out, and destroy the engine that powered a magical girl’s life.
That was all.
That was all there was to it.
But thorns ensnared the sword.
The blade stopped just short of the heart.
Thorns, sprouting from the carpet of blood, glowed with a faint phosphorescence.
They resembled those of a rose. Botanical, delicate, beautiful, and armed with spines.
Their beauty belonged to another world.
The thorns shimmered black, a darkness that drank in light, yet glittered more brilliantly than light itself.
“N-no way…!”
The silver shadow let the words slip out.
Her voice trembled in a way that would have been unthinkable moments before.
“Why? Why, why, why…?!”
The thorns enveloped the sword.
The Japanese blade joined to the staff of a magical cyberdeck.
The silver-white edge was stained black. Blacker. Blacker still.
Then it shattered and scattered, as though silver had been corroded by liquid metal, cracked apart and broken into fragments.
*
“Stop getting in my way, Big Sis!”
*
They resembled a shoal of fish.
Fragments of the shattered sword, carrying black phosphorescence, danced through the air.
The silver shadow assumed a defensive stance. Her silver dress was sliced to ribbons. The speed was astonishing. The precision, extraordinary. Each fragment was tiny, like a single sardine in a shoal, but together, writhing in unison, they became a storm.
And yet the silver shadow was not killed.
The writhing blades did nothing more than buy time.
Black thorns spread across the carpet of blood.
The black thorns joined flesh to flesh.
Strawberry Pink’s severed body.
They drew the pieces together, stitching them back into place with wet, sticky sounds.
Amid the storm of black blades, the girl rose to her feet.
Her black twin tails turned pink.
Her rumpled pink hoodie transformed into an ornate dress that enveloped her body.
A magnificent dress, overflowing with frills. Bridal attire that would make any girl’s heart skip a beat.
A dress of black and pink.
Her eyes flew open, shining pink, sparkling with scattered stars and darkness.
Her lips were coloured with a flush that seemed to reflect the girl’s rising heat.
Chrome-steel gloves adorned her slender fingers.
Consciousness returned.
Strawberry Pink awoke.
At the same moment, the black vanished.
The thorns faded away.
The darkness that had flickered across her dress and eyes dispersed on the wind, and confusion flooded Strawberry Pink’s thoughts.
What had happened?
M-particles picked up a communication signal.
“From Guide Mascot to [Raven Silver]. It’s time to go.”
“…! Again! Just let me cut her one more time! I can kill that girl! With my own hands…!”
“Calm down, [Raven Silver]. You’ve lost.”
It was a communication between the silver shadow and someone else.
The voice was synthesised, making the speaker’s identity impossible to determine.
Strawberry Pink’s lips repeated the name. [Raven Silver]… Silver Raven.
It was almost exactly the same format as a magical girl’s codename.
“[Sapphire Blue] wanted her to live.”
“…!”
“Retreat, [Raven Silver]. We have another newcomer approaching, too. If you’re going to keep throwing a tantrum, I might just resign as your Guide Mascot.”
The silver shadow turned away at the message.
Strawberry Pink began calculating how to launch another attack.
But her whole body hurt. Violently.
She had cut off her sense of pain with M-particles.
And yet…
It hurt.
It hurt terribly.
So badly she could barely move.
As though her heart had been carved into pieces.
“…Hey, [Strawberry Pink].”
“Don’t you dare act like you’ve figured everything out, you crow bastard! I can still fight! I don’t know what the hell just happened, but even so, I…!”
The sudden roar of rotor blades drowned out her voice.
An armed helicopter had appeared without warning.
Its guns were trained on Strawberry Pink.
The wind swept the silver dress about as the silver shadow, Silver Raven, climbed aboard.
*
“Which one of you… is the real you?”
*
Leaving those words behind,
the silver Witch disappeared aboard the armed helicopter.