60 – Deviation

The swinging wand.

Following the path of that wand, blue flames manifested, ravenously consuming.

The point Sora had predicted, where the grotesque figure was about to step—

“Huh?”

—except it wasn’t him, but empty air.

“My last resort, but I’m glad I did it.”

At that moment, the grotesque figure’s voice echoed from a short distance away. A sense of being shaken was laced within it.

“I didn’t think you’d actually be able to predict that far.”

Sora turned her head.

“You’re definitely a dangerous one.”

And, almost immediately, she understood.

“Ah.”

She had lost this game of wits.

The grotesque figure’s arm was extended. And that extended arm was positioned exactly where Sora had predicted.

Meaning, instead of directly moving to his next location, the grotesque figure had slammed the ground with his extended arm.

In the world of magical girls, this would be something akin to a magical feint. Sora had fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.

A miscalculation born of haste and impatience.

Sora cursed herself.

‘You damn fool, you should have thought it through more.’

Perhaps it was because of that. Regret, in the form of what-ifs, rapidly filled Sora’s mind.

What if she had considered the arm’s extending ability?

What if she had more magical power left?

What if she had managed to land even a single effective blow?

What if she had trusted Kim Si-yul a little more, and joined forces with the other magical girls to fight together?

‘Things would have been different….’

Unfortunately, the final destination for all regrets is the same. Sora’s case was no different.

Regret.

And a touch of self-loathing.

In that instant, the grotesque thing materialized before Sora’s eyes.

“I’ll make it quick.”

With claws honed to a razor’s edge.

Was this the final, desperate flail of a dying creature? Or simply an act born of an instinctual thirst for life?

Sora closed her eyes without thinking, waving her hands frantically.

“N-No!!!”

Uttering a commonplace death cry.

Afterward, what Sora felt was not the piercing agony of being impaled by something sharp─

– *Smack.*

“Ughhh!!!”

─but a sound of pained ecstasy.

Perched on the precipice of demise, Sora cautiously opened her eyes at the bizarre noise.

And saw.

“……”

“Ugh! Ahhh! Hht! Ahht!”

The monster clutching its chest, body writhing.

At the very end, she seemed to feel something yielding at her fingertips, and judging by the reaction, she must have grazed the monster’s breast.

‘What is this?’

She simply couldn’t comprehend.

Why on earth was it acting like that?

Was it just a coincidence? To test the theory, Sora struck the monster’s chest with the palm of her hand.

A little harder this time.

– *Smack!*

“Hwaaah!!!”

The reaction was immediate.

Like a fish yanked gasping from the water, the monster thrashed wildly on the ground. Arms, legs, every part of it trembled uncontrollably.

The light swiftly drained from Sora’s eyes.

“……”

Now I understood what this was.

The monster’s utterance a moment ago.

The monster’s reaction now.

The result that these two facts pointed to was singular.

“Haa…”

Sensitivity tripled three-hundredfold.

The monster had said all my stats would be tripled three-hundredfold, but the problem was, sensitivity seemed to be as well.

Especially, down in the erogenous zones.

“…”

Sora stared at the monster with utterly lifeless eyes.

The monster, face a complete mess, made a desperate plea to Sora.

“Pl-, please stop i–!”

Of course, Sora didn’t listen.

She merely slapped the monster’s rear with all her strength.

– *Spla-ack!!!*

“Oggooo!”

With a wet and vulgar moan, the monster’s face crumbled even more grotesquely than before.

“…”

Sora’s heart crumbled even more than before.

She never imagined the monster, who until recently held the upper hand and was mocking her, could fall this low. She felt incredibly ashamed that she had struggled against such a hideous existence.

After that, it was just a repetition of the same thing.

Sora, with dead eyes, would strike the monster’s erogenous zones, and the monster would emit filthy moans and thrash wildly.

At least, unlike a human, it didn’t have genitalia on its lower half, so there were no fluids splattering, but just witnessing this spectacle was painful.

How should I put it?

It was difficult to describe exactly…

But it felt like something precious in her heart was wearing away.

So much so, that she was seriously considering whether it wouldn’t be better for her mental health to retire as a magical girl right now.

How many times did she repeat it, over and over?

Finally, the monster rolled back its eyes, stuck out its tongue, and fainted with its legs wide open.

Even though it had already lost consciousness, it still shivered all over, as if full of lingering aftereffects.

At long last, even that wretched monster, after much struggle, had been subdued in the most unexpected way. Surely, the curse upon Rei was now completely lifted.

But.

“…”

Sora revealed nothing of her feelings.

“Motherfucking hell…”

She merely spat out the curse under her breath.

Of course, Sora knew. A magical girl must always speak politely. Lest she attract a Magical Complaint at a moment’s notice.

But, this time, it was unavoidable.

Unless she spoke like this, her heart simply wouldn’t endure it.

“This is such bullshit, really…”

Honestly, who could have known?

That what was needed to triumph over the monster wasn’t powerful magic, but a stinging slap?

Even now, the sensation lingered on her palm.

An urge to cut off her hand surged within her.

Suppressing the impulse with all her might, Sora quietly cradled her head.

“What the hell is even going on today?”

Everything was just…strange.

A jumble of incomprehensible things.

The existence of a monster that could not only speak, but also fly.

The phenomenon of the monster suddenly growing stronger in a way she’d never seen or heard of.

The fact that, while monsters generally had neither genitalia nor erogenous zones, this one had lost its mind to pleasure.

All the common sense every magical girl possessed.

The experience accumulated through various incidents.

The knowledge desperately learned and acquired.

All of it had been denied today.

“Ha.”

Sora’s heart sank even further.

“Are you alright!”

At that moment, Sora slowly turned her head at the sudden sound of a voice.

At the end of her gaze were other magical girls.

Likely the magical girls who had come to join and assist Sora and Taishi.

Presently, one of the magical girls approached Sora, offering a sheepish smile.

“We rushed over here with Magical support as quickly as possible… but it seems you’ve already handled everything. Is that right?”

Sora simply nodded, wordlessly.

A remarkably impolite gesture.

Especially coming from Sora, just a Magical Private.

The magical girl who spoke was even a Magical Executive, unlike Sora. A slip-up could have easily been construed as a breach of Magical protocol.

However.

Not a single person dared to criticize Sora’s demeanor.

“I see. No wonder the curse on us suddenly vanished.”

Instead, they watched Sora carefully, even attempting to appease her with caution.

Well, in a way, it was inevitable.

Because all the magical girls had perceived it.

That Sora’s condition was truly precarious.

“Um… are you alright?”

Her transformation was about to dissipate, a consequence of magic exhaustion. Proof that the battle with the monster had been far from easy.

But.

It wasn’t her stamina or magic they deemed precarious, but something psychological.

She felt somehow broken. Were it not for her hair color and uniform, one might think she was a completely different magical girl.

Especially, her eyes were terrifying.

Dull and lifeless, devoid of any light. Eyes that instinctively triggered revulsion and fear.

The eyes of one who had returned from witnessing Hell.

That was the sort of eyes Sora possessed now.

So much so that some flinched, and a select few were so startled that they slightly dampened their skirts.

Some of the magical girls cocked their heads, wondering what on earth had happened, but none dared voice the question.

It seemed as if there was something that should not be heard.

Something that, once heard, would be utterly irreversible.

In the end, the Magical Executive-level magical girl quietly offered Sora a small comfort.

“Um… you’ve worked hard.”

“Yes…”

Sora answered in a voice devoid of inflection.

The magical girl forced a smile and opened her mouth.

“We’ll take care of the cleanup. It shouldn’t take long, but please, rest for a moment.”

“Understood…”

Sora nodded, moving to a corner to sit heavily, out of the way.

Sora settling down was the signal for the magical girls to spring into action.

First, Taishi was loaded onto a Magical Stretcher.

He’d only been knocked unconscious, thankfully not fatally wounded. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he’d be treated at the Magical Infirmary and recover quickly.

Meanwhile, the magical girls shoved Magical Capture Wands into the monster and dragged it away.

Again, barring any accidents or special variables, this too would be resolved without a hitch.

“Hey, sis, looks like this b*stard’s goin’ down?”

“Dunno, fuck. Didn’t see it.”

Well, minor issues might arise, perhaps.

Anyway.

Perhaps it was the feeling of having resolved a case, but fatigue came crashing down. Sora’s eyes slowly began to close.

“Unni…, Senpai…”

As the ever-heavier eyelids covered the world, Sora called out for Rei and Kim Si-yul with all her might.

“So much happened to me…”

Just before her eyes finally closed, Sora let out a soft sigh.

“It’s really hard.”

That day, Sora grew up a little more.