Chapter 174 – A New Phase (4)
“Razak’s plan has failed. He shrank back in fear at my true form, and wasted all the time we had bickering with Ashburn.”
“…So?”
“Calling Ashburn was quite a good move.”
Ren reacted as if it was absurd, but I was somewhat satisfied. The timing of calling Ashburn was also pretty good.
While we could stop Razak, it ensured that the Allied Forces couldn’t act recklessly. In fact, with their priority on saving lives, the Allies had completed most of their missions while Ashburn handled Razak.
Once the Allied Forces started a pincer attack, it was only a matter of time before Razak would be unable to hold on and would reveal his true form.
“So, I guess I can return to my original mission now.”
“Does that mean you want to just lounge around?”
“If I were to lounge, I could do it much better. Just being here is enough for me.”
Nobody would believe it, but I actually didn’t want to fight. I was tired enough of battles and struggles in the Demon Realm. I was just clearing away distractions that kept me from resting peacefully.
“I brought it!”
At that moment, Kim Soo-jung returned to the table with a tray of drinks. We were at a cafe near the school.
We got permission from the facility and just came out for some leisure. No matter the state of the world, we couldn’t keep being cooped up.
“It feels like I’m finally alive after a long time…”
Kim Soo-jung, who had slumped in her chair, seemed very satisfied to be out. For me, who had been active until just before, it honestly didn’t make much of a difference.
“China is in chaos, yet it’s so peaceful here. Well, it was like this even when the war broke out.”
“It only looks peaceful on the surface.”
Kim Soo-jung, sipping through her straw, mumbled about the peace inside the cafe and outside the window, and I couldn’t help but snicker.
It was truly peaceful only at a glance. A continent had been caught up in a massive war, countless people had died, and the aftermath of the destruction of cities was something this bizarrely developed world would have to grit its teeth and endure.
“Bizarre, huh? Our world?”
“To me, that’s what it looks like.”
A wry smile escaped my lips. I was once human too. But now, having become a demon and accepted the values of demonkind, the earthly society felt incomprehensibly bizarre to me.
“What could be the cause? It seems that whether an omnipotent Powerful Figure or a street beggar, they all possess the ‘same’ form of power in this world. A mere student like you, me, and any known Powerful Figure can all be taken out with a single bullet.”
“Not you, though.”
“…That’s just how it is. Anyway, people have been developing their own powers in their ways, but in the end, it’s all false power. Why did they ally with the monster Razak? The power he provides can never truly belong to them.”
My mind was racing as I spoke absentmindedly. If the emperor of the Empire didn’t possess swordsmanship close to that of a hero, would Rene truly have faltered in the competition? In both the Demon Realm and the continent fighting against it, personal power was of utmost importance. There, individuals could physically become stronger than groups.
But Earth is not like that. Earthlings are ultimately the same. No one can surpass the limits of humanity.
Thus, Earth people valued collective strength more. They instinctively tried to band together, thinking that belonging to a group made them stronger, and believed that as long as they formed a group, everything would be fine.
“In such a scenario, the peculiar existences such as Magical Girls and Monsters emerged. It turned into a transition period where common sense and values were shattered and reset. The ugly lust for power that led them to ally with Razak, the discussions of compliance and cooperation, are merely part of that process.”
“Is that a bad thing then?”
“There are no correct answers.”
I shook my head at her expression that showed she didn’t understand. I honestly didn’t know either. I was just looking at this world from an outsider’s point of view, and I couldn’t provide them with answers just by stepping in.
“But what’s certain is that ‘change’ will happen. It’s clear that they won’t survive with the same methods as before.”
“Mon-Monster! It’s a monster!!”
The moment I put down my drink with a sound.
From somewhere distant, I could hear the screams of people mixed with a bizarre wailing. The people inside the cafe seemed startled by it, murmuring and hesitating whether to evacuate or not.
“We’re going, right?”
“Huh?”
At that moment, Kim Soo-jung grabbed my hand with a determined glint in her eyes.
“I wasn’t planning to step in.”
“Then why did you step up? Were you trying to impress that girl, Kim Soo-jung?”
“Taking care of that kind of pest is way easier than flipping a pancake.”
Having stepped out of the cafe and into an empty alleyway, I kicked Ren for blabbering nonsense and transformed.
“Come to think of it, if you step in now, that girl might suspect something. That you’re Takilas!”
“I can deny it.”
Ren made quite a sharp observation, but I scoffed. She might wonder, but I could always lie that Takilas showed up and took care of it before I had a chance to act.
As long as the transformation scene wasn’t exposed, it would just be a matter of suspicion, and moreover, the fact that Takilas and Lee Jin-ah existed simultaneously as separate entities had already been proven with the overlaps of Plesea’s and my activities. Suspecting me just didn’t make sense.
“So just keep hitting them as you were.”
Soaring into the sky in an instant, I headed straight to the scene. I could already see a monster causing havoc.
“What’s that thing doing?”
It looked like a bizarre monster. It was large, but its body was overly bulbous with protruding parts, and it had tentacles for arms that moved freely.
Seeing torn clothes hanging from one shoulder, it was clear it had been disguising itself as an ordinary person.
“Help me! Help… Ugh…”
Furthermore, the creature was pulling a victim wrapped in its tentacle closer to its gut, beginning to swallow the screaming victim whole.
The police, guns drawn, hesitated to pull the trigger, unsure if they could shoot the victim inside.
“Ugh, ha ha… You think you can stop me with that puny gun?”
“You bastard. Let that person go and surrender now!”
“You guys just keep babbling, heh heh, weaklings!”
The giggling monster swung its tentacles at the police, and watching it up to that point, I immediately jumped into action.
*
“Kuueeek!!!”
“Uwaah!”
“Duck! Shrapnel is flying!”
While Magical Girls and the Special Task Force weren’t around, and the monster rampaged freely, everything changed in an instant.
Someone from above came crashing down, stomping the monster’s distorted face with feet clad in black shoes and stockings, burying it into the shattered asphalt beneath.
“Ta-Takilas. In the country…”
The leading police officer lowered his arm that had been shielding his face and mumbled as he stared at the girl standing there, her black uniform fluttering.
“If you can’t even resist against this kind of scum, you should have just run away. You’re just prolonging the suffering of others by becoming its bones and flesh.”
“Wait, wait! There’s a person inside that monster!”
“…This woman?”
With a sneer at the police’s shout, Takilas moved the shadows, already having torn the monster’s already crumpled body apart, pulling out the unconscious woman and tossing her onto the ground.
Everyone at the scene flinched at the sight.
“A neighboring country that was living peacefully fell in an instant. That’s the world we live in now. With this type of monster right in front of you, how long do you plan to live soft?”
“The reason we couldn’t shoot was due to regulations… No, more than that, someone could be hurt!”
“If someone gets hurt, then what?”
Just like that, the chaotic monster situation was sorted in the blink of an eye. Instead, she started to notice the gazes now focused on her, smiling slightly and surveying the surroundings.
“Wake up. This is no longer a world where you can live comfortably. No one knows what might happen next in this world.”
With that weighty remark, Takilas took to the skies once more.
It was a clearly intentional act.
The mainstream society had brushed aside her words and actions until now, treating them as the foolish logic of a mere child, but truthfully, there were many who resonated with her ideology and reasoning.
Throwing them bait to stir debate and instill the possibility of change was her true objective.
“You’re just like Rene. What’s your reason for doing this?”
“I was going to leave it alone as much as possible, but it was obvious that letting it go would lead to pointless circling, and I didn’t want to watch that sort of nonsense.”
Responding to Ren’s words, she nonchalantly released her transformation and returned to the cafe.
“Did you see?! You were in the country!”
“Yeah. I didn’t step in. There wasn’t even time for that.”
Amidst Kim Soo-jung’s ruckus, she nodded and naturally took her seat. Kim Soo-jung, completely deceived by her doppelgänger act, didn’t even consider the suspicion that she might be Takilas.
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