Chapter 115 – The Unyielding Flower (5)
The magical girl who draws out her potential does not mean she cannot surpass the wall through growth.
She merely needs to pay the price.
The final stage of a magical girl. It is the ultimate arrangement of Yggdrasil that can only be reached by a magical girl with an indomitable spirit and nobility.
It is a kind of self-destructing mechanism that magical girls reach by dedicating their power, life, and soul.
Aria now witnessed that fragment.
“Why, don’t you want to die?”
Takilas chuckled faintly, repeatedly slamming her fists down. In Aria’s eyes, there was now only one thing left to see.
That was to hit back at Takilas, who was sneering and trying to kill her.
And based on her unique psychic power, her strength began to move, fueled by that intense desire.
‘Just one hit. Just one hit!’
Even as her brain shook and her vision spun, the glowing red eyes of Takilas remained vividly in view.
“Hah.”
Takilas, preparing to stomp on fallen Aria’s neck, saw her hand gripping his foot and let out a hollow laugh.
“Back to being a magical girl, huh?”
“The real evil… is you!”
Aria exploded with power, pushing Takilas away. Simultaneously, Aria’s body, wrapped in a burst of red energy, slowly started to rise into the air, despite being in tatters.
“How ungrateful. You call me evil? Why?”
As Takilas, who had crashed into the wall, landed with a smirk, Aria’s eyes flinched. In truth, even by her own standards, Takilas could no longer be classified as evil.
Chaos itself, yet ultimately, the choices were made by those swept away in that chaos.
Rather, Takilas had even helped those who made the wrong choices through that process.
“Honestly, just admit it. You’ve wanted to hit me for a while now, haven’t you?”
“Ugh?!”
Takilas saw right through Aria’s psyche in an instant. Stunned into silence, she grit her teeth, her fists trembling.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. If that’s your belief, just prove it. I know. You are a being of order by birth. You wouldn’t want to share the same space as me.”
“I’m sorry and it’s shameless, but I won’t deny it. I really hate you right now.”
As the fiery energy swirling around her began to merge with her being, Aria clenched her fist harder. It was no ordinary punch.
The fist, now condensed with immense energy, radiated a white light, consuming the thoughts of the Smalillian she had absorbed, which burned away in Aria’s flame.
It was literally the final punch that contained everything.
[Final Awakening: White Dwarf]
“…Is that a part of the true realm you can reach.”
Seeing Aria, transformed into a pure white light at the cost of burning everything she had, Takilas smiled bitterly.
[Dieeeeee!!!]
Soon, Aria, now a streak of light, charged forward, unleashing the full extent of her power.
The aftermath melted through the concrete walls and floors that lacked Takilas’ protection. Takilas countered with a punch from where she stood.
[Strong. At this moment, more than anyone else.]
Takilas genuinely admired her.
As Takilas’ arm, surrounded by dark shadows, shattered and began to burn, her punch flew directly at Takilas’ face. Takilas did not evade. The magical punch that extinguished her defensive magic struck Takilas’ head forcefully.
The earth-shattering noise and shockwave could melt away several meters of concrete, and when everything finally settled,
Only the floating Aria remained. Takilas was either obliterated or deeply buried in the crumbled wall and was no longer visible.
“Uh, cough… Yoon-seo… sniff…”
[Director!]
With the power that Takilas had shielded them from now gone, unbearable heat and toxic gas flooded in.
Gabi, clicking her tongue, used her energy to alleviate it, allowing Oh Yoon-seo to speak once more.
“You’ve come back, right? Right?”
[…] “Yes. To some extent.”
“I-I can’t get any closer. Come back to being human. Hurry!”
Oh Yoon-seo couldn’t endure the heat from over 50 meters away and finally sank back down. She already sensed something and desperately yelled for her to return.
“It’s okay now. Nothing will happen. So please…”
[For all that time… Thank you so much. I’ll change what I said earlier. Director, you weren’t wrong. There’s no original answer.]
“Don’t! No…”
[But until the very end… as a magical girl… I’m happy…]
Aria’s body began to evaporate, unable to withstand her own heat. The complete destruction of both body and soul.
Just as she had drawn upon her potential, devoting everything to unleash the power of the transcendents, she was willing to pay the price.
Everyone watched in shock as Oh Yoon-seo wailed, attempting to approach, enduring burns, but Aria’s disappearance was faster.
At that moment when Aria was about to vanish like a streak of flame,
“Where do you think you’re running to?”
A single black tentacle erupted from the debris, wrapping around that flame.
*
“Thank you, Gabi.”
“You’re welcome. More importantly, are you alright?”
“Can’t you see? I’m really satisfied.”
In a fleeting moment, Gabi conjured a black curtain, separating the humans who were in an uproar from me. In the meantime, I staggered out from the destroyed and melted concrete wreckage.
The wriggling tentacle jutting out from my severed right arm was a part of my true being. With it, I successfully condensed Aria’s existence, which was about to scatter.
“I’m assured by what you just showed me. You have a duty. To grow even more and become strong enough to wield that power freely without needing a price, and to fight alongside me forever!”
I chuckled while looking at the white sphere, the size of a walnut, that I had compressed. This sphere was Aria. She had lost a body, but everything else was normal.
“Gabi. Drop the curtain. It’s a bit too much to break the touching moment, but I need to explain what’s going on.”
“Your Majesty, is it truly possible to bring back that wretch to its original form?”
“This is probably something even Yggdrasil couldn’t manage. I can’t do it either. But there are those who can. Those bastards… But I have a way to persuade them.”
I tucked away Aria, then severed the tentacle from my right arm. The tentacle transformed into black vapor and returned to my body.
However, since my body had been annihilated, I would ultimately need to find Yggdrasil to restore my right arm. If I tried to fix it myself, I wouldn’t be able to protect this body.
“Takilas…”
“Don’t worry about Aria; she’s alive. Just finish what you need to do.”
As the curtain dropped, the panic-stricken looks on their faces were clear. They had thought I’d really been defeated.
“Is… Is that really true?!”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t it be a waste to just let someone who fought so well go?”
The expression on Oh Yoon-seo’s face, gradually changing upon realizing Aria was alive, was truly a masterpiece. I thought about teasing her but held back. Time was not on our side.
“Takilas. Your arm…”
“It’s just a minor injury. You should focus on your own worries.”
Jeon So-hyun eyed my loose right arm while I, bleeding from internal injuries, casually said that.
“It’s really no big deal…”
I intended to leave. Truly.
“Huh?”
But in that moment, my vision shifted upward against my will. My eyes didn’t turn upward; my body simply fell backward.
‘My brain was affected. By Aria’s punch.’
My damaged physical form was not limited to just my right arm. Suppressing the tentacle that was about to spring forth, I blankly stared at the ceiling.
Simultaneously, I felt something dripping down. Blood began to flow freely from my nose.
“Your Majesty.”
“…Leave me be. I shouldn’t have taken that hit.”
Sensing the presence of people rushing from outside, I sighed and ordered Gabi to stay put.
“What happened? What in the world… damn it.”
The people from Frontier, who had arrived a beat too late, were aghast upon seeing the wreckage of this underground facility, half-destroyed.
But their shock was brief compared to the sight of Director Lee Min-hyung and others approaching me with tense expressions.
“Calm down. We are not your enemies. Oh Yoon-seo told us everything you’ve done.”
“…”
“We’re going to move you now. It’s for treatment. Understood?”
Lee Min-hyung, reassuring me after my brain was damaged and I could barely speak, soon procured a stretcher to carry my body on.
I thought about having Gabi serve as a distraction or dealing with the tentacle, but surprisingly, I felt no hostility from them and decided to observe for the time being.
“Great job indeed.”
Ren, perched on my chest, shook her head in disbelief.
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