Chapter 33 – The Line We Must Protect (3)
[What a mess.]
“…As expected, it’s not your average demon.”
[Did you just realize that now?]
As I shot a glare, Ren sitting next to me fell silent.
I clicked my tongue inwardly and slumped my body back against the seat, letting all my strength go.
Right now, I was in a state where I couldn’t speak or move.
My mouth was stuffed with a gag made from a handkerchief, and my hands were firmly tied to the seatbelt.
The poor possessed person who had put me in the car locked the door as soon as they got in and revealed their true colors, so for now, I decided to go along with it. I had to figure out what their purpose was.
[What on earth are they trying to do by kidnapping even their own daughter? I can only think of crazy ideas.]
“I think the same… It’s definitely not for something good.”
Ren sighed and muttered. At the same time, I glanced sideways.
A girl who looked like an elementary school student was passed out from crying too much. Based on her shouting at her dad, who had revealed his true nature, she was his daughter.
[…I’m sensing a very strong demonic energy. It’s definitely ominous.]
As the car left the city and began to climb the sparsely populated mountains, there were things that caught my senses as well.
Very strong dark energies that could be felt from demons and spirits. I could tell because I had shared a bed with them more than once.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Dark energy?”
[Yggdrasil’s power and the powers of the Magical Girls are closer to positive energy. If hope, future, and passion are that energy’s driving force, then dark energy is fed by hatred and coldness. The energy of monsters is closer to dark. It’s not very bright.]
I gave Ren a rough explanation of the nature and properties of magical energy, despite being just a mascot.
[But if I’m right, it’s truly reckless. The most ideal magical energy is fluid energy that has no attributes. Once magic takes on properties and qualities, if you can’t control it, it will devour the user in an instant.]
The problem was that humans would have no idea about facts that even the Fairy Company mascot didn’t know.
As the car continued to drive along the mountain road, it finally stopped in front of a villa.
“Hey, get this guy under control. These are the new subjects.”
Of course, if it were an ordinary villa, there wouldn’t be armed soldiers waiting with firearms, and they wouldn’t feel even a slight tremor upon seeing a possessed individual.
“Answer me. Who are you, where are you from, and who did you bring?”
“T-These crazy people… They’re clearly human, yet how did they control Mamute’s demon?!”
Ren was taken aback as he watched them control the possessed individuals.
In the meantime, the girl next to me and I were forcibly dragged out of the car.
“From downtown Seoul, a 14-year-old girl I coincidentally met, and my 13-year-old daughter who was on her way home from school.”
“…Alright. Move the kids.”
The possessed individual recited our information with a blank expression, and then drove away. They looked more like a robot than a possessed person.
“Take them away.”
Once again, my limbs were restrained, and I was blindfolded. I was then hoisted and started to be moved somewhere.
“We’re heading underground now. Uh, when are you going to transform and take them all out?”
Ren stuck close to me, providing updates on the situation.
“Store the new subjects for now. Use them once the earlier batch is worn out.”
“Understood.”
I was tossed onto a flat surface as I was told to be stored.
“Uh, when are you going to transform?!”
Ren pleaded in a hurried voice, but I ignored him for now. I wanted to know what these guys were really up to.
Soon, a needle was pierced into my neck.
This had happened to me once before. Of course, it wouldn’t be a problem if I poured hydrochloric acid into my bloodstream.
For now, I decided to loosen my body and pretend to be unconscious, complying with their intentions.
“Eeeek!”
They removed the blindfold and the gag from my mouth.
Ren seemed to be making a fuss… but it wasn’t just a fuss.
[This is insane…]
“Yes, they’re burning your clothes and attaching something like a respirator on you.”
They stripped me of all my clothes. Then they stuffed something into my mouth, covering both my nose and mouth.
Whether intentionally or not, Ren was narrating every detail of my situation.
“We’re on the move. This place is… no way.”
The cart I was lying on began to move as my limbs, now plastered with something, plopped into what seemed like a liquid.
Cold, but not water. Ren’s voice could no longer be heard.
[I know what this is, and I know where I am.]
I whispered to Ren as I slightly opened my eyes.
Where my body was floating was a giant glass test tube that I had seen when I crashed a former illegal crime organization’s ship.
The victims inside it had now become me.
[So obvious.]
There were dozens of such test tubes in this vast underground facility. I spotted a familiar face trapped in one, resembling my own.
Kim Soo-han, who was supposed to meet Park Tae-jun. She was frozen in there, looking just like me.
“…!”
As I opened my eyes, our gazes met with a man in a lab coat who was passing by.
He was taken aback, pointing at me and then stumbling over his own feet.
“…?”
Then he got back up, cautiously approaching with an expression of disbelief, and lightly tapping on the glass.
It seemed he couldn’t believe I was awake inside here, so I decided to move my hand.
I showed him my fingers spread wide in front of him.
Seeing him widen his eyes in shock, I grinned and pressed the magical girl’s connector that others couldn’t see.
*
“Experiment #39 has been conducted. Although #38 had to be discarded, finally! Finally! More subjects mean faster progress!”
Andrei, while speaking, let out a cheer.
Oblivious to the fact that a catastrophic being comparable to Mamute had entered his lab, he rejoiced at finally seeing the results he wanted.
“Director!”
“Order A-146 immediately!”
“Y-Yes, understood.”
At his excited words, a startled subordinate researcher manipulated the computer.
Andrei redirected his gaze back to the front.
On the experiment table, a girl sat with a blank expression, her arms filled with black veins.
“Order executed, command is to stand up. And unleash your powers.”
As the order was given, the girl jumped up from her seat while maintaining an expression like a doll.
Simultaneously, purple flames erupted from her hands. It was a power identical to that of the extracted magical girl.
“Remote control is at 100%, perfect.”
“The existing self is still relatively weak. It’s not difficult to completely crush the old self and start anew. You’ve been reborn, A-146.”
The girl had a long scar on her head. As soon as she showed compatibility with the administered drug, they had cut open her head, implanting dozens of remote control chips directly into her brain.
Andrei revealed his teeth in a grin as he watched this.
“Ugh… Uwaah!”
“A magical girl! It’s a magical girl!!”
Just then, an uproar erupted with the emergency alarm blaring.
If this had been just before when experiments had continually failed, Andrei would have been furious and rampaged.
But now, it was different.
“I expected it, but that was fast. We will now proceed with the introduction of this place. Protect the research data as a priority, and secure the subjects if possible. Then, completely incinerate this place.”
“But the magical girl is now approaching at an incredible speed…”
“It doesn’t matter. Our A-146 is the perfect nemesis of magical girls. Send this child to that magical girl right now. Then we escape.”
With a relaxed demeanor, Andrei gave his final command.
The girl who received the command turned her head abruptly, then bolted out of the lab, needles still sticking into her body.
“…So, who is this competent magical girl who found this place so quickly?”
“That would be the new magical girl Takilas of Code Red.”
“A true magical girl and a big shot has arrived. Deploy the possessed ones as well.”
As Andrei hurriedly prepared to evacuate, he flinched at the name Takilas. But he soon regained his composure.
In his experiments, it was essential to subdue a strong magical girl and obtain her biological data.
“Screen.”
As Andrei rushed to the emergency exit, he was able to view the situation of those currently facing off against Takilas through a device he had received.
“This is déjà vu.”
“But unlike last time, she looks fine!”
No matter who faced her, they fell bleeding at her hands. It was a scene showing just how terrifying a magical girl who had no hesitation in killing could become.
However, there was a figure standing unflinchingly to block her, as if pointed out by the shocked Ren.
An unnamed girl who had been sacrificed as an experiment subject and reborn as a puppet, denying all her past.
Of course, none of this mattered to the Demon King Takilas.
‘Damn it.’
However, she halted her movements in the shadows.
“Why, why are you acting like that! Strike back!”
“No, she can’t strike back.”
Even as A-146 pounded her fist against her abdomen with fiery punches, Takilas couldn’t fight back.
All she could do was restrain the girl struggling to grab her hands.
“This damned magical girl energy recognized this child as a perfectly ordinary person.”
She clicked her tongue while watching the girl whose wrist was broken from hitting her belly, expressionlessly trying to punch. She couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
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