Chapter 61 – Light and Darkness (1)
This is just the first step. Rene tried to steady her mind as she thought so. It was impossible to act indiscriminately like Takilas, so she held onto her strong spirit.
“I’ve already said this several times, but Code Red makes people hate…”
“Such discipline must now be shattered.”
Rene silenced Fluffy and headed straight for her destination. She already knew where her targets were.
All that was left was to eliminate them.
During lunch hour at the high school, where students were buzzing around in the playground and corridors…
Floating in the air, Rene chanted. The magic circle that started from her hand grew massive, instantly engulfing the school. Originally a protective spell meant to block external enemies, it could also be used to trap those inside.
“What, what is this?!”
“I can’t get out! I’m trapped!”
Naturally, the school was thrown into panic almost instantly. Those who had yet to see her floating above were bewildered by the mysterious magic circle that had confined them.
Watching the chaos calmly, Rene slowly descended toward the rooftop. Other students were not her targets anyway.
“Hi, hick!”
“You’re… pitch black inside, aren’t you? You don’t look it on the outside, but are you really a villain?”
The first student to notice her was a short-haired boy smoking secretly on the rooftop. She merely glanced at him and ignored him, passing by.
Rene never believed in the Magical Girls’ ability to detect villains based on preset criteria.
“Why should I follow the standards you’ve set?”
“Th-that’s…”
Fluffy was speechless again.
The Magical Girls had a different standard for identifying villains, one based solely on personal experience and judgment, unlike Takilas, who only used conditions that allowed him to harm others.
“Good and evil; even that blurry distinction cannot justify your actions.”
“That’s true, but…”
Rene opened the rooftop door and stepped down into the noisy hallway.
With her glowing blue eyes and gentle magical aura, students who had been in chaos instinctively fell silent and stepped back as she strode through the corridor.
The energy Rene emitted was unlike any ordinary Magical Girl.
While Takilas radiated pure terror born from countless slaughter and conflict, her power was an intimidating presence stemming from the noble and pure magic of a wizard.
Never losing focus, she walked past the students who were staring at her and headed for her destination.
“Ah, ah…”
“17-year-old Kwon Seong-su.”
Arriving at a classroom, she found a stocky, short-haired male student. As one of the instigators of this incident, he seemed to have been waiting for her arrival, about to flee from the classroom.
“Oh, no! Please, I beg you!”
From the magic circle beside her, Rene unleashed shimmering chains that wrapped around him, dragging him away.
“AAAAAAAAAAH!”
Even his girlfriend, who had been chatting with him moments ago, could only watch in silence as he was dragged along, unable to resist, crashing desks and chairs.
“No…”
And just like that, he was sucked into the magic circle and vanished. He had been drawn into her pocket dimension. Even at that moment, when Kwon Seong-su’s screams stopped, no one dared to make a sound.
“You aren’t innocent either. In my eyes, there isn’t a single clean person here. And I think the same.”
In such a situation, she first opened her mouth and surveyed the surrounding students.
“I can understand well. If you’re weak, no matter the circumstances, it’s tough for you to fend for yourselves. You might think it’s not your problem. But I can say this for certain: You are not truly weak. Don’t think of yourselves as weak.”
Turning her back, she left a parting remark for the bystanders and exited the classroom.
This was just the beginning. The other perpetrators, upon hearing the rumors, would run around like crazy while she planned to hunt them down slowly.
The moment she snapped her fingers, the protective barrier surrounding the school began to gradually shrink. Like a trap ensnaring its cornered prey.
“No way!”
“Please! I was wrong… AAAAAAH!”
Rene’s hunt didn’t take long.
Now reduced to the level of the main building, the barrier only prevented those she targeted from escaping, while others screamed and scrambled to flee the barrier.
Soon, she shoved all the instigators, now trapped like rats, into her pocket dimension and moved on to another location.
This judgment didn’t pertain only to the perpetrators.
She intended to make those involved who had failed their system and betrayed its members take responsibility as well.
“What the hell is this…”
“Is it really just us that can’t get out? No way!”
At the central entrance of the main building, several people were frantically pounding on the bluish, translucent barrier.
Principal Kim Chan-seok and several faculty members intent on covering this up desperately called out as they watched the scene unfold helplessly.
“Do you feel nothing? Why are they able to escape while you cannot?”
“AAAH!”
Just then, with the sound of clattering footsteps, Rene appeared, descending the stairs. Principal Kim Chan-seok fell to the floor with a thud, but had no time to feel the pain.
“Who are you? Who dares commit such a horrific act?!”
“Do you ask out of ignorance or do you know and refuse to admit? Of course, that’s not important.”
He shouted desperately, but she showed no sign of emotion. Her mechanical demeanor, so different from Takilas’s madness, was terrifying enough.
“AGH!”
As Kim Chan-seok and the others were entangled in chains and dragged away, they screamed, clawing at the ground as they lost the ability to resist.
In that moment they were being pulled into the magic circle…
“…Who are you?”
“That’s a question I’d like to ask too, rookie Magical Girl.”
Her chains snapped, indeed by a magic-laden attack.
“P-please help us!”
Principal Kim Chan-seok urgently pleaded with the new arrival.
Revealing his identity upon removing the hood was an ordinary young man, but he belonged to The One Road and had just showcased his power to the students moments earlier.
‘What the hell?’
Despite his seemingly relaxed exterior, he was internally on edge.
Due to the nature of the organization, he had a firm grasp on the data concerning the Magical Girls. After all, their powers were a culmination of analyzing hundreds of Magical Girls down to the cellular level.
Thus, the powers of the Magical Girls also directly represented their strength.
Structure, operation methods, utilization, compatibility, effects, and more.
However, despite having undergone grueling training, the Rene standing in front of him appeared to be a singularly unique entity compared to the other Magical Girls he had witnessed.
The magic she wielded, a fragment of ancient spells rarely cast within the Empire, was honed through her exceptional talent and relentless effort since childhood.
“Anyway, you should probably stop this. The principal isn’t a heinous criminal, and it’s simply not rational for a Magical Girl to treat him this way…”
“That rationality is always subject to change. Additionally, you have no right to interfere with my actions.”
He attempted to dissuade Rene, but it was futile. He felt a slight twitch in his brow.
“Indeed, transformed Magical Girls exist outside the laws and order. Sounds convenient, right? Conversely, that means they can’t rely on laws and orders for help.”
He no longer concealed his hostility.
Desperate shouts from a colleague crackled through the earpiece, but he ignored them. His pride flared. The superhuman power he possessed was undeniably immense.
‘It’s absurd for those immature girls to wield such incredible power as they please.’
With a sly grin, he launched the first attack.
Since she was a Magical Girl, he thought nothing of assaulting or even killing her. They were not beings of this world anyway. From the moment he obtained this power, he had looked down on and dismissed Magical Girls.
The attack he attempted was a gust of wind shaped like a blade, infused with magical energy. It could surely slice through even thick steel.
“Is that really all you’ve got? Just sending a blade of wind.”
“…Huh?”
Yet, the blade of wind failed to even scratch the barrier Rene raised in front of her.
In a state of panic, he instinctively tried to continue his attack, but that too ended in failure.
Staring blankly at his body, he realized that one of Rene’s magically conjured spears had penetrated his abdomen, without hesitation or warning.
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