“Lee, do you think the concept of a ‘nation’ actually exists? If so, how is it formed?”
A girl with fluorescent green hair, wearing a black coat, suddenly initiated the conversation while observing the endlessly shimmering light over the mountain range beyond the plain.
“Faith (信).”
In the chilling wind that could freeze breath, a girl with black hair sat cross-legged with her eyes closed and responded.
“What is that faith?”
“The belief that it exists over there.”
“Are you saying the nation is a matter of faith?”
“No. This is a human affair.”
A thick gray robe, mixed with all existing colors, fluttered in the winter wind, revealing the black-haired girl’s body, shining coldly like snow.
“So what kind of faith are you talking about?”
“The belief that safety exists if freedom is relinquished.”
“Did you make the nation your enemy to break that notion and awaken freedom?”
“No. The thoughts of the ones left behind don’t matter.”
When the black-haired girl opened her eyes, her deep gray irises glimmered. The gray pupil that gathered in the center looked slightly unfocused as it gazed into the distance.
“It’s to tie up the grudge of 40 years as the last leader of the Black Sword Gate.”
“Is that what your parents left behind before dying?”
“No. The grudge left by my mother and father is merely two hundred swords.”
“What about the remaining nine hundred swords? What are they meant for?”
“It’s because they are the teachings passed down by those who drew the sword with their mouths.”
In an era where even the martial artists forgotten in people’s memories waited for their end.
Some people shouted that the reason we couldn’t live was that we didn’t let go of the old ways.
Driven by madness, a hundred martial artists, with their limbs severed, despaired before tens of thousands of people.
For the end they envisioned was not the sacrifice of madness for the existence of the nation.
So they crawled to the old martial artist alliance and drew ten thousand strategies for revenge with their white teeth on sticks.
백검맹 (White Sword Alliance)
The white swords wielded by a hundred martial artists were madness and delusion, a means to forget reality.
Among the hundred martial artists chewing on mud, only one girl was born.
“This is the grudge left for me, the inheritor of what is called a martial artist, and the concept of a nation.”
“That sounds quite romantic but is full of contradictions. What does it have to do with those left behind?”
“Indeed. But before destruction arrives, I must sever the concept of a nation with the swords left by my hundred masters.”
What must we have disappeared for?
“Unreasonable and endless. That is the grudge (恩怨).”
“Ha, that was a very romantic and abstract view of the nation. Is that how all Chinese people are?”
“…….”
The black-haired girl unceremoniously stood up and, without answering, let her robe flutter as she slowly walked away. The doctor couldn’t empathize with that statement, but that was how they always were.
“I will live freely, and I will die freely.”
Let’s tie up human affairs before the destruction foretold by the transcendent comes.
One girl had insatiable desires for destruction.
One girl held grudge so deep she forgot her target.
One girl carried a thirst for revenge against everything ruled by a single person.
And…
“Ehehehe, I just want to play with dolls.”
Playing and messing with humans by human hands.
Human affairs had to be done by one’s own will.
They had to hurry and play before the gods used unreasonable tricks to annihilate them all.
“Before the apostles gather and interfere, let’s go.”
만개 3성 [괴뢰 (Puppet)]의 마법소녀
Doctor
The girl, who firmly believed everyone, including herself, were puppets acting in her play, was filled with excitement. All preparations were completed before the game began.
What lay ahead was sure to be an exciting and wonderful game.
“Ehehehe, let’s go, Behemoth, Jiz.”
Vwoosh
The gigantic mountain range, which the Doctor had been observing, shifted, and the entire ground trembled and vibrated. Something shot up from the mountains, glowing with fluorescent green, leaving a trail of light as it disappeared into the distant sky.
Flap flap
From the snowy forest surrounding them, millions of birds took flight, and wild animals moved.
Giving animal names believed to be created by the gods to human creations was the Doctor’s own humor, but no one could discern it.
*
“……”
“……”
The council fell into silence.
Thirty minutes earlier.
The council was already assembled and discussing the movements of Russia and the Middle East. However, an emergency report from the Supernatural Ability Response Team in Korea interrupted the meeting momentarily.
“Uh, isn’t Hong Na-yeon the undeveloped magical girl living in Busan?”
During the brief pause in the meeting, Kang Dorim met Natalia, the magical girl who came from Russia through the warp gate, and heard the whole story. The situation in Russia, which had been silent and closed its borders, was more serious than expected.
“So… this magical girl from [Puppet] convinced high-ranking military officers and politicians to become immortal within a day.”
“W-What? They accepted that…?!”
With a grim expression, Natalia nodded.
“Of course, there were quite a few skeptics since she belongs to a group that calls themselves Scavengers.”
But the ability she demonstrated, dubbed ‘Puppetization’, on low-ranking soldiers and a few test subjects was enough to captivate the higher-ups.
The aged became youthful again.
The ugly became beautiful and handsome.
Even when shot by bullets, exposed to radiation, or subjected to biochemical gas, they remained unscathed.
Just a few minutes of channeling magical power could shed their weak, human forms.
This was a temptation that human reason found hard to resist.
“We too are, in a way, stained with blood, aren’t we?”
For a week after that fateful day, most of the Russian leadership accepted the ‘Puppetization’ offered by the magical girl from [Puppet]. In states dulled by the miraculous healing abilities and magic displayed by magical girls, the new miracle of [Puppet] stimulated their deepest instincts.
And two months later.
They fortressed all kinds of weapons and tanks from the Middle East into puppets for military purposes, firmly believing that [Puppet]’s magical girl, who restored their youth, was on their side. They thought they were being protected by a powerful magical girl, unlike the ones from the magical girls of [Start] operating in East Asia and Europe.
“…Even so, all we could do was follow orders.”
“How… how could something like that happen?!”
“Then what happened to those magical girls?”
Sumire spoke calmly, while looking at photos of the girls they had isolated at the Supernatural Ability Response Headquarters.
Eyes devoid of reason.
Girls dangling limply, completely unresponsive.
Green fluorescent magic flickered in the veins of their faces and could not be solved even by healing magic.
“The magical girl from [Puppet], who monopolized the heart of the leadership, has now suggested a method that would allow her to completely control the magical girls.”
Puppetization of magical girls.
Seeing the powerless states of nations that had lost control over their magical girls, the Russian leadership, who were anxiously pondering on how to still keep using those possessing transcendent powers, once again fell for her words.
“They summoned 151 magical girls operating across Russia to the headquarters in Moscow.”
Since it was impossible for everyone across vast Russia to gather on the same day, they first summoned magical girls nearby Moscow. Six of them, including Natalia from the East, received the summon order from the headquarters in Vladivostok.
“I was late coming back because I said I would take care of the ship I summoned with my abilities…”
The six girls trapped by fluorescent green puppets resembling all kinds of animals.
The moment Natalia saw them, she summoned a massive dark blue ship in the room and smashed half of the building. Then she used telekinesis to gather her team members and escaped from the pursuit of puppets.
“No matter where I went, those ominous-colored animals chased after me. Even avoiding the military order became difficult while escaping by sea.”
After days fleeing across the Sea of Okhotsk, the pursuit of puppets ceased as soon as they entered the domain of [Cyber Brain].
“…And that’s how I ended up here.”
“……”
“……”
“D-Do you mean the leadership includes the president, generals, and those high-ranking officials?”
Natalia nodded at Kang Dorim’s question.
“Doesn’t Russia have… a lot of nuclear weapons?”
Silence.
An unprecedented heavy silence descended in the council.
“…What if they shoot?”
“Hiccup.”
Hana hiccupped, turning pale the moment she heard those words.
*
I lightly inflicted a wound on the hands of the isolated girls, then cast a healing spell filled with deception.
Despite the girls’ gaze being devoid of reason, their chests moved as they breathed.
And when the deceptive healing spell took effect, the rhythm of their breathing gradually decreased…
Beep
“What… What is this!! [Start]!! What’s happening!!”
Park Saebyeok, who was checking the girls’ conditions alongside me, opened her eyes wide and got up after hearing the sound signifying a heart stoppage.
“It has put them into a pseudo-death state.”
“Pseudo-death state?!”
The telekinesis of the magical girl from [Deception] has an illusion curtain.
If there’s teleportation ability and clones, then the healing ability can induce a pseudo-death state for the injured.
‘As long as they have their will, they can wake up right away.’
At the very least, these girls wouldn’t wake up and follow Doctor’s orders while we were away.
“A magical girl known as [Puppet] cannot just rampage in the Supernatural Ability Response Headquarters.”
“Is that so… All we can do is isolate them as much as possible.”
“Physical restrictions mean nothing to a magical girl.”
That was a lesson learned desperately during sparring matches with Yuki and others behind her.
“So, what do you plan to do now, [Start]?”
“……”
Russia was very close to our domain.
Nuclear weapons, the most threatening weapon of the bygone era.
The threatening [Puppet] as a magical girl.
Both of humanity’s most dangerous elements were concentrated in Moscow.
Should we bolt the door and defend, or boldly attack?
“This time… I won’t just sit back.”
I gazed at the massive Sirius ship floating over the Supernatural Ability Response Headquarters.
“……”
I thought we should strike decisively before [Puppet]’s magical girl prepared adequately.
And, as if it were fate, a talent capable of operating the immobile Sirius ship asked for help.
개화 태생 2성 [항해]의 마법소녀
나탈리아
Having confirmed that her kindness and warmth, which had helped Yuki in the original story when heading towards Russia, remained, I could no longer hesitate.
“Let’s go. To Russia.”
And one more thing.
I had fought against a magical girl from [Puppet] only once, but she felt stubborn in solely utilizing puppets and had a sneaky mind brewing double plots.
‘She presented Alex on the surface and led the actual plan to strike Seoul.’
This time, her rampaging in Moscow was probably to divert attention, and if there was another means of attack left behind…
The magical girl of [Sword].
The magical girl of [Revenge].
It was uncertain where [Revenge] set her sights on.
But the location targeted by [Sword] was certain.
That girl, who was obsessively fixated on a specific country, seemed like the blade we had to wield now.
“…I might need to call Ichika.”
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