Transformation or Death

Chapter 67

T/N: Change the release time for more visibility, sorry for the inconveniences

The Tail of the Beast (5)

A bird flew around Pink Deneb. Its number gradually increased to two, three, tens, hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands as it flapped its wings, leading a fierce wind and flock of light. 

Hair and cloth fluttered ceaselessly. Even the moonlight could not withstand the wind and bent. The sound of the wind overpowered even screams and flaunted itself. It was a devastatingly powerful wind.

Pink Deneb did not have the ability to manipulate the air. This remained the same even when she awakened to a state close to divinity as a black dwarf star.

This wind was entirely created by Hong Ik-o’s flapping of wings. Merely the movements of beasts had gathered to create a storm-like wind.

“What are you doing? Shall we dance?”

She smiled darkly, drenched in blood and tears. The evidence of her suffering adorned her like a watercolor painting, lending her an alluring aura.

She waved her hand horizontally. A graceful curve was drawn, and the crows followed the line. The orderly movements of the Hong Ik-o flock exuded an elegant fluidity like silk.

The Hong Ik-o, stretched out like a path, flew towards the people.

“…What are you doing? Using that magic in such a confined space won’t end well? It only increases the risk of them colliding and putting each other in danger. The evacuation route is still that one path over there. Ah, the ceiling? Did you want to use it here?”

Virgo laughed and followed Pink Deneb’s movements with her arms. Under the moonlight, she danced like a graceful maiden of the lake, exuding both splendor and elegance.

Following her movements, the Hong Ik-o shifted. The forcible extraction of magic caused by the Four Symbols.

The stolen Hong Ik-o ascended into the sky, filling the empty space like clouds. Even the moonlight was erased, and the darkness unique to the underground descended heavily.

“What will you do now? Initially, you thought you could defeat me with just a few birds? This kind of magic can’t bring me down… Ah, it’s been a minute now.”

Even in the darkness, the wind did not stop blowing. The fierce gusts cleared the stale air below and circulated fresh air.

“Now that the ceiling is blocked too… What a pity. It seems I can’t let you evacuate. It’s okay. The moving sacrifice of your life will become sufficiently meaningless, but you’ll still receive a decent amount of public mourning.”

Only the starlight emanating from Pink Deneb was the sole light illuminating the darkness now.

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

Lightly dismissing Virgo, who had stolen her magic, she waved her arm again.

“Weren’t you able to discern the ability while manipulating my magic? Did you become a bird-brain from handling birds?”

The Hong Ik-o has diverse abilities.

It can unfold like wings on its back to soar through the folded sky, detect starlight, and act as a bridge connecting the thoughts of magical girls in real-time with its sensory abilities.

Yes, a bridge.

A structure that allows one to cross over something.

Even if there is an ocean below, a swamp, or lava, or even the sky itself, if you cross a bridge, you can overcome it.

No matter what hardships exist, it allows you to leap over the danger. This is the path of the bridge.

Just as crows gathered to form a bridge to connect Hikoboshi and Orihime, her Hong Ik-o can play a similar role.

“There’s no need for the existing path.”

The role of connecting one magical girl to another, a kind of instant movement that defies physical distance and spatial obstacles.

Originally, this was only possible between magical girls.

But now, having awakened to divinity, such restrictions have disappeared.

“There’s no need to take that narrow path.”

Cha-ra-ra-rak.

The Hong Ik-o unfolded and brushed past people like the wind. The shadows hastily moving forward vanished.

Like a clogged drain, the people trapped in the evacuation route, packed densely like debris, gradually disappeared one by one.

The Hong Ik-o no longer moved to carry people. It moved to become a foothold for them to step on and cross over, to guide them along the proper path as they walked.

“I’ll create a new path.”

Those who walked along the path of the Hong Ik-o found themselves in a broad park in the city center, where people’s lights shone brightly, instead of the damp and dark underground. 

Looking around with surprised eyes, one by one, other people who had been in the shelter began to appear here.

Commotion spread like a wave.

It was the commotion of joy at having survived.

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All the Hong Ik-o flew and landed to become paths. They offered their bodies to be lightly trodden underfoot.

The crows flew and flew again, flapping their wings simultaneously by the tens of thousands, so that no one could interfere with their task, no matter how many were stolen.

Odanhongkyo (Crow Silk Rainbow Bridge).

The crows unfolded like silk, becoming a bridge leading to life.

Blooming like a rainbow in the night, they drew a beautiful line across the sky.

“I’ll become the path.”

When there were no lanterns, the moonlight was erased, and darkness descended, she became the light guiding the people.

Like a star showing the proper way to a sailor lost in the vast ocean.

The path to escape from death, the straightest line to find relief most quickly, that straight line, she pointed north.

In this moment, she was the North Star.

Gradually, vacant spaces appeared in the underground shelter. Among the many disappearing, only two silhouettes remained unmoving.

Now, one who will soon cease being a magical girl, and one who is already no longer a magical girl. 

The two similar yet different existences looked at each other.

“Out of your mind?”

A wry smile formed on Virgo’s lips. It was a smile deeply tinged with displeasure.

“You’ve gone mad too? Instead of using your magic power to bring me down right away, you used it to evacuate those losers? You’ve really decided to lose, haven’t you?”

As the noises disappeared, so did the light of Pink Deneb

Black Dwarf Star.

The last starlight emitted by a magical girl. Just as it burns everything to emit light, the more light it emits, the more it diminishes.

It was like a candle.

If this starlight goes out now, that’s the end. It’s impossible to recover your strength and fight again. The starlight that has faded away now will never return.

Not just the starlight, but life itself. If the transformation is forcibly undone, not only will the starlight scatter, but the life built up inside will also scatter, resulting in death.

Even if you undo the transformation of your own will, it confirms a life with a time limit. 

This is a technique that burns up everything within you to create starlight. Naturally, life is included in that everything.

“Looks like that instant movement consumed quite a bit of magic power. Sheesh, this is really the end now. With the magic power you have left, you can’t kill me.”

It was a blatantly disappointed tone.

“I heard this secret technique converts even your life force into magic power, so I was looking forward to seeing what kind of frenzy you’d go into… Ugh, is evacuation all you’ve got? How stupid! Why did you waste it on something like this? Idiot, you should’ve spent that time trying to figure out how to beat me instead… Now all you have left is a miserable death, how pitiful….”

After disappointment came ridicule, then condemnation. Virgo tore into her.

Pink Deneb paid no mind as she spread her arms out.  

Silence.

The red canopy made of ravens, the silence lifted.

Silence had arrived.

All that could be seen was a complete void. A pristine empty space where not even an ant could be spotted.

“Feel free to babble on.”  

There was no one behind her. The many innocents who had been urgently shuffling their feet just moments ago were gone. 

She had succeeded in evacuating everyone here.

“I wasn’t fighting to win anyway.”

Victory is, of course, a good thing.

But not as much as life.  

“I don’t care what kind of shit comes out of your mouth. I just have to do what I have to do.”

No matter how many villains you can kill, if you can’t protect anyone, that power is ultimately useless. 

There’s no need to try to win. Just save people.

This had been Pink Deneb’s principle from the moment she first became a magical girl.  

Fortunately, her abilities were suited to upholding this principle, which she had continued to follow until now.

While it often went unnoticed since she frequently deployed with other magical girls, she had always done what she could.

Pink Deneb.  

The magical girl with the most losses on record.

The magical girl with the most rescues on record.  

Behind her record of most losses was always the record of lowest casualties.

“Couldn’t win? I know. I don’t live to win. Even if I win, it’s just temporary satisfaction in the end. Ah, though this is self-justification, of course. Who’s going to listen to some loser spouting this nonsense? Still…”

Pink Deneb’s foot struck the ground. A mass of pink light wrapped around Virgo’s waist and shot straight up.

“When people lose, that’s just the end of it. I can always abandon some measly victory.”  

Piercing through the Hong ik-o Virgo had placed to block her path, she flew upwards and upwards. 

She tore through the night sky in flight. The crisp winter air filled her lungs, and her eyes watered, perhaps from the cold. The chilly wind scorched one of her tears away, sending it flying off into the distance.

“Didn’t that hurt like hell just now, you bitch?”

I’ll probably die here.

With my senses cleared by the cold wind, that’s the conclusion I came to after calmly thinking it over.  

Of course, I have many regrets.  

I’m sad, furious, and want to gather every foul word and hurl it at the world right now.

Instead, I decided to vent all that frustration on Virgo.

A way to deal some damage while also keeping her from chasing after the people I evacuated by dropping her from a distance.

“Now you take it for once, you bitch.”

After soaring upwards for a while, Pink Deneb slowly tilted her body diagonally. Virgo, who had been caught by her, naturally ended up facing downwards as well.

“This is going to hurt a bit.”  

At that moment, I flew at the maximum speed I could muster. Leaving a comet-like trail of light, we plunged downwards.

***

Ippotranslation

***

Botis was quietly looking up. He swallowed a wry laugh.

How could he have lost more than half of all the villains he had created so far in a single battle today? 

“Umm… I guess I underestimated you after all.”

The usually flexible one becomes even more terrifying when angered.

He stroked his severed horn. Every time his finger touched the severed part, his body shuddered. It hurt quite a bit.

Your hands were empty. No wooden staff or belt. The wooden staff was rolling around perfectly nearby, but the belt was gone.

It must have gone looking for its owner.

A smile of happiness gradually formed on her face.

“Still… It was cool.”

He recalled the recent battle. 

That ferocious and thorough destructive appearance.  

The strange villain, both barbaric and mechanical.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you again next time….”

Botis smiled contentedly, thinking of hER blind lamb who became more and more splendid each time they faced each other.

***

Ippotranslation

***

“The group of villains… Is it a trick to keep some distance? Oh my, how shallow.”

Virgo got up, dusting off the dirt. Her back was full of marks from falling from a great height.

Around her were villains everywhere.

It was a remote mountain path far from the city, where quite a few villains remained, advancing from the dark matter.

“Still, I’ll let it slide this time. You’re pretty intense too. Even though it’s a forced job, you have an unnecessarily high sense of responsibility… Yeah, you won. Well done. Let me give you a round of applause. Clap clap~! Great job!”

Virgo, who had been clapping quickly, soon stopped and looked at Pink Denebu. 

A haggard appearance. She didn’t even need to bother with her. Whether left alone to die at the hands of the villains or die on her own, it would be one of the two.

“Congratulations on your retirement, junior~”

She scanned her with cold, sunken eyes and waved her hand lightly.

“I’m glad I didn’t end up like you~ Well… being behind or becoming a villain seems pretty similar though.”

She turned around harshly and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Jo Ah-yoon canceled her transformation.

-Creak. Creak.

She tried to get up. Her legs wobbled and she fell back to the ground.

She didn’t even have the strength to move her mouth, let alone her legs.

The usually noisy voice of the mascot was also quiet.

The only thing breaking the night’s silence was the threatening sound of the villains.

After quietly staring into the darkness, Jo Ah-yoon slowly closed her eyes.

Ah, so this is how it ends.

It was quite futile. There was no flashback right before the end.

Unable to recall the past or anything, she quietly accepted death.

At that moment, everything in front of her eyes turned white.

“…?!”

A powerful radiance pierced through even with her eyes closed. Had dawn come, or had she arrived in the afterlife?

The white beam of light flowed endlessly, slaughtering the villains.

Like lightning leaving a trail like an animal’s tail, or the trace left when a star falls, it leaves a beautiful trajectory.

“Ah….”

Taking in that sight with eyes wide open, she let out a soft laugh.

“Ah-yoon!”

The source of the light approached and embraced her. A warm voice that didn’t match her cold body.

The ferocity from earlier had completely vanished in front of her.

“Ah-yoon! Ah-yoon! Ah-yoon… No… Don’t do this… What is this… What happened….”  

“What’s this….”

The trail of light that had remained like a tail disappeared, and the appearance of the one who had approached was revealed. It was exactly as she had always imagined.

“I guess it really was my brother after all….”

My beloved brother.

Why does this person always appear in times of crisis? Jo Ah-yoon smiled deeply.

It wouldn’t be so bad to have this person by her side at the end.

Barely raising her hand, she stroked his tear-stained cheek and slowly closed her eyes.

“What, what is this? Why is this here? What is this? What is… Oh hey, wait! Don’t do it! Hey!”  

Her ears were ringing so she opened her eyes.

“Brother, I’m dying… Be quiet… Cry quietly…”

What appeared right in front of her was not her brother’s face, but a steel ball. A steel ball floating alone in the air.

As it approached her hand, its appearance transformed as soon as it touched her fingers.

“…The hell is this.”

The steel ball transformed into a strange mechanical device. 

Some kind of machine resembling a telescope.

A black lens reflected Jo Ah-yoon like a mirror. 

Beyond the lens was a distant light.

The light looked at her, and she looked back at the light.

Soon, the light enveloped her.

On a night at the beginning of December, a terrible incident occurred that trampled over the start of the new month.

A massive number of villains residing in the dark matter had entered the city.

This incident, which could have become a great tragedy recorded in history, was successfully contained with much less damage than expected through the early suppression efforts of the magical girls, particularly the sacrifice of Pink Deneb.

The currently identified casualties are as follows, a total of 8,568 residents evacuated, and 258 residents sustained serious injuries. 

However, there were no fatalities.

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Anyways… Happy Reading!!!