Transformation or Death

Chapter 43

It resembled the unpleasantness that comes from being solicited by religious groups on the street. 

Going further, it was like an act of evangelism that threatens you’ll go to hell if you don’t believe. 

A kind of compulsion that dismisses doubt, a rational process, as unnecessary. 

The unpleasantness came from that kind of thing.

“Why should I…”

“You.”

Botis interrupted him.

“You’ve only just become aware of your purpose recently?”  

That was true. It hadn’t even been a week since he became aware of his ideal.

“We often joke among ourselves that the most frightening are those who have just become aware of their purpose. People who have just realized their purpose are terrifying. If they think it will help realize their ideal, they lose all hesitation and resort to all kinds of desperate acts. Hahaha, I’m ashamed to say I made many mistakes around that time too.”

Botis laughed as if he understood completely. He had the same embracing quality as an experienced senior in life giving advice to a younger brother or family member.

“It was a good thing you restrained yourself when you tried to kill me earlier. I don’t care personally…but who knows how the kids by your side would think. It’s too much to expect human intelligence from mere balls of fluff, not even lambs yet, right?”

He never hid his murderous intent. Botis couldn’t have missed the murderous intent he had before sitting on this mat.

Moreover, the livestock frolicking in this vast nature.  

He turned his attention to the signs he had been ignoring. The many beasts gazing menacingly towards this place.

Covered in wool but not gentle, ferocious villains. 

Botis leisurely waved at them in greeting.

“Seeing you restrain yourself, you seem remarkably docile for a villain who has just become aware of his purpose. Ah…of course! You’re human when you release your transformation. Haha, my bad. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you not to worry too much. You’re acting rightly. Don’t doubt yourself.”

It was a kindness Han Jae-jung could not accept. 

“Even if you think it’s a mistake now, it will turn out not to have been a mistake in the end.”

In the end, those words too stemmed from the belief that the Belt would guide him to the right path.

It was close to religious fanaticism.  

Han Jae-jung, sick of Botis extolling the Belt, cut him off.

“You’re just making me more defiant. Are you perhaps in love with machines, extolling them so fervently? A very passionate love.”

“Getting angry? That’s just because you lack sweetness. Want me to give you some honey now?”

“No need.”  

He felt like pouring the milk in this cup right onto Botis’ face. It was the same milk he had drunk earlier, so he would surely drink this too.

However, not only would that not be a ‘conversation’, but the many enraged villains glaring this way were also an issue.

Holding back a sigh, Han Jae-jung asked, “Hey, why are you so adamant that I believe in the Belt? If you know my purpose, it won’t be of any help to you.”

Botis laughed.  

“I’m on the side of all lambs. ‘All’ lambs, I mean. Even if conflicts arise occasionally, I can’t deny that dream.”

Lambs – the word he uses for villains.

“Ah, I see.”

Han Jae-jung finally realized why Botis so extolled the Belt that guides one to their ideal.  

There were two reasons he was invited to this space.

One was to give him time from the villains chasing him outside.

The other was to define whether he was a lamb or a wolf.

“You want me to become a villain.”  

What the Belt presents is a path with the possibility of realizing one’s ideal.  

A path where the process doesn’t matter as long as the ideal is achieved, the very path of a villain.  

Botis’ aim was to make him think that path was right.

So that gradually, in body and mind too, he would become closer to a villain.

To become a lamb who knows where to go but not how to get there, wandering aimlessly. 

“For me to become a lamb in your flock…I see.”

Han Jae-jung recalled when he resorted to violence against Red Vega in order to instill fear.  

According to Botis’ words, that would not be a sin. It’s a path to realizing the ideal.

But he must not accept that.

“I refuse. Don’t bother with your nonsense and just keep sucking milk.”  

Botis laughed loudly.

***

Ippotranslation

***

Red Vega was just thinking about killing the villain. 

No other thoughts were needed. On the urgent battlefield where victory or defeat could be decided in just a second, there was no room for leisure. 

Agony was a luxury.

“Sister Aldebaran!”

As Red Vega shouted, a laser line was drawn again on the villain’s neck. However, it was different from before. Multiple lines were drawn overlapping one line, dozens of strikes.  

Kagagaak!!!

An unpleasant noise scratched the ears. Red Vega gathered flames in her two fists without caring. Using her signature firepower as thrust, she threw her fists towards the area where multiple lines had been drawn earlier.

Bang! Bang! Tadadadang! 

Not just one or two consecutive strikes, but dozens of consecutive strikes. Each one was an intense attack that could easily tear rocks and melt iron. Dozens of those. Concentrate on one point.

Still, it wasn’t satisfactory. There was still no sign of injury on the villain’s body. Shiiik, smoke rose from the point of impact. It was just heat, not a scar.

“This is driving me crazy…..”  

“But if we keep attacking, a way out will appear.”

“A way out, you’ve studied quite a difficult word.”

“Huh? What do you take me for….?”

“Kids, get out of the way!”

As Blue Sirius’s voice came from behind, the two swiftly flew into the sky to get out of the way. Immediately after, a thick ice spear flew and struck the villain’s neck.

It was a maximum firepower attack by compressing magical power together with a clone. The ice spear that flew at bullet speed easily pushed the villain back.

Normally, the neck should have been blown off the moment it was hit.

The villain’s overwhelming endurance did not allow such a phenomenon.

Chijijijik!

It was the sound of friction heat caused by the villain’s feet dragging on the ground.

“Ha… hahahahaha!”  

Even with a building-sized spear stuck in its neck, it laughed out loud. It was eerie.

“Tsk.”

Blue Sirius clicked her tongue. If it was simply strong, she could rationalize it with a sense of disappointment, but this villain was just tough.

The attacks were simple and not very fast. It’s just that the defense was on a different level from any villain they had fought before.

It was frustrating. All the attacks hit, but they didn’t work. The frustration soon turned to annoyance.

Red Vega felt the same way. The fear could be easily washed away from her mind by the adrenaline and endorphins secreted during the battle. 

As a result, her easily excited body felt annoyed by the current situation where there was little progress.

Annoyance soon turned into impatience, and impatience led to immediate action.

Red Vega gathered flames under her feet to use as propellant. The resulting speed momentarily caused a sonic boom. She caught up to the villain moving away after being hit by the ice spear attack.  

She spewed flames in the opposite direction to slow down, then turned around.

Her target was the back of the villain’s head. She released the magical power she had compressed in her fist while flying. The flame swayed like a living organism.

The flame drew a line, and it moved like a beating heart.

One Path. Harmony (Fire Sound).

Her ultimate technique, containing her ideals.

A technique containing the feeling of wanting to chase after and respect someone she set as her ideal.

The purest fist of aspiration struck towards the villain.

Kwadeudeudeuk!  

She hammered the villain like a sledgehammer. But the nail was not the villain, but the ice spear in front of it.

Not hammering a nail into something, but hammering a wooden board to drive the nail in – a strange fighting technique. 

Pushing the villain towards the nail, and the nail pushing back the villain.

A deadlock was made.

Kkigigigeuk!  

A terrible sound like scratching glass with nails pierced the ears again. It was the sound of something scratching its solid body. It was effective. Red Vega was convinced.

She continued spewing flames without stopping. It felt like the villain was pushed forward more than before.

‘I can do it!’

It’s possible. Red Vega gathered flames behind her elbow and released them. She increased the thrust even more.   

Kkigigigeuk!

Gradually, the villain was pushed forward. It struggled as if trying to escape, but it was too tightly trapped from the front and back to escape.

‘Just a little more…!’   

Kwajangchang!

The ice shattered. Immediately, the villain hid its limbs inside its shell and spun like a top.

“Uwah?!”

Red Vega, who was within range, was directly hit. The tremendous impact momentarily froze her body in a daze. She was flustered. She knew the toughness of the ice Blue Sirius created. How enormous and powerful the force behind that devastating blow was.  

There was no way it could break so easily.  

At the end of that thought, Red Vega immediately deduced the answer.    

Her flames, with a firepower that could instantly turn steel into liquid, had come into close contact with the ice. It was inevitable that it would melt. Their collaboration was not a good match.  

She could have definitely succeeded….

‘Was it because of me…?’  

If her ability wasn’t flames, could she have succeeded? A sense of guilt and helplessness drained her strength.

While flying aimlessly in the air, having forgotten to take a defensive stance, she felt a soft sensation on her back.

“Miss Vega!”

“Th, thank you.”  

“Personally, I think your action just now was good. The problem is… That guy was just too tough.”

It was Golden Aldebaran who had caught her. Red Vega, with a dazed expression, stood up following her guidance.  

With time running short now, Golden Aldebaran rushed towards the villain first. Her body gradually became transparent as she attempted camouflage again.  

Red Vega also calmed her shaky legs to move again. It was probably just a momentary loss of strength from exerting too much force for a moment.

“Phew… That was scary.”

She muttered absentmindedly as she steadied herself.

“Huh? You were scared?”

Red Vega covered her own mouth. She was startled. What a blunder. It’s something a hero shouldn’t say. Would Sky Polaris say such a thing after surviving an attack by a villain? Of course not.  

She would rekindle her fighting spirit and desire for revenge, vowing to fight again.

It was no different with other magical girls besides the senior ones. 

None of them voiced their fear in the midst of battling villains. Perhaps their true feelings differed, but the fact that they didn’t voice it remained unchanged.

“It could demoralize you…”

Red Vega continued to berate herself as she ran.

It was an exaggerated reaction, an over-interpretation. 

Just a small comment.

Even small comments could easily sway her emotions at this stage – she was still a girl.

Her mind was still unstable. The self-esteem she had built up through magical girl activities was crumbling like a sand castle, and the heroic ideals she had formed were shaking.

It was an unacceptable behavior.

To correct it, she became harsher on herself, but this harshness only further destabilized her mind.

She whipped herself to become the magical girl she idolized, but this self-flagellation only pulled her further away from her idol.

It was a vicious cycle.  

It was also growing pains.

Once again, Red Vega erased the fear from her consciousness. She tried not to feel it.

The villain’s random spinning in all directions came to a stop.

The villain, having extracted its limbs from its turtle-like shell, was revealed.  

Golden Aldebaran, who had been hiding nearby, shouted.

“It’s wounded!”

Their earlier attack had been effective. It was not in vain.

There was hope there.  

Red Vega even felt a thrilling elation.

“Yaaaaah!!”

Regaining her cheerfulness, Red Vega thrust her fist towards the villain’s neck.

There was no fear.

As the distance closed, a slight crack was visible near the villain’s neck.

“Let’s attack together!”

The invisible Phantom Strike also aimed for the villain’s neck.

“Ha… ha…”  

Their simultaneous attacks hit the villain’s neck.

Crack!

The hard shell encasing the neck split open, revealing a black, leathery substance inside.

Success.

They didn’t stop. Fists and Phantom Strikes rained down again. With the shell gone, they would be more deadly.

“Hah!!!”

Thud!

They were deflected. Both blade and fist.

“…Huh?”

Red Vega realized.

Inside that hard shell, there was.

An even harder, indestructible armor in place.  

“Hahahahaha!!!”

For the first time since arriving here, that laughter resounded.

The villain laughed loudly and grabbed the leg of the deflected Golden Aldebaran. Though hidden, considering the trajectory of the earlier attack and traces left, her position could be inferred. 

Grabbing her leg, it spun her around and hurled her towards Red Vega.

“Ugh!”  

“Ack!”

With that centrifugal force, the living projectile was a formidable weapon. Red Vega’s unstable stance left her unable to properly receive it like Golden Aldebaran had, she could only tumble to the ground together.

Above them, the villain’s body came hurtling down. Its spinning, turtle-like shell now revealed sharp blades protruding in places, unseen before.

Taking that head-on would undoubtedly deal a shocking, tearing blow that would forcibly dispel their transformations. And if the onslaught continued after that… They would die.

The perspectives between villain and magical girl had reversed.  

When a magical girl first sees a villain from the sky, it’s usually from above. Then they meet at eye level.

But rarely from below.

Because looking up at a villain from below signifies defeat.

Death, or a lucky survival.

Statistically, the former outcome was understood.

Understood, but never felt.

Red Vega recalled the memory. Just days ago, the one-sided violence inflicted by the villain.  

The pain and fear then, the helplessness, the weakness.

Her hands and feet trembled like a rung bell, her mouth forgot language. She couldn’t even scream. Couldn’t even expel air.

But her body incessantly rang the alarm bell.

Run away.

It was almost a reflex action. An instinct.

Holding Golden Aldebaran, Red Vega concentrated her magic power under her feet. No direction set, no speed adjusted. She just wanted to get away from this place immediately.

The spells practiced to charge at the villain now spewed flames solely to flee it as far as possible.  

Bang!

Dust and ice shards scattered as the two were blown backwards, the villain’s vicious spinning attack striking the spot they had been.

Crunch crunch!  

The ground was horrifically gouged and torn.  

Witnessing it with her own eyes, Baek Ah-hee tightened her hold on her senior like a child clinging to a doll to forget a nightmare.

“Ve..Vega? How far are we going?!”  

Even after escaping that spot, Baek Ah-hee did not stop. It was only after flying a great distance that Red Vega landed on the roof of a quiet building. 

“Thank you. Now let’s go back and…”

“No.”  

The moment their high-speed flight ceased, Golden Aldebaran tried to get up, but Red Vega stopped her.  

Her heart was still pounding tremendously. It felt like her internal organs might spill from her mouth.

“Don’t go… back…”

Red Vega had gained fear.

She couldn’t even turn her head. Even with eyes closed, intensely bright lights could still be felt.  

No matter how much she fled and tried to forget, once witnessed, she could not but know.

The terror of losing one’s life.

Red Vega knew fear.   

“Don’t… go back…”

Her faltering, trembling voice sounded like a child struggling not to cry.

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