CH 24

Stardust Shine

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

–What exactly is a “Magical Girl”? Tsugumi had been thinking about it for a long time.

The official government definition of a Magical Girl was a priestess who had made a contract with a God. But after spending his days as a Magical Girl, he had come to realize the true nature of the term.

The only reason he understood this was because he had the skill of “Gluttony”. The power that Magical Girls had and the power that Demonic Beast had was almost similar.

Thinking logically, it wasn’t strange at all. Gods could manifest in this modern age because they used the energy leaking from the dimensional crack that caused the Demonic Beasts to appear.

This energy was converted into divine power and poured into a girl, forming a Magical Girl, an existence to fight.

And Tsugumi was an exception to the rule among Magical Girls. His entire body had already been largely remolded.

The first time was when his life was saved. The second time was when he was able to transform into a woman’s body. The third time onwards – when the body of the Demonic Beast was eaten by Gluttony.

–He was really aware of it. He was aware that after each battle, his body was becoming more and more devoid of human reason.

He pretended not to see it all along. When Tsugumi pointed out the discomfort, Bell told him not to worry about it, so he decided to assume it was okay.

He never actually had any trouble with it, and more than anything, he was happy that he was stronger as a Magical Girl. It was all for the best.

–So when he saw the mouth of the beast eating his own limbs, Tsugumi was truly relieved to realize that his guesses were correct.

◆ ◆ ◆

Bell could only watch as Tsugumi was being devoured. God was not allowed to interfere in the battle. She couldn’t even support the body that was about to fall.

–Tsugumi was spitting out blood. It seemed that not only the limbs, but also some of the contents had been eaten.

The “Gluttony” skill was used to feed on one’s own flesh. –It is the most efficient way of sacrificing.

And the determination and dedication of Tsugumi–his purified thoughts–doubled the effect of [Gluttony]. In fact, a great deal of converted and amplified power was flowing into Bell’s body.

Now, if this purified “divine power” was poured into Tsugumi’s vessel, some enhancement of the other skills should also occur. It would be temporary, but for a moment, it would be possible to produce power comparable to A-class.

–But the cost was high. Perhaps Tsugumi’s vessel couldn’t withstand the enormous amount of divine power. Even if he could surpass it, he’d die soon.

What to do with this power was left to Bell’s judgment. This responsibility was heavy. But there was nothing to hesitate about.

He said he wanted to win. –What kind of God doesn’t answer to that?

–Bell was once a God who ruled over men. In the course of time, she was disgraced as an evil God and scorned as a devil. Humans were selfish, arrogant, and foolish creatures. But certain things about them were beautiful.

Above all else, she couldn’t betray Tsugumi’s expectation, who honestly adored Bell as a God.

Bell sent divine power through the pathway path connecting her and Tsugumi. She carefully measured the amount she poured in, hoping it wouldn’t break.

-It’s been thousands of years since I’ve prayed for someone. The body of this spirit wasn’t capable of performing miracles as far as she was concerned. The only thing she could do was to pray like this.

–But still… Since the great God and the pure Miko are all here, there is no reason why at least one miracle can’t be performed, right?

Softly, a warm breeze surrounded Tsugumi.

The blood flowing from Tsugumi’s limbs became like a single thread, and it began to move around him as if it were drifting. The red threads formed the shape of the lost limb, as if knitting, and settled on his body as if nothing had happened.

Slowly, Tsugumi opened his eyes. The color of his left eye was also blood red, giving it an inhuman appearance.

Watching him, Bell gasped.

The red threads that wrapped around him and the thick hint of death that wafted from his left eye. It resembled the divine authority that Bell knew so well, and she involuntarily bristled all her hairs.

–Similar? But not the same・・・・・・

What Tsugumi had was more like a primitive object than divine power. It was a remnant of a time when death was once closest to him, even before God’s supremacy. It’s the kind of power that allowed animals to predict the death of others.

He gripped the arm made of thread, checked its movement, and turned to Bell.

“Then I’m off.”

He said it with the ease of a man going for a walk. Bell responded in the same way.

“Yeah, go on.”

Hearing her curt reply, Tsugumi laughed. And then, with gliding speed, he started running toward a single tail. There was no feeling of sadness on his back.

–Even though Magical Girls had a dull sense of pain, there was no way he didn’t feel pain after being wounded so badly. Yet, with the lightness of a prima donna, Tsugumi was slicing the Radon’s tail from end to end.

He passed under the tail, which was swinging at high speed, and sliced off the body from the neck down. As if the struggle he’d just endured was a lie, he sliced the thick tail into pieces like butter.

And to her surprise, the part cut by the red thread seemed to be unable to regenerate. The hint of death she felt at that moment must have worked to seal Radon’s immortality.

Perhaps impatient with Tsugumi, which had suddenly become more mobile, Radon continued to use its tail to attack him repeatedly. Tsugumi, however, was able to avoid the dazzling rays of light with minimal movement. As if he could see the future.

After roughly clearing away the tails that were visible above the water, Tsugumi stared out at the lake and muttered a few words.

“…This is a nuisance.”

Then he suddenly dipped both hands into the lake and it disappeared in transportation – the lake and all of its water.

–The surprising thing was its mass. The size of this lake was about 150 times the size of the Tokyo Dome. It would be absurd to think that the entire lake with such a large amount of water could be transported.

Such a huge amount of water was erased with a single action, a single touch of the hand. Even with his excellent Transportation skills, he was still a bit of a monster.

However, other A-level Magical Girls could also do things on a more or less similar scale, although in a different form. Considering that Tsugumi’s abilities had been raised to the level of Class A, it might not be that strange.

…But, in the end, the power was a doped-up imitation. The greater the power available now, the greater the repercussions later.

“I can’t afford to spare.”

Like a glittering star that burned out in an instant, he ran for a moment. That kind of Tsugumi made her proud and angry at the same time.

–Even though you said you would survive.

I’m not going to let you go. It’s too late to say anything now. With such a negative feeling, the weather also looked also a little darker.

The lake, with its unobstructed view, was now nothing more than a mortar-shaped slaughterhouse.

After returning from the Transportation, Tsugumi freely manipulated the threads as if he was playing “Ayatori” (a game of cat’s cradle). As if he was conducting music while dancing. Ironically, all that spinning was blood splatter and sounds of destruction.

Cutting, chopping, and rolling. Sometimes he manipulated the necks to make them fight with each other, and sometimes he chopped Radon’s body precisely. And within a few minutes, he had almost completely shredded them. In a sense, the slow-moving giant’s body backfired.

But on the other hand, Tsugumi’s body also seemed to be nearing its limits. Although he didn’t fall down, his face was pale and lifeless.

Breathing heavily, he wobbled closer to Radon’s main body – the neck of one of them.

Coughing up a considerable amount of blood, he said to the neck.

“I’ve sealed off its regeneration, but it’s enough to finish it.”

Tsugumi had a terribly calm expression on his face as he faced Radon, who was glaring at his neck.

Radon tried to fire a beam of light at the unprotected approaching Tsugumi, but was easily distracted by a flick of his finger. From Radon’s point of view, this was a nightmare.

“–…Release.”

As Tsugumi muttered something in a muffled voice, the threads entangled in Radon’s bodies scattered throughout the lake began to glow with a faint dark light. A fearless sense of death filled the entire Lake Ashi. If someone said that this was hell, an ordinary person would believe it.

“I’m glad I did it. I’m glad my preparation… didn’t go to waste.”

Then Tsugumi looked up at the sky, which was beginning to darken.

–For the first time, Bell noticed something unusual. The sky was too dark for daytime, and the strange noise was getting closer and closer.

Let’s think back again here. –Where the heck did Tsugumi put that vast lake of water?

Bell looked up at the sky and saw large and small blobs, slightly muddy green in color, falling from the sky.

“Did you bring the water to the sky …!?”

For Tsugumi, the horizontal axis of movement that he normally used to move around was probably not that different from the vertical axis of movement like this one. The idea itself was frightening.

When Bell looked at Tsugumi, he was smiling with satisfaction. It was a smile as pure and innocent as a child’s who had drawn a good picture.

“The temperature in the mesosphere above is far colder than below freezing. Even a large amount of water can be easily frozen if I spread it out to a certain extent. If I adjusted it by using Transportation, the timing of the drop is just like this!”

Shouting, Tsugumi spat out a large amount of blood. But he didn’t care and kept talking.

“The fate of death is already eating away at you. Even if you are immortal, you can never escape the cause and effect of death!”

–Ice blades, larger than large trees, fall in great numbers like stars. Radon, blocked from moving, had no way to avoid it.

“–It’s my win.”