NOVEL NEXT Chapter 118
On the other side, hundreds of whispers of madness were approaching—those Plague Magical Girls.
“It’s our birth!!”
“We can create our world!!”
“Now the owner of this star is ‘us’!!”
As soon as I saw the Plague Magical Girls absorbing starlight with scales strapped to their backs, I clasped my hands together and summoned a White Star.
Definitely, they’re absorbing and releasing the starlight gathered here! The Plague Magical Girls are the enemy!
A myriad of starlight sparkled above my hands, and the resplendent colors gradually overlapped and converged into one. What emerged was a brilliant white encompassing all colors.
Pure light of hope gathers, becoming a White Starlight that protects humanity.
Fwaaaaam――!
As I hurled the created White Starlight at the Plague Magical Girls, a massive flash obliterated ten of them clustered in the center in the blink of an eye.
“Scatter!”
“If you get caught in the white star, you’ll die!”
“We need to spread out!!”
“The white star is dangerous!!”
“You’ll die as soon as you’re born!!”
With black starlight swirling rapidly around them, the Plague girls scattered in every direction.
Their communication was only verbal. Moreover, the movements shrouded in black starlight were clumsy and improvised.
They aren’t clones or incarnations like Galatea. They’re just independent entities.
Division of Apostles
Hostility of Apostles
The Apostle born from the Goddess of Start fully turns against humanity for the first time.
Watching the Plague Magical Girls slowly scatter, I realized what I had to halt in this fight. The Black Sea Serpent, starting to move slowly from the distant sea, had to be left to Yuki’s group.
Fwiiii――!!!
Every time the massive sea serpent writhed, waves kilometers high would surge, and with a rumble, countless massive whirlpools formed.
Heavy noise
Giant waves
The intense waves and swirling vortex created by the colossal black body seemed to form thousands of mountain ranges made of water in the sea.
“Yuki!! I’ll hold off the Plague! Just fight the sea serpent!!”
[Got it!]
“Announcing from the Magical Girl of Hope!! An abnormal situation has arisen where enemy Magical Girls appear in trials against humanity!!”
Plague Magical Girls
The final Apostle, once showing only insane lethargy, now stood opposed to humanity.
It’s different from the Animus that tried to test and change humans!
I kept informing the observatory that I was in complete opposition to the Plague Magical Girls.
“The opponents are the Born 3-Star Plague Magical Girls!! Many entities with the same face!! Be cautious!!”
Upon hearing my transmission, the observatory used Communication Magic to make sure that all Magical Girls could identify the Plague’s appearance. The Communication Magic was transmitted in real-time as visuals to every combatant.
[All appearances of the Plague Magical Girls have been transmitted.]
[Confirmed! There’s no reaction in all regions except for an extremely small number of Black Lion Monster appearances outside the trial site!]
Plague Magical Girls were shot down one by one by the gigantic white beam emitted by Galatea. They were merely dodging the White Starlight I threw, trying to disrupt when they found a brief moment of respite.
They seem much weaker than the Goddess… maybe thanks to the reckless increase in numbers?
The Plague Magical Girls, with starlight that seemed unbelievable for Born 3-Stars, were laboriously stealing starlight with their scales and preparing to release it.
Creek
Creek
With a rusty sound, the scales clumsily descended at a pathetic pace.
Due to the weak amount of starlight that couldn’t reach immense power.
Then, there was no need to summon 3-Star Magical Girls here as reinforcements.
I instructed the 3-Star Magical Girls assigned to defense in various regions to keep their guard up for unexpected situations.
“Trust me, and go into battle now, escort team! I’ll hold them all off!”
“Understood!”
Immediately after my orders, the escort team, standing on dozens of launch pads, began to unleash firepower towards the giant sea serpent. Standing in their places as practiced dozens of times, they activated their Unique Skills or operated the White Artillery.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
With massive explosions, shells from the White Artillery and countless colored attacks from the Magical Girls soared forth, tracing magnificent arcs.
Many beams of starlight rushed toward the writhing sea serpent.
But those were swallowed by the raging waves and whirlpools, vanishing without leaving a sound.
“Prepare for the next attack!”
“Don’t shoot one by one! Fire all at once!”
“Ready!!”
“Fire!!”
“Fire!!”
The escort team had completely turned their backs on the Plague Magical Girls, leaving all interceptions to me.
Everyone is fighting while trusting me…!
Then, as the Magical Girl of Hope, I had to halt them with boundless starlight.
I created a White Bow, then readied an enormous strike that had erased thousands of missiles.
White Arrow
Power that protects humanity
Hope that illuminates tomorrow
“Don’t interfere, vanish!”
Taarrr!!
From my hands, a gigantic white trajectory launched forward.
And then, the flash.
Kabooooom――!
As the massive flash erupted, temporarily staining the red sky white, the Magical Girls focused on the escort flinched and turned back.
“Graaah!!”
“Impossible… just born.”
“It’s absurd!”
Dozens of Plague disappeared along with their dying cries. The escort team, witnessing that scene, showed stronger trust and resumed their assault on the sea serpent.
They’re scattering quickly, aware of me.
Once the Plague Magical Girls confirmed my power, they rapidly dispersed, which meant even using enormous miracles continuously couldn’t eliminate many at once.
…And then, when their numbers decrease, they appear with small cracks.
Under the red sky, the dark sea where fire and waves surged.
Yuki’s group fought the sea serpent amidst enormous waves, while tiny cracks filled with hundreds of beams of starlight gathered on the sea.
Slurp
Slurp
Slurp
Unlike the first trial that continuously opened cracks, sending out Plague Magical Girls, each time I sent one out, the cracks would quickly close. Reports indicated that only Black Lions from the first trial emerged from small cracks in other locations besides this place.
“Yay! It’s the world!”
“Wow?! Fire! Water! So dazzling!”
“I was born into this world!! Freedom!!”
The endlessly born Plague Magical Girls possessed weak powers, but the scales on their backs constantly absorbed starlight automatically, hindering the Magical Girls.
“I’ve gathered enough!”
Barely surviving amidst the hundreds of white Unique Skills emitted by me and Galatea, the Plague prepared to activate their scales with joyful voices. If it activated, at least one or two attacks would emerge from the Born 3-Star Magical Girls.
Crack!
“Where do you think you’re going?”
With Ichika’s Unique Skill, I summoned a gigantic white goddess who grabbed and burst the Plague attempting to attack the other Magical Girls. Swinging her corpse, she struck at other nearby Plague.
“It’s the Goddess of Start!! She’s attacking us!!”
“We will now serve another goddess!!”
“It was hell being trapped in one body!!”
“You’ve shown us hell!!”
Since the summoned forms by me resembled the Goddess of Start, the Plague Magical Girls, seeing this, attempted to gather their pathetic black starlight to attack with furious jeers.
Do they not realize that the three other goddesses are the ones who cursed them?
Little by little, I began to understand the reason why the Plague Magical Girls were opposing humanity and participating in the trials.
Unlike in the original where the three goddesses were indifferent to the trials, it seemed they manipulated the Plague Magical Girls’ souls to be reborn from the cracks where monsters emerge.
Not an Apostle fated for destruction, but a Revelation.
Those who voluntarily took on trials and vanished, the War.
Death, which swapped souls and changed destinies.
Unlike the three Apostles, the Plague, born from a continuously dividing monstrous soul, possessed weak starlight compared to their powers.
Even now, the Plague continuously faded and reappeared under the attacks of Galatea and me.
“Graaah!”
“This can’t be!!”
“Just born!!”
One is weak, but even in numbers, they still pose a major hindrance.
Just by existing, they steal the starlight of the Magical Girls and utilize the collected starlight to deal devastating blows to other Magical Girls except me.
If I leave the Plague Magical Girls alone, I won’t be able to defeat the monsters of the trial.
One fortunate thing was that the monsters born from pure will of the stars itself hadn’t changed significantly. And that a Magical Girl who knew the trials better than anyone else was here to confront them.
Yuki! I’m counting on you!
I continued intercepting the Plague, who absorbed and released starlight, hindering the Magical Girls.