Transformation or Death

Picking Stars from the Sky (2)

Lightning connects the ends in an instant. A massive amount of cold current flowed through the lion’s eyes. 

The lion’s body stiffened, and its huge head fell down.

Bang!

Ice flowers bloomed luxuriantly from the spot where the lion fell. The ashes froze, the dust froze. Even the moment seemed to freeze.

“Madman…”

Heh, laughing, Virgo engraved the sight of the giant lion falling with his own eyes.

The lion really fell. No matter what new power it had awakened, there was an astronomical difference from the starlight. Even if there was a weakness, it was almost impossible to reach that weakness. Still, he did it.

Of course, it could have just been luck. For a moment, the lion stopped moving as if entranced, and in that gap, a single blow landed.

But even if this was an achievement born of luck, the result does not change. 

He had proven it.

Picking a star from the sky…….

“Not yet.”

Towards Virgo, who was blankly staring at the fallen lion, he gave a small warning.

“It’s not dead yet.”

As he spoke those ominous words, the lion’s legs convulsed. A lively movement very different from post-mortem rigidity.

“A villain of that magnitude wouldn’t die without an explosion. Unnecessarily sturdy.”

“What, what?! Why isn’t it dying! That’s cheating!”

“Even with a pierced heart and severed neck, a villain like that wouldn’t die from that.”

Watcher calmly stretched out his hand. The axe lodged in the lion’s left eye then flew back to him and stuck to his hand like a magnet.

Whooosh – He swung the axe, shaking off the blood that had accumulated on it.

“Before starting another round, can I get those two to run away? Hmm, no. It’s fine.”

Looking at the terrified Virgo, Watcher turned to face forward again. He boldly gripped the axe and held it out as if confronting the lion.

From where the axe had been lodged, hot blood spurted like a volcanic eruption. The lion’s mane was dyed by that blood. A crimson light shone in its remaining right eye.

“You don’t need to do anything. There’s no need to run away. Just wait here. That alone is enough.”

Kugugugung – With just a slight stir, the ground shook. Its legs stopped convulsing and dug into the ground to balance its massive body.

The crimson mane gradually ignited like flames. The profound-colored flames spread threateningly, showing off their majesty, and swirled around its neck mysteriously like a revolving galaxy.

“I’ll try to handle it somehow.”

Virgo looked up at the lion with a pale, terrified face. Just a moment ago, it was merely suppressing its power.

That wasn’t just a star, it was closer to a galaxy. Not a fence made by gathering countable stars, but inside that fence. A space where innumerable stars existed that couldn’t be counted.

If the concept of power were made into a living being, would it look like that?

Kwaaaaaah! The lion firmly planted its feet on the ground and roared. A blinding light surged like waves, too brilliant to fully open one’s eyes.

Inside the roaring beast’s mouth, those masses of light gathered. The light sublimated into a massive energy mass, undulating as if it would incinerate everything in front of it at any moment.

Fear. That was the only emotion dominating Virgo’s heart now. She recalled the lion’s ferocious appearance from years ago when it burned down roads, and the souls of the dead in the red earth she had seen just before going mad seemed to wail.

Virgo remembered from her oblivion.

The first reason she went insane.

No matter how much the magical girls flew and crawled, the world would end up like this. Destruction is the foretold future, and no one can escape it.

So it’s meaningless. The gratitude of protecting the ignorant masses who don’t know the grace they were shown, she would never gain that in the future.

Efforts for protection will ultimately converge into meaninglessness.

In the end, since it will be destroyed, what’s the point?

Virgo gave up her sanity. Even if she clearly remembered everything, it would only be painful. It’s much easier to act as she pleases according to her mood.

That’s why she chose oblivion and insanity.

Now, she had even forgotten what she had hoped for from this starlight.

Virgo moved forward as if entranced. To die before witnessing that sight.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay still?”

In front of Virgo, Watcher, Han Jae-jung, blocked her way. Standing boldly before the lion, like the manifestation of hellfire, he swung the axe as big as his body and firmly planted it in the ground.

“I told you, didn’t I? That I’d even pick a star for you. But the person I’m giving it to can’t disappear.”

A much broader back than when she first saw him. When did this little brat who used to cower and run away from even a low-level villain become so big?

At first, it was just a simple whim.

Even Virgo, who was psychologically unstable, could see that he was an unstable person too. For some reason, he looked more pitiful than Virgo herself.

That’s why, even when she witnessed him crying, she let him live. Even when insulted, she let him live. No matter what he did, he just looked ridiculous, and posed no threat at all.

On top of that, his goal was to catch villains with that feeble body lacking even starlight.

It was amusing. It felt like watching a wingless butterfly flap around trying to fly.

Whether it was for a sense of psychological superiority or because he couldn’t let go of his instincts until then, Virgo kept him by her side for more than a day. Even knowing that she might hurt him again in a hysterical fit if she was provoked even a little, she kept him there.

Days passed, then a month went by.  

Only then did Virgo realize.

That she was hoping for something from him.

Perhaps it was the meaning of the starlight she had already forgotten.

But Virgo couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t regain his sanity. The closer she got to her sanity, the more violently Virgo struggled with her mania. It resembled a drug addict trying to quit drugs. The more she tried to regain her memories, the more pain coursed through her body, and the more her body craved oblivion, the more violent it became.

At this rate, it seemed like I would carelessly harm even him.

So, Virgo kept piling up things she wanted to forget. Because the stronger she became, the more her desires responded.

Fortunately, there were many people in Dark Matter. The memories she committed and wanted to forget gradually increased. When the memories of murder reached their limit, Virgo’s brain erased the memories to defend herself.

Thanks to this, Virgo gained oblivion and lost him.

It should have been like that, but somehow he’s standing in front of her again. This time, to protect Virgo heeself.

The back of the boy she had always protected had become so stately.

‘Ah.’

Looking at his back, Virgo retrieved one memory from oblivion.

It was an insignificant landscape. When the lion burned the road and leisurely left. Amidst the wrecked cars, she saw a child’s body taking feeble steps.

A small child, not even a boy yet, cradled in the arms of what were presumed to be the corpses of his parents.

Amid countless corpses, she found a life still beating.

Red Spica hugged the child and cried for a long time. The meaning of Ahn Su- chae being here today was in that embrace.

Why does that scene come to mind now of all times?

“You may not know, but I lost my parents to that guy. I can’t lose anything more here.”

Virgo realized everything. The child she could protect and the boy she had protected, and the young man she is now being protected by in turn.

The common point between them.

“If you’re going to die, at least settle the score before you do.”

At that moment, the light gathering in the lion’s mouth erupted. The hellfire-like blaze led everything in orbit into the world of nothingness. In the midst of flames that burned even ashes, embers, and ice.

A huge axe in the shape of the Big Dipper stood in its way. It planted the shaft firmly into the ground and caught the blade with its hand.

Sizzle!!! The flames rushed not in an instant, but a moment. And withstanding that impact, cracks appeared in the ground centered on the shaft and feet. The axe blade shook like a window in a typhoon, and the hand catching the blade also kept trembling under the weight of the flames.

A continuous onslaught of violence that made it hard to even open one’s eyes. Wachter swayed but did not retreat. He could not.

Gradually, lightning fire gathered on the axe blade enduring hellfire.

“No one will forgive your sin. Forgiveness is not something heaven does, nor something anyone else can give—it is given by the victim themselves who suffered. The only one who could forgive you is Virgo, and you have already eliminated her with your own hands. Countless others will tear you apart.”

The lightning fire flowing along the blade extended to the lightning fire connected to the blade.

“So, if you cannot ask for forgiveness, at least let me understand.”

The lightning fire, as cold as the sky, soon froze the hellfire, encasing it in ice. The hellfire burned the ice, and the lightning fire froze the fire.

“My words have gone on too long. So this is what I want to say.”

Their repetition continued like eternity before ending in an instant.

“I will prove myself to you by plucking a star. You give me proof to remember you by.”

All the flames froze stark white and scattered like lightning, shooting upwards in streaks.

It was the victory of lightning.

“Give me that you were once magic and a girl to someone.”

By the time the traces of the frozen flames reached the sky, the clear sky was visible.

The clouds had parted.

Virgo blankly looked up at the sky. In the peaceful, serene blue sky, not a single cloud blurred her vision.

All she could see was his figure with his back to the sun.

There is no such thing as annihilation here. No such thing as anxiety.

Where the flames disappeared, there were no villains.

Only pure light remained.

“It ran away. Leaves a bad aftertaste.”

Clicking his tongue, Wachter turned to look at Virgo.

“My apologies. I made a big fuss but ended up losing it. I didn’t think this would happen… Hm?”

The one who had never been surprised before was now surprised.

“Why are you crying?”

None other than Virgo was shedding tears.

“Noisy… Not crying….”

“But you are crying right now, aren’t you? Is it because I couldn’t keep my promise? I’m sorry. How was I supposed to know that building-sized bastard would run away? This is troublesome. If this is the case, I won’t be able to get starlight…..”

Glancing around, Wachter gave a small laugh.

“…No. I suppose I can still keep my promise.”

A crimson speck rose from the ice flower. A faint glow like a firefly. An insignificantly small reward compared to what had transpired.

Wachter caught that tiny starlight and passed it to Virgo. The star streamed through the air.

“This is the star I promised.”

That star flowed and reached Virgo.

“I succeeded in protecting you, Virgo.”

Holding that tiny starlight, Virgo cried quietly like the day everything had burned. Tears not of loss, but of proof.

A world destined for annihilation someday.

A meaningless world.

A world where sanity and memory were suffering, and delusion and oblivion were far happier.

A world not worth protecting.

Here, there was meaning.

He was the meaning of her protection.

Not the annihilation of the world, but the reason the world needed to be protected was explained.

It was proven that her protection was not useless.

Virgo’s starlight was proven here. Her answer was here.

After holding the starlight and crying for a long time, Virgo got up and spoke to him.

“…You said I could not be forgiven for my sins?”

Guessing her next words, Han Jae-jung solemnly nodded.

“Then, I can at least choose the person to punish me for my sins, right?”

From the hollow in her pierced heart, crimson starlight scattered.

Her body, having lost its purpose for existence, dissolved and scattered into starlight. For the one who found her answer, life was no longer required. The long, long conclusion of life—its end had begun.

“Kill me,” Virgo whispered.

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