Transformation or Death

Symbol of Peace (13)

Their eyes were dry and lifeless, like rotten tree branches. They were the eyes of a corrupted life, devoid of hope no matter how hard one looked. Such cold and chilling gazes pierced through Orange Altair. They watched her warily, like beasts seeing fire for the first time.

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

Amidst this, there was also the pure gaze of a child looking up at her. In the suffocating silence, Orange Altair couldn’t resist that innocent, expectant look.

“Um, well…”

Orange Altair opened her lips to break the silence.

“W-Wow!”

At that moment, cheers spread through the village like wildfire.

“A magical girl has come!”

“What? A magical girl? Really?!”

“I’m telling you, it’s true!”

“I know her! Orange Altair! They say she’s a rare long-range sniper among magical girls!”

“So, is that amazing?”

“Of course! It’s incredible!”

“I see. We’re saved. We’re saved, right?”

“Can, can we go home now?”

Hope spreads just as pessimism does. For those captured by the villain, her appearance must have been like seeing a rescue ship in the vast ocean.

Orange Altair found this reaction more bewildering than the cold stares.

She had always been far removed from rescue scenes and had never heard cheers this close. The fact that she was someone’s hope was too distant for her.

In contrast, criticism and sighs were closer. They were clearly visible if she just looked at the machine screen. There weren’t many of those to begin with.

After all, a sniper without achievements tended to go unnoticed.

But most people chase hope. They love goodness and praise heroes. These people were the same.

They loved the starlight that came before their eyes. Even if it was a tiny, faint starlight that had been hidden by clouds, once it became visible, it was sublime.

“Thank you… Thank you…!”

“See, I told you. If you believe and wait, it gets resolved.”

No one was disappointed by her arrival. They rejoiced and praised her appearance. Not a single person doubted that she would fail.

So many people were relying on her alone as their hope.

This came as an enormous burden, but at the same time, as an exhilarating thrill.

For her, who had always protected people yet remained the most distant from them, this attention was as sweet as honey to a hungry child.

“Y-Yes!”

For her, who had been starved for attention and prone to showing off, this kind of attention was an unbreakable lifeline. Even if this praise was nothing more than a momentary illusion, it was something she couldn’t help but enjoy right now.

“Don’t worry now! I’m here!”

She had no certainty that she could save these people. Her body was tired, and her mind was tainted with doubt. She couldn’t deny the possibility that everyone here might actually be villains deceiving her.

After suspecting that even the person she trusted the most might actually be a villain, what in this world could she believe?

But she had to shout.

It felt like she would regret it for the rest of her life if she didn’t shout at this moment.

“The arrow that pierces through the sky’s end! Orange Altair! I, I will save you all!”

How long had it been since she last shouted her entrance line? Her tongue even slipped at the end. Orange Altair’s ears turned red with embarrassment.

But no one paid any attention to that, and only countless cheers spread.

“…What should I do.”

Orange Altair immediately regretted it. Even her swelling heart cooled down coldly as time passed. Cold sweat poured down like a shower, soaking her clothes.

“Is this… The right place?”

She raised her head and looked at the place she was about to raid. A massive building that didn’t match the island’s scenery. Its height was so great that from this angle and distance, the top couldn’t be seen.

“Phew… I-It’ll be okay. It’ll be fine… Probably….”

From what people had told her, this was none other than the villain’s stronghold. The villains here had kidnapped them and forced them to live on the island.

In other words, this building was the headquarters of the Argo Family.

It meant it was the hideout of those villains.

The original plan was to snipe from afar and collapse the entire building. Bombing-level sniping was her specialty. It would consume some magic power, but she could turn a building of this size into a pile of sand in no time.

This judgment was flawed. As it was a villains place, the building was on a different level from what one would normally think. Even after dozens of attacks that would normally reduce ordinary buildings to dust, it remained intact.

She had just wasted magic power and physical strength for nothing. Having fired with her maximum firepower, she didn’t have much magic power left. With this amount of magic power, it would be barely enough to catch one A-class villain.

In the end, Orange Altair had no choice but to give up on sniping from the outside and directly infiltrate this building. No matter how afraid she was, she couldn’t run away from what she had already started.

‘If I kneel and beg, maybe they’ll listen… No, no! Don’t be a coward!’

Erasing the cowardly idea she had tried with Libra from her mind, she moved her feet again.

‘What are the others doing right now? Are they worried that I’ve disappeared? If it were them, they wouldn’t have been caught so pathetically like me…?’

Would it have been different if it were the others? If it were those worthy of being called heroes, would something have changed? Would they have been a little different from me, who thinks about losing to villains from the start?

‘My Ah-yoon… I must have seen wrong, right? If the villain I have to face turns out to be Ah-yoon….’

Her steps gradually lost confidence, and her body also shrank. She clasped her hands in front of her chest, hunched her shoulders, and looked around anxiously.

‘…If the villain really is Ah-yoon… Can I really….’

Despite her immediate desire to turn back, her feet moved forward as if by inertia. Eventually, she entered the building.

‘Will I be able to kill?’

The moment she entered the building, a solemn and cold air greeted her. It was an eerie atmosphere with a hint of bloodiness.

“…Well, what does it matter. Can I even win properly?”

In contrast to the clean exterior, the interior was desolate. It was closer to a construction site mid-work than the inside of a building. There was no flooring, and construction materials like rebar and timber were scattered around.

“The inside is… Dirtier than I thought?”

She had expected it to have basic amenities given its corporate building-like exterior, but it was a lazy interior that had given up even minimal decoration. After self-deprecatingly thinking that she was foolish to expect aesthetic sense from villains, she continued on her way.

“And it’s quiet.”

This wasn’t the only peculiar point. She had thought that numerous villains would rush towards her the moment she invaded, but it was too quiet.

The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in soot as if something had burned, and there were signs of things having crashed and broken in various places.

“…! Could it be.”

Did the others also get transported here and then raid this building?

“Th-That’s right! It must be!”

Surely the other magical girls had come here too. With a similar goal, they advanced to eliminate the villains. This destruction and silence are the evidence.

“I-I’m not alone…!”

Orange Altair hurried her steps, filled with joy. She’s not fighting the enemy alone. She has comrades.

Comrades who were always objects of comparison, comrades she always trusted and relied on. Comrades who always shadowed her, comrades who always shone brightly and were worth following.

In the end, she wouldn’t be able to become a hero today either.

Fortunately, it seemed she would be able to survive today as well.

With these ambivalent feelings, Orange Altair quickly moved forward.

After climbing about 10 floors up through the stairs, a gloomy shadow followed behind her.

An arm as thick as a wooden log wrapped around Orange Altair’s neck.

“Ugh!”

In the blink of an eye, as her breath tightened, Orange Altair was gripped by fear. But her body acted. The trajectory of the attack aimed at her abdomen.

Gathering magical power, she created an arrow and gripped it like a dagger, then thrust it behind her.

“Argh!”

With a scream, the force choking her neck weakened. She didn’t miss this opportunity. Quickly turning around, she raised her foot and drove it into where the arrow had pierced. The arrow went in deeper.

This was no ordinary arrow, but something closer to a bomb.

Just as she was about to detonate the arrow for the final blow, she got a proper look at the face of her attacker.

“…A human?”

“I, I am a proud member of the Argo Family!”

What she saw was not a villain, but a being very close to human. Just a muscular adult male. Perhaps in his late 30s. She could sense a bit of starlight, but it was extremely faint. Even as he writhed in pain, he proudly declared himself a monster.

“I am a proud member of the Argo Family… Gack!”

“Sis Altair!”

Soon, his face was trampled by someone’s foot. A dainty leather shoe. It belonged to Red Vega.

“Ve-Vega! Why did you…”

“No time to explain! And no need to care about things like that!”

Red Vega showed not a hint of guilt despite trampling on a person. The cold gaze she cast on that person, as if looking at an insect, was the extent of her interest.

The momentary joy of having a comrade was short-lived as Orange Altair’s right hand was grabbed by Red Vega.

She quickly ran into the building. The magical power emanating from her was minimal. She looked visibly tired, as if she had just been through an intense battle.

“Hurry, let’s run away!”

“Run away? From what? No, why are you guys here…”

“What else? From that villain that attacked us!”

Orange Altair recalled the terrifying image of the villain at Vega’s words. That ferocious villain who could control winds powerful enough to treat a typhoon like a gentle breeze.

Well, if he’s also a member of the Argo Family, it’s natural for him to return.

“But, why are those people…”

“Those aren’t even people!”

“What?”

“Ah, let me correct that. They’re very bad criminals!”

“…What are you saying?”

“Vega, over here!”

“Yes!”

White Davi beckoned from beyond the alley, and Red Vega quickly hid her body in the alley he had gestured to. Orange Altair was with her.

And in the place they had just passed, a wind sharp as a blade blew. The wind sliced through concrete as easily as tofu.

White Davi quickly created a barrier of corpses to block that wind. Then they started moving again.

“Whew~ We survived for now!”

“Why, why are you running away like this? With your skill level, a villain shouldn’t…”

Orange Altair couldn’t understand. Why would someone of her strength run from a villain?

“Hmm~ I’ll explain quickly, so listen carefully! First, about the person you took down earlier. Those people are voluntarily following the Argo Family. They’re essentially enemies.”

Voluntarily? This is different from the people she saw on the island earlier. They considered being kidnapped by villains as suffering, so why are these people following villains?

“Why, why?”

“Wakarimasen (I don’t know)! The only thing I know is that it’s not brainwashing! But that’s not important right now!”

Red Vega continued calmly.

“And secondly, we can’t beat that villain.”

This was essentially a death sentence for Orange Altair.

“You, you should be able to…”

“No. Because that villain.”

She thought they would be different. Unlike her, these brilliant and talented individuals…

But that wasn’t the case.

“Is immortal. It doesn’t die. Not knowing this, I wasted too much magical power recklessly attacking. With our current firepower, I’m not sure if we can even get close…”

Red Vega muttered resentfully, then gave a bitter smile.

“Moreover, it’s fucking strong! Ah, I’m sorry. Ahem, that strong wind separated us from the others. We need to regroup to discuss our options, but in our current state…”

“…Then.”

“Yes! It’s exactly as you’re thinking!”

White Davi nodded.

The enemy isn’t just the villain, but also humans working with the villain. And an immortal villain at that.

They’re all opponents that can’t be killed.

“We’re screwed! Hahaha! Forget about solving anything, we should just think about running away in our underwear!”

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