Suddenly, the Demon King controlling the Sparrow Monster sensed a strange presence.
The presence of a bird...
It was clearly a Bird-type Monster, yet it wasn't under her control.
It felt as if another Bird-Type Devil King were fighting her for power.
In the Sparrow Monster's field of vision, a tiny sparrow in the air suddenly chirped. A Monster slowly emerged from its body, gradually separating from the sparrow.
The Monster had mottled Feather Wings, too, and beneath its sparrow-like head was a strange, pale human face.
However, this Monster was slightly different from the Sparrow Monster created by the Demon King.
Snake-like scales covered its feathers, along with dense dark green markings, as if it had been branded by another being.
The moment the Demon King saw this Monster, her expression twisted.
"It's you..."
Chapter 41: The Conditions for the Demon King's Resurrection
On the weekend, another Monster incident broke out in the skies near downtown Maple Plain City. The city itself was still safe, but evacuation alarms had already begun sounding in the surrounding area.
This time, two Monsters had appeared at once—a very rare occurrence—and both were fast-moving Bird-type Monsters.
For some reason, nearly ten minutes had passed since the Monster alert began, but no Magical Girl had shown up.
In an empty corner of the city, a girl with gray-blond hair slowly took out her little wand and Magic Crystal, looking up at the two Bird-type Monsters.
The girl was Takanashi Shiori.
For some reason, Kirishima Ai had been impossible to reach all day, so Shiori had to go alone.
But taking on two Monsters at once... Honestly, she couldn't do it.
So all she could do was buy some time and wait for the other Magical Girls to arrive.
Light enveloped her, and a pure white little dress appeared on her. A veil of light covered her face.
This was the hallmark of a Magical Girl without a magical name: a veil or mask that concealed her face.
As she cast a spell, wings appeared on her back, carrying her up from the ground and into the sky, closer and closer to the two Monsters.
But once she got closer, Takanashi Shiori saw something utterly baffling.
In the air, two very similar-looking Bird-type Monsters were locked in a struggle, making strange, chattering cries as they tore at each other's flesh with their claws and beaks. They seemed to be fighting one another.
The Monsters... were fighting each other?
The Magical Girls hadn't even arrived, yet the two Monsters had already started fighting.
And they were the same kind of Monster, too—both birds.
Shiori had never passed her Monster behavior classes, so she had no idea whether this was normal. But either way, she was sure it wasn't.
Both Monsters seemed to be based on sparrows.
But one of them seemed to have dark green feathers.
The ordinary Sparrow Monster was the one attacking, and it looked extremely agitated.
What's more, neither Monster seemed to have said a word.
Could they be Monsters made from animals?
Whatever the case, while they were fighting each other, she might be able to find an opening and take one of them down.
She took out her wand, aimed it at the attacking Sparrow Monster, and began channeling magic into it.
An ordinary Magical Girl like her couldn't trade blows with a Mature Form Monster the way Silver Feather could.
But she could concentrate her magic in one spot and cast a powerful attack spell. It took a long time to charge, but this was the perfect opportunity.
Silvery-white magic gathered at the tip of her wand, forming a sphere of light. It grew brighter, illuminating the surroundings and Shiori's face.
The two Monsters kept shifting positions in the sky, and Shiori had to concentrate to aim.
The sphere of light grew larger. At last, the two Monsters paused in midair, and Shiori seized her chance, unleashing all the magic inside her at the two combatants.
"—Boom!"
With a deafening blast, a beam of magic shot toward the Monsters. Along with the explosion, she heard the Sparrow Monster cry out.
That should have taken one of them down...
But as the smoke quickly cleared, the attacking Sparrow Monster reappeared, spreading its wings.
Only the surface of its wings had been scorched, and it had lost a few feathers.
"...How is that possible?"
That level of toughness didn't seem like a Mature Form at all.
She had never seen a Monster like this before.
But after being attacked, the ordinary Sparrow Monster noticed Takanashi Shiori.
Its bird head turned stiffly toward her, and its pale, icy mask slowly faced her.
Then Shiori heard a cold, layered voice:
[Just a weak Magical Girl? You dare get in my way? You're asking to die...]
It didn't sound as if the Monster itself were speaking.
It was as if someone were controlling it.
But when Shiori heard that voice, a fear that seemed to come from her very soul rose within her.
...What was that thing?
Takanashi Shiori didn't know, but she felt it could kill her effortlessly.
A trace of fear slipped through, beyond even the Magical Girl transformation's power to suppress.
While she stood frozen, the Sparrow Monster rapidly flew toward her, extending its sharp claws as if ready to tear her apart at any moment.
Just as the Sparrow Monster's claws were about to reach Takanashi—
Shiori only snapped back to her senses when the Sparrow Monster was right in front of her. But the Monster suddenly got tackled away by the other, dark green Sparrow Monster.
"..."
Had that Monster just saved her?
The Blue Dream Apostle had already left the hospital room, leaving Kirishima Hina alone.
Hina's expression remained gloomy and cold. Black mist behind her had nearly solidified, outlining the shadow of a Monster with several pairs of black wings.
The Sparrow Monster she had controlled had just died alongside the Monster that seemed to have been created by that woman.
Her fury was beyond measure.
Especially when she saw that her Bird-type Monster had been marked by that woman. The humiliation and rage were unbearable.
Monsters were like a Demon King's claws and limbs. More advanced and complete Monsters were like the Demon King's own children.
But now, she felt as if her Bird-type Monsters had all been tainted.
The black mist drifted through the hospital room for a while. Suddenly, Hina's eyes changed from blood-red back to black.
Her expression was no longer angry, either.
"Are you angry?"
She lifted her head and asked.
The shadow cast on the wall looked just like the Demon King that had possessed Hina earlier.
[Why have you woken up?]
The black-winged Monster in the shadow spoke in a cold voice.
"I'm a little tired."
Hina lowered her head and looked toward the windowsill. A delicate, slender narcissus sat there in a glass vase.
After a while, she asked,
"Was that Sparrow Monster with green feathers also created by you?"
Now that she had woken up, Hina seemed to have the Demon King's memories from before.
[It has nothing to do with me.]
Though its tone was unpleasant, the Demon King still answered Hina's question.
"Aren't you the Bird-Type Devil King? How can you not know about a Monster of your own kind?"
If anyone else had asked that, the Demon King standing before her might have torn them to pieces and crushed them to death. But with Hina, the Demon King fell silent for a moment before answering:
[There was once a woman called Overlord who took an important part of me away.]
Not long after the Demon King said this, a black-mist void suddenly appeared in Hina's chest.
A pitch-black, translucent crystal slowly fell from the void into Hina's hand.
The crystal seemed to have been steeped in darkness, giving off not the slightest glimmer. Only faint, blood-red markings could be seen, outlining an ominous bird.
Yet a piece was missing from one part of the crystal, as if someone had broken it off.
"She was that powerful? Was she the one who created that Monster?"
Hina touched the pure black Devil King Crystal.
[Normally, that woman should already be dead. But... I can still smell her nauseating stench.]
After answering Hina's question, the Demon King in the shadow slowly emerged from the darkness again and coiled around her.
[Now hurry back and give me your body.]
"I won't..."
Hina shook her head.
In the shadow, the Monster's hawk-like eyes glowed blood-red, making her look dangerous.
[That's not for you to decide. I spared your life only because you're still useful.]
"I have a condition."
[...Speak.]
Hina raised both hands and lightly framed a rectangle with her index fingers and thumbs, holding it up in front of her open eyes like a camera.
Through a gap in the curtains, her black eyes peered out at the blue sky beyond the window—
"I want to go on my middle school's camping trip. I want to experience middle school life, play with my classmates, and have my teacher look after me."
"And you have to defeat Magical Girl Silver Feather, too."
"You can't kill me until you've granted my wish and let me walk on my own legs again."
"Otherwise, you won't be able to come back to life completely, right..."
As she finished speaking, a seal appeared in her hand. It was somewhat like the magical item of a Magical Girl, but also completely different.
Even a Demon King had to follow the rules of Monsters.
Only by fulfilling its host's desire could it truly transform.
And her wish was...
Chapter 42: Rainy Day
At night, Kirishima Ai sat alone in her rented apartment, biting into a croquette she'd bought from a roadside stall.
The croquettes came from a stall she often visited. Whenever she didn't have time to cook, she'd buy from there, and tonight was no different.
It wasn't that she didn't have time to cook today. She was just a little tired.
There was a very old little television in the apartment. She pressed the remote twice, and the TV clicked on with a hiss of static.
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