True Gold Fears No Fire

(Sun Yao)

A crackling sound, like deep-frying, came from all around.

The Golden Witch frowned, then jumped back to create distance between us.

No...

To be precise, it means withdrawing from the coverage area of Fire Phosphor.

"Huh?!"

Burning flames descended from the sky, transforming me into a fiery inferno. Yet, these flames seemed to possess a spirit, refusing to touch me...

Even at such close range, I was still sweltering in the heat.

The park and playground area likely suffered similar heavy losses.

"Hey, Ceruno! Are you alright?"

Falcon landed in the only remaining open space beside me and pulled me out of the inferno.

"I'm fine... cough cough... where's Heat Haze?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Heat Haze spread his Wings of Destruction and swept over his head, swooping down towards the Golden Witch.

The latter drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and Glorious Arrow shone like a shooting star.

The Golden Witch's attack melted into a pool of liquid gold in front of Heat Haze, who dodged it with a somersault in mid-air, but this gave her the opportunity to continue to widen the distance.

Heat Haze shouted, "Gold's melting point is only 1,000 degrees Celsius. You think you can take down the sun? You're being far too naive!"

"Heat Haze! She's used magic to turn even the inorganic matter in the human body into gold, including water... Be extremely careful!"

In an instant, the density of Fire Phosphor around Heat Haze increased dramatically. Not only could she not burn arrows, but she even had the ability to incinerate Heat Haze Aldebaran —after all, she couldn't be pure gold, could she?

"Hey! Wait a minute, I'm not here to fight."

Aldebaran raises his hands above his head in a gesture of surrender.

Although her smug expression showed absolutely no sincerity, it left people wondering what she was really up to.

"Well, I'm different from Fomalhaut and Betelgeuse. I'm not responsible for combat. In your terms... I'm a researcher, a scientist! Science knows no borders, doesn't it?"

"Hmph, a researcher, huh? Do you even know how much damage your arrow caused?"

"Loss? How could that be?"

She looked completely surprised.

"According to my calculations, the Association should have actually made a profit, right?"

The underground hangar was not small; the amount of material that could be converted into gold on the spot, including the floor and walls, was enough to fill the vaults of several banks... It was indeed no small sum.

However, because gold is too soft, it is very likely to collapse, so Metal and the other engineering magical girls are still working overtime to repair it, and this part of the project is quite huge.

"...What we've lost is time," Heat Haze replied.

"Yeah, right? I postponed your suicidal plans, shouldn't you be thanking me instead?"

With a bang Heat Haze ignited Aldebaran, but the latter stood in the fire as if nothing had happened and continued, "You can melt me, you can change my form, but you can't change my stable nature... Besides, when did you develop the illusion that I can't control the molten gold?"

"Varied--"

Clad in burning fire scales, the half-molten Aldebaran rushed through the Fire Phosphor band and stretched out its tiny hand to clamp down on Heat Haze's throat.

"Heat Haze!"

"Just because I don't intend to kill the Vega II doesn't mean I won't kill others. You're too arrogant. Don't you know what 'true gold fears no fire' means?"

Damn it, it really is made of pure gold.

The ecology of witches is truly outrageous...

"Cough cough cough!"

The heat-insulating and flame-retardant Bubble Membrane expanded on Heat Haze's body surface, also blocking Aldebaran's initial attack.

Heat Haze coughed violently, clutching his throat which had been burned by the hot metal, looking quite pained, while Falcon's gunshot had no effect on the pure gold Aldebaran.

But Aldebaran's gaze did not fall upon me; instead, it turned toward the once-forgotten deformed Monster.

"Why are you so surprised? I came here specifically to provide after-sales service..."

The four thorny Golden Thorns pierced through the bubble and plunged into the deformed mass of fat.

"... The user's mutation has obvious errors, the form is unstable, and it lacks the necessary intelligence. This is unacceptable; it damages my reputation."

The Monster's fat began to shrink, as if he had undergone some kind of liposuction.

"What are you doing?"

"You can understand it at a glance, right? Adjusting the Simulacrum Factor for the malfunction... Don't get in my way. How you deal with him afterwards is your business, but I must ensure that customers can use my product normally..."

"Aww! Caw caw!"

The Monster roared and reached out his hand towards the Ferris wheel.

It turned out that the children who had been unable to escape before had finally come out of the gondola.

"Miss Falcon!"

"Leave it to me!"

She weaved around the Monster and the witch, rushed forward, and carried the three children away.

"Oh, really? You really like children? Because you don't have any yourself, you want to steal other people's children to play with? Your rotten thoughts really match your appearance..."

Aldebaran, however, was whispering to the Monster.

"Yes, yes, it is indeed my responsibility. If I hadn't become this ugly, your 'wish' would have come true, right? As compensation, let me fulfill your wish... Yes, of course I'm your friend, but I can't stay in this world for long... Trust my skills, I'll add two more... The fusion process will be a little painful, but if it succeeds... you'll have the power to defeat magical girls!"

"Awooo! Awooo!"

The Monster writhed in agony, convulsing exaggeratedly within the weightless bubble. Its fat was indeed decreasing, and its entire body was rapidly shrinking.

"... Why are you torturing him like this?"

"Torture... is that it? How can there be no price to pay for gaining power? Let me introduce myself... Aldebaran, the current director of the Fusion Soldier Development Department. In your words, it should be called the 'Monster' Development Department, right?"

In other words, she was directly responsible for creating the Monster.

"Are these Monsters that have recently turned from humans your creation?!"

Aldebaran shrugged.

"That's right, do you like it? Although it's weaker than traditional Monster, it excels in stealth and has achieved considerable success..."

The attacker's method of intrusion changed, apparently due to personnel changes within the department...

"The former director was a stubborn old man who only thought about using his own soldiers for modification and then deploying them through wormholes. In the end, he was defeated by a well-prepared magical girl... That was too foolish. Therefore, I offered my research results to that person— Special Monster based on humans—in exchange for my current position."

Boasting and empty talk only makes people angry.

"Your so-called victory is the lives of nearly fifty innocent civilians?"

"Hmm? I don't mind doing this as long as it spreads panic."

She answered with a smile on her face.

Expecting witches to have ethical principles was indeed my mistake...

Boom--

The sudden explosion caused the deformed Monster, whom Aldebaran called his client, to burn fiercely, with the crackling sound of grease exploding incessantly, and his body turned charred black.

This was clearly Heat Haze; the sun behind her was shining brightly.

"So, you're planning to attack my guest just because you can't burn me to death? How cruel! He's a human being, don't you know that?"

"Even if we capture him alive, you'll silence him... so it's better to just get rid of him directly..."

Heat Haze stood up, clutching his throat, Aldebaran did not deny it.

"Yes, that's certainly true! But unfortunately, you were still a step too late..."

A shrunken Monster staggers through the flames.

"He's become an unburnable Monster, you know?"