Magical Girl? I Got Scammed into It!

"Seriously?" Ando Meiko felt like her heart was about to stop.

With an unexpected incident like this, where nothing could be seen on the surface, something in the Void had to be using magic to affect the Material World.

"Oh no, Nanako, Fuko!"

Though startled, she did not hesitate to chase after the direction the two had just left. After seeing such a huge commotion, Fuko would definitely worry about her. She was afraid Fuko might turn back because of it.

As for fighting? That was impossible. Absolutely impossible.

A magical girl of her strength had struggled so badly against even the weakest Void Beast. How strong would a Void Beast with enough magic to affect the Material World have to be?

Running in there would be practically guaranteed death!

Run. Right now, all she could do was get as far away as possible before she might be dragged into the Void World.

"Meizi, we finally found you. Are you okay?"

On the only route leading to the restaurant, Fuko and Nanako were looking around. Even though the crowd had gathered because of the emergency, the place was still spacious enough that they spotted the conspicuously dressed Ando Meiko at a glance.

"It's good that you're both okay. Let's go. I have no idea what happened here."

"Yeah. The Ferris wheel suddenly collapsed. Luckily, we'd already gotten off by then."

She wholeheartedly agreed with Fuko.

It really was a blessing in disguise. If this had happened half an hour earlier, they would have been trapped at the top of the Ferris wheel without knowing what to do.

Wait... trapped on the Ferris wheel... could it be...

She instinctively looked toward the Ferris wheel. Her gaze covered the entire structure, and even from this distance, her Half-Aether Body allowed her to see inside the cabins.

There was no one inside. Maybe because it was lunchtime, everyone had coincidentally decided to stop playing and take a break.

She did not know why she was thinking that way, but the relief in her heart would not fade. She also did not know what she would have done if she had found people still inside the Ferris wheel.

"The Ferris wheel has disintegrated for unknown reasons. Visitors still in the Ferris wheel area, please leave immediately for your safety. Repeating once more..."

Mixed in with the announcement was the increasingly heavy, ear-piercing sound of metal grinding.

A moment later, the Ferris wheel's axle suddenly exploded. The derailed wheel crashed to the ground, then slowly tilted toward where Ando Meiko and the others were standing.

However, the three of them were already some distance away. Even if it fell, they would not be hit.

[Master, over there!]

Ruby's simple warning made her notice a child beneath the Ferris wheel, tugging at the hand of his mother, who was sitting on the ground.

"Mom, come on, get up!"

"Sweetie, go! Don't worry about Mom. Mom will catch up with you soon."

"No! I'm not leaving! I want to stay with Mom!"

The young woman had twisted her ankle while running, but there was no one around. No one could help them escape the Ferris wheel's collapse zone.

"Damn it." The struggle in her heart shattered in a second. How could she possibly stand by and watch them die?

"Fuko, you two go first."

"Meizi, you...?"

Before she had even finished speaking, her body had already moved. Seeing what had caught Meizi's attention, Fuko understood what her childhood friend intended to do.

"Nanako, let's go."

"But Big Sister Meizi..."

"It's okay. Your Big Sister Meizi is the strongest. Leave this to her. We'll get out first and not get in her way."

"Okay."

Although Ando Meiko did not see this, Fuko taking Nanako away first helped her tremendously.

[Go without worry, Master. Leave everything to me.]

She took off the necklace and wrapped it around her hand. Even without transforming, she could feel her physical abilities surge from the magic Ruby transmitted to her.

Back into the Void World

"Auntie, are you okay? I'm here to help." Reaching the young woman, Ando Meiko used the child's help to carry her onto her back.

"Thank you, miss."

"Let's get out of here first. Kid, can you run on your own?"

"I can! I'll leave Mom to you, Big Sister!"

"That's a spirited answer. Then run!"

After confirming that the young woman was holding on tightly, she and the boy took off running, racing against the slowly collapsing Ferris wheel.

They got out of the Ferris wheel's collapse range first, but just as she was about to relax, a chill that made her tremble ran down her back.

Glancing behind her, she saw a metal pillar flying toward her, growing larger in her vision.

She had thought they would be safe as long as they escaped the Ferris wheel's direct impact zone. But she had not expected that steel falling from such a height would shatter from the impact and cause secondary damage farther away.

"It's too late..." Ando Meiko understood that perfectly well.

At the most critical moment, she pulled the boy to her side with one arm and flung him and the young woman away together.

[Master, transform now!]

With her life under threat, she could no longer worry about whether anyone was watching. Gripping the necklace tightly, she silently recited the transformation spell.

"Blessing of Ruby, Gleamstone Magical Girl, transform!"

In the eyes of the boy and the young woman, Ando Meiko vanished beneath the metal pillar and the dust it kicked up after a flash of light.

But when she used the invincibility period before transforming to knock the pillar aside, she discovered that after completing her transformation, she had already been teleported into a space beneath a pale red sky.

The Void World...

What was coming had come after all, but she did not regret saving them.

This had nothing to do with whether she was a magical girl, nor did it have anything to do with whether she wanted to fight. Even if she had only been an ordinary person, she would still have rushed forward without hesitation to save that mother and child.

Turning toward the Ferris wheel, she finally saw what had happened in the Void.

A serpent-like Void Beast coiled above the Ferris wheel. Large amounts of Demonic Aether continuously poured from its body of fine scales, burning into black flames.

It was precisely this Demonic Aether that had disrupted the Void's magic and affected the Material World.

That Void Beast was nearly as large as the Ferris wheel... and the pressure radiating from it made Ando Meiko's body tremble in fear.

I'm just a small fry magical girl who beat one small fry Void Wolf. What's the point of throwing a boss at me right away? Even if I wanted to stall it out, my magic reserves couldn't possibly last that long...

Run... I really should run...

Trembling, her body involuntarily took half a step back. That tiny movement caught the Void Serpent Beast's attention.

Its snake head suddenly rose, its vertical pupil fixed unblinkingly on Ando Meiko's position within its scarlet eye.

It found me...

"...Open, open! Open the gate to the Material World!" The magic gathered for the spell to open a passage between the Void and the Material World scattered in an instant. She did not even get the chance to cast it.

"Master, this area has been polluted by Demonic Aether. The gate to the Material World cannot be opened here."

"You could've told me that sooner!"

What else could she do? Under the threat of death, she turned and ran. Even with the physical boost from her transformation, she put every ounce of strength she had into it.

But that sudden movement made the Void Serpent Beast roar at the fleeing girl. How could it possibly let food delivered right to its mouth escape?

Its body curled around the Ferris wheel, then shot forward like a spring. Its speed closed the distance between itself and its prey in an instant.

Ando Meiko knew the Void Beast was moving because Ruby had been constantly feeding her updates on the Void Serpent Beast's condition. Even as she ran, she had not been idle.

Feeling death closing in from behind, she gripped her magic-glowing wand tightly and spun around.

"Silver Impact!"

Silver Impact at maximum charge had, so far, only achieved the glorious feat of blowing up a restroom while reducing the weakest Void Beast to nothing but ashes.

Even so, it was still the strongest attack Ando Meiko currently possessed.

The beam entered the Void Serpent Beast's gaping maw. The force of the explosion blasted its head backward, and its tilted body collapsed to the ground.

"Did I win?" Before she could even feel happy, the fallen snake head rose again. The fine scales along its back opened slightly and stood upright like armor.

She did not know whether the attack had done any damage, but she knew very clearly that she had completely enraged the Void Serpent Beast.

Exhaustion and instinctive fear made her right foot, which had only taken one step, trip over her left.

A perfectly flat stumble?

Even now, Ando Meiko still found time to complain. Her body pitched forward uncontrollably, and after falling, she could only shuffle backward as the giant snake approached.

Am I... going to die...?

[Master, don't give up! Get up, stand up!]

"I never thought... after such a brilliant life, I'd die in a snake's stomach." She could no longer hear Ruby's words. She only hoped that once she was swallowed, she would not feel any pain.

Don't give up? If I had any other choice, why would I choose to give up?

Fight back? Other than turning Ruby, this magic wand, into a fruit knife that was not even a proper sword, what other means of attack did she have?

In the end, someone who knew nothing about fighting had already used her greatest trump card, Silver Impact. But aside from angering the enormous beast before her, it had done nothing at all.

Even if she wanted to open a gate and escape this Void World, the magic needed to open it would scatter immediately because of the Void Beast's influence.

She could not beat it, she could not escape it. Other than waiting to die, what else could she do now?

Reality was reality. No matter how much passion she had, she could not suddenly power up and raise her fighting strength to a whole new level just because of some vague force of will, like an anime protagonist.

She was merely one of countless magical girls, perhaps the most insignificant one of all.

The Void Serpent Beast sprang forward. Its gaping mouth gave off a stench foul enough to make one faint, and Ando Meiko could only watch helplessly as the place of her death drew closer... and closer...

A cold gleam descended from the sky, splitting apart the dense magic of the Void World and the black flames shrouding the Void Serpent Beast.

A crescent-shaped blade of magic, pure and radiant as the moon, fell just one step before the Void Serpent Beast could swallow the girl. The strike made the giant serpent's body go rigid, and it hurriedly jerked its head backward.

It flicked its tongue with a hiss, its two lantern-bright red eyes staring fixedly ahead.

At the girl slowly walking out from behind a low building.

"A mere Void King Serpent dared to bully such an adorable newbie? You must be tired of living."

Magical Girls Are All a Little Strange

The one who walked past Ando Meiko was a purple-haired girl with a single ponytail.

Judging by the way she strolled through the Void World, along with her highly saturated hair color and ornate dress, she was clearly a magical girl in her transformed state.

It was her first time seeing a magical girl besides herself. Rather than shock or excitement at surviving death, she felt more complicated emotions.

But it was not only that magical girl. The one who had swung the crescent of magic that saved her also walked past her behind the purple-haired girl.

A humanoid figure holding a katana and clad in full samurai armor.

[A Contract Beast?] Ruby's voice sounded in her mind at an utterly inappropriate moment.

A magical girl who fought using a Contract Beast—based on Ruby's earlier explanation, that meant the person before her was the Azure Magical Girl who represented the ocean.

The purple-haired girl extended a hand toward Ando Meiko, who was still sitting on the ground. "How are you? You aren't hurt, are you? Can you stand?"

"Thank you for saving me." After being pulled to her feet, Ando Meiko thanked her sincerely.

If this girl had not arrived in time, she would have been swallowed by the Void Beast known as the Void King Serpent—and for all she knew, it might have already digested her by now.

"Seriously, if you don't have the strength, don't go picking fights with a Void Beast of this level, little sister. This thing is way beyond you."

"Sorry... I only realized I couldn't beat it after I came in."

To avoid embarrassment, she hid the fact that she had actually been forcibly dragged in.

Of course, she had never intended to fight. All she had wanted was to save the young woman and child, then leave the amusement park and go home with Fuko and Nanako after making a clean getaway.