Magical Girl? I Got Tricked Into It!

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

In an accident where nothing was visibly wrong on the surface, something in the Void must have been using magic to affect the real world.

"Oh no, Nanako, Fuko!"

Despite her shock, she immediately ran toward where the two had just gone. After seeing such a huge commotion, Fuko would definitely be worried 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 level had struggled so badly against even the weakest Void Beast. How strong would a Void Beast capable of affecting the real world with its magic have to be?

Running into that would basically be a death sentence!

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

"Meiko, we finally found you! Are you okay?"

On the road they had to take to reach the restaurant, Fuko and Nanako were looking around. Even though the crowds had gathered because of the emergency, the area was still spacious enough for them to spot the conspicuously dressed Ando Meiko at once.

"It's good that you're both okay. Let's go. Who knows what happened here?"

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

She wholeheartedly agreed with Fuko.

That really had been a blessing in disguise. If this had happened half an hour earlier, they would have had no idea what to do while trapped at the top of the Ferris wheel.

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

She instinctively looked toward the Ferris wheel, taking in its entirety with her gaze. Even from this distance, her Half-Aether Body allowed her to see inside the cabins.

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

She did not know why she was thinking that, but the sense of relief in her heart would not fade. She also did not know what she would have done if she had actually 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 to ensure your safety. Repeating once more..."

Mixed in with the broadcast was the increasingly heavy, piercing sound of metal grinding.

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

However, the three of them were already some distance from the Ferris wheel. Even if it fell, it could not possibly hit them.

[Master, over there!]

Ruby's brief reminder 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, you need to go. Don't worry about Mommy. Mommy will catch up with you soon."

"I'm not leaving! I'm staying with Mommy!"

While fleeing, the young woman had twisted her ankle. There was no one around, and no one could help them get out of the Ferris wheel's collapse zone.

"Damn it." Her inner struggle shattered in a second. How could she stand by and watch them die after seeing this?

"Fuko, you two go on ahead."

"Meiko, you...?"

Before she had even finished saying that, her body was already moving. Seeing what had caught Meiko's attention, Fuko understood what her childhood friend intended to do.

"Nanako, let's go."

"But Sister Meiko..."

"It's fine. Your Sister Meiko is the strongest. Leave this to her. We need to get out of here first and not get in her way."

"Okay."

Ando Meiko did not see this happen, but Fuko taking Nanako away first helped her immensely.

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

She took off her necklace and wrapped it around her hand. Even without transforming, she could feel her physical abilities rise sharply with the magic Ruby sent her.

"Ma'am, are you okay? I'm here to help." With the child's help, Ando Meiko reached the young woman and carried her onto her back.

"Miss, thank you."

"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 the spirit. Then run!"

Once she made sure the young woman was holding on tightly, she and the boy took off running, racing against time as the Ferris wheel slowly collapsed behind them.

They escaped the Ferris wheel's collapse zone first, but just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a chill that made her tremble ran down her back.

She turned and glanced behind her, only to see a metal pillar flying toward her and rapidly growing larger in her vision.

She had assumed that escaping the Ferris wheel's impact zone would mean safety. What she had not expected was that steel falling from such a height would shatter under the force of impact and cause secondary damage farther away.

"It's too late..." Ando Meiko understood that clearly.

At the most critical moment, she pulled the boy close with one arm and threw both him and the young woman aside.

[Master, transform now!]

With her life at risk, she could no longer care whether anyone was watching. Clutching the necklace tightly, she silently recited the transformation spell.

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

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

Yet when she used the invincibility period before her transformation ended to knock away the metal pillar, she discovered that, upon completing her transformation, she had already been teleported into a space with 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 whether she wanted to fight. Even if she had just been an ordinary person, she would have rushed forward without hesitation to save that mother and child.

She looked back toward where the Ferris wheel was, and at last understood what had happened in the Void.

A snake-shaped Void Beast coiled above the Ferris wheel. Vast amounts of Demonic Aether poured from its finely scaled body, burning into black flames.

It was this Demonic Aether that had disrupted the Void's magic and affected the real world.

That Void Beast was as large as the Ferris wheel... and the pressure constantly radiating from it made Ando Meiko's body shake with fear.

I'm just a scrub magical girl who has only beaten a scrub Void Wolf. What does it mean to suddenly throw a boss at me? Even if I tried to stall it out, my magic reserves couldn't possibly manage that...

Run... I should still run...

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

Its snake head snapped up, the vertical pupils in its crimson eyes locking motionlessly onto Ando Meiko's position.

It found me...

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

"Master, this area has been contaminated by Demonic Aether. The gate to the real world cannot be opened here."

"You could've told me that earlier!"

What else could she do? Under the threat of death, she ran for her life. Even with her transformed body's enhanced physical abilities, she used every last ounce of strength she had.

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

Its body coiled atop the Ferris wheel, then shot forward like a spring. Its speed instantly closed the distance between itself and its prey.

Ando Meiko knew the Void Beast was moving because Ruby had been constantly feeding her information on the Void Serpent Beast's condition, and she had not been idle while running.

Feeling death's presence behind her, she gripped her magic wand, which gleamed with magical light, and suddenly spun around.

"Silver Impact!"

Silver Impact at maximum charge had, so far, only achieved the glorious feat of blowing up a restroom while blasting the weakest Void Beast so thoroughly that not even ash remained.

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

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

"Did I win?" Before she could even feel happy, the fallen snake head rose again. The fine scales on its back actually spread and rose like armor.

She did not know whether the attack had worked, but she knew very well that she had completely enraged the Void Serpent Beast.

Exhaustion and instinctive terror caused her right foot, which had only just taken one step, to trip over her left.

Was this what they called tripping on level ground?

Even at a time like this, Ando Meiko still found time to make a sarcastic remark. Her body pitched forward uncontrollably, and after falling to the ground, she could only scoot backward as she watched the giant snake approach.

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

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

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

Don't give up? If I could, why would I choose to give up?

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

In the end, she knew no fighting techniques and had already used her greatest trump card, Silver Impact. Yet aside from enraging the giant beast before her, it had done absolutely nothing.

Even if she wanted to open a gate and leave this Void World, the magic she used to open it would scatter immediately under the Void Beast's influence.

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

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

She was merely one magical girl among many, perhaps even the most insignificant one.

The Void Serpent Beast launched itself forward. Its furious gaping mouth emitted a stench strong enough to make one faint, while Ando Meiko could only watch helplessly as the place of her death drew closer... and closer...

A cold gleam descended from the sky, cutting through the dense magic of the Void World and the black flames surrounding the Void Serpent Beast.

A crescent-shaped blade of magic, pure as moonlight, fell just one step before the girl could be swallowed by the Void Serpent, slashing the giant snake until its body went rigid and forcing it to jerk its head back.

It hissed, flicking its tongue as its bright red eyes, glowing like lanterns, stared fixedly ahead.

At the girl slowly emerging from behind a low building.

"A mere Void King Serpent dares bully such a cute newbie? You must be tired of living."

A purple-haired girl with a single ponytail walked past Ando Meiko.

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

Seeing a magical girl other than herself for the first time, she felt more complicated emotions than shock or excitement at surviving death.

Yet it was not only the magical girl. The person who had swung that crescent of magic to save her also emerged from behind the purple-haired girl and walked past her.

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

[A contracted beast?] Ruby's voice sounded in her mind at an entirely inappropriate moment.

According to Ruby's earlier explanation, someone who used a contracted beast in battle was a Cerulean Magical Girl representing the ocean.

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

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

If this girl had not arrived in time, she would already have been eaten by the Void Beast called the Void King Serpent—and perhaps even digested by now.

"Honestly, if you don't have the strength, don't go picking a fight with a Void Beast of that level, little sister. This is way beyond what you can handle."

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

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

Of course, she had never planned to fight in the first place. All she had wanted was to rescue the young woman and child, then leave the amusement park with Fuko and Nanako and go home.