Magic Girl? I Got Scammed Into It!

The next moment, she was dragged directly into the Void World.

[Why is this happening again?!]

The sudden oppressive feeling made her recite her transformation spell without hesitation.

Magic power poured from her body, forming a protective barrier around her as she transformed.

The next instant, Ando Meiko felt something slam into her magic power. With a sound like an electric shock, the foreign object was blasted away.

Only after she completed her transformation and her magic power receded into her body did Ando Meiko see what had ambushed her.

A dog.

But this dog was far larger than an ordinary one—larger even than the Void Wolf she had encountered last time.

After transforming, the discomfort of being squeezed by dense magic power upon entering the Void had vanished. Clearly, this area had already been contaminated by the Demonic Aether of the Void Beast before her.

Once the Void Dog climbed back to its feet, it sprang forward on its hind legs and shot toward Ando Meiko like an arrow. The explosive burst of speed was beyond the girl's imagination.

There was no time for her to freeze up. The distance the Void Beast closed in an instant left her scrambling and rolling away just to evade its attack.

[Master, this Void Dog is nothing like the Void Wolf from last time.]

[You don't have to tell me that!]

[Master, watch out!]

The Void Dog adjusted its direction the instant it landed. Less than a second passed between Ando Meiko dodging sideways and the Void Dog's second attack. She did not even have a chance to catch her breath.

Her evasion had been rushed, and that fleeting moment was only enough for Ando Meiko to thrust out the magic wand in her hand.

"Master! Don't use me as a shield, aaaaaah!! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm really going to die!!!"

Volume One: How I Got Scammed Into Becoming a Magical Girl: The Unnameable Rod-Shaped Object

"Anything is fine! Turn into the hardest thing possible!"

Imagine something? What a joke. That dog's paw was already hanging over her head. Right now, there was more mush than thoughts in Ando Meiko's brain.

How was she supposed to come up with anything in this state?

Not knowing what else to do, she could only keep pouring magic power into the wand. At the very moment the dog's head was about to hit it, the wand transformed amid a flash of red magic power.

Then an unnameable rod-shaped object appeared in Ando Meiko's hand... and it really was hard. Rock hard.

The dog slammed heavily into whatever the wand had become. The force of the impact pushed Ando Meiko sliding backward until she crashed into a utility pole behind her.

The pain in her back made her blood churn. Even in her transformed state, even with her battle outfit blocking much of the damage, a streak of vivid red still ran from the corner of her mouth.

[Master, Master, are you okay? Master?!]

The wet sensation made Ando Meiko instinctively wipe her lips. The crimson staining the back of her hand made her heart sink.

She was hurt. Perhaps because most of her body had already been converted into an Ether Body, even internal bleeding did not hurt as badly as she had imagined.

"I'm fine... It doesn't hurt that much."

She took a moment to look at what the wand had turned into. It was a frying pan, and the rod-shaped object she was holding was precisely the frying pan's handle.

Driven by a sudden urge to survive, the wand she had filled with magic power seemed to have become the thing in her subconscious that most resembled a shield.

Looking at the frying pan in her hand, though, another question came to mind.

If my body is completely converted into Aether, does that mean I won't feel pain at all? If that's really the case, how would I be any different from a combat machine that was manufactured?

Thinking that, Ando Meiko gritted her teeth and glared furiously at the Void Dog staring back at her.

The pain from earlier had successfully ignited her fighting spirit.

"Not being human anymore or whatever—how could I ever accept something like that?!"

A frying pan was still a frying pan. Who said kitchenware could not be used as a weapon?

Without stopping, she poured magic power into the frying pan. As the amount of magic power increased, the frying pan slowly grew larger. Only when the handle had become long enough for her to grip with both hands did the flow of magic power finally stop.

"Come on!" Ando Meiko shouted, trying to bolster her trembling heart. But to the Void Dog, it became a signal of provocation.

The Void Dog let out an angry roar at Ando Meiko as well. Kicking off with its hind legs and swinging its claws, it burst forth with astonishing speed once again.

Unlike the previous two sudden attacks, she was fully prepared this time.

She swung the frying pan hard in a baseball-batting stance. The pan struck the dog sideways with a sound almost like metal colliding with metal.

The Void Dog was instantly sent flying. When it climbed back up, it was clearly dazed by the blow.

Instead of eagerly trying to tear its prey in half as it had before, it backed away several steps and warily watched Ando Meiko and... the dark, sturdy round object in her hands.

The vibration traveling up the handle made Ando Meiko's hands ache. Afraid to make any unnecessary movements, she could only lightly shake them twice to ease the numbness in her wrists.

What was that? This dog was not as strong as she had imagined.

[Master, you're amazing! Though your fighting style isn't elegant at all.]

[A cat that catches mice is a good cat. Who cares what fighting style it is? As long as I can beat it up, that's enough.]

She rested the frying pan on her shoulder, then stretched out her left hand and made a taunting gesture at the Void Dog, which had become much more timid than before. "Where'd all that swagger go? Come at me!"

Void Beasts did not possess human-like intelligence. The beast before her could only sense a provoking aura of magic power from Ando Meiko, but that was enough to enrage it.

[Good. It took the bait.]

When beasts were angry, their attacks became more frenzied, but they often lost what little rationality they had...

That was experience Ando Meiko had learned from playing games, and it was why she had done this.

She dodged the Void Dog's attack with a slight sidestep, holding the frying pan pointed diagonally at the ground as she waited for it to turn back.

Hah!

Having grown used to the Void Beast's fighting style, she was already sick of this dog that only knew how to pounce around.

"Here's my chance! Up you go!" Seizing the brief opening after the Void Dog attacked, she swung the frying pan upward and smashed it into its chin, sending its entire body flying into the air.

No matter how fast this dog was, with no foothold or point of leverage in midair, it could not dodge Ando Meiko's next attack.

Though she was surprised that she possessed such strength, Ando Meiko did not want to think too deeply about it right now.

What she needed to do now was focus as much as possible and imagine her next move...

"Take this!" The frying pan turned back into a magic wand as she swung it, and Ando Meiko poured nearly all her magic power into it.

At that moment, particles of light appeared around her body as her magic power gathered.

This was what she had gained from firearms training: imagining magic power as individual bullets, then firing them all in a single volley!

As for the name of this move, she had decided on it long ago!

"Take this! It probably only has a range of twenty meters, and I have no idea how powerful it'll be... Ruby Splash!"

Dozens of light particles shot through the air like bullets at the same time, piercing the Void Beast's body as they struck it.

The Void Beast fell from the air and never rose again. Its lifeless body dissolved into Demonic Aether and scattered throughout the Void World.

[That finishing attack was so cool! I'm going to fall for you! No, I already love Master the most!]

"Phew."

Ignoring Ruby's nonsense, Ando Meiko was about to leave when the Demonic Aether lingering in the air suddenly formed a black streak of light and rushed toward her.

But the black streak was not targeting Ando Meiko. It was targeting the magic wand in her hand... Ruby.

The instant it touched the magic wand, the black streaks were absorbed directly into it before Ando Meiko's stunned eyes, like water being flushed down a toilet.

[Huh? What's going on, Ruby?]

[I... I don't know either, but it came to me on its own. My body seemed to absorb it directly, and there doesn't seem to be any strange reaction. It should be fine, right?]

In any case, once Ruby absorbed all the Demonic Aether, the contaminated area around them disappeared as well.

But after such a battle, the lingering exhaustion was nearly drowning her consciousness.

"Huh? I've never seen a magical girl like you before. Are you a newcomer to this area? Still, that was quite an interesting way to fight."

Ando Meiko set off for home through the Void World, while somewhere beyond her notice...

A black-haired magical girl wearing a yellow battle outfit accented with black decorations, with a Tai Chi emblem hanging from her chest, sat atop a building and watched the red-haired girl quietly leave with great interest.

Though calling it a magical girl's battle outfit would be inaccurate. It looked more like a Daoist robe.

"Three Purities, she's the one I've got my eye on. Don't even think about making a move on her."

"Xiphias, is it really okay for you to walk around here so openly? Don't forget who you are."

"What does it matter? I don't interfere with you, and you don't interfere with me."

The samurai-shaped figure stood silently behind Xiphias. Although the two sounded as though they were casually chatting, the atmosphere was like a pile of gunpowder that could explode at any moment.

Seeing that Three Purities had stopped speaking, Xiphias smiled and turned to vanish into the darkness.

"What a troublesome girl. I don't know what Xiphias is planning, but I suppose I should keep an eye on this newcomer for now, so she doesn't get eaten by that girl."

Volume One: How I Got Scammed Into Becoming a Magical Girl: At Least Look Like a Human

Ando Meiko shakily opened the front door. The moment she stepped into the entryway, her body could no longer hold up and collapsed.

"Huh? Is Meizi back? Meizi?" Hearing the noise from the entryway, Fuko rushed over immediately.

When she saw her childhood friend lying in the entryway, she forgot everything else. Dropping what she was holding, she hurried over to check on her.

"Fuko, is Meizi back?" Nanako saw Ando Meiko in Fuko's arms and ran over to them anxiously.

"What happened to Meizi? Is she okay?"

"I don't know." Fuko answered Nanako while carrying Ando Meiko to the sofa in the living room.

When she saw the abrasions and bruises on Ando Meiko's back, along with the dried blood at the corner of her mouth, Fuko felt as if someone had clenched her heart in their fist.

Other than that incident she had experienced as a child, this was the first time she had ever felt so helpless...

[Master... Master, wake up, Master!]

Who knew how long had passed? Only when Ruby's voice appeared in her consciousness did Ando Meiko regain her senses like someone who had just woken up.

[You're so noisy, Ruby.]

[Master? Thank goodness, Master! You're finally awake! Sob, sob, I was worried sick about you.]

Ando Meiko frowned. She could not help worrying that something had gone wrong with her body... Ruby sounded as though they had just been through life and death.

[What's wrong with me?]

Her memory only went as far as the moment she got home, and then she had lost consciousness.

Come to think of it, the fact that she had managed to make it home and undo her transformation in that state was already quite impressive.

[You forcibly injected magic power, changed my form at random without imagining anything, fired a huge number of magic bullets with your last bit of strength, and then ran all the way home while transformed. No normal person could endure that.]

Ruby's tone carried a trace of anger, as though she were blaming Ando Meiko for her reckless actions.

[Besides, Master's Ether Body is still unstable. Even though the battle outfit absorbs much of the outside force, the damage you take is still directly reflected onto your physical body.]

"That's why I said I didn't want to fight." She opened her eyes and let out a helpless sigh. Everything familiar before her told her that she was now in her own room.

Because her body possessed Aether-like properties after transforming into a magical girl, the pain from injuries inflicted by Void Beasts had not felt so severe.

But now that her transformation was undone and the damage had returned to her body, even the slightest movement was enough to make her grit her teeth in pain.

Still, that intense pain made her truly feel her own existence. It made her feel that her body was still flesh and blood. Even though she had become a girl, at least she could still live as a human.

"I'm exhausted. Having my magic power drained feels awful. Looks like I need to control how much magic power I put out."

Whether it was the Void Wolf or the Void Dog, the amount of magic power she had used in both fights had been excessive.

Although both moves had been used for the first time in battle, the power of Silver Impact and Ruby Splash would have been more than enough even if she had cut their output in half.

"I'm surprisingly hungry today."

"After two battles, that makes sense. And a Half-Aether Body recovers magic power much more slowly than an ordinary magical girl. Most of that energy can only be replenished by eating."