Magical Girl? I Got Scammed into It!

"Please, I'll do anything."

Ando Meiko admitted she was being a little sly. Before Kajieliena could refuse, she had offered a price she couldn't turn down. Didn't she want to study her Half-Aether Body? Then she could study it.

If it could save those magical girls' lives, it wasn't much of a loss.

"Deal."

"Then, here we go." Although Ruby said she had evolved, she still didn't know what state her body was in now. She only felt that controlling magic had become much easier.

The red arrow nocked on the bowstring had already completed its third charge.

She released the hand pulling the bowstring. The rebounding string desperately sent the arrow flying, and by the time it completely left the bow, its speed had already broken the sound barrier.

Ando Meiko's magic was instantly drained dry. Her remaining magic could not even maintain the bow's form, and it reverted to a magic wand.

Without the magic Kajieliena had poured into her body, her fleeting new form also dissipated.

But that arrow, carrying the force of something that could pierce the stars, tore through the silence of the Void World. After tracing a perfect arc through the air, it shrieked toward the Void Spider's cocoon.

gigigigi...

The monster let out an indescribably eerie cry. The instant the arrow was fired, it sensed the immense condensed magic within it.

The Void Spider abandoned its pursuit of Three Purities and the others, whirling around and rushing toward its cocoon at incredible speed. It forcibly wedged its body between the cocoon and the arrow.

The arrow struck the monster's tough skin and trembled slightly before piercing straight through, leaving a gaping hole in the spider's abdomen visible to the naked eye.

Condensing both Kajieliena's magic that had been poured into Ando Meiko and all of her own magic, the power of this attack exceeded even Kajieliena's expectations.

Although the spider's interception knocked the arrow off course, causing it to strike the ground instead of its original target.

The magic that exploded with a roar swept in every direction. Turbulent currents, spreading like blades and swords, continuously sliced through the spiderwebs hanging above the mall.

Before the Void Spider, wounded while protecting its cocoon, could recover, it was swept into the magical turbulence once more.

Volume One: How I Got Scammed into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter 52: Magic and Miracles Aren't Free

On the other side, Kajieliena leaped from a twenty-story building like Superman. She used the wall for leverage in midair, and the recoil from shattering the glass sent her diving toward another building.

She turned, landed, and kicked off the ground. Her speed surged once more. Though the posture was hardly elegant, every movement flowed together without the slightest excess, relying entirely on explosive physical strength.

One kilometer. A whole kilometer.

Kajieliena covered the entire distance in less than ten seconds. Though stunned by that, once Ando Meiko saw Kajieliena successfully meet up with Three Purities, she had already found somewhere to hide.

She had shot an arrow at that spider's child, after all. She was honestly terrified that it might trace the arrow's direction and find where she was.

Even if it seemed busy right now, it would be bad if it remembered her and came looking for revenge later.

After all, Ando Meiko had the kind of constitution that got dragged into the Void World by Void Beasts. If that thing dragged her in next time, she really would have no one to call for help.

Before long, a startling commotion sounded behind Ando Meiko. When she stepped out from the shadows, she saw Kajieliena returning with five magical girls slung over her shoulders.

"Sorry. To keep them from realizing it was me, I knocked them all out first."

That really was violent. If something could be solved with strength, she did not even need magic. Should she say Kajieliena truly lived up to being from a nation of fighters, or that she was simply a muscle-brained brute?

"It's fine. As long as they're okay."

Three Purities, the strongest of the five, moved her fingers. She looked like she was about to wake up.

"I'll leave the rest to you. If they ask about that spider, just boldly admit that you did it." Kajieliena slipped into a dark corner outside their line of sight, concealing her presence.

"You don't need to tell me that."

But Three Purities' body should have been pierced by the spider's leg. Yet now, she looked as though she did not have a wound at all... Wait, no, it wasn't that there was no wound.

Ando Meiko turned her over for a look. A large hole had been torn in Three Purities' combat uniform, and what showed through the pierced area was not blood, but Aether glowing with rainbow-colored light.

So magical girls really were no longer human in the conceptual sense. I should be grateful that I could still get hurt and bleed... At least, for now.

As Ando Meiko continued observing Three Purities' wound, she suddenly sprang up, retreated several steps, and held three yellow Talismans Scripts with red lettering fanned out between her raised fingers.

Wasn't she a Starry Magical Girl? Why was she using Talisman Scripts instead of Star Tarot?

Still, since she was not a magical girl from this side's lineage, Ando Meiko could understand why her fighting style differed.

"Is it you?" Three Purities' startled movement tugged at the wound in her lower abdomen where the spider leg had pierced her. Pain made her clutch the wound and drop to one knee.

Ando Meiko was rather curious. Why had Three Purities' first reaction upon seeing her been the words "Is it you?" As far as she remembered, she had never met Three Purities before.

"Your injuries are too serious. Don't force yourself."

"It's fine. An Ether Body can repair itself. I just need a little rest." Three Purities glanced at the companions lying beside her. "Did you save us from the Black Demon Spider's attack?"

"Yeah." Ando Meiko nodded.

But naturally, she would not casually reveal how exactly she had saved them. After all, she had made an incredible deal with a witch.

If the people from Divine Shield learned that enemy members of the Witch Organization had actually saved them, Ando Meiko might be the first one held accountable.

"Where's that Void Beast?"

"Over there." Ando Meiko pointed behind her.

Confused, Three Purities carefully poked her head out. She saw that something seemed to have pierced through the Void Spider's abdomen, leaving behind a huge hole.

Seeing the Void Spider writhing in pain, along with the extent of destruction around the mall, she could not recover from the shock for a while.

Not only because she was wondering whether an attack of that magnitude had really been unleashed by the rookie magical girl beside her, but also because the Void Spider had not entered a dying state despite having such an exaggerated hole torn through its body.

She knew her own strength very well. If this Void Spider truly went berserk, she had no way of stopping it alone in her current state.

Thus, the safest course of action now was to retreat with the injured and return to the Divine Shield Branch to call for reinforcements.

Seeing Three Purities lost in thought, Ando Meiko assumed she was guessing whether she had done this... If she pointed it out, how should she explain herself?

"No matter what, thank you for saving us."

"Why did you challenge that Void Beast? It didn't look like something you could defeat."

"Actually, we endured until now because it had just laid eggs and was in a weakened state. But as you can see, we still ended up completely wiped out."

"This is its weakened state?" If it reached its full form, how strong would it be? Even Three Purities would probably only be instantly defeated.

"We still underestimated its strength. It looks like we'll have to return and regroup."

"Safe travels." Seeing Three Purities gather her comrades together to take them back, Ando Meiko waved at her.

"Keep this." She stuffed a yellow Talisman Script into Ando Meiko's hand, then led her companions through the Material World Gate and left.

"Looks like they're gone." Kajieliena slowly emerged from the darkness.

"Yeah. They sure moved fast."

"Anyway, they're going to bring reinforcements to deal with that thing. If you're worried, you can come watch when the time comes."

"I'm not in the mood to watch." Putting away the paper talisman, Ando Meiko nodded to Kajieliena.

Just as she wanted to use her magic wand for support and stand up, she had exhausted the last of her strength. Her transformation automatically ended, returning her to Ando Meiko's ordinary body, and Kajieliena caught her.

Before losing consciousness, she only heard one terrifying sentence. "Meizi, miracles and magic aren't free. So it's time for you to pay the price."

Huh? Pay? I-I only just said that! Could you at least let me prepare myself? No, don't actually do this, okay?!

Though she screamed inwardly, she could not resist the wave-like exhaustion sweeping over her. By the time she fell directly into a deep sleep, she had no idea... what Kajieliena might do to her body during that time...

Volume One: How I Got Scammed into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter 53: A Little Experiment

"I... how long... was I out...?"

"Less than half an hour. Not bad. You woke up so quickly despite that level of consumption and such slow magic recovery. So a Half-Aether Body that retains human elements has this kind of function."

"Mm..."

Ando Meiko tried to get up, only to suddenly discover that something was restraining both her hands and feet. She could not move at all. "Huh?"

Something was also pressing her head against the metal panel behind her. The strange sensations at her temples, chest, and arms made her realize that something odd seemed to have been attached to her.

Ando Meiko had seen this scenario before. In movies, when experimenting on aliens or mutants, they would bind them to a metal board and attach electrode pads all over their bodies.

"K-Kajieliena... what are you trying to do?"

If she had known this would happen, she never should have used "I'll do anything" as her repayment condition.

"Nothing much. I'm just studying you a little. It's not like I'm going to eat you."

"Then I'd rather you eat me."

Turning her head as much as she could toward the voice, she immediately saw Kajieliena standing beside her with a meter-long cleaver, gesturing with it.

Could this so-called little study... mean she was going to dismember me? No, don't!

"N-No, don't come any closer! I-I don't want to become a human stump! Waaaah..."

Kajieliena raised the cleaver and brought it down. Unable to bear watching, Ando Meiko squeezed her eyes shut. The blade struck the metal panel with a loud clang.

That sound was unbearably piercing to her.

"My hand! Ah, my hand is gone! Waaaah, it hurts, it hurts so much!"

"Hm?" Kajieliena tilted her head in confusion. "Are you already experiencing phantom limb sensations? I didn't even cut you..."

"I..." Ando Meiko turned to look. Her hands were still safely restrained, and when she looked a little farther down, she saw a watermelon split cleanly in half.

"Kajieliena! Did you have to cut a watermelon like that?! You scared me half to death!" Did putting it beside her on purpose count as intimidation?

"I was a little thirsty just now, and this board is the only flat surface here. Want some?"

"No! I'm not in the mood! Where are we?"

"Near the mall. This is my private little laboratory."

As she spoke, Kajieliena casually scooped out watermelon with a spoon and ate it. Only then did Ando Meiko think to inspect her surroundings.

The dim lights shining down were not too harsh. There were many machines connected by all kinds of cables, and almost every cable extending through the room originated from a device standing before the laboratory door.

Her clothes had been neatly folded on a table. She did not need to think to know what state she was in right now. No wonder she had felt chilly all over from the start.

Beside the metal board restraining her as an experimental table were many instruments: scalpels, large blades, dental knives, saws, tweezers, and more. They all looked like tools for dissection.

This was not a laboratory at all. It was an interrogation room, wasn't it?

Where was Ruby? Where was Ruby...

Only when she remembered did she notice that her necklace had been placed on a machine, isolated beneath a glass cover. It seemed Kajieliena had already realized that the little thing was her transformation device.

She could not transform, and she could not use telepathy either. Kajieliena had evidently activated her so-called Isolation Field again.

After finishing the watermelon, Kajieliena grabbed a white cloth from nearby, wiped herself carelessly, and walked over to the computer, tapping on its keyboard.

"I... I'm not going to die, right?"

"You really have a traditional view of research. Besides, magical girls don't die that easily."

Kajieliena was not lying to her. Magical girls had already converted their bodies into Ether Bodies, so unless their heads were bitten off or their hearts were pierced—fatal injuries like that—

Minor injuries such as losing an arm or leg only required waiting for the body to absorb magic and convert it into Source Aether. They would naturally recover before long.

"Sigh." Though she did not know whether Kajieliena was deceiving her, Ando Meiko stopped resisting. After all, this was something she had already promised Kajieliena.

All she could say was that if there was a next time, she would definitely think things through before negotiating terms.

"Then let's begin."

"Bring it on."

A cool, prickling sensation came from the metal board behind her. The unnatural feeling made Ando Meiko feel as though something was scanning her body.

"Normal body structure... Her condition is no different from an ordinary human. I see."

"Are we done?" She only wanted to leave this place as soon as possible and go home with Fuko, who had agreed to wait for her at the snack shop.

"Not quite. You need a little instinctive stimulation to excite you."

Kajieliena glanced at her, then opened something on the computer. An indescribably strange sound came from it, and it was not hard to guess what she was playing.

Kajieliena, you're not so innocent that you need to watch videos to learn these things on the spot, are you? No... instinctive stimulation to excite me... Could it be...

Remembering the night Ruby had controlled her, her body involuntarily shuddered.

"Alright, Fuko, I'm ready. Let's do this."