The moment Ando Meiko held the magic wand in her hand, an inexplicable confidence rose within her. She felt like there was nothing left for her to fear.
She pointed the wand at the writhing tentacles, but what came out of her mouth was the sort of over-the-top line a villain would say after gaining a cheat power.
"I'll repay the humiliation you gave me a thousandfold!"
"Something's wrong..."
"What is it, Master? Didn't you already transform?"
The metal shaft of the wand suddenly bent around, as though Ruby had turned back to ask her a question. The sight made her feel strangely awkward.
"Why... did my chest get smaller?!"
It was not just her chest. Even her figure had become much smaller, as if she had turned into an entirely different person.
"Is this really the time to care about details like that? Besides, wouldn't being smaller make it easier to move?"
That was true. Even after a whole day of adjusting, she had not gotten used to the imbalance caused by her body. In this state, she was actually much more agile.
That also confirmed what Ruby had said before. Ando Meiko's body really seemed to have become an Ether Body formed from magic power that could change freely.
While she was still thinking, several tentacles attacked at once, forcing her to hurriedly retreat a few steps and dodge them.
"Tch."
She clicked her tongue. Enraged by the tentacles, she shouted words meant to bolster her spirit: "Die!"
Having shouted that in anger, she really did look like a villain about to finish off the hero.
At the very tip of the wand, magic power drifting through the air condensed into a fist-sized sphere of magical energy. This was the energy cannon she had charged up.
"Fire!"
Biu...
No way... You've got to be kidding me. How could this happen?
The ball of light in front of the wand did not turn into a beam of energy like Ando Meiko had imagined, nor did it destroy every enemy before her.
The light ball flew less than a meter through the air with a strange sound effect before dissipating. After it vanished completely, it even released a puff of white smoke that seemed to be mocking her.
Not only was this damned magic mocking her—even the tentacles stopped before her and swayed as if laughing at her.
Ando Meiko glared viciously at the tentacles. If magic could not be relied on, then with this enhanced transformed body, she would bite every last one of them off if she had to.
But the disgusting slime made her abandon that idea.
"Hey! Ruby, be useful for once! Didn't you brag yourself up to the heavens? Why are you useless when it matters most?"
"What does that have to do with me? It's because Master is too weak."
A sweeping tentacle knocked away the wand—the wand she had only just touched, that had only just transformed her, that had only just made her feel invincible.
The wand that called itself Ruby had not even had time to warm up in Ando Meiko's hand before it slipped free and fell to the ground.
Humiliation. This was pure humiliation!
Finally unable to endure it any longer, she picked up the wand in furious embarrassment and used it like a club, smashing it straight at the tentacles.
"Master! Don't fight in such a crude way! I'm a magic wand, you know!"
"Who cares?" Ando Meiko ignored Ruby's protests and swung the wand.
But the outcome was inevitable. The wand was knocked away again, and the sweeping tentacles wrapped around her limbs once more, hauling her back into the air.
This was all fake. Maybe even my identity as a magical girl was fake. This was all just a dream, a dream world created by God to punish me for hiding at home and playing games.
The tentacles tried to tear apart the transformed magical girl battle outfit, but clothing made from magic power was not so easily damaged. The inflexible tentacles could only tug at it wildly.
The already form-fitting outfit was pulled taut against every part of her body, making it difficult for Ando Meiko to even breathe.
Just as the tentacles were about to go further, Ruby's somewhat hurried voice finally drifted over.
"Stupid Master!"
"How am I stupid again? It's all because of you! Because of you, I have to suffer this humiliation! I just wanted to live an ordinary life!!!"
Not caring whether she frightened or enraged the tentacles, she shouted it outright. Even if saying such things while bound like this gave her absolutely no dignity, she still wanted to express the anger in her heart.
"Master, trust me. Calm down. Only by combining our strength can I help you escape this danger. Use me. Trust me!"
"How am I supposed to use you? How am I supposed to trust you? Haven't you lied to me enough? I've already accepted the fact that I became a girl, so why do I still have to face this?"
"You're the one who insisted on messing around and got yourself thrown in here. How is that my fault?"
"..."
She was speechless. That seemed to make sense. This really could not be blamed on Ruby; after all, she had played around near the barrier herself and ended up like this. Ruby bore no responsibility for it.
"Sorry..."
Looking at the tentacles doing whatever they pleased to her battle outfit, she closed her eyes and sincerely apologized to Ruby.
"Master, everything I have belongs to you. No matter what you say, that fact cannot be changed. So please use me. The combat trait of Sunstone-type Magical Girls is imagination!"
A magical girl's combat trait was imagination... What kind of weird fighting style was that...?
"Ruby!"
"Yes, my Master!"
She held out her right hand toward the wand lying on the ground. Ruby answered Ando Meiko's call at once, trembling as it floated up from the floor before diving straight back into her hand.
What I need now is something that can free me from the tentacles. Something sharp enough.
"A sword!" Ando Meiko's imagination ran wild as she carefully pictured every detail of the sword she wanted.
Red light wrapped around the wand. The magical staff, now made of magic power, changed shape according to her imagination.
It was indeed sharp, but the wand had not turned into the sword she imagined. Instead, it had become a smaller, more streamlined version...
A fruit knife.
She really wanted to complain about why it was so different from what she had imagined, but now was not the time to pursue that. As long as it was some kind of blade, it would do for now.
She gripped the fruit knife in reverse and spun it around the tentacle wrapped around her wrist.
The seemingly useless fruit knife effortlessly sliced through the entire tentacle.
Though the blade was small, it was terrifyingly sharp because it was made of magic power and enhanced by Ruby, the wand itself.
With one hand freed, it became much easier to break loose. Three swings and three slashes were enough to cut through every tentacle holding her aloft.
Without the tentacles supporting her, Ando Meiko fell from midair to the ground.
"Ow..." Her hand instinctively clutched the part of her body that had intimately met the ground, but the pain she expected never came. "Huh? It doesn't hurt?"
"A magical girl's battle outfit has decent impact resistance, and your physical strength also rises significantly after transforming. You'd be fine even if you fell from the tenth floor, let alone from this height."
"So that's how it is."
After glancing at the severed tentacles, which had turned into threadlike strands, Ando Meiko stood back up. The fruit knife had already returned to the form of a magic wand.
I did it. I really broke free from the tentacles. Maybe after defeating my natural enemy, I'm finally a mature magical gi—
No, no, no. Why am I accepting that identity? No!
"Waaah..."
Just as Ando Meiko was about to press her advantage and attack the tentacles, she heard a little girl crying.
Questions immediately flooded her mind.
Why was there a little girl crying inside the barrier? Could it be that a little girl had accidentally wandered into it?
"Is anyone there? Little girl? Where are you?"
Since there was a little girl crying here, if she had entered before Meiko, then could she already have...
After personally experiencing it herself, Ando Meiko did not dare imagine what would happen next between tentacles and a little girl.
She did not know whether the tentacles had succeeded, but she was still terrified of seeing something in progress.
As she followed the sound in search of the little girl, the tentacles unexpectedly moved aside on both sides of the path she had to take.
"What's going on? Are they afraid of me?"
That was not normal. There had to be at least a thousand tentacles in the entire barrier. She had only cut four of them, which should not have affected them at all.
"Master, it's better to be careful."
"You're right."
That completely threw Ando Meiko off, but afraid that the tentacles might counterattack, she transformed the wand into a fruit knife in advance.
Only then did her suppressed mood gain a trace of calm and relief.
As she walked deeper into the darkness, the tentacles around her grew denser and denser, until they had formed walls on either side of her.
"How strange."
The puzzled voice from the wand nearly made Ando Meiko's heart leap out of her chest in this horror-movie-like environment.
"W-what is it, Ruby?"
"Logically speaking, this kind of barrier is another space that can only be touched and entered by people whose bodies carry magic power. Ordinary people should be able to walk straight through without any problem and never enter the barrier."
Then if she kept following this path, would the answer not reveal itself?
The walls formed by the tentacles had reached their end, and a little girl was sitting at the very back, crying.
She was about to approach when she saw that pink tentacles extended from behind the little girl, connected to her hair.
This crying little girl was actually the culprit behind the tentacles and the barrier. No wonder the severed tentacles had turned into fine pink threads—they were hair.
Startled, Ando Meiko stepped back half a pace and stared fixedly at the child, afraid she would make some strange move.
But the little girl seemed to notice her movement. She stopped crying and stood up from the ground.
As the little girl slowly walked toward Ando Meiko, Meiko examined her.
She was extremely small. If she had to describe it, the child looked about the age of a third- or fourth-grade elementary school student.
However, since Ando Meiko had also turned into a little girl after transforming, she did not look much taller than the child.
But those beautiful sapphire-like eyes were gazing at her resentfully, still damp from crying.
She felt her soul of a little-girl enthusiast ignite at once.
"She's... way too cute."
"Big sister, did you come to play with me?" The little girl shyly lowered her head, tracing circles with her fingers before her chest.
"Um, little sister, why are you here all alone? And what's with all these tentacles?"
She pointed at the little girl's hair behind her, then at the densely packed tentacles that had piled up like walls.
"These are my hair... But I don't know why I'm here either. No one plays with me. It's been many years, and Big Sister is the only person who's ever come here."
"I'm the first person to come here... So, were you playing with me just now?"
"Yes. Big Sister looked like she was having fun."
What? There's no way I enjoyed being restrained by tentacles, not even a little! Besides, that was only fun for you, little sister!
"I... never mind. Little sister, do you want to get out of here?"
"Yes! Does Big Sister have a way to take me out?"
The little girl hugged her at nearly teleportation-like speed. The tentacles formed from the hair behind her tightly wrapped both her and Ando Meiko together, while the soft little body rubbed against her in her arms.
Although it still involved tentacles, this felt far more comfortable than before.
"Little sister, could you let go of me first? And put away your tentacles?"
The tentacles stirred by the little girl's emotional fluctuations gave her instant PTSD. Ando Meiko had developed an instinctive aversion to them.
"Okay."
The tentacles loosened from her body, and the little girl who hopped away from her landed with a tap. All the pink tentacles shrank and gathered toward her hair, eventually becoming long pink hair that dragged along the ground.
Before you continue