About Becoming a Magical Girl

Tears slid down uncontrollably, and her teeth chattered from the pain.

The agony in her abdomen felt as though her internal organs had been twisted into a knot and then viciously smashed apart. It had nearly robbed her of all ability to move, leaving her on the verge of passing out.

Her back had long been soaked with cold sweat.

She hung her head weakly, quietly counting the gray tears that fell and spread across the ground.

She had never imagined she would lose to Efnir, and so quickly at that.

She had never underestimated Efnir. Anyone who had witnessed Efnir fight would never think her title was undeserved. But indeed... judging Efnir's true combat strength solely from data recorded during battles against Erosion Entities had been rather far-fetched.

In any case, she had lost decisively. Even as she was now, she had still lost.

Frustration spread through her heart.

Click—

The rubble before the girl was pushed aside by something, and the dim light grew murky amid the stirred-up dust.

As the dust slowly dispersed, Efnir's slender figure entered her field of vision.

"Efnir..."

The girl struggled to raise her head, gasping as she laboriously met Efnir's gaze.

"Not dead yet? Are you a cockroach?"

"You... don't disgust me by comparing me to something like that..."

Her chest rose and fell as she stubbornly glared at Efnir.

Tear tracks at the corners of her eyes reflected the faint light.

Efnir looked at the girl expressionlessly. After a moment of silence, she pressed her lips together.

"You don't get to speak here. You lost."

The spear in her hand suddenly shot forward, pressing against the girl's throat.

"I'll ask you the previous question one more time. Who are you? What is your objective?"

"Ha..."

The girl gritted her teeth and looked up at Efnir, her expression stiff.

"You finally won, yet you're still concerned with such a boring question... You're just like those people after all... Well, that makes sense. A short little thing like you can only see this much... Gah!?"

Before she could finish, the girl suddenly cried out in pain, her eyes widening.

A searing pain shot through her right shoulder.

The silver spear pierced through her shoulder, pinning her firmly to the collapsed wall.

"Damn it... That hurts!!"

The girl curled up, breathing heavily as tears and trembling sobs spilled uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.

Efnir looked down at her coldly and crouched.

She extended a hand and gripped the girl's neck with one hand.

With a slight tightening of her fingers, the girl let out a pained whimper.

"If I wanted to kill you, you would have no power to resist. I advise you to understand the situation and honestly answer my questions before my patience runs out. First question: who are you?"

"You... let go of me... I can't... talk like this..."

Efnir released her.

As though granted a reprieve, the girl collapsed backward and gulped down air.

Efnir spoke.

"First question. Who are you?"

"I told you, I'm an 'Apostle'..."

The girl's voice was hoarse. She clutched her abdomen and glared viciously at Efnir.

"What is an 'Apostle'? Your organization? Or a code name?"

"You are 'Agents,' and I am an 'Apostle.' It's that simple... Understand?"

"Then what is your objective?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what it means. Those people... never laid everything out for me. Me? I'm a Discarded Pawn. If I knew anything, I wouldn't have come here alone. You know what that means, don't you...? Well, I was something meant to be discarded once used, but I never thought I'd fall into your hands so easily..."

Efnir frowned slightly.

The girl glanced at her and continued in an unreadable tone.

"Efnir, I have to admit that you're stronger than anyone I've ever seen... But even you, if you only try to salvage things now, are already too late, aren't you...? To those people, if they can trade a failure like me for something else, then whatever they get would probably be an exceptionally worthwhile deal, wouldn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I... am discarded garbage... So then... Efnir, what are you, the one who fought me...?"

The girl panted heavily. The nauseating stench of blood filled her nostrils and spread down her throat. She stubbornly raised her head and looked at Efnir.

"You and I are very alike, Efnir..."

Efnir looked at the girl, frowning slightly.

"Don't compare me to trash like you. And stop saying irrelevant things. Or are you stalling for time?"

Efnir suddenly grabbed the girl's wrist and forcefully twisted it over her head, locking it in place. The immense force nearly made the girl lose all feeling in her hand.

The girl cried out through gritted teeth and met Efnir's eyes. She tried to struggle, but it was useless.

"At this point, you don't think I'll let you go, do you?"

Efnir's face remained expressionless as she clamped down on the girl's wrist, tightening her grip inch by inch. The immense force drained the color from the girl's face and forced a shrill cry from her, but Efnir remained unmoved, merely staring at her coldly.

Fengling Shiyin, Fulan, Qinglan, and the countless people who had died in the disasters.

Efnir still remembered the way those people had looked at her.

"You call yourselves 'Apostles'... That town was your doing too, wasn't it? The Erosion Disaster five days ago, and today's anomaly—those were both your handiwork, weren't they?"

"Since you already know, why ask me...? But let me make this clear beforehand: I didn't kill anyone, and it had nothing to do with me."

"Nothing to do with you?"

Efnir tightened her grip again. The girl clenched her teeth, but a dreadful wail still escaped her.

"The appearance of 'Fifina' was your doing too, wasn't it?"

"If you mean your younger sister, then yes..."

"So you admit it."

Efnir flung away the girl's hand, stood up, and grasped the spear piercing the girl's right shoulder with one hand. With a crack, she pulled it out.

The girl screamed and let her shoulder droop in agony.

"Why did you target my sister?"

Efnir held the spear in one hand, its sharp silver tip pressed against the girl's throat.

"Efnir! Please calm down!"

Shinomiyami Nami's voice came through the earpiece.

"Spare her life... We might be able to learn a great deal of important information needed for our investigation from her. At this stage, she is an extremely valuable source of intelligence, so..."

Efnir did not answer. She merely stared coldly at the girl.

The girl covered her shoulder and weakly raised her head.

"If I tell you, will you let me leave?"

"I don't know whether you can leave, but if you don't tell me, I'll kill you right now."

"Looks like I don't have a choice. Then I'll tell you, but... is that really okay?"

The girl used all her strength to prop herself up and lean against the slanted, collapsed wall behind her. Meaningfully, she shifted her gaze and glanced at Efnir's earpiece.

Efnir frowned slightly, switched the spear to her left hand, raised her right hand, and cut the communication link.

"Now you can speak."

"How decisive... Won't your organization suspect you? Well, whatever, it has nothing to do with me. In any case, I'll be direct. Your sister was targeted because she possesses the qualifications to become a 'Perfect Experimental Subject.'"

"An 'experiment'?"

"Yes, an 'experiment.' That's what those people called it. As for the specifics, my clearance isn't high enough for me to know. I only know that if it's those people, then their purpose must be to create 'those things.'"

"What 'things'?"

"I don't know."

Efnir stared coldly at the girl. The girl seemed to answer everything she was asked, but in truth, she always concealed the key information Efnir needed.

"That's just what those people said."

"Who are these 'people' you keep talking about?"

"I don't know. I've never met them either. We all call ourselves 'Apostles.'"

"Where is your base?"

"In the Beyond the Boundary region, roughly seventy-two kilometers from here at thirteen degrees north by east. Of course, as far as I know, that was only a temporary base. After I left to carry out my mission, it was probably abandoned already... But... speaking of which, your sister, that little girl named Shiomi Yukina, can adapt to any Beacon. That's what an 'Absolute Compatible Candidate' means, isn't it?"

Efnir frowned slightly.

"Just how much do you know?"

"If you're asking me... everything. Every piece of information on 'Shiomi Yukina' and the 'Absolute Compatible Candidate' is stored in my head."

"Where did you get the information?"

"From information stored in your Orderkeepers' database, of course."

"Our database doesn't have anything like that."

"Have you checked the paper archives too?"

"Of course. I checked everything and destroyed it."

"Then what is this?"

At some point, a metal capsule the size of a bullet had appeared in the girl's hand.

She laboriously raised her hand, twisted the capsule open, and pulled out half of something shaped like a toothpick.

She handed it to Efnir.

Efnir watched the girl warily before reaching out to take it.

It was a cut strip of paper, only two fingers wide and as long as a palm. Efnir unfolded it.

There were only a few short lines of text. The keywords "Absolute Compatible Candidate" and "Shiomi Yukina" stabbed into Efnir's eyes. Besides that, there was half of a confidential document seal, a style Efnir had once seen in classified files.

Efnir looked at the paper in her palm, and her gaze stiffened.

The girl, however, gave a derisive snort.

"Efnir... you're clearly the indispensable backbone of the organization, yet you aren't trusted at all... This is 'evidence' I deliberately cut out. Efnir, surely you understand what it means? Of course, it might be something I forged, and you can choose not to believe me. But you wouldn't do something as self-deceiving as that, would you?"

"..."

Efnir held the slip of paper in her hand and remained silent for a long while.

Only after some time did she speak again.

"The attack five days ago—it was then, wasn't it?"