A Thunderous Boom in the Sky

The night wind peeled back a corner of the rusted sheet-metal roof, drawing a dying groan from it.

"Hah... hah..."

Deep inside the factory, Chen Zhou pressed his back against a cold concrete pillar and shielded his wife, Su Wan, behind him. His legs shook so badly he could barely stand, but he did not give an inch.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

Three meters away, the thing studied them with evident interest.

It had the rough outline of a person, but looked like a clay figure someone had spitefully crumpled and then carelessly flattened out. Something writhed beneath its gray-black skin. A vertical slit gaped in its chest, filled not with organs but with churning, murky dark mist. It had no eyes, yet Chen Zhou could feel it "looking" at them. That gaze clung to his skin and sent numbness through his body.

A Fallen Beast.

He had heard the name countless times on the news and the radio, and seen it in Association pamphlets. Fallen Beasts were said to be born from the darkness in human hearts and to feed on negative emotions.

"Don't be afraid." Chen Zhou heard his own voice, dry as sandpaper. "Wanwan, don't be afraid."

"Mm."

Behind him, Su Wan answered softly.

Her hand clutched the hem of his shirt.

The Fallen Beast tilted its head.

Then it spoke.

"I'll give you... a game."

It raised an unnaturally long finger. Black mist seeped from the place where its nail had fallen off. It pointed first at Chen Zhou, then slowly at Su Wan.

"Whoever kills the other... gets to live."

For a moment, the factory fell silent.

Wind poured through a hole in the roof, sending shards of glass rolling softly across the floor.

Chen Zhou froze. For a moment, he could not even grasp what it meant—or perhaps his instincts refused to let him.

Su Wan's eyes widened in shock, and she instinctively looked at her husband beside her.

The Fallen Beast seemed quite pleased with their reactions.

It took a step back, settling in to watch.

A long silence followed.

Su Wan spoke first.

"Old Chen." She stepped out from behind her husband. Her voice was quiet but remarkably steady. "Do it."

"...What did you say?"

"I said kill me." Su Wan looked at him, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Your blood pressure is high, and your legs aren't in good shape. You can't escape on your own. Just kill me. If it keeps its word, you can go home. Our daughter's still there. You can't just leave her behind, can you?"

"Bullshit!" Chen Zhou roared, veins bulging in his neck. "Su Wan, have you lost your mind?! If anyone's doing the killing, it's you killing me! This body of mine doesn't have many years left anyway. You're still young, you—"

"I'm forty-six. How is that young?"

Su Wan actually smiled.

"That's still better than me!" Chen Zhou's voice cracked. "Wanwan, listen to me, all right? I've never amounted to much. I never gave you many good days. Just this once, you have to listen to me—"

"I've listened to you my whole life," Su Wan said softly. "Can't you listen to me this once?"

They began arguing under the monster's gaze, forgetting for a moment that the Fallen Beast was still watching them.

The mist in the Fallen Beast's chest began to churn violently.

It had imagined them falling to their knees and begging. It had imagined them tearing at each other. It had imagined every ugly, delicious scene—everything except this.

It did not believe them. Surely one of them was pretending.

But their argument gradually died down.

Chen Zhou stopped shouting. He looked at the gray hairs that had somehow appeared at his wife's temples, at the face he had known for more than twenty years, a face etched into his bones. Suddenly, the knot in his throat loosened.

"Ah... Wanwan... I guess there's no point arguing like this."

"It's a Fallen Beast. There's no way it'll actually keep its promise. We probably aren't getting out of here..."

Su Wan stared at him for a moment, then gave him a sorrowful smile.

"Right... I remember the Association saying that if both parents die in a Fallen Beast attack, it pays compensation. It would be their failure, after all."

"Besides, A Chen will be there for our daughter."

Chen Zhou curled his lip.

"Tch. Lucky him..."

Su Wan looked at her husband.

This man, who had spent most of his life timid and got red in the face just haggling at the market, now stood before a monster with his back straight.

She smiled, though her tears fell first.

They turned away from the monster and stood facing each other, their fingers interlaced.

No kneeling and begging. No tearing at each other. Even last words seemed unnecessary. After twenty-seven years, they had already said everything that mattered.

"Come on, then." Chen Zhou closed his eyes.

For the first time, the mist in the Fallen Beast's chest went still.

Then fury exploded within it.

"ROAR—!!"

"Fine! Very well! If that's how you want it, I'll grant your wish!"

Black mist erupted. The Fallen Beast's body swelled like a skin bag being inflated, and countless gray-black arms shot from the mist toward the couple holding each other—

At that very instant.

A thunderous boom shook the sky.

Light arrived.

It came down through a hole in the factory roof.

At first, it was a single firefly-sized speck. In the blink of an eye, it grew into a flowing river of light. Thousands of glowing motes spiraled down, illuminating the entire factory as bright as day.

A figure descended at the center of the river of light.

Very pink.

That was the couple's first impression.

A gownlike dress woven from pink and white, with touches of purple...

And pink, star-shaped pupils and long pink hair.

"I felt the call!"

The girl descended slowly from the sky. Her heel touched the ground with a crisp click.

Her eyes shone with astonishing brightness.

As she looked at Chen Zhou and Su Wan's interlaced fingers, her pupils contracted slightly, but she quickly returned to normal.

There was a faint tremor in her voice:

"What dazzling, passionate love!"

"Unfazed by death, unfazed by evil! That's what pure love is. It can give people limitless strength!"

Once their initial shock passed, the couple finally came to their senses. Wild joy flashed in their eyes.

"Are you... a Magical Girl?"

"No!"

The girl swept out a hand and turned toward the Fallen Beast.

"State your name, human... no, Magical Girl."

The Fallen Beast's voice turned grim.

This Magical Girl's aura is rather strong...

The girl took a deep breath and straightened her back.

"I am the warrior of pure love—Love!"

"I spread the word of pure love and protect those who love purely!"

"Remember this—the one who kills you is pure love!"

White flowers bloomed.

The Fallen Beast had expected some powerful magical attack. What it had not expected was for the last thing it ever saw to be a dainty pink fist growing larger and larger in its vision.

"True Pure Love Invincible Purification Fist!"