Transformation or Death

Chapter 44

Like a Comet in Your Heart (5)

“Huh? What’s that… Miss Vega!” 

Golden Aldebaran was flustered.

“It, it’s true. You can’t go sister… you can’t…” 

Red Vega desperately tried to stop her. To prevent Golden Aldebaran from participating in the battle.

She was also worried.  

But more than that, it was closer to an act of wanting to increase her own allies and gain approval for her current actions. 

Like a child throwing a tantrum.

“Miss Vega!”

Though Golden Aldebaran tried to calm her down, it was no use. 

Red Vega was clearly in a panic state. Something any magical girl experiences. But it was the first time she had seen such an abnormal case occurring after over half a year.

Golden Aldebaran herself had lived a period as a magical girl.

She had often seen the sight of magical girls who had nearly lost their lives experiencing panic.

Their appearances were generally similar.  

“Ah-hee…”

Their fancy clothes, hair, accessories, none of it was visible.  

The brilliant, starry radiance that deviated from ordinary people was nowhere to be seen.

No matter how special their outward appearance, the inside was the same.

No matter how much magic cloaked their bodies, in the end, they were just girls.

Scared of dying, disliking fighting, not wanting to dirty their bodies with filthy dirt and dust, just like children.

[Are you okay.]

Blue Sirius’s voice came through the mascot. She had urgently established communication.

[Take Ah-hee and run away. I’ll fight alone here.]

“But…”

[Really, it’s okay. Don’t you trust me?]

After a momentary hesitation, Golden Aldebaran replied.

“…I’ll trust you.”  

[Yeah, let her rest well today.]

Golden Aldebaran grabbed Red Vega’s arm and pulled.

Staggering, Red Vega stood up. She tightly gripped Golden Aldebaran’s hand and asked, “Maybe…it would be better to go back?”

Her attitude seemed uneasy.

She had fled from the battlefield. That attitude prompted a sense of self-denigration as a magical girl and unease at abandoning people behind.

“Ah, no! Let’s go back! Going back does seem right.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”  

“Non…sense…”

Golden Aldebaran lightly brushed off those words.

“I just fled because I was scared of the villain…” 

“Everyone’s usually like that.”

Red Vega tilted her head.  

“Everyone dislikes fighting villains and wants to run away. In that sense, you could say your actions just now were exceptionally courageous. You attempted what everyone only dreams of but can’t bring themselves to do.”

Golden Aldebaran said that and then laughed at her own words as if they were amusing. 

“Running away… Is it courageous?”

“Haha, you still don’t quite understand. For today, let’s just rest.”

“But, Big Sister Sirius is still…”

“It’s okay.”

It was clearly a dangerous situation, with a magical girl facing an S-grade villain alone, but Golden Aldebaran had an unnaturally calm expression.  

“Despite creating ice sculptures of that size several times earlier, she showed no signs of tiring.”

It exceeded the limits Golden Aldebaran knew about.

Blue Sirius had not yet shown her bottom.

“She’s gotten stronger.” 

Though advised to retire, It seems the time to withdraw has not yet come.

***

Ippotranslation

***

“Senior, I think I’ll retire soon.”

Those were the words of Pink Deneb.

After waking up in the hospital room, she casually said that to Blue Sirius lying next to her. 

“Well…considering my abilities, it’s a pity. But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

She was smiling. She often forced a smile. Or she would pretentiously act cheerful and irritated, or get angry instead.

“To be honest, we’re not really girls anymore, are we? Hmm…what’s the legal age for teenagers? Can I still be called a girl? Anyway, we’re more witches than magical girls. It’s frustrating they don’t have a separate name for adult magical girls.”

After that playful remark, she revealed her true feelings.

“Or, I wish they would just let us quit once we get old.”  

There was a brief silence.

“Senior, let’s do this a little longer and then quit.”

“Is the Dilemma going to take action now?”

“That’s what I’m saying. We’ll naturally end up sacrificing ourselves fighting against it anyway.”

It was a painful thing to say.  

“While other kids were studying normally or trying to find careers…We’ve been fighting to the death, literally to the death, with no metaphor. But what is this?” 

She looked resentful. Her face was smiling, but there was not a hint of a smile. All she had was sorrow.

“…Can’t we live a little comfortably too?”

It was only natural to feel resentful.  

The retirement recommendation she received was more poignant than expected.

Blue Sirius looked ahead.  

An outrageous villain leaping without hesitation. A villain leaping fearlessly, knowing it won’t get hurt.

Compared to that, her own weak and tender skin felt so pitiful.  

They have no one to protect, but on this side, there are easily over thousands of people.

With just this one moment of defeat, many will fall into sorrow.  

They have repeated this unreasonable fight to the point of being sick of it, and they have to keep repeating it.

Naturally, they had to feel resentful.  

There is great acclaim and honor, but with it comes the duty to shoulder responsibility and the great inferiority of someone else.

Blue Sirius did not wish for this at all. She never wanted to do something like this.

She doesn’t need attention. She doesn’t need money.  

She just wanted to live normally with one person.

What does it matter if it’s magic, what does it matter if it’s the stars.

If you have those abilities, should you rightfully have to sacrifice yourself?  

Does that make a justifiable reason to torment people like this?

“Phew…”

Blue Sirius let out a sigh. All year round, her sighs were followed by long breaths, trajectories of sorrow.   

It became quieter after the two girls disappeared. Only the sound of the raging villain grinding and spinning filled the space.  

Fortunately, the two managed to escape before getting hurt. Considering how magical girls usually run away, this was a luxurious level.  

However, Blue Sirius was a little surprised that it was none other than Red Vega who ran away.  

A peculiar girl who barely became a magical girl right before adulthood.  

From the start, she had no fear of the villain, and her sense of heroism was firm.  

Truly, a girl who shone like a star.  

The world often praised Blue Sirius.

That she has a record of defeating an S-grade villain in this era, that she is strong.

But no, it should be someone like Red Vega who deserves the praise.  

Fighting against an S-grade villain was just an experience of trembling behind her seniors, and strength was merely an experience gained over time.  

Blue Sirius herself is not great at all. Rather, she finds the praise burdensome, and sometimes even disgusting.

Because of the praise, because they cheered for her so hard, because they raised her expectations.  

Her everything, her love, was cut off.

What about Red Vega, on the other hand?  

What a brave and lovely girl she is.

She will undoubtedly be the next generation’s magical girl.  

The girl who will make everyone’s wishes come true.

Blue Sirius had no doubt that Red Vega would be that person.  

And that Red Vega had run away.  

It was shocking, but also a relief.

“So, I guess we’re the only ones left now.”  

In fact, Blue Sirius could have blocked the monster’s attack just now if she had tried. 

She let it happen on purpose.

Blue Sirius wanted the girl to know suffering.  

The once lovely and fresh girl’s sense of camaraderie and admiration that Blue Sirius felt, eventually turned into pity.

Because she saw a future where Red Vega, like herself, would be shipwrecked in the whirlpool of praise and jealousy that all magical girls face.

Blue Sirius superimposed Red Vega over herself.  

It was pitiful.  

The girl who shone like a star, her light source was like a boiling hellfire.  

The prettily packaged sense of heroism would undoubtedly leave a permanent burn scar once it was overturned.  

For Red Vega, for the red comet.  

The girl who would eventually fall and become an ordinary rock needs a cushion to brace for the fall.  

What she needed was frustration and suffering.  

She needed an ordeal to check herself for a moment.  

Paradoxically, all of this would give her rest.

“It’s a relief. Now I don’t need to hesitate anymore.”  

Blue Sirius wanted Red Vega to know one thing.  

She wanted that self-respecting, recklessly charging bright girl to have this on the back of her actions.  

She wanted her to know fear.

***

Ippotranslation

***

Power was not the only thing to be afraid of. 

He had to have knowledge, words, and beliefs as well.

He always had to fear what lay ahead, fear every action he took, and agonize over it.  

“Why? Don’t you value ideals more than your own life? Strange…”

Botis jokingly asked.

“I am human,” he answered without hesitation. 

“It is said that man cannot live on bread alone. By the same logic, man cannot live without bread. Why do you not understand that man needs more than one thing?”

Man cannot live on ideals alone. There were always things he must not forget.

He had to realize that just because the result was right, it did not justify all his actions. 

The foolish past days when he could not realize this were sinful.

“No matter how important ideals are, there are things that must not be abandoned.”

Because he was sinful, he had to repent.

“I don’t need allies. I don’t need the approval of humans or villains. I don’t need your consolation.”

Botis asked with concern, “Wouldn’t a human fear the pain of alienation? Don’t push yourself so hard. Everyone makes mistakes, and as a result, their hearts are broken. Everyone has a refuge or two to prevent that.”

“Does being afraid mean I should give up?”

“…Are you really like that?” 

“I don’t know how far into the future you’ve seen, but didn’t you roughly know I’d be like this?”

And beyond fear, there is hope.

“As a human, I will achieve my ideals.”

***

Ippotranslation

***

Beyond fear, there is hatred. 

Blue Sirius hoped the girl Baek Ah-hee would gain hatred at the end of her fear.

Hatred towards the villains.  

Carefully nurtured hatred can become a bright torch even on the most daunting path of terror. Rather than retreating in fear, it becomes a reason to take action immediately.

It’s an extremely useful principle of action.

“Phew…”

Blue Sirius let out another sigh. The breath froze into crystals before it could become vapor.  

The temperature in the place where she stood gradually dropped.

It could be called absolute zero.

Blue Sirius knew.

The power she possessed was comparable to an S-grade villain.  

But why hadn’t she been able to use her power properly until now?

The answer was one – because she didn’t know how to utilize it properly.  

She had simply unleashed ice-based attacks like in her early days as a novice.

Simply using it as a weapon and for mobility.

If her output and magic limit had become stronger than before, she should have handled it accordingly.  

Why couldn’t she abandon this method all this time?

The answer was simple as well.

Because they were techniques she had developed together with her beloved.  

Going together to the ice rink and practicing gliding on the ice.  

Practicing the shaping of ice as he gave her various assignments.  

Watching by her side to increase the manifestation speed of the ice illusion sword.

These combat techniques were built up from those memories.  

But where did that beloved person go now?

Because of her own foolish choice, she could not overcome the malice poured on her by others and disappeared.  

Then why did that foolish choice begin in the first place?

Because the villain had attacked the school at that time.

If only there were no villains, she wouldn’t have had to become a magical girl, wouldn’t have been unnecessarily noticed because of him, wouldn’t have had the school attacked, and wouldn’t have had to part with him.  

Even after sending him away, she still had a sense of duty left, so she wouldn’t have had to fight for her life like this for so long.  

These selfish villains keep attacking people, and keep bringing misfortune to her as well. 

“I wish they’d all die…”

The shadow of the villain loomed over her. It was the figure of the villain spinning like a top on the frozen river. Judging by how it was withstanding both her magic and Red Vega’s at the same time, it was clearly highly heat resistant.

Blue Sirius swung her three swords. A thick mist of ice was sprayed accordingly. Blue Sirius leisurely passed through the mist, evading the villain.   

He kept spinning in the hazy mist, trying to find Blue Sirius.

It would have been better if she had done this from the start.  

Blue Sirius leisurely evaded the villain and repeatedly sprayed the icy mist.

The murky mist contained a vivid hatred.

A bird that has lost its partner cannot fly and wanders aimlessly.

Too afraid to accept that reality, it eventually acknowledges it.

Soon it becomes resentment, and that resentment turns into lingering attachment.  

Brooding over that lingering attachment ultimately leads to a curse on everything that caused the loss of the partner.

“Even for villains, they need to catch their breath…”

Eventually, it becomes hatred.

Pibaikyeonkok (Paired bird’s lament).

Like a bird that has lost its partner shedding tears. 

Hail that could even frost the warm month of June rained down along with ice shards.

Eventually, the villain’s movements ceased.

The ice shards she had sprayed were composed of gasses with temperatures comparable to liquid nitrogen. Having kept breathing in that, their lungs must have frozen.  

The turtle revealed its head. Blue Sirius froze its limbs.

Even with superior heat resistance, she could still bind it by completely encasing it in ice. 

It was ice with a hardness raised to the level of diamond.  

Tremendous magic was consumed even to create a single pebble.  

She bound the villain’s limbs, prepared to expend all her stamina.

And she plunged her sword into its mouth, the sharp three swords probing its throat.

“The organs should be somewhat less durable, I hope.”  

And she formed ice from within its body.  

Sizzle!

A dreadful sound reverberated within. It did not stop. Ice shards sprayed from the villain’s eyes.

It was effective, but it was still not dead.  

She poured in ice like filling cream into bread.

Continuing until it lost its breath and exploded.

Crunch!

Finally, all the villain’s movements ceased.  

Blue Sirius satisfyingly sheathed her sword. Excessive magic consumption led to stamina loss. Ragged breaths poured out ceaselessly.  

“Ugh…huff…”

Then she looked back.

There was another hateful villain.

“…Big Dipper.”

“I would prefer you call me Watcher.”

The green villain of the Seven Stars.

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