Chapter 151 –Â
A Little Money and a Place to Live Tomorrow is Enough (13)
Odette found hope.
Blue Sirius had not only the skills but above all the most suitable ability to deal with this situation.
The magic she uses is ice magic. Not only can she create ice in mid-air, but she can also make objects freeze. It’s perfect for holding down unpredictable waves.
While Red Vega was also strong, unfortunately her ability didn’t match the current situation. The high-temperature flames she controls cause expansion the moment they touch water. The steam and smoke that spew out are comparable to an explosion.
The smoke blocks visibility and the hot water droplets interfere with others’ actions. Unfortunately, Red Vega isn’t a very effective force right now.
But Blue Sirius is different. She can defend against enemy attacks while simultaneously being able to attack.
“Oh, you’re here!”
“Senior!”
“Ah really where were you~! Oi oi I believed you’d come, damn it!!”
Other magical girls must have had similar thoughts, as they welcomed her return particularly enthusiastically.
“Sorry I’m late.”
When Blue Sirius heard the magical girls’ voices, she stopped running and bowed her head to greet them. It was an apology for her two-day absence and tardiness.
“That’s right, you’re way too late!”
“Hey, watch your words!”
“I really thought we were going to die while you were gone….”
Just two days of absence was enough to show how much work she had been handling alone until now.
During these two days, the deployment rate for all magical girls increased sharply. Those who worked during the day had to work at night too. This was the case even though her work was divided among everyone.
It wasn’t difficult to deduce how many villains exterminations Blue Sirius had been handling alone.
Also, in situations like this, there was no substitute. An S-class villain so powerful that there seemed to be no answer. More than half of the deployed personnel had already retired.
Since deployment until now, only Red Vega and Orange Altair attacking from a distance were still fighting continuously.
The rest were either people who arrived late and were somehow holding on, or people who didn’t have time to fight because they were moving transformed magical girls to the rear.
The strong currents made it difficult to even approach, and each wave was enough to completely break through a magical girl’s defense.
Flying wasn’t very useful due to the high waves, and since most of the city was submerged, flight had to be maintained constantly. It was quite difficult to maintain intense flight while fighting.
In such a situation, Blue Sirius appeared like a savior. It was inevitable that everyone cheered.
Blue Sirius received their welcome with a bitter smile. Each of those cheers weighed down on her shoulders like a burden.
Becoming the hope of an unspecified majority was really burdensome. The fact that her colleagues were among them made it even more so.
The clear hierarchical relationship formed between colleagues who should be equals. This was particularly uncomfortable. All of her seniors and peers had retired.
Blue Sirius raised her head. A helicopter was circling above her head like a satellite.
Countless eyes were watching her, but she only had two eyes. Therefore, she decided not to respond to all those gazes, and instead focus on only two things.
Annihilation and return.
Work to earn money and a place to return to with that money.
She must focus only on these.
Blue Sirius slightly turned her head to look at the wave she had just frozen. At its end was Orange Altair, and beyond her was the villain.
The moment Odette’s eyes met with Blue Sirius, she immediately stepped back.
Immediately, an ice shard as thick as a forearm flew towards her. It wasn’t a misunderstanding. That weapon was flying precisely towards her face.
Odette immediately turned her head sideways to dodge the ice shard.
“…!”
“Eek! Th-that startled me….”
Orange Altair, who was nearby, was also surprised. But not as much as Odette, who was directly involved.
“….”
She couldn’t carelessly move her mouth. Odette doubted whether that gaze just now was really meant for her.
“…Sister.”
That cold gaze as if looking at an insect. That look of viewing the side as if truly detestable was on a different level from how she usually looked at Joo Ah-yoon.
A look that conveyed not just hostility but also disgust and contempt.
Every time she was exposed to that, it seemed to crack Joo Ah-yoon’s heart.
“…If I stay here, I’ll be suspected. Let’s join up later.”
“S-sorry for nothing… Then I’ll see you later, Joo Ah-yoon… Ah, no, Odette!”
“How long are you going to keep getting confused about that?”
With a slight complaint, Joo Ah-yoon disappeared. The butterfly’s movement ability allowed her to instantly escape from others’ sight.
When Odette’s figure disappeared, Blue Sirius turned back to face forward. There was no time to worry about such things now. Taking down that villain who created this sea of water was the urgent priority.
Even now, the waves showed no signs of stopping. The currents swayed and swayed like the sea in a typhoon.
“I will… Definitely return.”
Blue Sirius made that promise again before slowly steadying her breathing.
Where she stepped was thin ice. A precarious path that could break at any moment. Below it was water deep enough to submerge an adult woman.
Ahead was a vast current. The water flow was so violent it seemed questionable whether one could maintain balance. If a stranger saw this, they would probably find it hard to realize this was originally a city.
The only things indicating there was civilization here were fragments of broken buildings and high-rise buildings not yet submerged.
And traces of people. Unknown clothes and fabric pieces floating in the water, photos and books. Torn pieces of fairy tales and textbooks were mixed in with the debris.
Many people’s lives had been swept away and deposited.
Although lives were diverse, their endings were consistent.
“Definitely…..”
Perhaps her life too would someday be swept away and pile up in the back alleys of history like these.
“I will return.”
But that shouldn’t be today.
Not for herself, but for him who was waiting.
Bang! Blue Sirius began sprinting. She didn’t need to fly like other magical girls. Wherever she went became the path. Large ice sheets formed with each step.
Though they were thin sheets that could collapse at any moment, they were sufficient for crossing right now. Crack. Cracks formed in the ice sheet with her footsteps. Crash! Her body crossed the water current as fast as a shell. Simultaneously, the ice sheet she had stepped on broke.
“Now broadcasting to all magical girls!”
The process was the same next time too. Create ice sheets where feet touch, and use them as stepping stones to quickly cross the current. The ice sheets broke, but her feet were already creating the next ones.
“Only those who can fight should remain, the rest should assist with rescue!”
Just five steps were enough to reach the enemy.
“Warning! Only those who need to stay should remain, the rest leave!”
She announced to the magical girls through the mascot in a more authoritative tone than usual. The reason for being so authoritative was that the magic she was about to use was dangerous even for magical girls.
Seeing Blue Sirius approach in the blink of an eye, the villain raised waves. That wasn’t all. It shot water blades from both sides, and waves also rose behind her.
A truly desperate situation. Blue Sirius didn’t panic and swung her three swords horizontally. The swords stole a few drops of water from the approaching tsunami in front and scattered them.
Water drops splashed in all directions like a very localized whirlwind. The sight possessed an elegance like a dancer performing on ice.
When her hair swept through the air like silk and stopped in place, the current no longer surged toward her.
“…Is that even possible?”
Orange Altair, watching that scene from afar, muttered in disbelief. What she saw was no longer chaos of waves and water streams.
Only icebergs that looked like they belonged in the polar regions were there.
The tsunami and water streams that the water drops had touched all froze.
The three swords wrapped in extreme cold temperature spread their chill through the water drops in all directions. The cold compressed to the extreme could create ice the size of a mountain peak with just a touch.
Blue Sirius wasn’t satisfied with this and twisted her foot. Bang! From beneath her foot, a huge ice mass like a siege weapon stretched out and shattered the solidified tsunami right in front.
Boom! The iceberg collapsed with a majestic tremor. Blue Sirius ran out through the gaps between the falling heavy chunks of ice.
At the end of her three gripped swords was the villain wrapped in starlight, the enemy who created this disaster.
She had accepted it.
She and her colleagues are not equals.
She must continue to be a hero.
Beyond seniority, it’s because of the difference in the amount of starlight. From magic output to duration, there’s an overwhelming difference.
Even though Red Vega’s recent growth rate is extraordinary, there’s still a gap. The previous bombing incident is a prime example. Blue Sirius had protected the entire city from bombing by forming an ice wall. Even comparing just raw output, Blue Sirius had the advantage.
Of course, this deserves consideration given that her ability is more useful for defense than Red Vega’s, and there were differences in the firepower of the bombings they received.
But even thinking about offense, Blue Sirius is never behind Red Vega’s firepower.
She can’t retire yet. Until someone who surpasses her appears, her retirement must continue to be postponed.
She still needed to keep this power.
The reason goes beyond revenge.
Because the moment she disappears, it’s the powerless citizens who will tremble in fear.
And among those citizens is someone she wants to protect.
The three swords touched the villain’s neck and its entire body froze along with the starlight.
“Now!”
Odette reached nearby as soon as its body froze. She flinched simultaneously. Because a cold that seemed to freeze even blood was spread there.
But now wasn’t the time to whine about this level of pain.
As soon as Odette appeared, Orange Altair shot an arrow tied with butterflies toward the sky. One shot with all her power.
The arrow instantly pierced through the clouds in the sky and rose so high it became invisible. Soon, the arrow seemed to reach the atmosphere as the hot heat beside it became visible.
At the same time, Odette threw butterflies toward the frozen villain. Like before, she planned to throw this villain into space.
All water around it had frozen. There was nothing to block the butterfly’s flight.
“We did it….”
Just before Joo Ah-yoon could cheer.
Boom! A strong vibration was felt from below, and water streams began to surge up like a spring. Soon after, all the frozen water began to melt. The butterflies were overwhelmed by that water and the flight failed.
Joo Ah-yoon trembled. Not simply because the operation had failed. When the melted water drops touched her body just now, they weren’t cold.
They were very, very hot.
“…Don’t tell me this thing.”
Bang! The surging water streams endlessly shot up into the sky and began raining down on the ground. It was very hot, high-temperature rain.
Sizzle! When the water drops touched her arm, there was even a sound like metal slightly melting.
“It’s controlling the water temperature…!”
Crash! Soon another tsunami rose. Not in one place, but simultaneously in multiple locations. There was a tsunami right in front of Blue Sirius, and behind where Red Vega was observing the fight, and other magical girls, and Orange Altair who had become exhausted after succeeding in the stratospheric snipe.
It was individual tsunamis to defeat each and every person there.
“This can’t be…!”
Odette’s complaint was cut short as she was swept away by the tsunami.
***
IppotranslationÂ
***
Libra watched that scene with satisfaction.
“A pseudo-divinity activated by consuming not just individual stars but lifespan as well….”
They would die after using it once, but that wasn’t his part-time job.
“Quite excellent.”
It was a satisfactory result.
“Then how about the other side….”
He became very curious about how powerful a pseudo-divinity activated in a normal person’s body would be.
Libra changed the channel and looked at the scene of a hotel room.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support me or read up to 20 chapters ahead, you can do so via Buy Me a Coffee OR by unlocking chapters.
Please consider leaving a good rating and review of Transformation or Death @ Novel Update to show your support if you like the series. It will encourage me to work on more chapters and bring in more readers.
Schedule: [Thur, Fri, Sat]
