Chapter 16
"Hah, hah, I-I finally made it...! Hah..."
[Mia, how about getting a movement ability? Isn't it hard having to run every time?]
"I want to make one too, hah, but I keep, hah, failing every time."
[Sorry to interrupt while you were talking. That magical girl over there sent a message. I'll play it for you first.]
[Hey! Once you get here, get situated and throw on as many buffs as you can! I'm a close-combat fighter! That Alice over there is ranged, so keep that in mind! Oh! And for me, focus on buffs that improve attack stability rather than power! Honestly, I've got more than enough power! Anyway, I'll leave it to you!]
"This cheerful voice must be Miss Rabiz... And one mo... Senior Alice?!"
[Alice again? Mia's been lucky lately. Looks like Alice operates around here?]
"A-a-a-Alice Se-senior and another joint operation... A-and that too, a three-person A-rank raid party..."
[Mia?! I know you're happy, but calm down! Your heart rate's way too high right now!]
"R-right. I have to. I can't get in Senior's way because of me."
My heart had already been pounding from hurrying over, but the moment I heard that Senior Alice was here too, it began racing uncontrollably. Since an excessively high heart rate could ruin my performance, I took deep breaths and forced myself to calm down.
Generally, the recommended number of magical girls for defeating an Abyss One is four or five, with their average rank matching that Abyss One's rank.
To defeat a C-rank Abyss One, for example, the recommended party would be one B-rank, two C-rank, and one D-rank magical girl.
At first glance, declaring that three people would raid an A-rank Abyss One sounded incredibly dangerous. However, whether they were Abyss Ones or magical girls, S-rank entities existed on an entirely different level from the other ranks. Put simply, the S rank was given to those who far surpassed the standards for A rank, so with two S-rank magical girls in this party, we had more than enough power to defeat an A-rank Abyss One.
Two S-rank magical girls specializing in offense and one B-rank magical girl specializing in support... It was an unusual combination, to say the least.
S-rank magical girls and support-specialized magical girls of B rank or higher were both rare, so it wasn't often that they had a chance to meet like this.
Being specialized in support didn't mean a magical girl could only provide support. That would make it difficult to work as a magical girl, so support-type ranks were measured according to the combat power a magical girl could demonstrate while acting alone, with her own buffs, without any other magical girls. Magical-girl rankings weren't based solely on combat power, but the system was designed so that a lack of combat ability placed a limit on promotion.
In other words, the influence of a support-type magical girl could skyrocket depending on the natural combat power of the magical girls she fought alongside. Of course, the higher her rank, the stronger her buffs would be as well.
Having not one, but two S-rank magical girls fighting alongside her was the kind of blissful situation every support-type magical girl could dream of.
To make matters even better, one of them was Senior Alice, whom I had always admired and loved.
[Mia...? You've got drool at the corner of your mouth... I know you're happy to see Miss Alice, but...]
"N-no, I don't?!"
-Slurp!
[You can cast your magic properly, right...?]
"O-of course I can! I just finished, as a matter of fact!"
-Thud!
The wand, imbued with sacred golden magic, slammed into the ground. Enormous wings of light spread out from it, and the buffs I had painstakingly prepared while spacing out flowed toward the seniors fighting nearby.
[Wow! The effect's great! Having support really is nice! Thanks! I'm going to cut loose now!]
[Thank you, Mia! Alice will do her best too! Don't overexert yourself; leave it to Alice and Rabiz!]
-Thump-thump
"Ahh... I'm so happy..."
The thought that becoming a magical girl had been the right choice welled up from my heart.
I was standing on the same battlefield as the senior I loved—the very person who had inspired me to become a magical girl—and I was able to hear her thank me like this.
This made me several times happier than the sense of accomplishment I felt when saving people.
"...But Senior Alice's voice sounds a little lower today. Is she tired?"
[I can't really tell. Doesn't she sound like Miss Alice usually does?]
"No, it's different! I'm telling you, it is! You can tell just by the fact that she's handed the role of main damage dealer against this A-rank Abyss One to Miss Rabiz! If it were Senior Alice, she'd be more than capable of handling that much by herself..."
[Mia. When did you awaken an analysis-type ability? Even after hearing you, I can't detect any difference.]
"I'm telling you, it's different! Just look at how she's handed the main damage-dealer role to Miss Rabiz against this A-rank Abyss One! If it were Senior Alice, she'd be more than capable of handling that alone..."
-KRAAAANG!!!
<Aaaaargh!!>
"Haha! What's the point of having a bunch of fists when the main body itself is such a weakling!"
"...I'm not saying Miss Rabiz is weak. I'm saying Senior Alice is stronger."
[True... Ever since Miss Alice first appeared, she'd been famous as the strongest magical girl. You should have seen how jealous all the mascots were of Rabbit A back then.]
"Senior... You shouldn't overdo it..."
* * *
[Alice...? Are you okay...?]
"...It's manageable. With Rabiz around, I could beat an Abyss One like that even if I did nothing but provide support."
I sprained my left ankle when I blocked that thing's fist with just my wand earlier.
A magical girl's recovery ability would heal it after a night's sleep, but there was no avoiding the fact that it would be a nuisance during an immediate battle.
The one consolation was that a magical girl even more specialized in close-quarters combat than Alice was taking all the aggro up ahead.
[If you're not feeling well, there's a support girl right there, so why not ask for some healing...]
"Alice... can't show weakness."
Alice always showed only a strong and cheerful side.
People couldn't always be in good condition and in good spirits. Depending on what they experienced, they could be happy or unhappy, and their condition could be good or bad on any given day.
Of course, people could be like that, but
Alice couldn't.
Alice always had to shine brilliantly.
Unless it was a truly unavoidable situation with sufficient justification... something like an S-rank raid, perhaps. But if she openly bore the title of S rank and was seen struggling against an A-rank Abyss One... I could already imagine countless unpleasant scenarios.
People didn't want the image they had of Alice to be stripped away.
I had been able to live as Alice for the past eight years, despite not being Alice, because I had matched my public image to the Alice people already knew with near-obsessive precision, and never ventured into areas where I couldn't—or wasn't confident I could—act like Alice.
-Vrrrrm!
Though I didn't have much mental strength or magical power to spare, the buffs cast by the magical girl who had come to support us were certainly effective.
Thanks to them, I could still use magic of this caliber even in my current state.
[Miss Rabiz! I'll blast all the remaining fists at once, so charge straight for the main body!]
[Okay!]
Lunar Blast (Lunar Blast) + Stellar Prism (Stellar Prism)
Fractal Nova (Fractal Nova)!
-KRA-KA-BOOOOM!!!!!
<What?!>
Against a single target, Lunar Blast could inflict even a B-rank Abyss One with a fatal wound; I fired it into a magical prism, duplicating it and multiplying the number of targets.
The targets this time were all of the monster's remaining fists. Sixteen in total.
-Throb-throb
-Grit
Because the technique traveled in a straight line, I had to calculate the initial firing angle carefully so it wouldn't miss. Even if it did, I had to ensure it wouldn't hit another building or any of the helicopters nearby.
This was one of Alice's ultimate techniques, and with my mental strength already worn thin, it was no wonder I felt the fatigue and the huge chunk of magical power draining away.
-KRA-KA-KA-KA-KA-BOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!
<GRAAAAAAAAH!!!>
"Have you forgotten me, you bastard!!"
-THOOM!
<Grrrgle!!>
The fists instantly became tattered, and in that opening, Rabiz plunged into the monster's chest and slammed its solar plexus. The impact was so great that I could see its body jolt even from here.
If you thought of it as a human, it wouldn't have been strange for it to lose consciousness and collapse then and there. But it was an Abyss One. An A-rank one, at that.
<You ba... GRAAAAAH!!!>
-KRAAANG!
"Shut up! Your breath stinks!"
Ah. That one's going down.
A truck-sized hole had been punched straight through its solar plexus. No matter how much of an Abyss One it was, it couldn't survive that.
It would probably collapse soon.
If it were a type with exceptional regenerative abilities, it might even regenerate from that, but judging by its other abilities, it didn't seem like this A-rank had that level of regeneration.
A creature controlling twenty-four fists the size of small buildings would be cheating if it could regenerate a fatal wound that size on top of everything else.
...Of course, expecting common sense from an Abyss One was foolish, so I didn't ease off the power I was channeling into my wand, remaining ready for it to try something.
Sure enough.
<Grr... I curse you... Me, a battle-hardened hero who has traveled through countless dimensions...!!!>
-Kugugugung!!
Along with its dying wail, red light began emanating from its body and from the fists that had lost their strength and fallen around it.
'...You fucking bastard.'
If it had lost, it should have simply accepted defeat and disappeared. Self-destructing before completely vanishing was one of the ugliest—and worst—things it could do.