Chapter 34
The Nightmare Queen is, as its name suggests, the queen of the Nightmares, an entity born when lesser Nightmares fuse together after accumulating without being exterminated.
In appearance, it isn't very different from a Nightmare. It looks like a basic Nightmare shaped like a ray, only much larger.
They're difficult to find even with the mascots' detection abilities, but their very purpose for surviving is to merge and become a Queen; once they advance to Queen, they get caught in the mascots' detection net.
They survive by avoiding detection, only to swell up and call over the hunters who will catch them. Quite ironic.
-Flash!
'...What about the other magical girls?'
[I'll contact them.]
The troublesome thing about exterminating Nightmares.
Because of their nature, they appear at dawn and in densely populated urban areas, making the immediate evacuation of civilians practically impossible.
Fortunately, the Abyss One known as a Nightmare cannot exert physical force, so damage like collapsing buildings doesn't occur. Even so, an Abyss One is still an Abyss One.
Nightmares that have grown into Queens broadly stimulate and absorb people's negative emotions to grow stronger, and quite a few civilians suffer psychological aftereffects in the process.
They may not physically chop off limbs or anything, but they can still induce suicidal or homicidal urges. Moreover, humans heavily exposed to Nightmares become easy prey for other Nightmares afterward, so if they aren't cleared out in time, their numbers will grow, the vicious cycle will repeat, and the entire dimension may end up covered in Nightmares. That was the mascots' analysis.
[Sapphire. Transmission complete... Miss Alice?]
'What the hell, it's Sapphire?'
[It's a pleasure to meet you here. Allow me to introduce myself again. I'm Sapphire, assigned to this Nightmare Queen extermination mission. I'm an A-rank. My specialties are offensive magic and spells that bind or slow enemies.]
[This is my first time exterminating an Abyss One with Miss Sapphire. I'm Alice. S-rank. My specialties are offensive magic and mobility.]
But then who was the other one...
[Yes, that's me. Aia.]
'Cough.'
[It's nice to meet you, Miss Sapphire and Miss Alice. Thank you for cooperating with Aia's Nightmare Queen extermination mission. Aia is very pleased.]
[I'm pleased to meet you as well.]
[Nice to meet you, Miss Aia!]
'Tokkaengi, emergency!!!!'
[Why is that woman here?!]
'You should know, even if I don't!!!!'
[Being mascots doesn't mean we share all our information!! We try not to assign magical girls who actively dislike each other, but we can't exactly announce that Alice is uncomfortable around Aia!]
A state of emergency had arisen.
The elusive number-one S-rank, who was always busy working elsewhere, had been assigned to the same mission as Aia of all people.
What had happened with Han Se-jin was bad enough, but I'd avoided her as much as possible even before that because her persona was so overwhelming. And now, just days after running into her in my real form and watching her ask for my number because she'd fallen for that version of me, I was supposed to operate in drag?
This was the kind of situation that would make even a seasoned actor break into a cold sweat internally, let alone me.
On top of that, Aia had already once said something that seemed to imply my ordinary face looked like Alice's.
'Fuck, this is a real disaster.'
My identity was at risk of being exposed right now.
They say bad things come in threes, but wasn't this a little too sudden?
Not only had Aia suddenly appeared in this neighborhood and met me in my real form, but now I was going to meet her as Alice just a few days later?
[Has the Queen's location been confirmed?]
[We've already engaged Aia.]
[What? Then let's go provide support immediately...]
[It's fine. Aia will handle things here, so take care of the stragglers approaching from the surrounding area. You don't need to worry; Aia doesn't dream of black sheep.]
'...Is that fortunate?'
Alice's role was a supporting one anyway.
Under the pretext of dealing with the Nightmares rushing over to support the Queen, I could fight from a direction different from Aia's and might not have to face her until the battle was over.
'Good. Then that's what I'll...'
[And Miss Alice, please look behind you.]
"Uh... Eek?!"
-Whirr
-Tap
[This is Aia's special Be Quiet—Yap Machine. Attach it anywhere on your body and fight with it; whether you fight directly at close range or support from a distance with magic, it eliminates any sounds produced by any method. It is Aia's wonderful, pretty, and thoughtful invention, created to protect the citizens' peaceful sleep.]
"Th-thank you. I'll use it gratefully..."
[Sapphire will be receiving a machine soon as well. Rest assured, it's not an Abyss One. The machine likes being petted.]
[I'll accept it gratefully.]
S-rank No. 1. Anyone who knew anything about magical girls knew that Aia handled a lot of bizarre machines.
I could somehow understand erasing the sounds around us, but it supposedly even silenced the sounds produced by magic just by attaching it. She called it a machine, but wasn't it simply magic?
[Highly advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. That's one of my favorite sayings.]
'...I didn't say anything.'
[Most people who receive Aia's ma-chines tend to ask that question. This is a preemptive response based on statistics.]
[I see! I was just wondering about that. Thank you!]
Of course it was indistinguishable. It was simply magic wearing the guise of science.
Slapping an iron shell onto magic didn't make it science, did it?
The way she boldly said things like that while glossing over all of it made it clear that, as expected, dealing with a concept freak was exhausting.
Was this how other magical girls felt when they saw Alice?
It felt strangely like mirror therapy. That didn't mean I could quit, though.
The machine Aia had given me was a square plate that radiated some inexplicable magnetic force.
When I held it against the less-sensitive part of my wrist, it stuck like a sticker, and it didn't seem as though it would interfere with combat; it stayed put even after I swung my arm once or twice.
Her persona was a headache, but there was no denying that her abilities were incredible.
Otherwise, she could never have claimed the position of number-one S-rank.
And now that I was standing on the battlefield, I understood.
That woman Aia had an extremely favorable matchup against Nightmares, too.
Kariel, who could erect a mental barrier on her own, would also have an extremely favorable matchup... but that woman dealt with machines.
Even if they were closer to something realized through magic wearing the guise of science, there was no denying that they had physical substance. And no matter how much of an Abyss One a Nightmare was, it couldn't make a machine have a nightmare.
As long as her real body wasn't hit directly, she was essentially completely immune to a Nightmare's mental attacks.
'I'm jealous.'
I couldn't see her fighting since I hadn't approached Aia's side, but I knew how Aia fought.
Her real body flew around surrounded by countless machines, raining down laser fire and bullets. As if that weren't enough, countless large and small machines flew around her, providing all kinds of supporting fire, suppressive fire, restraints, pinning attacks, interference, and more.
I couldn't even begin to imagine how she'd developed her magic to use it that way.
To reproduce such magic with my own, which worked by performing one massive calculation and releasing the result all at once rather than summoning things, I'd have to calculate in real time the mana used by the machines attached to her body to fire their cannons and bullets, as well as the coordinates of the machines flying around her and providing supporting fire. That was beyond the limits of humanity.
So I had no choice but to assume that she used magic in a way entirely different from mine.
Even so, it didn't seem as though the calculations involved in those spells could be minimal.
[Miss Alice, will you join us?]
[Sure. I'll head over there.]
Aia seemed fine left to her own devices, and while meeting Aia was uncomfortable, Sapphire was someone I'd known all along.
-Flash!
"Did you rest well, Miss Sapphire? Lack of sleep is a major weakness against Nightmares, you know?"
"I didn't sleep, but I'm not tired. I got proper rest."
"Good... Then..."
[Lunar Blast]
"Shall we go cleanly erase the citizens' nightmares!!"
-Kaboom!!
Normally, I would have heard the sound of the Nightmares bursting apart under Lunar Blast, but Aia's device really did work; not a sound reached my ears.
'How the hell does this thing even work?'
No matter how varied magical girls' magic was, it should at least have to fit within the category of machinery to be called a machine. Blocking even the sound made by magic cast far away just by sticking a single sticker on my arm was blatant magic, wasn't it?
"How remarkable. I really can't hear anything."
"Miss Aia is amazing! Even Alice can't make something like this!"
[V.]
Where does she keep listening from? This time, she hadn't even spoken through the communication channel.
"But will Miss Aia really be all right? If it's a Nightmare Queen, isn't it among the upper ranks of A-rank?"
"If it's the Aia Alice knows, she'll be fine. You could even call her the natural enemy of Nightmares."
[Exactly. A Nightmare Queen can't even scratch Aia.]
"Then we really are just playing a supporting role. Even if Miss Aia can take down the Queen alone, the mascots assigned Miss Alice and me as well because they must want us to handle this sort of thing, right?"
Ah, it seemed she'd misunderstood something.
'Isn't sending Alice, an S-rank, overkill when Aia can solo-raid it, even if Aia being A-rank is one thing?' Sapphire seemed to be thinking that. But she wouldn't know that Alice was weak to mental attacks, so seeing that they'd sent Alice too—someone who could practically take it down alone under the right conditions—she must have concluded that the mission I was assigned was that important.
It was difficult to say this myself, but Alice was one thing against little Nightmares; if she stood before a Nightmare Queen, it was safe to assume her combat power would plummet to B-rank level.
Assuming Sapphire had at least basic resistance to mental attacks, Alice might actually be weaker than Sapphire. And considering that the opponent was an A-rank Abyss One, Alice might even need to be protected instead.
Why had the mascots assigned someone like Alice?
Ask the mascots. I didn't deploy because I wanted to. I did it because they told me to.
...Well, they probably knew I was vulnerable to mental attacks, but likely thought, 'It's Alice, so she'll at least pull her weight.'
Alice had been deceiving even the mascots other than Tokkaengi with her persona. They couldn't have imagined that Alice, who always showed only a confident and cheerful side, would suffer such a drastic loss of influence when her trauma was triggered.
So, if necessary, I'd been planning to fire an ultimate spell from a distance—one powerful enough that I wouldn't care about the consequences, even if it meant retiring after using it just once—and leave. But the number-one S-rank had decided to give me a free ride.
[Starlight Shower]
"Miss Sapphire. You were listening very attentively to Alice's lesson today. Did you get anything out of it?"
"I think... I got something out of it."
"Then show me your starlight. Alice will watch your back."
"...Understood."
-Whummm
If you're wondering whether I'm being unusually kind today, you would be right.
Although we were quite far from the Queen, the aura of nightmares it emitted was basically reaching Sapphire and me, and to shake it off, it was best to remain aware of someone beside me.
Since Aia was handling the Queen and its closest attendants, we also had plenty of leeway over here.
[Everyone. I'm sorry to interrupt while you're having a good time, but the Queen is about to make a last stand. It may affect your side as well, so prepare yourselves. I think it's a Nightmare Echo.]
Oh.
Wait, this is a bit much.
-◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼!!!!!!!!
-Flash!
As soon as I sensed the tremor of mana along with Aia's communication, I moved as far away as possible with Stellar Shift, but the Nightmare Echo's range was far wider than that.
-Lurch
-Tremble-tremble-tremble-tremble
"...Urgh."
[Alice?! Wake up!! Alice!!!]
Damn it, this was why I hated Nightmares.
Next time, I would have to consider registering a Nightmare Queen as a weakness of 'Alice,' even if it meant breaking character a little.
"Ghk...!"
[W-why don't you just let it out against a wall? No one's watching right now anyway. Huh? Alice is human too, so she can throw up once in a while.]
The place I'd moved to with Stellar Shift was a building a long way from where I'd been, and everything around it looked gloomy.
-Step... Step...
And right on cue, an Abyss One appeared.
-Krrk...
Unlike the Nightmares, which generally took the form of rays, Nightmare Knight was an Abyss One born at the same time as the Queen. It had no fixed form and could invade the unconscious of whoever stood before it, transforming into whatever that person feared most.
That Abyss One was right in front of me.
...Ha, ha. Yeah. I was wondering when you'd show up.
-Rip
-Crunch
I destroyed the device Aia had given me in case it had an eavesdropping function.
[...Han Se-jin.]
-Krrk
"That form of yours... It'd be a little troublesome if anyone else saw you like that, you know? So let's finish this quickly."
-Dash!
My stomach was churning, and the Queen's echo was reverberating in my head, stirring up my trauma. But because that trauma was right in front of me, I could actually keep my eyes open and focused, so I wrapped mana around my wand and charged forward.
An Abyss One that transforms into the thing its target fears most within their unconscious.
Before my eyes,
a girl who looked exactly like me was smiling brightly.