Chapter 84
The Abyssal Hole appears alongside an Abyssal One and disappears when the Abyssal One does. That's common knowledge.
However, in truly unavoidable circumstances—very rarely, and unfortunately at exactly the wrong time—people have sometimes been sucked into an Abyssal Hole while it was piercing through dimensions at their location.
There are no recorded cases of anyone ever returning after being sucked into an Abyssal Hole. According to the mascots' analysis, the inside of the Abyss is filled with energy that is like deadly poison to creatures from other dimensions, so their bodies would not survive crossing the passage. And even if they did make it across, they would be killed in an instant by the countless Abyssal Ones beyond it.
It was only natural to reach that conclusion. Abyssal Ones would show no mercy to intruders.
"But why is it here?! Aaaaaah!!!"
[At this rate, it'll catch us! Can't you go any faster?!]
"I'm already going as fast as I can!! You try waking Alice up!!!"
[I'm doing my best, too...! W-wake up! At this rate, we'll all die!]
-Kwooooooo
"Aaaaaah! I'm used to being chased by monsters, but that thing is completely different!"
My legs were carrying me, Alice, and both of our mascots. Four people...? Four things...? Anyway, four lives were at stake.
"No, and why is that thing chasing us in the first place?! Isn't it supposed to stay fixed in one place?!"
[Generally, that's what is believed, but it is also known that the Abyss possesses a technique for controlling those holes. At least, this is the first time it has been observed on Earth. It is a rare technique even in the Abyss.]
"So why does it have to happen to me of all people!!!"
Just because I toyed with it a little, how could it do this to me?! I could understand self-destructing, but dragging me into the Abyss? I really didn't want that!!
I have to die on Earth, even if I have to die! Being dragged off to another world is just too much!
[It seems there is a problem with Aia's visual sensors. Emerald is being chased by a black hole while holding Alice.]
"That's right, so save me already!!"
[Aia wants to save Alice as well, but she cannot approach recklessly. It is obvious that the hole is chasing Emerald, but we do not know how wide its range is. If Emerald were to flee into the city, it would cause an enormous catastrophe.]
"You're planning to pull out only Alice if things come down to it, aren't you?!"
[Those who can survive should survive, shouldn't they?]
"I want to live too! No...! If there really is no other option later, then yes, we should save whoever can be saved, but at least try something first!!"
In the middle of that desperate situation, Aia contacted me, apparently because the disappearance of the S-rank Abyssal One had given the front lines some breathing room.
My face brightened for a moment at the thought that Aia might be able to do something, but then I nearly died again while changing course so the Abyssal Hole wouldn't head toward the city.
[A way to destroy the Abyssal Hole? If searching for one were enough to find one, we would have used it already.]
"M-maybe it would break if you fired an attack at it!"
[What if Aia's Magical Missiles were duplicated into dozens of copies and shot back out from inside it?]
"Could it have a function like that?! I mean, it might, but?!"
Although it looked as though Aia and I were just trading jokes, she was surely searching desperately for a solution while saying things like that.
I didn't know whether she would actually find one, but just as Aia had said, this was a situation where recklessly firing an attack might cause something insane to happen, like three S-rank Abyssal Ones bursting out at once.
This was an unprecedented situation in which an Abyssal Hole had opened on Earth.
[We are also accessing the mascots' network and searching for a solution.]
[I-I found it! They say we can destroy it! Since it's an entrance rather than an exit, filling it with more energy than it can withstand will make it close!]
"Oh! As expected of Alice's mascot! You're competent, unlike some people!"
[You should show a little more appreciation for your own partner...]
[Aia. Comprehension complete. Full salvo of Magical Missiles ready. Countdown: 3,2,1...]
"Hey! You have to give me time to prepare! You can't launch the whole salvo without giving me even an opening..."
[There are only eight missiles in the salvo generated just now. Consider how many missiles Aia, who has been handling 80% of the front alone, has left, human.]
"Huh?!"
-Wooooooong!!
Although I said 'only eight,' this was the combat technique of Aia, the number-one S-rank magical girl. Surely the Abyssal Hole would show some kind of reaction if it was hit...
-Swoop!
"...Yeah. Well. Naturally."
I didn't hear the explosive KABOOM! I had been expecting. If I had, wouldn't the Abyssal Ones on the other side have heard it too?
[We have confirmed that the energy detected from the Abyssal Hole has decreased. We will stop probing and begin full-scale fire support. Emerald, in case of emergency, do not attack. Conserve your magical power and run as much as possible.]
"I was going to do that even without you telling me!"
Although my body was considerably weaker outside the barrier, I was still an S-rank magical girl. It would be difficult if I invested everything into movement, but I could keep running for quite a while.
'Alice held out against a living knight like that for an hour...! I can do it too...!'
Although touching the hole would mean instant death, at least it wasn't firing techniques like the knight had.
-Wooooong!!
-KZZZZT!!!
At that moment, a thick blue laser fired from the direction where Aia was and entered the hole again.
If we just kept doing this, the hole would disappear...!
[...It seems the Abyssal Hole finds Aia's energy delicious. At this rate, things should proceed smoothly... Wait! Be careful, Emerald!]
"Huh? Wha..."
-KRAK!
"Aaaaaah?!"
-Pabababam!!
"Aaaaaaah!!! It's multiplied!! What is this!!!"
[I do not know whether the hole itself possesses a will or whether someone is controlling it, but it seems to have found its large size inconvenient. It split into four relatively small ones.]
[Be careful! Even though they have gotten smaller, they are still large enough for a human to enter! If you touch one, the part that touched it will immediately be sucked into the Abyss, so do not let your guard down!]
"Aaaaaah!! I should've stayed up late when I was little!"
-Whoosh!
"Hyaak!!"
My unnecessarily tall stature was a liability at a time like this. Circular portals that sucked in anything they touched were flying around and attacking me from every direction; if I were shorter, it would have been much easier...!
-Fwoosh!
"Aia!!! Do something, somehow!! I'm really going to die!!!"
[...Is Alice unconscious? If Alice were awake, it would be much easier to dodge.]
"Me too!! I'm trying!! To wake her up! But she's unconscious...!"
I didn't exactly want to suddenly star in an evasive action sequence like this either. I had tried to block them, too. I made shields and walls out of emeralds and even hid inside a collapsed building, but these insane black holes kept trying to swallow me as they sucked in everything they touched.
One of them had just brushed past my body three times. My heart felt ready to burst every single moment.
-Whoosh!
"Uaaah! You crazy bastard!"
Meanwhile, the black holes positioned themselves on the ground where I might run, setting a trap for me.
Fortunately, I succeeded in dodging by creating footholds out of emeralds in midair. Otherwise, I nearly would have been sucked straight inside...
-Slip
"Uh."
Was the jump so sudden and unprepared that something went wrong, or had fatigue accumulated from the continuous battles, even if I wasn't as exhausted as Alice?
-Thud!
-Flump!
"Ugh..."
[Get up quickly! The Abyssal Hole is still...!]
[Aaaaaah!! Get up quickly! Hurry!!]
As I fell, the Alice I had been holding also dropped to the ground, and my face landed right on her skirt. Since it hadn't felt like hard ground, I must have collided with Alice's body.
Something that was presumably Alice's rabbit mascot was pulling my hair from above my head, so it was probably just as I thought.
-Wiiiiing!!
"Ah..."
I should have apologized to Alice, but this wasn't the time for that.
Dense, pitch-black circles were approaching from every direction with terrifying sounds. I didn't have enough time to stand up, and even if I rolled across the ground, I could only buy a few seconds at most. The circles would simply chase me again.
'Is this... the end...?'
Not even a corpse left behind... dying surrounded by monsters in another world?
Without even saying goodbye to my little sister?
Even if that happened to me... what about Alice...? Surely she wouldn't...
-Squeeze
How could I... If I threw her carefully through a gap... Alice was small enough that she might be able to get through...
-Grab
"Huh?"
"...You... son of a..."
At that moment, I felt a small hand being placed on top of my head, and heard Alice's voice, wet with tears and sounding as though she were trying not to sob.
Before I had any chance to react, my view flipped upside down.
-Flash!
-Slash!
It was only after we had ended up far away from there that I heard the black circles, having lost their target, scrape across the ground.
Despite having been sprawled on the ground moments ago, Alice and I were both standing properly and able to watch the scene.
"A-Alice!! You're awake!!"
Overcome with the joy of coming back from the brink of death, I instinctively tried to hug Alice, but her hand pushed my head away.
"I'll hear the explanation... later... For now... let's get rid of... those..."
At the same time, Alice's voice held an unmistakable sob. It sounded as though she were enduring tremendous pain and barely managing to speak.
"A-are you hurt? Did you get hurt fighting the Abyssal One? If you're badly hurt, we should treat you first..."
"No... I'm... fine... Don't... worry..."
-Tremble...
'Ah, she really is hurt...'
This was the first time I'd seen Alice in this much pain.
She always kept her composure. Even when things got difficult, the worst that happened was her persona slipping a little. The fact that she was suffering this much while barely maintaining her persona made it obvious that...
"F-first, you know what that is, right? The Abyssal Hole. The thing that usually appears when an Abyssal One does. Right now, it's not an exit but an entrance..."
"I understand... If we touch it, we'll be sucked in, right?"
"You're quick to understand?!"
She had only just woken up, and I hadn't even properly explained it, but she understood after hearing a rough summary. As expected of Alice.
[...Alice's condition does not look good, but it cannot be helped. How is Alice's magical power?]
"...Not good. If I carelessly swing my wand, it might get sucked in, too. I need to use a ranged technique, but... I can't use anything with much destructive power right now."
[I see. Understood. In that case, with a combined assault from Aia and Emerald, we can steadily destroy them...]
It was then.
-KUNG!
"Aaaaaah!!"
"Guh...!"
-Roll...
Maybe they had been struck by an attack from an Abyssal One that was still alive; two magical girls, encased in shields, came rolling this way after smashing through the surrounding buildings.
Of all people, they were familiar faces. Black Rose and Mia. They must have been in this battle too.
"Wait!! Don't come any farther from there..."
-Woom!
"...Ah."
Four black circles, as if detecting new targets, let out ominous noises and immediately began racing toward them.
At the worst possible moment, when it was already too late even to intercept them.