CH 136

Chapter 4 — Sleep, until your life is over • Episode 4–4 — Runaway ③

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

A girl who was lying like a corpse on the carpeted floor suddenly wakes up vigorously and touches herself flippantly as if to check something.

「I–I, I’m alive… I’m alive…!」

The girl, Magical Girl Succubus, heard her own heart beating, pinched her own cheek, opened and closed her palm as if to check it again and again, opened and closed it, and finally let out a tearful cry of relief.

She remembered going to the dream world of Sylph and being obliterated there by something unknown and fearless, but she had no memory beyond that point. The magic of Succubus to intrude into the dreams of others was precisely the magic of falling asleep and starting to dream the moment she tried to go under the gate, and her dream self interfering in the dreams of others. In other words, simply put, everything Succubus had just seen and heard was only a dream. Just because she died in a dream doesn’t mean she will die in reality. Succubus knew this, too, but the experience was so real that it was hard to believe it was a dream, as if it were magic, and when she was killed, she seriously thought she was going to die.

However, just because it’s only a dream doesn’t mean that it all never happened. Realistically speaking, it is true that Sylph had nightmares that punished her, and above all, what was underneath, in what she would call a deep psychological place.

The monster that nestled in Sylph’s mind was a concern, but the expectation that it would be obliterated again in an instant if she rushed in again without a plan, and above all, the fear instilled in her, made Succubus unwilling to go through that gate again right now.

Since the nightmare had been dispelled for the first time and the magic she had cast could be released, she picked up the Magiphone to consult with her Master and decide on a future course of action, and just in time she received a call from Shadow.

「Hello, is that you, Master? What’s going on at this time of night?」

「What the hell did you do? What did you do to the Witch?」

「Eh…? I thought she wouldn’t be able to escape if she were in a dream, so I entered Sylph-san’s dream and tried to disarm the magic there. I saw some weird stuff after that, so I was just about to report it…」

「Damn, what the hell!? The Witch went on a rampage without a second thought!! A fairy called Pooh-chan quickly transferred it to the Deception World, so there is no damage so far, but if it continues like this, it might be broken through!! What did you see in her dreams!?」

「Wha—!? The dream, or such, I don’t know, but there was a stranger tied up and hung up by four chains. But that chain suddenly broke? And I was killed her dream?」

「Kill—!? Are you alright!?」

「It’s just a dream. In reality, I’m in good shape.」

「I don’t know what that means, but I do know that it’s not helpful! We’ll take care of this one ourselves!! Can’t you do something from within that dream!?」

「If that’s the case, I don’t mind going under again, but I probably won’t be able to do anything and will still get killed. I honestly didn’t see any attacks at all.」

「Then stand by! Oh right, the Magical Girl from the next town over! There must be a Witch in Junkoi Town! Call her!」

「I understand!」

.

A girl with twin-tailed black hair wearing jet-black vestments that seemed to blend in with the midnight darkness raised her staff as she floated in midair, staring into the void with lifeless eyes.

「Tri-Tornado Mixer.」

In an attempt to engulf the three Magical Girls, Blade, Press, and Shadow, who were facing the girl, the tornado turned the obstacles in its path into dust as it chased after each of them.

「What’s going on!? Sylph-san, stop this attack!!」

「That’s what we want to hear～!? Syl-cha—n!! Don’t you recognize us!?」

「Saki seems to know something! I’m not sure if I should call her here, so I’ll just have her standing by for now!」

If they take out the elements such as the attack magic, the shape of the staff she is holding, the design of her costume, etc., they know that that jet-black girl is Tyrant Sylph, but why is the color of her costume and hair changing, and above all, why is she attacking them, who are supposed to be her friends? Even if they wanted to talk to her, Sylph’s attacks were so fierce that they couldn’t get close enough to her, just to escape.

In the first place, Tyrant Sylph didn’t seem to have any purpose or target for her magic. In the middle of the night, a sloth fairy noticed Tyrant Sylph, which suddenly transformed and tried to rampage, forcing Sylph into the Deception World and avoiding any damage to reality for the time being. But Sylph began to go around like Diests, destroying the Deception World without a second thought. The fairies, fearing that if this continues, they will eventually be pierced and eventually leave for reality, have summoned the Magical Girls and asked them to stop Sylph. The Magical Girls gathered there had no idea what was going on or why. Shadow, who was the only one who had heard a little about what was going on from Succubus, had no idea what was going on.

「Come to think of it, Elephant-san wasn’t here!? She’s the one who seems the Witch will listen to, isn’t she!?」

「Elephant is not in this town right now for real life reasons!!」

「The timing got to be so worst!!」

Because they are conversing over the roaring, approaching tornado, they are forced to communicate by shouting loudly, as if they were all yelling at each other, even if they don’t want to.

Elephant’s real-life situation is the school trip she had told Sylph about the other day, and of course both Blade and Press are aware of this. They don’t need Shadow to tell them that Elephant is the most effective person in stopping Sylph, but Elephant is probably in Okinawa right now, dreaming. Even if they contacted her, there was nothing she could do at this distance.

「Sextal Tornado Mixer.」

「Giant Killing!」

「Double Sudden Revolver!」

「No way, no way, no way, I don’t have that firepower, you know!?」

Perhaps annoyed at her inability to finish off the Magical Girls moving around her, Tyrant Sylph doubles the number of her raging tornadoes and pounces on each Magical Girl in an attempt to crush them with a pincer attack.

Blade, perhaps deciding that she could no longer avoid the tornadoes, swung her great sword and cut through both tornadoes at the same time, while Press fired several compressed air cannonballs from both arms to kick out the two tornadoes as well. The two of them had been acting with the idea that it would be enough if they could dampen the Witch’s magic at best, but either by coincidence or because Sylph herself was resisting the use of magic, the two of them had achieved a result that should’ve never happened, although it should’ve been impossible for a mere Magical Girl to offset a Witch’s magic head on. However, Shadow has no magic that can produce firepower comparable to that of a Tornado Mixer. Hiding in the shadows will only get her gouged out by the shadows themselves. She was called “the best at running away,” and she somehow managed to keep running away, but the effect of the disappearance of the four tornadoes was to increase the accuracy of the remaining two tornadoes, and Shadow was finally cornered.

「I’m not going to die!! Shadow Beast!」

Shadow escapes from the tornado just in time by forcibly kicking herself in the air and twisting herself around, using her summon she has created as a foothold. However, in return, her dependents were swallowed up by the tornado, and she was unable to cope with the other tornado that was approaching. There was no time to shout, “Is this it?” There was no time to help, and at that moment, there was only one person who could make it.

「Sorry, I’m late.」

「I–I thought I was going to die… Thank you for saving me, Witch of Expansion.」

「Meteor Shower.」

「Cut One Peach!!」

It was Extended Traveler, a Witch from a neighboring town who had sent a rescue request via Succubus, who dilated time and rescued Shadow with such speed that it appeared to others as if she had moved at super-speed. Two magical girls appear a little late to the appearance of Extend, each kicking out one tornado, and there is a brief moment of silence.

「What does this mean, Wind Witch-dono? No… that’s Wind Witch-dono, isn’t she…?」

「Is this her post-opening appearance? It looks like only her hair color and costume color have changed then…」

「No, Sylph-chan, that white vestment was supposed to be her appearance as a Witch in the first place. Right, Sylph-chan?」

「Sextal Tornado Mixer, Union.」

Just as she did with Blade and the others, Sylph once again unleashed her magic on her friends who had trained with her in the past. And this time, the tornado was made into one huge bundle so that it would not be intercepted. Blade and Press, who were a short distance away, were able to avoid the tornado with a little time to spare, but Extend and the other four who were clustered in the direction of the tornado wouldn’t be able to avoid the tornado in time.

「Ex :『Time』!」

Using time dilation magic again, Extend carries Peach, Knuckle, and Shadow to avoid the tornado at a tremendous speed. But the more people she carry, the more weight she carry, and the more weight slows her down. To compensate for the slowed legs, the extension must be widened further, and the magic power of Extend is being consumed at an alarming rate.

「We can’t keep going like this! Do you have any ideas!?」

Extend shouts loud enough for everyone to hear with an unusually spare and impatient look that she doesn’t usually show. She understands that if her magic power runs out, the four of them will all go to the other side together, and that time is not far away.

Extend regrets her helplessness inwardly, thinking that she had come dressed up as a helper, only to find herself in this mess. If this battle was one on one, and if it was okay to kill Sylph, then she had a chance to win. However, it was difficult even for the tenth-ranked Extend Traveler to protect multiple people and disable her without taking her life.

「…We have to do it. Press, this will keep me from going back for a while. You’ll take care of the rest.」

「Huh? Eh, what? What deal was that? What are you doing?」

「Hold me! Arms Magic :『Excalibur』!」

「H–Haah!? Eh, what, what is that!? Ehh!? I’ve never used a sword or anything like that before!?」

It is different from Field Magic, and is another depth to which a Magical Girl who controls a weapon can go. That is Weaponized Magic. It’s a magic that transforms itself into a holy or magical weapon that contains all the magic it controls, and temporarily transfers its own magic and magical power to the person who possesses the weapon. If that is all, it’s not much different from having two Magical Girls after all. The reason why this magic is called profound is that it can use pseudo-coordinated magic, ignoring any affinity or training.

It’s a mere imitation, far from being the original Union magic, but it is still much more powerful than the magic of each of them individually.

『I’m not asking you to swing the sword as a vanguard. You know how to use me.』

「Wow, I didn’t know about this one.」

『…? What are you…』

「This is nice—! Even I can compete with Syl-chan!☆」

『That’s your imagination, I guess…』

The golden great sword held by Press floated before her eyes as if it had chosen its own user, and at the same time as she gripped its hilt, Blade’s voice echoed directly into Press’s brain, and the use of this sword flowed into her.

「Let’s go Blade!」

『Yeah, I won’t be afraid, Press!』

「『Imitation Chorus Magic : Pres-calibur!』」

The sword-shaped pressure, amplified many times over by the power of the holy sword, pierced the side of the Giant Wind Dragon that was chasing Extend and severed its body. The upper part of the wind dragon, which had been cut into two pieces, was dissolved into the air as if in agony, while the lower part, perhaps having lost control, dissipated into a raging wind.

「Isn’t that great, you two! Let’s continue! Don’t let her use magic! Ex :『Cannon』!」

「We can’t get away unscathed! We’ll have to be prepared for a few scratches! Beast Friends :『Bird』!

Doping Dumpling!」

「Sylph-chan, can you tell us what’s going on later?

Meteor Squall!!」

Following the full-throttle blows from Blade and Press, Extend and Knuckle create a magical barrage that greatly restricts Sylph’s range of action. There, Samurai Peach, flying through the air carried by an enhanced magical pheasant, boldly slashes at Sylph.

「Wind Armor.」

「That’s sweet! Peach Slash!」

The wind armor even prevented a blow from Simeracles, but that was largely due to the fact that she was caught by surprise. If she knew from the start that she was protected by thick wind armor, it would’ve been no problem to cut through it, and a sword with a peach-colored light approached her. Sylph catches it with her great cane, daring to extend the range of her wind armor to obstruct the pheasant’s flight, and flies high into the sky to escape from the Magical Girls through the gaps in the barrage.

The ability to fly, and to control airspace, is so important on the battlefield that it can easily overturn a slight difference in numbers. Once she escape far into the sky, there is little that Magical Girls without their powers can do. Samurai Peach is the only one of these with magic analogous to the ability to fly, but Sylph’s magic of manipulating the wind was too much of an advantage against the creatures that beat and fly through the sky.

Then, from so far away that Sylph’s chanting was completely inaudible, the huge wind dragon loomed once again.

「Oh no!」

「Press, can you still shoot what you just shot!?」

「I’m already out of magic power～! I can’t do it～!」

「I guess we’ll just have to try our best to intercept them.」

「We’re going to attack them head-on?　That’s absurd!?」

Each of them began chanting magic as they spread out to strike back at the monster that embodied despair, but the Magical Girl had finished her chanting before they could.

「Open The Gate Of Dream.」

Immediately afterward, a gate so huge that it was comparable to the wind dragons of Sylph appeared, and opened with such force that it seemed as if it had been opened forcefully from the inside, and a wind dragon no less powerful than that of Sylph flew out.

The two wind dragons collided in mid-air, thoroughly destroying each other’s bodies, and then vanished in a mutual attack. Then, as if waiting for them, they appeared from the other side of the gate.

「Here you are, my Princess. I, Tyrant Sylph the Wind Witch, will protect you, no matter what your enemies may be!」

「I don’t care about myself! More importantly, please stop Sylph-san!」

「Yes, Your Highness. I will do everything in my power to make your wish come true… I’ll go, poor original. You, who have never known true love, let rest in peace.」

The figure of the young person is similar to that of Tyrant Sylph. She wears white vestments with yellow-green lines, and her hair is emerald green. She holds a staff larger than her own height, and her eyes shine like jewels.

The fake looks much more real than Tyrant Sylph, whose hair and costume are now completely black.

All the Magical Girls present instantly understood that, uhh, at least this one was a fake.

They are too different from each other. Tyrant Sylph doesn’t say things like “my princess” even if she is dealing with Elephant. What is a princess anyway? Is she a knight? Or is she a prince? Everyone was united in their belief that no character, even a hero from a girl’s comic book, could be that coy nowadays.

It’s hard to tell, hidden by the darkness of the night, but if they look closely, even the girl who should have invoked it, the Magical Girl Succubus who was supposed to have been ordered to stand by her master, has a shy blush on her cheeks.

However, contrary to her jokey inner self, her abilities were almost as strong as those of the jet-black Sylph. It has almost the same mobility and flying ability as the Sylph and manipulates the same magic as the Sylph. Looking closely, they can see that the White Sylph is slightly more aggressive than the Black Sylph, not exactly the same, but slightly inferior, but the White Sylph covers it with her spirit. In order to protect her precious princess.

「Hey, Saki. What the hell is that?」

「It’s a one-time-only special.」

「I kind of understand that, though, and I don’t mean that in that way.」

「I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t kno—w!! It’s good that she’s getting by!! Anyway, Pooh-chan! I know you’re in there!! Please explain what is happening!!」

Those are the dreams and hopes of Succubus. Succubus admired the cool and plain Freeze Lazuli character over Sylph, but her unconscious desire was that only such a person would treat her specially and treat her like a princess. It was a mass of dreams. So it emerged from the dream world. As it took shape, Succubus was forced to confront such an embarrassing wish of her own. It was even more painful to see that it was actually quite misinterpreted.

It’s nothing but torture to have to explain it to others, even if she’s the one who is confronted with it. Succubus spoke to the fairy, who was probably hiding somewhere to change the subject.

「Nuh～ What a hassle, nuh～」

「You know what’s going on with Sylph-chan, since you’re a fairy! Describe this!」

「I don’t really know the details, nuh～ But it was caused by some kind of mental contamination, nuh～ It’s not the same as the one Saki put on her, nuh～」

As a being who supports Magical Girls, he couldn’t refuse to speak if he was told so, and the sloth fairy Pooh-chan began to speak, being careful not to divulge the Sylph’s important secret, as much as he knew it was too much trouble.