Chapter 20 : Contention (5) Part-1

Everything’s making me sick.

The school, full of rotten brats, was like that, and the company that always pushed combatants into action even though they knew they’d lose was the same.

I hated the magical girl who always popped up to sabotage things when it looked like something might actually go well.

But, the one thing I hated most was myself.

Even though I was doing something shameful, I kept rationalizing it, and I hated that I couldn’t even quit my job.

I just wanted to throw it all away.

I wanted to quit everything and run far away.

But I didn’t even know how to do that.

The company I worked for was a galaxy-sized conglomerate, and they had my weaknesses under their control.

And those weaknesses?

They were exposed by none other than myself.

“What—”

“Iris, get out of the way! It’s dangerous!”

Rose shouted when she saw Iris being charged.

Iris quickly aimed her gun and pulled the trigger.

I felt pain.

But it was bearable.

Actually, that might not be the most accurate description.

It was more like I was being hit in a dream.

There was pain where it should have been, but it didn’t feel like pain.

It was a vague, fuzzy feeling.

I couldn’t even feel the pain because I was so drunk on my thoughts.

What on earth had happened to my brain?

3 percent.

When I shook my hand down, something that had been falling harden immediately.

I tried to form it into a blade, but it didn’t work well.

Forming a blade was like adjusting a gas stove, but now it felt like I had to freeze water dropping off my body in real-time.

Freezing happened on its own, but shaping it was another issue.

In the end, what formed on my arm was just a stiff lump.

“……!”

Seeing that lump swing toward her face, Iris pulled her head back.

The fist narrowly missed her face.

I tried to hit Iris in the stomach with my right hand, but Iris wasn’t going down so easily.

Crack!

She blocked my punch with her rifle.

While firing her laser, small cracks appeared on the surface of the rifle that still maintained its shape.

Iris didn’t seem to notice.

I kicked the rifle up from below with my knee, sending Iris’s hand up into the air.

That makes sense.

Iris wasn’t as skilled in combat as Rose.

Iris seemed to be trying to roll backward or throw her body toward the ground, but the hem of her skirt got caught in my hand.

Pulling Iris’s body toward me while swinging my fist, I punched.

Wham!

The rifle and fist collided again, and the crack in the rifle grew slightly.

A sound of wind cutting through my ear made me pull my fist back from where it had been extended forward.

But it was too late, and my vision shifted to the side.

Did I get hit in the temple?

I thought with a slightly dazed head.

Ah, if this goes wrong, I might lose consciousness.

4 percent.

The helmet was still emitting an incessant warning sound, so loudly it might give me a headache.

What was so dangerous?

The relay had been crackling for a while, so maybe that was the problem.

The company was very sensitive to their assets being damaged.

Just before I was about to fall sideways, I barely managed to adjust my footing and avoid the fall.

Then I swung my fist at the spot where Iris’s fist had been coming at me.

It sounded like something exploded.

Since I swung with my right hand, it wasn’t the unknown object attached to my left wrist that exploded.

Ah, I see.

Rose was probably using the hope circuit.

She must have gathered all that energy and swung it toward me.

The most powerful energy was in my left wrist with the circuit, but my suit had already absorbed so much energy that it was leaking out in several places.

The areas that had been torn apart by the laser earlier were leaking energy.

It looked like it was bleeding.

“A monster…?”

Rose muttered.

Our hands were touching each other.

At the same time, we both swung our fists, and they collided.

The opposing energies clashed, creating some strange reaction.

The hope emanating from Rose’s body was a bright light.

The energy that could be a beacon from a distant place, or so they say in the Galactic Federation.

But that also meant the absolute amount was small.

Although it was strong, hope wasn’t something readily available in the world.

The energy that was slowly creeping up from her body was now rising upward from my body toward the sky as if it were vaporizing.

A streak of light shining from the darkness of my extended fist seemed to represent the magical girl herself.

It was as if I was witnessing the irresponsible and brutal act of entrusting the world’s progress to just five people.

“…What the hell are you?” Rose asked with a dazed look.

Yeah.

I didn’t understand what was going on either.

I clenched my left hand tightly.

Then I swung it toward Iris’s right arm.

Cutting off the light of hope from the side.

“Gah!?”

Even with her tough personality, she screamed like that.

The crack on Iris’s rifle, though small compared to the damage, also appeared on Rose’s gauntlet.

And the black substance I had hardened also shattered.

Bang!

At the same time, my left hand moved in an unexpected direction.

Part of the circuit exploded, causing my stance to destabilize.

Fortunately, Rose had stepped back, holding her right arm, so she couldn’t attack me.

3 percent.

2 percent.

The circuit’s level was slowly dropping.

The warning sound kept drilling into my ears, and even some red letters were appearing in the corner of my vision.

It was all in an alien language, so I couldn’t make sense of it.

Iris aimed her rifle at me.

Her face was serious.

Click.

A longer fuse than usual was loaded into the rifle, and before I could even react, she pulled the trigger.

Bang!

But the one that exploded wasn’t me.

It was Iris.

The crack in the rifle couldn’t withstand the energy.

That rifle couldn’t fully endure Iris’s energy from the start, which is why it used a fuse.

It was only natural that the crack caused it to break.

A white light from the hope circuit spread outward.

It looked almost like wings had sprouted, and it was beautiful.

But Iris didn’t seem happy about it.

Instead, a brief moment of fear flashed across her face.

The rifle exploded to the right, and Iris staggered to the opposite side from the recoil, but she wasn’t seriously hurt.

However, in the blink of an eye, the weapon she had been holding disappeared.

She’d never experienced that before, so it was no wonder she was so flustered.

I didn’t miss the opportunity and rushed toward Iris.

Iris fired her pistol, but again, the thin beam from the gun couldn’t pierce the despairing light emanating from my combat suit.

Could it be that my suit, which had been partially torn, was what kept me from experiencing a full-scale explosion?

At least, it prevented a massive detonation all at once.

As I got closer, Iris tried to strike me with her pistol, but my left hand blocked it.

The fear on her face became more evident.

I could see tears gathering in her eyes.

Her face was twisted in a grimace, and her complexion had gone pale.

Just as I became able to wield hope, the energy available to me seemed to shrink, and Iris, losing hope, her energy was sure to waver as well.

Bam!

I swung my head and slammed my forehead into Iris’s.

There was no time to check her expression.

I let Iris fall to the ground and quickly turned to run.

“Wait, hold on—!”

Rose yelled furiously and reached out her hand toward me.

The direction I was heading was toward the house.

There were two civilians there.

I wasn’t sure if calling them civilians was accurate since they were family members who had supported the Galactic Federation’s research facility and installed matching security systems.

But, from the perspective of a magical girl, that would probably qualify.

However, just before I reached them, I stopped and grabbed the collapsed Jiguppa by the shoulders, lifting her onto my back.

I clenched my fist tightly and swung it forcefully towards Rose, who was coming closer.

Rose, slightly taken aback, raised both arms to shield her face.

But I didn’t actually throw the punch.

Instead, I kept running and grabbed the researcher I had dropped earlier in the fight.

Without a break, I ran forward.

Naturally, the zipline was cut off.

The executives hadn’t come.

There were some hints as to why, but it would probably be better to speak about it once the situation was over.

I ran with all my might, jumping off the rooftop.

“Gah!?”

The researcher screamed.

I hadn’t jumped off; I had run and landed on the opposite rooftop.

It was only possible because of luck.

The circuits were still running wildly.

Although the percentage had dropped back to 0%, it was merely a display of overflow after reaching 100%.

The part that supplied energy to my legs hadn’t been completely destroyed, so I was fortunate.

99%.

It was ridiculous that the percentage suddenly jumped to 99%.

Crack, crack!

As soon as I landed on the rooftop, the circuits seemed to hit their limit and started making those crackling sounds again.

I ran with full force toward the parking lot.

Bam!

I ripped open the door of a parked car.

It wasn’t completely torn off, but the handle flew off.

The repair costs were probably going to be astronomical.

“What, what the!?”