With a sharp and elegant slash, she struck her target.
Sparks flew from the area where the glowing blade had passed.
A faint explosion followed from within moments later.
“Ugh! Ugh!?”
The robot’s chest opened up, centered around the crack, and the Mohawk man, his flaming hair now ablaze, stumbled out, only to be struck by Rose and sprawled across the floor.
Clank.
Iris aimed her gun at the fallen Mohawk man.
“W-wait! I surrender!”
The Mohawk man shouted, raising both hands high.
“Now, of all times?”
Hayoon blinked.
“After firing all those missiles at us as if you intended to wipe us out, you’re saying this now? It’s ironic, isn’t it?”
“No, no, it’s just… Honestly, I had to go that far to neutralize you all.”
“Let’s just knock him out. He might just be stalling for time again.”
Rose stepped forward as she spoke.
The Mohawk man let out a frightened squeal and tried to retreat, but James’s drone moved ahead.
“This is unusual,” James said.
“If they were properly using the resonance device, there would be no need to stall for time like this. Moreover, it’s strange that they haven’t prepared bombs like the ones used last time. Whether or not a higher-up is present, the current chairman would gladly detonate this facility to kill or neutralize the magical girls.”
“That would provoke the Federation…”
“He’s not the type to care about such ‘relationships.’ His priorities are money, first and foremost. He only cares about proving his theories and selling his products.”
“Theories?”
I asked, but James deliberately didn’t answer.
“If their goal was just to fire missiles, there wouldn’t be a need to stall for time. The energy required to operate their equipment wouldn’t demand such excessive power.”
“What… what are you talking about!?”
“It seems even you weren’t fully informed,” James replied, his voice strangely kind, perhaps intentionally so.
“In short, there must be enough bombs here to rival the one that almost destroyed the former chairman’s mansion.”
Ah.
That made some sense now.
If they intended to blow us all away at once, they would need time to overload the bombs with my energy.
And with an executive inside, no one would suspect such bombs were present.
“So, you knew this and still suggested we come here?”
“The risk was very low, in my assessment. Moreover… well, I judged it would still be safe enough. Don’t you recall that I’ve always been monitoring your circuit’s potential?”
With that explanation, I was left speechless.
In other words, we were safe because I couldn’t exert my full power.
My shoulders slumped.
It felt… oddly hollow.
“There’s no need to be too disappointed. Isn’t this a necessary process to achieve what magical girls strive for?”
“Are you really one to talk? After treating my circuit as if it’s so important?”
“With a solid theoretical foundation and your existence, we can continue researching the energy. Besides, the immediate goal is to oust the chairman and reclaim the research assets. You don’t have to push yourself too hard. After all, there are other magical girls around, aren’t there?”
My left wrist trembled slightly.
Noticing this, James let out a small scoff.
I stood in silence for a while.
Hayoon, who had been in relatively good spirits recently, must have sensed my mood and refrained from saying anything further.
The atmosphere grew heavy in an instant.
Is this… because of me?
“…Let’s go.”
I let out a deep sigh as I spoke.
“There’s nothing more to gain here.”
“It’d be nice if we could take that robot with us,” James remarked.
I stared at him.
He knew. He said that knowing full well I didn’t have the strength to move something that large right now.
Though the drone’s expressionless, I could easily imagine James smirking beyond it.
I clenched my teeth.
Was I, as his first research subject, now irrelevant because I wasn’t cooperative enough?
Did my usefulness—or lack thereof—mean nothing to him?
Rumble…
At that moment, the floor beneath us trembled once more.
“Oh?”
“Did you hide something?”
Rose asked the Mohawk man.
“H-hide something? What are you talking about?”
The Mohawk man’s face turned pale as he stammered. In other words, he had no idea.
“James.”
“At least it’s not caused by her circuit, so rest assured.”
James answered my call with his usual politeness.
“It’s fine.”
Hayoon turned to me and said,
“Whatever comes out, we’ll handle it for sure.”
Her confident smile left me momentarily speechless.
What I truly hated was that the trembling in my left hand had stopped.
The highs and lows, the fluctuation with every word—how I despised it.
I couldn’t control it, and that made it even worse.
Meanwhile, Hayoon’s circuit intensified, humming louder.
Bang!
The floor shattered.
Whatever was trying to come out hit the floor repeatedly—bang, bang—until it broke through.
It was a monster.
A monster, but something seemed off.
“No armor?”
“And that appearance…”
A human?
No, was it human? Earthlings don’t typically grow to three meters tall.
Even with an overly muscular build and great height, I’d never seen an alien like this.
Its skin tone, too, was a color found among Earthlings.
Most importantly, Earthlings weren’t supposed to be capable of becoming monsters.
And yet, embedded in its chest was a circuit—completely integrated.
“Hoo.”
James let out an indifferent sound, as if amused.
“I see now why they’ve been able to secure so many monsters.”
No one responded, but I was certain everyone was thinking the same thing as James.
This company knew how to create monsters artificially.
Whether it was the result of their own research or stolen from another company, one thing was clear:
They had the technology to turn Earthlings—who couldn’t use magic on their own—into monsters by embedding circuits.
Creak, creak.
The sound of damaged machinery groaning filled the air.
The robot that had fallen moments ago began to rise slowly again.
The others glanced at me.
“No,” James quickly interjected.
“The operation of those ‘circuits’ has nothing to do with Jeong Jieun in this situation.”
The floor continued to crack, and more monsters emerged.
Each one had a circuit embedded in its chest, all of them whirring fiercely.
“Someone seems to have aimed to commodify Earthlings,” James commented.
“Why do you sound so calm about this?”
“I had already considered the possibility of artificial production. Furthermore, it seems likely this company intended to blow up this lab entirely, burying the evidence and taking the monsters down with it. Those monsters were probably meant to stall you while the facility was destroyed, wiping everything out in one go.”
“If they did that—”
“It would still be profitable for them. There are many planets in the galaxy that haven’t joined the Federation, aren’t there? You once asked me… oh yes, about how many children are born at once. If it’s about ‘raising and growing,’ that’s entirely feasible. Artificial womb technology has existed for over a century in some advanced systems.”
“So, you’re saying…”
“They intend to create humans, ‘monsterize’ them, and sell them—or use them as materials to power circuits.”
The drone turned toward the monsters.
“I couldn’t even guess their ages,” James said.
“The Federation won’t—!”
Hayoon shouted, but James’s drone shook side to side, as if wagging its head.
“As I said, there are plenty of planets not part of the Federation. Even if it doesn’t escalate to war, many would covet such a ‘tremendous energy source.’ If entities opposing the Federation begin to use such resources to consolidate power, well… the Federation may be forced to use them too.”
Like nuclear weapons.
“More importantly, I wonder what makes you so certain the Federation hasn’t already considered such ideas. Even advanced nations on Earth have conducted experiments involving humans. If the subjects aren’t their own citizens—or if they don’t even consider them sentient beings—then what’s to stop them?”
If you’d truly possessed ‘your former strength,’ we’d already be crushed beneath the rubble of this massive structure.
Don’t you agree?”
James’s words left me unable to respond.