The thick door of the Safehouse was indeed sturdy, but the surrounding walls had started to crack.
The Tie-wearing Gorilla Mutant was still pounding on the door, and the wall had already caved inward, the cement and putty crumbling and falling away in large chunks. It looked like it wouldn’t hold much longer…
“How is this possible? There are steel plates inside this wall!” Fran exclaimed in shock.
“Auntie, please, let’s not talk for now.”
“Huh? You can’t possibly be blaming me for this too?!”
Squire had a bit of awe for Fran’s mouth—her little lips seemed blessed by some mystical force. Every time she promised something, disaster struck in the very next second, as if some mysterious Eastern power was at work…
Once or twice could be chalked up to coincidence, but how many times had this happened already?
“Get to the corner. I’m getting ready to fight!”
Squire said this as the Nyx-tinted Staff in combat mode reverted to a magic wand, and the Surgical Gown was replaced by the Black Western Dress.
Fran was just an ordinary person, but Squire, at least, had some combat power as a Mutant. With nowhere left to run, it was her duty to stand up and face the enemy…
But the Safehouse wasn’t large, and if a fight broke out here, it’d be hard to guarantee Fran’s safety.
Yet Fran spun her White Handgun and stood beside Squire.
“Uncle, I can fight too!”
“Don’t try to act tough. Your ‘bullets’ can’t even pierce that gorilla’s fur.”
Fran just laughed. “So what? There are people whose hands are shaking, but they still pretend to be adults and act like a ‘Hero’ in front of me!”
She was talking about Squire.
Both of Squire’s hands, gripping the Nyx-tinted Staff, were trembling unconsciously.
“I can’t even be a ‘Hero,’ right? After all, I’m just a Squid Mutant!”
Squire forced a bitter smile and glanced at the Nyx Driver on his waist.
“But maybe… right now, I could count as half a ‘Hero’?”
The word “Hero” seemed to carry a strange magic. Just by saying it aloud, his trembling hands calmed down.
He’d become a Mutant in the end…
But even at thirty-five, this “boy” had once dreamed of being a Hero. Even the comics he’d repeatedly submitted—only to be rejected—were all about heroes, trying to make up for regrets in his heart.
Maybe it was the influence of his job—he always drew heroes as rough, villainous types, so the editorial department never approved them…
But now…
Even if it was just this once, even if it was stolen—
Squire had finally gotten a chance to become a Hero.
“That’s right, I’m a Magical Girl now. A Hero can’t run away at the last moment!”
If his weak self couldn’t be a Hero…
Then think!
If this were a manga protagonist, what would they do at a time like this?
To protect a fragile girl… even if she was the cause of all this… that was the Hero’s mission.
With borrowed courage and justice, Squire the Squid Mutant—no…
The Magical Girl stepped forward, standing before Fran.
Just like the ideal Hero.
“Hey, kid, give me a name, would you?”
She glanced back, putting on what she thought was a cool pose.
Fran stared at Squire’s back, lost in thought for a few seconds before asking in return:
“Huh? What name?”
“A Hero name, of course!”
But before Fran could answer, the overburdened wall collapsed with a crash. Amidst the rising dust, the Tie-wearing Gorilla Mutant’s blood-red, furious eyes could still be seen.
“Tch, take this!”
Black, white, and gray magic converged at the tip of the staff’s squid-shaped gem. The jet-black beam shot out before a move name could even be called, blasting the Gorilla Mutant back out the door and pinning him against the hallway wall, leaving him unable to move…
The Gorilla Mutant, already dressed in black, was now completely dyed ink-black, as if his eyes were covered in squid ink.
“ROAR!!”
Yet, the powerful move that could paralyze even Magical Girl Divine Might didn’t do much damage to this mountain gorilla. With a wild swing, he slapped Squire like being hit by a dump truck, sending Squire crashing into the corner like a ragdoll.
“Cough, cough… How tough is this guy…”
Squire coughed up a mouthful of blood. That slap had left her with internal injuries.
No wonder the Security Robot didn’t stand a chance against this gorilla—this was the power of a high-level Mutant.
“Hey! Nyx, got any suggestions?”
[Recommendation: Open up distance. Fully utilize your mobility advantage.]
“This Safehouse is tiny, and he’s blocking the door. Where am I supposed to get any distance?!”
[Extract the opponent’s data. Counterattack with equivalent force.]
Squire froze, then asked:
“Wait, you mean… I can extract data from Mutants too?”
[Affirmative.] Nyx replied.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier! If that’s the case, we didn’t need to run at all!”
If she could gain equivalent power, then compared to the Tie-wearing Gorilla Mutant, who was ruled by wild instinct and brute force, her ability to think would give her the upper hand. After all, raw strength didn’t require much skill.
With that in mind, Squire shouted:
“Give me the Extractor.”
The Nyx-tinted Staff disassembled on its own, scattering into glowing pixels that vanished into the air.
[Weapon generation… D·M Extractor… complete.]
She still looked like a Magical Girl, but her right arm had turned into a syringe without a needle.
Then, under Fran’s astonished gaze, Squire struggled up from the floor and lunged at the Gorilla Mutant, clinging tightly to his wildly swinging arm.
“Your data— I’ll be taking it!”
The syringe pressed against the gorilla’s chest, and the glowing indicator on the side shot upward.
[Data Extraction… Transformed Being… analysis… complete.]
“Load the data!”
[Data Loading… Transformed Being—Gorilla Factor… complete.]
Am I… about to turn into a gorilla?
Squire really didn’t want to turn into a gorilla, but there was no other choice.
However, the muscle bulge she expected didn’t happen.
[Generating Weapon… Squid-Ink Power Gauntlets… complete.]
“Huh?”
Her slender hands were now covered by two massive gauntlets, held in place by coiling tentacles. Although called “gauntlets,” they were more like gloves—she could still flex all ten fingers easily, as if her hands had just been enlarged.
[Extracted data doesn’t have to be used to generate a Combat Form; it can also be made into a Weapon.]
Nyx offered an explanation that satisfied Squire.
“Truly state-of-the-art tech… if only it wouldn’t malfunction so often.”
The Gorilla Mutant had wiped the squid ink from his eyes, his face red with rage—so furious that the color showed even through the remaining ink…
“ROAR!!”
He roared and threw a punch, the blast of air kicking up a storm inside the Safehouse.
“You’re pretty mad, huh?”
Facing this raging force, Squire clenched her fists and charged forward.
“Well, I’m pretty mad too!”
BANG—
She swung her Squid-Ink Power Gauntlets. Though her fists were still smaller than the Gorilla Mutant’s, they didn’t lose out in strength at all.
Squire didn’t retreat a single step. Instead, she punched the Gorilla Mutant right through the wall behind him, sending him crashing into the hospital room across from the Safehouse.
“…So strong!”
The unexpected power surprised even her.
“Don’t let your guard down—he’s not finished yet!”
Fran reminded her from the side, analyzing as well:
“He can’t use his full strength in such a cramped space, so that punch wasn’t all he had. Don’t get careless! In terms of physique and strength, that gorilla still has the upper hand!”
No sooner had she finished speaking than the upper floor of the opposite hospital room collapsed with a crash, burying the Gorilla Mutant just as he was trying to get up.
“…Hey, kid, maybe you should keep bragging about his strength?”