Chapter 34: The Ever-Positive Angel Is in Charge of the Magical Girl's Mental Care

End of the Battle

Right after Sarah popped out from underground, Cyclamen stood frozen, staring blankly at her.

Whether it was because her plans had fallen apart or because the situation was so unexpected, I couldn’t say.

But the reason didn’t matter.

What mattered was that the tide had turned in our favor.

"Let’s go!"

The first to recover and spring into action was Seo-ah unnie, who had the most combat experience.

Her voice snapped me out of my own daze, and I nodded firmly.

"I’ll support you!!"

She smiled and nodded in return, then shot toward Cyclamen.

Whoosh—!!

Unlike my clumsy attacks, Seo-ah unnie’s strike sliced through the air with the deadly precision of a fired arrow.

So swift and sharp that it made no sound except for the blade slicing the wind.

"[Tch…!]"

Because of that, Cyclamen noticed the surprise attack only a beat too late.

She hastily threw up a barrier, but unnie had already closed the distance to point-blank.

Clang!

"[Any slower, and my head would have been split open...]"

"Tch... Tough one, aren’t you."

Clack... crack, clatter—

Unnie's greatsword pierced through the barrier, but only managed to take one of Cyclamen’s eyes.

"[To break through a conceptual barrier with brute force… No wonder they call you the strongest.]"

Cyclamen’s barriers weren’t just shields, they were rooted in the concept of rejecting harm itself.

To break them, you had to strike with an attack forged from the same type of magic.

Now it was my turn.

I fired a magic blast, but Cyclamen created another barrier to deflect it.

The shot shaved a piece of it away, but ultimately flew upward without hitting her directly.

"I’ll wear down the barrier!"

"I’m counting on you!"

I nodded and ran to her opposite side, launching more blasts.

I had no experience fighting in sync with anyone, so I could only aim at Cyclamen’s blind spot.

‘If I can just split her focus even a little… that’s enough!’

Right now, all I can do is force Cyclamen to waste as much magic power as possible.

"[Teamwork is cute, but your trajectories are too simple!]"

Cyclamen sneered as she redirected one of my magic blasts toward unnie.

"U-unnie!"

"Hup!"

To my surprise, unnie casually swatted the blast away with one hand.

‘Wait… I fired that at full power…?’

"Don’t worry about me, keep going!"

"R-right!"

Straight shots can hit allies…

Then maybe I should aim deliberately wide to scatter her focus!

I fired in a wide arc, trying to strike from behind.

But the trajectory was harder to control.

As a result, the shot moved too fast and veered off, slicing through the air and missing Cyclamen entirely.

"[Ha! Was that your brilliant idea? Pathetic.]"

"Then why not pay attention over here too?!"

"[Tch… You keep getting in the way…!]"

It's hard to control magic blasts after they're fired...

"Then I’ll shrink the output, scatter fire instead…!"

I mimicked Cyclamen’s own earlier strategy, pelting the surrounding area with rapid-fire magic bullets.

Tiny blasts rained down like a storm, hammering at her barrier.

‘The magic power consumption is too high…!’

The number of hits has definitely increased, but the reduced firepower barely scratched Cyclamen's barrier.

"[Don’t waste your magic power on useless things! Did you think I’d just take it all if you pour it out randomly!?]"

Cyclamen never missed a chance to strike back whenever I left an opening, even while fending off unnie’s relentless attacks.

"Ugh…!"

Still not enough.

I stared at Cyclamen and pictured a javelin missile.

‘Lock on target… switch, fire!’

As I scattered magic bullets in all directions, they suddenly curved in unison, homing in on Cyclamen all at once.

There was still so much I could fix, improve, refine.

Sharper, faster, more efficient.

I poured everything into this assault.

Not just magic bullets, but full-powered blasts, wave after wave.

But I wasn’t blinded by it.

— Improvising is good, but you should’ve thought about the consequences.

As Cyclamen said, I couldn’t afford to be reckless.

So, while I was firing magic bullets and magic blasts like crazy, I grabbed my staff and charged at her.

"Haaaah!!"

"[How many times must I tell you? Don't scream when you're doing a surprise attack!]"

But that wasn’t my goal.

The surprise attack was just a decoy.

Ting—...!

My real goal was to overcharge the unstable magic battery with every last drop of my magical power from the magic bullets and magic blasts surrounding us…

And then detonate it, right in front of Cyclamen.

"[What—!?]"

"Unnie! Fall back!!"

"What are you—Okay! Got it!"

As she retreated, I pulled the trigger.

As soon as the overloaded battery exploded, it resonated with the battery Cyclamen carried, amplifying the explosion tenfold.

―――!!

The moment a huge magic explosion occurred, a fleeting moment stretched out like eternity.

At that moment, my transformation began to unravel from the fingertips due to the more powerful than imagined explosion—

And from the unraveling fingers, it began to crack like a crumbling statue.

Cyclamen's face was dyed with shock when she saw that.

‘Why... why are you making that face?’

Before I could swallow the words I couldn't bring myself to say, a tremendous shockwave pushed me away.

The stretched-out time snapped back into motion, and a terrible pain that felt like my whole body was breaking washed over me.

"Ughh…!!"

It hurts…. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts…!

It hurts so bad I thought I might die.

It hurts so, so much…!

"Kuh-aaAAHH…!"

But even now... I have to endure it…!

Just a little longer, just a little more!

Grinding my teeth, I forced myself to my feet and looked ahead.

"[….]"

Cyclamen was suppressing the explosion on her own.

The barrier she created was flickering wildly as if it would break at any moment.

So the magic battery hadn’t exploded yet…

‘Wait… could it be that she pushed me away just now…?’

"Cyclamen…?"

Crack—!

In the end, the moment Cyclamen, who couldn't hold on any longer, broke the barrier and light began to leak out…

She turned to face me.

"Ah…"

"…Hehe."

Cyclamen didn't say anything and just smiled gently.

Not the cold, lifeless smirk she always wore—

But the soft, kind smile she used to give me long ago.

"Cyclamen!!"

Boom――!!!

My scream was swallowed by the thunderous blast.

A pillar of pure white light pierced through the sky.

***

The fight against Cyclamen ended in victory for Han Soyu and Yoo Seo-ah.

Although calling it a victory felt hollow, since what was lost outweighed what was gained, a win was a win nonetheless.

From reporting the destruction to assessing casualties and handling post-incident logistics, there was a mountain of things to do.

But Yoo Seo-ah, being the near-10-year veteran magical girl that she was, handled everything so efficiently that I didn’t even have a chance to help before it was all done.

Thanks to her taking care of the aftermath, I was able to focus on treating Han Soyu and getting her safely to the hospital.

How did I heal her?

Easy. That’s my ability!

[Angel Hands Are Healing Hands: Heals the wounds of magical girls! (Emotional wounds can’t be healed just by touching their chest!)]

At least my healing ability works without any weird side effects…

I was worried because all the other abilities besides this one were full of flaws.

Which is why I insisted we go to the hospital, just in case.

"I… I don’t think I really need to go to the hospital. I’m f-fine…"

"You never know! There could be injuries I missed!"

"I’m really okay…"

"Pretty please? Just a quick checkup to make sure there aren’t any injuries and come back. For me? Please?"

"…Alright."

Han Soyu was clearly reluctant to go, but with enough persuasion, she finally nodded.

Her injuries had been severe. Her hands were cracked and split open, like they’d been torn apart.

But thankfully, the doctors found no serious complications.

“Thank goodness…”

If magical girls ever get hurt again, I can just use this ability to heal them.

That thought lingered in my mind as I left the hospital with Han Soyu.

As soon as we stepped outside, Yoo Seo-ah, who had already wrapped up everything in that short time, greeted us.

“Seo-ah! You’re already done?”

“Yeah, I’ve done this enough times to get through it quickly. Besides, all the damaged buildings belonged to Soyu, and thankfully, there were no casualties.”

“…Wait, hold on. All of the buildings around that area?”

“Yep. You didn’t know?”

I looked back at Han Soyou with a face that said, "Is that true?" and she subtly avoided my gaze.

“W-Well… People would obviously hate it if such an eyesore was built nearby… So I just b-bought up everything in the surrounding area, that's all…”

So Yoo Seo-ah is the strongest in force, and Han Soyu is the strongest in wealth.

No, more than that, did she know that the buildings she made look like eyesores?

“Haah… Then, Cyclamen has been defeated, the cleanup’s all done… Does that mean all the big problems are finally over?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Was there something else?”

I glanced at Han Soyu. She shook her head.

“I can take care of the rest myself…”

“Then that’s that! Thanks so much for your help, Seo-ah!”

“Don’t mention it. Honestly, if Sarah hadn’t called me, things could’ve gone a lot worse. I should be the one thanking you.”

Yoo Seo-ah smiled and patted my head affectionately.

My wings fluttered instinctively at the odd sensation, but I held still and smiled back as best I could.

“Alright then, I’ll head back to my city now. Please take good care of Soyu for me, Sarah.”

“You can count on me!”

With that, Seo-ah entrusted Soyu to me and flew off.

Now it was just the two of us, Han Soyu and me.

Wondering what we should do first, I turned to her…

Only to find her nodding off while standing, now that all the tension had finally drained away.

“Soyu?”

“Huh? Ah, uh…? Was I… falling asleep?”

“Yes, you were nodding off pretty hard. Want to find somewhere to rest?”

“Yeah… I’m so sleepy… I have a house I used to live in nearby, let’s go there…”

I gave her a nod and started walking with Han Soyu, toward the place she used to call home.

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