Magical Girl with Demonic Time Magic-Chapter 100: Scorpion, Snake, and Fox

I look around, the room the black hero brought me to is strange and suspicious, it’s simple, but simple in a strange way.

The black hero sits in a chair, throwing his sword to the floor without caring much about it while gesturing with his hand for me to sit in another chair.

’This sword...still as bizarre as ever’ The sword seems to pulse with a life of its own, made of his flesh, it’s a truly bizarre weapon.

’Not that I can talk much’ I use my own obsession to form the bullet [Aya] so I also use my body as a weapon.

"You seem interested in my sword, it’s a beautiful weapon, don’t you think?" He speaks with a tone that’s too conceited.

"It’s ugly, just like you"

"Your honesty is painful, I’d prefer if you didn’t call my beautiful appearance ’ugly’, I’m much better than several monsters, you know?" He speaks, referring to his humanoid body.

"A monster is still a monster regardless of appearance" I speak to him without interest in this stupid conversation while moving my chair a little further away from him.

"Hahahaha you’re right...but I believe that also applies to you, don’t you agree?" He moves his hand in a flamboyant way from top to bottom, indicating my entire body.

"..."

"You don’t have the semblance of a hero, you have a cold semblance of someone who sees the world through a nihilistic lens, even though you’re a beautiful girl on the outside, what are you really like on the inside?"

’Why the hell do they all want to talk about what I’m like on the inside?’ What I’m like on the inside is none of their business.

"On the inside, I’m a pile of organs, bones, blood, and flesh, are you satisfied?" I speak in a mocking tone.

"That’s a stab to my self-esteem, your answers are quite sharp"

"Could you stop beating around the bush, my time is too precious to waste on futile conversations with a monster" I’m prepared to kill myself and go back in time in case of an emergency.

"Okay, okay, Miss Nihilist, I said I’d tell you why monsters exist, right? Well, I’m going to..." He speaks, but this seems more like a way to buy time, not that he needs time for a fight, so I wonder what he wants to gain time for.

"First, let’s start with the basics, where did monsters come from? To begin, I’ll ask a simple question, why do you think monsters resemble the appearance of humans, but in a distorted way?" He questions, his various eyes focused on my face.

’Why...’ If you think about it, a large part of the monsters try to pretend to be humanoid, or are actually humanoid beings, which is slightly strange, like why do they all seem human in some ways.

"I don’t know" There are infinite options, a single question doesn’t allow me to find the answer, after all, if it did, I’d already know the answer.

"Second question, why do monsters commit crimes, are greedy, and seek personal gains like money?" He asks another question, tilting his head to the side as I try to put the two questions together.

’Obviously one is connected to the other...’ This reduces some of the options, but there are still many to just say something.

"I have no idea" I lie, I have some deductions, but without real basis for them, so they’re just inconclusive suppositions.

"I see, you’re the type who doesn’t speak unless you’re absolutely certain you’re right, that’s good, but again it reinforces your nihilistic view of life, so dear nihilistic heroine"

"Third and final question, why do monsters live among humans?" When he asks this third question, I think of the craziest but most plausible option for the answer.

"Because the monsters come from the humans themselves?"

"Bingo, nihilistic heroine, in addition to being beautiful, you’re also intelligent, the complete package, I see, talented, beautiful, intelligent, aside from your nihilism, you’re really a great girl" He speaks with mockery.

"Monsters arise from the very humans themselves, but not specifically from any human, but from the criminals, the greedy, the murderers"

"In short, monsters arise from the very evil of humanity as a mirror, we are the side that humanity deeply hides within itself"

"That’s why we’ll never disappear, because humans continue to do evil, even allying themselves with monsters"

"We don’t commit crimes because we’re evil, and we don’t hide because we like to live like rats, we do it because our instincts and reason for existing are those"

"Just as humanity hides its wickedness, the monsters, as a reflection, hide, but human corruption is always visible wherever you look, and so the monsters are always among the humans themselves"

’So...’ I make a surprised face, while the black hero makes an expression with his eyes that seems pleased.

"I see you’ve noticed, the greater the human evil, the more monsters arise, the number of monsters recently must have increased a lot, right? Just as I bet the crime rate has increased by about 650% just this year" He speaks with disdain.

’So that’s it...that’s why the work of killing them is useless, it’s impossible to eliminate the source of the problem when the source is the humans themselves’ This makes me have a brief dangerous thought that I quickly eliminate from my head.

"Was it magic that started this?" I question, in human history this didn’t happen before.

"You’re right, probably, even the monsters don’t know for sure, but we know that our existence is ’recent’ in this world"

"Before the countries went to war in the past, before the nations gained new names because they were stupidly destroyed in battles"

"What humans learn in school is that there was a war and several countries ended up, but before that, monsters didn’t exist, so we arose during or after that war"

"Did you like the information? Your incredible Black Hero has now lit the lamp of ideas for you, hasn’t he?" He speaks in an amused tone, getting up from the chair.

’During or after the war...’ I think of a possibility, demons, they may be what did this.

Past military research may have discovered the existence of demons and angels, tried to get a supreme weapon for the war, and ended up only getting these things from now on.

’This explains the abnormal end of the war, monsters probably arose during the war itself, forcing it to stop because it was a bigger problem...this also means that...I may not be the only one with a demonic contract’ This may complicate things.

"Okay, nameless girl, I now need to go, but before that...I thought of a good game for us to play" He speaks with interest, picking up his sword from the floor.

"I don’t want to, I’m leaving" I get up to leave, but he points his sword at me.

"..."

"I didn’t say you had a choice, I said we’d play a game" He speaks seriously, his oppressive aura giving a clear warning, play now or die here.

"As you wish..." I end up giving in, he’s too fast for me to win in a fight where he wants to kill me for sure.

"Great, the game is simple, it’s based on a children’s story"

"Two animals, a snake and a scorpion, decided to deceive a colony of ants, but the snake was going to betray the scorpion and likewise the scorpion was going to betray the snake"

"But a benevolent fox intervened, giving the two an option, they would fight to the death in a fair fight"

"If the Snake won, the love of his life would be safe, but if the Scorpion won, the fox would kill all the ants" He speaks, but I understand perfectly what he means.

I am the Scorpion and Mizuhane is the snake, and the monsters and criminals are the ants, if Mizuhane doesn’t fight me, he’ll kill Mizuhane’s girlfriend, and if I win, he’ll kill all the monsters in this place.

A sickly game that will force us to fight, aiming at things that appear to have an interest in.

"Ah, and that magical girl out there, she won’t be killed, ’Mizuhane’ even kept her out to keep her safe, I’ll respect that, in either case, the little rabbit who didn’t get involved won’t be a target of the fox"

’Calling Ayane a little rabbit, this monster really has lost all sense of danger’

"Foxes are treacherous, how will I know the fox won’t cowardly kill the scorpion after the victory?" I question.

"Hmm, you’re quite convinced of your victories, by the way, good question, but the fox likes the fun, killing the scorpion after he wins would be boring"

"...Then the Scorpion will make the Fox regret this mercy, one day the scorpion will poison the fox and watch it agonize until death" I threaten him, he seems to find it amusing.

"Hahahaha you’re really fun, well, let’s start with this, after all, as you said, your time is limited" He speaks as the room expands, the walls receding to form an arena.

’There are a lot of iron objects...’ The arena has many iron bars, iron blocks, and iron structures to hide behind, Mizuhane has magic involving controlling this type of material, and I soon see Mizuhane entering the door, her head lowered.

"S-Sorry Setsuna...h-he got my girlfriend..." Mizuhane speaks, looking at me with cold determination.

I’m at a loss when the Black Hero did this of going after her, he’s really too skilled.

’So she chose to betray the magical girls’ At least in this, I understand her, between the magical girls and Ayane, I would choose Ayane without thinking twice.

"You’d better be prepared, Mizuhane, I won’t go easy on you" I speak, taking steps back, the Black Hero is instantly on a chandelier, watching the fight from above.

’He said he’d kill all the ants...he talks so casually about eliminating all the monsters and criminals in this place, what a terrifying monster’ I prepare to kill Mizuhane.

The Black Hero made it clear, if I don’t fight, he’ll kill me, and if I don’t take Mizuhane seriously, she’ll kill me, I don’t feel anything for her, so it’s obvious that my choice is to go all out, even at the cost of her life.

"What a wonderful day, so let the snake and the scorpion begin their sweet fight, and may the most venomous one win" The Black Hero speaks in a loud voice as Mizuhane charges at me.