Magical Girl with Demonic Time Magic-Chapter 102: End of the Fight

My fight against Mizuhane has been going on for a while, as I try to keep her more contained. She’s acting as expected with her attacks while I prepare my strike.

So far, I haven’t landed a single attack, and she’s landed a bunch of her attacks, but I’ve learned everything I needed to perfectly.

"Mizuhane, doesn’t she think it’s time to end this?" I speak to her, it’s the perfect moment, I’ve been injured too much to keep dragging this fight on for too long.

"If you weren’t cowardly fleeing, we would have already ended this," She speaks in a stressed tone, she probably thought this fight would be easier to finish.

"I’m sorry my way of fighting bothers you," I speak coldly, as I fly away from her looking for a good angle, soon I start firing with the pistol.

"Why do you keep shooting? Can’t you see it’s useless!! You’ll never kill me with those weak attacks, just give up," She speaks with an irritated voice, but I ignore her and keep shooting while she loses visibility from defending.

’The room is getting too hot’ I realized this a while ago, the temperature in the room seems to be slowly increasing, to the point where I’m now sweating beyond the blood that stains my wings.

She’s probably planning to defeat me by exhaustion, I’m a troublesome enemy to deal with due to the flight.

I make my sniper appear while aiming perfectly with one hand, soon dropping the pistol to aim with both.

Clanck

The last sound of the shot on the metal occurs as I aim perfectly where I know an opening will be, I see the metal opening as she abandons the defense to attack.

"..." I take the shot the moment the giant metal hands opened the space enough to hit her, everything seems to stop as a shot the thickness of a glass is fired.

The pulsing black magic as it travels faster than I can keep up, the shot passes through the opening of the arms and reaches the automatic defense that begins to close.

But as predicted, a hole exactly in the center remains open, my shot passes perfectly through the location before the metal closes while the shot hits the center of Mizuhane’s chest.

Due to the thickness, speed and force of the shot, a large hole is immediately opened as I hear a loud sound of metal being pierced by the weapon’s bullet.

Soon the metal arms crumble to the ground as I land on the ground feeling pain in my wings, they have received a lot of damage from the iron needles.

"..." I see the metal crumbling as I look at Mizuhane kneeling on the ground supported by her hands to avoid falling, a lot of blood is falling from her chest while she looks at me with tears.

"..." She tries to get up and I see the damage, a huge hole in the middle of her chest, the shot caused so much damage that part of the side of the heart, bone and lungs were affected, it’s impossible for her to survive these injuries.

"Cough" She coughs up blood, blood mixed with a black liquid, my guarantee that she will die as I take cautious steps closer.

She looks at me with tears as blood runs from her mouth, she seems to be trying to say something, but can’t, she seems sad.

But...I can’t feel anything, I understand her, I know why she has that sad look, she failed to protect the person she loved, I understand that feeling well, but even though I understand, I don’t feel anything for her.

It’s just strange, it makes me question, should I feel something? Should I be sad that she failed at something I also have "fear" of failing? Or does this really not matter now?

Clap Clap Clap

I hear clapping as the Black Hero appears next to the Mizuhane who can barely breathe, she seems to be choking on her own blood.

"Congratulations, nameless girl, or rather, Setsuna, I’m sure she called you that name," The Black Hero speaks mockingly.

"I won," I say to him.

"Yes, the scorpion turned out to be more venomous than the snake, and what a potent venom, while the snake gave hundreds or thousands of stings to the scorpion, the scorpion only needed a single attack."

"The scorpion is truly a frightening being," He speaks with a mocking tone that is really unpleasant.

"Since I won, the fox needs to kill all the ants," I say to him, who just nods.

"That’s right, so take advantage of your new chance, Setsuna, this is the second time we’ve met, on the third you may not be so lucky, see you around, magic girl," He says, disappearing as I’m left alone in this room.

Just me and the dying Mizuhane, we are magical girls, which makes our deaths slow and consequently more painful.

"..." Mizuhane is in a lamentable state, my shots are not something easy to survive, especially the shots from my strongest weapon.

"S-Sorry...to betray the team, I-I’m so sorry..." She speaks with a crying and hoarse voice.

"Do you really feel sorry about that?" I question with doubt, she nods her head as her arms give way and she falls to the ground bleeding a lot, her blood forming a small path through the metal remains on the floor.

’...Why does this traitor feel sad about her own betrayal?’ I don’t understand this, she made her choice for the person she loved, so why is she now sad for me?

"Ah...yes...of course, it seems even filthy traitors like you have empathy..." I look at her body that slowly stops moving.

"So why don’t I have that?" I’m now confused, why does a traitor like her have empathy, but I can’t feel it.

I know what empathy is, I understand the concept perfectly, I just can’t feel it like others can.

"Haaa..." I’m not satisfied, but I feel stronger, she’s the second person I’ve killed, but she was 100% my own choice and had almost nothing to do with Ayane.

"This is unpleasant...unpleasant...so unpleasant..." I feel an unbearable feeling of disgust, as if worms were crawling all over my body.

Even breathing seems bad, it’s not fear, it’s not resentment, it’s not sadness, and it’s certainly not guilt, it’s just the purest feeling of disgust and detachment, as if I were some kind of broken machine.

I feel like something dangerous for me and for Ayane, as if I were something harmful to her, it’s as if my body was burning from the inside, I feel like the world seems slow, very slow.

"S-Should I stay away from Ayane?" I feel that in this state I’m dangerous for her, I feel worse and worse, more and more like something that will harm Ayane just by existing.

I feel like I’m a bomb about to explode completely, in less than 1 year since I went back in time I’m already like this.

"S-Setsuna, what are you doing?" I hear Ayane’s worried voice as she grabs my hand and pulls it hurriedly.

"A-Ayane, what are you doing here?" I ask hesitantly, I didn’t notice when she came in.

"What do you mean? It’s been hours since you two haven’t come back, I heard screams and more screams non-stop and couldn’t stay outside anymore, but coming in here I only found dead monsters, some even disappearing already!" She speaks while still holding my hand.

"M-More importantly, why are you doing this?" She questions as I notice wounds on my hands, my arms are scratched and bleeding, the scratches are relatively serious but nothing that will leave a permanent mark.

"I was...just confused," I say, pulling my hands back and hiding them behind my back so she doesn’t see my ugly side.

"It’s nothing serious, just a small attack of disgust..." I lie, it was more than a small attack of disgust, my skin seemed disgusting and I felt that unpleasant bitter taste in my mouth.

I redo my gloves to cover the wounds and not let her see the mess I made with my arms.

"Anyway, sorry for the delay, Mizuhane..." I look at Mizuhane’s dead body on the floor, the blood shows the time I lost in daydreaming. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

’How long was it? For how long have I been thinking about this?’ It seemed quick, but at the same time slow.

"We need to take you to the base, you seem to have lost a lot of blood..." Ayane speaks while looking for a moment at Mizuhane’s dead body and then at me.

"...Can I...hug you?"

"...?"

"You seem to need a hug," She speaks while I just nod, she quickly hugs me as I stand still.

Her hug seems to purify my confused mind, it’s calm and I feel safe, nothing like that disgusting feeling from before.

’It’s so...liberating...’ It’s like paradise, her floral scent is so pleasant and immediately calms my confused mind, her touch is pleasant and liberating.

Unlike the disgusting feeling before, the one now is pleasant and gentle, as well as soft and fluffy, much better than the touch of anyone else.

"I...don’t know what happened here, but don’t feel guilty, I’m sure you’re not to blame for anything," she speaks while I hug her, her touch immediately comforting my mind.

"Thank you...I...I wasn’t to blame, it was just something out of my control," I speak only this as she nods as if understanding.

"Your touch is so...pleasant..." I speak feeling comfortable.

"I can give you more hugs in the future, I’ll call the base and report what happened, asking for help, but first we need to take care of your wounds...I...won’t touch your arms, okay?" She speaks, knowing I don’t feel comfortable showing my arms.

’The disgust seems worse...’ This is the first time I’ve mutilated my own arms because of the disgust, I did it unconsciously, tearing the coat and gloves of the uniform, I think I also broke two or three nails.

It didn’t hurt when I did it, I didn’t even notice it while I was lost in daydreaming, I know these wounds will heal, but the problem is knowing that I’m losing control more and more every day.

’...Hexael and Ayane...’ Both are opposing weights, Hexael always shows the worst in me, and Ayane always shows the best in me, both are necessary for my life, but both don’t coexist well in my mind.

"...Thank you for the help," I murmur to her as I think about what elaborate chain of lies I’ll have to tell to explain what happened here.