Magical Girl with Demonic Time Magic-Chapter 116: Truths

"..." I wake up feeling a hellish pain in my head. I’m lying in a puddle of blood and some black fluid on the floor. I try to get up, but my head feels like it’s going to split open.

I’m seeing things that never happened, memories of someone who isn’t me, plans I never made, but which happened at some point, and it all makes my head throb and hurt as if it’s about to explode.

"H-Hexael... y-you disgusting worm." I look around and see Hexael standing there, perfectly still.

"7 days, 5 hours, 34 minutes, and 37 seconds spent sleeping. I see it took you a while." He speaks, swishing his tail. I put a hand to one of my eyes, which is hurting terribly, and feel blood trickling down from it onto my hand.

"..."

"These memories you received are from Setsuna. The real one. Not you, who’s just a much weaker reincarnation of her. But it’s fine that you aren’t her, because you will become her." He says this as I try to make my weapon appear.

I aim the pistol and fire, but the wave of magic is abnormally large and violent. A single shot from the pistol disintegrates the wall of my house and the buildings ahead.

"The real Setsuna was far stronger. Stronger than any Magical Girl, stronger than any demon or angel... She was Number 0... A single, simple attack from her could vaporize this planet. Seeing you only destroy a few buildings is disappointing." He says this as my wings unfurl.

I see they’ve changed. Now my wings are completely black, with a membrane like a bat’s.

"Stop talking about me like that. Don’t treat me as if I’m someone’s replacement," I say, breathing heavily.

"But that is what you are, Setsuna. You are merely a substitute for Number 0... You were never anything more than that. You know, it was truly strange when I found you and saw that you were a man."

"Number 0 was a girl, so seeing she had reincarnated into the opposite gender was amusing. That’s why, Setsuna, I changed you back to your original gender. You were supposed to be a girl. It was her request to give you your original appearance."

"I’ll kill you..." I say, pointing my weapon at him, but it soon falls from my trembling hand, clattering with a wet sound as it hits the blood.

"You certainly have that capacity, but not now, when you’re wounded and don’t even know how to regulate the power you’ve received. Shouldn’t you be grateful? I helped you gain the power to save your beloved Ayane." He speaks as if I should be thankful.

I force myself up, hurting my body, and run at him. I throw a punch that he dodges by leaping back; the punch plows through the floor, cracking the entire foundation of the house.

"I WILL NEVER BE GRATEFUL! YOU WANT ME TO KILL AYANE!" I shout with a hoarse voice as I try to strike him again.

"Ah, yes. You do need to kill Ayane. After all, we need to increase how close you are to the real Setsuna."

"IT’S YOUR FAULT AYANE SUFFERED!!" I scream in rage. One of my memories reveals the reason monsters exist on Earth; it’s all Hexael’s fault.

"...So you have that memory, huh?... I assume you’re referring to the monsters? Yes, it was my fault they appeared on Earth, if that’s what you’re thinking. Or rather, it was Number 0 who did it."

"I just added my special touch and told her it would be a good idea to force her reincarnation to awaken magic, since without a clear objective, you would have trouble awakening it." He admits to being the culprit.

Everything that happened to Ayane was his fault. Her suffering is entirely Hexael’s doing.

"You know what else I did, Setsuna? I was also the reason the other demons came to Earth. Or rather, their copies, right? After all, Number 0 killed the originals."

"So the only true demon left alive is me. Of course, those stupid copies think they’re alive, but they’ll die soon. When you reach 30% of Number 0’s power, their existence will lose its purpose and they’ll dissolve."

"Ah, to be clear, the angels aren’t alive anymore either. They’re just copies. Number 0 always had the power to kill everyone; she just never did it because it was tedious."

"But with the goal of having fun, she decided killing everyone was better. So the only real demons left are me and you, and the only real angel left alive is Ayane. Funny, isn’t it?" As my memories adjust, my hatred grows.

"I will kill you. I will kill you, Hexael! I SWEAR I’LL KILL YOU!" This worm offered me power that was already "mine." Turning back time was always an ability of this so-called Number 0.

Hexael didn’t give me power; he just forced a power that was already inside me to surface.

"I BREAK OUR CONTRACT!" I scream with pure hatred. A glow appears in front of us as chains inside me shatter.

"..."

"Of course... It makes sense you’d break the contract. The agreement was for me to give you power... Since you know the power was yours, you can nullify a contract that was no longer truthful... A good choice, Setsuna... But this won’t stop you from killing Ayane."

"Number 0 knew you would refuse. So the apple you ate already contained everything needed for you to become the real Setsuna again." I finally manage to grab Hexael. I press the gun against his head, but before I can pull the trigger, he vanishes into a black mist.

"..."

"HEXAAAAAEEEEEL! GET BACK HERE!" I scream so loudly it hurts my throat, all while feeling like I’m losing control of who I am.

Magical Girls, angels, demons, monsters, magic—everything I knew has been revealed as a lie. Magical Girls only ever existed to force Ayane to gain power from the beginning, increasing her talent to make her strong.

Angels and demons don’t exist anymore because they’re all dead and are just copies that will dissolve after a while. Monsters were added to Earth with the sole purpose of making Ayane suffer and waking me up to what I’m supposedly meant to be.

And magic... it was never something that came to Earth naturally. It was something that this ’Number 0’ brought for her own entertainment.

I collapse to the floor, feeling as if a sealed dam has burst. I think about killing myself, but it occurs to me that it wouldn’t change anything about what has happened to me now.

"..." I remember the apple. The fruit that "I" created for my current self to eat. It will force me to kill Ayane at least once. That was the greatest limitation I ever imposed on myself.

Never hurt Ayane. If I kill Ayane even once, the only thing that makes me me will disappear, and I will truly become the monster I "should" be.