Magical Girl with Demonic Time Magic-Chapter 138: Final Battle – Part 2

"..." Setsuna barely dodges the attack, losing an arm that is completely erased as if it were nothing. In an instant, I’m above the Setsuna who tried to create distance by moving upward.

I kick her with all my might, shooting her downward as I raise and throw my staff, piercing straight through her body. Immediately after, I create a large barrier and send it spinning right at her.

A massive counter appears, covering kilometers, and time stops. Since I am a true angel, I possess atemporality, albeit with some limitations. Stopped time doesn’t affect me, but it also prevents me from launching attacks.

Since anything that moves away from me will enter the "Stopped World" zone and be unable to move, Setsuna quickly comes back up here as I make my staff reappear in my hand.

What Setsuna doesn’t know about me, what she hasn’t seen in any of our encounters so far, is that I can change the properties of my barriers. Thus, attacks that I make and pass through a barrier gain that effect.

’Seems to have worked well.’ I see Setsuna’s arm unable to regenerate. It’s not enough for her to just reverse time for her own body; what I fired was a beam of "Light" magic that lingers near her.

Using the photons themselves as a blade, everything at the point of impact is marked, causing anything that emits light to make the cut reappear.

"..." Before reaching me, Setsuna fires numerous shots with her pistol. I try to use magic, but before I can, Setsuna vanishes from my sight and time resumes flowing as she fires her sniper rifle from above me.

With no time to form barriers, I block the sniper shot with my staff, turning to face forward while the pistol shots strike my back. Instantly, the shots explode into a violent wave of magic that makes my body feel like it’s being carbonized by a star.

’I-It’s so hot...’ I hear the sickening sizzle of my own flesh. It’s like a powerful acid that bypasses my healing magic.

Setsuna’s arm has already grown back. She seems to have figured out how it works. If this continues, I will lose, because Setsuna never gets tired and can recover from any wound.

’How can I buy enough time to land the blow I need to defeat her?!’ I try to think, but I was never the super-intelligent type. I don’t know what I could do to make Setsuna hesitate and not react to an attack she knows will kill her.

"You’ve truly become a terrible person, Setsuna," I say, tears of pain streaming down my face. I use barriers to try and stop the damage in my wounds—barriers smaller than bacteria to halt the corrosion’s advance.

"Only realizing that now, Ayane? Excellent move, by the way. Making the damage affect the environment instead of just my arm really made me think about why it wasn’t healing," she says mockingly.

"Your attack was horrible too, so I’ll return it to you," I say, making a barrier appear behind her. The barrier has the effect of [Mirror Reflection] and sends the damage I received right back at Setsuna, throwing her forward.

She lets out a pained groan as the corrosion on her is far more severe. Because despite her power, her body has low resistance since she never needs to defend herself when any damage is temporary.

"..." She seems furious about this.

"...I tried to be patient with you, Ayane, but I see you’re genuinely trying to kill me... fine then, I’ll kill everyone in this world. Let’s see who wins this." Setsuna suddenly creates a golden counter. The hand on the counter begins spinning wildly in one direction.

"W-What?! But these people have nothing to do with this! Are you insane?!" I shout as I see the sun and moon racing across the horizon at an alarmingly fast rate.

’She plans to make time collapse by accelerating it!!’ She looks at me with a devilish smile as I see the trails of the sun and moon beginning to appear.

"You have 30 minutes to stop me before everything is destroyed. Hahahahaha!" She laughs madly as I quickly think of what to do.

’This won’t kill me, but it will completely destroy the Earth!’ I think rapidly, terrified that humanity will go extinct because of two beings who never should have come to Earth.

’I think this is the only option!’ I think I know how to stop Setsuna long enough. I just need to distract her, perform an action she would never expect from me! A surprise attack that will shock her long enough for me to land a hit.

’5 seconds. I just need 5 seconds of her fixed in one spot.’ Saying it is easy, but keeping a being who controls time still for 5 seconds is ridiculously complex.

If only she couldn’t stop, rewind, jump, or predict things in time, it would be easier. Thanks to my atemporality, she can’t see the exact future I create, but she must be able to predict attacks in general.

’5 seconds of her stopped, not thinking of anything?! If this doesn’t work, I’ll lose...’ This is no longer the Setsuna I know. That means if I lose... she will kill me.

And if she kills me one more time, I will never have another chance to end all of this. I’ll become a toy for her entertainment for all eternity, and I’m sure she’ll get rid of my memories.

"Setsuna, I won’t let you kill everyone... and I won’t let you completely destroy the Setsuna I know!" I take a deep breath before generating the largest stabilizing barrier I can manage.

It traps both of us, but instead of shrinking it to make it smaller, I simply sever any magic effects within the area, reducing both of our powers inside this field.

Immediately, hundreds of smaller barriers acting as reflectors shoot rays of light at her as I prepare for the opening she will create.

’Don’t hesitate! I must not hesitate! She is no longer Setsuna! She... must die here.’ With tears on my face, I see the opening I need and charge forward. My heart aches and I want to give up, but the duty to protect everyone speaks louder.

It’s strange. I always liked helping everyone. I wonder why I always did it so strongly. Setsuna tried to teach me to be more selfish and think more of myself. It seems in the end, I just can’t be that way.

When I get close enough to Setsuna, I hug her tightly. She looks at me just before I kiss her, making her eyes widen.

She seems to want to say something, but before either of us has time to react, my staff flies, piercing through my back and my chest, and through her chest, destroying both our hearts.

"...!!?" She, who hadn’t expected this attack, completely freezes up, giving me the precious time I need.