Chapter 54 : S Class Gate : Hell (8)

Clack. Bang!

Load, and shoot the gun.

Amidst the countless demon hordes covering the desert, a woman with a languid expression fires her gun as if performing tedious repetitive work, standing in the midst of the army.

An impression fitting ‘handsome’ rather than ‘beautiful’.

The woman, with a man wielding a giant greatsword as her guard, held the high ground and fired relentlessly. Yet, maintaining a languid and composed atmosphere, her demeanor hinted at her disposition.

Haughty and arrogant under any circumstances, the Empress.

That was the person named Agathe.

Black uniform trousers. Silver hair cascading down in a long ponytail. Attire strikingly emphasizing vigorous androgynous beauty, she twisted her red lips and spoke.

“…Not bad. This martial arts thing too.”

Yes. Good thing I learned it.

Though helpful to some extent when I use it myself, this strange ability was better in another aspect.

Namely. It serves as a countermeasure against the 7th Magic Bullet.

-Chiiik.

Black energy melts the rock like strong acid. Where Caspar stood. Caspar glanced sideways, watching my bullet fall from his fingertips.

A trick using protective Ki aura. For some reason, unlike mana, Ki seemed to be treated as part of the body.

Thanks to that, even without wounding Caspar’s body, hitting the Ki aura he projected with a bullet counted as the 7th Magic Bullet.

“Hmm. Never knew because I always squeezed my eyes shut when getting hit. This bullet is more amazing than I thought.”

Caspar clicked his tongue, replenishing the shattered protective Ki aura. I replied sheepishly.

“…Well. I put in a lot of effort.”

Before Caspar died, the Magic Bullet’s power wasn’t that strong, and after Caspar died by my Magic Bullet, I practiced desperately so it wouldn’t harm him.

By forcibly lowering the power drastically and missing, I could end it with just a scratch.

But still, having to be hit by one-seventh of my Magic Bullet is truly horrific. Enough that after fighting once, I couldn’t sleep at night due to guilt.

…Well. I didn’t sleep at night anyway, but still.

“Hup! Ut, Cha. Hooo. So, Agathe. What now?”

-Claang!

Caspar, lightly slicing through another group of demons, wiped his sweat and asked me.

Hmm. Even if you say that… There isn’t really a way.

Though I sighed inwardly, I couldn’t possibly voice such thoughts to Caspar, my husband and master.

“First. Shall we join up with Seolhyang? Unfortunately, the civilians on that side must all be dead. So there probably won’t be much trouble joining up.”

…I hope Seolhyang isn’t too shocked.

Should we have protected the people on our side? That thought crossed my mind, but I soon shook my head.

Both me and Caspar are inept at protecting people. Someone who couldn’t even protect their own subjects or younger sibling couldn’t possibly protect unrelated people well.

Seolhyang. Yes. She’s a strong person, she’ll be okay.

“And then?”

-Chwaaak!

Caspar, clearing a path by swinging his greatsword horizontally, showed no signs of fatigue. It could be said he was in perfect condition to follow all my orders.

He seemed to have grown stronger in the meantime. Yes, this is Caspar.

A man worth giving my body to without any regret…

“After that… First, we need to stop the demons from swarming in. We’ll likely need to block the entrance, I’ll explain as we go.”

Anyway. Even if we fail, it just means taking a slight detour.

I glanced alternately at my gun, ceaselessly spitting out bullets, and the pouring hordes of demons.

A scene where at least dozens of lower demons died with each bullet was visible. The Heavenly Demon killed initially was a vanguard, a relatively strong individual, hence killed directly; lower demons like these could be killed by the dozens with a single Magic Bullet.

The Magic Bullets I fired traced unique trajectories, displaying acrobatic movements. It could be called the pinnacle of marksmanship, surpassing one shot, one kill.

Though a result of transcendent calculation ability, extremely precise senses, plus blessing and bone-grinding effort…

I felt little excitement or joy.

Rejoicing while honing the skill of killing people. Isn’t that somewhat strange?

Honestly, feeling happy or proud while learning such horrific techniques seems like something only a strange person would do. Someone whose mind broke from fighting too long, or a psychopath, something like that.

“Hahaha! Yes, good! It’s been a long time since I had a good fight!”

Suddenly, Caspar’s figure, rejoicing and adding to the heat of battle, came into view. Forging ahead, displaying a presence more demonic than demons themselves, he was engrossed in combat to the point where the term ‘meat grinder’ seemed fitting.

Hmm…

.
.
.

…Ah. Caspar is an exception. Yes. An exception. Caspar is.

So. Isn’t what Caspar does a skill that saves lives, not takes them? They always said hating evil is good.

It’s just me, because the people I killed outnumber those I saved.

-Crunch! Boom! Bang!

Ear-splitting explosions are heard. His greatsword, stained crimson, emanated a ominous sharp aura, dominating the battlefield.

How come. Though clearly slashing with a greatsword, the sound of bombs exploding occurs?

“…”

Yes. Is that so.

Mmmhmm… Hmm. Is that how it is?

I struggled to change my thoughts.

Right. Rejoicing while learning swordsmanship or feeling fulfillment while killing someone is normal. Yes. Humans are genetically designed that way. Not strange at all. Yes, that must be it.

…Or not?

Something deep inside me shouted. That Caspar is an innate battle maniac, a natural-born berserker. So my original thought was correct.

‘There’s no way I’m right. Caspar is right.’

And my reason gave a clear answer to that. Telling me to correct my judgment.

I know well that Caspar is a battle maniac. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

Even if Caspar enjoys blood-soaked slaughter, treats women roughly, and enjoys making the older sister who raised him kneel and humiliating her.

That’s my fault for abusing Caspar, it cannot be his fault. Yes. Besides, it doesn’t seem wrong either.

And… crucially. Caspar at least doesn’t harm innocent and good humans.

So neither I nor Caspar are wrong. I just decided so.

Yes. A clear conclusion.

Feeling my cleared mind become refreshed, I picked up the gun I had briefly put down.

Put aside morality for a moment. Forget the problem of good and evil too.

Such things. Are not very important in this hell, just trivial issues.

Right. Anyway, such complex problems can just be delegated to Caspar. I am merely his servant and wife, faithfully following his orders.

Let’s not try to think carelessly. Let’s not try to judge arbitrarily. That is outside my jurisdiction. Don’t I know how much hurt I suffered from acting presumptuously like mere me?

Struggling not to recall the horrific old memories gradually surfacing, I focused my mind back on the gun barrel.

Fragments of the shattered night sky were embedded here and there across the wide field. Not a poetic metaphor. Literally, the dimension was fragmented.

Using the soap bubble analogy from before, it could be said the bubble had already burst, and things were mixing.

Though dimensions are a bit tougher and more resilient than that. Anyway, the feeling could be said to be similar.

“…A bit. Late.”

Seolhyang, covered in blood, said so with a faint smile.

Late for what?

It was difficult to grasp the context from the short words, but for now, it seemed to mean Seolhyang herself was late. After all, we came incredibly fast, grinding down all surrounding demons…

While Seolhyang came slowly with all the refugees.

However… I couldn’t help but feel ashamed.

“…Sorry.”

My mind went blank. When I first identified her, words failed me due to shock.

Even if only partially. She came protecting people all the way in that fight? Without the Magic Girl’s power?

I couldn’t even guess how she did it. A demon horde is like a natural disaster. Purely in terms of physical mass, it’s comparable in scale to a tsunami or typhoon.

Have you ever seen a swarm of locusts devouring fields? That would likely be the closest analogy.

Demons born from the flames at the bottom of hell possess infinite numbers and infinite lifespans. Amidst those demons pushing forward with overwhelming numbers… She protected mere ordinary people using spears?

The hardship she endured was visible at a glance.

Her dress was torn to shreds, becoming rags, and her hair was matted and hardened with blood. Thanks to that, her chest, buttocks, thighs, and other sensitive female areas were fully exposed.

It was fortunate she was in a young state. Less area exposed, and less shame felt.

“Um. The magic girl, concept, is it okay?”

The words spoken to break the stiff atmosphere were like that. Though it might seem slightly silly, I thought it a rather important matter.

…Seolhyang abandoned the magic girl concept. This was quite a significant issue.

Should I say it felt similar to me looking down on Caspar again? I thought it was something important, like her life’s values.

“Now’s not the time for that, is it? Besides, I haven’t given up yet either.”

She joked, wiping away blood with a wet towel. As the remaining scraps of cloth clinging to her body also fell away, Seolhyang became half-naked.

“Right now. I’m in transformation state. Thanks to that, you can’t see, right? How pretty I am, sparkling brightly.”

The setting sun behind her created a backlight on her body. So Seolhyang’s appearance… looked just like a scene from a movie.

“Transformation…”

“Right. So… Right now, I’m invincible.”

A magic girl mid-transformation, is invincible.

Seolhyang said so, leaning on her sword with a faint smile.