Chapter 4 — Sleep, until your life is over • Episode 4–7 — Liberation ②
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
According to the sloth fairy’s explanation, apparently Sylph has been suffering from mental contamination for some time that affects her thinking apart from suppressing her fears and anxieties, the Magical Girls who were present understood that the magic of Succubus had caused her already unstable spirit to run amok and that she’s not in a state of magical control.
It doesn’t explain why her costume and other things are dyed black, but there is no way the Magical Girls know much about the spirit and magic run amok, and when the fairies tell them that is the cause, they are convinced that is what it is. Press was the only one who seemed to notice something, but instead of raising her voice outwardly, she decided to continue the battle to stop Sylph, just like the other Magical Girls.
That said, there was no room for other Magical Girls to intervene in the fierce battle between the White Sylph and Black Sylph.
The Black Sylph, perhaps not wanting to be attacked by other Magical Girls if she approached the ground, stuck to aerial combat and didn’t do much damage to the Deception World, but the White Sylph relative to her were battered and bruised. Although she has no physical defects, she has shallow wounds and several deep scratches all over her body, and she has bled so much that her white costume is stained red. And the costume had also been largely torn away, reduced to such a thin fabric that no trace of the original thick vestments could be seen.
A Magical Girl’s magic does not become stronger or weaker in proportion to her emotions. It may draw out latent abilities that were originally dormant, but it cannot produce power beyond its limits. In other words, the White Sylph was crossing over to the Black Sylph in a spirited manner, only to be eaten alive in a thin margin. And finally, her thinning presence reached its limit. Unable to escape the oncoming tornado, she was nearly overtaken, and in her agony, she disengaged her flight magic and fell to the ground, letting herself free-fall.
「Are you alright!?」
「…Sorry, Princess. I am… up to here, it seems. Please… escape. That being, is… so powerful…」
「This, this one-sided, this can’t be…」
Succubus near the drop point hurriedly called out to the White Sylph, who, as if struggling to breathe at the last moment, said in a broken voice, and finally vanished in a particle of light.
Succubus was a master of this magic, which is why she couldn’t believe that the Sylph that emerged from her Gate Of Dreams was one-sidedly beaten and the Black Sylph didn’t suffer a single wound.
The dreams that Succubus connect with gates are basically used up, once used, they disappear. The reason why a different monster appears at each Nightmare Gate is because once the monster appears, it disappears and is gone. And the Gate of Dreams should have invoked the ideal Sylph envisioned by Succubus, the Sylph of her dreams, prepared to disappear, and should have been no less than the original.
That means one thing: the Sylph in that black state is stronger than the usual Tyrant Sylph.
「I’ve recovered a little! It seems less powerful than before, but I can fire another shot!」
「No, hold on. There’s something wrong.」
Press, who was slumped and resting, raised the Excalibur-ized Blade to indicate that she could fight, but Extend, who is tentatively settled in as the leader of this battlefield, subjugated the battle. They were wary that the Black Sylph, now that she no longer had an opponent with whom she could fight on equal terms, would attack them again, but upon closer inspection, they saw that the Black Sylph were also approaching, not descending, but falling, and her color was gradually returning to that of the original Sylph.
「I don’t know about this, but it looks like her outburst has stopped!」
When Extend, who had moved ahead of the fall with time-extended fast travel, caught Sylph, she was already back to her usual white costume, emerald green twin-tails, and jade-colored eyes. Then she rubs her eyes, rubbing them as Extend holds her in a princess hug, and slowly raises her eyelids sleepily.
「…Extend-san?」
「You are finally awake, Wind Witch-dono. Good. Do you remember what happened?」
「Is there anything physically wrong with me?」
「I was so worried! I’ve never heard of magic going out of control before, so I was surprised, but I’m glad to hear you’re okay.」
「Syl-chan, is there anything that hurts? Well～ We weren’t a match for you at all, but we’re still okay, right?」
『Don’t be sad. Not at all. You’re a long way from your goal.』
「Umm, thank you very much. I vaguely remember that. Thanks for your help.」
The Magical Girls, who didn’t blame Sylph for going on a rampage even though they had been briefed by the fairies, but rather approached her kindly with a look of relief. Sylph, filled with apology, immediately tried to apologize, but then remembered what Elephant had said in her dream and expressed her gratitude.
It was supposed to be a dream, but she was certain that that dream wasn’t one. She had no doubt that it had really happened, that Elephant had saved her and that Extend and the other Magical Girls had stopped her in reality, and she wondered about that.
The Magical Girls responded in a variety of ways to Sylph’s thanks, but there’s two who suddenly bowed so deeply that they fell to the ground and rubbed their foreheads against the ground.
「I’m glad you were able to get it all sorted out for the time being, but we’re sorry!!」
「I’m sorry!!」
Succubus and Shadow, the person who started this whole mess and her mentor.
As far as the fairy’s explanation goes, about half of the cause of this incident can be attributed to Succubus. It’s true that they did a great deal to stop Sylph from running amok, but it’s also true that the situation wouldn’t have occurred if Succubus hadn’t done something unnecessary in the first place, and it isn’t something that can be casually said.
Since the Extend’s group and Blade and Press weren’t injured or harmed in any particular way, there were no hard feelings, but each Magical Girl felt more or less the same way about using magic to make others like her, no matter how much she wanted to be friends with them.
「My apprentice’s mismanagement is my mismanagement. If you want me to take responsibility, I will leave this town, quit being a Magical Girl, or become a sandbag, whatever. But she didn’t have any bad intentions either. It’s true that she had a magical spell on you, but she thought the magic had failed! She didn’t intend to leave it as it was forever! So, will you please forgive this girl!?」
「No! Master did nothing wrong! It was all my doing! I knew it was wrong to magically make people like me, and yet I did it, of my own volition! Do what you want with me! But it has nothing to do with Master!」
The fact that Shadow had taken on an apprentice was a surprise in itself, but the fact that she would go so far as to protect that apprentice was also a surprise, especially since the Magical Girls of Junkoi Town, who don’t normally interact with Shadow, were reviewing the rumors, which were very different from what they had seen on the Internet.
In the first place, just because you are the master doesn’t mean that you have to take responsibility for everything that your apprentice does. Although the Extend’s group had no intention of blaming Shadow from the start, the question of what to do with Succubus was a concern. It’s not good for Succubus to be blameless after causing all this.
Shadow, who once attacked Sakira Town, wasn’t merely forgiven, but was welcomed into this town after being beaten up and punished by Elephant. No one would ever intend to do violence to a girl as small as Succubus, and who would never be a bad person at heart, but that is why it was difficult to find a way to drop the matter.
「Before I go any further, I would like to ask you one question: what did you do to me?」
In the first place, Sylph has never heard from anyone why she had to go off the rails the way she did. Elephant hadn’t yet told her about this topic, and she hadn’t heard any of what the sloth fairy was explaining to the other Magical Girls in her battle with the White Sylphs. In other words, she doesn’t even know that she’s under an Enchantment spell.
However, when she saw Succubus on her knees in front of her, she didn’t get nervous or think that she like her, and she started to wonder what those days of two-timing were all about, she can guess, although only vaguely.
「I used Hypnosis Magic, and Enchantment Magic.」
「Why did you interject Hypnotic Magic? If you simply wanted to charm me, you didn’t have to do that, did you?」
「Because Pooh-chan told me that the Hypnosis Magic can be passed to Sylph-san, and after that, I can also pass charms.」
「Heh, I see, that’s how it is… Wasn’t it the fairy who brought up the subject of Enchantment Magic in the first place?」
「Yes, but why did you know that?」
「No, but because fairies are not worthy of trust.
Tornado Cutter.」
Before they knew it, a spinning blade of wind was released toward the sloth fairy that was trying to sneak away, cutting off its limbs in the blink of an eye. The cross-section was made of white cotton, as if it were made of a stuffed toy.
「W–What are you doing suddenly–nuh～! That’s dangerous–nuh～!」
「In these cases, it is the main culprit, not the executioner, who receives the heaviest punishment. The fairy who used to be in this town took responsibility for his evil deeds with his own death. Then don’t you think you should do the same?」
「I don’t think so–nuh～! I did nothing wrong–nuh～! I didn’t order her to do anything–nuh! She asked me if there was a better way to do it, and I just said yes, and she did it on her own–nuh!」
「W–Wait a minute! It’s true that Pooh-chan told me about the magic, but I’m the one who made the decision! It’s all my fault! Please forgive Pooh-chan!」
「…Do you have any reason to defend that fairy? She was trying to put the blame on you, right in front of you.」
「Pooh-chan was just being a pain in the ass and didn’t mean to offend. Besides, Pooh-chan is my friend! That’s why——」
「I see. If you insist that much, good. I’ll let you take the responsibility.」
「Syl-chan!!!」
Extend’s group watched in silence, thinking that if Sylph, the biggest victim, was going to make the ruling, it was the right thing to do, but Press couldn’t overlook the last word she uttered. But Sylph controlled such Press with her hand and pointed to Shadow.
「You will continue to be assigned to watch for the dangerous individual there.」
「Eh? Me?」
「Is Master a dangerous person?」
「Whether you know it or not, it doesn’t matter, but that Magical Girl is a dangerous person who has attacked this town before. There was one person from our team on watch until you showed up, and I order you to continue in that role going forward.」
「…But I thought Master got beat up and cried——」
「Elephant-san is kind and we welcomed her in, but she is a dangerous Magical Girl who may turn against us at any moment. It’s a very dangerous job, but this is your punishment. Is that alright?」
If she really believe that, she shouldn’t have accepted Shadow into town in the first place, and Elephant teamed up with Shadow for a time for a completely different reason, moreover, they know that Shadow seems to be incredibly protective of her apprentice, and to be clear, it was a lie that was obvious to everyone, apparently, Sylph was planning to push through with that kind of thing, and she laid out her words in such a way as to shut out any questions or objections from Succubus.
「If you understand, go home today. It’s not time for the kids to be up.」
「Urk, I, understand. Thank you very much!」
Succubus, realizing Sylph’s intentions, almost cried out at the kindness, but still cheerfully returned the words and left, wrapped in a transitional magic circle with the sloth fairy.
「I apologize, I’m sorry you had to forgive me and making you uncomfortable.」
「I don’t know what you are talking about. Why don’t you just leave too? Because I consider you to be a dangerous person.」
「Hahah, that’s true. If that’s the case, I’ll leave before I upset you. Really, I’m sorry about my disciple.」
With a final small murmur in a complex tone of voice, a mixture of heartfelt gratitude and apology, so that only Sylph could hear, Shadow also returned to the real world.
「Mmph～ don’t make me nervous, Syl-chan! You suddenly used magic and I wondered what you were going to do!」
『Really. I thought you were going to use magic on her, too.』
「I’m not going to say anything more if that’s okay with you, Wind Witch-dono?」
「What is it? I punished her properly. I didn’t forgive her.」
「Fuh, you’re trying to look good. You don’t hate her, that’s what I’m talking about.」
「What a sweetheart you are as well, Syl-chan.」
Despite all the things said by her fellow Magical Girls, truth be told, Sylph was not so angry with Succubus. Of course, she’s not sure about using magic to force people to like someone, and normally Sylph would have been more outraged. However, the incident that Succubus did this time had a positive impact on Sylph as a result. Like her relationship with Elephant, but more fundamentally than that, since she had just awakened, or more precisely since that dream in which he had been talking to Elephant, Sylph’s thoughts have been surprisingly clear. It was as if he was freed from his heavy fetters.
The fact that her will had been twisted unnaturally until now was finally realized by Sylph when it was no longer there. Looking back on it now, her thoughts so far have been unnatural in places, and it doesn’t need to be told who did it.
That, some kind of power to twist her will is gone.
So she was able to answer Elephant with an honest heart.
For Sylph now, what a small child like Succubus had done was nothing more than a trivial matter, and it was much more important to think about the future, such as the existence that was trying to use her as a convenient pawn, and her future with Elephant.
