Transformation or Death-Chapter 191

Between Names (3)

The wind was cool. The morning with hidden sunlight still held the cold air of dawn. Now that even moonlight had darkened, the world was sinking dark and damp.

But not all light had disappeared yet.

The white lightning still courageously bloomed, coloring the sky.

“W-why did you… Ugh!”

Silver Luna, not understanding why he saved her, raised her body with a bewildered face.

However, her body was sore everywhere, making even that small movement impossible. Her right side particularly hurt.

“…Oh.”

Silver Luna realized she was injured. Not seriously. Just slightly grazed by the beam. The heat wound caused significant pain, but she could endure it. With a little treatment, she could return to daily life without discomfort.

“Ah, ah ah….”

However, this wound was enough to deliver her immense despair. The endless emptiness she witnessed in the Scorpion’s heart just moments ago.

Precisely because the one who created the wound was the Scorpion itself.

The recent attack was not a simple light ray.

The Scorpion’s poison. A light stream infused with the energy of loss.

The poisonous energy spurting from the Scorpion’s spear was not all. Deep inside, condensed poison was also stored in the hidden reserve cannon.

“No. No….”

Silver Luna groped her body, searching for what was taken from her. Meanwhile, she traced her memories.

Somewhere, she needed to find the dissonance.

Body, no issues. Though there was pain, she didn’t feel particularly unhealthy. Her development was intact. The body stopped at human prime, with growth and aging halted, remained the same.

Two older sisters, mom and dad. She remembered them clearly. She hadn’t lost her family.

Wait a minute

“No… No….”

Did I have two older sisters? Could there be more? Were there no parents, cousins, or such? No friends, no childhood companions? She couldn’t remember. She didn’t know.

Silver Luna couldn’t feel confident in her memories. She was afraid. Afraid she might become like her two older sisters. Afraid she might inflict the same wound she had experienced onto someone else.

Silver Luna stopped feeling herself and raised her head. There was a villain surrounded by lightning. Her savior.

Why did this villain save me?

“W-why… Why did you protect me…?”

A fearful voice. Not a trace remained of her usual arrogance.

“What relationship did we have? What were you to me?”

Watcher silently looked down at her. The girl was pitiful. Stripped of her strongest magical girl shell, she was the youngest of three sisters, a child who loved her family, merely a child anxious about not being able to return what she had received.

Twelve years old. No different from when she became a magical girl to protect her family.

“Nothing.”

“Y-you’re lying! Then why did you save me? Without any connection… It doesn’t make sense!”

Watcher slightly bent his knee to meet her gaze.

“When you save someone, do you recall memories with that person?”

“That… Well….”

“I was simply doing the same.”

Just as a magical girl protects citizens, he protected them. There was no difference in this structure.

“Do not deny your history. I merely extended what you have done, giving love to strangers. I am nothing to you.”

Nothing. No special affection or memories, not even a bit. A dry relationship where they didn’t even know each other’s faces or names.

Yet in this nameless relationship, something exists. Humanity and principle.

Return what was received, be rewarded for effort, embrace those who have fallen. Her life of repeating countless hardships deserves recognition. Even for a complete stranger, one can at least applaud.

Humanity gained a moment’s breath through their love, so there was no reason to hesitate in returning breath through love.

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Moreover, he had both the ability and will to do so.

“I… See.”

Silver Luna was slightly relieved by his words. But only momentarily. With no relationship, no memories, not even health left, only one thing remained.

“…Then.”

Nervously, I gripped the pendant hanging around my neck. It was as light as a fallen leaf, fragile. It slowly crumbled in my grasp.

The pendant that once controlled sanctity began to slowly disintegrate. Like a sand castle, like ash in a bonfire, it started to disperse and vanish in the wind.

What was lost was starlight.

It was her power, her only confidence, her hope.

“Just as I thought.”

Silver Luna spat out a despairing laugh and calmly accepted this fact. It was a composure she herself had not anticipated.

The reasons were complex.

Compared to the loss of relationships and memories she had just thought about, this felt relatively better. There was also the fact that her nightly fearful imagination of losing this power had become a kind of preventive measure, and the sudden loss felt unreal.

“I always imagined this day would come. Because I have no skills other than this power, because I received so much just by being somewhat strong… Someday, I would be punished.”

That composure was short-lived. Slowly, tears began to well up in Silver Luna’s eyes. Tear drops as large as a full moon.

“…It’s all over now.”

Regardless of whether there was a villain in front of her or not, she hugged her knees and buried her face.

“I’ve become nothing now.”

She had been loved because of this power. Before she could even return all that love, everything ended here.

Now she was no longer the national magical girl, nor her parents’ proud daughter. The only thread connecting her and her two sisters – respect – would also disappear.

Her ambition to overcome the Scorpion and restore sisterly bonds vanished as lightly as dried water, and the inconvenience she caused in this foreign land could no longer be managed.

How many families would collapse today?

“…I knew. That I was not qualified to have such power. But what could I do? It’s not like I wanted to be this way! I just… Just hoped that no one would die….”

She hated fighting. Raised as a precious daughter, she disliked even sweating and would cry endlessly from a slightly scraped knee.

Somewhere along the way, she began sweating like rain every day without a single complaint, showing no tears even when in pain. She understood this naturally with age. That with such an appearance, she would only continue to be a burden to someone.

So she endured even when it was hard, did not retreat even when scared. By layering masks one by one, an arrogant lady was created.

“I endured even when it was scary! Because if I’m confident, others won’t be scared!”

If superiors are weak, those weaker will only be terrified. She had to be confident. She had to decorate herself so citizens could feel at ease.

“After working so hard… Everything has turned to foam here. Now I am nothing.”

Everything had become meaningless. The promising potential she had built up had returned to nothing, and she had become a meaningless existence, no different from anonymity.

To the girl who started to sniffle, the watcher threw out one question.

“What’s your name?”

Silver Luna, with her face still buried in her knees, responded curtly.

“…Why do you ask.”

“Didn’t you say you’ve become nothing? Seems like your name still holds value.”

Though her emotions surged, since the statement wasn’t entirely wrong, she eventually spoke.

“…Mitsuki. Shimizu Mitsuki.”

When Mitsuki answered, he asked again.

“What does it mean?”

She reminisced and answered.

“When I was born, the moon apparently rose particularly beautifully. So using the character for beauty ‘mi’ and the character for moon ‘tsuki’, it means ‘beautiful moon’.”

Her name held many memories. Her sisterly bond was also here together.

“My sisters’ names also contain the character for beauty. Because of that, wherever we went, just hearing the name, people would treat us as sisters without further explanation. My first sister is Nozomi, my second sister is Mika.”

Beautiful hope, flower, and moon. The bond between the three sisters originated from these names, and even now, that connection remained unchanged.

“So my sisters would often tell me… That hope blooms like a flower, and the moon rises high above it, saying I would become the biggest among us… Teasing me with affectionate words….”

A story from when she was much shorter than her sisters. Whenever Mitsuki would ask when she would grow as tall as them, they would say with a reassuring tone that she would become the biggest among them.

Every time, she remembers getting angry, saying, ‘It’s just wordplay!’

“Well, it’s all in the past now.”

Names that held meaning when together lose that meaning when separated.

They’re all common names, and it’s not awkward even if they’re not connected.

They simply became individual hopes, flowers, and moons.

Though beauty was attached, it did not become a connection. The bond originating from names lost its power.

“How strange.”

But Han Jae-jung opposed this fact.

“Just now, you said you were nothing, but you were the moon and light of your family. You were a daughter of a couple and the youngest of three sisters. So why would you be nothing?”

“My parents have dementia and don’t recognize me even when I’m close. The sisterly bond was scattered by Scorpion. And now I’ve lost my power. What’s left for me? I’ve lost being a proud daughter, and even the respected magical girl status I still had! Nothing remains!”

Mitsuki shouted, a cry closer to profound despair than anger.

“Do not deny your history.”

Han Jae-jung cut off her cry with a single line. It felt almost heartless.

“Didn’t you say earlier?”

“…Pardon?”

“Don’t play dumb when you know everything.”

Silver Luna’s story was truly tragic. Even Han Jae-jung, who read the original work, was unaware of her story. It’s clear how thoroughly she had hidden her secrets.

There are two cases where someone conceals their flaws so completely: perfectionism and self-love deficiency.

People who are obsessed with appearing perfect to others, or those who hide their weaknesses out of fear of being hurt. Mitsuki was closer to the latter.

Han Jae-jung felt compassion for her. They say a person knows themselves less than others do. It was a statement that suited her perfectly.

In the original work, her image of burning her life to protect the citizens of this foreign land, doing her best to minimize casualties, was vivid.

Her final monologue was a lament about her own weakness, and her will was a longing for family.

“You were someone’s sister and daughter. A loved and loving member of a family full of love. Even if other family members forget this, this fact will always remain true.”

He knows. The Scorpion he’s facing now is not an enemy that can be defeated with just one or two magical girl sacrifices. Even if everyone here fights to the death, the possibility of winning is slim, and it might not end even if everyone dies.

“You sacrificed your youth to protect people, and resisted the instinct of fear so no one would tremble. You whipped yourself and shed blood. You were always glorious. Even if someone forgets this grace, this fact will always remain true.”

But these facts alone did not break his will.

“Even if you deny yourself, your life does not deny you. The trajectory of life you drew was worthy of bringing you love and glory. You are fully qualified to receive it.”

He was standing here to nullify her death in the original work.

“Do not deny your history.”

Giving up here would be no different from denying his own life.

“If you doubt, I will be a witness here. I will affirm the life you have built. So child, do not deny it. You were more than worthy of pride.”

The hunt was not over yet. No one had died.

“I know. Right now, words of comfort might seem empty to you. Rest assured, young girl. What you have lost, I will retrieve.”

The possibility of challenge was sufficient.

Silver Luna was silent for a moment. After organizing her confused emotions and refining her doubts into language, she briefly asked,

“Why, why are you doing so much for me?”

She asked with doubt, yearning, and a slight hope. A hope as faint as a firefly. In deep mud, even that small light was enough. With just that, a person could move forward.

“Though I am nothing to you, in fact, you were not nothing to me.”

He answered without hiding.

“I am a Watcher. One who see stars in you.”

***

Ippotranslation

***

‘Aren’t you being too pretentious?’

‘Shut up.’

After safely sheltering Silver Luna, he moved again towards the Scorpion. During this, Belt spoke to him.

‘In a winner-takes-all Scorpion duel, talking about distribution… Aren’t you showing off too much…’

‘Right. Show-off.’

I’ll retrieve it for you – how arrogant and optimistic. Moreover, Han Jae-jung himself lacks the ability. For someone who primarily relies on force as a solution, restoring memories or relationships was unlikely.

Truly an irresponsible statement.

‘But telling someone who lived so hard to be satisfied with just this, isn’t that too much. Sometimes you’ve got to show off a bit.’

‘Truly… Birds of a feather.’

‘You and me are the same, punk.’

However, this didn’t mean he would be consistently irresponsible.

‘And it wasn’t just empty boasting.’

He had considered a potential solution, which prompted such a statement. It was a method he’d been thinking about since the Scorpion victims became numerous.

Not yet shared and with uncertain feasibility, but worth attempting.

‘I need to find Odette and Jason.’

Of course, this is all contingent on defeating the Scorpion. Only by killing the Scorpion could he recover what it had taken.

The majestic Scorpion, now a massive combined robot, remained unchanged even as an ice block. Always on the verge of potentially awakening to spread havoc.

With Blue Sirius currently sealing the Scorpion’s movements, this was the only opportunity.

He needed to gather full strength during this window.

‘Odette? Where are you now….’

Boom!

Just as he was about to initiate communication, cannon sounds began reverberating. Not from the Scorpion.

“To the path of great challenge!!!!”

“…Argo Family?”

A massive ship-like object appeared.

“What is that?”

Han Jae-jung had a reason for not definitively calling it a ship. While its exterior undoubtedly resembled a vessel, it was sailing through the sky, not the sea.

“Let’s challenge the galaxy!!!”

“Waaaaaah!!”

At the front of the aerial ship’s deck stood September, the villain of Keel. Behind him, beings between humans and villains loudly responded to September’s declarations.

“We will make a challenge that will remain in history….”

And behind September, a shadow was quietly approaching.

It was Botis.

***

Ippotranslation

***

“Botis! Hey, you bastard! What are you doing! Why the hell are you trapping me here and causing a fuss!!!”

The Archer screamed at the top of his lungs. What returned was only an echo. Just his own voice.

The Goldilocks Zone, like a massive mountain range, was a place embracing natural grandeur. To him, it looked anything but beautiful, only suffocating.

He had been trapped here for several minutes.

The surroundings were entirely an inferno. The result of shooting and swinging arrows in protest. The refreshing grass scent was gone, replaced by a pungent ashen smell.

“If this continues, everything here is screwed! Got it?!”

Thud. This time, something other than an echo responded.

Turning his eyes, he saw a villain dropping from somewhere in the void. A low-level villain that hadn’t even formed a constellation.

“Who the hell are you! Get lost! Get lost and bring Botis!”

-Grrrr.

The low-level villain retreated, and the Archer continued his protest.

“You’re really done for! Come back! I’ll twist your neck! You damn goat! Cow! Die! Die!”

Thud. While repeating his curses, another villain dropped from the void. He turned his eyes to see who had arrived.

“I said get the hell….”

“Oooh… Aren’t you being too rough with a patient?”

Unlike before, this wasn’t a low-level villain. However, its energy level was no different from a low-level one.

“…Jason.”

“Oh, comrade!”

This was his only close friend with whom he’d sworn allegiance.

“Did you also fall victim to Bo?”

Still calling Botis by a nickname despite being betrayed – unnecessarily kind-hearted to the point of being a pushover.

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