Witness to the Inferno

(Sun Yao)

Enduring the scorching afternoon sun, sweat drenched my back as I lay on the rooftop of a four-story building, staring at the phase portal in the distance.

It was a twisted ring of blue light, its center an abyssal black.

“Black” wasn’t quite the right word—it was more that any light passing through the ring simply vanished. Neither the naked eye nor a camera could glimpse what lay on the other side of that wormhole.

Gulp—

The silence was terrifying. Even the cicadas had stopped their buzzing. The sound of my own swallowing was the only thing I could hear clearly.

I might be the only living person left in this cordoned-off area, aside from the magical girl herself.

I had wanted to contact Ziye to tell him to take shelter, but I’d left my phone back at the KFC. I wasn’t going back for it, though. As a magical girl enthusiast, I absolutely had to witness a real fight with my own eyes.

“What a shame I can’t film it…”

I’d managed to bypass the police cordon, but I’d forgotten the most important thing. Without footage, no one would believe I was here.

Watching with my own eyes wouldn’t be as clear as a drone recording, but it was like going to a concert—it was all about the atmosphere. If I wanted a clear view of the fight later, I could just watch the official videos.

Unfortunately, Miluno probably wouldn’t show up at this hour. She only moved at night—that’s why she was called “Gale Moonlight Miluno.”

The D3 district during the day was generally handled by another magical girl named Yang Yan. As a magical girl name, it was pretty cool, but the nickname everyone gave her was…

“Ah, I went to all this trouble to sneak in, and all I get to see is Miss Fire Turkey. What a letdown.”

As I sighed, I suddenly felt someone step on my back.

“Sorry for disappointing you! Want me to kick you off this roof right now? A fat otaku like you actually dares to sneak into the scene! Trying to become a ‘dead’ otaku, huh?”

I turned to look at the girl cursing me out. She was silhouetted against the sun, making it hard to open my eyes, but I still recognized her immediately.

“Fire… Miss Yang Yan?”

“You were about to say ‘Fire Turkey,’ weren’t you! I’ll blow you up!”

The magical girl with a crown of feathers on her head was indeed Yang Yan. Her skin was slightly tanned, and she wore a cool halter top with a short asymmetrical skirt. She was dressed in a tropical style that, like her name, reminded one of the scorching noontime sun.

Just like her name and nickname, she was a fire-type magical girl. Though fire was widely recognized as a high-output attribute, it also had the most users, making it seem a bit common. Speed types like Miluno-chan were far rarer.

“How did you find me?”

“You kidding? Did you think the surveillance blimps sent drones near the portal just so you otakus could film battles? No way! They also scan the terrain, analyze the monsters’ abilities, and provide tactical support for magical girls. In other words, you were spotted the moment you entered this building!”

“I’ll hide properly,” I promised.

But Yang Yan just kicked me in the butt.

“Hide my ass! There’s one minute left! Get the hell out of here! Then go eat prison food!”

Woom—

The portal erupted with a towering blue pillar of light. Something descended along that pillar, passing through the ring of the wormhole and into our world.

Then, it let out an earsplitting roar.

“Looks like there isn’t a minute left,” I muttered.

From this distance, the monster looked like a white stone humanoid—angular, with no discernible features.

“…Hide for now,” Yang Yan said, ignoring me.

She spread her arms and leaped from the rooftop. Between her arms and torso, wing-like gliders opened up. She swooped over the stone monster’s head, scattering a shower of phosphorescent particles. She glided down and landed gracefully.

A split second later…

A series of explosions erupted. The blast wave almost blew me off the roof.

Delayed-detonation fire phosphorus—that was Yang Yan’s magic. Its area of effect was astonishing, but since it couldn’t focus on a single point, the entire street was usually wrecked by the time she finished off a monster.

But this opponent looked tough. She might not be able to finish it with one shot. Except for the Top 10, most magical girls rarely had the power to “one-shot” a monster…

“…Completely unscathed?”

Yang Yan’s proud explosion hadn’t harmed the stone monster at all. Inside the white rock, there was a faint glow of fire, like shifting lava.

Explosion-resistant.

Could it be that the enemy had targeted her weakness? They must have known Miluno was inactive during the day and deployed this specific monster to counter Yang Yan.

The attack didn’t work. Yang Yan threw a few more feathers. They also carried fire phosphorus and exploded on contact, hitting with the power of small missiles.

Roar—

The rock monster roared again. Intense heat burst from the gaps in its stone body, and it charged at Yang Yan with agility that didn’t match its massive appearance.

Then, another explosion—even more violent than Yang Yan’s.

The shops on both sides of the street were half-destroyed. The already scorching summer air became hellishly unbearable. Yang Yan spread her wings and rose into the sky on the thermal blast. She began scattering denser fire phosphorus; she was preparing something big.

“Shit!”

But she flew too high, and some of the phosphorus drifted onto the rooftop where I was lying. Fear urged me to get up and run. I was a fan, but I didn’t plan to die at the hands of my own idol.

Boom—

A deafening explosion erupted behind me, followed by a wave of heat and a massive shockwave. I tumbled into the stairwell on the top floor, barely avoiding the brunt of the damage.

“Phew, scared me to death.”

Even so, watching the fight this closely made me forget my fear for a moment. My heart pounded with excitement, each beat drumming against my eardrums.

But my life was more important.

I headed down the stairs toward the back door. From there, I could get away from this street-turned-battlefield.

Just as I reached the second floor, I saw Yang Yan crash through a window, tumbling right to the door of the stairwell. Several feathers in her crown were bent and broken. She looked battered. Her explosions couldn’t deal effective damage, and the stone monster was physically stronger than her.

“Cough… why the hell haven’t you left?” she wheezed, looking up at me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll handle it! You run!”

Then, the sound of breaking doors echoed from downstairs—the stone monster was coming up the stairs.

“…I have nowhere to run now,” I said, frozen.

“I’ll hold it off. You jump from the second floor.”

“I can’t jump from the second floor!”

“You otakus are so useless!”

Cursing, she shoved me into a shop on the second floor and slammed the stairwell door shut. A series of explosions followed from the stairwell, but soon the flimsy door was blown open. Heat flooded the shop. I felt my hair start to curl, and the violent shock nearly knocked me out.

Then, the floor collapsed.

Between fading consciousness, I felt the sensation of falling, followed by a hard impact.

“Ugh…” Scorching pain crawled up my back.

“Hey! Fatty!” It was Yang Yan’s voice.

I gritted my teeth and opened my eyes to see her struggling to hold up a slab of flooring that was about to crush me. She snarled at me, “Wake up! Crawl out!”

Suddenly, the stone monster charged like a bull, slamming into her and the slab she was supporting. I was saved by the impact pushing the debris away, but Yang Yan was sent flying into the plaza. She hit the ground hard and couldn’t get up.

She was badly hurt. Her battle outfit offered almost no physical defense.

But this time, the monster’s charge didn’t cause an explosion. Its body had returned to its initial white color.

I realized what was happening. It had absorbed the power of Yang Yan’s explosions, turning itself into a living lava bomb.

“Miss Yang Yan! Don’t use fire phosphorus! It’s absorbing the energy!” I instinctively yelled a warning.

The monster turned to look at me. It had no facial features—its head was just an irregular lump of stone—but it was definitely looking at me.

Fear, guilt, and helplessness flooded my mind. I hated how weak I was. I wanted to run, but when I tried to stand, my left leg wouldn’t obey. I stumbled and fell back onto the debris. My leg had been injured in the fall. Standing was barely possible, let alone running.

This was it. An ordinary person targeted by a monster had zero chance of escape. In this moment of near death, I finally regretted my foolishness. I should have just gone to the shelter with Ziye.

“Waaaaah!”

Yang Yan roared and detonated fire phosphorus beneath herself. Using the blast for propulsion, she launched into the air, spread her arms, and dove at the monster’s back. She wrapped her glider wings around its head.

She was a magic-focused girl; close-quarters grappling wasn’t her style, especially while injured. She wasn’t just buying me time—she was gathering a dense cloud of fire phosphorus around the monster.

Yang Yan was going to self-destruct.

She mustered her remaining strength to shout at me, “Run!”

Dragging my injured leg, I tried to crawl away, but I was suddenly hit from behind. Yang Yan, like a rag doll, had been slammed into me by the monster, sending us both crashing into the ground.

Ignoring my own pain, I checked on her. She couldn’t lift her arms. The glider wing on her left arm had been torn off. She couldn’t fly.

One last explosion went off—Yang Yan’s final reserve of fire phosphorus. But when the smoke cleared, the monster was still standing.

The energy had only fed it further. The white stone had turned into red-hot lava, the heat distorting the air around it.

“This guy’s compatibility with me is just too bad… We’re done for…” Yang Yan leaned against me as she spoke.

Though having a magical girl in my arms should have been a dream come true, I only felt crushing guilt.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“To have to die with a guy like you… I really am unlucky…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

The lava monster turned toward us. Heat brewed in its uneven mouth, and steam hissed from the cracks in its body. It was preparing one final, explosive charge. We had no way to dodge.

Just like Yang Yan said, it was over.

“Time-Freeze!”

A voice rang out from the sky—hope in the depths of despair.

In the next instant, as if struck by a railgun from above, the upper half of the lava monster shattered and collapsed into rubble.

“…Miluno.”

A cold-faced girl stood behind the pile of stones that had once been the monster. She was my favorite magical girl, but right now, all I cared about was Yang Yan’s life.

“Please… help her!”

****

Severely injured, Yang Yan was taken to a medical facility exclusive to magical girls.

As for me, I was taken away by the armed police for trespassing into a combat zone. I fully confessed. I felt responsible for Yang Yan’s injuries and was prepared to go to prison.

But before long, I was handed over to the Magical Girl Association and put on a helicopter headed for their headquarters.

The young woman who escorted me out of the police station asked, “Sun Yao, do you know why you were released?”

“…Is it my dad?”

“No. We did ask Chairman Sun for his opinion, but he wasn’t planning to bail you out.”

My dad and I didn’t have a good relationship. If I went to prison, he probably wouldn’t even visit.

“I thought so… Then why?”

“Because of this incident, Yang Yan will be bedridden for quite some time.” She looked at me directly. “Sun Yao, do you want to take responsibility?”