Chapter 23: Flames of Retribution: The Squid’s Last Stand

At that moment, back on Earth.

The squid, despite its swelling confidence, was easily subdued.

No matter what it was, it couldn’t afford to be defeated by the same tactic again.

This desperate struggle caused its frozen tentacles, connected to its face, to twitch.

“Ah-ah, stay put.”

The pressure from a foot, making the desperate struggle meaningless, pressed down on the squid’s body.

To the monster, the voice of the masked girl sounded eerily familiar—much like a pirate drifting through space, masked and suspicious. Through the small openings in the mask, the faint orange hue of her eyes could be seen.

Those eyes, like the surface of the sun, and the unmistakable volume and shape of her hair, even hidden under the mask, were enough to vaguely but unmistakably remind the squid of the magical girl.

It was this magical girl who had turned the squid into tatters with a single blow last time.

Realizing this, even amidst the cold that made its mind grow faint, the self-proclaimed Baron Squid, who had trusted in the words of its fellow monsters, muttered regretfully.

“You… you brat! I don’t know what you did to me last time…!”

“Yeah, seems like you don’t.”

With a calm expression, Sun turned the joint of her staff with a large motion.

Click, click.

With every ominous sound that echoed from the staff, its shape drastically changed.

One turn to the left.

A sharp saw blade, too out-of-place for a staff, sprang out from the heart-shaped decoration.

One more click to the left.

The saw blade retracted, replaced by a round cylindrical column that looked like a miniature version of a battleship cannon, protruding from inside.

What appeared to be a barrel emerged slowly from deep within the opened heart-shaped ornament.

‘A… staff?’

The squid was horrified at its sheer versatility.

How many weapons are inside that staff?

Is that even possible?

Now, is it going to shoot fire and bullets at my head?

…But the reality was far worse than the squid had imagined.

If it had been the swift end of death in a flash of fire and sparks, it might have been a relief.

A rough hiss came from what the squid had mistaken for a barrel.

The familiar scent of gas, like what you’d find aboard a ship.

“Do you know what a blowtorch is?”

“E…?”

Whether or not the monster knew what a blowtorch was didn’t matter to Sun anymore.

If it did know, it would succumb to fear and despair.

If it didn’t, it would soon learn what burning flesh feels like.

Right now, a red flame, signaling a despair that the squid would never forget, had ignited.

“Krrrrroooaaaarrrr!”

“Oh? Definitely smells like grilled squid now.”

The 108-torture magical girl staff, now in its blowtorch form, seared the squid monster’s tentacles, which were now curling up and releasing a delicious scent.

The black ink oozed out from beneath the writhing tentacles of the monster, a stark contrast to the reaction it showed when it was paralyzed.

A smile crept onto my face. The wriggling body of the monster, its agony and suffering made evident by the continuous flow of ink.

The intense smell of grilled squid filled the air, prompting Siyeon to sniff and perk up her nose.

“Smells good!”

“Yeah, let’s order some squid bulgogi when we get back.”

“Okay!”

I flashed a smile at Siyeon, who I had long since stopped trying to dissuade.

We casually discussed what food to eat at home while savoring the rare moment of respite. The squid monster, whose surface was beautifully charred, offered us a brief break. But don’t be too relieved. This is merely a fleeting respite before the next wave of agony.

“Kuh, keuh… Hah.”

The monster could only produce labored breaths and ooze ink, unable to move an inch.

Even at a leisurely pace, the creature had no chance of escape. I twisted the left joint of my staff twice, then turned it to the right four times. A series of four clicks echoed, like gears locking into place.

The staff transformed into one of the 108 torture devices—a branding iron. Though its appearance remained much the same, the heart-shaped decoration at the tip grew intensely hot!

What would I do with the heated decoration, you ask? Normally, I would just leave a heart-shaped brand in a conspicuous spot and be done with it.

But this one was a special case—a second-time visitor.

Letting it go as lightly as the first-time guests would be disappointing, wouldn’t it?

Determined not to let it down, I settled myself near the chest of the squid monster.

“Since it’s your second visit, you’ll get the bonus treatment, right?”

I brought the handle of the torture staff close to my face, ensuring the creature could see, and flashed a bright smile. The ground was drenched in black ink, still trickling from the squid monster’s mouth.

The legs that had clung to its face were now curling up under the heat, revealing a neat little hole. Inside its mouth, sharp beak-like teeth, reminiscent of a parrot’s, were visible. The poor thing seemed to have run out of ink as those teeth twitched both inside and out.

“Well, now… I couldn’t ask for a more perfect hole.”

It was hard not to marvel at how the size of the opening seemed tailor-made for the heart-shaped decoration to fit. The very thought made me express admiration. The heat from the heart-shaped decoration was palpable, even just holding it.

And now, at the moment it was about to enter the mouth, what could the monster possibly be thinking? Its chest rose and fell even faster now. Without a hitch, the decoration slid into the darkness.

The staff stopped at just the right depth. The tension radiating from the monster was palpable.

I gently pressed the base of the mouth, as if releasing the staff into the air.

“Kraaaagh!”

Like placing a strip of pork belly onto a sizzling hot griddle, the sound of searing flesh rang out, followed by the monster’s screams.

The grotesque symphony of sizzling and screams decorated the grand finale. The nightmarish howls didn’t last long, though, as only the sizzling sound lingered, leaving an eerie echo in the space.

I pulled the staff out of the squid’s mouth, now crumbling into magic dust. A faint seafood odor clung to the staff, but it would disappear once the transformation wore off, so I didn’t care.

“Let’s go. Disengage.”

After the monster was completely disintegrated and scattered into the sky, Siyeon immediately released her transformation since there were no people around and she was near her house.

Instead of releasing her transformation right away, Siyeon threw out a question.

“But why do you go this far?”

“This is the only way to make sure the monsters that came once don’t come back.”

It was a question she had been asked when she had just started her magical girl activities. After answering the question again, Siyeon de-transformed, and they headed home. As she recalled the items she needed to order for the picnic, she pulled out her smartphone from her pocket and turned it on.

“Oh.”

The bear plushie, pretending to be an outfit decoration, let out another flustered short sigh.

It had acted suspicious even when it snatched her phone earlier when they left the house.

‘What’s up with this guy today?’

Still, not paying much attention, she swiped the screen to unlock it.

And then, the reason for the flustered sigh appeared right away.

Just before the plushie had snatched the phone, it hadn’t even pressed the home or back button to close the browser.

What appeared on the screen was a post the plushie was about to submit to the gallery.

[00][….]

[Subject: Issue]

[Did Sun’s real face before transformation really get exposed?!!]

The clickbait title.

And in the content, there was a large image.

A photo of a toilet.

A filthy picture too dirty to even describe in detail, as if someone had smacked her on the head.

Her footsteps stopped in utter disbelief. She let Siyeon walk ahead.

She turned her head sharply towards the bear plushie pretending to be part of her outfit.

“Hey.”

At her short reproach, a slight vibration could be felt from the hem of her clothes.

The plushie was trembling.

“The pain I suffered, I shall inflict on all humans…!”

The bear looked up at her with glaring eyes, hanging from her outfit.

It seemed at least somewhat aware of the gravity of what it had done.

“Any last words?”

She slowly detached it from her outfit and brought it up to eye level.

Before she could snap its neck and body into two pieces.

“Speak now.”

She decided to let it have its final words.

The bear pulled one arm out from her grasp and solemnly placed it on its left chest, making a loud “pang!” sound.

Its expression was as if it was facing a noble sacrifice.

“Not a single regret or shame in this life…”

“Shut up, you crazy toilet-villain.”

With a cracking sound, she snapped its neck and body apart and tossed the bear into the general trash bin at the neighborhood apartment complex.

After throwing it away, she muttered something she had planned to keep to herself.

“This thing’s a total psycho…”

No wonder it had been acting so suspicious—turns out it was launching a cyber-attack without her knowing.

After purging the contaminated gallery on her phone, she rushed forward with short strides.

Finally catching up with Siyeon, she started ascending the stairs to their apartment.

Siyeon, who hadn’t realized she had fallen behind, tilted her head as she looked at me.

“Huh? Where’s the bear?”

“I threw it away.”

“I seeee.”

Siyeon asked where the bear had gone, but upon hearing I had thrown it away, she no longer bothered to ask why.

She probably figured it would be back by tomorrow.

‘Ugh… damn it.’

No matter how hard I tried to erase the photo that lingered deeply in my mind, it wasn’t easy.

I haven’t even had dinner yet.