Transformation or Death

Like Family (7)

Perhaps it was because the light Virgo fired was quite strong. Or maybe the commotion here caused vibrations that shook even the distant earth. Countless villains began gathering toward this place.

It seemed the words that this area was land managed by Virgo were not an exaggeration, fortunately no new S-rank villain appeared.  

“Spectators have arrived?”

Virgo muttered while glancing around with a forlorn smile.

“You used to dislike this, right? People paying attention to you like this. Ah, but I guess it’s okay since it’s villains?”

How far did she delve into my story to know even such minute details? She may know more about me than I do myself. I followed her lead and let out a hollow laugh, though it was concealed within my helmet where Virgo couldn’t see.

“Didn’t I say before? Madness is forgetfulness. I want to forget everything and become a crazy woman…”

Fluttering, her petite wings unfurled. Dusk-colored feathers arrayed around the floating Virgo.

Each feather transformed, growing slender like sharpened spears. When Virgo moved her hand, the feather-spears scattered.

The feathers that descended gracefully, like spears, erasing even the daylight and igniting a new light.

Traces of an explosion, as if struck by an airstrike – buildings crumbling, ground sinking, asphalt and concrete shards flying, flesh scattering. A reddish explosion cloud shook the area.  

Most of the swarming villains instantly evaporated.

“Even when I thought I forgot, it comes back to me again. I just want to be a crazy woman without any thoughts, but it’s so hard… Isn’t it funny? To go mad, you first can’t be mad. Only then can you have that desire.”

Virgo shook her head in vexation.

“To forget, you first have to remember. To remember, you first have to experience. If you never experienced it from the start, it would all be solved. Then you wouldn’t even want to go mad.”

Slowly, like a devil ascending or an angel descending, she came down.

“You understand my feeling too, right? You wanted to become like me.”

She hovered about 50cm off the ground, stopping right in front of me so we could meet eyes. There was no body odor. The only scent from her was reminiscent of soil dust.

“You said you wanted to become like me. But why?”

A scent evocative of her life. A feeble scent one would smell amidst ruins. A scent proving her current life is in ruins.

Her outward appearance looks to be in her late teens or early twenties. Short in stature with skin so pale it’s sickly. Despite an outward appearance that should be vibrant, she was not.

“Why are you on that side?”

Unfortunately, I cannot fully understand this girl’s words. It’s because I have no memory. I don’t know her life, or what era I experienced with her.

Though she babbles incomprehensible things, from her perspective, it may be that I am the one who cannot understand.

If madness is forgetfulness, then the mad one must be me.

“Stop that. You’re making my identity waver. It looks like you’re the crazy one, not me.”

The quest success sound still had not rung out.

[Brother!]

Ah-yoon’s voice came from my belt.

[That explosion and light just now! It’s Virgo right? You’re there too brother! I saw it from far away! I’m heading over there now! No…] 

Amidst the feathers floating around Virgo, a butterfly flew in and landed. The butterfly’s form vanished, and by dimension hopping, a figure appeared.

“I’m already here!”

Pink and white armor. Wing-like cloth adorning the shoulders. The most distinct accessory was a belt in the shape of Cassiopeia with a lens in the center.

The five stars originally belonging to different constellations simultaneously lit up, depicting the completely different constellation of Cassiopeia.

Perhaps surprised by the sudden appearance, Virgo’s eyes widened greatly. As did her face.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Joo Ah-yoon slapped Virgo’s face. The force imbued with starlight would surely hurt, even for a villain. Virgo began an involuntary flight.

“What’s wrong… What?! Why is she doing that?!”

Spotting Red Vega cradled in my arms, Joo Ah-yoon cried out in shock.

“It’s exactly as you imagined.”   

Bang! A dull impact sound came from where Virgo had flown. I turned my gaze in that direction. Having grasped everything, Joo Ah-yoon’s brow furrowed deeply.

“What was this idiot thinking, attacking Virgo? Did she want to get her powers drained and die a wretched death in this dangerous place? Run if you see her!”

“Aren’t you the one who shouldn’t be talking?”

“Shut up, I at least survived in the end.”

“How boastful.”

“Then I’ll boast.”

Joo Ah-yoon chuckled and took my hand. 

“Then let’s escape right away. No need to linger any longer, right?”

“Wait a moment.”

I released her hand and placed Red Vega, Baek Ah-hee, into her arms from where I had been cradling her. Her transformed stature seemed similar to mine, so it didn’t look too difficult to carry her.

“…?”

Joo Ah-yoon stared piercingly at me. Though I couldn’t discern her expression, it was clear she found it perplexing.

“I’m not going.”  

“Why? What now? Can’t control your power? Want to rampage around like a bear?”

“It’s not like that…”

I gently pushed Joo Ah-yoon’s shoulder and stepped forward. Immediately a reddish beam traced in my direction. I swung the axe I hadn’t released from my grip to deflect it.

Poong! The beam refracted off my axe and flew off in an odd direction.

“There’s something I have to settle.”

A loud shout came from afar.

“Don’t interfere!!!”

Virgo seemed to yell out in rage.

“Brats reeking of milk, don’t get in the way!”

“What? Who are you calling brats?” 

As Joo Ah-yoon tried to lunge forward, I quickly grabbed her shoulder.

“…I’ll handle this. You get Vega to a safe place.”

“Geez, really….”

With a deep sigh, a butterfly was caught in her fingers again.

“See you later.” 

“Yeah.”

She didn’t doubt that I would come back. I nodded in response.

“Let’s meet again later.”

The butterfly swiftly flew into the sky, and their figures also disappeared from sight. Most of the villains had evaporated, becoming food for the light rays, leaving only dust and sparks behind.

“Now it’s just the two of us left.”

“That’s right~ Were you being considerate of me? Thanks. Hahaha, you wanted to be with me too, didn’t you? I’m glad~”

Her mood swings were still quick. The annoyance from just before was gone, and Virgo, emerging from the smoke, laughed leisurely. 

“Last warning! Drop the sparkling stuff right now and come to my side. I’ll go chase after those kids who ran away earlier.”

“Chase them, and then what?”

“What else could I do?”

Virgo sparked in her hand and then clenched her fist.

“Kill them. And while I’m at it, I’ll cause a massacre too! For the sake of destruction, I have to work hard every day!”

“That’s a problem.”

I gripped my axe tightly and aimed it at her. The steel blade of the axe, obscured by the lightning, was razor-sharp. Virgo’s eyebrows twitched.

“…But didn’t you say you’d listen to me well today? Why are you defying me like this? Annoying?”

“I’m sorry.”

With my other hand, I moved my belt.

“I’m naturally self-directed. I can’t just obediently follow your words.”

“Ohh~ Is that so?”

Virgo chuckled, aimed all her feathers at me, and pointed her finger at me.

“Then you have to die.”

A rain of light poured down. Raindrops the color of the faint reddish-purple sky at dusk rained down mercilessly in this direction, as if I were the center of gravity.

Taking in that baptism of light, I made one request to my belt.

‘Hey, belt.’

[What is it?]

‘Activate the stars.’

[…You mean right now?]

Every time I activated the stars I had collected so far, memories were also restored, causing me no small amount of suffering. I even experienced passing out in the bathroom.

Learning from this experience, I made a resolution.

Instead of activating all the stars as I obtained them, I would activate them all at once when I wanted to.

The belt sometimes restored memories on its own, ignoring this resolution, but at least I didn’t see the memories embedded in the stars.

But now, I intend to break that resolution.

[Restoring memories during combat is dangerous. The responsibility for losing consciousness lies entirely with the Guardian…]

‘You think I’m asking you to show me while I lose consciousness?’

I tried it, not knowing if it would work or not.

“Left eye. Show the memories only to this side. Is that possible?”

After a brief delay, the belt responded.

[It is possible. However, the Guardian’s body may not withstand it. There is also a possibility that the brain will be completely burned out.]

“Do it if it’s possible.”

The meaning of the quest to keep Virgo alive, her regret now, the answer might lie within these memories.

But I didn’t have the leisure to calmly read the memories. Once again, I had to end all this before Virgo committed another massacre.

“You say you want to destroy the world,”

A dazzling and unceasing spectacle of lights, like a kaleidoscope. The light rays like words from Virgo’s letters were still approaching me to be received.

Strangely, that entire scene now seemed to move in slow motion.

I, too, was a part of those lights. A pale and cold will-o’-the-wisp. The mechanical ferocity consuming my body lashed out in the form of lightning.

[Understood.]

In the blinding radiance, I heard the belt’s reply.

[I will activate the stars. However, memory restoration will be limited to your left field of vision.]

My left eye went blind with light. Beyond that, a familiar scenery approached.

Virgo was also standing there. In the past, she shot rays of light at the villain to protect me.

On the other side, in reality, she also stood there. She shot rays of light to kill me.

My head was throbbing painfully. My eyes felt like they were melting away in agony, and breathing was difficult too.

But I could still move.

I swung my axe, cutting through the rays of light.

Then I walked forward.

I walked forward.

I asked Virgo,

I asked Virgo,

“What do you want to do when you go outside?”

“Why are you trying to destroy the world?”

Virgo answered.

“First, I want to watch a movie with Mom! I wonder what movies are popular these days? Aren’t you curious, Jae-jung?”

Virgo answered.

“Hahaha, you’re asking the obvious!”

She rushed at me, drew out a ray of light like a sword, and swung it at me.

“I forgot all about it long ago!”

While I was recalling what I had forgotten, Virgo was forgetting what she had remembered.

To borrow her words that oblivion is madness, she was becoming increasingly insane.

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