Kaede, the Magical Girl, was the ultimate weapon.
A heavy atmosphere hung in the conference room where Arongante and the standby team were present.
Just a few minutes after Inie’s video feed cut out, monsters attacked the city, starting to cause damage.
As far as could be confirmed from the footage, the fact that the Irregular wasn’t directly attacking the city was perhaps a fortunate circumstance amidst the misfortune.
However, within an hour, all the Magical Girls and civilians in Australia would likely die.
The Magical Girls were fighting desperately, and the military supporting them were doing their best, but they could barely hold on.
Perhaps it was only natural that the conference room was filled with a heavy atmosphere since there was nothing anyone could do but watch helplessly while biting their nails at such footage.
“I wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t been isolated by the barrier?”
While watching the footage, Shirokigawa contemplated what might have occurred otherwise.
What made the Irregular troublesome was not just its individual strength but also its ability to summon subordinate monsters.
Even worse, even if the main monster was defeated, some of these subordinates wouldn’t disappear, causing secondary damage.
With the limited number of Magical Girls available, spreading the monsters around inevitably led to civilian and structural casualties.
Moreover, Inie’s monitor continued to show only noise, making it impossible to track her status.
Arongante had sent Marin without informing anyone and now, watching the unresponsive Inie monitor, felt an ominous premonition.
“What should we do?”
“—Let’s wait just a little longer. As a precaution, please stay on standby surrounding Australia.”
Arongante snapped back to reality upon hearing White Mage and gave orders to the waiting Magical Girls, considering the possibility that the barrier might vanish.
While some Magical Girls may have wanted to monitor the situation, being ready to act at any moment on the field would likely ease their minds more than simply waiting idly.
As people left the conference room, the silent footage of the battle in Australia played on.
“She’s here.”
After the standby group had left, a single Magical Girl entered the conference room.
“Sorry for interrupting your busy time. Are you aware of the situation?”
“Yes. It seems difficult even for me to enter the barrier. Not impossible, but defeating this amount of monsters isn’t practical.”
“Is that so? What about the usual method?”
“That’s fine. Both magically and mentally.”
The Magical Girl who entered the room—Kaede—sat next to Arongante and looked at the monitors.
On most monitors except one, Magical Girls were seen fighting desperately.
Some monitors showed the Magic Bureau or the monsters themselves, revealing the extent of despair.
“It’s almost time…”
“Hmm?”
As the decision-making moment approached, the noise on Inie’s monitor disappeared.
Her appearance was different from both the two forms shown in the simulation and the typical form of a White Mage, exuding an unusual aura.
Blood pooled beneath Inie’s feet, indicating a fierce battle had taken place.
Inie teleported to the location hardest hit by the monsters, instantly turning the approaching monsters into dust and then conjured a magical array above the city to summon rain.
People and Magical Girls touched by the rain began to heal, their previous despair replaced with expressions of confusion.
Turning over ten thousand monsters into dust and healing over a thousand people and Magical Girls,
Inie moved closer to the Irregular, drew the scythe she carried on her back, and light shot up from it forming a massive blade.
The monster Inie faced was plant-based, known for its strong vitality; usually, burning it until its life force was depleted was the standard approach.
However, the monster split in half by Inie’s enormous scythe didn’t regenerate but instead turned into dust.
“…What exactly happened… Is that really Inie?”
Watching Inie’s battle, Arongante muttered.
Not out of fear, but sheer astonishment.
It was known that using the abilities of the Arcana could make one stronger than oneself.
But Arongante hadn’t anticipated that Inie could annihilate the Irregular’s monsters so swiftly.
From then on, Inie’s battle was nothing short of extraordinary in every aspect.
Moving with meteor-like speed, she saved Australia from the brink of despair.
Despite surpassing the supposed time limit Inie mentioned, she continued to fight, prompting concern in Arongante, though Inie remained expressionless throughout.
As Kaede watched Inie’s battle alongside Arongante, the latter’s terminal rang.
It was from the Magical Girls on standby around Australia.
“When will—”
“Sorry, but I’m lifting the standby order. It seems our turn won’t come.”
Before any complaints could arise, Arongante stated the matter plainly.
“—What does that mean?”
“Well… if we were to put it in terms of wind, it would be like saying an angel descended. For now, everyone can return safely, so thank you very much.”
After ending the call, Arongante returned her gaze to Inie’s monitor.
Though the damage wasn’t negligible, compared to total annihilation, the result seemed considerably better.
While Arongante was engrossed in Inie’s monitor, unnoticed by her, other monitors displayed dramas unfolding: Marin and Nightmare cooperating against the monsters, Magic Bureau staff and Magical Girls risking their lives to save civilians.
“It seems my turn won’t come either.”
Saying this, Kaede stood up.
“Sorry for coming all this way.”
“Don’t worry about it. Preparing for the worst is never a bad thing. Besides, I got to see something interesting. I’ll take my leave before others arrive.”
Kaede created a magic circle on the floor, stepped onto it, and teleported away.
As if in exchange, the standby Magical Girls entered the room, astonished upon seeing the monitors.
All the Magical Girls present were witnessing Inie’s battle in the New Demon War.
Some had even placed bets on her success.
“Isn’t one person enough?”
A Magical Girl who said something absurd was promptly knocked on the head by Strauf.
“What are you talking about? Such overwhelming power usually comes with restrictions, right?”
“That’s generally true… but…”
Inie’s time to use the Arcana’s abilities was supposed to be limited.
Yet, she had already fought for over ten minutes, showing no signs of decreased combat ability.
(Did something happen during the battle with the Apocalypticists?)
When the noise appeared on the monitor, Shengxi was glimpsed.
Inie must have fought her, and it was reasonable to assume something significant occurred there.
However, there was no way to know exactly what.
Inie’s unprecedented battle continued, and she finally teleported to Sydney, where the last monster appeared.
There, Nightmare and Marin were handling a dragon-type monster, while other Magical Girls were focused on defense and evacuation efforts.
Just as everyone thought things were under control, Inie took an unexpected action.
She entrusted the dragon-type monster to the two and chose to observe from a distance.
Of course, she was still healing them and providing support, but many wished she’d finish it off quickly.
At this point, everyone finally noticed Marin, causing a slight ripple of surprise in the conference room.
“Isn’t she from Japan…?”
“Why is she in Australia?”
It was natural for questions like these to arise.
If Marin were ranked among the top-tier Magical Girls, her presence abroad might have been understandable.
However, as a newcomer whose rank was still not particularly high, her presence in another country was unusual.
“She asked a certain Magical Girl to send her here. Ideally, we wanted to send someone of the Ranker class, but there were reasons, so please understand.”
“The reason being that sending a Magical Girl capable of harming Inie wasn’t possible, but I won’t elaborate further. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Arongante lightly bowed in apology.
“While I don’t care about that now, what’s the plan moving forward? We still know nothing about the barrier, right?”
“Unfortunately, we’re working on it, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Strauf’s question was answered by Shirokigawa.
“My prediction is that once all the Irregulars are gone, the barrier will dissolve. If the barrier does dissolve, please teleport immediately to various locations to confirm the situation. Afterward, everyone except Strauf should follow the instructions of the top-ranked Magical Girl in their respective countries.”
After issuing these instructions, Arongante waited a bit, and finally, Marin and Nightmare managed to defeat the monster.
Upon doing so, audio from the monitors resumed, confirming the dissolution of the barrier surrounding Australia.
“As expected. Everyone, let’s get to work.”
Following Arongante’s orders, the Magical Girls sprang into action.
“Now, let’s get to our tasks too. How about communications from other countries?”
“All replies have been sent. A meeting will be held once Australia stabilizes.”
“Thank you. Though I don’t enjoy dealing with government officials, it can’t be helped.”
Had Inie not been present, Kaede had planned to obliterate the entire Australian continent.
The witch’s barrier was that problematic.
Some Magical Girls capable of potentially breaking parts of the barrier were occupied with handling the increasing number of monsters, and none were part of this mission’s lineup.
Even if they were present, the outcome of attempting to break the barrier due to its reflective properties would be uncertain.
Though the worst-case scenario was avoided, Arongante received numerous inquiries from various countries.
All of them sought detailed information about the incident and the witch involved.
Ordinarily, the Magic Bureau should handle these inquiries, but its upper echelons had been wiped out and were currently undergoing reorganization.
Since Arongante was temporarily filling in for the absent Magic Bureau leadership, the inquiries came to her.
Most responses were handled by Shirokigawa, but individually replying to each was impractical, so a meeting was scheduled later.
While cooperation between nations in combat would alleviate Arongante’s pessimism, the likelihood of such collaboration was extremely low.
Each nation prioritized itself, and the Magical Girls naturally preferred protecting their own homeland.
Had an event similar to Australia’s happened simultaneously elsewhere, aiding both locations might not have been possible.
Even with multiple Rankers inside the barrier, the damage would have been catastrophic.
Unlike inside the isolated barrier, civilians, buildings, and land outside would remain intact.
Balancing these concerns while battling monsters would prove challenging, even for Rankers.
What Arongante feared most was what to do about Inie.
“What about Inie? She’s demonstrated sufficient power to become a Ranker through this incident. Sure, she has the mysterious power of Arcana, but given the existence of magic, it’s not surprising, right?”
“First, we need to confirm with her personally. Ideally, it would help if Inie stayed free to move without becoming a Ranker, but this will undoubtedly be pointed out in the meetings…”
This incident, like the New Demon War, was being viewed by many.
Even without focusing solely on Inie, her actions were so striking that her uniqueness couldn’t escape attention.
“Though we entrusted this mission to her, perhaps we underestimated the witches somewhat.”
“Discussions about the value of Magical Girls have been ongoing for a long time, but with witches, Inie, and Kaede’s cases, things might get heated.”
Magical Girls are essentially humanoid weapons.
At one point, countries tried monopolizing Magical Girls, but the rise of the Magic Bureau and monster attacks calmed the situation somewhat.
However, adults and politics always operate beneath the surface.
When Kaede emerged as a major threat, she quickly took control of the Magical Girls and the Magic Bureau through her skills.
This resulted in increased workload for her, leading to a period of relative peace marked by reduced corruption in the Magic Bureau and occasional conflicts among Magical Girls.
To say that Kaede, who worked hard for world peace, was wrong would be harsh.
Kaede rarely appeared in the media and was known to the public as the strongest Magical Girl, but she didn’t often make headlines.
However, Inie became widely recognized, culminating in a global crisis.
Every country would want someone like Inie.
Regardless of her personal wishes, events quietly but rapidly began to unfold.
“Well, let’s get some work done before Inie returns. Looks like we’re in for several sleepless days again.”
Arongante opened the refrigerator in the conference room and downed an energy drink.
“Occasionally, you should de-transform and get proper rest. No matter how resilient you think you are, pushing yourself like this will shorten your lifespan.”
“I’d prefer to quit being a Magical Girl like Sister and live a relaxed life, but… well, Sister, you should help too.”
Until Inie returned, the two dove into their work.
