Pythie Frederica
Frederica saw something difficult to believe: Gliding through that mossy corridor without touching the walls or floor was a magical girl in a school uniform—Kana.
Just what had happened? Kana was still as beat-up as she had been before. Unable to read the situation quickly, Frederica put the seed in her mouth and leaped out of Kana’s way.
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you,” came a sudden voice.
It sounded like a buzzing mosquito on the verge of death, but the magic in it momentarily stopped Frederica from trying to swallow the seed. It stuck in her throat, and she unthinkingly looked toward the voice. Mephis Pheles was lying on her back, sneering up at Frederica.
Mephis was still conscious even though she should have faced certain death. Tetty’s mittens must have inadvertently saved her life. But that was no use—a pointless miracle.
Frederica kept herself from choking and once again tried to swallow the seed. That delayed her reaction when Kana changed her trajectory. Frederica had seen that change in trajectory many times before—with Ripple’s kunai and shuriken.
Frederica should have avoided Kana’s approach, but Kana got right in front of her, body-slamming and grabbing her. Frederica had made sure to crush both her legs; Kana couldn’t run, let alone walk—but she could still use her arms. This magical girl on the verge of death dredged up her remaining strength to grab Frederica’s wrists.
“The seed!” Snow White cried. “Don’t let her swallow it!”
The magical girl on Kana’s back haltingly lifted herself up.
The right half of Ripple’s body was already covered in moss.
These ruins would completely neutralize an ordinary magical girl. Without an extraordinary body like Snow White’s, there was no telling whether someone like Ripple would just barely make it out alive.
It was too late. Ripple was beyond saving. Together, the heavily wounded magical girl and the dying magical girl with her restrained Frederica’s wrists and pierced her throat with a kunai.
This was no different from earlier. It wouldn’t be enough to kill Frederica.
“Gah…guh…”
But the kunai had stopped the seed inside her throat. It couldn’t go any farther. The kunai was blocking it like a dam.
That was when something soft touched the back of Frederica’s neck. Despite the chaos, Frederica remained strangely calm; she knew what this was.
It was Snow White.
She had read Ripple’s mind and saw what she was planning to do. Snow White put on Tetty’s mittens and grabbed Frederica’s neck from behind.
With Tetty’s mitten, she could destroy the seed. She could crush it and Frederica’s neck together.
Snow White’s hand tensed. She felt no pity, no mercy—there was no holding back. She was giving everything she had to the kill, true to her moniker, the Magical-Girl Hunter.
Ahh.
Bones snapped, flesh was crushed, and a flood of light followed. Frederica could no longer think.
✦ ✦ ✦
Snow White
Frederica’s throat was crushed, and then it shone. It took a split second for Snow White to notice that the seed had been smashed, but by then, the light was already swallowing it.
“A dog has a dog’s way…and a wolf…a wolf’s way,” Kana muttered hoarsely, smiling. And then, she leaped at the light.
She was attempting to hold it back. As the light scorched her body, she began chanting a spell.
Snow White heard Kana’s inner voice: She was protecting everyone.
Meanwhile, Snow White was too weak to flee. She couldn’t move.
Ripple’s mouth fluttered. Snow White could tell that she was trying to say something. Knowing Ripple, it had to be an apology.
I should be thanking her, Snow White thought with a smile.
Ripple could no longer make a sound. She wasn’t looking at Snow White. Her eyes were entirely green; moss covered her whole body. She was still alive. But it was too late.
✦ ✦ ✦
