Chapter 2 — Expand, my world! ? Episode 2-6 ? Recapture ①

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

A black shadow swallows and chews up a large cow shaped in a black haze. Shadow, a Magical Girl in a black dress, watched with a grin as the sliding Diest disappeared.

Shadow is just at the middle among Phase 2 Magical Girls, a bit dangerous to fight one-on-one with an Earl-class Diest, but a Vikant-class can be defeated without difficulty by one person.

Sakira Town is a good Hunting Ground for Shadow, and the Diests that appear tend to be more Baron-class to Earl-class, basically at least one without opening the day, and sometimes several times a day if there are too many. Moreover, as is now the case, multiple Diests can appear at the same time, and the per capita income is much higher than it was when she settled in other areas.

The Baron-class Diest that she just defeated, if this were in any other area, would have multiple Magical Girls mixed in and rewards would be allocated according to their contribution to the defeat.

「Ahaha, it’s all about the Hunting Grounds.」

Shadow muttered contentedly in a bullish tone, a far cry from the sneering language she used before Marine and Dryad. It seemed that this was her real personality, usually acting in that strange manner.

Here in Sakira Town, there are many opportunities to hunt Diest alone and keep the points to herself.

Moreover, the Magical Girls who were originally rooted in the area are all small fry and can’t pose a threat.

For Shadow, who was traveling in search of a lucrative safe haven, this town could not have been more wonderful.

「Hello, Shadow-san.」

Shadow was in a good mood after the battle, and a calm voice called out to him.

When Shadow turned around in response to the voice, she saw a Magical Girl in a sky-blue costume and vivid blue color standing there, smiling and waving.

「Nha? Ah, erm, were you that little Elephant girl?」

For a moment, Shadow seriously forgot who it was, and as she wandered around, she remembered that it was one of the Magical Girls in this town that they had kicked out about three and a bit weeks ago.

「What’s your business here? You feel like you’re trying to reclaim your territory?」

「It doesn’t matter to me whether this is a territory or a Hunting Ground. But I will not lose to anyone in my desire to protect this town, so if you get in my way, I will defeat you.」

「Then, I’m gonna beat you up this time. I don’t want to lose my share.」

「Power Of The Elephant, Two.」

「Shadow Dive.」

In response to Shadow’s flippant reply, Elephant rushed out at the same time she activated her reinforcement magic. Under the influence of her special weapon, her steps are even more powerful than before, and her linear assaults are even faster, so much so that only a Magical Girl could even follow her behavior with their eyes.

But Shadow dived into the great shadow that covered itself, sinking into the water faster than the Elephant’s assault could reach it. By the time she was approached by Elephant, Shadow had already moved to get into the shadow of the building.

「Shadows.」

As Shadow was swallowed by the shade, Elephant, who was about to strike her, lost her balance a little and stepped on the flop. As if to take advantage of the gap, Shadow appeared from the shadows and took Elephant’s back.

Of course, Elephant immediately regained her stance and turned around to release a back fist, but sooner than that, her body stopped moving completely due to the magic invoked by Shadow. It’s the same magic that was used on the day of that attack.

「That’s called Checkmate. So the proximity type can only get close and hit? Easy to do, isn’t it?」

She cannot move, nor can she speak. However, Elephant knows that Shadow is right there from the sound of her voice.

「If you’re just going to give up quietly——Bugraa!!」

Shadow’s face, which was happily chatting and trying to approach the elephant, suddenly contorted as if something had hit her, and she was blown away in a cone-turning spin. She continued to bounce and roll on the ground several times, and then staggered to her feet with a bloody nose.

「What..!?」

「I can’t say this to Blade, but I’m actually a little grateful to you all. I had problems, but I didn’t have time to worry about it anymore.」

Shadow’s magic was lifted and Elephant, now able to move, speaks as she gives chase.

Many questions came to Shadow’s mind, such as how she retaliated in a situation where she was restrained by magic and unable to chant, and what she was saying so suddenly, but before she could think about it, she summoned her own scythe, her Exclusive Weapon, and received a fist with its hilt.

「Shadow Dive!」

The impact of the blow is used to activate the magic while backstepping. Just as she was about to hide in the shadows again and get behind Elephant, the shadow stopped moving. Elephant leapt to escape the shadow of the building.

「Shadow-san didn’t put up any videos or anything at all, so I had a hard time coping with it. But it’s still hard to live when people don’t like you.」

As if speaking to Shadow that lurks in the shadows, Elephant spins her words with a richly sarcastic tone.

Shadow was aware that she was hated, and that’s why she was very thorough in not leaving any information that could be used against herself. But to be disliked is to make a lot of enemies, and word of the town’s Magical Girls who have stayed so far was gathered by Knuckle to uncover some of Shadow’s magic.

「It’s a very useful magic to escape. But since you can only move in the shadows, it is difficult to convert it to an attack unless the opponent is well in the shadows.」

Here, Shadow added the word withdrawal as an option. She understood that the Magical Girl in front of her now wasn’t just a weakling to be hunted unilaterally, but one who has the potential to resist and turn back predators.

But at the same time, there was also the option of finishing off this Magical Girl here, even if it meant using magic that is not normally used against people. If she flees here with her tails between her legs, her rating will be determined. It would be a major psychological fetter in future battles, and an advantage for the opponent. Above all, she’s not the only one taking revenge, and her escape here could lead to the defeat of all of them.

Shadow usually doesn’t fight Magical Girls. Partly because she didn’t want to reveal her own hand, but also because she thought it’s safer for both sides to run away than to fight. However, in order to protect the ideal paradise that she had finally found, she firmly suppressed the desire to run away and resolved to defeat or at least stop the Magical Girl in front of her.

「When I heard your story, I thought to myself. No matter how low your offensive performance is, how is it possible that you were invincible if you stay in the shadows? For example, even if I can’t damage the shadow itself, how about damaging the shadowed area?」

「Shadow Beast!」

Elephant showed signs of trying to attack the ground where Shadow was hiding, and as a result, Shadow was dragged out. No one was supposed to know that information, but Elephant’s guess was correct. If the ground is damaged enough to shatter, Shadow who was lurking there will not be left alone. And the fact that she jumped out at that moment was tantamount to saying that it was the right thing to do.

It was now even more difficult to escape, but that no longer mattered to Shadow, who had made up her mind. In order to win, Shadow reveals one of her moves that she doesn’t usually show.

The surrounding shadows spill over to seep out of the walls and ground, forming a swarm of beasts. Like a Diest, it ran toward Elephant as ordered by its master.

The strength of each of them was equivalent to that of a Knight-class Diest, but there were so many of them. Elephant swings her fists and kicks, kicking the shadowy beasts one after another, but the attacks that it was unable to control are causing little by little wounds.

「C–Can’t help it then!」

The speed at which the shadowy beast disappeared visibly increased at the same time that Elephant screamed, as if to say that it was extremely unwilling to do so. And if she looked closely, she could see the shadowy beast that was neither punched nor kicked by the elephant, but suddenly blew up and disappeared as if something had hit it.

「Hah, the seed has been broken.」

Shadow doesn’t even know what exactly that is, but for the sake of convenience, she will refer to it as the「Third Hand.」

Elephant had invoked this third hand from the very beginning. She was ready to fight even before the fight began, just as Shadow entered the shadows of the building as soon as she was approached.

The third hand is invisible, apparently. In other words, it was not affected by light and cannot form shadows. That is why Shadows did not get through. The Shadows is a magic that binds the opponent’s movement by stepping on her shadow, but there is no way it can affect something that has no shadow.

Once she understand, this would be nothing. It’s true that Shadows have been sealed and the shadow lurking has almost been broken, but it wasn’t magic worthy of a threat.

Shadow’s Shadow Beast will regenerate itself over and over again as long as the magic lasts. She had refrained from doing so because producing more powerful individuals consumes more magical power than producing more weak individuals, but there is no longer any need to conserve it.

「Shadow General.」

The shadows that had been kicked around by Elephant gathered in one place and became a giant bipedal beast.

It’s a powerful shadow beast that can fight with the Baron-class, and even against the Vikant-class, it’s able to fight with superiority. It is true that the Magical Girl Elephant seems to have grown a lot compared to three weeks ago, but there is no way she can defeat this beast. Shadow thought so.

This is not an unfounded inference, but rather an assessment based on the way Elephant have fought up to this point and her battles with the Shadow Beasts, and even if she had opened the second gate, there is no way she could suddenly win against a shadow beast that is comparable to a low level Earl-class.

Objectively speaking, Shadow was not wrong in that decision. If there was anything that was overlooked, it was that the training given by the two Witches generally made them grow at an unbelievably fast pace, and that the casual “pressed” advice had unintentionally increased their understanding of magic.

Elephant throws an upper spinning kick to match the fist of the shadowy beast, which is swung down with a yell.

「Power Of The Elephant, Three!!」

The third stage of her Enhancement Magic. It was a double-edged sword that was limited to a momentary activation by the current Elephant, and even that alone was a great burden on the physical body.

But the blow certainly shattered the beasts of Shadow. The magic that was invoked without missing a single moment of meat far exceeded Power Of Elephant, let alone a human, and overthrew the mighty beast.

But that’s not the end of the story. Although the effects of the Enhancement Magic that exceeded its limits had disarmed all other magic, Elephant still stepped into the shadow with all the strength she had left.

「Hiee, sto—」

Shadow, who had used up all her magical power, could no longer hide in the shadows. She covered her face with her hands and begged for forgiveness, but Elephant’s fist swung mercilessly.

「Power Of! The Elephant!」

「Gohuu—!」

Just for a moment, just as before, the magic is activated and a sharp fist strikes the Shadow’s tail. At the same time, Elephant’s magic power ran out. Shadow, who had been covering her face with her hands, fainted and rolled on the ground, but now Elephant had no time to worry about that.

Elephant started walking, trying to get somewhere, but after a few meters or so, it sat down, leaning against a wall and collapsing.

As well as the fact that the magic power had bottomed out, the load of the third-stage enhancement magic was even greater. She didn’t think she will be able to stand up for a while, though not enough to lose consciousness.

「Sorry, I’ll give it a rest for a bit.. I’ll be there soon..」

Apologizing to someone who wasn’t here, Elephant quietly closed her eyes.