Vol 2 Chapter 144: Execution
"Is it... ugh... is it done?"
With one hand still clenched in a fist, Nina couldn't fully cover her ears. Hearing the Remnant Beast's howl, she instinctively widened her eyes, trying to see its condition through her blurred vision. She spat out a mouthful of liquefied magic power, her face pale as she asked.
Cornflower wasn't in much better shape, but compared to Nina, she'd reserved enough magic to repair her body and could still stand steadily: "The magic is still melting, meaning this thing hasn't given up yet."
After having its corrosion resistance separated away, the Remnant Beast before them was instantly injured by the fluids seeping from its own body. Even its nest-building behavior had become a desperate tactic that harmed the enemy a thousand while damaging itself eight hundred. Yet despite this, it stubbornly persisted in completing its task, reactivating its rules after Cornflower's brief interruption.
The Remnant Beast's limited intelligence couldn't comprehend the reality that "its own bodily fluids are harming it," so it simply believed the Magical Girls before it were the cause of its injuries. It had to devour these two Magical Girls to stop the pain.
Undoubtedly, Cornflower's actions had brought the Remnant Beast down to their level of misery, finally putting both sides on equal footing. However, if the beast's rules continued operating unchecked, the final result would likely be both Magical Girls and the Remnant Beast melting together here.
This wasn't the outcome Cornflower wanted.
Adjusting the scissors in her hand slightly, silver-blue light points flickered as a ruler and threads reappeared in her grasp. All three forms of "Fateweaver" now floated before Cornflower simultaneously.
She hooked her fingers, suspending several magic threads before her face while calmly observing their changes and counting seconds mentally. From appearance to dissolution, she concluded the threads lasted exactly "3 seconds." Updates are released by 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Captain... any ideas left?"
Nina, leaning against Cornflower, panted uncontrollably—a sign her magic reserves were nearing depletion. As a Leaf-rank Magical Girl, Nina's magic capacity was far inferior to Cornflower's Bud-rank or the Half-Molt before them. After having large amounts of magic and body parts melted away while continuously activating her magical equipment, she was clearly reaching her limit: "I... I don't think I can hold on much longer..."
The mucus wall being held back by her "Grasp Now" ability had begun spreading outward, showing signs of bypassing the congealed air barrier. Nina could only continuously pull more air into her equipment's range of effect, causing her magic consumption to skyrocket.
"What do we do... I don't want to die yet," she practically whimpered from her throat.
"Relax, you won't die."
Cornflower's remarkably steady voice reached her ears.
Releasing the hooked threads while mentally repeating the observed "3 seconds," Cornflower curled her lips slightly and raised her ruler: "Three seconds is enough. Now begins this monster's execution time."
Nina instinctively looked at Cornflower: "Attacking with our equipment will melt it, and when I tried spells earlier, even the runes turned to liquid... What method can possibly hurt it now?"
Her concern wasn't unfounded. Based on previous circumstances, all their offensive methods had become ineffective against the Remnant Beast's bizarre rules. Even melee combat would require overcoming both the massive size difference and the corrosive mucus covering its body.
Under these conditions, Cornflower declaring an "execution" sounded like pure fantasy to Nina.
But Cornflower didn't respond further, having already begun her maneuver.
Extending the slightly melted ruler forward, Cornflower squinted one eye as if aiming a bow, aligning the "0" mark with the Remnant Beast's center mass.
Then with her other hand, she mimed drawing a bowstring at the ruler's opposite end, hooking a thread at the "10" mark.
She silently invoked its name, activating the ruler's ability to fix the distance between thread and beast at exactly "10."
No unit calculations or real spatial positioning were needed—for her equipment, these two points would forever remain "10" units apart.
Next, Cornflower released the thread and picked up her scissors.
To free up magic allocation, she temporarily abandoned separating the "corrosion resistance" concept. The heavily injured Remnant Beast couldn't suffer much more damage from this in the short term anyway.
Then she fully mobilized her freed magic output, aligning the scissor blades with her ruler.
One second had passed since materializing the thread.
As if making a proclamation, she softly spoke the number.
The scissors' "snip" coincided with her declaration, the blades closing directly on the ruler.
Silver-blue light erupted from the scissors, spreading along the extended ruler before merging with the thread's glow.
Then, the distance between the "0" and "10" marks on Cornflower's ruler vanished.
Simultaneously disappearing was the thread aligned with the "10" mark. When it reappeared, its position now coincided with the "0" mark.
The "0" and "10" marks had overlapped.
So too had the Remnant Beast's body and the thread.
Two seconds had elapsed, leaving just one second before thread dissolution.
But for Cornflower, this was sufficient.
As her scissors dispersed into magic motes, Cornflower touched the thread again and violently pulled downward.
Blue light trails drew graceful arcs across the Remnant Beast's body, leaving afterimages in their wake. The thread that had merged with the beast suddenly divided into countless segments, expanding from a single origin point within its form into an enormous web.
The three-second limit arrived, yet despite reaching their duration, the web-like threads showed no signs of melting.
Even the Remnant Beast didn't comprehend what had occurred. It extended a claw forward, still attempting to approach the Magical Girls—it needed food, needed to stop these prey-creatures from harming it further.
But its outstretched limb would never reach its targets.
Because the instant before fully extending, the claw disintegrated into scattered meat chunks raining onto the ground.