As Tatsuya hopped into the Exo Zone through the portal opened by the system, his outfit began to change passively.
Tiny streams of silver particles surged across his skin with a faint, mechanical hum, snapping together piece by piece until they formed a solid layer of shining armor. A red, fur-lined cloak then unfolded from his back like liquid fabric, draping itself neatly across his shoulders.
"Wow! What's this?!" Tatsuya exclaimed, staring down at the silver armor that had wrapped itself around his body. He clenched his fists experimentally—and then, with a sharp flicker, a translucent blue interface sparked to life across the visor.
The screen adjusted with perfect clarity, mapping the world before him. What should have been an ordinary residential block was instead its Exo Zone reflection—ruined and horrifying. Corpses lay scattered across the streets, some bisected, some burned beyond recognition, others reduced to bones and scraps of flesh. Guts and blood painted the cracked pavement. Houses stood half-collapsed, some still burning, their flames clawing at the sky.
"Oh no!" Tatsuya gasped, horrified by the scene before him. "How could anyone kill so many innocent people in such horrific ways?!"
Just then, the system's cold, digital text flickered across his HUD.
[Hold your emotions. That is not the way to fight monsters. If you want to be efficient in your mission, you must cast aside your feelings and face this with detachment.]
"I… I just can't…"
[Remind me next time to install emotion suppression in that suit of armor I gave you.]
"Bruh?!"
Tatsuya stared at the system's words with wide, disbelieving eyes.
[Shut up and just do your damn work, stupid child.]
The HUD shifted, scanning the surroundings. A map and live feed flickered across his visor.
[Now listen. Near the edge of the residential area, there are six—maybe seven—people left. They're bound by mana chains. The monster is about to slaughter them.]
The feed zoomed in, showing the captives struggling in glowing chains, the monster looming closer.
[Take your sword and go!]
Tatsuya clenched his jaw, summoned his golden sword in a flash of light, and leapt forward—blade raised high as he charged straight toward the monster.
However, the monster sensed the incoming strike and raised one of its eight octopus-like tentacles to block the blow.
Its massive, twisting body coiled, the grotesque head of an axolotl glaring at Tatsuya before it let out a bone-rattling roar. The force of it pushed Tatsuya back a few steps—
—and then the creature spewed a raging torrent of fire straight at him, like a living flamethrower.
"Shit!"
Tatsuya shouted as he saw the incoming flames and quickly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blast.
[No need to dodge the fire, stupid child. This armor makes you immune to heat up to the level of the sun. That weak flame wasn't even close to bypassing it, nor this monster has such capability]
Should've said that sooner!
Tatsuya swung his sword at the monster, releasing a condensed wave of pure mana. The beast batted it away with ease, redirecting the attack straight back at him. Tatsuya barely managed to dodge his own strike as it tore through an entire block, leveling buildings like they were made of paper.
You said this mission was going to be easy!
[It is, dumbass. Not my fault you're below average level.]
"Let's see how you dodge this, magical girl!" the monster roared, mistaking Tatsuya in armor for one. It lunged at him, its massive frame cutting through the air.
[Punch it!]
What?!
The impact landed with a deafening sonic boom, blasting Tatsuya through several blocks. He spun wildly through the air until he crashed into a concrete building in the main city area, rubble exploding around him.
Coughing, Tatsuya pushed himself out of the debris and recalled his sword, which flew back into his hand from where it had fallen.
[Why didn't you punch it?! You have more than enough power to produce the kinetic energy needed to turn that ugly eight-armed freak into paste!]
It was sudden, okay?! I'm still getting the hang of this whole Magical Boy thing!
[Whatever. This fight would've been over already if you had just used your prime ability.]
My… prime ability?
[Duh. The power to control magnetic forces!]
Eh? Magnetism? And how's that supposed to help me? Throwing chunks of iron and steel at it?
[No, idiot! Magnetism is one of the four fundamental forces of the universe! With it, you can do far more than just fling metal around!]
Like what?
[Like giving people cancer!]
I can do what?!
Tatsuya stared in disbelief, eyes wide.
[Yes! That's exactly what you're going to do—you're gonna give the monster cancer! No, even better… a super cancer!]
On his HUD, a red outline pulsed—the monster was already preparing to charge straight toward his location.
[Quickly, make a magnetic field gradient, and when the monster enters—pull that shit down! And then give it cancer!]
Why are you so fixated on cancer?!
[Do as I say, or I'll give you a temporary one just to make your life a living hell!]
Tatsuya groaned, sighing in defeat. He spread his arms, summoning a massive magnetic field gradient, mana thrumming as he forced the charges into alignment.
The instant the monster lunged into range, he yanked it down with crushing force.
BOOM!
The beast smashed into the ground, gouging out a crater that tore through the ruined street, dust and debris blasting outward like a bomb had gone off.
[Now, quickly—destroy its cell-replicating ability and boom, cancer! Also, use your mana to mutate it straight to Stage IV—no, Stage VI! A level that doesn't even exist, so it dies in ten seconds flat!]
Tatsuya rushed in, channeling magnetism through his armor. He focused, twisting the monster's biology at its core—shattering its ability to replace cells while forcing a grotesque mutation.
Within moments, the creature began to wither. Its flesh decayed, skin shriveling, muscle collapsing in on itself until it dried up and crumbled to dust right before his eyes.
[Nice, nice! Now go untie the hostages, erase their memory of this event, and wipe all traces of those who died.]
Yes…
Tatsuya soared toward the surviving hostages, still bound in chains, trembling in silent fear. Not a single word left their lips as they stared at him.
"Don't worry. It's going to be fine—you're all safe now…"
With a snap of his fingers, the chains shattered. The survivors collapsed onto the ground unconscious as their memories of the nightmare vanished. The dead, too, were erased—not just from minds, but from existence itself, as if they had never lived at all.
Ding!
A translucent notification flickered into his HUD.
----
<< Mission Accomplished >>
Reward has been granted to your private inventory.
You have received experience.
You leveled up to Level 9.
---
Phew…
Tatsuya exhaled in relief—but it didn't last long. Cold steel pressed against his neck. A rapier, split in design—half white, half black.
"My, my… I didn't expect to find an unknown magical girl trespassing in my turf."
The voice was sharp, mocking. The girl holding the blade stood close, her frilly dress perfectly divided down the middle—one half white, the other black. Her hair mirrored the same contrast, and even the mask covering her face followed the dual pattern, hiding her expression yet making her presence twice as unnerving.
"Though… why such a man-looking armor?" the magical girl asked, tilting her head, suspicion lacing her tone.
[Don't say a word. If she discovers the truth—that the one in the armor is a man—your existence will be exposed. We can't let the magical girls know about you until the time is right!]
Then what should I do?!
[Leave it to me.]
Suddenly, the armor flared with a blinding white glow—so intense the magical girl hissed and covered her eyes. For a moment, her vision went dark.
When her sight returned, she gasped, spinning around in confusion.
"Huh? What the hell?! Where… where did she go?!
Then she quickly calmed down and shrugged. "Whatever, it's not that uncommon for magical girls of different branches to invade each other's territories…"
The mask dissolved into nothing, revealing Tsumi—though now her eyes were mismatched, one pure white and the other pitch black.
She cast her gaze over the unconscious hostages.
What should I do now? I only came here because not many magical girls would waste their time on such a weak monster. Unfortunately, nothing interesting has come from watching Ezakiel and Yuta. There's no point spying on them in the daytime… I'll have to see what they do at night instead. Hopefully it won't turn into another freak off, like what I had to witness today while spying on Yuta…
Then she noticed that one of the captives was a pregnant woman.
A smile crept across her lips.
I guess it's time to torture a pregnant woman, then…
She raised a finger, and the woman was lifted into the air as if by invisible strings before being hurled into a swirling portal. The portal snapped shut immediately after.
"Now then… time to send the rest back to the outside world."
She snapped her fingers, and the Exo Zone began to collapse in on itself.