Chapter 62: Shinichi Kudo, Make a Contract With Me and Become a Magical Girl!
Haibara's Witch Labyrinth was consuming reality, and at the same time, reshaping it.
The air was thick with the acrid smell of chemicals, mixed with the scorched scent of burning paper and a corrupt, sweet fragrance. The sky was gone, replaced by a giant DNA double helix. Arcs of electricity leaped along its strands, illuminating a twisted laboratory. The ground had become cracked tile, with a dark red liquid seeping from the fissures.
Towering test tubes and beakers stood at tilted, broken angles, with strange bubbles roiling in the residual liquid inside. Faded letters on the labels were still faintly legible—"APTX." Black gears were embedded throughout the space, their heavy CLICK-CLACK grinding every last shred of hope to dust.
Familiars were born within the Labyrinth.
Researchers in torn, white lab coats with blurred faces wandered the corridors, the giant syringes in their hands glinting coldly as they madly pursued any living thing. Twisted, pill-shaped creatures crawled across the ground, their tiny, jointed legs scraping the floor, leaving a trail of corrosive slime. Shards of broken mirrors floated in the air, each one reflecting a different expression from Ai Haibara's past—indifference, fear, sorrow, despair. The mirrors would then suddenly shatter, sending a spray of sharp glass in all directions.
The remaining members of the mob who had been dragged into the Labyrinth were now suffering endless torment. Some were captured and injected by the giant syringes, their bodies rapidly dissolving and mutating under the effects of the chemicals. Others were swarmed by the pill-Familiars, their skin corroded until it was a bloody mess. Still more were trapped in a maze of broken mirrors, forced to confront their deepest fears until their minds shattered.
…
Meanwhile, Conan lay on the cold ground, his face smeared with dirt, blood, and the flesh of someone he didn't know. Using the last of his strength, he dragged his broken body forward, inch by inch, until he could finally pull the cold head—Ran's head—into his arms.
Screams echoed from deeper within the Labyrinth, and the Familiars made a wet, piercing shriek. A world of twisted despair unfolded before his eyes, but he had no reaction. He curled up, clutching the last bit of coldness, his small body trembling uncontrollably. His vision was a complete blur.
In this boundless darkness and void, a pure white silhouette appeared silently before him.
It did not belong in this world. Amidst the ruins, among the twisted mob, in the vortex of blood and madness, it was utterly out of place. Its pure white fur was unstained by a single drop of blood. Its cute face held not a hint of malice.
Its red eyes watched him calmly, as if appreciating a piece of art on the verge of shattering.
Kyubey.
For the first time, a faint flicker of motion registered in Conan's empty eyes. This creature… the creature that was the source of all this disaster… now, in his eyes, it looked like… the only life raft he could grab onto in this abyss of despair.
A single… twisted ray of hope.
He once resisted it, was wary of it, wanted to destroy it. Now, he craved it with every fiber of his being.
After all… what else did he have?
He had lost everything. Ran was dead, her body desecrated. His friends were dead, their ends horrific. He hadn't been able to protect anyone. He hadn't been able to change anything.
But. He had not yet made a contract. He still had a chance.
A Soul Gem… a wish… a miracle…
Yes… a miracle… Maybe… maybe there's still a chance to fix this… Ran… the Doctor… everyone…
"Kyubey… you came…" Conan's lips moved without a sound. In this hell on earth, in this twisted reality, Kyubey had somehow become his only… salvation.
Conan's trembling hand unconsciously reached for the pure white figure.
Suddenly, a thought drifted through his mind. A being like him? A soul like his? Could it truly bear the weight of a wish powerful enough to undo all of this? What if he failed? What if the price was…
No.
He shook his head violently, as if to dislodge the last traces of Shinichi Kudo's reason and apprehension. He looked down at the head in his arms, at Ran's empty eyes. They would never again reflect his own image.
Consequences? The price? Those were just excuses. Excuses to deceive himself.
He didn't care about all of humanity. He didn't care about the future of the world. He didn't even care about the so-called civilians who were just massacred in front of him.
He just wanted to save Ran.
He just wanted to save the Doctor. To save Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko! To save Akemi! To save Haibara! To save his parents, who were likely already dead! To save Uncle Kogoro, Auntie Eri, and Sonoko!
To save the people he remembered, the people who were important to him!
As for the others? The mob that had brandished their weapons? The "scum" whose names he couldn't even remember? Why should his wish include them? On what grounds?
Let them die.
Let them die.
LET THEM ALL DIE!
He didn't want to save them. He just wanted the people he approved of to come back. He just wanted to live with them, in peace. Even if it was in this completely broken world.
Justice? The truth? What were those things? Could you eat them? Could they bring back Ran's smile? Could they make the Doctor call him "Shinichi" one more time?
No. They couldn't.
He was tired. Being a detective… was so tiring… This game… he didn't… want to play anymore…
Kyubey tilted its head. A light glinted in its red eyes, as if it had seen through all the darkness and conflict in his heart.
"Well then," it said, its voice impossibly sweet. "State your wish, Shinichi Kudo."
"Your soul has endured such immense despair, and yet it burns with such an intense desire… What kind of miracle is it truly worth?"
Conan looked up. A new light had ignited in his dead eyes. It was not the light of justice. It was a light of hope mixed with endless pain, a heaven-storming hatred, and a near-maniacal obsession.
He looked at the white creature before him and, using the last of his strength, spoke the wish that would either change everything, or… destroy it all.
BOOM—!!!
The light shone!!!!!
The light roared!!!!!
A pillar of near-pure white light erupted from Conan, shooting toward the heavens. It was so massive it was hard to comprehend, containing a boundless energy, as if it would pierce through the sky and the earth. It instantly tore through the dark firmament of Haibara's Witch Labyrinth.
But the light was not entirely pure. Deep within it, shadows could be seen swirling, integrating themselves into it, as if the miracle was born with a seed of corruption and madness already inside.
Around the remains of his fallen comrades, and even around the Witches themselves, a faint light began to glow, growing stronger and stronger with the pillar's ascent.
And this light was reflected, finally… in Kyubey's calm, red eyes.