Transformation or Death

Chapter 49

Like a Comet in Your Heart (10)

Receiving positivity from others. 

The power of peace.

Giving faith purely without any ulterior motives.

As if rewarding that faith, the spark of Red Vega flared up powerfully. 

It was like a shooting star.

A long, long streak of starlight enveloped in flames.

“Why did you wake up, are you crazy?!”

“The one who is crazy is you for engulfing the ship in flames.”  

“To be honest, I’m not even sure if I’m really conscious right now. This could all be a dream and I’m just having a hallucination on the brink of death. My brain is piecing together my subconscious to show me the vision I want to see.”

Though his consciousness was hazy, the warmth he felt from the hand on his right felt vivid.

Red Vega slipped her leg between his legs and gently pushed herself in.

“Want me to heat things up again? Then you’ll know this is reality.”  

“That’s quite a bold proposal, but strangely I don’t dislike it.”

“Is it because I’m pretty?”

“It’s because you burned my stomach and sapped my will to get angry.”

Red Vega chuckled and channeled more magic into her right hand. 

The golden light that had seemed unstoppable was now covered by the flames she emitted.

It felt mystical. From the hand of another placed on her own, she felt a warmth stronger than those flames.

Red Vega thought she couldn’t capture even half of the pure faith she had received in her flames.  

She simply felt it was her duty to repay this kindness as best she could.

“…Thank you.”

The strength gradually left the hand placed on her right, now more hanging limply than resting on it.

“I learned a lot from you.”  

Red Vega didn’t falter. She gently accepted the increasing weight of the man leaning against her.

The breath she had felt from behind grew very faint, and the low, soft voice trailed off.

It was only natural.  

He had already reached his limit.

At the very, very end, he had poured out all his strength for the sake of the girl.  

To cheer her on, to affirm her.

A hero cannot exist alone. It’s the same for everyone.  

A merchant needs consumers, a leader needs followers.

A hero needed people to praise them.  

For that, he overcame all pain and hardship to place his hand on the girl’s.

It was a brief miracle he had gained.

“Ah……”

An exclamation of admiration fell from the villain amidst the sound of destruction.

“Ah…! Indeed, this is…..”

Even as his light was being overpowered, he did not rage.  

He muttered with reverence.

“The light of a comet…..”

Suddenly, the lights that had been straining against each other shattered in the center. The golden and red lights intermingled, scattering sparks. The sight evoked fireworks.  

As if blessing something, the lights bloomed beautifully and scattered.

Within the dispersing cluster of lights, the girl’s face could be seen. Her expression was resolute.  

Still holding the man’s hand, she gazed at the villain before her without the slightest tremor.

Libra chuckled wryly.  

“They say a flower is most beautiful when it blooms with its last ounce of strength before wilting. Light is the same. Its most beautiful form is when it burns its whole body before dying out.”

The man behind her slowly fell forward, drifting down like a falling petal.   

“That light is certainly remarkable now. However…it is a light destined to fall someday. A light that will fall and become an ordinary rock.”  

To gain strength through someone else means to lose that strength when that person is gone.

A power that loses its light as the person behind it disappears.  

Peace is a power only possible when there is something to protect.

That is why the power of a magical girl is unstable and uncertain. It cannot draw strength from loss, only from preservation.

The passage of time leads all things to loss. Nothing is eternal.  

Human emotions too, gradually erode and become distorted over time.

“I congratulate you on growing stronger, girl.”

There was no sarcasm from Libra. It was a sincere congratulation.

“And I mourn the destined ending you have attained, girl.”

This too was sincere mourning.

A solemn remembrance of the tragedy to come.

The sacrifice he would not celebrate.

“I already told you before. I don’t need your understanding or value judgments.”

The girl released the hand she had been holding. The man finally fell to the ground.  

All that remained in her palm was residual warmth, a sensation like a few grains of sand left behind.

“Things may change someday. So what? You’re just stating the obvious.”

She lovingly brushed it away with her fingers as she smiled.

“Everyone originally dies. The end of all things is always the same. It’s already decided. There’s no need to mention it so grandly. So.”

And she took a step forward. 

“What’s important is remembering the end that will come one day, and how to fill this life.”

Red Vega dashed out. There was no more fear in her steps.

She didn’t ignore it.  

She shook it off.

“And you are not my end.”

It took just one stride to reach the villain.

“My end is not now!”

The girl’s foot struck the villain’s jaw. She had become even faster than before.

Even though she couldn’t use her left arm to keep her balance, Red Vega’s kicks were swift and accurate.  

“Kuk!”

“In the future, he may not approve of me! Everyone may be disappointed in me and leave. But so what?!”

The kicks didn’t end with one. Her right foot traced a path that her left leg followed, opening a new way.

Unlike before, she kicked upwards, lifting the villain’s jaw.

“I existed as a star in his heart! I know that too! I saw it, I heard it. So…”

Her force and the power of her leg gathered into magic. It turned to flames, becoming the girl’s propulsion.

“I can remember. The fact that I was hoping for him clearly existed here.”

The foot that had just traced that path reversed, and the heel struck the villain’s solar plexus.

Kwang!

The heavy body was driven into the ground.

“That’s enough!”

Red Vega wrapped flames around her feet again. Libra too wrapped golden power around her hands.  

Libra was faster. As soon as she extended her hands, light shot straight upwards.

From that heat beam, Red Vega abandoned her attack and leaned back.

“You mean to linger in the past. Pitiful.”

“I don’t know how many times I’ve said it, but don’t judge me through your distorted perspective. I don’t need your understanding.”

And she thought calmly.

Indeed, Sky Polaris’ fighting style doesn’t suit her.  

Overpowering through sheer force.

Putting several tons of force into each fist.

Each blow is intense, definitive.

In contrast, her own style focuses on the driving force of flames for speed.

Especially, a fighting style using both legs.

She’ll need to refine it. Red Vega felt it sincerely.

“I don’t mean to linger in the past. I’ll always move forward. Even if that end comes, it doesn’t mean it was meaningless. And knowing the end doesn’t mean I’ll accept it. I’ll always postpone my conclusion.”

Indeed, she and Sky Polaris are not the same.  

But even after acknowledging that, she still had respect.

That day, arriving like a comet on the burning road.

Watching that, Baek Ah-hee felt hope.

It was like making a wish.

Please, let that light be my salvation.

She may not become the same person, but she wants to hold out the same hope to someone.  

Like wishing upon a shooting star in the sky,

She wants to be someone’s wish.

That’s why Red Vega is a comet.

“My starlight is a comet.”

Red Vega raised her right arm to point at the sky.

“Starlight that will reach someone’s heart, like a comet.”

Even if she becomes a rock someday,  

She will burn to become a wish.

That’s how she lived.

But not anymore.

“Still, I won’t shine to fall.”

If she fell after just one flight, many who couldn’t make a wish would be saddened.

They wouldn’t gain hope.

She may burn her body many times, but that journey has no end in sight.

She may break and crash many times, but there is no rest on that path.  

She will appear many times, like an illusion.

And keep being observed.

“My flames are a light to advance together.”

Like a comet orbiting the world many times, that’s what she wants to become.

Always illuminating and guiding people’s hearts.

That kind of star.

The beginning may be frightening, this journey may be perilous, but she will always shine as a magnificent star in its orbit.

She will become everyone’s wish.

The girl moved again. Not a single stride, but she didn’t need to hurry this moment.  

This instant didn’t need to be rushed.

Bang!

So Libra reached her first. Her huge hand stretched out a vicious fist to crush Red Vega.

Red Vega retreated back again. 

The fist couldn’t even graze Red Vega, just striking the empty air. Libra felt a sense of awe at the solemn steps she had seen before.

“…!”

From Red Vega’s retreating feet flickered a hot starlight.  

Not steps chasing admiration, but advancing on her own path.

With her first step:

‘Fear.’

Ujik!  

A crack formed where Red Vega stood.

This time, it was Libra who retreated. The commanding aura flowing from the much smaller girl was no ordinary thing.

Day or night. Harmony.  

The single path she chose in the past was like a valiant cry of flame to someone.

The path she chooses now is not someone else’s re-enactment. 

Only her own path.

‘This is the one path I have chosen.’

Day or night.

‘The halo orbiting around me and adorning me.’  

A circular path with no conclusion unless she gives up.

The path of a comet.

A ring formed around Red Vega’s leg.  

As she took a step, 

The step to overcome fear held the courage, the courage to grasp hope.

The ring deepened further. Its size didn’t change.

But the light from the ring was so immense that it made the observer think its size had grown.

“To your heart… like a comet…!”

Bringing hope to the observer’s heart, and striking fear into the heart reached by that starlight – a beautiful trajectory.  

Red Vega’s light erupted endlessly towards the world.

Red starlights.

It stained the broken rubble, stained the ground, stained the sky, stained the one who had supported its back, and stained the enemy in front of its eyes.  

It resembled the evening glow. A very brief time when the world is dyed crimson.

The time when she spreads her influence over this world.

As if to let her see with her own eyes how much stronger Red Vega had become, the ring proved the power now gathered in her with an overwhelming light. 

A surge of power that took one’s breath away.  

Libra retreated again. The instincts of a living being strongly rang the alarm bell.

The burning gaze of the girl pierced his eyes.

“Red Vega, enter.”

Red Vega bravely took a big step forward.  

It was the moment when hope was realized.

The rings on her legs converged into a single point. 

The further compressed light emitted stronger heat and light.

It was as if she had taken a star from the sky and placed it on her leg.

“Are you ready to become ashes?”

Whoosh. All the light around her turned to flames. The compressed magical power, with a volume as if slicing and crumpling the sky, all turned to fire. 

Into a single point.

The flames that sprang from that point bound Libra’s body like a snake. Red Vega put strength into her feet and leapt straight up.

The one target Red Vega aimed for in the sky was one.  

She descended smoothly and swiftly like a shooting star. 

A trail like an aurora of faint sunset light appeared in her path.

Libra struggled, but each time, only her limbs were charred. Literally at the speed of light, Red Vega’s flames approached.

Red Vega delivered a flying kick to Libra with one leg outstretched. 

The compressed flames were released.

Kwaaaaaang!!

A tremendous flame swept like a storm.

The blaze that erupted at a temperature comparable to the friction heat from piercing the atmosphere evaporated all the moisture around it. The dry air was enough to cause burns just by inhaling it.

The sight of the scattered flames resembled a blossoming flower.  

The explosion sound shook the Earth’s axis with a solemn hymn.

One Path. Harmony.  

On the one path she has chosen, flames will blossom like flowers and flow, illuminating the way ahead.

This was the new path and technique Red Vega had chosen.

Red Vega landed and turned around.   

Libra, mostly turned to ashes, staggered and crawled on the ground.

It was lucky she was still alive, but her body was clearly going to die soon.

“Oh my… I didn’t think it would be this much…”

One of the scales on her shoulders tilted. It moved with a creaking sound like rusted hinges. It looked quite pitiful.

“Yes… Incredible… Incredible…”

What was placed there was gold too precious to be placed on a pile of ashes. A deal using money, which Libra often used. The gold bar disappeared and the scale became level again.  

It meant the deal was successful.

Black smoke resembling soot rose from her body. Within the smoke, Libra’s body gradually faded. Even so, she did her best to escape from Red Vega.

“You… won…”

He crawled like an insect, but for Libra, there was no shame. If he could extend his life, if he could gain a future, the ridicule of others didn’t matter at all.

She who had called the escape of a hero shameful ended up in the same position in the end.  

Soon her body was consumed by the smoke. When the smoke cleared, her body was gone too.

It is really over now.    

The evil that threatened her life was gone. The tension was completely released.

The taut string of tension loosened.  

At the same time, Red Vega’s leg strength also gave out.

“Ugh… uhh…”  

Kneeling with a thud, Red Vega let out a pained groan and sigh at the same time. The pain and fatigue she hadn’t noticed while concentrating on the battle all came at once.

She placed a hand on her chest and caught her breath a few times.

“Whew… haa…”  

Then she immediately stood up.   

Now was not yet the time to rest.  

Slowly but surely, she moved forward. There lay a civilian, or not, who had pushed himself as much as or more than she had in this short time. Fortunately, he was still breathing.  

Red Vega picked him up.  

“Huh… ah!”

For a moment her legs almost gave out and she nearly fell, but she didn’t drop him. Holding him with her usable right arm, Red Vega leaned her face against his shoulder.  

“Jae-jung… I… I won… I won… I overcame it…”  

Brushing off her slightly trembling voice, she smiled.

“No, we… won. Now… to really survive, I need to treat you.”  

Straightening her bent knee, she shouldered him.  

“I’ll save you.”   

Carrying him, Red Vega took to the skies again. We’re all injured. Treatment was needed. It seemed she understood his words about needing rest after fighting even more.  

Red Vega playfully whispered into the still unconscious Jae-jung’s ear.

“This time, it’ll probably be trustworthy.”

For there was nothing stopping her anymore.   

Red Vega soared powerfully. There was nothing to bring her down. Her descent was a landing, not a crash.  

A line was drawn in the blue sky. It looked straight at times, and at others, it seemed to curve in a soft line. It was because someone’s gaze couldn’t keep up with the speed the line was drawn.

A child passing by pointed at the trail and shouted,

“Shooting star!”

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