“Heh-heh-heh-heh, the long years of humiliation and endurance end now…!”
The Ivory Tower of Eibon, a secret society of wicked monsters, had recently been facing an unprecedented crisis.
It was because those things called “magical girls” had committed the outrage of reducing all their modest evildoing to nothing and obstructing their rightful extortion.
In response, the Ivory Tower’s highest-ranking executives, the Four Heavenly Kings, had prepared their trump card.
They would summon the founder of the Ivory Tower, the great Eibon, who had ascended to a far-off outer dimension. Having succeeded in diverting the magical girls’ attention by sending out mass-produced, mindless monsters, the Four Heavenly Kings at last entered the final stage of the ritual.
“There’s no chance those wenches will find this place, is there?”
“Rest easy. In preparation for the one-in-a-million possibility, Dunamis, the swiftest-footed among us, has been dispatched. Even if they break through the mass-produced ones… Hm?”
Grata of Earth, who had snorted as he answered his comrade’s question, sensed an approaching ill omen. The profane mana of light, the dreadful presence of apostles of justice!
“Your evil ends here!”
A black cape draped over her shoulders, and black boots. In her transformation costume unified under a black motif, only the gauntlets around her fists and the greaves around her feet flashed silver.
Magi Black, the possessor of terrifying monstrous strength capable of piercing even the diamond skin of Grata of Earth, the sturdiest of the Four Heavenly Kings.
“Monsters who disturb the city’s night!”
A white cloak fluttered. At a glance, her outfit, adorned here and there with frills and lace that seemed impractical, looked delicate. But those thin scraps of thread instantly revealed their true nature, becoming shackles that tightened around monsters.
Magi White, a dreadful master of technique who could deliver joint locks even Sargasso of Water, the most flexible of the Four Heavenly Kings, with his amorphous body, could not withstand.
“In the name of love and justice!”
“We will not forgive you!”
The promised lines, the battle cries of the magical girls, rang out, and at the same time a shock wave rippled through the surroundings. The fighting dogs of light had arrived.
“You accursed magical girls! But you are one step too late!”
Sargasso, the leader of the Four Heavenly Kings, spread both arms and shouted. By Eibon’s grace, when the magical girls stormed in, all preparations for the ritual had already been completed!
“Come forth, our great founding master, Lord Eibon!”
Rumble! A tremendous flash and an explosion loud enough to overturn heaven and earth. Before the magical girls could even enter into full-fledged battle, the match was already decided. Sargasso smiled with confidence.
At the center of the raging storm of mana. At the heart of the mana flashing in five colors.
“Wahaha! Behold Lord Eibon’s pow—?”
There was nothing there.
“Huh?”
“An opening!”
“Take this!”
“Magister Magic Low Blow!”
The ultimate technique of magical girl magic, Magical Martial Arts, MMA, swept over the Four Heavenly Kings.
The monsters of the Ivory Tower fled in tears. The sinister schemes of those vile magical girls had once again defeated the monsters who dreamed of tomorrow’s peaceful exploitation!
The two magical girls who had driven away the monsters looked at each other, exchanged a high five, and left the scene. The city was safe again today. And it was all thanks to the warriors of light, the Magilists.
The battlefield where both monsters and magical girls had departed. A place that should have been filled with silence was disturbed by someone’s footsteps. Over the dust, the silhouette of a man covered in a robe appeared.
The summoning magic presided over by Sargasso had not failed.
The being that had appeared in the center of the ritual site had merely hidden himself in an instant and slipped into the shadows of the city.
Neither the Four Heavenly Kings of the Ivory Tower nor the two magical girls had noticed his existence. It was something possible only for one who possessed magical capabilities far superior to anyone else gathered at the scene. The robed man slowly walked across the battlefield.
The shadow swaying beneath his trudging steps was not shaped like that of a human.
Sharp eyes swept over the remnants of the summoning ritual. It was as if he were appraising them. At last, his mouth opened.
“No. Since when did Earth have magical girls?”
The black mage collapsed to the ground with a thud, rolled about flailing, and wailed.
“My Earth isn’t like this!”
It was a pitifulness that only someone who had realized that all the effort and resources he had poured into returning home had been wasted could display.
***
After rolling around on the floor for several minutes lamenting his lot, the black mage straightened himself.
‘This can’t be.’
This was not nonsense spewed out in an attempt to escape reality. His dimensional transfer was a reward obtained through a contract with a demon.
He had signed the contract believing that, with their authority to interfere in countless dimensions, they could bring him to the correct Earth. The black mage had faithfully carried out the demon’s demands.
So if the contract had not been properly fulfilled, the contractor had every right to demand due compensation.
The black mage grimaced fiercely, raised the index finger of his left hand, and with his right hand gripped the hangnail near the root where the fingernail grew.
Riiip!
And tore it off in one go. Even at a glance, more than five centimeters of skin were ripped away.
Pain flashed like a spark.
“I offer up my pain, so hear me, unborn ones of the interstice!”
The torn-off hangnail slipped through the gap between his fingers. The strip of skin stretched and warped like rubber, imitating the shape of a walkie-talkie. At a glance, it resembled a single-stroke drawing done in flesh-colored ink.
The black mage roughly snatched up the hangnail walkie-talkie and shouted.
“Wrong item delivered! Refund requested!”
[We apologize. The line quality is currently poor. Could you please repeat that?]
“I said refund my mana!”
[As was notified in advance before the cancellation of your subscription, mana refunds are not possible.]
“Notified in advance? What are you even—!”
The black mage recalled the situation just before he had been dropped into this otherworld wearing Earth’s skin. Surely…
***
The black mage’s bloodshot eyes gleamed. In his grasp was a heart that still pulsed as if alive.
“I offer as a burnt offering the heart of the beast that brought down seven fortresses and trampled five kings!”
The fingers gripping the heart swelled irregularly. Fingers that had proliferated into shapes closer to tree branches than a human hand pierced through the surface of the heart.
Gush. Each time the heart pulsed, it sprayed black blood through the holes that had been bored into it. The drops of blood that soaked the surroundings did not seep into the floor, but instead formed a geometric magic circle.
The heart spewed an amount of blood impossible to believe could come from something small enough to be held in a human hand. A magnificent magic circle, already filling the black mage’s entire field of vision and still continuing to expand, was drawn.
“Fulfill the contract you once made with me!”
The moment he spoke the final verse of the spell, a strange voice rang out. As if whispering right beside his ear, or like an echo resounding from far away. A voice whose origin could not be known.
The demon’s messenger whispered.
[We love you, valued customer! This is Lamashtu Holdings Co., Ltd., always striving for trust and sincerity. How may we help you today?]
“Home!”
[Yes, valued customer. We will check your return subscription.]
“Oh, come on. Aren’t you sick of doing this with me?”
The black mage shouted at his old foul friend. The demon responded with an answer filled with sincerity: “We apologize, but we cannot answer matters unrelated to business.”
[Confirmation complete! With the Behemoth’s heart you have just paid, all required mana has been satisfied, so early cancellation is possible if you so desire.]
The black mage, who had at some point returned his right hand to normal and was massaging the back of his neck with it, instinctively let out a cry of joy.
“At last!”
At last, he could go home.
“Early cancellation! Cancel it! Being involved with you damned lot, drawing my own blood to use because I lacked mana, staring at disgusting entrails—it all ends today!”
To beautiful, blue Earth!
[Then, valued customer, before contract fulfillment and the cancellation procedure, we will inform you of the terms and conditions that must be reviewed.]
“Hey!”
The black mage felt the back of his neck stiffen. Whether in another world or on Earth, each additional step in checking a contract increased one’s anger by an entire dimension.
Despite the black mage urging, “Then at least say it quickly,” the demon began to recite each word in a careful tone, clear and precise.
[The “return” guaranteed by our company refers to return to the dimension most similar to the valued customer’s mana wavelength, and depending on other factors, including external factors…]
***
[—therefore, did we not inform you in advance that in cases such as alteration of the valued customer’s mana wavelength or misidentification due to the external environment, you may be transported to another dimension unrelated to your intent?]
“My mana wavelength is similar to this world?”
At the retort, whose tone practically said, “You already listened to all the terms and signed, so what are you going to do about it?” the black mage hurriedly examined his own mana.
Certainly, he could sense some similarities. But it was difficult to accurately determine the cause of the mana alteration right away. There were too many candidates.
The Behemoth he had sacrificed just moments ago was itself a monster that had roamed countless dimensional realms. Since he had drenched his whole body in its blood, it was only natural that interference had occurred.
No, perhaps it was because of the magical beasts he had devoured in order to accumulate mana. Nor could he omit the contracts he had made with extradimensional beings in order to survive in the Demon Realm. Reasons surfaced endlessly in his mind.
‘…Is it my fault?’
A momentary confusion arose. The black mage shook his head and steadied his heart.
‘In any case, it’s not my fault!’
When making deals with demons, one must never give them an opening. There was no need to be seized by pointless hesitation. After all, the other party was a demon.
Within the bounds of a contract, demons and black mages generally had a relationship in which each side tried to fleece the other by any means possible.
“This isn’t the world I wanted! I wanted our ordinary Earth without magic! I demand a mana refund! Either send me to the correct place, or refund my mana!”
[You’re no longer a customer, so I’m dropping the honorifics. Hey, Raban.]
The black mage was bewildered. It was not the sudden calling of his name that bewildered him. He had used the name Raban for a long time, but it was merely an alias for contracts. What fool would reveal his true name to demons?
It was just that it had been far too long since the demon on the other side of this communication had spoken to him informally.
[Why would that be your mana?]
“What, you insane—”
Before Raban could even properly process his bewilderment, the demon gave him an even greater shock. Rage and sheer absurdity sent ripples through the lofty magic that connected dimensions. The demon did not miss the wavering of the magic and cut off the communication.
In the silence, Raban looked around.
He had become magic-poor, with neither mana nor wealth, and had been dropped into an utterly unfamiliar otherworld.