Magical Girl with Demonic Time Magic-Chapter 67: Similar to Us

Chapter 67: Similar to Us
I’m holding a small rat in my fingers, the rat is trying to get away by struggling, but it can’t break free.
"Meow" I hear a meow and look to the side, seeing Hexael, and I wonder what he’s doing here.
"What do you want, Hexael?" I say while staring at the frightened little rat in my hand.
"Pentael, I came to invite you to watch something fun. You said you wanted to see if I did something entertaining, so you can come with me if you don’t get in the way and stay quiet," Hexael says with his standard mischievous smile.
"I’m bored anyway, tell me what it is," I say with some interest, opening my mouth and swallowing the rat. As soon as I bite, a snap of the small bones breaking is audible as I chew.
"Seriously, Pentael? A rat?" Hexael says mockingly.
"Don’t complain," I mutter irritatedly. Since when is what I eat decided by him?
"Rats, snakes, insects, extremely venomous animals, birds, and even small children why the hell do you like to eat those things?" Hexael asks, not understanding.
"Hexael, did you come here to invite me to something fun or to judge my hobbies? At least I’m not like you, who likes to spy on girls all the time. Is your protégé’s naked body really that good for you to spend all your time watching her?"
"!!!"
"It’s not like that! I just observe Setsuna because I need to know what she’s up to and also if things aren’t getting out of hand," he quickly responds.
"Sure, I believe you," I say, rolling my eyes as I spit out a piece of the rat I didn’t like.
"Haaa," Hexael just sighs.
"Okay, what I want to show you is an entertaining development. Setsuna is now one room away from an Ayane who is screaming and crying desperately because she is being dismembered."
"Setsuna hasn’t noticed yet, you know what that means?" When Hexael says this, a malicious smile appears on my face.
"It means that Setsuna will soon receive a delicious dose of reality. Now I’m intrigued. Finally, I’ll see this human you’re so interested in," I can already imagine the scene of her breaking.
She crying desperately for the death of her beloved while losing control, it will be fun.
"How did you manage this, Hexael?" I ask with interest, getting up from the edge of the roof.
"I didn’t do anything, Setsuna did it herself..."
"...? How so?"
"It’s cause and effect, but you wouldn’t understand since you don’t know Setsuna’s power, and you won’t remember anything anyway after all," Hexael talks about complicated things that I don’t understand.
’I won’t remember anything? You know what, forget it, if it’s to see this human break and despair, that’s enough.’
"So how’s the scene going?" I ask with doubt.
"Setsuna is in a psychology office without knowing that just a few rooms away, Ayane is being tortured by a monster, but the monster is finishing up and I think Setsuna will be leaving soon, so we have to go quickly or we’ll miss the show," Hexael says as he disappears into a black mist. I quickly follow him.
Soon we’re both invisible in a blood-stained hallway, and I observe the trail of blood.
’Amateur...’ It’s so crude, not at all artistic, not beautiful, and there’s not enough violence. He should have beaten Ayane’s body against the walls to have more beautiful splatters of blood.
"I don’t hear any screams, the monster at least did a good job of isolating the sound from the rest of the world," I murmur, following Hexael. Our imperceptible presence doesn’t affect the world, so there’s no trace or sound.
The two of us cross the door, entering a room covered in blood, and I see a dead girl who is about to lose her head.
An ugly monster cuts off the girl’s head, who I judge to be Ayane, with a hatchet blow, then the monster places the head on the table while continuing to cut the body and eat certain parts.
’This is not interesting’ Just seeing a body being cut and eaten is not fun, I hope that Setsuna girl gets here soon.
"Hexael, I’m curious about something. I bet you knew this girl here would die. Why didn’t you warn your protégé?" I question, not understanding. Hexael is a confusing person.
’Tsk, I hate these manipulative geniuses and their crazy plans... I never understand anything about this shit.’ Hexael is increasingly similar to Number 1 and Number 3, and with that I can’t understand them and their thousands of steps ahead plans.
I’m more like myself, a direct and fast style without much rambling or planning, preferably easy-to-understand plans.
"It’s simple, it’s because it wouldn’t be fun. I gave Setsuna a warning, she just didn’t know how to interpret it correctly. If she failed, it’s her fault, and I’m sure she’ll blame herself."
"And that’s what I want. The more guilt and despair she feels, the more her obsession with defending Ayane increases, which is good for me, because the more obsessed she is, the less she’ll try to follow that stupid ethical code of hers."
"...?"
"Don’t you understand, Pentael? Setsuna is different from other humans. She won’t scream or lose control when she sees Ayane dead. That’s not the kind of person she is."
"Setsuna is an unstable person who, in moments of loss of control, shows this instability with cold and rational decisions to the extreme, abandoning morality for logic."
"And that’s why it will be fun to see what Setsuna will do when she sees this scene."
"I don’t understand..." I murmur, still not understanding. To me, humans will always be humans.
"Just wait, Pentael. You’ll understand as soon as you see Setsuna enter this room, and look, she’s already arriving."
Hexael speaks with a malicious smile as we both observe the door opening.
I observe Setsuna’s expression, looking for the despair that all humans show when they lose a loved one.
’So this is Setsuna. Come on, girl, I want to see what you have to show me.’ I wait for her expression to change.
But I’m even more confused. Setsuna’s expression is... neutral? Or rather, she has no facial expression at all, but her eyes remind me a lot of a demon’s, an unfathomable and infinite void.
A natural characteristic of demons, a 100% empty gaze, not that human emptiness, but an emptiness like a bottomless pit, a gaze that defines a single thing that we follow.
’How the hell does a human have this gaze?’ Setsuna merely murmurs Ayane’s name with uncertainty as she approaches with heavy steps. The whole time, I look at this human without understanding.
Tears form and drip to the floor. She’s crying, but without making any sound, no sobs, no sniffles, just completely silent tears. She kneels down and picks up the decapitated head.
I walk up to her and crouch down, looking at her face. Still without any expression, but with that strange empty gaze. I just observe Setsuna staring at the head of her beloved.
’She’ll break soon...’ I watch anxiously for her fury. I want to see how she breaks compared to other humans, but contrary to my expectations, she does something that even I couldn’t have expected.
"She’s beautiful, isn’t she?" Setsuna praises the severed head.
’...’ I look at Hexael, who only has a smile, as if he expected this, as if he knew it would be this way.
’What the hell? Is this girl completely insane? Has seeing Ayane dead broken her mind?’ I hear Setsuna start praising the decapitated head as if it were something beautiful.
Never in all the thousands of millennia that make up my existence have I seen a human praise the dead body of someone they loved.
I’ve already seen sadists and murderers think the bodies of their victims are beautiful, but I’ve never seen someone say the body of the one they love dead is beautiful. Setsuna continues to praise and even smells her hair.
As if this whole situation weren’t strange enough, even the monster takes hesitant steps back, because this is a reaction that no one would expect, no one but Hexael, who just watches, delighting in the scene.
"Hexael... I... I don’t understand. Why is she praising a corpse? Why does she have that strange smile?" She also cries black, viscous tears that stream from her eyes, replacing the previous crystal-clear tears.
I hadn’t noticed before, because I was too shocked by the completely out-of-context praise.
"It’s simple, Pentael. It’s because Setsuna is and always will be a strange human. To Setsuna, Ayane still has value even as just a dead body."
"Setsuna is not someone who is easily broken like other humans. Setsuna is a very unique person in every way. A normal human would get lost in rage and try to kill the monster that killed the important person they had."
"But Setsuna doesn’t. Setsuna is cold and logical. In other words, Setsuna will torture the cause of her pain. If someone makes Ayane suffer, Setsuna will make that person suffer."
"Setsuna’s pain only arises when Ayane is hurt... body, mind, and soul. Setsuna doesn’t care about anything else. She would sacrifice everything for Ayane."
"...Similar to us..." I murmur, thinking about it.
"Similar indeed. Demons are beings who will do anything to achieve their goals, even if they have to sacrifice their own existence."
"But what differentiates Setsuna from us is that Setsuna never does anything for herself, only for Ayane. Ayane is the goal for which Setsuna would sacrifice her own existence."
"Now, Pentael, let’s delight in the way this monster will be tortured. I’m sure Setsuna will give us an entertaining show."
Hexael speaks as he approaches.
’...Hexael... what is your goal with this bizarre girl...’ I wonder, but I don’t say anything. What Hexael does is not my problem. I’m more curious about this human.
She’s the first human I’ve seen who is this strange. Now she has really piqued my curiosity.