Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

For the girls, it was a sleepless night.

Red Ponytail told them everything without holding back: how the Soul Gems work, the separation of body and soul, how Magical Girls will turn into Witches. At the same time, she also told the others that she was a Divine Envoy of the God of Magical Girls from another world. In that world, all the Magical Girls have already been saved, the QB race has been wiped out, and a completely new life has begun.

And after hearing all that, the girls were dumbstruck.

”Everything you said... is real?”

”That’s right.”

Facing Tsuruno’s incredulous question, Red Ponytail nodded, then glanced at Yachiyo.

”You seem to have known for a while already?”

”.........I once personally witnessed my own friend turn into a Witch.”

At this point, Yachiyo lowered her head.

”In fact, it’s the same for Meidong, so I can understand how she feels. She longs to escape this fate, while I... still haven’t found a direction.”

”Eh? Wait, going by what you said, Little Hong, haven’t Magical Girls already been saved?”

Felicia suddenly yelled out, and Red Ponytail nodded.

”Correct. In theory, after my Lord wiped out the QB race, Magical Girls from all worlds should have already re-contracted with my Lord and freed themselves from their originally twisted fate. But there’s been no response at all from Kamihama City, so as my Lord’s Divine Envoy, I came here to investigate. I didn’t expect this city to be wrapped in a completely different type of power, which cut off the connection between my Lord’s Divine Power and me, so...”

Red Ponytail spread her hands, and only then did Kohin suddenly see the light.

”So that’s why you turned out like that, Little Hong! Is it related to the Uwasa?”

”Exactly.”

Red Ponytail nodded.

”After you took out a few Uwasa, the power between my Lord and me finally recovered a bit. It’s precisely because of that that I’m able to sit here and talk to you now...”

”Now that you mention it... it really has been a long time since we’ve seen any QB in Kamihama City...”

Yachiyo also frowned at this.

”Come to think of it, I didn’t even notice. But without us realizing it, the QB just disappeared, and the job of collecting Seeds of Sorrow was taken over by Yakumo, so we didn’t pay much attention to it...”

”Then if we form a contract with you, Little Hong, does that mean we don’t have to turn into Witches anymore?”

At this moment Tsuruno clenched her fists and stared hard at Red Ponytail, who nodded.

”Of course. But I have to make it clear: after re-contracting, Magical Girls will be somewhat different from how you are now.”

”Different?”

”Yes. First, after re-contracting, your souls will return to your bodies. The good part is that your souls will no longer accumulate filth like before; instead, it’ll be expelled from your body like a kind of metabolism. The price is that your Magic Power won’t recover as quickly as it used to. Look, right now when you use a Seed of Sorrow, you’re back to full HP and MP in one second, right? But after re-contracting, your Magic Power will be like Physical Strength and will take a fairly long time to recover.”

”But that way we won’t have to turn into Witches anymore!”

”Correct. Because the filth can be purified and expelled by the body, it won’t build up like before, so naturally you won’t turn into Witches.”

As she spoke, Red Ponytail grinned and looked over at the green-haired girl sitting on the other side of the sofa. Right now she was curled up on the sofa like a squirrel. Noticing Red Ponytail’s gaze, the green-haired girl looked a little uneasy—this girl was none other than the victim Kohin had rescued earlier from ”The End of Loneliness.” What surprised everyone was that this girl turned out to be a Magical Girl as well.

”Or you could just do what she does—total shut-in mode, never move, and naturally you’ll be fine.”

The green-haired girl—Sanae Futaba—was a shy girl with very low presence. Her parents didn’t care about her at home, and she was ignored by her classmates at school. Precisely because of this, unable to endure that kind of life, Sanae Futaba chose to make a wish to QB: to become a transparent person.

Yeah, good thing the one making the wish was a girl. If it were a guy, the tone from here on out would immediately switch to straight-up doujin porn plot.

After becoming a Magical Girl, Sanae Futaba heard the rumor about ”The End of Loneliness,” and immediately came here, swapping places with the previous person and letting herself be locked in. Yet this place that felt like Hell to other people was practically Heaven for Sanae Futaba. She was a Magical Girl, so she could live without eating or drinking, and she had the place all to herself, with that artificial intelligence to keep her company. Sanae Futaba was so happy she didn’t want to leave.

In the end, Sanae Futaba’s behavior actually made that artificial intelligence worry. It was afraid Sanae really would spend her whole life here with it, so it contacted Kohin, hoping they would come and destroy it.

When the hostage-taker is the one trying to send the ”hostage” home, that’s a record in its own right, from a certain point of view.

”But...”

Hearing this, Yachiyo had another question.

”The way you put it, QB is doing all of this for the continuation of the entire universe, right? Then what you’re doing now would mean the universe can’t be restored anymore, wouldn’t it?”

”Oh, screw that.”

”Screw.........”

Hearing Red Ponytail say something like that without so much as a change in expression, everyone was stunned for a moment.

”Is that really okay?”

”Of course. According to my Lord’s observations, the universe of this world basically won’t undergo any Transformation in the foreseeable future. Naturally, all things will eventually perish, but as far as the present goes, the universe of this world will have no issues for the next fifty thousand years.”

”Fifty thousand years?”

”That’s right. Whether humanity will still exist after fifty thousand years is itself questionable, so we certainly don’t need to bother with QB’s load of nonsense. Maybe for them, fifty thousand years is short, but for us... Besides, don’t say fifty thousand years—just fifty hundred years is already long enough for ordinary humans.”

”Uu... that’s true...”

Hearing Red Ponytail say this, the girls were left speechless.

”So can we go ahead and re-contract now? We can, right, Little Hong?”

At this moment Tsuruno was already unable to contain herself. In fact, it wasn’t just her—even Felicia looked equally impatient. That was only natural; Red Ponytail had carefully broken down for them the fundamental principles and functions of Magical Girl Transformation. Just thinking that if they kept fighting they would eventually turn into Witches was already a serious blow for the two of them.

”Of course you can, but...”

At this point Red Ponytail furrowed her brow and looked around at everyone.

”There’s a tiny little problem.”

”...A problem?”

”That’s right. The process of re-contracting means we have to sign a Magical Girl contract all over again, understand? It’s like QB was your boss, then your boss went bankrupt, and now we’ve taken over the company, so all the employees have to sign new contracts. And during this process, you’ll have to undergo a Trial.”

”What kind of Trial?”

”The dream you desire most.”

Red Ponytail stared at the group, speaking word by word.

”To put it simply, you’ll have a dream, and everything in that dream will be what you most wish for—that part can’t be changed. Because you originally became Magical Girls by making a wish, my Lord can’t reverse that process. Of course, maybe now you regret it, maybe you think your wish wasn’t ’worth it,’ but in the dream you will realize every wish you originally wanted—you have to recognize for yourself whether that is truly your desire. Only then can you wake up and regain your power.”

”And if we don’t?”

Yachiyo fixed her gaze on Red Ponytail, her voice trembling slightly. Red Ponytail closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

”If you can’t emerge from the dream, then you’ll sink into it, and peacefully die.”

”............”

At that, the girls all gasped, and even Felicia’s expression turned serious.

”As a reference, I can tell you this: in the re-contracting project my Lord carried out in that other world, three thousand eight hundred and twelve Magical Girls chose eternal sleep, about three percent of the total number of Magical Girls. Their souls are now resting peacefully in my Lord’s Divine Kingdom.”

”There were that many?!”

Tsuruno shuddered, while Yachiyo lowered her head.

”I think I can understand what they were thinking. Quite a lot of kids were imprisoned by their identity as Magical Girls. They also wanted to abandon this cruel trap and enjoy a forever peaceful, tranquil dream—even if that was nothing more than a dream.”

”Exactly.”

Red Ponytail snapped her fingers.

”By the way, if it’s an ordinary person, failing the Trial won’t put their life in danger; they just won’t become a Magical Girl, that’s all. But re-contracting Magical Girls are people whose wishes have already been granted, so we can only follow this procedure—so you have to decide. I need to remind you: dreams feel extremely real. For the person in it, the dream is reality. Many of you might simply be unable to let go.”

As she spoke, Red Ponytail once again turned to look at Kohin.

”For example, Kohin, if you undergo a re-contract, odds are the dream you have will be one where you and your little sister live happily together. And for you, that will be reality—you might forget that you’re a Magical Girl, forget that it’s only a dream, and just happily live with your sister in that dream...”

”............”

”I’ll give you one day. Think it over carefully.”

Red Ponytail yawned and stood up, stretching lazily.

”Come tell me your answer tomorrow; it won’t be too late. Every miracle comes with a price, and especially this re-Transformation of you Magical Girls—it naturally comes with risks. What you plan to do... that’s up to you.”

With that, Red Ponytail headed back to her room, still yawning, leaving the girls sitting in the living room in speechless silence.

”I’ve decided—I’m going to re-contract.”

Yachiyo was the first to stand up.

”I want to show Meidong that you don’t have to sacrifice others in order to gain liberation.”