Chapter 12: Chapter 11: Awaken,Shiny Constellation Guardian Taurus ! (Intermission)

In a hotel room,late at night. Life could be seen on the balcony sitting on a dark-red armchair with a can of soda in his hand. 

If anyone were to come in and see him now, they would think that he was watching the city below as his gaze seems to fall on the smaller apartments and regular houses, but he was actually thinking of the events that had transpired today.

A couple of hours ago.

Life could be seen calmly walking on streets of the city, humming a tune that only he was the only person around who was familiar with it. Until, he suddenly decides to stop in his tracks. ‘Hum, the feeling ends here. Now, what could it be trying to tell me…’

He glances to his side to the left. He raised one of his eyebrows, questioning what he was seeing. 

Then he turns his body to the left. Now completely facing what he had just glanced. It appeared to be a costume shop, with a certain costume set on display. He looked up and down at it. Like it was trying to size it up.

 He then sighed at it.‘I know that this feeling always brings the most beneficial outcome for me, but why would I need to dress myself up like…that ?’

His line of thought was then he stopped. As he started to feel a familiar presence…from above ? ‘What the…’

He then looked up and saw far in the sky what appeared to be an white long haired Nozomi in clothes similar to her school uniform, but, instead of black, they were white as her hair  and she appeared to be holding with her two arms a puppy.

 Both of them flying at high speeds at a destination that he isn’t aware of eventually disappearing from sight. He then looks back at what he was looking at before. Sighing again.

‘I hope that Technology isn’t secretly recording this, he definitely would make sure to never let this one down…[Armor Skin Menu]’

A menu then appears in front of him, with the same options as before he used it. This time focusing on the one saying [-COPY-].

A video screen, similar to a camera, appears in front of him. Following the movements of his glasses. He then looks at it for a few seconds until he hears a ping. Signaling that it’s over. With a smaller menu screen that said [Use Copied Skin ?], with a [Yes] or [No] option below it.‘Hum, it’s probably better if I just wait to answer when I actually need to use it.’

He then begins to have that feeling again. The same feeling that always took him to his most convenient path, the path now was taking him more or less to the same direction that Nozomi was flying. 

Making him groan a bit internally while rolling his eyes.‘Yep, I needed this first to actually go and make sure that she won’t die horribly. Hopefully I’ll manage to pull it off without dying from embarrassment.’

He then begins jogging, crossing the street at a steady pace to his new destination. The traffic-lights conveniently turned green whenever he was coming close to their respective crosswalks. 

With also no one in his way to stop him from reaching his destination. Eventually, he turns a corner, now finding some sort of black barrier that was more or less 15 meters away from, he then gives an intrigued look at the barrier as he decides to come close to it. 

Now only 3 meters away from it. He looks up and down at it.“Well, well, what do we have here…”

He walks closer and tries to touch the barrier with his left hand. But, when it was just a few millimeters away from it the barrier then reacted by rejecting his hand. 

Life then looked to his rejected hand and then to the barrier with an amused smile.“Yep, dark magic. Definitely not on the same level as Magic’s, but still, dark magic nonetheless, and if I were to guess…she’s inside of it.”

He raises the hand that was rejected before and a dark sparks of energy begins to come from it.

‘This must be enough to open a way inside without destabilizing the entire barrier. Even though I’ve seen magical barriers before, especially those made out of dark magic. Only Magic herself would have the knowledge of the inner workings on how dark magic functions in this specific world. The safest bet would be to just read the digital guide that she created for all types of magic and how they work in each world, but…’

A cocky smile then creeps up on his face as he touches the barrier, this time his hand not being repealed by it. 

‘As if I need to read a lame ass guide to do my job ! I can just do it by instinct and it will work out, like always. Of course, I at least know that either light or dark magic is usually, not always, but usually, necessary to get inside but, i get the feeling that dark magic would be for the best even if it’s not as effective as light magic would be in this instance…unless that’s one of the few things that’s different from this dark magic to the others ? Hum…’

His cocky smile disappears, turning into an uneasy one for a second before he shakes his head, dissipating any doubts, his smile turning to the same cockiness as before. ‘Why am I being so complicated about this ? Urgh, maybe a little of Tec’s way of thinking rubbed off on me ?’ 

He sighed. ‘No, use thinking this now, maybe later, but for now it’s better if I just go with the flow.’

The barrier then begins to twist and turn. Beginning to form an entrance similar to a cave. When he enters it, the entrance behind him closes. Leaving him in the dark. His glasses began to shine a green light from them, similar to the blue from the menu. 

He then decided to walk straight ahead, confident as always in his destination. ‘Alright, at least the [Automatic-Night-Vision] program didn’t turn off for no reason like the [Reality-Translator], I wouldn’t even be surprised if they decided to patch it AFTER someone dies because of it !’

His line of thought was then interrupted as the floor he was walking on gave in, making fall deep into the darkest that seemed like it had no end. But he doesn’t seem bothered by it. 

After a few seconds he sees what appears to be light coming down from below. Eventually he’s able to see more and more of his surroundings, to the point that the green lights coming from his glasses suddenly turn off when he finally begins to see himself falling from the sky and the buildings below him. 

Landing on top of one of the rooftops on his feet. ‘Ok, now that I have finally got here…’ 

He then walks near the end of the rooftop and looks down below where he can see thanks to a light post below illuminating just enough that he can see 2 figures nearby the light, one of them being some kind of human-cat abomination and the other being a Nozomi who could be seen with blood coming coming from her wounded shoulder. 

Life recoils a little in surprise when he sees Nozomi’s condition. ‘Hey, hey, hey, why is there blood ?! Isn’t this supposed to be a by-the-numbers kids show ?! The job’s briefing definitely didn’t say anything about that, at least…the parts I read before I closed it out of cringe, didn’t. Only a teenager would be able to read THAT without cringing to the very core !’

He then looks away from the 2 figures, one of them being Nozomi and the other some kind of human-cat abomination. 

He then focuses his attention at the [Yes] option that he had waited until now to select. ‘Well, I might as well do what I do best, twisting an unexpected situation to my advantage !’ 

After selecting, his teacher's clothes turned to the same silvery liquid as before. And then turned into the same clothes that he begrudgingly copied from that costume shop.

He then looks back at the two figures down below. ‘Now, let’s see…I guess I need to increase the sound of the voices below a little if I want to hear their conversation.’

After increasing the volume he could now hear the voice of Nozomi as if she was just a few feet away from him, with near perfect sound quality. "I see..." Said Nozomi as she slowly got back up to her feet, with her shoulder still bleeding.

Life then begins to think on how to approach the situation at hand. ‘Hum, although my mission states that I must make sure that she and the other magical girls don't die. I can’t just save her by just killing the monster, they are the ones who must, not me.’

He was then snapped out of his thoughts as heard the human-cat monster who sounded impatient. "So...have you decided ? I don't have all night you know ?"

"Yes..." Nozomi says it, as Life begins to notice something coming from Nozomi, some kind of small, barely noticeable glow. Life then focuses his vision at Nozomi to see where exactly it’s coming from, until he sees that it's coming from her index finger.

‘It’s that…light magic ? With that kind of glow it must be, or at least, something similar. Hum, I guess it's adequate...for now at least.’ He thinks, while making sure to not accidentally get lost in his thoughts again.

"You might as well drop dead, if you think I'm gonna just let a piece of shit like you have your own way with her !" Said a very determined Nozomi, making the monster recoil a little by it and making Life raise a very intrigued eyebrow at it.

‘Oh, not only blood, but also swearing,intriguing. Also, who would have thought that someone bland like her would have the tongue to say something like that. And those eyes, those are the eyes of someone willing to go down with the opponent. Ok, ok, I guess that my assumption of you might have been a lil bit hasty, you might not be a loser, but, since I don't know if that’s something consistent, I can't really consider you a complete winner either, now, how do I approach this…’ 

He thinks for a moment until he comes to a decision.

"You little...very well have it your way then, have it your way." The monster then proceeds to ready itself for another strike.

He then closes his empty left hand into a fist and a silvery white liquid begins to form inside of it. When he opens his fist, it reveals that the white silvery liquid turned into a 500 yen coin. ‘I guess that for now, at least, it’s enough for me to give you a little help. Don’t waste it !’ He then flips the 500 yen coin in a way that when it hits the ground it ends up distracting the monster, making it look away from Nozomi.

Nozomi then uses the opportunity created by Life to hit it with a trash can’s lid, tackle the human-cat and pin it to the ground while pressing a trash can’s lid on its torso. ‘Not only is she quick on her feet to not waste the chance i gave her, she also uses the environment to give her the edge she needs in a fight, but also, finally, she makes sure to limit it’s movements in case it tries to run away. Not bad, not bad at all’

Nozomi was then struck in the left eye by one of its attempted attacks. Blood begins to pour out of it. But she ignores the pain from it and keeps pressing the lid on the monster. ‘Oh, even losing her eye and going through a lot of pain, it's still not enough for her to give in, hehehe, this might be interesting.’

 Life's smile then slowly turns from cocky to a full blown sadistic one as he continues to watch with excitement over the struggle between Nozomi and the monster down below.

Life then slaps in the face, his sadistic smile slowly diminishing as he calms down. Breathing in and out. ‘Now, now Life, remember what you promised to her, that this side of yours is only for her and her only. Try to control yourself.‘

Life then snaps back his attention to the fight when he notices that the light coming from her index finger is glowing brighter by the second, and before he can comment about it, Nozomi points at the human-cat and shoots at its head. 

Making it disappear in a cloud of black smoke after a few seconds. ‘Hum, well, I guess that confirms it, if that monster was something natural, it would leave a body of some kind, or at the very least, the black blood on the floor wouldn’t also turn into smoke.’ 

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He then notices Nozomi’s index finger that she shooted the monster with, or at least, the lack thereof, with small particles of light coming from where the finger was consumed and becomes slightly worried. ‘Wait, so, the magic system of this world doesn’t use mana ? Hum, if I were to guess…this probably would be closer to an equivalent exchange, not unheard of, but I would not say that it’s the most popular either.’ 

He then becomes even more worried, turning into slight panic as beads of sweat fall from his face hidden behind the mask. ‘But the problem here is that she just lost her finger ! How the fuck am I supposed to keep her alive AND the main character if she keeps losing body parts ?! For fuck’s sake Tec, I will get you for this if she dies for it and I get in trouble !’

Then he snaps out of his rambling when he notices the light from the light post near Nozomi begins to dim, and at the same time, her index finger begins to grow back to what it was before. Life then blinks a few times at it and begins a nervous laughter that he manages to contain in time. ‘Of course ! hahaha, I admit, that actually got me for a second there, hehe’ 

He then tries to calm himself down, by breathing a few times.’Ok, ok, now, how do I grade her performance in this fight…’ He stays in thought, before coming to an answer and saying it.  "Hmm, a little rough around the edges, but still, not bad at all ."

After he said that, he was then taken slightly back when Nozomi, who was now laying on the floor breathing heavily, was now looking at him, like she just heard his voice.

 ‘Hey,hey, why is she looking at me ? Did she hear me ? No, I am many floors up, and I was speaking normally. I also didn’t see or hear her cast any magic either. Is it the logic of this world that allows her to not only hear me, but also see me even if I am very far away ? Hum, there’s only one way to find out.’

He then turns around and tries to leave. ‘If she really heard me and managed to find me, she would probably say something along the lines of…’

He couldn’t even finish his line of thought before he heard Nozomi’s voice. “Wait !” Stopping him dead in his tracks.

He then looks down at the floor, sighing internally. ‘Yep, she not only heard me, but also saw me, or at least, enough for her to tell that I was moving away from her vision, urgh, what am I even supposed to do here ?’

He then heard Nozomi’s voice again."Excuse me, but, who are you ?"

After hearing that, an almost inhuman smile then slowly begins to form on Life’s face. As he realizes that his question has been answered. ‘Hehe, like always, I just need to ask and the answer comes to me on a silver platter,heh.’

He then has an idea, a very genius idea…from his perspective at least. ‘I could actually use this as a chance to help her and gain trust with her, sure, Nozomi and her friends are the ones who’s supposed to beat up the bad guys and save the day, but I can still give my so valuable advice to them, in order to make it more convenient for me in the long run.’

He then turns back, but before speaking he realizes something. ‘Wait, do I even call myself ? Hum, how about…Outsider ! Yeah, that could work, since I am not from here…but before that. activate [Voice-Changer] program.’

After seeing confirmation on a blue menu screen that it’s activated he then proceeds to talk. "I am...the one who fights in the shadows so you can live in the light, call me, the Outsider !"

‘And the final touch for this performance of mine !’, silvery liquid metal shoots out from his cape and turns into a giant spotlight that when activated, it bathes its light upon Life’s back, showing his confident visage to Nozomi, who’s now lying down on the floor bleeding out from one of her shoulders and one of her eyes.

And then, just as quickly as he appeared, the light behind Life's figure goes out and with a proud smile from his performance, he immediately turns away from Nozomi, now walking away from the scene, straight at the turned off spotlight he created from behind. 

When a few feet closer, the spotlight began to turn itself into a liquid mass on the floor that was now slithering to Life’s shoes and being absorbed by it without Life needing to stop moving. ‘Ah, at least the neural-link between me and the over-armor is still as reliable as always, at least there’s that.’

Now closer to the edge of the building, he sees himself now in front of a wall of darkness that when looking up and down it could be seen as extending without end from both directions. ‘I wonder what would happen if I were to jump and fall into this abyss ? Probably nothing for me, but for a regular human it would be a fate worse than death. In any case.’ He raises one of its hands and dark sparks begin to come out of it. 

And within a few seconds, the wall in front of him begins to twist and turn, forming an exit big enough for him to enter inside, he then makes a small jump from the gap between the edge of the building and the exit, landing without any hint of nervousness. ‘There we go,now, let’s get out of here.’

After exiting the barrier of darkness, he looked behind his back, with a hint of curiosity. ‘Now that I am thinking about it…this barrier is still here even after the threat is over, will it disappear only after everyone gets out of it ?’

He then turns back into his teacher disguise and waits at a corner in the street where he feels like no one will notice him. ‘There’s only one way to find out, if the barrier still remains here even after everyone gets out I might need to intervene by making it disappear before it causes a commotion when a random passerby sees it, I don’t want to push my luck too hard.’

He then sees from the corner, exiting the barrier. First being a dog with a star shaped birthmark on its forehead, following behind it comes Nozomi, who could be seen carrying a girl in a school uniform on her back. 

After being completely outside the barrier simply vanishes from existence in an instant, like it was never there to begin with. 

Leaving a completely empty street where the barrier once covered. Life after seeing this, blinks a few times in silence. ‘Okay, so it disappears after everyone is out, good to know, although it could at least go out in a better way than just…vanishing in an instant.’ 

He then snaps back his attention back to Nozomi and company, seeing her put the schoolgirl that she was carrying on a bench nearby. ‘Hum, well I guess it's time for me to call it a night. I don’t really feel like I am needed here anymore, or at least, not today. Better call it the night. I still need to check-in at the hotel I am staying at.’ 

He then turns his vision away from Nozomi and begins to walk to his new destination, this time actually knowing where it is.

Back to the present, he still continues to look at city streets many floors below. ‘What a peculiar world, it clearly has exaggerated peculiarities from fiction that separates it from realism, but at the same time, some other things work as they should, not making it a complete cartoon.’

He then finally looks away from the city streets. Now looking up at the stars in the sky. 

‘But what I find most interesting is when I saw Nozomi fighting against that monster. She was clearly bleeding, there’s no two-ways about it, but, when I tested it by cutting my thumb just enough to bleed a little bit of blood, it didn’t. It still hurt as much as it should, but blood didn’t come out. Maybe it’s a unique quality of that barrier that’s altering the universal laws in which this world operates ?’

He then raises the can of soda and takes a sip at it, then after drinking the last of it he looks at the brand of the can, where it only says SODA. “At least there aren't any companies influencing this world, it would just suck if I had to deal with them, now…”

A blue menu screen appears in front of him, this time with the words [Job Briefing] as a title for the wall of text that’s below it. “I still need to read the rest of the briefing, even if I don’t want to, i got a feeling that it might be necessary in the future, now let’s see here.”

He begins to skim through it. “Magical girls, power of friendship, saving the world, forces of evil, teacher’s disguise, make it interesting, do not reveal real identity, making sure the main character doesn't die or if they do, make it so it isn’t permanent.” 

Until he finds himself at the end of the text where there’s a [1/2] on the middle-bottom, below the final line of text with a [>>] option to its right.

Life then goes for a facepalm. But before his hand lands on his face, he stops it just one millimeter away from it, barely able to contain himself on time. He breathes in and out for a few seconds. 

Now somewhat calmer,he selects the [>>]. ‘Fuck’s sake ! I should have known that Tec would do something like that, putting the boring stuff BEFORE the interesting part because he knew I would lose interest in reading it after the first few lines and not even see that there was more than one page. 

Even when you call yourself something different, you’re still the same as before !’

—--------------------------------------------[Job Briefing]---------------------------------------------------------

That is, what your job would be at first, but, we detected a couple of anomalies that seem to defy the very laws that this world would normally operate in. And since Overbot Manga cannot go since he’s already occupied managing another manga world, we needed someone who was free to check up and make sure to deal with it swiftly and cleanly. But, if you REALLY want to. You CAN take advantage of it, as long as it doesn’t impact our goodwill with the company backing this manga, that is. I know that you never watched anime or read any manga, but I believe that with your skillset, you can still pull it off.

P.S: You’re most likely upset that I put the boring part first and the important part for second,in which case…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, that’s what you get after that whole fiasco ! You’re lucky that I salvaged the situation before it grew out of control, otherwise, we would be having a VERY different talk right now. In any case, don’t mess up, because if you do I am gonna make sure that you deal with all of the fallout.

—-------------------------------------------------[2/2]-----------------------------------------------------------------

Life scowls at the message for a couple of seconds. Until he finally decides to close the [Job Briefing] window, clearly upset, he then sighed. “I guess that I had it coming, but still…” He then stayed quiet for a few seconds. “I guess I could re-read the manual again, or at least the parts that I feel would help me.”

Another blue menu screen appears in front of him, showing something akin to computer folders that are ordered in alphabetical order. 

After scrolling down for a few seconds he stops and opens a folder named [Basic Manual for Overpowers]. Inside the folder he sees a PDF file with the same name as the folder, opening up the file he skims through it on its digital pages for a few minutes. 

Until he finds one that catches his attention. “Oh, what do we have here ?”

He sees the part of the manual that has the title [Chapter 11 - Your Role In The Narrative]. “Yeah, I feel like it would be good to at least decide what role in the story am I to take part in, I don’t really remember all the roles, so I might as well see all of them…”

He looks at the options presented to him. “Hum, not this one, not that one either, maybe this one ? Wait…no, that wouldn’t work” He stays like this for some time until…

“Found it, not just one, but actually two !” He says as he opens a copy of the window that he’s reading to see both options at the same time, the screen on the left focusing on the one saying [Equal Partners], while the one on the right is saying [Master and Apprentice].

He then puts his hand on his chin while looking thoughtfully about his options. Until he comes to a decision. “Yes, yes this will do nicely. Now, before I go to sleep…”

He closes both windows and then opens another window, this one has the title of [CALL], and below it there is a bunch of profile pictures of familiar faces lined up with their names to the side, scrolling down he finds the person that they were looking for, but it shows that they are [Offline]. 

He then sighs and closes the [CALL] window.

Life gets up from the chair, soda can in hand and goes back inside his room. ‘I might not need to sleep, but it does feel relaxing to do it.’ He thinks as he decides to sleep for the rest of the night.

---

A.N: Phew, this one chapter was something to write alright, but I wanted to wrap up this introductory arc nicely. At any case, thank you for supporting this project of mine, I might go on a little break after this chapter, but I will come back eventually. See you guys in the next arc.

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