Chapter 05: Over Technology

The Blue Witch woke up in her quiet house, washed her face, combed her hair, and cleaned the grave in her backyard—her unchanging daily routine.

Even before she was known as the “Blue Witch” and was still called Hiyori Aoyama, she had always cherished peaceful mornings. She wanted to be gently woken by her younger sister, who would snuggle into her futon for a second nap. Then, she’d slowly start the day, enjoying toast slathered in butter, sausages, and coffee with milk, surrounded by her family.

But such mornings were no longer possible.

After finishing her tasteless canned breakfast, the Blue Witch checked the functionality of the handgun she had taken from a dead policeman as a backup weapon in case her magic ran out. She then holstered it on her thigh. Ready to patrol her territory, she reached for her magic stone—only to find her magic wand, Kyanos, sitting in its place instead.

It was still unfamiliar, having only been delivered a few days ago.

The reclusive yet prodigiously skilled wand craftsman, Kenji Dairi, had been a rare trustworthy person for the Blue Witch. Though his personality left much to be desired, he bore no malice nor much sense of self-preservation. She couldn’t help but marvel at how he had survived this long.

The wand trade contract with this peculiar hermit from Okutama had worked out quite well for her. It essentially granted her the exclusive distribution rights to the most powerful weapon around.

With this, skirmishes with other witches and sorcerers would become far easier to manage. If she wanted, she could even manipulate people using wands as bait, controlling the power balance across different regions.

The Blue Witch had made her base in Ome City, in northwest Tokyo. Long ago, she had failed to protect its citizens. Now, she hunted monsters that destroyed the remnants of the city, hoping at least to preserve the hollow echoes of its memories.

But what purpose did it serve to protect empty homes to which no one would ever return? What lay beyond her efforts? Nothing.

Even so, like a mother wolf guarding an abandoned nest, the Blue Witch remained in Ome, eternally vigilant.

With the magic wand, the protection of Ome would grow even stronger.

She owed Dairi a debt of gratitude. In a world where everything was crumbling and fading away, the return of even a single piece of her broken peaceful past filled her with immeasurable joy.

Honoring her benefactor’s request, the Blue Witch had begun screening potential customers for the wand.

She would sell to friendly factions and refuse to sell to hostile ones. This alone could shape a convenient power map.

The Blue Witch planned to fully leverage her new role as a broker. While she wasn’t particularly adept at political maneuvering, the potential rewards made it worth considering. If the wand became renowned as a weapon capable of reshaping the power balance, Dairi would be pleased. And if it strengthened the defense of Ome, the Blue Witch would be satisfied. A true win-win situation.

Gripping Kyanos, the Blue Witch headed out on patrol again. Her tasks included hunting monsters from neighboring regions that infiltrated her territory and exterminating any that spawned locally. She also dealt with trespassers—thieves attempting to steal Ome’s resources or squatters trying to settle uninvited. Most were beaten within an inch of their lives and thrown out of the area. For the especially brazen or unrepentant, she showed no mercy.

That morning’s battles were minor skirmishes against small fry—three encounters in total. None of them were worthy opponents to properly test Kyanos’s magic amplification capabilities.

During her first battle with Kyanos a few days earlier, the wand’s overwhelming amplification had taken her by surprise. Against a carnivorous plant the size of a compact car, she cast a simple ice spear spell at its lowest power. The resulting explosion not only obliterated the monster but pierced through five nearby homes, toppling them. The power was excessive.

When marketing the wand, it wouldn’t do for the seller to be unfamiliar with its performance. She needed an appropriately strong opponent to test it against. But, as fate would have it, no such creature appeared.

Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, Kyanos in hand, the Blue Witch spent several hours confirming that there were no external threats in the city. Satisfied, she decided to have an early lunch. Thanks to raiding the stockpiles of a sorcerer she had eliminated in Iruma, her food reserves remained plentiful.

As she ate, she thought about delivering some supplies to Dairi in Okutama. She considered including a few fruits she’d picked from the tree at her late neighbor Nakamura’s house.

Just as she was mulling this over, a dull thud came from the window.

Turning to look, she saw a floating eyeball bumping into the glass.

It was the familiar of the Eyeball Witch.

Annoyed at the thought of another idle chat, the Blue Witch opened the window. The eyeball floated into the room and, from some unseen mouth, conveyed the Eyeball Witch’s voice.

“Emergency.”

Without even exchanging greetings, the tense voice broke the silence, and the Blue Witch raised an eyebrow.

It seemed that the usually easy going Eyeball Witch was in a state of considerable urgency.

“What is it?”

“A giant monster has landed from Tokyo Bay. The Tokyo coastal areas are a sea of flames right now. We need help.”

“Don’t ask me. The mages in that area should handle it.”

The Blue Witch was focused on protecting Ome, a city located inland within Tokyo. Coastal areas were outside her jurisdiction, and frankly, she wasn’t interested.

Her cold dismissal made the eyeball flit nervously, its pupil darting around in agitation before continuing.

“I said ‘giant monster,’ but to be clear, it’s essentially a kaiju. Over 100 meters long, at the very least.”

“Wow, that’s huge. If that’s the case, the Vampire Mage must already be coordinating a joint operation, right?”

“The Vampire Mage is dead. The Setagaya Witch fled. Right now, it’s just the Rekindling Witch and the Hachioji Witch holding it off.”

The unexpected news made the Blue Witch, who had been indifferent until now, clutch her magic staff tightly.

Even with a powerful monster appearing, the death of the Vampire Mage seemed hard to believe.

“Wait, the Vampire Mage is dead? Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. But thanks to him, all the citizens in Minato Ward—the landing point—were safely evacuated.”

“I thought he was impossible to kill… So that’s how he went out.”

Unlike herself, he had died protecting the people he was meant to safeguard. She couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy.

He had always been an insufferable man, more invested in political games than anything else, but he was still worthy of respect.

The Blue Witch offered a brief moment of silence in his honor before nodding.

“Alright. As a tribute to the Vampire Mage, I’ll take down that kaiju if it gets near Ome.”

“I know you don’t want to leave Ome, but things are seriously bad. The Rekindling Witch and the Hachioji Witch can only hold out for so long. None of the other witches are helping… Please, Ao-chan, come here. I’m begging you. We need all the help we can get!”

For the Blue Witch, this presented a good opportunity to test the Kyanos magic staff against such a colossal monster.

However, she had no intention of leaving Ome unguarded for a distant expedition.

Years ago, she had made the mistake of leaving to help with a man-eating bird that had appeared in Kanagawa, only for the Iruma Mage to exploit her absence and abduct every single resident of Ome.

It was a bitter memory she could never forget.

A brief visit to a neighboring district might be one thing, but leaving for a prolonged mission far away was out of the question.

“I’m not leaving this place. If that thing comes near Ome, pull back the Rekindling and Hachioji Witches. I’ll handle it alone.”

The Blue Witch’s tone was firm as she offered this advice, picturing the two witches who had once told her they were fans of hers from her days as a magazine model.

The floating eyeball widened dramatically, practically bulging in protest.

“What are you talking about? That’s impossible! You’re strong, sure, but you’re on par with the Iruma Mage at best, right? You don’t have to team up with them, but at least provide covering fire—”

“I said I’d handle it alone. If you want to get caught in the crossfire, go ahead and join in.”

“…Fine! Just promise me you’ll run if things get dangerous!”

As if spurred by the distant roar of the kaiju, the Eyeball Witch hurriedly ended the communication. Her familiar blinked once in farewell before floating out the window and heading back.

Watching it leave, the Blue Witch ascended to the roof of her house.

What she saw in the distance was the enormous kaiju advancing through the city, toppling entire buildings as it went.

“What? That thing’s… huge!”

She was left speechless at the sheer scale of the creature.

The kaiju resembled a black Tyrannosaurus rex but was even more upright and humanoid in its posture. Its massive size distorted one’s sense of perspective.

Just its casual movements alone were enough to wreak havoc across Tokyo. And yet, the monster was clutching what appeared to be the Tokyo Skytree in its hand, smashing and sweeping its surroundings like a child throwing a tantrum.

As she stared in stunned disbelief, a pillar of fire erupted from the ground. The crimson flames were likely the work of the Rekindling Witch.

Her magic boasted both scale and intensity, capable of incinerating entire skyscrapers.

But against the kaiju’s absurd size, it barely licked at its knees. The monster pressed onward, seemingly unbothered by the fire at its feet.

Next, chains shot up from the ground, winding around the kaiju’s limbs.

From this distance, they seemed thin and fragile, but the Hachioji Witch’s sealing chains were known for their incredible durability and binding power.

However, the kaiju merely shook itself as if annoyed, swiping its tail to emit a beam from its tip that easily melted the chains away.

Dizziness washed over her.

The Blue Witch had encountered many monsters that defied human comprehension before. She had fought them in desperate battles and emerged victorious.

In the aftermath of the Gremlin Disaster, pessimists preaching apocalyptic doom had screamed endlessly about the end of humanity. But as long as witches like her existed, she believed humanity would never fall.

Sacrifices were unavoidable, but extinction was not inevitable—or so she thought.

But now, seeing this embodiment of destruction stride forward as if trampling an empty wilderness, her conviction wavered. That colossal creature had a body of immense size, intelligence to wield weapons, and even the ability to use magic.

The sight before her was beyond belief. Could such a superbeing even be brought down by a direct nuclear strike?

The Blue Witch faltered, nearly overcome by fear, but the familiar sensation of the magic staff in her hand brought her back to herself.

Right.

She couldn’t run.

Ome lay in the monster’s path.

No matter what kind of monstrosity it was, the Blue Witch was determined to protect the streets that still held memories of quieter, more peaceful times. If she couldn’t even do that, her spirit would shatter completely.

There was hope.

She wasn’t the same as she was before. Now, she had the magic staff, Kyanos.

If she poured all her magic power into it and amplified it with Kyanos, she could inflict damage. At the very least, she might force the monster to change its course.

Monsters were, after all, originally ordinary animals. She couldn’t tell what this one had been, but it couldn’t be an exception to the rule.

They didn’t live for destruction alone.

Like wild animals, monsters would retreat if they were injured or sensed a threat.

She couldn’t kill it.

But she could deal enough damage to drive it away.

As long as she could protect Ome, she didn’t care where the kaiju rampaged after that.

The Blue Witch took a deep breath and raised Kyanos.

Though the kaiju still appeared distant, its enormous strides brought it closer far faster than expected.

Around the time the monster entered her magic’s range, the columns of fire and binding chains from the ground vanished. Just as expected, the others had retreated.

Using her full magic power would make control difficult.

Amplified by her magic staff, it would likely become impossible to manage.

But as long as she aimed forward, the sheer size of the kaiju guaranteed that it would hit.

The Blue Witch began to channel her magic into the staff.

The magic power she expelled seeped into the air as cold energy.

Frost formed at her feet, and the rapid cooling of the atmosphere, combined with sudden pressure changes, created diamond dust that danced and swirled in the wind.

“Ugh… ahh…!”

The Blue Witch groaned as the magic threatened to backflow into her body.

She hadn’t even channeled half of her power, yet she was already losing control.

The mere prelude to her magic froze her home, and massive icicles grew from its walls, thickening with every passing moment.

The dense, frigid air weighed heavily on her lungs, piercing her body from within despite her resistance to the cold.

There was no way to limit the area of destruction.

All she could do was aim the staff forward and release the magic toward the kaiju.

But that was enough.

The Blue Witch, having finished charging her magic, gripped the frosted, almost frozen handle of her staff with trembling fingers. White breaths escaped her lips as she let out a faint, fearless laugh.

If this didn’t work, that monster would never be defeated by anyone. That’s why she poured everything she had into it.

Let’s see, shall we?
The skill of the world’s one and only wand maker—Wandmaker!

Then, the Blue Witch recited her incantation, unleashing her most powerful spell, the same one that had obliterated the Iruma Magician in a single blow.

“You, sink into the glacier—! Rest eternally in the permafrost—E Nasheka Vaara!”

From the magic gem embedded in her staff, Kyanos, a pale blue wave of energy erupted.

Though the wave itself was invisible, the air it passed through froze instantly, then liquefied, and finally solidified into white ice. The transformation made it appear as though a frigid, white beam of light was charging at its prey.

The kaiju, however, wasn’t so easily defeated. With reflexes belying its massive size, it raised the Tokyo Skytree in its hand as a shield to block the magic.

But the icy wave pierced through the Skytree and struck the kaiju directly. Within moments, the colossal beast was entirely frozen solid.

And that wasn’t all.

The uncontrolled magic exploded outward upon impact with the kaiju, spreading in all directions. The nearby city, already in ruins beneath the kaiju’s feet, was swallowed by a thick layer of ice.

As a final touch, the magic reached into the sky, consuming the clouds and causing unseasonal snow to fall.

Snow fell gently upon Tokyo—a city ravaged by fire and destruction just moments before.

A serene silence enveloped the world, a quiet mercy blanketing the chaos. The Blue Witch let out a dry laugh as she took in the scene her magic had wrought.

Who told me to go this far?
At this rate, I’m the monster destroying the world.

With a powerless murmur, she whispered to herself, “This is definitely overpowered, Dairi.”

And with that, the Blue Witch collapsed, drained of magic, and unconscious.

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