At last, Nina and I are fighting together!

Ever since I became an Alraune, humans have tried to kill me countless times.
I was burned alive, declared wanted, hunted down by entire subjugation forces.
And yet, at long last, the day has finally come for me to fight side by side with a human.


How could I not be happy about this!?
To be honest, I never believed a day like this would ever come.


The little witch is practically family, so being with her has long since become normal to me. But for another human to actually accept me as an ally…
Even though I’ve become a monster, maybe it’s still okay for me to stay alongside humans.
Just thinking about it is making me want to cry. I can feel my nectar starting to well up.



Nina is a saint apprentice.
I’ve turned into an Alraune, but I used to be a saint.
If you think about it, we’re both saints in one way or another.


We’re both saints.
Let’s work together as fellow saints and defeat our enemy!
I just transformed from a little girl into a young lady, but as Cure Alraune¹, I’ll do my best too!
I’d like to tell Nina to transform and power up as well, but sadly, ordinary humans can’t transform.

Letting Nina fight Drago head-on would be too dangerous, so let’s have her focus on ranged attacks and support magic.
I’ll handle the close combat myself!


“Let’s start by killing the saint apprentice first. Ultra-High-Pressure Water Cannon—Wasserschneidemesser!“


A water laser streaked straight towards Nina.
There’s no way Nina’s light magic can stop an attack like that.

I wrapped a vine around Nina and reeled her in like a fish.
Since I already went and grabbed her, maybe I should just keep her suspended in the air.
That should make it a lot easier to keep her out of the way of Drago’s laser attacks.


“H-Hey! Stop that! Put me down already!”


When I looked up, Nina was frantically holding her skirt down, her face bright red.
I felt a little sorry for her, so I lowered her to the ground beside me.


“Honestly… I’m grateful you saved me, but you could’ve put me down sooner, Lady Ir—”

“Wait.”


I covered Nina’s mouth with a vine before she could finish.
Making sure no one else could hear, I leaned in close and whispered into her ear.


“My identity… stays secret. Understand… Nina?”

“…Why? You’re alive, so why would you hide it, Lady Ir—Ow!”

“Saying… my name… is absolutely forbidden.”

“Understood…”


As I was busy flicking Nina’s forehead with my vines, Drago gave us a curious look.


“You seem awfully close to that saint apprentice, Alraune. A monster and a human working together… what exactly is going on here?”

“The last time… we met… we fought each other… to the death. That’s how we… bonded.”


I wasn’t lying.
We really did fight to the death. It was only after the fight did we finally connect and clear up the misunderstanding.
Of course, the fact that we had known each other beforehand is our little secret.



Meanwhile, Drago was clearly struggling against the baby Alraunes’ stubborn resistance.
Aside from the one she blasted off with her laser at the beginning, all of the others were still clinging to her body.
She seems to be in quite a lot of pain, having injured herself trying to get rid of them.

I suppose it’s time to put her out of her misery.


“Nina… light magic on… the dragon!”

“Leave it to me! Light Orb Detonation—Licht Sprengung!“


A sphere of light shot from Nina’s staff.
The instant it struck the dragon’s body, it burst apart in a brilliant explosion.


“An attack like that isn’t going to work on us!”


Don’t get the wrong idea, Drago.
That attack wasn’t aimed at you—it was to cheer on the baby Alraunes.
For plants, light magic is the same thing as healing magic.
See? After absorbing the energy from Nina’s spell, the baby Alraunes are cheering happily.


“I’m full of energy… now!”

“I feel great!”

“I think… I can get bigger!”

“Let’s grow!”


The baby Alraunes all began to grow at once.
Before long, they reached about the size of a six-year-old child.

As the Alraunes grew larger, the dragon’s body steadily shrank.
The dodder’s haustoria were feeding on the flesh inside its body, using it as nutrients for the Alraunes’ growth.


Soon, the dragon’s entire body was covered in yellow roots.
At the same time, the dodder’s haustoria tore out through the dragon’s back from inside its body.
Looks like there wasn’t much left inside anymore.


“Mama!”

“Look… I found something going… thump-thump!”

“Isn’t… that the heart?”

“I wonder if hearts… taste good?”


It sounds like one of the baby Alraunes found the dragon’s heart.
A horrified scream escaped from Drago’s mouth.


“It can’t be… an Aqua Dragon is going to be defeated by these puny little Alraunes…?!”


You underestimated my children.
Not only can they eat meat, but they can even use their roots to dig things up.


“Should we… eat it?”

“I want to eat… it too!”

“The dragon’s… heart is really big!”

“It’s warm!”

“Then… let’s eat!”


The dragon collapsed onto its side.
Looks like they grabbed its heart with their roots and ate it.
My baby Alraunes are such capable girls, they can even go Heart-Catching¹.

The dragon’s body was dead.
Its rain-summoning magic faded away as well, and the rain finally stopped.


“It doesn’t matter! Even if the Aqua Dragon dies, as long as we’re alive, this body will keep moving!”


Drago said that, but the dragon’s body showed no signs of moving.


“What’s going on?! Why won’t our body move?!”


The baby Alraunes must’ve absorbed and consumed the dragon’s muscles through their roots.
Without any muscles left, the dragon’s body physically couldn’t move anymore.


“N-No… If we can’t move… what are we supposed to do…?”


Drago looked utterly rejected.
She seemed desperate to escape, but once the dragon, which had served as her body, was reduced to little more than skin, there was nothing she could do.


After relying on the dragon for so long, she forgot what it’s like to be a plant that couldn’t move on its own.
I know that feeling all too well.


Ever since I was reborn as an Alraune, I’ve constantly struggled with the fact that I couldn’t move.
It’s a physical handicap every plant has to face.

Maybe now Drago finally understands what it’s truly like to be a plant.
For example, if a part of your body catches fire, you have no way to escape the flames if you’re a plant.



My baby Alraunes already knew exactly what to do.

Acting in perfect unison, they self-pollinated before setting themselves ablaze with the ability of the eucalyptus. Then, using the Banksia’s ability, they transformed into seeds and escaped into the ground.


“St-Stopppp!”


Drago, along with the dragon’s entire body, was engulfed in flames.
You underestimated the power of plants and placed far too much faith in the dragon’s strength. That’s why you lost.


“If this is how it’s going to be, then we’ll take you all down with us…! Triple Ultra-High-Pressure Water Cannon—Drei Wasserschneidemesser!“

water aggregated in front of the dragon’s mouth.
But it never fired.
With the dragon dead, it seemed she could no longer use water magic.


Dryads, as forest spirits, are weak to fire.
If she couldn’t use water magic to extinguish the fire, let alone attack with it, there was nothing she could do.
Once the tree that was her true body burned away, her death became inevitable.


“We… a fusion of a spirit and a dragon… defeated by a mere plant monster…?!”


Plants can, at times, surpass even dragons.
As a cloned Dryad, you abandoned the fighting style of a spirit in favor of the dragon you fused with. Because of that, you never realized the true potential of plants.
A shame, especially considering the fact that your creator, Feagismeinnicht, is a Dryad herself.


Drago, one of the Three Spirit Beasts, vanished into the flames.



“Now… it’s the trolls’… turn.”


With Drago defeated, all that remained were the trolls.
If I used the nearby fire to create flaming vines, I could finish them off in a single strike.


“Wait! Don’t kill the trolls!”


Nina stepped in front of me, planting herself firmly in my way.
She spread both arms wide, shielding the trolls behind her.


“These trolls were most definitely human originally! They’ve been transformed by those strange flowers and seeds!”


──Strange seeds?

Is she talking about the Seed of Evolution Oin used?

So the older Dryad sister had used Seeds of Evolution to turn humans into trolls.
Now it all makes sense. That’s why so many trolls suddenly appeared in the town.


“Those trolls can still be turned back into humans! So please, don’t kill them. Let’s save them instead!”

“But… how are we… meant to do that?”

“We can do it with Holy Honey!”


────Holy Honey?


“Quick! Hurry and make some Holy Honey!”


W-Wait a second, Nina.

What’s Holy Honey?


I’ve never heard of anything that sounded so sacred.
I really hope I’m wrong… but she isn’t talking about my nectar, is she?
But it’s not like I’ve produced anything holy before.


“Please, hurry with the Holy Honey…! Oh, and while you’re at it, I’d like to drink some too!”


Nina, what do you mean, “I’d like to drink some too?”
And why are you drooling with your eyes glazed over like that? Something is definitely wrong with her.

Nina, what’s gotten into you?
You’re acting just like that nectar-crazed pervert bear.
You’re not about to start licking me, are you…?


“With Holy Honey, everyone can be saved! If we have the Holy Honey blessed by the Goddess, everything will be solved!”


I have absolutely no idea what she’s talking about. My nectar isn’t anything that amazing.
I mean… it comes out of my mouth. There’s nothing holy about that.

Seriously, would someone please tell me…?


What in the world is Holy Honey?!

***

Author’s Note:

The little witch never actually used the term “Holy Honey” while they were in the forest, so this is the first time our protagonist has ever heard the term.

Next Time: The True Value of Holy Honey


TL’s Note:

1. Another Magical Girls reference. This time to PreCure, and the second reference is specifically to HeartCatch Precure.