''At what age was I contracted? Well it might not look like it now. But I was arleady twenty five years old when I became a Magical Girl. Now twenty years later and I look like a sixteen years old girl. Amazing what magic can do isn't it? Ahahahahah!''
''...But I was contracted at that age because I am a first generation Magical Girl. Back then the Awakened had not standarized contracts as they do now since they had just made contact with humanity. They just awoke the gift of magic to any girls and women who had potential, regardless of how old they were.''
''But from the second generation onward. Girls with the potential to wield magic and use it for good are detected from the moment they are born. Don't ask me how the Awakened know the potential of a girl that early, they just do. At that point fourteen years old became the age which almost all Magical Girls are contracted. There are only two reasons why a girl would contract outside of that age.
''The first is that a girl may reject the offer of a contract at first and decide to go throught with it at a later time.''
''However if you see a Magical Girl younger than fourteen it is always for the same reason. An Emergency Contract was formed. Emergency Contracts are formed with girls who have potentials earlier than the standard age. And the reason for that earlier contract is quite simple. It is because the girl would not have survived until her fourteenth birthday if she did not become a Magical Girl.''
''Emergency Contracts can be quite a controversial topic. Many feel that fourteen years old is arleady too young to enroll girls in an endless war and an Emergency Contract force girls to enroll even earlier than that. With the youngest girl on record being only eight years old. But there is no denying that without Emergency Contracts we would have lost many young girls with a lot of potential to the Unfeeling parasites.''
An Interview with the number one ranked Magical Girl, Étoile. On the the subject of the age of contracting. -2045
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Rin was floating, he didn't know where he was. But it looked almost like he was in the middle of space. He could see countless stars surrounding him along with nebulas he had only seen in pictures.
Normally he would have found the sight amazing and inspiring. But as he stared at the beauty of the universe he could only feel a deep uncaring apathy. Who cared how beautiful the universe was? Nothing mattered anymore.
He closed his eyes and continued floating aimlessly in the impossibly vast void. Why was he here again? Oh right, he was dying. Was this what death was like? Just floating endlessly in space?...well whatever. A part of him felt like he should be afraid about the fact he might be dead. But currently he couldn't care less. The world never cared about him and he didn't care about it anymore either. His life wasn't worth living, might as well just accept oblivion.
[Is that truly how you feel?] A voice suddenly asked, it seemed to reasonate from all around him.
Rin looked around with a emotionless expression. ''Yes, life is not worth it, the world is not worth it. It should just all disappear.''
[Really? That doesn't seem like the boy that rescued me this morning. You say you don't care about anything and yet you put yourself in harm's way to rescue a single defenseless animal?]
''That was before I realised how pointless it all is. Look at what happened to me. I fell unconscious during an Emergence and no one even bothered to carry me to safety. Nobody ever cared about me, why should I care about them?''
[It's true the world has been terribly unjust to you. And yet you wanted to be a Magical Girl with all your heart didn't you? Surely you felt like there was something worth protecting if you wanted to carry that burden so badly.]
At their words Rin felt a small emotion flicker under his chest. He was surprised to have felt anything, But it was there, burried deep inside him. A sense of deep longing for something unatainable.
[You wanted to be a girl, that is one of the motive I could deduce from reading your soul. However it was more than just gender incongruence that made you want to be a Defender. You wanted to save people in the way you, yourself had never been saved.]
At their words the feeling came back in full force and Rin, overwhelmed by all his emotions coming back so suddenly, started crying.
''W-who are you, how do you know so much about me?!'' He asked into the void.
Suddenly a small star lit up right in front of Rin. It glowed brightly, so brightly that if Rin still had eyes he would have needed to close his eyelid. The light died down and Rin was surprise to see the same young fox he had rescued earlier in the day,
The fox smiled at him which was kind of uncanny. [Hello there, my name is Lupin. I've been watching you and have been waiting for a long time to properly meet you, Rin Ainsley.]
''R-really? How long?'' Rin asked startled that strange animal had been observing him.
[Since the day you were born.] He replied without hesitation.
''S-seriously?!'' Rin exclaimed in disbelief.
Lupin nodded his head. [Yes, that is standard procedure for anyone who have been selected by the Awakened.]
''The Awakened, huh? I think I've heard some Magical Girls mention them, who are they?'' Rin asked confused.
[I guess you could call them an advance alien civilisation. But their knowledge of the aether and technology could easily fool some species into believing they are gods. Many of the gods in your ancient mythology are Awakened who visited your planet in time's long past. In a certain way they are also similar to the monsters you call the Unfeelings.]
''W-what?! How are they similar? Do they attack other planets too?!'' Rin asked startled.
Lupin shook his head. [No, of course not. However the original Unfeelings were once an advance civilisation very much similar to the Awakened. However they were too careless. They awakened the gift of magic for everyone on their planet. The gift easily overwhelmed the ones that were not ready to handle it. They broke their souls thanks to their carelessness and became the first monsters known as the Unfeelings. The remaining worthy magic users tried to fight back. But they were overwhelmed by the number of monsters and their planet was completely overtaken by the Unfeelings. The Awakened decided to take a much more careful approach on who to select after the tragedy of their equals. They have been at war with the Unfeelings for millenia and humanity has only recently been recruited to join them in that fight.]
Lupin seemed to look around for something his expression turning more serious. [But enough about history for now. Time work differently here, but we still should not waste the precious time we have left. As you might have suspected. I am a Familiar created by the Awakened to serve and guide you Rin Ainsley. I am here to ask you to form a contract with me and become a Magical Girl to protect humanity and in the end, the universe at large. From the Unfeeling existential threat.]
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Rin had suspected this was what the fox was going to ask and yet he still couldn't believe it. ''I-I can really become a Magical Girl? D-don't I need to be a girl for that?''
Lupin cocked his head toughfully. [Well as I said earlier, you were born with an incogruence between your soul and your body. You have the soul of a female and because of this you can become a Magical Girl even if your body doesn't match up.]
''I-I have the soul of a girl?'' Rin muttered in disbelief and embarassment, it felt unbelievable and yet it explained so many things at the same time. He couldn't deny he would have been happy to be a girl even if not a magical one. Tough Magical Girls were even better, obviously.
Rin turned back at Lupin with a curious look in his eyes. ''But I've always been curious, why can't boys have magic? Obviously I don't mind being a Magical Girl but it feel kind of unfair to the boys who aren't okay with being girls like me.''
Lupin sighed. [I'll answer that question another time. But now you really need to make a choice, because you will soon die and become an Unfeeling. And after that happen there's nothing I will be able to do to save you, magic or no magic. So I ask you again, would you like to make a contract?]
With all that Rin had almost forgotten he was about to die in the real world. He clenched his fist and smiled for the first time in what felt like forever. ''Well, obviously I accept your contract Lupin!''
Lupin bowed his head respectfully and Rin felt something really warm lit up in his chest but not in a painful way. [May this partnership surpass even entropy itself.]
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By the time she woke up to her new state of being the Emotionless of her teacher had joined the other Unfeeling in trying to drain her. Something powerful emanated from her chest an intense light flooded the surounding and created a shockwave that broke walls, shattered windows and proceeded to melt the two Unfeelings trying to attack her into nothing more than a gray mush on the ground as they screeched in agony.
> Class changed: Student (Magical Girl)
> You have reached Level 1
> Max HP and max MP increased
> 5 skills points available
> Unfeelings slayed
> Emotionless level 1: 5 points
> Ravenous level 2: 10 points
Rin didn't realised her body had even started to float until she started floating back down once the surge died down. ''I-I killed my teacher.'' Rin said in horror as she stare at the mush that used to be a human being.
[He became an Unfeeling, there was nothing you could have done to save him. Killing him was a mercy. Even if it was your awakening that did it and technically not you.]
Rin looked around confused. ''Lupin? Where are you?'' She restrained herself from shrieking as the fox appeared in front of her with only a flash of light as a warning.
[As your Familiar I have now fused with your soul. I'll stay inside most of the time but you can call on me anytime you want.Tought you should be warned that I don't have any reliable fighting capabilities. So my help will be mostly limited to support.]
Rin slowly nodded, make sense she had never seen the Familiar of a Magical Girl actually fight. She looked down at herself and gasped at the frilly pink dress she was wearing. She could also feel that her body had changed in some way. Hesitantly she patted down her crotch and her suspicions were confirmed when she felt that it was completely flat. A normal boy would probably freak out at losing their manhood. But Rin could only feel pure relief.
Rin realised that she had an observer watching her checking herself out and flushed in embarassment, Lupin for his part remained silent and held no judgement. ''...S-so what I am doing now? Should I go kill the Unfeelings?'' She might be a Magical Girls now, but taking on an Emergence on her own on her first day sounded pretty daunting.
[No I wouldn't recommend that. You may have the power to slay them now, but you are still a complete newbie. Normally a Magical Girl would be acompanied by veterant Magical Girls during her first Emergence. And you were not supposed to become a Magical Girl this early. But the Emergence and your imminent death forced my hand. Your priority should be to find a shelter and wait out the Emergence.]
It made her feel both relieved and guilty that she wasn't expected to help the people that needed it right now. ''B-but I'm a Magical Girl right? I shouldn't let people die if I can help it.''
[If you feel that strongly about fighting on your first day I recommend at least waiting until the other Magical Girls arrive as backup. As your Familiar I cannot decide what decision to take for you, but I would rather not our partnership end this soon.]
Rin sighed but relented. ''I suppose it would be dumb to ignore the advices of my own Familiar.''
She started walking down the stairs and into the hallway leading to the basement. As she approached the stairs however she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. She was hesitant to continue and Lupin next words seemed to agree with her.
[I can feel an Unfeeling downstair. I wanted to avoid any combat if possible, but it look like it might be unavoidable.]
''H-how do I use magic attacks?'' Rin asked nervously.
[You don't have access to any magical spells right now. So I suppose it's about time I explain about the points and summoning system. As you might have noticed you gained points when your awakening killed those two Unfeelings earlier. Your awakening also automatically allocated you 100 points. So right now you have 115 points in total. We can use those points to summon any kind of weapons and support items crafted by the Awakened.]
''R-right I did see Magical Girls being able to teleport objects on the field in videos and streams online. So how do I summon something?'' Rin asked somewhat eagerly.
[You can leave the summoning part to me. All you have to do is tell me what you want and I'll bring it to you with the points you accumulated.]
''I see, so I assume we should be summoning some type of weapon to deal with the Unfeelings and maybe some armor?'' She said toughtfully.
[Yes you'll need some weapons and while there are armors in the Awakened catalogues. It is pretty much useless for Magical Girls. Your Astral Shift will arleady be way more effective than any armors you could buy with the points you have.]
''What's the point of being able to buy armors if they're useless to Magical Girls?'' Rin asked confused.
[They're Mostly for Mystical Hunters, or in case Magical Girls want to protect civilians and regular soldiers more easily. And before you ask I'll explain what Mystical Hunters are another time, for now we should focus on the task at hand.]
Rin closed her mouth before she could even ask her question and pouted slightly for being read so easily. ''Alright so what kind of weapons should I get?''
[I would recommend getting a close range weapon and a long range weapon. As a newbie keeping your distance from the Unfeelings might be the best solution right now. But we don't want to be completely unprepared if one manage to sneak in close.]
''Yeah that might be a good idea. Hmm, for the short range maybe a one hand sword? I want to be able both weapons in case I need to. As for long range...well the first thing that come to mind is a gun.''
[I'm not sure I like the potential controversy of a Magical Girl running around a school while carrying a gun. Maybe we should consider using a bow or even a crossbow instead. It would give much less of a problematic image.] Lupin said with a somewhat nervous tone.
''Really? Is now really the time to be worried about my image?'' Rin asked somewhat incredulously.
[Public perception is very much an important part of being a Magical Girl. For various reasons that would take too long to explain right now. But if you really wish to wield a gun, I suppose the controversy around Magical Girls wielding modern weaponry has somewhat died down with the third generation of Magical Girls. So what type of guns would you like?]
''Just a regular pistol that can deal with the aliens.'' Rin replied.
[Alright an enchanted broadword and an enchanted glock 17 These two weapons together will cost you about 24 points and if we spend 1 more points we can get four extra ammo magazines for your enchanted gun.]
Rin nodded, ''Do it.''
> Earth's Weapons of War Catalogue (Common): 0 points
> Attuned Broadword: 10 points
> Attuned Glock 17: 14 Points
> Extra 9mm Ammo: 1 Point
Suddenly a glowing summoning circle appeared in front of Rin and two boxes appear at her feet. Bending down she opened the bigger one first and smiled as she took the one handed sword in her hands. She gave it an experimental swing and was shocked at how light it felt. Seeming to understand her toughts Lupin started explaining.
[As a Magical Girl you have enchanced physical capabilities. This sword would be much heavier in your regular form.] Lupin said from inside her mind.
Rin nodded and put down the sword on the ground before opening the second box. And saw a black pistol that she carefully took in her hand. She never expected to get a gun much less at the age of twelve. But it seem like life's rules were different when you became a Magical Girl.
She took the sword back in her other hand and also tried to carry the four extra ammo magazines and realised she had nowhere to put them. ''Um...''
Seeing her predicament Lupin came to the rescue. [You can put away your weapons and ammo inside your soul gem until you need them. Just think of putting them away and they should get stored.]
Rin did just that and look in wonder as the sword and gun vanished and got sucked inside the ring around her finger. She tried summoning only the glock and smiled triumphantly as it appeared in her hand.
She nodded satisfied and then her expression turned serious as she glared down the stairs. ''Let's get this show on the road.''