"You'd better not be too happy so soon."
Seeing the Regressor's excitement, Adam reminded her. His words trying to pour a bucket of cold water over her excitement.
"What do you mean?"
Just as Homura was about to press him for answers, several shouts suddenly came from afar.
"Adam! Mami-senpai! Are you alright?!"
Madoka burst onto the ruined street, breathing hard after sprinting the entire way.
Beside her, Kyubey bounded effortlessly across the broken pavement with a series of light hops.
"Madoka?!" The blonde's honey golden eyes widened. "Why are you here?"
"Phew...ha…" The pinkette rested her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "I was worried about you guys!"
She truly was. With Kyubey's warning, she was worried so much that she started sprinting to the battlefield with no regard for her safety.
"Don't worry, Adam has already taken care of everything."
Mami Tomoe stepped forward and gently patted the pink-haired girl's back to both help her catch her breath and comfort her.
"Yes, I saw it all!"
Once she recovered slightly, Madoka nodded repeatedly and looked at Adam with admiration.
"Why are you with Kyubey?"
Homura saw Kyubey besides Madoka and tensed her body, immediately ready to attack.
"W-wait!"
Seeing the familiar black-haired girl like this, Madoka quickly hugged Kyubey and protected it in her arms.
"Don't hurt Kyubey!"
She had a deep impression of Homua Akemi- the girl who had killed Kyubey before.
"...."
Adam from the side watched calmly. He observed Kyubey with great interest.
This was the first time he had seen Kyubey; since he arrived at Mami Tomoe's house, Kyubey had not gone to see her again.
It's really cute.
-For people who don't know its true nature, that is.
"Did Kyubey bring you here?"
Homura's expression turned ugly, and she asked stiffly. However, she didn't move to attack the creature in the pinkette's arms.
"Um, yes." Upon seeing Homura stop her action of attacking, Madoka relaxed slightly. "It said you were in danger, so I asked it to bring me here."
Even though the pinkette relaxed slightly, she still didn't throw Kyubey away from her embrace- she is still cautious.
"Does it still want you to become a magical girl?"
The black-haired girl looked at the rabbit/cat menace coldly.
"Yes, but I haven't agreed yet."
Madoka shook her head.
Ultimately, she hasn't agreed yet. She wanted to come and see the overall situation first before making such a life-changing decision.
She didn't consider herself a chosen one. If Adam couldn't do anything, she certainly couldn't.
The pinkette figured she might as well save this wish-making opportunity and see if she could help Adam with it.
"Didn't agree?" Homura seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at her words. "That's good, at least you weren't fooled."
Now she is completely relaxed.
"Huh?" She blinked her pink eyes with confusion and bewilderment. "Is Kyubey lying to me?"
"Yep."
Adam stepped forward, approaching her.
"Don't listen to it."
The silver-haired boy then put a hand on her shoulder, indicating to her to stop her from doing anything impulsive.
"...."
Hearing her crush's words, Kaname Madoka looked down at Kyubey in her arms with some disbelief and doubt.
She trusted Adam more than Kyubey, so she immediately began to doubt Kyubey's motives.
"I didn't lie to her."
Kyubey jumped out of the pinkette's arms and then spoke in a serious tone.
"But you said we were in danger."
Homura crossed her hands under her chest, her black eyes staring straight at the creature in front of them.
"I only told her about the dangers of Walpurgisnacht." Kyubey emotionlessly replied, it's red eyes, then turning to the blond-haired girl in the group. "-And the fact that Mami Tomoe can't defeat Walpurgisnacht."
Mami Tomoe by herself truly can't defeat the strongest Witch. And neither can Homura- even if they work together.
"You must have been observing me all this time, right?"
Adam crossed his hands behind his back, speaking calmly to the incarnation of the incubators as he closed his eyes and tilted his head.
"You deliberately concealed my power and misled Madoka. What are you trying to do with this?"
The silver-haired boy could always feel a sense of spying. It wasn't from one source- it seemed to come from everything and everywhere at the same time.
As expected of the Incubators.
"I just wanted Madoka Kaname to become a magical girl." It looked at Madoka, and then it looked at him. "But right now, I'd like to talk to you."
For it, Adam was more interesting than a high-potential magical girl.
"What do you want to talk about?"
The silver-haired boy raised an eyebrow at the animal representing a cosmic-level civilization.
Even though he knew the content of its upcoming discussion, he still pretended not to know.
"You're not from this world, are you?"
It raised its head and asked him knowingly.
"That's right."
Adam readily admitted it, knowing that it couldn't be hidden from the incarnation of a universal-level civilization like Kyubey.
"Tell me how to get to another world, and I can give you anything you want."
Such a promise from the incubators- it would be very valuable.
"I refuse."
The silver-haired boy from another world opened his blue eyes, stared directly at the incubator hivemind, and decisively refused.
Even if he truly had a way to travel to another world, he wouldn't give it to Kyubey.
"Why?" It seemed to frown with genuine confusion "I can provide many things—wealth, power—whatever you want. I can obtain it and give it to you."
"That's not what I need."
Adam shrugged noncommitantly.
He can slowly trade for all of the Incubator's technology over countless resets. So he can truly afford to appear uninterested.
"Adam, Kyubey…" Madoka looked between the two of them with hesitation, "What….w-what's going on?"
She feels confused about what is happening right in front of her eyes.
How did it go from Walpurgisnacht to Adam?
"Madoka-chan, it's cute how you're worrying about me."
The silver-haired boy gently told her all the while still looking at the 'rabbit' in front of him.
"But heh, I'm strong, you know? A mere Walpurgisnacht certainly isn't enough to kill me."
He then shrugged, unbothered. "And don't worry about Kyubey and me, we just have some things to discuss."
The pink-haired girl nodded hesitantly, too speechless to say or ask anything else.
In truth, the fact that Mami and Homura were calmly watching from the side put even more pressure on the pinkette- she felt like a naughty student shouting loudly in an ever-quiet classroom.
"Foreigner, why have you appeared?"
Kyubey then asked with a wag of its tail, seemingly not caring about his rejection.
"That doesn't concern you." The outerworlder smirked, raising his hand and spreading his fingers. "The only thing that matters right now: I propose an alternative trade!"
"A trade with an otherworlder that doesn't involve the method of travelling to other worlds?" It nodded calmly. "I see. This is acceptable."
Even if it isn't the main prize, it will still benefit the Incubators.
"Indeed, I'll give you some samples of various energies that aren't local to this universe." Adam took out a square ball out of the air like a magic trick. "These should give you some hope in preventing Heat death, right?"
"That is correct. However, I doubt we could make those energies renewable for us."
Kyubey's red eyes locked onto the slowly flowing colored energy flowing from Adam's body into the spherical ball.
"By themselves, they are still valuable." Adam sneered. Is the word 'haggling' even taken seriously by the Incubators? "And with your technology, you might find a way to do so, right?"
"Correct. What do you want in exchange?"
"Ah, it's easy for you guys. I just want some 'local specialty technologies'." He spread his hands. "You know, the tech to make soul gems, utilize emotions, and any other stuff."
"We find these terms agreeable."
Madoka and even Mami could only watch in blank confusion and bewilderment as one boy and one animal bargained with non-understandable terms.
Mami herself didn't know what was going on; however, she trusted him enough not to interrupt a potentially important moment.
"Alright, regarding the way to travel to other worlds, we have plenty of time." It gave him a look that said it wouldn't let it go. "If you change your mind, you can contact me anytime."
It's agreeable on his terms; however, it is understood from his expression that he wouldn't give the tech to travel to other worlds.
Temporarily, Kyubey chose to give up and turn its attention to the blank gazed pink haired girl.
"So, Madoka Kaname, do you still want to become a magical girl?"
Kyubey really wanted her. If it weren't for Homura Akemi's repeated attempts to stop the process, such a person of talent would have been transformed into a magical girl long ago.
"I d-don't want to!"
Madoka flinched, looking at Kyubey with a wary expression.
Now, she can tell that Kyubey might not be a good person!
"Hmph!"
Seeing Kyubey still dare to tempt Madoka, Homura snorted coldly.
A gun instantly appeared in her hand. She extended her arm, pointing at Kyubey and-
"You disgusting beast, die!"
BANG
The sound of a gun firing echoed throughout the ruined street- and Kyubey's body once again became a headless corpse and dropped down lifelessly.
"Kyubey..."
Mami felt a pang of sadness as she looked at Kyubey's body.
She considered Kyubey a friend, but after hearing its conversation with Adam, she sensed that it was more malicious than she thought.
Therefore, witnessing Kyubey get executed by Homura left her with mixed feelings.
However, next moment-
Another Kyubey suddenly appeared next to Kyubey's corpse, it opened its mouth wide contrary to its side, and swallowed the corpse of the previous Kyubey.
"This is?!"
This scene of self-cide left both Mami Tomoe and Madoka Kaname wide-eyed.
"Kyubey has countless backup substitutes." Adam looked on with a calm smile, the whites of his eyes turning black as he explained to them "-And can be resurrected almost infinitely."
A face of relief appeared on both Mami and Madoka's faces.
"It seems you know me quite well?"
Kyubey tilted his head again, looking at Adam with some confusion.
"I don't know you very well, Incubator. And all about your preventing of the heat death of this universe."
The silver haired boy smiled, but the smile didn't quite reached his eyes.
-To prevent the universe's entropy from increasing and to avoid heat death, this civilization developed a technology that converts "emotions" into "energy"—the essence of magical girls.
"You already know everything, don't you?"
The representation of a whole civilization asked knowingly.
"Huh? Is that so? Does that mean Kyubey is a good person?"
Madoka became a little confused. Why is Kyubey sometimes good and sometimes bad?
"Your goal seems noble, but your methods are utterly despicable." The silver-haired boy clicked his tongue, a disgusted expression arising on his face. "I cannot condone sacrificing a young girl's life to achieve your objectives. What's more, it's done through deception."
"Deception....."
Mami's pupils contracted slightly as she realized something-
"I did not deceive anyone."
"You certainly don't lie, but you don't say the full truth either." Adam extended his hand, gesturing towards Mami, Homura, and Madoka. "You didn't tell those girls that those witches were actually magical girls all along."
He narrowed his eyes.
"You didn't tell them that magical girls, if they accumulate too many negative emotions, will turn into Witches. Your goal is to collect the energy released by them when they turn into witches, but you didn't tell them about the risks."
Mami Tomoe's expression changed drastically upon hearing these words.
"What's wrong with this?" The cat/rabbit's tail twitched. "Sacrificing a small number of people to save the entire universe is, in my opinion, perfectly reasonable."
Even after its purpose was revealed, Kyubey remained calm. This calmness was even somewhat frightening.
"You have no right to decide other people's fate."
He shook his head.
Although he said so, Adam didn't really care.
As long as the people he cares about- such as Madoka, Homura, and Mami are safe, he won't specifically target Kyubey.
-Unfortunately, this is impossible. Kyubey can't let go of Madoka, who has so much karma that she can instantly become a goddess.
"Homura."
The silver-haired boy lowered his head and softly called out to the black-haired magical girl who was still gripping her gun tightly.
"Hmm?"
Homura frowned and looked at him questioningly.
"Do you believe me?"
"Certainly."
Her reply came instantly with no hesitation whatsoever.
"Then." Adam smiled and extended his hand towards her. "Let's begin the next cycle of reincarnation."
Homura Akemi's purplish eyes widened.
...
..
.
-----
A/N:
I've also made a site inspired by ChaosGacha from Bronzdeck, just for familiar/summons/characters only. For anyone who's interested, it'd be in this paragraph comment.
Discord: https://discord.gg/xwJ4CBUHK9
Patreon at: Adam_Flores