"That hammer and sickle... There are still communists around!?"
Ma Sa-Yoon shouted in alarm, and a man who looked like their leader stepped forward.
"Still around...? As long as capitalist oppression exists, we will never disappear!"
"Yuna Nim isn't even really a capitalist!"
"She serves as a lackey of the capitalists and deceives the people, so her crimes are grave! The same goes for her fans, of course! Now die!"
Clearly, normal conversation was not an option.
The communist thugs grabbed whatever tools they had brought and charged the group.
Ma Sa-Yoon wielded an axe in each hand, fending off enemies from every direction, while Na Ye-Jin summoned a gigantic snake and scorpion to tear apart their formation.
Alice... chose her carbon-coated blade over the powerful but power-draining beam sword.
Her AI had already fully incorporated Yu-Han's swordsmanship, allowing her to dispatch enemies painlessly with minimal movement.
Yu-Han, meanwhile, was halfheartedly trading blows while busy with something else entirely.
He was whispering into empty air.
"(...Hey. I found the ringleader like you asked.)"
[Who said you could just start talking in my head whenever you felt like it!?]
"(I'm in the middle of a fight. I don't exactly have time to make a phone call.)"
Their magical contract had automatically created a mana communication link between them, allowing the two to speak freely by telepathy.
Not that either of them had particularly wanted one.
[Haa... Just give me the coordinates already.
I need time to seriously think about what to wear and what my opening line should be.]
"(Ha. Then I guess I'd better end that dilemma for you quickly.)"
[What?]
At that moment, light flashed.
And out of a cloud of smoke on the battlefield appeared... Yuna, wearing pajamas.
Yu-Han had caught her off guard and summoned her without warning.
"(You trash slave bastard, how dare you summon me whenever you feel like it...!? If anyone finds out you're my summoner of all people, I'm finished!)"
Yuna had appeared slightly closer to Alice than to Yu-Han.
Yu-Han signaled Alice with his eyes.
Alice understood exactly what he wanted and was immediately annoyed at having to play along.
"Everyone, look! What do you think of the dragon 'I personally summoned'?
No one else can do this! Only I can!"
"(You call that acting!?)"
Yuna complained to Alice, but fortunately, no one else seemed to notice anything odd.
"Yuna Nim in pajamas! I can die with no regrets now!"
Ma Sa-Yoon hurriedly pulled out a hologram device with one hand and tried to film Yuna even in the middle of the fight.
"This is a bit last-minute, but I might as well go live...
Today's content is the execution of the trash who dared drag a dragon's dignity through the mud!"
Yuna instantly went from pajamas to blue magical-girl attire and hefted a tungsten-alloy magic wand in one hand.
She immediately broke the arm of a nearby communist, knocked him down, then hoisted him up by the head with one hand.
"Hi. How about a little interview?
Why did you do that to my fans, who are practically my property?
Who are you?"
Apparently, Yuna had already gone live.
The fanatical communist showed no intention of bending his convictions.
"It was... to build a communist paradise!!"
"Communism...? Hey, trash slave. Do you know what communism means?"
Yu-Han gave her the short version.
"It's a fancy way of saying, 'You have more money than me, so hand it over.'"
"I see. So in short, they're filthy robbers!"
Yuna crushed the communist's head with her bare hand.
The viewers cheered at the blood and brain matter spraying through the air.
The fact that Yuna sincerely thought of herself as a sweet, innocent girl was impressive even by the standards of this era.
"Good grief. Capitalist decadence truly is unbearable to behold..."
The man who stepped in front of Yuna was dressed in a way that clearly set him apart from the ordinary members.
"And who are you supposed to be?"
"Perfect timing, since you're broadcasting.
I am Gang Ui-Je, leader of the Korean Communist Labor Revolutionary Party!"
"Too long! How about 'future corpse' instead?"
"You stupid lizard... You don't even realize you've walked into a trap!"
At that moment, Yuna felt a faint spell of dizziness.
Her mana was slowly leaking away.
"Haa... What's this supposed to be now!?"
"This is the Communist-Magic Field...
Anyone greedy enough to enter has their mana taken... no, redistributed to us!"
"Why does having my own mana make me greedy!!"
"The fact that we can take it proves it was never yours to begin with!"
"There's no reasoning with you. Guess I'll have to use that!"
Mana gathered around Yuna, and a brilliant pink beam erupted from her.
"JUSTICE SUPERNOVA!!"
But even with the beam bearing down on him, Gang Ui-Je merely scoffed.
"Pink!? The vulgar color of capitalist pigs!!"
Mana gathered around Gang Ui-Je as well, and a blood-red beam blasted out!
"BOLSHEVIK SUPERNOVA!!"
The two beams collided violently before finally canceling each other out and vanishing.
Yuna did not appreciate that.
"Oh, seriously. I'm sick of playing around with humans like these!"
Yuna simply transformed into a dragon.
With one swing of her gigantic Dragon-Claw, several party members crumpled like dry leaves.
Gang Ui-Je calmly issued orders to his men.
"Everyone, climb onto the dragon's back! That's her blind spot!"
The party members swarmed upward like ants and clung to the back of the twenty-meter dragon.
"Damn it! Get off me!"
Yuna desperately tried to scratch her own back, but her body structure apparently made it impossible for her claws to reach.
The members struck her thick scales with their tools.
It did not particularly hurt, but it irritated Yuna immensely.
Alice shouted up at her.
"Hey, Yuna! Why don't you just turn back!?"
"I finally revealed my true form! If this humiliating sight is all anyone sees, what happens to a dragon's dignity!?
Let's go with the 'we pulled through with the power of friendship' angle!"
"So you want us to fix this for you..."
The only reason Alice on the ground could casually converse with a twenty-meter dragon was that Yu-Han had somehow ended up relaying their voices.
"Alice Unni! Summon the Phoenix! We can fly up onto her back too!"
Na Ye-Jin, looking far too excited, urged Alice on.
"If I summon it, what are you going to do?"
"Don't worry about me. Just do it!"
Alice scraped together enough mana to summon the Phoenix.
It was only large enough to carry about two people.
But when she looked beside her, another Phoenix of roughly the same size had appeared as well.
"That's possible!?"
The Phoenix on the left spoke.
[Contractor, my true body resides in the Spirit Realm.]
The Phoenix on the right spoke.
[What you summon are merely avatars containing fragments of my power.]
Then both Phoenixes spoke at the same time.
[[That is why several people may summon me simultaneously.]]
"But you don't have to talk from both bodies at the same time! You're giving me a headache!"
Na Ye-Jin grumbled at the Phoenix.
Na Ye-Jin and Ma Sa-Yoon climbed onto one Phoenix, while Alice and Yu-Han took the other, and both birds took off.
The Phoenixes began burning the pests on Yuna's back with merciless flames.
"Leader! Our magic doesn't work on that Phoenix!"
[Humans. Over the ages, thousands have tried to steal my mana. Did you truly think a Divine Beast like me would have no countermeasure for something this crude?]
"Ugh, gods. Always a problem. Damn opium of the people.
No choice. Fall back!"
"But how are we supposed to escape from opponents like those!?"
"The ones fighting hardest at the front will make perfect decoys."
Gang Ui-Je and his close aides quickly fled while their own comrades were still fighting.
There is no particular need to explain what became of those left behind.
---
Once everything was over, Yuna returned to human form as well.
"In the end, I hard-carried once I turned into a dragon... carrying the whole team on my back. Literally."
[Child. You should thank everyone else who fought so hard, too.]
"Ugh...! When did you summon that birdbrain again!? Send her back already!"
[Is that any way to speak to your mother? If I'd stayed by your side, I would have taught you better manners...]
The Phoenix continued nagging her, but Yuna was noticeably more obedient when the Phoenix scolded her.
"Fine, fine. You want me to show some gratitude, right?
Then I'll put on a special after-party performance for you."
"Can't I just take the cash and call it even?"
"Shut up! My performances have value money can't measure!
And I'm not grateful to a trash slave like you anyway, got it?
Be honored you're even allowed to watch!"
When Yuna activated her hologram device, the desolate abandoned-factory grounds transformed into a stage in an instant.
Her singing and dancing were unexpectedly professional.
She moved with the boneless flexibility of a mollusk, yet her breaking was crisp enough to look measured to the millimeter.
Her voice swept freely across three octaves, switching between all manner of vocal styles and techniques.
Alice immediately understood how Yuna had amassed so many fans despite being such a complete disaster of a person.
"I'm so glad I joined Yuna Nim's Elite Guard!!"
Ma Sa-Yoon and Na Ye-Jin were crying tears of emotion.
The Phoenix, now in spirit form, watched the performance with a pleased expression as well.
And so the small private performance came to a close.
[I'm glad you've grown up well...]
"Hmph! I would've turned out great with or without a birdbrain like you."
Yuna deliberately answered in a rebellious tone, then turned to Yu-Han.
"Hey! Trash! You finally realize how stupid you were, right?
Obsessing over pocket change when you had a performance this amazing right in front of you?"
Yu-Han answered indifferently.
"Well... At that level, I guess you could busk for a living without starving."
"Do you want to die!?"
"Whoops. Alice, isn't the summoning time limit about up?"
Using Alice as an excuse, Yu-Han sent Yuna back to where she had come from.
Alice narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yu-Han, why not just admit you were impressed and compliment her?"
"Compliment her for what!? Compared to Michael Jackson, that was pathetic. The job's done. I'm out."
Ma Sa-Yoon watched Yu-Han beat a hasty retreat and muttered.
"Huh... I didn't expect him to have such a childish side."
Na Ye-Jin nodded.
"Looks like he's in denial about becoming a fan."
---
"Yeom Gi-Uk C, we dealt serious damage to that dragon woman."
"Did you?"
Gang Ui-Je was reporting to a man whose lower face was covered by a red bandana.
"Next time, I'm certain we can kill them!
And with you, a member of Thanatics, on our side as well!
I never imagined a veteran of the movement like you would be with Thanatics."
"...Don't get carried away. I'm not here for the movement anymore.
I only came to settle an old grudge..."
Yeom Gi-Uk muttered as he looked up at New Seoul floating overhead.