Chapter 86
The Abyss.
As its name, meaning the abyss, suggests, it is a world befitting the description "a world of death."
Even among the mascots, opinions varied on its origins. Some said it was a landfill formed from the remnants left behind as other dimensions perished, while others said it was a dimension formed by creatures from outside the universe gathering there. According to the mascots, even the great Mascot Queen had no information about the origins of the Abyss.
However, one thing was certain: the Abyss was like a cancerous mass in the universe, a dimension that lacked the ability to sustain itself as a dimension ought to and survived by invading other dimensions and stealing their energy.
There were occasional lunatics on Earth who babbled, 'The Abyss couldn't help it! It had to do that to survive!' But they were crazy, so they could be ignored. Those people always talked as if they would gladly tear off their own flesh for an Abyssal One, yet whenever an Abyssal One appeared, they shoved everyone else aside and ran away.
If they loved survival of the fittest so much, they should throw themselves into a zoo's lion enclosure. Who exactly was supposed to pity creatures that had devoured thousands of dimensions the size of Earth? If an ant pitied a lion, that might at least be amusing. This wasn't even amusing.
Anyway, considering what a terrifying dimension it was, even Alice was pretty terrified.
Jumping into the Abyssal Hole in the first place had been a gamble. She had jumped in on the strength of one guess: 'Alice still seems to be alive.' She had reasoned, 'If Alice was sucked into the Abyssal Hole and is still alive, then it can't cause instant death. That means there must be a way to survive.' In other words, it was like skydiving with a half-ripped parachute because there was supposedly a chance of survival.
Even as her body crossed dimensions and was assaulted by all kinds of bizarre sensations, she had to grit her teeth and prepare for the battle ahead. The place she was heading was the very heart of the Abyss—a battlefield packed with enemies.
In other words, it wouldn't be strange if a wolf charged at her the instant she crossed over and tried to rip out her throat.
'...Come. I won't die obediently.'
Before she knew it, the pressure of the dimension had weakened. When she felt her feet touch a hard floor, she quickly opened her eyes and pulled Black Rose, whom she had been clutching, toward her.
"Eek, Senior?!"
"Stay alert! We don't know what kind of enemy might be here..."
-Rustle...
-Chirp... chirp...
"...but."
She slipped an arm around Black Rose's shoulders and held her close while looking around... The scene was very different from what she had imagined.
What she had imagined was a dark, gloomy place where black mud squelched beneath her feet and monsters rampaged nearby, growling... a world like that.
But here... it was somehow...
"...A garden?"
"It does look like one..."
"..."
Bright sunshine, the sound of birds chirping somewhere, and the soft rustling of grass as the wind blew.
Everywhere she looked, it was a peaceful-looking... garden.
'...Bunny. You there?'
[...]
'...Bunny?'
[S...sorry... I'm... too dizzy... Just... a little... longer...]
'...Never mind. Rest.'
She had called for Bunny, whom she expected to have the most information among them, but the mascot was in much worse shape than they were, whatever the problem might be.
Bunny had said that she knew almost nothing about the Abyss anyway. Alice had still hoped she might know something, just in case, but if she was in bad shape right now, waiting was the right thing to do.
For now... right now...
"...Uh, Senior. Is this really the Abyss? Maybe... we landed in some garden on the other side of Earth..."
"Alice would honestly rather that were true, but that's far too optimistic. For now... we should assume it's the Abyss. Don't let your guard down. We don't know when or where something might jump out at us."
Hiding in the grass would be dangerous, too. It could be an Abyssal One disguised as grass.
Abyssal Ones of all kinds appeared even on Earth. How many more must there be in the Abyss, their home base?
In the most extreme case, even the ground beneath their feet could be an Abyssal One. She kept that possibility in mind as she continued to watch their surroundings.
If she really let her paranoia run wild, she would have to hold her breath, too... But honestly, if the air itself was an Abyssal One or had been contaminated by one, there would be nothing to do but die. You could only endure so much, and the threat had to be within a manageable range.
"Come to think of it... the Abyss has a sun, too? I thought it would be dark and gloomy..."
"You think that's the sun?"
"Huh? B-but it's in the sky... Ah..."
She still had no way of knowing whether that sun was real or fake, but it probably wasn't a 'sun' in the first place.
Assuming this really was the Abyss, this was another planet, not Earth.
The star beside Earth that always shines down on it is called the sun, so that star was not the sun, at least. It could be said to serve the role of a sun, though.
For all she knew, it might not even be a star.
"Th-then could that be the Abyss's..."
"Who knows? Even on Earth, we can make something resembling the sun with artificial lighting underground. The civilization of the Abyss, which invades hundreds or thousands of dimensions, could be more advanced than Earth's."
"I-I suppose..."
Machine-type Abyssal Ones appeared from time to time, too. It was already an established fact that mechanical civilization was not unique to Earth.
That meant there was a mechanical civilization in the Abyss, or at the very least, that one had existed in a dimension the Abyss had destroyed.
She knitted her brows. She had already known this, but the difference in scale was absurd when she thought about it again.
A dimension that had destroyed hundreds or thousands of dimensions the size of Earth. And Earth had been marked as prey by that dimension. As some people claimed, perhaps Earth's destruction was already an inevitable fate. Magical girls could buy it time through their battles, but that was all.
'For now... we should explore while keeping watch on our surroundings.'
"Damn it, seriously, how do we get back?"
"..."
"...Ah."
"......For now, shall we look around?"
"Let's do that..."
...Her whole act had been ruined for a ridiculous reason... Haa. She didn't know anymore.
They might not even be able to return alive in the first place. What did it matter whether she maintained her persona or not? She would just say what needed to be said, and if the persona held together, so be it.
"...Haa. Anyway, how do we explore this place...?"
It was then.
-Beep beep
[Communications, communications severed. Unable to measure distance from main body. Confirmed entry into stranded state. Switching to Multi-Operational Modular Operator-M.O.M.O. survival mode... complete. Searching for individuals nearby who may provide assistance... complete.]
"Fuck, what is this now?"
"I-is it a machine-type Abyssal One?!"
-Click!
[Momo is not an Abyssal One. Momo requests cooperation.]
"...Wait. That voice sounds familiar."
That bizarre yet somehow girlish voice—the sort that seemed likely to spout some sophistry that would inexplicably piss you off, yet was so competent that it was hard to stay angry at it—was...
"...Aia?"
[The collaborator has been confirmed to be an acquaintance. Raising security level. Changing speech-pattern process... complete. 'Yay-' has been unlocked.]
"...It really is Aia."
[Yay-]
-Throb, throb
It definitely was. No doubt about it.
For a moment, she had wondered whether an Abyssal One had somehow attached itself to them, but she was certain that even if she searched Earth—or the entire universe—there was no one besides that woman who could have made a machine like this.
It understood the word Aia, had Aia's voice, and even used her distinctive way of speaking. No matter how vast the universe was, who else could it be but Aia?
"So... Ms. Aia? Are you Ms. Aia herself, or a machine?"
[Momo is not Aia. You may mistake Momo for Aia because of Momo's cuteness, but Momo is Momo.]
"Basically Aia's daughter or something, right? Got it."
[Momo is not her biological daughter, but that is a similar metaphor. Momo likes humans with excellent comprehension. Momo will give you a praise sticker. Collect 10 and Momo will pat you. Momo's hand parts are currently missing, so Momo can do it if you insert even a wooden stick.]
"...Um, Senior? I... don't really understand..."
Black Rose opened her mouth, unable to make sense of this bizarre situation.
"It's okay. I don't understand either."
"Really?!"
"Still... we might be able to make use of this Momo."
Regardless of how personally uncomfortable Aia made her, Alice acknowledged her abilities. She was the number-one S-rank magical girl. Unlike Cariel or Emerald, she had no special faction behind her and had reached the top of the S-rank through her own ability. Her bizarrely broad range of capabilities was so extraordinary that it made you wonder whether she was really a magical girl at all, and new wonders kept emerging the more you looked.
"Ms. Momo. You said you were switching to survival mode earlier. We're in a difficult situation as far as survival goes. Can you help us?"
[Of course. I request the input of as much objective information about the current situation as possible.]
"Well, you see..."
The machine calling itself Momo was a spherical machine small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. The thing that looked like a camera moved this way and that, so it seemed to possess visual sensors.
Anyway, Momo listened to Alice and Black Rose explain their situation. They had been sucked into an Abyssal Hole and had fallen into a garden whose location they did not know.
[Understood. I will identify the primary objective as survival and the secondary objective as returning to Earth. Are these priorities correct? If you wish to revise them, please input the changes now.]
"Of course, to return to Earth alive..."
...Though she wondered whether she might even wish to return to Earth dead.
For now, that order was correct... but what was she supposed to do if she determined that survival was impossible?
-Stare
"W-we'll be okay... right...?"
A rookie magical girl. C-rank or D-rank, perhaps. Alice couldn't remember exactly, but she was a complete novice either way.
And Alice was also partly responsible for Black Rose ending up in the Abyss.
When she had to choose which of the two to save, she had chosen Mia. If she had made the opposite choice, Black Rose would be on Earth right now.
It had been an either-or choice, so Alice would not argue over which option had been right or wrong... but she could not claim to bear no responsibility at all.
...Strictly speaking, if she calculated everything coldly, coming here with Mia would have given both Mia and Alice higher chances of survival than they had now.
Even so, the fact that Black Rose was here meant...
"...It's okay. We'll make it back. There is no such thing as impossible in Alice's dictionary."
...In the end, that only meant Alice wasn't exactly an upright person.
Even if she had also jumped into the Abyssal Hole with Black Rose under the excuse that she, too, had business in the Abyss.