Chapter 41
“Come, knight of vile energy!”
Why?
To Ranne, Alice must have been a complete stranger.
Though she had stayed with her for several days at Victor’s request, it had not even been a fortnight.
To step forward without hesitation for someone like that… she had to be insane.
It was impossible otherwise.
“The warriors of the North do not grovel before the strong, nor are they stingy toward the weak…!”
But.
“My name is Ranne Kihano! My epithet is Don Quixote de la Mancha!”
Alice saw it.
Her shoulders, faintly but unmistakably trembling.
“Answering the stars’ call, I shall stand here and block the vile!”
The girl was trembling.
Her eyes were filled with fear.
But she did not let it show.
Even so, she pronounced every word clearly.
Solely to protect someone behind her.
-Alice.
Her back.
That shabby back seemed to overlap with someone else’s.
-Alice.
-Go… as far away as you can. Big sis will be fine.
-You have to run really far away, far enough that those people can’t find you.
Her sister had lain there, covered in blood.
A hand that had not looked after itself even with death before her eyes.
Instead, a hand that wiped Alice’s tears as if apologizing.
-It’s okay. Everything will be all right.
-I’ll sleep for a while, then I’ll definitely follow you…
Ranne’s back resembled someone Alice missed.
Thus, Alice’s legs went rigid.
She couldn’t bring herself to run.
Leaving someone behind and running away was one of her deepest traumas.
<!I shall preach the rapturous gospel to the world>
“Hngh…!”
By then, Ranne had already clashed with the Red Knight.
The shriek of iron against iron rang out deafeningly.
Kwaang, bang! Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwaang-!
It was a fight that was not remotely even.
Only Ranne’s wounds continued to multiply.
<!Lambs, heed holiness>
Kwaaaang-!
The girl was exhausted after exchanging only a few blows.
Perhaps because of the dense demonic energy, even breathing made her lungs ache.
Ranne charged in with a desperate cry.
‘Kihano-Style Spearmanship, Second Form’
-Awl-
But.
Perhaps the opponent was simply too much for her.
Ranne could not hold out for long before being sent flying.
The girl came tumbling all the way to Alice’s feet and collapsed.
“Lady Alice…”
Why.
Why did it have to turn out this way?
Alice couldn’t understand.
-Don’t… ruin…
Their eyes met, and Ranne mouthed the words.
The girl who put others first to the very end.
Alice quietly wrapped her arms around her.
<.My child>
Before long.
The red armor had already drawn up right before them.
It was so tall that Alice had to crane her neck to see it all.
‘Why, always…’
She had thought herself sufficiently unhappy, but another stroke was added to the tally, one after another.
The world seemed unable to stop driving her into a corner.
Every sound around her ears sounded like mocking laughter.
She felt sick to death of it.
‘Why is this happening?’
The warmth in her arms.
Ranne had lost consciousness by then.
And the Red Knight raised its sword above its head once more.
She was sick of it.
‘Why… why do these things keep happening…?’
A life that sank endlessly without ever knowing why.
Something inside Alice was about to collapse.
Hot tears streamed down her cheeks.
In the end, she burst into tears.
Even then, whispers reached her ears.
<Welcome to WonderlandWelcome to WonderlandWelcome to WonderlandWelcome to WonderlandWelcome to WonderlandWelcome to WonderlandWelcome to WonderlandWelcome to WonderlandWelcome to Wonderland>
The nightmare she had spent her entire life running from.
The promise she had made to her sister.
The promise they had sealed, vowing never to let go of each other no matter what happened.
Now, it had become utterly meaningless.
<Welcome to Wonderland.>
Alice let her body go slack.
Her eyes had died, turning black.
Lifeless blue eyes.
The girl’s lips began to mutter.
<Welcome to Wonderland.>
“Yes…”
<Welcome to Wonderland.>
It was the end.
Words offered to the nightmare she had desperately turned away from.
“Do as you please.”
<Welcome to Wonder······.>
<······.>
<······.>
<······.>
Silence.
For a brief moment, the girl’s mind grew still.
Within a few seconds, a red voice filled her mind.
The world blurred as though shrouded in fog.
Her vision smeared.
The Red Knight, which had raised its sword, also hesitated.
Perhaps it was because of the ominous presence swirling inside the barrier.
The Red Knight stiffly looked around.
Kwak-!
The next moment, the Red Knight’s head was crushed.
A monstrous bird that had appeared from somewhere was tearing it apart.
The Red Knight staggered and resisted, but the enormous beak merely kept chomping.
‘A dream.’
Alice’s latent ability.
The power to draw her dreams into reality.
The girl looked up at the grotesque bird and quietly murmured its name.
‘Jabberwock…’
A monster that often appeared in her dreams at bedtime.
Alice’s deepest nightmare had escaped into reality.
And what escaped from her was not merely a single bird.
Something drifted lightly down from the sky.
Glittering crowns.
Grotesque forms with no faces, only sharply defined silhouettes.
Each wore a crown upon its head.
They were the queens from Alice’s nightmares.
They descended softly and looked up at the struggling Red Knight.
<[◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆]>
It was noise that could not be mistaken for human language.
When they muttered something, grotesque creatures poured out of the fog.
If playing cards, chess pieces, and humans were haphazardly mixed together, perhaps it would look like this.
The bizarre creatures surged forward in a great mass.
Only, they moved in orderly ranks, like a single army.
<[♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥]>
<[◆◆◆◆◆◆]>
<[□□□□□□□□□]>
As the queens muttered one after another, countless soldiers charged at the Red Knight.
Afterward, the armor toppled over with a clatter.
The Red Knight could not even resist.
Its limbs were torn off, its flesh peeled away, and its entrails pulled out.
The Apostle of the Evil God convulsed stiffly several times before falling still.
Crack, crunch! Squish, squish…
Madness.
A landscape steeped in nightmare.
“······.”
At its center sat a girl with black hair.
A crown floated above Alice’s head.
A crown interwoven entirely with viscous blackness, almost like a shadow.
It was staining the girl.
The silhouette grew blacker and blacker.
Dark-red tears of blood dripped down her cheeks.
‘Nightmare Transformation.’
Alic■ had been completely devoured by the nightmare.
She had lost control of her body and could no longer move as she wished.
She seemed to have become the nightmare’s puppet.
Alic■■ let all her strength drain away as if she had given up.
Then Ranne’s body, which she had been holding tightly, sprawled across the ground.
‘······It’s over.’
It had become irreversible.
She had finally given her body over to the nightmare.
Her consciousness gradually grew hazy, and her vision darkened.
If she closed her eyes like this, what terrible things would she go on to do?
Uncontrolled nightmares.
How much despair would they create?
‘Sister…’
She turned over and over the promise she had failed to keep.
With the rampage already underway, ■■■ had no way to stop it.
She could only pray that this breath would end as soon as possible.
A silent world.
■■■ tried to let go of consciousness.
Thus, becoming the final queen…
“Well, well.”
A voice suddenly rang out.
Someone was standing in front of ■■■.
The familiar resonance left the girl utterly dumbfounded.
“······?”
When she lifted her eyelids, a familiar smiling mask appeared in her vision.
A dead person.
Someone whose death ■■■ had personally confirmed.
She had seen him crushed beneath the Red Knight’s foot and turned into a lump of flesh.
She wondered if this too was part of the nightmare, but it was far too vivid for that.
“Miss ■■■.”
The boy was smiling.
More precisely, it was the mask that was smiling.
“So you were here. I’ve been looking for you for quite some time.”
His characteristic soft, lilting manner of speech.
The clown stood a single step in front of ■■■.
He rummaged through his robes, then pulled out a glimmering potion.
“Oh, Miss Ranne was here too.”
Then he calmly opened the lid and poured the contents over Ranne.
As soon as the shimmering liquid touched her, her wounds began to heal.
The color returned noticeably to Ranne’s face.
The boy even seemed to hum a little tune.
“How…?”
■■■ could only stare blankly.
Far from shrinking back among the nightmares, he was as relaxed as though he were in his own home.
The nightmares that had been happily tearing into the Red Knight’s corpse seemed to notice the boy’s presence belatedly as well.
Their gazes converged on him.
“It looked like you needed help.”
“······.”
Nevertheless, the boy cheerfully tilted his head.
A playful smile seemed visible beyond the mask.
<[□□□□□□]>
Perhaps unable to bear it any longer.
The white queen that had been standing still charged toward the boy.
Its silhouette condensed into white.
The hands that had been ripping apart the Red Knight’s armor came hurtling toward him.
■■■ almost shouted at him to be careful without thinking.
But.
“Don’t look away.”
The boy did not even glance at the white queen.
Without turning his head, he merely swung his scythe once, lightly.
Thook-.
A halfhearted sweep.
Immediately afterward, the white queen charging toward him was torn apart.
Its silhouette did not merely rip to shreds—it evaporated completely.
Chwaaak-!
“Look at me.”
“······.”
The [Queen], the highest-ranking beings among the nightmares.
He had made one of them evaporate with a single gesture.
Yet his gaze, devoid of the slightest interest, remained fixed only on ■■■.
Swish-.
The clown’s hand came to rest on her cheek.
Warm body heat.
The girl flinched without meaning to.
Soft. A gentle hand brushed over the corners of her eyes.
He wiped away the tears of blood, then slowly made her meet his eyes.
“Miss ■■■.”
Why was it?
-■■■.
Her sister’s words came to mind.
Words she had thought utterly foolish and completely unrealistic.
-As you go through life,
-you might meet someone who will save you someday, you know?
The mask was smiling.
The clown crouched in front of her, perhaps to bring himself to her eye level.
“I can help you.”
“······.”
What?
There was no need to ask what he meant.
The boy’s finger was pointing at the crown, the symbol of Nightmare Transformation.
“That power… wouldn’t you like to try controlling it once?
Control of the Nightmare Transformation.
At that proposal, ■■■ could only stare blankly.