Chapter 215: OZ (12)

A few minutes earlier, while Viktor was clashing with Oz, Alice sat slumped on the ground, helpless.

"......"

Perhaps the shock still hadn't faded.

She could only hold her unconscious sister in her arms.

Beyond the lukewarm warmth of her body, shallow breaths rasped in and out, as though they might stop at any moment.

'Sis...'

The surging green city.

The one protecting the girl from it was none other than the blonde knight.

"Miss Alice!"

Ranne stood before the falling buildings as though shielding the two of them.

Pure white Starlight poured from the tip of her spear.

-New Kihano Style Spearmanship, First Form-

'Star Pole'

Boom-!

The foremost building shattered to pieces.

Dust scattered through the air.

Starlight split the high-rise cleanly in two.

Other buildings forced their way through the collapsing wreckage.

"Urgh...?!"

There were simply too many of them.

Ranne couldn't help being overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.

'There are too many.'

Even so, she didn't retreat.

There were people behind her she had to protect.

Instead, Ranne clenched her teeth.

Starlight pooled around the shaft of her spear, shining brightly.

Steadying her breathing, the knight once more prayed for the stars' blessing.

-New Kihano Style Spearmanship, Second Form-

'Celestial Dome'

Shwaaaak-!

Radiance burst outward from Ranne.

Before long, the pure white light enveloped the three of them and condensed into a dome.

It was a barrier forged from the stars.

Flashes from the curtain disrupted their vision.

Ranne didn't miss that chance and tried to move everyone somewhere safer.

"Miss Alice! We need to move now!"

Ranne called out urgently.

Alice, meanwhile, stared blankly at her back.

"......"

That back, standing as though to protect her, reminded Alice of something.

Without realizing it, she recalled the midterm practical exam at the beginning of the semester.

The incident when an Apostle of the Evil God descended upon the testing grounds.

Back then, too, Ranne had stood with her back to Alice. Just like now.

-Go ahead. I'll buy you some time, even if it's only for a moment.

-At this rate, both of us will just get caught.

Alice had always been the one being protected.

Not just by Ranne.

Viktor and her sister had always looked after her too.

She lost someone, cried, leaned on someone else, got scared, and hid behind someone's back. Again and again.

-Did you have another scary dream? You couldn't sleep and kept crying.

-Of course you're not okay. Come here, get in your sister's arms.

-Please wait, Miss Alice.

-I'll definitely save both you and your sister.

Tears dripped down her pale cheeks.

Alice lowered her head.

'I need to move... I can't just freeze up like dead weight...'

Her thoughts were a complete mess.

Maybe that was why her ability kept failing as well.

'I hate this.'

She couldn't even summon a single pawn, and her dreams kept shattering.

The girl could only grow more desperate and anguished.

Her tightly bitten lip split open, blood running down it.

'Please...'

She didn't want to lose anyone.

She didn't want to be helpless either.

'If this keeps up, I'll ruin everything again...'

Her vision swam, and the world became a tangled mess.

What brought the girl back to her senses was a firm grip.

Squeeze.

Unknown's hand was holding Alice's.

Though she was still unconscious, her hand held tightly to her younger sister's.

"Sis..."

Alice blankly looked down at her sister.

It was a faint grip, but her hand was clearly holding hers.

A movement that might have been unconscious.

"Sis, I... I..."

Alice clasped that slender hand back.

Her negative thoughts came to a halt.

Her ragged breathing gradually settled too.

Even after all this time, Allie was still that kind of presence to Liss.

"Ugh, ah... Hoo..."

Alice forced herself to take a deep breath.

She pulled herself together and checked her surroundings.

"Miss Alice! Quickly, this way...!"

The influence of Emerald City[1] was closing in from every direction.

Buildings and various structures warped into grotesque forms.

It was a landscape overflowing with nightmares.

Then she saw two people standing against that city.

'Miss Ranne, Lord Viktor...'

Their backs.

Once again, backs shielding her.

'Get up.'

Alice forced herself to stand.

Her heart creaked painfully.

Her steps brought her closer to the fluttering blonde hair.

"Miss Ranne."

"You need to hurry!"

"Please hold my sister for a moment."

"Miss Alice...?"

Alice handed the sister she had held all this time over to Ranne.

Though startled, Ranne carefully took her into her arms.

Alice walked past the two of them.

'It's okay.'

As her sister left her arms, cold anxiety gripped her lungs.

The girl desperately repeated the words to herself and suppressed the trembling.

'Believe.'

Her sister would be okay.

Lord Viktor would save her.

Believe.

Believe in Lord Viktor.

You're not alone.

Everyone is fighting alongside you.

So, Alice.

Do what you can do.

'Move.'

If you don't move, you can't change anything.

At some point, her breathing had stopped shaking.

Alice clenched her fist.

This was what she had received from her sister, and what she had learned from Lord Viktor.

"Help me."

Her voice called out to the dreams.

Whoooosh.

A faint wind wrapped around the girl.

Shadows gathered and gradually took on a pitch-black form.

"I'm sorry. I'm a little late, aren't I? But I think I can accept you now."

Her birth had been cursed, but that didn't mean her life had to be a curse too.

Alice put on the crown.

Its weight no longer felt burdensome.

It was simply a part of her, calling forth the world she had turned away from all this time.

"Welcome."

Her blue eyes were utterly calm.

A small dream fluttered.

Only then could Alice be reborn as a complete Queen of Dreams.

"Welcome, my Wonderland."

The next moment,

the emerald city was covered in night.

* * *

Night had suddenly descended, painting the city black.

The queen stood amid that landscape.

"Oz."

Not even a trace of green remained in the surroundings.

Oz looked around his domain as though surprised.

<......I never expected you to summon Wonderland in its entirety.>

<Thanks to that, 90% of the city's power has been damaged.>

Oz's domain had been thoroughly destroyed.

Perhaps because of that backlash, the thousands of Oz copies had returned to one.

<This is unexpected. To think such a variable would suddenly appear.>

"It's over, Oz."

Her gaze was calm.

Yet her presence was so intense it felt as though it could cut flesh.

<Haha... Perhaps it is.>

"You're going to die. Today."

<There's a high chance of that.>

"Don't you have any last words?"

<Well? Not really.>

Even with death before him, Oz remained composed.

He only looked around as though Alice's domain fascinated him.

<Now that I think about it, it's a shame. If I weren't going to die today, I could've researched Alice's domain further...>

"......"

Yes, Oz was that kind of person.

A person, no, a monster, who felt nothing about anything except research and projects.

He couldn't even fear his own death.

Alice simply stood there and looked at her creator.

'Just as I thought.'

Alice showed neither anger nor resentment.

She hadn't particularly wanted an apology or regret from him.

She never believed he would repent.

Pity.

The girl only pitied him.

Her creator, who would die in this vast world without ever knowing what it meant to have a heart.

<Ahem... Still, I should put up one last struggle, shouldn't I?>

Kugugugu-!!

Oz scraped together every last bit of power he had left.

The world warped, and the straight buildings twisted.

Structures intertwined like a massive serpent.

Before long, an enormous beast rose into the sky above the city.

<Well? What do you think?>

<At this level, I should be able to take at least one person down with me.>

Oz commanded the beast with his fingertips.

But then,

"Destroy it."

Boom-!!

At the girl's single whispered command, the beast was smashed apart.

The serpent was mercilessly broken down and sent crashing to the ground.

Three queens stood atop the debris.

Queen of Hearts.

Red Queen.

White Queen.

They had moved so quickly, no one could tell when they had acted.

Having carried out their command, the three bowed elegantly to their master.

"I told you it was useless."

<Oh dear.>

Perhaps he had exhausted all his strength in that final attack.

Oz could no longer even float in the air.

Thud!

Oz slammed into the ground.

Alice landed lightly before him.

"You won't be able to die even after you die. These queens will collect your soul. You'll be dragged into Wonderland and suffer endless imprisonment and torture."

The girl held a sword.

A sword tempered from dreams and shaped into the most horrifying kind of nightmare.

"I know you won't feel much about it. This is probably just my own selfish desire."

Her sister.

And the 3,761 Alices who had been discarded before us.

"If I had to give it a reason, it would be this: For All Alices."

<How wonderful. For All Alices.>

Stab.

Alice didn't hesitate.

The tip of her sword pierced through his existence, extinguishing even the small amount of vitality he had left.

Oz collapsed where he stood.

His body didn't regenerate as it had before.

Instead, cracks spread across it, and it soon crumbled away like dust.

"......Haa."

Only then did she catch her breath.

The battle to subjugate Oz had come to an end.

[1] Emerald City: The capital of Oz in L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, here reshaped into Oz’s domain.