Today is a fabulous day! What a fantastic day! It’s a HAPPY DAY!

Death.

That single character was right in front of her.

It was gone.

What had constituted Philrain was collapsing, and she recognized that something essential was disappearing.

Losing its power, the mass of her flesh disintegrated. Alice, her face drenched in Philrain's blood, stared at the corpse that seemed to be slipping away in her hands.

It reeked of death.

Ah, right.

Alice finally realized what was going on there. At last, she had a grasp of reality.

She comprehended it now.

Raffi and Philrain were dead.

They were dead.

They had died.

She couldn't protect them.

Not even to save them.

The two of them were gone.

Disappeared.

Erased.

In other words.

"Dead"

That was the meaning of it.

The fragment of Philrain that she had been holding fell from Alice's deflated hands to the ground with a thud.

Alice was gazing up at the heaven in the darkness. She closed her remaining left eye and simply felt despondent.

The blood that Philrain had vomited in her last moments, splattered on her face, trickled down her lips and entered her mouth. With a gulp, Alice welcomed that.

At that moment, "something" snapped within Alice.

◇

With a couple more strikes of the sword, Jack advanced forward. He was definitely sending the "enemy" back in the opposite direction of Alice. Based on the range of the attack so far, it was roughly equivalent to his own Dáinsleif. Therefore, presumably, if it was this distant, the attack would not reach Alice in a flash.

Judging from this, Jack did not look back to see if his question was answered but positioned his Dáinsleif at the lower level. He concentrated all his attention ahead.

What I have to do now.

That is, above all else.

I have to kill the "enemy" in front of me.

He forced his thoughts to center upon that. Gradually, his eyes were becoming accustomed to the darkness. Just beyond the distance of the Dáinsleif, at the very edge of the line, there was a figure dressed in white. In his right hand, he wielded a fine long sword and directed it at Jack.

That head was not human. It was a… horse. He can vaguely identify the head of a white horse. On his forehead was a sharp horn.

Nightmare.

They were not human.

They were the enemies.

Reaffirming himself of the certainty, Jack regripped his Dáinsleif. The horse-headed Nightmare let out a suppressed voice while swinging his long sword.

"… As expected, White Knight… that 'Dáinsleif', is that its name? It is a masterpiece of Master Lewis. It perfectly blocked my 'Durandal's attack. It's an even match."

After hearing the calm voice of the young man, Jack kept his full concentration on the Dáinsleif and spoke in a low voice.

"Vile Nightmare… I'm going to slice you up and leave no trace…!"

"Vile…?" He said this in a tone that sounded like he didn't know what that meant, and then his horse-headed mouth twisted into a sneer. "I never thought I would be called vile by a fellow Nightmare. Thanks for the valuable experience."

"…"

"I am the Unicorn. I have come to erase you all by order of Master Lewis."

"… Liar," Jack said to the Nightmare, who introduced himself as the Unicorn. "The first to be taken by surprise was Raffi. Your objective is to prevent the transfer of data to the outside world… and to destroy the access points of this shelter."

The Unicorn's sword… the Durandal's movement came to a halt. He directed the tip of his blade at Jack's chest in a striking stance.

"What would you call it, then?"

The bloodlust rose. Sooner than he perceived it, Jack swung his Dáinsleif. A series of strikes were blocked again, and pale sparks flew.

It is likely that the Dáinsleif and the Unicorn's sword, the Durandal, are almost identical.

Is it created by Lewis…?

If so, it's dangerous.

Too dangerous.

Jack moved forward slowly, repelling the strikes that were being delivered without even catching his breath. Even if it was a slight distance away from the place where Alice was, this Nightmare must be separated from her.

The noise of the strikes was so strident that nothing else could be heard. He couldn't even have a look back. In the midst of the extreme situation, Jack's Dáinsleif shot out to entangle Durandal's slash, which was swung in a horizontal manner.

The Unicorn's eyes widened in amazement… In the next second, Jack brandished the Dáinsleif without hesitation, splitting him in half from head to foot.

As it happened, the slash penetrated the floor of the underground passage, and the impact sent the surrounding area wobbling. Jack slowly collapsed, raising his Dáinsleif… to deliver the coup de grace to the bisected Unicorn.

"It's my victory."

As soon as the Unicorn's voice emerged from behind him, he was pierced in the chest by Durandal from the rear.

◇

What has happened…?

He couldn't determine momentarily. A jolt of intense pain… like an electric current shot through his body and he unconsciously dropped his Dáinsleif.

The Unicorn, which had been cut in two before his eyes, began to melt into a soggy, sludge-like mess. Then he growled at the feet of the Unicorn standing behind Jack and was absorbed into his shadows.

As Jack fell to his knees, a sharp long sword pierced his chest. Fortunately, the core had been missed, but the pain was unbelievable. The impact was so intense that his non-existent eyeballs sprang out.

"Gaaaaaaaaa!"

Jack exclaimed, moaning and wobbling, his armor shaking. Watching this, the unicorn laughed as he stomped on Jack's huge body with his foot.

"Hyah! One more attack from Durandal and you're finished. It hurts, doesn't it? That pain will be amplified tens of times, hundreds of times, and it will explode all over you."

The Unicorn gouged him again with Durandal while listening to Jack's screams.

"Hyahhahahahaha! Today is a fabulous day! What a fantastic day! It's a HAPPY DAY! Oh! HAPPY! HAPPY DAY!"

The screaming horse-headed creature tried to drive Durandal into Jack's chest again… when the rainbow-colored light Bandersnatch that flew from behind blew off his head like a cleave.