I asked who you are!

"… Strong."

The White Knight muttered softly, grasped the Dáinsleif which kept producing sparks and stomped down on his foot. There was a massive impact and bright red sparks… no, flames were flying all over the place as if they had been struck by some kind of circular saw.

"Are you okay, Jack?" Alice asked as she stood by his side and looked up at the sky.

The White Knight blew the flames away from his sword while his entire armor wobbled and shook as he said.

"They've attempted to seal off the Dáinsleif. 'I can't see it' but it's a tremendous attack of high-density. It might be even harder than your Bandersnatch, Alice…"

"I see. The full force of the attack was released with the ability to 'erase'…" Alice said as she positioned her right hand in the shape of a pistol.

Raffi, who had been watching from afar, shouted out. "No! The enemy's ability can't erase the Bandersnatch. Be careful!"

"I get it. It's not the Bandersnatch, this is 'something' that has been… altered."

The White Knight was finally pushed by that "something" and started to retreat in a slippery manner. Alice also felt the "danger signal" like an electric current in her neck, and pressed her back against the White Knight and lifted her right hand.

The terrifying "something" released from her fingertips seized the Bandersnatch of Stelcis, which flew at her with a screech, just inches from Alice's face. From Alice's widened forehead, poof! Red blood splattered from her forehead.

"Alice!"

The White Knight yelled out as he was bathed in Alice's splattered blood. However, Alice's mouth twisted into a smile, and she glared at her opponent and her Bandersnatch, which was spraying pale blue sparks in front of her. Her fingers, which had been in the shape of a pistol, gradually made a shape as if grasping something.

"Kill… kill kill kill kill kill kill kill!"

The White Knight shouted out once more to Alice, who muttered like a curse through the gap between her clenched teeth, chattering.

"Stay in control of your sanity! Can you contain it!"

Alice laughed wickedly, with a deviant expression. Her left eye, which was still open, darkened and began to emit a "hollow" kind of color.

"Alice! Answer me!"

Yelling to that extent, the White Knight, however, retreated another few centimeters as he was struck and held down by something "bizarre" force with his Dáinsleif. At the sound of Jack's voice, the "hollow" in Alice's eyes wavered slightly.

She raised her right hand with that inhuman expression on her face and swung it down hard. A cruel screeching noise resonated as if something had been torn out of a piece of paper.

From a short distance above, a shriek that seemed to belong to Stelcis and a murky sound as if a water bag had exploded reverberated. In the following instant, reddish-black blood splashed into the surroundings like rain.

Stelcis' Bandersnatch, which had been reduced to a splash, scattered around her discretely. After that, the empty space shimmered like the surface of the water, and Stelcis' body was flung out like a mangled, smashed marionette. She collapsed to the ground, releasing a spray of blood.

"Uuuuunhhhh! Aaaaaaah!"

It was no longer something that could be described as a word. Alice, screaming some unidentifiable "language," unleashed her full "horrific" power at the "something" that was subduing the White Knight.

With a thud, the space trembled. Once Alice's Bandersnatch and "that" collided, the surrounding space itself deflected like water, sending out ripples of shock. The impact echoed through the vibrating shelter, leading to cracks in the walls and ceiling with immense force.

"Nu…n!"

With Alice's strike, the White Knight felt the "something" that was restricting his Dáinsleif slightly lifted, and he swung his long sword straight out. The invisible "something" was bisected with a high-pitched bang and sparks, then converged into a pure white light that flickered and flashed before exploding into a… pillar of flame. The pillar easily penetrated the ceiling of the shelter, blasting away the surrounding walls and cleaving a corner of the inhabited area.

"…!"

Alice, at the edge of her distorted vision, witnessed the moment when Raffi and the others were about to be swallowed by the flames. She saw herself and the White Knight clutching them and swinging the Dáinsleif.

◇

The residential area of the abandoned shelter.

In one corner, the Mock Turtle was standing. Her body was covered in cuts and scratches, and black blood was pouring out of them.

The power cables were buzzing with sparks here and there, and the surrounding area was lit up with red emergency lights. She stepped over the sewage flowing out of the ripped water pipe and stood in front of Stelcis, who was limping and turning into a wretched lump of flesh.

"…"

Her face contorted into a grim expression, and she squatted down to gently touch the lump of flesh. Then, as if the "images" were suddenly rewinding, Stelcis' body was "replayed" in reverse.

The crushed arm returned to its former state, and the splattered brain marrow was absorbed into the crushed head. Within seconds, Stelcis, dressed in tattered clothes, was kneeling there, sweating profusely and gasping wildly.

"Hah! Cough! Cough!"

Stroking the back of Stellis, who coughed repeatedly, throwing up and diarrhea, the Mock Turtle opened her mouth.

"Hang in there. Everything's fine now."

"Those… guys! What happened to them!"

She squeezed out the words with a bloody spit, and the Mock Turtle looked back… as though she had been played for an answer.

"You missed them… You failed miserably."

A composed male voice sounded from the rubble. Stelcis staggered to her feet and let out a roar as she held the Mock Turtle at her back.

"… Who?"

Upon hearing her voice, the man… sitting on the rubble with the head of a lion and wearing a suit, "Jabberwock," lightly raised one hand and waved it before his face as he replied.

"Oops. Fighting among your own 'kind' is not something that I desire for… And there is no merit in fighting me."

"I asked who you are!"

Stelcis bellowed at him, and the Jabberwock stroked his mane with his fingertips.

"I am Jabberwock. A survivor of the 'Original Nightmare', just like you."

"Jabberwock…!"

At the mention of his name, Stelcis tensed and paled at once. The Mock Turtle pushed her forward there.

"… 'Magical beast', right? How can I help you?"

"Don't be so stern. Mock Turtle… and Gryphon."

The Jabberwock shrugged mockingly.