The phrase "demons dancing wildly" or even "a hundred ghosts parading at night" didn't come close to describing the madness raging inside the barrier.
They called it a fairy-tale world, yet there wasn't a single adorable creature in sight. In truth, hell itself would've felt more welcoming. That Ferris wheel, those coils forming a Chinese dragon, how could even those be recreated here?
Was this really what the First Magic could do?
...He supposed it was.
Ryoji hated to admit it, but the truth was clear, Magic didn't care about reality's rules. Just stepping near its edge was enough to make every law of the world crumble.
"Take comfort. Those things are just empty shells." Aozaki Aoko's voice cut through the chaos, light and teasing as she caught the troubled look on his face.
"They're puppets," she continued, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "Objects twisted by resentment, what's left of the amusement park's original rides. They're not the real myths. If they were, you'd already be in a coffin."
That dragon from earlier had once been a roller coaster. It couldn't summon clouds or breathe mist, thank the Root for that, or Ryoji would've been nothing but ash. Even so, the sheer scale of the transformed monsters and the pressure they radiated made his heart clench.
Ryoji stood there, eyes narrowed against the surreal storm of light and shadow, quietly devising a countermeasure.
"…Wait, is he actually trying to come up with a plan?"
Aoko almost laughed aloud. The guy wasn't even a proper magus, barely knew any theory, and yet here he was, racking his brain to fight creatures that even true magi would call broken-tier.
Utterly suicidal. And yet… she couldn't quite bring herself to dislike his type, people who fought tooth and nail, even when they had no chance.
"Have you found the core?"
The question slipped out before she could stop herself. And the second she said it, she wished she hadn't.
"Oh? Didn't think you cared whether I lived or died."
Ryoji turned toward her with a crooked smile, and her stomach sank. She hadn't meant to say anything. From her position, it would've made more sense to let him die searching.
She folded her arms, looking away with forced nonchalance. "I'm only cooperating because Alice told me to. Don't flatter yourself."
Her tone was cold, but the faint pink on her cheeks betrayed her.
"The core? I knew where it was from the start."
He didn't tease her further. His eyes simply shifted to a point in the distance.
"…You're joking, right?"
Aoko clenched her jaw, telling herself not to take the bait, but the disbelief in his voice dragged her in anyway. She'd been inside this cursed place far longer, gathered every scrap of knowledge about the Lunar Oil, and still hadn't found its heart.
Yet this idiot, this non-magus, claimed he'd known all along?
She followed his gaze, and then it clicked.
Her breath caught. "…Wait, that's it? How did I not see that?"
In that instant, her entire impression of Ryoji shifted. Not as a reckless fool chasing death, but as someone whose instincts might just surpass magic itself.
"At times like this, don't think too much. Trust your intuition. It'll be fine."
That was Ryoji's casual reply.
Aozaki Aoko blinked at him.
Intuition?
What kind of lunatic relied on intuition in a battle of Magecraft, an art built entirely on theory, logic, and calculation?
Yet despite her disbelief… he wasn't wrong.
He'd somehow stumbled onto the right answer again.
Utterly absurd.
"The real problem's the height," Ryoji muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. "And I've got no idea what kind of defenses it's packing…"
The core floated several hundred meters above ground, radiating a faint, malign light. If its barrier was too strong, even hitting it head-on would be useless. They'd be wasting strength for nothing.
Aoko's eyes slid toward him for a moment before darting away, pretending she'd just found the clouds incredibly fascinating today.
"You look like you've got something to say," Ryoji said, his tone light.
"Eh? Do I really look like that?"
She spun around a little too fast, her voice a pitch too high, then groaned under her breath. "Damn it, should've acted more natural…"
Ryoji narrowed his eyes. Yeah. Fake as hell. But he didn't bother calling her out on it.
"So? What did you want to say?"
"…Fine. Actually, all fairy-tale monsters share a common weakness, or maybe a shared trait."
Her tone made it sound like she was only answering because staying silent might earn her divine retribution.
"In fairy tales, monsters look terrifying and wield absurd power. But in the end, they always get beaten by humans. Which means, at their core, they're fragile."
Understanding flickered in Ryoji's eyes. "So the core's defensive power is weak?"
Aoko nodded slightly.
In the TYPE-MOON world, Magecraft was formed from concepts, laws taken from human imagination and belief. The Lunar Oil was no exception. It was born from fairy-tale Magecraft, a system built on stories shared and believed by generations.
That meant its strength, and its weakness, came from the same origin, the nature of the tales themselves.
Fairy-tale monsters always met defeat in ridiculous, sometimes cruelly ironic ways, creating the conceptual rule that they were fragile by nature. That flaw was baked into the very essence of the Lunar Oil. Its true body was dangerously, almost comically delicate.
"Aozaki, can you use any flight-type Magecraft? Even basic levitation?"
Her face darkened instantly. "You really don't know how to shut up, do you?"
She was terrifyingly strong when it came to raw destructive power, her firepower alone could level a city block. But when it came to anything else, support, charm, flight, or precision work, she was hopeless.
She could weave triple-layered formulas into an explosion spell without blinking, but a simple levitation charm?
Still unfinished.
A genius, yes. But an utterly lopsided one.
"Guess that means I'll handle the height problem myself."
Ryoji's gaze sharpened, scanning the distorted fairytale landscape, taking in the twisted monsters roaming below.
"…Let's go."
"You're just going to charge in?"
Her voice rose in disbelief.
"No. I'm moving before things escalate. If that thing summons another one of those fairy-tale familiars, we're screwed."
His face had lost its usual playfulness, his eyes were calm, resolute.
"At times like this, instinct's what matters most. I've got a feeling I can pull it off. And besides…" He smiled faintly, the edge of mischief returning. "I've been dying to test something new. Might as well let the Lunar Oil be the first to taste it."
(End of Chapter)
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