"An automaton…?!"
Aozaki Aoko pushed herself up from the ground, both hands braced against the rubble.
One hand pressed against her back, the skin there hot and raw, Ryoji could clearly see the torn fabric, faint streaks of blood across her skin, while her other hand pointed straight at the automaton, magic energy gathering at her fingertips.
Across from her, the automaton's left arm hung unnaturally long, extending outward like a steel whip.
It had struck her from over ten meters away.
Snap!
After landing its blow, the arm started retracting, coiling back segment by segment with eerie precision.
"Why did something like this suddenly appear here?"
Aozaki Aoko's expression hardened, every sense on edge.
Judging by the timing, this automaton must have been hiding in the amusement park long before the Moon's Oil appeared; otherwise, it couldn't have attacked so quickly or so precisely.
That could only mean one thing: its Master had predicted tonight's events in advance and set this doll here as an ambush.
"Isn't it obvious? You've been played! While you were fighting me to the death, someone else snuck in from behind!"
Ryoji's tone dripped with disgust.
He already knew who had sent that so-called "coordinated attack" letter.
It had to be that fruit lady.
She'd taken advantage of Alice's suspicion toward him, letting them clash while she laid her own trap, using the chaos to deal with Aoko herself.
There was no other explanation.
Haiya!
Ryoji's temper shot through the roof.
Damn it, all that talk before, and she'd been playing them the whole time.
Fine. So be it.
Fruit lady… just you wait.
"Eh…"
Aozaki Aoko blinked, momentarily stunned, unable to refute him.
"It's just a mere automaton. Watch me smash it!"
Aoko's anger flared to match his.
But she knew full well she was at a disadvantage. With no better outlet for her frustration, she took it out on the doll. Raising her voice, she activated the Magecraft circuits within her body, drawing on her internal magic power.
"Ugh!"
Her voice caught as she staggered, body trembling. To anyone watching, it looked as though her power had suddenly been cut.
"My Magecraft circuits… they're not responding?!"
Not now, seriously?
Ryoji inhaled deeply, eyes narrowing to steel as he forced his battered body to move.
But at that moment…
"Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle…"
Soft footsteps approached.
They emerged from the shadows and came to stand beside them.
There was no mistaking it, it was a human girl.
Her slender figure was draped in a long black dress, the fabric stark against her pale skin. Short hair framed her face in neat lines, and her delicate, doll-like features seemed carved in porcelain.
"Alice!"
Aozaki Aoko's voice broke in surprise.
For an instant, her tension eased, as if Alice's arrival alone could drive away the danger. But out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Ryoji's battered form on the ground, and her expression tightened once more.
Is it really Alice?
Ryoji's gaze locked on the black-clad girl.
Kuonji Alice.JPG
"The cow jumped over the moon, the little dog laughed to see such…"
A nursery rhyme floated in the air, though its source was nowhere to be found.
The girl's face showed no hint of warmth; her expression was frozen in perfect, icy stillness.
"Six of one, half a dozen of the other."
Her eyes slid over Aoko, then lingered briefly on Ryoji before she opened her cherry-red lips and spoke in a singsong chant:
"Here we come, here we come!"
"Right here, right here!"
"Which one should I eat?"
"Eat them all!"
"You eat the left hand!"
"You eat the right hand!"
Beside her, something small flickered into existence, two black-and-white figures shaped like piggy banks, one stationed on each side of the girl. Their round bodies and harmless appearances were almost comical, enough to make even the automaton tilt its head in evident confusion.
Could something like that even fight?
"Finally, it's our turn!"
"Leave it to us!"
The little pigs bounded forward, springing across the ground like overcharged rubber balls, radiating unstoppable energy.
Their target: the automaton.
Snap!
The automaton tilted its head again, then extended both arms in perfect synchrony.
Its fingers sharpened into blade-like edges, arms shooting outward like chains toward each pig on the left and right.
The pigs neither dodged nor blocked; they took the strike head-on.
A heartbeat later, their round bodies split open, unfolding into massive crocodile-like jaws that clamped down on the automaton's extended arms.
"It's the half-jin that's biting it!"
"It's the eight-tael that's biting it!"
A closer look revealed the pigs had morphed into bizarre stapler-shaped creatures, their "mouths" locked tight around the automaton's forearms, biting down with unyielding force and showing no sign of letting go.
The automaton faltered, movements growing erratic. It didn't retract its stretched arms, instead, its neck twisted grotesquely, and its entire body slammed downward. Several new limbs burst out from its abdomen.
In seconds, it shifted from a humanoid shape to a multi-legged, spider-like form.
"More hands!"
"Can't hold it!"
The two little pigs squealed in panic.
The automaton ignored them and lunged toward Alice, abandoning its two trapped forelimbs and charging forward with the rest of its legs.
The pigs clung desperately but were dragged along helplessly, screeching as sparks scattered across the ground.
Clang, !
Alice lifted her right hand, fingers spreading with graceful precision.
A dense surge of magic radiated outward, forming a thick veil of mist that poured from her body.
The automaton slammed into the mist, and stopped dead, unable to advance so much as a step.
"Such strong defense…"
Ryoji's frown deepened.
Creating a barrier of pure magic was a fairly common technique; any competent Blazer could manage it. He could as well, at least in theory. But his output had always been too low. When released from his body, his magic dispersed almost instantly, making the technique pointless.
Still, even without precise analysis, he could tell this was different. Alice's barrier wasn't just dense, it was absolute. Even modern artillery would barely scratch it.
Compared to that, a standard Blazer's magic defense might as well have been paper.
"So that's how it is… definitely not ordinary."
Alice's tone remained calm, emotionless, as her gaze fixed coldly on the automaton.
"I happen to be hungry. Then let's eat."
A faint wisp of white mist began to rise around her. Within its pale folds, no clear human or beast shape could be seen, only glimmers of claws and fangs shifting in the fog.
The moment the mist appeared, an icy dread raced down Aoko's spine.
Without hesitation, she grabbed Ryoji by the arm and pulled him away, sprinting out of range as the air itself began to hum.
She didn't stop running until the mist no longer reached them, only then did she exhale shakily.
"What is that thing…?"
Ryoji stood beside her, unsteady on his feet but equally disturbed, his instincts screaming danger.
"That's a Rosehound," Aozaki Aoko said grimly, eyes locked on the cloud of white devouring the battlefield. "One of Alice's familiars."
Her voice dripped with something close to disgust, as if even speaking of it was intolerable.
"And just to clarify," she added with a bitter edge, "that thing is one of her three top-tier familiars, on the same level as Moon's Oil."
(End of Chapter)
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