"I may be a puppet, but I am not worthless!" I retorted. It was a message meant for me, not for the bat standing in my way.
It was a fight about me against thousands of bats in this forest, including this damned dracogre who claimed itself as a higher being. There was nothing more that I could do but to dash forward and save the princess, just like the dracogre had mentioned.
I charged forth and disregarded everything on my way, only to find out that I had no chance at all of saving Alice.
The two lackeys at the dracogre's side bared their fangs at Alice and struck her with the obsidian beam. The same ability that I knew too well.
Alice rolled towards the side and forced her shoulders to block the attack. I could only watch her body tumbling on the ground from afar, useless, like a puppet. A puppet who had no strings attached. A figure that had no purpose in these two different worlds, which was me.
"This is it, huh?" my mind exclaimed, but my heart refused to accept defeat. "This is how it's going to end?"
How could I, when this world brought me that one person who believed in me? Alice, who had a tragic past, had a smile on her face. She lost her family, her kingdom, and the life she ever wanted. This world took away everything from her. And yet that girl did not even take everything for granted.
She faced all of her problems with a smile painted on her face. That girl never turned gloomy or cried every time she remembered her past. Alice embraced those terrorising past. However, those memories alone locked her inside that cave.
Alice firmly believed that her people needed her. That cavern was the cage that latched onto her from the insides. Now that she had the confidence to get out, this happened.
"Was it all my fault?" I murmured. "It was my fault, wasn't it?"
It was I who urged Alice to go out of her comfort zone. It was I who reincarnated in this world as a puppet. I was the one that the princess met.
'If Alice met a guy, who deserves to be in my place, would this still happen to her? Or would she still be alive?' I wondered.
That thought became the rock that slammed my mind. It was the thorns that pierced my heart, brimming with regrets. However, I was selfish enough to reject those thoughts. Why would I?
It was because I wanted these memories for myself alone. I did not want anyone to steal Alice away from me. That was my sincerest wish.
Time advanced slowly in my realm, as if mocking me with the image at my fore. Alice, who rolled on the cold ground, directed her gaze onto me as she stopped on the boulder. Her lips curved upwards despite death knocking on her front door.
"It's okay… it's not… your fault, Mask" Even from afar, I could still hear Alice's voice calling out for me.
Tears cascaded from Alice's eyes as she reached out her hand for me. Alice's elegant clothing became tattered from the fight. Despite these scratches, Alice still looked like a princess to my eyes. She was the most adorable person I ever met in my life.
Regardless of the bats racing towards her, the gothic girl still smiled at me. Alice's grin could have been a wide one if it were not for the wounds surrounding her mouth. However, that alone made my lips curl up into a beam.
But that smile wore off after returning to this world. After realising that the event in front of me had yet to end, I panicked.
Even in the grimmest of night, Alice had the energy to tell me I should not blame myself for everything that had happened. Alice was willingly accepting her death. Instead of blaming me, she blamed herself.
"Are you okay about this?"
"Will you let this girl die?"
"Do you want to die alone?"
"Do you want to die?"
"Don't you want to make more memories with Alice?"
"What's your purpose, Kamen?"
"What's your purpose, Mask?"
"What's your purpose in life?"
Thousands of questions bombarded my brain. But what stood up the most was my purpose in life. That alone kept me pushing forward, wanting for more thrills and adventurers I had yet to see. I wanted all of those. I wanted to experience how to love and make friends again. I wished to use magic in this world for good and to help people. I wanted to live a life in a different world.
And the most important thing was that I want to live with Alice by my side.
According to my system, I had an unlimited amount of magic that I could use in my arsenal. Nobody taught me how and what magics were besides Alice. That girl explained that magic was the power of our minds. If we believe we could summon it, that magic could burst through our bodies.
The prominent thing about learning magic was a person's imagination. How could that individual perceive the world and fantasy? Within this world, technologies and magic exist, hence the strife between two factions. But that was not my concern for now.
I was in mid-air, trying to figure out how I could summon any magic that I knew. What I needed now was not something like the wind magic Alice produced. I needed something to destroy these bats, including the ones fluttering above us.
There was one ability that came into mind. I already used that skill once, I may have the chance to use it again in this fight.
I landed on the ground and knelt, with my hands extending in front of me. Inside my head, I imagined something black that would twirl from my hands. And yet, nothing happened. Despite my efforts and will, the world became cruel to me.
"Work, dammit! Work!" I screamed.
The bats were coming in Alice's way. They were ready to pounce on her if I still refused to move right now! This occurrence was my only chance to save her.
"SO WHY WON'T YOU WORK!"
"....."
"Why... won't you work…"
This part was the end for me. Even my imagination failed me for doing something heroic. No matter what world I lived in, I was still a burdensome individual.
"You have one ability that you can use as a puppet. [Phantomime]. This spell allows you to mimic any abilities thrown at you, but you need your mind to understand those spells," I mumbled to myself.
The obsidian beam was one of the greatest magic I had ever seen upon stepping foot inside this forest. It was the attack that the bat unleashed when they saw our figures. That ability almost killed us if it were not for me.
I knew that ability. I used it before. If I did not, maybe my hands would remember. But it did not.
I was running out of options. Time was ticking fast, and here I was, pondering to myself the concept of magic.
This world was unlike any other that I knew. Magic from various dimensions was smooth sailing. One flick of their fingers, "BOOM!" magic. Wasn't magic supposed to be like that?
I brushed off my rants and came up with a plan. Something hit my head like a hollow block coming from above.
"I need to understand that spell," I whispered. "I need to understand the obsidian beam. But how?"
After a split second, I gaze in Alice's direction and extend both of my hands. The burning rage inside of me surged through my veins. It felt nothing at all, given that I was a puppet. I had no nerves and skin that could send my brain signals to feel pain.
But I knew that something spiralled inside of me. It was the magic that I wanted to project, the [obsidian beam].
"How could I miss that!" I jerked backwards from the recoil of my attack.
The secret ingredient of the [obsidian beam] was pure hatred and killing intent. All these times, my head clouded itself with fear of death. I become frightened every time I think about holding Alice's corpse in my hands.
I did not want that to happen.
But right now, I knew that thought would never come into life.
My system told me I could throw any power at my enemy by two-fold. It meant that this ability had twice the power as the bats had when they used it. The speed of my obsidian beam travelled as fast as the speed of sound. That ominous light arrived in the nick of time and hurled the two lackeys away from Alice.
The gothic girl widened her eyes after witnessing such a scene. However, because of her fatigue, Alice's body could not handle the stress and forced herself to sleep on that spot.
I had no choice but to rush over Alice and protect her with the powers I own like a puppet.