"Don't be so high and mighty…!"
Stelcis was ready to pounce, but the Mock Turtle interrupted her by gripping her shoulder. The Mock Turtle stood at the rubble, some distance from the Jabberwock, and spoke up.
"I don't trust you… You have some kind of 'access authority', right?"
"What are you talking about…?"
Stelcis stood protectively over her. The Jabberwock turned to the girls, scratching his head lightly as if he was not expecting that point to be highlighted.
"As expected of the Mock Turtle, which is said to be 'of a different class' among the Originals. You can tell the difference simply by looking at them."
"Don't make fun of me."
"Please don't be so aggressive. I'm not your enemy. Indeed, I have access to the system… 'Number 68'." He kept an eye on the Mock Turtle with a somewhat dull glint in it. "Isn't that the same case with you?"
"…"
She exhaled as if he were clicking his tongue, but the Mock Turtle caught her breath and continued quietly.
"I understand. I'm not going to pursue the details regarding this until later. More importantly… I seen the White Queen's aide, the Knight, among the enemies. Even Stel's attack was stopped by him with his Dáinsleif."
"It's hard to conceive of the White Knight still being alive and even more difficult to fathom that he would switch sides. I think it's better to consider him an 'enemy'."
The Jabberwock stomped on the synthetic asphalt ground beneath his feet with his shoes and looked at them.
"I have no knowledge of what happened either. In any case, it's a matter of killing them. Let me use my power."
"Don't be so high and mighty…!"
Stelcis was ready to pounce, but the Mock Turtle interrupted her by gripping her shoulder. The Mock Turtle stood at the rubble, some distance from the Jabberwock, and spoke up.
"I don't trust you… You have some kind of 'access authority', right?"
"What are you talking about…?"
Stelcis stood protectively over her. The Jabberwock turned to the girls, scratching his head lightly, as if he was not expecting that point to be highlighted.
"As expected of the Mock Turtle, which is said to be 'of a different class' among the Originals. You can tell the difference simply by looking at them."
"Don't make fun of me."
"Please don't be so aggressive. I'm not your enemy. Indeed, I have access to the system… 'Number 68'." He kept an eye on the Mock Turtle with a somewhat dull glint in it. "Isn't that the same case with you?"
"…"
She exhaled as if he were clicking his tongue, but the Mock Turtle caught her breath and continued quietly.
"I understand. I'm not going to pursue the details regarding this until later. More importantly… I seen the White Queen's aide, the Knight, among the enemies. Even Stel's attack was stopped by him with his Dáinsleif."
"It's hard to conceive of the White Knight still being alive and even more difficult to fathom that he would switch sides. I think it's better to consider him an 'enemy'."
The Jabberwock stomped on the synthetic asphalt ground beneath his feet with his shoes and looked at them.
"I have no knowledge of what happened either. In any case, it's a matter of killing them. Let me use my power."
◇
A roar deafened the area. Iberis staggered, supported by Philrain and somehow maintained by her fluctuating legs. Even her shredded right hand had been formed by the Bandersnatch.
There had been considerable blood loss, and Iberis' complexion was pale. She would need immediate medical attention.
As if guarding the girls, Alice stepped forward and dropped to her hips. Next to her stood the White Knight with his Dáinsleif at the ready.
On the roof… of the underground passage, that was to say, penetrating the ground, were the lion-headed human… the Jabberwock and the raggedly clad Stelcis. The Jabberwock glanced around at Alice and the others who were hostile to him and smiled, the edges of his mouth contorted into a small smirk. And then he began to speak.
"You are alive and well after all. You're the closest thing to 'Alice' that I've ever seen."
"You're truly an unreasonably stubborn Nightmare. This time, I'll ensure that you'll never regenerate again."
The Jabberwock heard her nonchalant words, and after a moment of silence, he regarded the White Knight.
"It appears that you are not the… White Knight. Are you a play of Master Lewis…?"
"Lewis…" Raffi stood next to Iberis and raised his voice. "You… know about Lewis, after all!"
"Even though I know him, nothing can be done…" The Jabberwock shrugged his shoulders, laughing throatily. "Master Lewis is the one who initiated this chaos, isn't he? I know that much even without being told."
"If you are aware of that much, why are you trying to lead to the demise of Apocrypha! Why don't you do something to stop it!"
The Jabberwock kept his mouth shut as Raffi yelled at him. The voice of the black cat reverberated through the underground passage. Eventually, he spread his hands out to the side and said to him, "Why? What a foolish question, navigator."
"…"
"As long as I can fight, that's all that matters to me!"
The Jabberwock shouted and was about to strike the floor of the underground passage. But at that point, his movement ceased. Before he knew it, the Bandersnatch, a thin… extension of Iberis' leg ... that had dug its way through the floor of the passage and was behind him, had a firm grip on his legs.
"Jack."
"I know."
Jack took his broad Dáinsleif and swung it out in a mid-level sidearm.
"Tsk…" The Jabberwock clicked his tongue and reached out with his right hand for the slash that blasted at him. His right hand collided with a strike of Dáinsleif, which rushed forward while half-destroying the underground passage, sending sparks flying with a terrific metallic sound.
–He caught the attack…?
Jack was stunned. The Jabberwock shouted and "flung" the slash of the Dáinsleif upwards, shattering the Bandersnatch of Iberis who was clutching his legs.
The slash, which carried its own momentum, pierced the ceiling of the shelter and gouged it wide open. Although it did not penetrate, debris began to fall in pieces into the city.
Stelcis glared at Alice and the others, and then, possibly through the power of the Mock Turtle, her figure disappeared. Instead, the remaining Jabberwock's figure glowed with a thin, iridescent radiance.
"He has… the Bandersnatch wrapped around him…?"
Raffi spitefully replied to the muttering Iberis.
"They have thoroughly thought of the plan… Stelcis's ability allows him to 'wear' the Bandersnatch like armor. If we don't take out the two hiding in there, we won't stand a chance…"
"I see…"
Alice scanned her surroundings, a pale flame flickering from her hollow right eye.
"But you know what? Regardless of how many phenomena you can manipulate… and control the evolved Bandersnatch, or even if you're immortal."
She grinned like a broken person and extended her right hand out in front of her, creating the shape of a pistol.
"What would happen if I crushed 'all around here', where you would exist?"
For a split second, the Jabberwock halted as if he did not understand what was being said. However, he stopped to contemplate further and charged forward with a yell.
It was the next moment that Stelcis placed a fluctuating hand on Alice's shoulder. The two Bandersnatch gathered around Alice's fingertips with screeching exclamations. Then they swirled, forming the shape of a black "something" horrifying.
Boom.
After a huge rumbling, shocking, and roaring noise, the girl and the others "disappeared" before her eyes.