The distance was several hundred kilometers from the shelter of Stelcis and the others, and they landed at a relay station. Jack, in the form of the White Knight, sheathed the Dáinsleif that he had drawn. He then spoke up.
"It seems that I have transformed into a complete Nightmare. The inhabitants of this place will not be able to discern me except for the priestess. Philrain, you must negotiate with the administration to allow Iberis to be treated."
"Y-Yes…!"
Although Philrain herself had wounds, she stepped forward and disappeared into the alleyway. In addition to both legs, Iberis suffered the loss of her right arm as well and seemed to be unconscious as she lay in the alleyway. Philrain's jacket was draped over her.
Raffi confirmed that Iberis was still breathing, and then looked around with an exhausted face. It seemed to be a place that was just around the perimeter of the shelter. This was the back of an alleyway where buildings were lined up.
The rift in the space that Jack slashed closed with a buzzing noise. There, Alice's knees gave out and she collapsed on the spot like a marionette whose strings had been snapped.
"Alice!" Jack exclaimed, supporting her body. Alice breathed heavily for a while, then relaxed, coughing a few times and letting drool drip from her mouth.
"What is it! Alice, what's wrong?"
Raffi grew pale and approached her. The flame that rose from Alice's right eye, where Jack supported her in a prone position, made a small bobbing sound and was extinguished. Her aching wound and crushed eye socket were revealed.
"I'm sorry… I'm kinda tired…" Alice said in a disunited tone and slowly closed her eyes. She then released a small exhale and began to sleep. When Jack laid Alice down next to Iberis, Raffi muttered to himself as he gritted his teeth.
"… This is an extraordinary power."
"…"
"You too, Jack. What the hell happened to you guys…?"
"That's what I want to know too."
Jack stood in the alleyway to protect Alice and the others, his voice emanating from behind his muffled helmet.
"But now I've got the power. I can fight."
"Jack, that's…"
Then Raffi ceased his speech. He saw Philrain running towards them with a few vigilante men.
"We've flown a long way, but the enemy will discover us soon enough," Jack said in a grave voice. "We have to stop… no, 'kill' the 'demise of Apocrypha'."
◇
"So you're the only member of the… 'Tea Party' left, huh?"
A massive round table was enshrined in the middle of the dark room, and a man sitting on a huge chair at the upper part of the table said so.
The lion-headed man in the suit… the Jabberwock who was seated at the lower section of the round table looked at him and let out a suppressed voice.
"… Unfortunately, that is so. Both the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon have been confirmed that their cores have been extracted."
"Excellent!"
The man on the seat of honor clapped his hands gleefully and raised his voice like a child. His face was the exact same one; the elderly man that Jack had encountered in the space of the void. He was "Lewis Carroll" himself.
He placed his spectacles, which had been cracked and taped over his left eye, back in place with his fingertips, and exhaled, putting his feet up on the round table and slouching back in his chair. He then grinned as he folded his hands behind his head in delight.
"Master Lewis." The Jabberwock asked him quietly.
"Hmm? What is it?"
"If we retrieve the cores, it is possible to revive the Hatter and the others, right…?"
At the moment he asked that question, tension rose in the room. There were several shadows at the round table, all of them seated lower than Lewis. When Lewis heard this, he shrugged his shoulders as if it didn't matter.
"Who knows… maybe you can't."
"I can't…!"
The Jabberwock involuntarily rose from his chair.
"No way… Up until now, the normal way can…"
"The White Knight's sword, the Dáinsleif, was a creation of mine as a hobby." Releasing a sigh, Lewis continued. "It seems to have evolved on its own after it was stolen by those 'kids'. The core of your Original Nightmare is also capable of being severed. I'm sure you've noticed that. By now, the Hatter and the others' data has probably been permanently lost."
"T-That's…"
The Jabberwock stiffened in disbelief, and Lewis grinned wickedly at him.
"It was a close call. Even your ability won't work if the core is destroyed. I'll give you credit for surviving well."
"…"
The Jabberwock had slumped back in his chair in exasperation, and Lewis shifted his gaze to his surroundings in a slouched position.
"Well, I have no intention of letting them rampage like this, either. Above all, the demise of Apocrypha is drawing to a close. It's not right to disrupt the schedule. It's a very bad idea…"
When the others fell silent, he resumed.
"I'm going to let you guys evolve your Seventh. I will make your Seventh more powerful and more savage than it has ever been. Brutally…"
Laughing with his mouth hanging open, he gestured to a tall, slender woman sitting in the lower seat. Her face, with its velvet hat, was quite well-formed, though it was not clear in the darkness, and her expression was so impassive that it reminded one of a mannequin doll.
"Duchess, can you go?"
The woman called the Duchess stood up and bowed gracefully.
"Of course, I can."
"Very well."
Lewis then snapped his fingers with a smirk on his face, saying that. The Duchess' body jerked and flinched. As if in some kind of extreme pain, the slender woman clawed her head, fell to her knees and let out a scream of agony.
"'M-Master Lewis… w-what… is…!"
The Duchess muttered in a broken voice, and Lewis looked down at the Duchess, saying indifferently, "What? It's only a painful 'death'. That's what 'evolution' is all about, isn't it?"
A gruesome scream reverberated in the dark room. The Jabberwock and the others were stunned, but after a few minutes, the hellish anguish abruptly ceased.
The Duchess, who had been rolling around on the floor, suddenly stood up slowly, as though she had undergone a transformation. She then produced a twisted grin… with pitch-black blood dripping from her nose and mouth.
"Don't worry about the damage to the people in M.O.R.S. Go ahead and kill them all. Until you are satisfied."
With a small smile, the Duchess gave Lewis another graceful bow.