"I'll take care of everything."
Standing in front of the monster, shielding Nina, I prepared myself.
I hadn't seen the entirety of her memories. Only the brief, unbearable moments—her father's murder, and how she was forced to laugh afterward. Just those were enough to make my blood boil.
My mind was in a feverish haze, my pulse pounding with rage.
"Take care of everything? That's boring!" sneered the monster.
It was wrapped up, like a hanging cocoon, by the Silveit threads I had created to bind its body. I couldn't let it go unpunished.
"Isn't it better when the toy box is scattered, Kisaragi Itsuki?"
Its words cut deep, each syllable taunting and filled with malice.
This was no simple sense of justice; this was personal. This thing had taken Nina's family and twisted it in the worst way.
The only option was to destroy it completely.
I chanted, gathering my magic.
"Consume, Oborozuki."
Using a "Composite Attribute Transformation: Night" spell, I focused on ending this quickly. The five Silveit threads shot toward the monster, binding it, ready to transform—
And then, suddenly, the monster's body burst apart.
"Oops!" it cried, its disembodied voices laughing. "Oborozuki, the big finisher, huh?"
Fragments of the monster scattered as if it had popped like a balloon, dodging my attack, leaving my Silveit threads entangled uselessly in mid-air.
"All your tricks, I've seen them all, Itsuki!"
From the shattered pieces, a black, viscous substance oozed out, taking shape as stuffed animals.
"Aren't you a clever one!" they jeered. "But facing a real King of the Seventh Rank without preparation is plain rude, don't you think?"
Stuffed animals that escaped my grasp melded together, twisting and morphing until they transformed back into the giant, writhing monster—a puppet master, hanging mid-air like an enormous caterpillar, encased in Silveit.
"...So you're the one who created Theater Troupe Actor?"
"Hmmm," the monster sneered, "you could say that's half-right... and half-wrong."
"Every single one of those actors was a piece of me, part of this 'Wonderland,'" it laughed. "Took a lot of hands to pull it off, but the Master here? That's me!"
The masks on its body shifted, the voices overlapping, some of which sounded disturbingly familiar.
"I am the Master, and splitting and assimilating personalities is second nature to me!" it boasted.
Splitting and assimilating personalities... did it mean that those "actors" were pieces of itself, summoned, then reabsorbed?
It didn't matter. All I had to do was destroy it.
"Then I'll just exorcise you all at once."
"Exorcise?" the monster mocked. "Can you even do it? Why not relax, Itsuki?"
Its masks tilted to the side, spinning in eerie unison, before bursting into laughter.
"Come on, let's just do the fun stuff, the good stuff, the exciting stuff!"
"Turning people into dolls, killing adults... that's exciting to you?" I asked.
"Oh, you've got it all backward!" it sneered. "This is so the kids can smile. We don't need adults here! Kids always worry about them!"
The masks laughed, spinning as the monster spoke, its twisted idea of "joy" making my skin crawl.
"So we'll make a world for kids only—a dream world, that's my Wonderland!"
I readied my magic, crafting the Silveit threads again.
Nina was behind me. The raw Oborozuki spell would be too dangerous with her nearby.
Oborozuki was powerful, but it needed restrictions. I'd previously contained its effect with a wall spell, "Raku-you," to enclose it within a safe boundary, but that only worked if the target stayed in one place. This creature had already slipped from my grasp.
In that case, it was time for the next tactic.
"Plotting against us, are you?" The monster laughed, as if reading my mind. "Itsuki, I think it's time for a little surprise!"
Five of the monster's own Silveit threads shot toward me.
"Nina!" I shouted, instinctively wrapping my arms around her and leaping back. I enhanced my physical strength with magic, escaping the threads just in time.
The intuition to dodge surged within me, a hot, cold sensation prickling along my spine.
"Surprises are best when they come out of nowhere!" the monster laughed, its threads tangling in mid-air. "A gift for you, Itsuki!"
The five threads weaved together, forming a black orb.
"Oborozuki!"
It hit me in an instant.
"Even if Shadow is shattered, a shadow is still a shadow."
Shadow, the shadow spirit, is drawn from the realm of shadows and manifests in our world, appearing to take a form. But that's only an illusion; Shadow's true body remains in the shadows. Even when fragmented, its essence spreads, creating an area for me to anchor my Kage Okuri and send the spell away.
A simple concept, really.
"And second—"
I reached out my hand, casting my shadow directly over the monster's.
"In the shadow world, magic's properties reverse."
A wet, tearing sound echoed through the air. In the center of the monster's body, as if carved by a compass, was a perfect, gaping hole.
I had created it.
"See?" I taunted.
"W-What... but Oborozuki was... invincible!"
"If it were, I wouldn't be training, would I?"
The counterattack had been twofold.
First, I'd used spirit magic to send the monster's Oborozuki into the shadow realm. Then, I'd reflected the reversed properties of Oborozuki back onto the monster itself, using Oborozuki's shadow as a conduit.
With magic reversed in the shadow realm, Oborozuki's pull transformed into a powerful repulsion field, tearing a hole right through the monster's body.
This reverse version of Oborozuki I called Byakuyou, the White Sun.
The monster's masks twisted into expressions of horror, visibly trembling.
"Oh, and one more thing."
I took a step forward, raising my voice.
"So that Nina can feel at ease. To show her that monsters like you are nothing to fear."
I declared, "I still have Oborozuki."
As I raised my arm to cast Oborozuki, the monster recoiled and pivoted away.
"I'll teach you something important, in return!" it hissed.
At that moment, I was flung backward, disoriented by the powerful force that had suddenly propelled me away.
The monster's voice echoed as it fled.
"When in danger, the best strategy is... to run!"
It was gone before I could cast my spell.
"...I won't let it get away," Nina whispered beside me.
She raised her voice, casting her magic.
"Bring it back. To me."
A ringing sound, like the hum of a tuning fork, resonated in the air.
At that instant, a single Pixie spirit materialized, but then another, and another. Within seconds, their numbers multiplied exponentially, a countless sea of Pixies filling the air, flowing with every breath Nina took.
"What...?" I gaped. I'd never seen her summon so many spirits before.
"No matter how many Pixies you summon," the monster stammered, "they're no match for us!"
A Pixie grabbed onto the caterpillar-like monster. Following that first, all of Nina's Pixies swarmed the monster's body, locking it in place, restoring the amusement park to its former, peaceful appearance.
Restrained by the sheer number of Pixies, the monster was dragged back, forced before us, writhing in place.
"P-Please, can we stop this?" it cried. "There's no fun in this. Wonderland would be ruined..."
The monster squirmed desperately, screaming frantically.
"If I die here, this world—the whole amusement park—will disappear with me! Isn't that such a waste?"
Its shrill, panicked voice rang painfully in my ears.
"Itsuki, do you still have magic left?" Nina asked quietly.
"Yeah, I do," I replied.
"Then, please... exorcise it all."
"Leave it to me."
Now that it couldn't run, Oborozuki was all I needed. As I began weaving Silveit threads, I noticed the monster's masks quivering, their expressions reflecting raw terror.
In the face of such shameless cowardice, my anger softened into something else.
"Isn't death supposed to be funny?" I taunted.
"So go ahead—laugh."