Darkness

As Touko Aozaki, hidden behind the scenes, was startled by Alice's Moon Oil and intended to immediately withdraw Beowulf Ruge from the battlefield, Alice Kuonji's situation wasn't much better.

Because she had used Blue Robin as a substitute earlier, she had also consumed a considerable amount of magical energy, and the Robin PLOY in her hand was her only one. Until Robin was repaired, Alice Kuonji was in a rather fragile state. If Beowulf Ruge managed to attack again, she would be definitively defeated, even killed.

More importantly, the "Fragment of the First Magic," which was said to be Alice Kuonji's greatest reliance, derived its immense power from its true form not being found and the surrounding environment always being nighttime...

Since the two had been fighting for a long time, Alice Kuonji could now expend her energy by utilizing Flat Snark's ability to generate True Ether on its own and the Golden Wolf, which had fully materialized its soul. However, once night passed and the real sun rose, Alice Kuonji would no longer have any advantage, and the duel with Toko would be reversed.

Alice Kuonji hesitated. She took out a Rune Stone from her cloak pocket and looked at it. This was a communication stone that Aoko Aozaki had left for her. As long as she injected magical energy and crushed the stone, Aoko would know her situation and immediately enter the battlefield.

Regardless of day or night, that soul-materialized Phantasmal Species would never run out of energy...

With that thought, Alice seemed to have made up her mind. She applied a little force and tightened her grip on the communication stone.

Meanwhile, the argument between Toko and Beowulf Ruge was nearing its end. The Earth's illusion was ultimately no match for Toko's soul-deep contractual power... It backed down and agreed to retreat.

Touko Aozaki's surveillance Familiar also landed on Beowulf's back fur. Originally, Toko didn't need to retreat this Familiar, but considering that she had spent a lot of money creating various Mystic Codes and dolls to defeat her sister this time, she thought it would be better to retrieve this surveillance Familiar for resource utilization.

But sometimes, a battlefield isn't a place where you can successfully retreat just because you agree to it.

Although this abandoned amusement park was located at night, it had been revived due to Flat Snark's effect, and its interior was actually filled with lights.

But for some reason, all the lights were extinguishing "in the same direction," as if a monster lurking in the darkness was devouring all the light, consuming it one by one.

Beowulf Ruge immediately became alert, staring at the pitch-black area in the distance of its escape route.

Strangely enough, Beowulf Ruge, as a Phantasmal Species, undoubtedly possessed night vision. It could see everything clearly even in the wilderness without any lights, but when it encountered this darkness, it couldn't see anything within it.

But Beowulf Ruge was not afraid because it knew that in this world, very few things could harm it, let alone kill it. So it remained cautious, moving forward step by step, wanting to figure out what was in that darkness.

As it moved forward step by step, the strange darkness before its eyes shrank step by step, causing the giant wolf to reveal a contemptuous and disdainful human-like expression.

But for some reason, the doll soldiers and toy monsters that had been pestering it before were no longer approaching. Beowulf Ruge was a bit confused, but it was a good thing those guys weren't chasing it, as its wounds were already recovering at high speed.

Beowulf Ruge took a step forward, and the darkness retreated a step. But just as Beowulf Ruge was satisfied with its own power, it saw something strange on the ground where the darkness had retreated.

It was a human body.

No, it was only half of a body, or rather, only the upper half, propped up on the ground.

All of its arms were placed in front of its body, forming the gesture of praying with clasped hands in Buddhism, while the lower half of the humanoid body was planted upside down in the ground not far from it.

Beowulf Ruge was a bit confused. What was this thing?

"That's my doll," Touko Aozaki's serious voice came from the Familiar on its back. "Be careful, I can't contact the core of these dolls anymore."

Having been beaten black and blue by the many strange creations activated by Flat Snark earlier, Beowulf Ruge felt a sense of fear towards these things that looked wrong at first glance. So it no longer charged forward recklessly but gradually retreated, intending to escape in a different direction.

But before it could retreat a few steps, it felt a bone-chilling coldness from its tail.

It immediately leaped forward, then turned around to look back, only to find a wall at least tens of meters wide blocking its retreat path.

That "wall" seemed to flicker, appearing to be composed of some kind of churning dark mist.

If it were just an ordinary wall, Beowulf Ruge could have smashed through it by charging into it, but this thing before its eyes was clearly not ordinary.

The more Beowulf Ruge stared at this dark wall, the more its hair stood on end, and the less it wanted to advance.

"What's wrong, Beowulf?" Toko's voice sounded a bit anxious. "Just jump over this spooky thing! It's not that high, is it?"

Even so, Beowulf Ruge, being a beast, had always trusted its instincts. In its long life, its instincts had always been correct, always guiding it to success.

And now, its instincts told it to flee, to get away from this strange "wall."

So Beowulf Ruge, always loyal to its desires, turned and ran. It ran past the doll in the strange praying posture on the ground, heading in the direction where the darkness had retreated.

However, the more it ran, the more damaged dolls it saw appearing beside it.

They were in the same praying posture, with their upper and lower bodies separated.

Neatly arranged, these praying dolls formed a path leading into the darkness.

Beowulf Ruge did not stop. It had no time to bother with these inexplicably broken dolls. It just wanted to follow its instincts and escape this damned amusement park.

However, as it was about to reach the end of the dolls' path, all the darkness gathered together like mist, swirling slowly like a tornado, and then dispersed.

Beowulf Ruge certainly had no time to stop and watch; it wasn't a human with strong curiosity.

It charged straight into that black "whirlwind." Such a thing couldn't stop its advance at all!

But as it approached, the darkness gradually dissipated, and a woman with long red hair gradually emerged from within, staring at Beowulf Ruge and Touko Aozaki's Familiar with a half-smile.