Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 156

I arrived first.

So… is this the end now?

“Congratulations.”

Vile, who had been waiting, clapped his hands.

“That was quite a spectacle. I’ve never seen anything like it – people desperately fighting over who gets to die first.”

Scum.

“Just keep your promise.”

“Promise? What promise?”

“You said you’d kill only one person who reaches the peak and leave.”

“Don’t tell me you actually believed that?”

“…”

This absolute piece of trash…

“To tell you the truth, I never came here to kill anyone in the first place.”

“What?”

“I just came to meet you.”

“Why? No, then why did you do all this?”

“I simply wanted to see what kind of person you were. But be careful. Someone came to me asking to kill you.”

“…?”

Asked to kill me?

Who?

…No, are there even people who could make such requests to Vile?

Could it be… Maia… or someone?

“But I was curious. Coming to me just to kill a mere lower-ranked hunter like you. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person you were.”

“So, did your curiosity get satisfied?”

“I was surprised. That you…”

Vile’s crow mask contorted, revealing sharp teeth.

“Were that damn person who took my Alice away back then…!”

The Jaberwock flew above Vile.

Its wings, vast as storm clouds covering the sky, created winds strong enough to make my body stagger slightly.

Truly a monster beyond comprehension.

“Where is Alice? Where has that damn old wizard hidden her!?”

“Screeeech!”

As if responding to Vile’s roar, the Jaberwock let out a shriek toward me.

Not just wind, but the unique pressure exerted by such a massive being pressed down on me.

My knees felt like they would buckle.

“Tell me! Or I’ll burn this entire mountain and kill everyone without leaving a single soul!!”

“…You’re looking for Alice?”

“Yes! Alice! My Alice!!”

“From that fairy tale…”

“Tha… What?”

Suddenly, Vile’s demeanor completely changed.

“F-fairy tale…?”

“Yes. This Alice you speak of is a fairy tale protagonist, right?”

“H-how do you… how do you know about…”

I know why Vile fell from grace.

That’s my trump card.

Though I’m not sure if it will work properly, I have to try.

“It was quite a good story. Alice in Wonderland.”

“Sh-shut up! Did you see it?! How could someone like you possibly…!”

The greatest intelligence in history.

A mind far surpassing human limits.

A lonely genius inventor.

But his hobby was writing fairy tales.

Just like my past self…

“You should have published it.”

“Be-be quiet!”

Vile wasn’t always lonely from the start.

He still managed to interact with the few geniuses who could somewhat understand his concepts.

One day, Vile shared his hobby of writing fairy tales with them…

And that’s how all the calamity began.

A somewhat peculiar fairy tale about a girl named Alice adventuring in Wonderland.

But what he received in return was mockery.

Writing such things at his age, the story making no sense…

That was also the content of the note found in Cheshire Village.

Anger and hatred toward people who mocked him, telling him to view fairy tales as just fairy tales.

Just a fairy tale.

But to Vile, it must have been incredibly precious.

“Are you mocking me too?! Are you ridiculing me?!”

“No.”

I looked straight at Vile.

The fairy tale Vile wrote appeared briefly in Blue Paper Moon.

Though a short story, it was simply good content.

Probably because Vile himself was genuinely invested in Alice, his fairy tale protagonist.

“I truly do not mock your story.”

“Re… really?”

“So it’s not too late even now. Won’t you continue writing fairy tales? This isn’t what you really want to do. You want to find Alice, right? You can write her yourself.”

“I…”

Vile’s demeanor softened considerably.

Maybe… just maybe…

“Screeeech!”

Just then, drowning out Vile’s voice, a massive creature’s cry rang out from somewhere.

A piercing sound unique to birds.

When I turned my head toward the sound, a huge crow about slightly smaller than the Jaberwock was flying through the sky.

The crow, flying like a missile, instantly tore through one of Jaberwock’s wings as it passed.

“Screech?!”

The Jaberwock stumbled and rolled down the opposite side of the mountain, flailing.

And on top of the crow was…

“Bari?!”

Though hard to see from far away, a woman with black hair wearing oriental clothes was riding the crow.

And that crow was undoubtedly Ragnarok, a Beast far more powerful than the one I faced at the Western Temple before.

But why would even Bari be here…?

“Jaberwock!”

At Vile’s shout, Jaberwock crawled back up and breathed fire toward Ragnarok.

But Ragnarok easily avoided the breath of flames while circling through the sky.

“Why suddenly… Urgh?!”

A massive trident flying from somewhere completely pierced through Vile’s leg.

The rope attached to the trident’s end cracked like a whip, lifting Vile high before slamming him back down.

“I didn’t expect to meet like this.”

This voice is also familiar.

“Even Rusalka…?”

Little Mermaid Rusalka walked toward us holding the rope connected to her trident.

“Wh-what is this? Why…”

Vile tried to get up, clearly confused.

“You really don’t know?”

And Snow White Margarete spoke while stepping on Vile’s back to knock him down again.

She was taller than usual, her normally neat hair was disheveled and lusterless, and even her eyes looked fierce.

That’s probably not an ordinary clone but a higher-ranked entity.

There shouldn’t be many of those, yet she came to a place like this…

“You laid hands on something you should never have coveted. So you must be punished.”

Margarete kicked Vile’s side, sending him flying back to the center of the clearing.

Then Bari descended beside them, riding Ragnarok.

The three witches of the apocalypse have gathered here.

I couldn’t keep up with my thoughts at all.

“Punishment, you say?”

Even Vile questioned back in confusion.

“Yes. You tried to take the moon’s power. That’s essentially declaring us all as your enemies.”

“Moreover, for someone like you who is neither human nor anything else to dare claim you’ll become the next Creator? Know your place!”

Rusalka and Bari’s voices were infinitely sharp and cold.

“Wh-what’s wrong with that?!”

As Vile shouted, the Jaberwock opened its maw toward the witches as flames began to surge.

But Margarete hurled a massive ice spear that pierced straight through the Jaberwock’s mouth.

“Screech!”

The entire mountain seemed to shake as the Jaberwock writhed in agony.

“Making such monstrosities while claiming to be the next Creator? Don’t make me laugh! Who do you think you are?! You dare steal the moon’s power, and this is all you can make?!”

Margarete kicked Vile down and stomped on his arm.

Perhaps because this was a special higher-ranked entity unlike regular clones, the stomped area caved in as if crushed by a compressor.

“I cannot forgive this. Someone as beyond redemption as you should never have been born.”

When Bari snapped her fingers, Ragnarok flew down and viciously tore at the fallen Vile with its sharp claws.

“Th-the moon’s power doesn’t belong to you!”

Vile rolled around, screaming desperately.

And three spearheads pierced up through Vile’s chest.

“Not yet.”

Rusalka spoke from behind after impaling Vile with her trident.

“But it’s certainly not power that someone like you should possess. Do you even know whose it originally was?”

Then she lifted her trident and violently slammed Vile down.

“Damn… it…”

Vile’s body, now like a torn rag, flew helplessly and collapsed limply over there.

“…That was likely a consciousness-sharing clone. Though we haven’t dealt actual damage, our message should have been delivered.”

Bari said.

“Hmph, this is the last time we work together too. Once is enough for joining forces.”

Margarete said.

“Indeed. I have no more business with you now. However…”

Rusalka looked straight at me.

Only then did reality sink in and I could grasp the current situation.

“Damn it!”

I turned around and ran with all my might.

But Rusalka’s trident flew past me before its attached rope wrapped around me.

Instantly bound, I went flying straight toward Rusalka.

However, that was brief as the rope snapped midway, dropping my body between the witches.

“…What are you doing?”

Rusalka said to Margarete who had cut the rope.

“That’s my line. What are you doing to my servant?”

“What?”

“That human is my possession. How dare you try to take someone else’s property – I knew you had bad habits but to brazenly try to take something right in front of me.”

“What do you mean? Servant? That human?”

“Yes. Since I’ve marked him with my Mark, he’s mine.”

“Hmph. What nonsense. Show me this Mark of yours then.”

“Sure. As much as you want.”

Rusalka and Margarete approached me.

What should I do?

No, is escaping even realistically possible?

I took out my dagger and tried to cut the rope binding my body directly, but the blade wouldn’t cut through.

Is this something that can’t be cut even with a silver dagger…

“Where do you think you’re running?!”

Margarete instantly closed in and grabbed my neck, lifting me up.

“Didn’t I tell you? You’re mine! My possession! To try running away in front of your master, you need punishment too!”

“Urgh…”

“Wait, treating a normal human like that… Huh?”

Rusalka started to say something with a frown but suddenly showed a surprised look.

“…What kind of joke is this?”

“Joke?”

“I told you to show your Mark, so why… is there someone else’s Mark?”

“What are you… Ah?!?”

Margarete dropped me to the ground in shock.

“Huff, huff…”

Finally freed, I gasped for breath.

I… I shouldn’t be in a place like this.

I need to escape somehow…

But Margarete grabbed me and roughly tore at my clothes.

“Wh-what is going on here?!?”

Then she grabbed my shoulders while screaming hysterically and closely examined my neck.

“Why do you have Belle’s Mark?! Why?!”

Indescribable murderous intent, hatred, and rage began filling Margarete’s crimson eyes.

“While being my servant… while being my servant you betrayed me for that woman?! I’ll never forgive this! Never!!!”

Margarete raised her hand.

Ice hooks grew from her fingertips.

And they came straight down toward me.

Ah… am I going to die?

“Why don’t you calm down?”

However, those ice claws were stopped midway, caught by Rusalka’s trident.

“There must be circumstances…”

“Don’t interfere!”

Margarete pushed away the trident and lunged at Rusalka.

“Ugh… as greedy as ever, both then and now…!”

The two witches became entangled as they began a fierce melee.

Finally ignored between them, I tried crawling away like a caterpillar.

But pale feet appeared before me.

“…It’s been a while?”

Bari was looking down at me.