Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 189

A battle between a witch and Beast.

The outcome was predetermined from the start.

“Ah, that was fun.”

Maia smiled eerily while stepping on Vile’s fallen head.

“Urgh…”

“You’re quite good for a Beast. Want to become part of my collection?”

“…ce”

“Hm?”

“Al…ice…”

Vile trembled as he barely managed to speak Alice’s name.

“Alice… Alice…!”

The source of curses.

Vile began gathering his inner strength while continuously recalling the object of his madness-inducing obsession.

Vile gradually lifted Maia’s foot but… was stepped on again with even greater force.

“You still have this much strength?”

“…!”

“You’d be harder to handle than Ozwald, but you’d definitely make a good item. You’d be useful against other witches.”

Maia crouched down and held her dagger to Vile’s neck.

“But since you’re dangerous, I’ll just take your head.”

“Urgh… Ooooh!!”

Vile’s body exploded.

Though Maia was caught in the explosion and retreated slightly, she wasn’t seriously injured.

“Hah, hah…”

When the explosion’s smoke cleared, Vile’s appearance was miserable.

His body except for his head had turned to rags, retaining not just its original form but not even a human-like shape.

Organs and bones were exposed through gaps in his split body, and curses – the source of his existence – leaked from his half-severed neck.

“You’re really strong. You’ll be very useful.”

Maia said indifferently.

She had already finished analyzing Vile’s capabilities.

He could no longer be called a threat.

“Hah, hah… A… Alice…!”

Vile shouted with his last remaining strength.

The curses from his remaining flesh gathered to form a large circular magic circle.

“Hm?”

Maia watched with interest.

Of course, she could completely crush Vile’s desperate struggle and stop what he was about to do, but given his abilities shown in the fight so far, she wanted to watch a bit more.

Just that.

Like wanting to see a bit more of an item’s performance before putting it in her shopping cart.

But Maia was surprised for the first time at what shot out from the magic circle.

“Woah!?”

“What’s this?”

Eugene’s group and Oscar sealed in the giant crystal appeared.

The crystal containing Oscar floated above Vile but the rest of the group fell.

“Eugene? Were you teleported?”

Maia asked.

“Maia? What is this?”

“Looks like Vile is trying something… This is a bit unexpected even for me.”

If it was anything else it wouldn’t matter, but with Eugene here her options were greatly reduced.

Even if Vile was nearly dead, he could still easily kill Eugene so she had to protect him.

“Hah, hah… How unfortunate…”

Vile said.

“If only I had… a bit more time…”

“Release Oscar, you monster!”

Ozwald immediately launched [Magical Power Blade] upon seeing Vile.

The magic simply pierced Vile’s head but he didn’t stop.

“This is… Alice…”

“Still saying that! You’re finished now!”

“Wrong… This is the beginning…”

Vile’s head split in two from the magic and his brain floated up.

Then he opened another hole in the sky.

A dimensional door to receive moonlight that he had used several times before.

But the moonlight now was fundamentally different from then.

“Oh God…”

Vile said.

Though only his brain remained, his will transmitted clearly to everyone.

“Behold, this is human creation!”

Moonlight poured from the hole in the sky and was absorbed into the crystal containing Oscar.

“What are you doing!? Ms. Maia! What is that…!?”

Ozwald shouted.

“Wow…”

But Maia was entranced by Vile’s form.

Only Maia and Eugene could understand specifically what Vile was doing here.

Eugene similarly marveled purely at Vile’s form.

“Really… is he human?”

Eugene muttered.

Before his words could reach anyone’s ears, the crystal containing Oscar burst with tremendous light, dyeing everything blue.

To Eugene, it was a familiar feeling from when creating worlds.

And everyone was swept up in Vile’s creation.

*    *    *

Once upon a time.

Stories always start that way.

Since this is my first and last creation, watch carefully with eyes wide open.

One day, a whirlwind came and carried Alice’s house to Wonderland.

Alice’s house happened to fall on an evil witch and killed her.

Though people welcomed Alice for killing the witch Thumbelina, Alice only wanted to return home.

So she just went home.

…This won’t work as a story.

Alice went to find the great wizard ‘Ozwald’ who lived in the Crystal City to return home.

“…”

Just go already.

While walking the red brick road to Crystal City with her pet cat ‘Cheshire’, Alice met ‘Gerda’.

“Ah, you must be Oscar? You were trapped in crystal earlier but you’re free now?”

Said Gerda who was tied to a pole.

“Do you know where this is? Have you seen Brother… I mean Eugene and Ms. Hilde and Sir Ozwald? Oh, please let me down first.”

Shut up.

You’re a scarecrow.

A scarecrow doesn’t need a brain.

“Huh? Wait, n-no. Don’t… Brother! Where are you Brother!? Help…!!”

A scarecrow was tied to the pole.

“Ah, urgh, aah…”

Alice took down the scarecrow and made it her traveling companion to help it regain its brain.

Alice, Cheshire, and the scarecrow passed through an old forest.

From deep in the forest, Hilde approached carrying a large axe.

“Oscar! There you are! But Gerda… why is she like that?”

The scarecrow just stood blankly with unfocused eyes.

Drool dripped from its mouth and it occasionally trembled while making incomprehensible moans.

“What happened here!? Oscar! Explain please! Where’s Senior? Where is Senior Eugene!?”

Hilde gripped her axe tightly.

“Vile! Come out right now!”

Don’t make a fuss.

Iron chains shot up from the ground and bound Hilde tightly.

“This much… Urgh!? Why are they so strong!?”

Hilde tried to break the chains but they didn’t budge.

Then iron maidens in the shape of metal nuns appeared on both sides of Hilde.

An execution device filled with metal spikes inside.

“W-wait!”

The iron maidens approached Hilde.

“Senior…!”

With a thud, the iron maiden devoured Hilde.

“Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!!!”

Screams and blood gushed like a fountain through the gaps in the coffin.

After spewing screams and blood for a while, the sounds faded and the blood trickled like a stream.

Yes, now you look more like a tin woodman.

After wrapping the immobilized tin woodman in rope and tying it to the brainless scarecrow, Alice’s group set off again to find the wizard.

“…This is awful.”

Said the cowardly lion.

“How is this a fairy tale?”

Shut up.

“Release everyone right now.”

No.

We haven’t met the wizard yet.

“What did you do to Sir Ozwald?”

You’re noisy.

A cowardly, worthless thing without any strength yet running its mouth.

“So what? A trash who only writes garbage fairy tales like this. Is this what you meant by human creation? How disappointing.”

Shut up!

I don’t need the likes of you!

Just die!!

“…”

Die!

I said die!

“…How pathetic.”

Why won’t you die?!

I am God!

I am this world’s creator!!

“You just poorly imitated my old self.”

When Eugene snapped his fingers, everything shattered.

*    *    *

“Wh-what happened!?”

Vile shouted.

“My story… It was my story!!”

“You really had no talent after all.”

I told Vile the harsh truth.

Vile borrowed the moon’s power, that is, God’s power, to create his own small world.

It was undoubtedly the same method I used when I was Noah in the past.

Thanks to that, I could use Vile’s creative ability in reverse to break everything.

I vaguely remembered some things instinctively.

“They say imitation is the basis of creation, but you couldn’t even do that properly. Did you want to imitate God?”

“You…!”

Vile crawled toward me with his rag-like body.

But Vile had no strength left.

“I know. That you were the creator from ancient times!”

“I was.”

“What’s different between you and me!?”

“Not much. We were both terribly untalented.”

Vile grabbed my ankle with his hand.

His bloodshot eyes held various emotions impossible to fully express in words.

I understand all those emotions.

“But you know. Unlike you, I never forced anything on my characters. I let them be free. Trying to control the entire story is foolish.”

“You ruined the story just like I did!”

“That’s true but…”

“Could that be why you ended up like that? Did you wrap yourself in human skin and degrade yourself to punish yourself?!”

“Well…”

Why did I become human?

There must be a reason but I still don’t remember well.

“Still, it’s a shame. At least in the past, though you had no talent, your stories were pure…”

“In the past…?”

“I read the stories you wrote in the past. I thought they were good stories.”

“…”

“But now you’ve lost even that purity. You’re ruining everything by forcefully trying to make the story flow your way. If you still had that purity now, maybe you really could have been the creator of the next era.”

“…It’s too late for that now.”

Vile’s hand gripping my ankle lost strength.

“So I’m ending without accomplishing anything…”

“…Oscar.”

While everyone else was unconscious, only Oscar stood and approached.

“Were you not Alice after all? Was there never such a thing from the start?”

Vile asked.

“…I’m not Alice. Not Oscar either.”

Oscar answered.

“I am Dorothy.”

“Ha, haha, ahahaha…”

Vile laughed.

His body gradually turned white then scattered like dust and disappeared.

It was the end of a human with unparalleled intellect.

“Oscar.”

“I said I’m Dorothy.”

“…Dorothy.”

“Yes. I’ve been thinking all this time. Who am I? Because that Oscar you knew is already dead.”

“So that’s why you were silent? Thinking about your name this whole time?”

“Yes.”

“That’s madness.”

“That’s magecraft.”

I don’t really understand.

“Urgh…”

Ozwald groaned as he got up.

“Oscar…?”

“Old man.”

Oscar, no, Dorothy approached Ozwald.

“Wh-what did you just call me…?”

Ozwald’s eyes flew open at the title he hadn’t heard in so long.

“Are you deaf too? I said old man.”

“O-Oscar! Have you regained your senses?!”

Ozwald hugged Dorothy while crying.

“I said I’m Dorothy, not Oscar.”

“…”

I turned to look at the other two who hadn’t woken up yet.

Gerda and Hilde.

They went through something terrible.

“Can you help? Maia.”

“Of course.”

Maia who was behind me at some point answered.

“I’ll do anything you want…”

It was somehow an unpleasant response.