Queen's Gate:Volume 1 Chapter 3

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Chapter 3: Fierce Fighting at the Academy

“Did she leave?”

Yue Ying quietly murmured, as she saw off the aircraft leaving the island. The shapes of the aircrafts were generally rich in variety, from discal to conical. A few kilometers after leaving the island, the aircraft will then blend into the sky. That way, it wouldn’t be witnessed. In rare cases, humans who noticed them would make a big fuss about UFOs.

Yue Ying turned on her heels, and directed her gaze to the shrine. There was no trace anymore of the commotion from when Irukinuf’s Songstress, Lynn, had been given a new tentacle. The Tentacle King was back into meditating, and the 12 Apostles had returned to their posts to fulfill each of their duties. Including herself, only a few people remained at the shrine.

The total number of pillars rising at the shrine were 72. It represented the number of upper Tentacles that served the Tentacle King Swodar Nyarmain and his master, the Tentacle God Irukinuf. The number remained fixed since a long time ago, back when Swodar was called Solomon. As for how much the number would go up were one to include the lower believers without tentacles, that was something Yue Ying didn’t know.

She heard that those who got a role to intervene in the human society, like Rasputin, were accompanied by many lower believers, but that was something irrelevant for Yue Ying. It had been a long time since the last time she was interested about the rise and fall of the nations. When her husband Zhuge Liang, aka Kongming, died, the country he had created fell apart, and she left it all behind.

An eternity had passed since then, the way of life of her former friends and husband having become a myth. She had met the Tentacle King in frustration, and it had been like 2000 years since she became a believer of Irukinuf. And now she had just seen off the girl who left to make a new comrade join them.

By fusing themselves with Irukinuf’s body cells, the believers could acquire various abilities. Their life was greatly extended, and no matter how much time passed, they showed no signs of aging. There were a lot of people that had lived for a several thousand years, like herself, Leonidas, and the oldest from the Tentacle Group, Rama.

But if it was just to follow a life with no purpose, Yue Ying would have rotten away long ago, as others did. During these several thousand years, as one would expect, there had been many who died because they couldn’t withstand the enormous power Irukinuf had given them, as well as those believers who had lost sight of their purpose and perished. In that sense, she thanked the Tentacle King for giving her a purpose.

The purpose the Tentacle King had given her was to analyze the transfer device called the Gate. Being able as she was to have a glimpse of near endless parallel words through the Gate, there was no place for boredom. Still, the annoying part was that Yue Ying could merely look at it, she couldn’t cross over to the Gate’s parallel worlds. Her seventh tentacle, broken off in the middle, and the mere root remaining from her eighth tentacle, were testaments to that.

Even for her, who carried eight tentacles of Irukinuf and had a body close to the ultimate life form, it was impossible to cross over parallel worlds. But, there was someone who had managed to. Lewis, the mother of the “Gate Opener,” also known as the “Gate Toucher.” The analysis of the Gate had gone swimmingly thanks to her. Based on the data she had left behind, they had been able to discover some lost Gates.

By the end of the next day, the adjustment of the Gates they had brought to this island would be over. That said...

“There’s something I’m wondering about...”

The words unintentionally escaped her lips. Occasionally, the Tentacle King acted as if he could foresee the future. He had made Lewis touch the dangerous Gate as if she was expected to. Also, the way he often interacted with the Irukinuf’s Songstress. But even though he had taken measures about the upcoming Irukinuf’s rampage, due in a few years, and told them to obtain the required body parts for Irukinuf’s body to return to perfection once again, these measures were too lenient.

"Irukinuf’s rampage." That referred to the fact that the current, incomplete Irukinuf couldn’t control its own power, so, according to the Tentacle King’s experience and estimations, it would be the year 2012 when Irukinuf’s power would start going wild. Also, it was said that the true power Irukinuf possessed was one that reduced the molecules’ movement speed. In other words, it was the power to cause a sudden drop in temperature. The storm of ultra-low temperature Irukinuf would create in its rampage would not just stop at the collapse of the human civilization, but would destroy the Earth’s ecosystem by means of global freezing.

Even Tentacle King with his current strong body would have a hard time surviving a world where the whole Earth, including the oceans, was frozen. For this purpose, the Tentacle Group was collecting the Irukinuf’s body parts that came to be known as OOPArts, scattered around this world, and in the process were sending out a message: "The crisis of the world is imminent. Gather under Irukinuf, and save the world."

“O King. What are you thinking about?”

Yue Ying, the beauty with red-brownish hair, left the shrine, lost in thought.

Her job as one of the 12 Apostles of the Tentacle God, as a Great Tentacle with eight tentacles ranking just below the Tentacle King’s Nine Tentacles, was to research and start preparations on the Gate. There was a lot of work to do in the island, and many circumstances to consider.

“Lady World’s best schemer, sounds like you’re worried.”

A voice calling out to her interrupted Yue Ying’s deep thoughts.

“Rasputin. Do you need something?”

“Not much in particular, I just thought we could have a little chat.”

The Great Tentacle Rasputin. An elite among elites, that man had risen up to Eight Tentacles in the blink of an eye (in less than a hundred years, to be exact) silently showed up in front of Yue Ying.

“Coming out from a woman’s shadow can’t be said to be a good hobby.”

“Oh, excuse my manners.”

“This is good timing. There’s something I wanted to ask you, too.”

“What an amazing coincidence.”

“The Salzburg Cube was hidden in Russia, that was your jurisdiction.”

“Yes.”

“Did the Songstress really steal a march on you?”

A contemptuous smile appeared on Rasputin’s face after her question.

“Do you doubt little old me?”

“Yes. I don’t think the man that became a Great Tentacle, one of the 12 Apostles, in less than 100 years wouldn't be watching his steps."

His only answer was a contemptuous smile , that she interpreted as confirmation.

“Rasputin. What are you thinking about? Keeping parts of our God’s body hidden.”

“Acts of betrayal would rightly get my tentacles cut off... was that it?”

He took the words straight from Yue Ying’s mouth.

“If you know, then why?”

“Frankly speaking, should I say I distrust the Tentacle King?”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear.”

Yue Ying turned away from Rasputin. The words right now could be considered treason against the Tentacle King.

“We serve the Tentacle God Irukinuf. Not the Tentacle King.”

“Your excessive ambition will be your undoing.”

Yue Ying told him in a mocking tone. Rasputin was still young. Youngsters had the illusion that they were all powerful.

“Then I ask, Lady Yue Ying, what’s this Gate you’re hastening to restore under the Tentacle King’s orders?”

“I don’t know what it is.”

Yue Ying dodged the question, cautious against her partner’s attitude. The reason behind the Tentacle King's haste in restoring the Gate was his intention to use it to send Irukinuf back to its original world. Completing the Gate was the true purpose of the Irukinuf cult, and also why Irukinuf had given the believers its own power. But only a few among the 12 Apostles were privy to this information.

“After sending Irukinuf back through the Gate, what will happen to us?”

“...Who did you hear that from?”

Rasputin didn't bother to answer Yue Ying’s question, he just went on talking.

“Just like Irukinuf, Arukinuf should have drifted to this world, how can we protect the world against it?”

“I won’t let you speak any more about that topic!”

Before Rasputin could notice, Yue Ying had gotten hold of her "Zhǎngsuì jiàn", and now pushed it right before his eyes.

“The Gate is our earnest wish. You need not concern yourself with it.”

Arukinuf. That was a taboo name. Paired with Irukinuf, it was the name of the God of Destruction in a parallel world.

“Aren’t you following orders without thinking, then?”

“This is the conclusion I reached after extensive deliberation long before you were born. And, your thoughts also being leaked to the Tentacle King. You should appreciate our King’s generous discretion.”

“Kukukukuku, is that how it is?”

Rasputin twisted his lips in a smile.

“What?”

“The Tentacle King can’t read the thoughts of little old me. If you think that’s a lie, please read my thoughts, by all means. If you Lady Yue Ying have been serving the Tentacle King longer than little old me, it should be child's play.”

Hearing him say so, Yue Ying looked into Rasputin’s eyes. Even though both were the same rank, 12 Apostles, if Yue Ying had more experience as a believer than him, she should be able to read his thoughts.

However:

“...I can’t read them?”

“Kukukukuku, I’m told this ability is unique to little old me and the Tentacle King. By the way, what do you suppose would happen if there was another Tentacle King with Nine Tentacles?”

“Another Tentacle King?”

The words uttered by Rasputin were very dangerous for the Irukinuf cult, considering the fact that many people of transcendence gathered there. There was only one existence such as the Tentacle God Irukinuf's. And thus, just one Tentacle King as well to wield it directly. That was a law of the Irukinuf Cult in order to prevent fights among the people of transcendence, but if that didn't apply anymore...

***

The Book Building of St. Label's Academy.

A large-sized plate was attached to the entrance of some empty librarian rooms. The words “Literature Club Exhibition Hall” were written on it, with a tasteful touch to them.

“Dorothy, is this good here?”

“Yeah-, that’s qui-te all right. Please put it so that we can see the inlay properly.”

Dorothy was giving instructions to the members, who were arranging the OOPArts that would become the bait in the exhibition hall. They were separating them into several exhibition rooms, out of consideration to not involve in the fight all the other exhibits the rest of the members had brought.

On a white table cloth that covered the folding table used for the exhibition, the genuine OOPArts Dorothy had brought were on display now, unguarded. One could wonder if that was the proper way to treat such precious inheritance...

As she sat on a chair, Alice was half-eyedly staring at the members’ work.

Aah! Hey theere! Don’t even think of grabbing those with your bare hands! If the grease from his hands gets on them, they’re gonna oxidize!

Barely enduring her impulses to start shouting at them, Alice oversaw the preparations being completed. The members wouldn’t even imagine that what they were holding were actually the genuine articles. It couldn’t be helped if they treated them roughly. Yeah, it couldn’t be helped...

“I won't have that-!!”

Hearing her sudden scream, the members’ eyes concentrated on Alice.

“What’s wrong, Chief?”

“Is there something you're missing?”

“Maybe you can't stand not having that... Ugyah!?”

The third boy, the one who had blurted out that joke, fainted when the hardcover Alice threw hit him. He was called Rancourt, a boy who wrote a story about a maid who served everyone for free all over the world in the current literature club journal. Just one of the members who didn't participate in club activities among the large staff, he did get some points for working hard, aside from his ideas.

But, Alice couldn’t stand his personality and his indecent behavior. In times like these, she’d like to have a device that made a pit appear under guys who made vulgar remarks with just the press of a finger.

“What’s that thing you were saying that I don't have yet... huuh?”

Alice rose up, swaying. Since she tried to keep her day-to-day, it seemed like she had to indulge the ordinary people. She closed a new book with a ‘thud’, and holding it, Alice looked down at the boy who had fallen unconscious.

“How long do you intend to sleep? If you have that much talent as a performer, why don’t you become an actor?”

She stepped on the visible half of Rancourt’s face with the tip of her boots.

“Bubehh!?”

“Oh, that’s a good answer. It seems you want to be in the drama club.”

While twisting her lips, Alice raised her hardcover.

“W-Wait a bit, Chief, that’s too much for a joke, it’s too much!”

“Whatever happens with that thing of mine, why would it be your business~?”

“It-It's not, really!”

“If it's not your business, watch your rude tongue. I hate vulgar men.”

Despite having his face stepped on, Rancourt nodded with desperation in his eyes, nod nod.

“By the way, about me acting like I don't have "that", it's not like I specially want to, nor do I want to meet your expectations.”

Finally, she twisted her boot’s tip light with a grinding sound, and raised it from the male member’s face. Since it’d be bad if she got serious, she ended up being gentle... yeah, she'd leave it at that.

“While I’m at it, you guys!”

Next, Alice aimed her sharp gaze at the staff who had been watching the situation. Their backs straightened with a snap.

“No matter if it’s just a replica, don’t touch it with your bare hands!”

The other members gently left on the table the items they were holding.

“Yeah, like that, and treat them carefully! Where’s my reply!?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Good! And finally, Dorothy!”

“Yes!?”

Dorothy’s body jumped in surprise, suddenly turning into her target as she was.

“You also have to pay a bit more attention to how these guys act! Get angry every once in a while! You’re spoiling them too much lately! Got it!?”

“Y-Yes!”

Seeing Dorothy’s frightened expression, Alice's bad mood went away.

“No matter if the advisor here, our teacher Faye, is having a break; I won’t forgive you if you slack off.”

After telling off the staff, Alice sat back on the chair she was on until a few moments ago. She had to let it out of her system, after all. As for the members Alice had scolded, they properly started wearing gloves and caring for the exhibits now.

Or rather, if they had some, use them from the beginning-! After retorting in her mind, Alice reached for her cell. She opened it over her legs, making it into a handy palm-sized PC, and operating several keys, requested the required information from the monitor. If watched from afar, she’d only appear to be caught up in a manuscript for the club journal.

Oh, here it is, here it is.

Seeing the e-mail that had come from Hatter, she opened the file burning with anticipation. The title was “Creation Myth of Irukinuf/Arukinuf.” That was her Hatter, achieving such results in one night. Her eyes sped through the file’s contents.

“In the beginning, there were two Gods, Arukinuf and Irukinuf...”

Arukinuf was the herald of fire, destruction and death, Irukinuf the herald of ice, regeneration and death. The two Gods usually had stretched out battles with each other. The flame rock Arukinuf dropped would rebound in Irukinuf’s ice mirror. After a long time battling, Irukinuf was brought down from heaven by Arukinuf’s plan, for Irukinuf to give life to a barren land. Irukinuf prayed to the gods, but they didn’t have the powers to return him to heaven. Even so, Irukinuf's nature was also death, alas. When he didn’t have enough strength to return to heaven, he decided on divine punishment against life. Letting the ground and sea freeze, he came back to life creating a white world. However, Irukinuf gave all new life with his regenerative powers. Irukinuf, wanting to go back to heaven, created life again.

“Hmm...”

A myth of dualism? Alice closed the file. It’s not like she was disappointed at Hatter for only achieving this... On the contrary, that was a testament to what lengths the enemies were going to skillfully hide their tracks.

In fact, the affair at the Museum of the Soviet Army from the other day not only had been covered up in Russia, none of it had come up in any online conversations or phone calls. Underestimating them would prove dangerous.

“With this, all is ready.”

Dorothy sat down beside Alice with a cheerful voice.

“Good work.”

She said, as she folded the monitor casually. Though they were cooperating for now, Dorothy was still a rival, basically. She shouldn’t show her hand any more than necessary.

“You Allie too, good work.”

“I didn’t do anything, I just coached these morons.”

“Yeah, seems like that was a nice reward for them. Rancourty was quite pleased.”

“Huuh?”

Alice replied involuntarily. Did he enjoy being stomped on? Did that guy have those kinds of hobbies?

Guh, how gross. She had to try and stay away from that guy now. For the time being, there was no way she’d go within a 3-meter radius of him. If possible, she’d rather not breathe the same air as that pervert, but since she had to go to school and experience the daily life to inherit the Foundation, she'd have to settle on 3 meters for the bare minimum.

“Do you think he’d be pleased if he was a normal boy?”

“Why? Are all men perverts?”

“Uhihihihihi.”

As Alice looked at her with a confused face, an uncute laughter came from Dorothy’s otherwise cute face.

“W-Why are you laughing!”

“It’s such a simple thing, yet you really haven’t noticed. Uhihihi, what a laugh.”

Alice’s body stiffened at Dorothy’s words. Something simple she hadn’t noticed? It couldn’t be...

“Rancourty was able to see your panties, Allie.”

“Gya~~hh!!”

Despite having been expecting that reply from Dorothy, Alice still screamed the same. The other members went like “Again?” and shifted their gaze to the girls.

“Y-You all, man your posts properly! I mean, get to work!!”

Alice scolded the staff with a bright red face.

“You too, if you notice that, tell me earlier.”

She got closer to Dorothy and told her in a whisper.

“Buut Allie, your battle uniform is like that too, I was so sure you liked flashing them around.”

“I’ll be damned if I do!”

Alice shouted, giving a chop on her head to Dorothy, who was showing a lecherous smile.

Sometimes, when she performed some intense actions in her battle uniform, her panties might be completely exposed, she had to admit it. But that much couldn’t be helped, she needed to wear clothes with a design that could deal with her body expanding due to the Boost, she definitely had no hobbies like enjoying flashing her panties. In the first place, the lower part of her combat uniform was no underwear. That was something Alice firmly believed in.

To think her pants were showing in her day-to-day school life...

“Uugh. It’s the blunder of a lifetime. I’ll have to wear bloomers so that no one can peek under my uniform next time.”

Alice hung her shoulders, crestfallen, and turned her back to Dorothy, who was now crouching and grabbing her head. She was unaware that her fashion choice would draw even more enthusiasts...

***

Four o’clock in the afternoon. Before the gate of the St. Labels Academy, crowded with students going home, there were a man and a woman.

“St. Label's Academy... here it iis.”

A girl holding a map wearing a red flare skirt, reminiscent of some stage clothes, that fluttered in the wind; a man wearing a hakama with a sword in the guise of a swordsman out of a period drama. Both turned their gaze from the school gate to the school building. Though their appearance was highly conspicuous, even if the students passing by their side looked in their direction, they showed no signs of noticing anything weird.

“Was this certain companion said to be here?”

“She iis. Guess you’re no good for thiis, Hi-pon, you're too serious, let's spread ouut.”

The girl with the well-projected voice replied to the master swordsman beside her.

“I’m looking forward to it, then.”

“I’ll go fiirst as a Tentacle Member to see the situation, Hi-pon, please stand by here properlyy.”

“Acknowledged.”

The swordsman retreated one step, and his figure disappeared as if vanishing into thin air.

“A shadow line technique at that, you’re quite skillful for a masteer.”

Showing her admiration, the girl stepped towards the school building.

***

The Dorchester Pot. Found on 1852 in Massachusetts, Dorchester. A metal pot resembling a bell-shaped vase, a floral design is exquisite inlaid in sterling silver on its side. From the excavated stratum, it was thought to be more than 100,000 years old.

The Spear of Kushiro. An iron spear found on 1931 in the aqueous rock cliff on the coast of Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Since it’d have been created after the aqueous rock precipitated into the water and deposited itself there, the lowest estimates assume it was buried tens of thousands of years ago.

The inheritances Dorothy brought were these two items that could be called first-class OOPArts at the same level as the Salzburg Cube. Like the Salzburg Cube, they shared the common trait that the metal hadn’t corroded even after tens of thousands of years.

Besides, there were crystal skulls and dinosaur figures, the fossil of a trilobite stepped on by sandals, such OOPArts easily understandable by the commoners were displayed; they were taking tally of the replicas now.

“Even so, I can't believe...”

Alice turned to the Dorchester Pot. At first glance it only looked like an antique vase so she hadn’t paid it any notice, but it sure looked magnificent when displayed at the club room.

“Since when is it here?”

“If you mean the pot, it’s been here since spring. Since the club room is so tasteless, I brought it to decorate it with some flowers, you hadn’t noticed?”

“I had not.”

Alice asserted so flatly. Where in the world would you find someone fool enough to use OOPArts like this! Ah, standing in front of her, right?

“So, how will we lure those people?”

“You don’t need to worry.”

With a big smile, Dorothy held out her mobile phone's liquid crystal panel in front of Alice. On it was displayed an advertising blog about the activities of the literature club.

“Scarecrow said that, since they seemed to be monitoring our actions, there should be a reaction even if we scatter just a little bait around.”

A bit lackadaisical operation plan for Alice, who hung her head again. But, Mudhead there aside, Scarecrow could be trusted. It was also thanks to her subordinate that Dorothy could continue Treasure Hunting on a level similar to hers.

“You don’t mean that’s everything, right?”

“Of course. Based on our encounter at that Museum of the Soviet Army, Scarecrow made a detector.”

“A detector?”

“More accurately, it’s a sensor that receives the unique vibration waves the invisible tentacles emit.”

In the middle of Dorothy’s proper explanation, a vigorous music suddenly began playing from her mobile. It was quite reminiscent of the march of a military band, it really didn’t fit her style.

“This way, when it catches those guys’ natural vibration waves, it’ll tell us through a special melody and red flashes.”

The mobile in Dorothy’s hand blinked red once and again.

“It’s failing right away?”

“I don’t think that's the case, but...”

Dorothy violently hit the mobile.

“Ah!”

Alice was at a loss for words, but Dorothy continued impudently abusing her cell all the same.

“Father says that most machines get fixed if you hit them.”

“But, isn’t that bad for a precision instrument?”

“Uhihihi, Father’s words aren’t wrong.”

Dorothy hit the mobile with a firm confidence. However, the flashing showed no signs of stopping. On the contrary, it was getting more and more intense. And there were more of them than before too.

“Won’t it get broken?”

“No, if it broke with just this much, it wouldn’t qualify as a tool for a Treasure Hunter.”

As Dorothy pouted, she showed off the mobile’s emblem to Alice. It was the mark of the communication company Metalcom, under the umbrella of the Baum Foundation. Its slogan was, “It won’t break even if pounded with a hammer:” it was a product from manufacturers that dealt with sturdiness. It wouldn’t break with Dorothy’s strikes.

“So that means... it can't be?”

“Isn’t this too early?”

Alice and Dorothy looked at each other.

“Nyufufufufufu.”

At that time, following the familiar sounding laughter:

“Hee~lloooo~~~”

A well-projected voice echoed. A melody faintly reminiscent of a harp overlapped with the girl’s transparent voice.

“She really came.”

“She did come.”

Alice and Dorothy remained in the same posture they had when they were looking at each other, only their gaze turned to the entrance.

“I fancied a vii~~~siit”

Shining with a brightening expression, a girl in a fluttering red skirt was looking at them from the exhibition hall's entrance. There was no mistake. She was the one who had taken the Salzburg Cube from the Museum of the Soviet Army, the alleged "Irukinuf’s Songstress."

“Could I have a touur?”

“Yes, that’s okay. It’s not open to the public yet, though.”

Protecting Dorothy behind her, Alice stepped forward to face Lynn, Irukinuf’s Songstress.

“Thank you very muuch. Since I have something important to tell to you while I’m at iit, I wished the unrelated people would leeave.”

As Lynn was speaking, the staff cheerfully began getting ready to go back home.

“Well then seniors, we’re going ahead-“

“Oh? Isn’t it still too early?”

The hands on the watch were a little past four o’clock. It was a little early to go back home for all those members who liked to get caught up in useless debates until five at least.

“We don’t know why, but we want to go back.”

The staff answered Dorothy’s question.

“Yeah, it’s like we mustn’t be here.”

“Come to think of it, I’ve been hungry for a while.”

As they answered without free will, the members finished getting ready to leave.

“Allie, this is...”

Dorothy whispered. None of the members was looking at Lynn. They unconsciously tried not to catch sight of her.

“Do you understand why?”

“Yes.”

Dorothy’s mobile blinked again. A special sensor placed inside it was sensing some kind of waves being emitted beyond the human audible range. This was one of the features Scarecrow had prepared in response to the encounter from the other day.

“It seems that girl is able to control others with some sort of hypnotic wave.”

The guards at Moscow had been a little strange too, they probably had been manipulated in this same way. And she was likely making the members here leave with a trick of the sort. It seemed the other party wanted to reduce as much as possible dealing with the aftermath of involving innocents.

“But, why aren’t we affected?”

Alice shrugged her shoulders at Dorothy’s question, opened both hands and after answering with a zany “Who knows?”, she lowered her arms and lightly clenched her fists. What she was holding now was metal balls of about 2 cm of diameter that had fallen from her sleeve and rolled into her hands.

Stun Balls. They were a non-lethal weapon that used a high-voltage current to give a strong shock and stun the victim. Lynn’s hypnotic waves probably had directivity, and were likely not to affect anyone but the victims they were aimed at. If she aimed them at Alice, it was no problem since her familiar Kuranes who camouflaged as hair ornaments would neutralize it, but what would happen if Dorothy was the one targeted? It’d be tough if she got attacked from behind.

Should she stun Dorothy before it was too late? Since she was a friend, she had chosen the Stun Balls out of consideration.

“Just because we won't be here, don’t do naughty things with our senior Dorothy.”

Alice’s tension vanished at once hearing the staff’s words.

“W-Who would?! I am normal!”

Hearing Alice’s roar, the members went out of the exhibition room in small groups.

“Good grief...”

Dorothy, don’t worry. If you got manipulated by the hypnotic waves, you would attack in the same way as the guards from the Museum of the Soviet Army, and there’s no way Scarecrow wouldn’t have taken measures to prevent it.

Still, even if she said it herself, she had quite the high opinion of Scarecrow. Alice involuntarily smiled with some self-scorn.

“Nyufufufufu, having fun is the most importaant.”

Laughing with a smile, Lynn reached out to the heritages placed on the table.

“Hey there, don’t touch the exhibits without permission.”

“Aw~, stingyy.”

“Then, what did you come for?”

“You’re so impatieent. But, it’s good that you understaand.”

Lynn took half a step away from the table the exhibits were placed on, and theatrically spread both arms.

“I’ll be frank: become our comraade.”

“What’s in it for me if I become your comrade?”

Alice asked, hiding the Stun Ball behind her.

“If you meet the expectations of the Tentacle King Lord Swodar Nyarmain, you’ll obtain a life span of several hundred yeaars. And, you’ll remain youung!”

Alice reacted to the name Lynn spoke of. Swodar Nyarmain: the first discoverer of the Highlands’ megalithic structure. And the same man that might have been together with her mother Lewis, just before she went missing.

“What did you say just now?”

“A life span of several hundred yeaars~”

“No, before that! The Tentacle King or something.”

Alice shouted involuntarily.

“Lord Swodar Nyarmaiin.”

She smiled faintly, hearing Lynn’s words. She could see very well the important connection leading to her mother’s whereabouts.

“Swodar... so he’s alive.”

“Nyufufufu, how about iit, won’t you join uus~?”

Should she accept Lynn’s proposal, or not? She would obtain information easily if she followed them.

“If I become your comrade, I can stay young.”

As she replied, Alice lightly turned her eyes towards the outside of the window. The members of the staff had already gone back home. It was just them in the library.

“A-Allie?”

Dorothy pulled on Alice’s sleeve.

If she was on her own, following them could be a choice, but there was Dorothy here. After the encounter in Moscow, she was a partner who had chosen to join hands with her. She couldn’t simply disregard her.

“I’ve decided.”

Alice chose the course of action of capturing Lynn and making her talk.

“Oh goody, then, will you become our comraade?”

Lynn’s eyes widened.

“Unfortunately, I refuse. I don’t want to be a monster’s comrade.”

At the same time she bluntly said so, she threw the Stun Balls she was holding towards the fire alarm’s switch.

“Wwha!?”

The roaring from the fire prevention doors closing sounded along with the bell. During the five minutes it’d take the fire brigade to come and confirm if there was a fire, they had the Book Building for themselves.

“What!?”

As Lynn remained confused by Alice’s movements, the sprinklers used for fire extinguishing above her, malfunctioning due to the electric shock the Stun Balls had emitted, scattered a light rain.

“Looks like your invisible stuff came out in the open.”

Alice pointed at Lynn.

“Hey, you can see it too, right, Dorothy?”

“Yeah, quite beautifully at that.”

Even for invisible materials, they couldn’t prevent the light rain from falling on them. The shape of the tentacles with a striped pattern that extended from Lynn’s waist were now visible, flicking under the light rain.

“...This means, negotiations broke doown.”

“You got that right.”

Alice took out several Trumps (playing cards) from the breast pocket of her uniform, one after another.

“Nyufufufu, even theen, I appreciate you giving me theese.”

Smiling, Lynn grabbed the inheritances on the table with her tentacles.

“Ah-, those are things from my house!”

“If that’s what you think, get them back!”

Alice turned her body around with a whirl, and threw Dorothy, who she had kept behind her, towards Lynn.

“Hyauh, it's cold!”

Dorothy advanced in a panic, getting soaked due to the cold water released by the sprinkler.

“Youu aall are juust nuisances to Lyynn~”

Lynn took one step back and talked towards her back with a singing voice:

“Nyufufufu. It’s your turn, you guuys.”

Along with Lynn’s words, a sheet of spray splashed out. Something hidden had jumped out from behind her. Their figure became visible once bathed in the water from the sprinkler, one appearing after the other.

“Ugh, I was better off not seeing them.”

They were men in ninja costumes, with an eerie tentacle coming out of their mouths. Grimacing with an expression like she had seen something disgusting, Alice started preparing her next actions.

Wriggling their tentacles like a long tongue, the men in ninja outfits approached to hold Dorothy down.

“Hiaaah!”

Dorothy’s scream echoed through the flooded exhibition room.

“Stay away from them! Mudhead!”

Alice released the playing cards she was holding into the air. But they weren’t just cards; they were one of Alice’s strong gadgets, cards that became Trump soldiers.

“Go! Sword!”

The Trumps with an emblem of a spade. They were Trump soldiers specializing in combat skills. The maximum number of them she could bring out without needing permission from the 3 Queens was 6 cards.

The cards released from Alice’s hands increased in size in an instant, and the figure in it changed into that of a two-dimensional soldier.

That would be just enough if the other party were small fry. The two-dimensional soldiers stood in the way of the ninjas who had come from behind Lynn, and protected Dorothy.

“Dorothy, take back your treasure!”

Right after that, Alice pressed the switch on the bracelet attached to her wrist. Along with a dazzling light, the uniform she had been wearing disappeared, and she became stark naked. However, that was but a matter of nanoseconds.

In the next moment, Alice’s body was covered with a golden protective solution, then fitted with her jet black battle uniform. Alice, now on her battle style with her long whip reminiscent of a tail and the two pistols holstered on her hips, scowled at Lynn.

“From here on out, it’s the extraordinary. I’ll show no mercy to the enemy in front of me!”

Alice’s declaration overlapped with the scream of the ninjas as they were cut and torn by the Trump soldiers.

“Eh? How come they were done for so quiickly?”

Lynn’s eyes widened: even if the Tentacle Ninjas were the lowest class among the Tentacle Group, they did have one tentacle. They should be stronger that the so-called elite Russian Special Forces, that alpha troop of humans that turned out to defeated quite effortlessly.

“I already know the weakness of you guys.”

In contrast with Lynn, Alice had the composure of a winner.

After all, they were fighting the Trump soldiers, wielders of those special swords. Harder than diamond, more flexible than silk. While they had the power to crush through concrete, they wouldn’t damage the soft fair skin of a woman’s body. They could also cut and tear through those tentacles, and those few sharp knives. There was nothing the blade of the two-dimensional Trump soldiers couldn’t cut through... though its weak point was that, being thin, it was easy for it to break.

The ninjas let out a groan as their tentacles were cut and fell off them, only to crumble and fade.

“Losing your tentacles, seems to be it.”

With her two guns akimbo, Alice began calmly walking towards Lynn.

***

“Dorothy, take back your treasure!”

Dorothy looked back, making a pause to try and understand why Alice was shouting. Just then, Alice emitted a dazzling light: she was going to do her transformation.

“I can’t miss the transformation scene!”

Dorothy suddenly forgot about her own duty. The transformation system Alice’s bracelet was fitted with, the “Multidimensional Storage System” to be exact, was something Dorothy had fine-tuned for Alice with the technique the Baum Foundation had originally analyzed. By storing personal equipment in a different dimension, it was a dream technology that allowed for an instantaneous change of clothes.

“I’m glad you enjoy use the present I gave you~”

With a smile, Dorothy caressed her uniform’s cuff links, the ones that Alice had gifted her. She was glad to see how her partner was willing to wear what she had given her, after all. She wondered, did Alice feel the same too? It’d be nice if that was the case.

Forgetting that this was a fight, Dorothy turned her eyes to the security camera. Was Scarecrow recording the current scene as she had instructed her to? She probably was. Also, in this situation, Löwe and Lumberjack would have already made a sortie. One way or another, they couldn’t have Lynn escaping.

As she thought so, Dorothy looked at Alice’s appearance. A black combat uniform with excessive exposure, that showed her white underwear whenever she moved. What would happen if the other members saw this cute, stimulating costume? Would they slouch? Would they have a big nosebleed?

No, no, as if she could let such a thing happen!? Being able to enjoy Allie's sight was only a privilege for her, a Treasure Hunter the same!

As the Trump soldiers and the Tentacle Ninjas engaged in mortal combat around her, Dorothy’s consciousness delved into delusion territory. And despite the fact that she remained standing right in the middle of the battlefield, defenseless, neither the shurikens thrown by the Tentacle Ninjas nor the blade of the two-dimensional Trump soldiers touched her body.

“Kuh~~~, is this because of her ability, the Good Luck Faiiry?”

Lynn bit her lips as she watched the whole fight.

“The one to become the priestess of the Tentacle God will be Lady Lynn heeere!”

The red haired girl shouted, looking alternatively at Dorothy and Alice, and her tentacles vibrated.

“Come out, Hi-pon!”

Responding to Lynn’s call, a man dressed in a hakama came jumping, crushing through the windowpane behind Alice. He landed on a table without even making a sound or even taking a step on the floor, wet after the sprinkler’s discharge. As the broken glass sparkled, the man looked down on Alice and Dorothy with composure and spoke:

“Whichever of you girls would be my adversary?”

Lynn ignored Dorothy, still under delusions, and pointed at Alice.

“That oone! The black giirl!”

“Don’t call me black, octopus girl!”

“Did you say octopuus!?”

“Well, you’ve grown tentacles and you’re in red, just like an octopus, right, you octopus?”

Alice called her an octopus once and again to provoke her.

“Kiiih~~~~! It took me a hundred years to become part of the Tentacle Group, it’s the first time someone calls me an octopuuus!”

Lynn shouted, with a bright red face.

“Ah, now you really look like an octopus.”

Hearing Dorothy’s muttering, Lynn stared daggers at her.

“Hi-pon, it’s okay if you leave this stupid child aloone! Please do chop up that one to your heart’s conteent!”

Winding her tentacles around the Dorchester Pot and the Spear of Kushiro, Lynn resumed her escape.

“Wait up! That’s something from my house!”

Shouting, Dorothy was at a loss. Should she back Alice up, or should she chase Lynn?

“A-Allie!”

She needed to choose one of the two.

***

Seeing Dorothy’s troubled look, Alice wasted no time and pushed her onwards.

“I’m more than enough for this opponent! Hurry up and run after that gal, Dorothy!”

Since the old days, Dorothy was a child who couldn’t make decisions at critical times. And yet, she was strangely good at keeping a clear-cut attitude.

“Hurry up!”

As she gave orders, Alice looked at the clock. Two minutes had already passed since the fire alarm activated. The time they had left was less than three minutes.

“Run!”

Hearing Alice’s roar, Dorothy started running. That would do just fine. The Trump soldiers were taking care of the small fry ninjas. For the moment, they were them killing one by one. Among them, the Ace card had specially done the best job, taking down three of them already.

Alice took hold of her Angra Mainyu and Aeshma, and glared at the man in the hakama. His appearance was straight out of a period drama about swordsmen. He held a white stick she hadn’t seen there earlier.

“First of all, should I introduce myself?”

“There is no need for that. Gate Opener.”

The man held the white stick like a sword. However, for a so-called “aiming at the eye” posture, it was a unique form that was too slanted towards the left. The length from the point of the stick to the hand was almost the same as with a sword, about a little more than 70 cm.

The part of the handle seemed to be bamboo. Or rather, Alice likened it to a stick of bamboo wrapped in white leather. Though it was the first time she had seen that weapon, it didn’t seem to be too strong. Or, was there any device under the leather?

“Your humble servant is Hikita Bungoro, swordsman of Irukin---“

A gunshot sounded. Alice was not so trusting as to listen to his self-introduction in silence, and her arm wouldn’t miss, not within 5 meters of Hikita.

But... just by moving his body slightly, Hikita avoided the bullet.

“It is said to be common courtesy to hear one’s introduction to the end.”

“Too bad. I didn’t learn that at school.”

Hikita Bungoro. In a corner of her head, something clicked for sure: she had seen his name in some book about a selection of 100 Japanese swordsmen. Still, Alice pulled the trigger of her Angra Mainyu. Unlike the Anti-demon Cross Silver bullets from the Aeshma just now, this one was loaded with Needle Flechettes. Even if he had the agility to dodge one bullet, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the barrage of needles splitting into hundreds at transonic speed.

However, the moment she pulled the trigger, the spike portion for melee attacks that extended from the tip of the muzzle was struck from above with all his might, and the Needle Flechette made a huge hole on the Book Building’s floor. If her teacher Faye found out, she’d spank her again.

“That's, not good."

Earlier, when she looked at him, Hikita had been five meters away from her, but he was about two meters away now. To think he could dodge bullets, apparently he was a swordsman that could move faster than she pulled the trigger.

This guy doesn't do things half-assed.

Sweat flowed down Alice’s back, while opposite her, he showed a relaxed smile on his face.

“Well, will you release your hidden power? Crossing swords with your current self is not interesting.”

“I see you’re quite underestimating me.”

“I don’t have the hobby of underestimating women.”

“Let’s find out whether it’s interesting or not!”

Alice raised the Angra Mainyu and the Aeshma simultaneously, and pulled the trigger. Hikita thrusted his white stick between both of Alice’s arms from below, and twisted it to the right. Due to that, Alice’s right arm turned downwards, her left arm faced upwards, and she was made to waste a bullet again.

Bullets couldn’t hit Hikita, even if he was in front of her. Alice switched gears immediately, and moved to attack with her daggers. The dagger of the Angra Mainyu rotated at high speed to the right, aiming at the side of her opponent's head. Twisting his body, Hikita avoided it, and the Aeshma's dagger mowed down towards his chest.

Alice Mode (Gun-and-Sword Dance): a fighting tactics specific to Alice, which consisted on unleashing her twin guns with splendid movements, as if dancing. Hikita then caught the blow with his white stick, and let the end of the stick slip under Alice’s left elbow, while the dagger was still trapped there.

“Aih!?”

Alice complained, as her arm twisted the other way as a result. But since the clockwise inertia was still in motion, her whip tail was flung against Hikita with force. Hikita lowered his body to avoid it, pulled back his stick and, for the time being, took a suitable distance.

Alice bent and straightened her left arm, and subtly checking for any anomalies, she addressed him as she waited for the pain to subside.

“So what’s the deal with the stick? Is it a weapon?”

With a bit of a joyful face, despite being in the middle of a fight, Hikita raised his stick and began explaining.

“This is what my master, Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami devised, something like a shinai. Four bamboos of 3 feet 2 inches are finely divided into eight, wrapped in a leather bag. It's a practice tool devised to exchange blows with all your strength while training.”

“You fight with a practice tool?”

“I’ve used this to fight for many months and years; as I have yet to experience defeat, I fail to see the problem.”

Alice suddenly fired the Needle Flechette at Hikita’s feet. Though it should have come as a complete surprise, Hikita turned around and avoided it this time too.

“You are a quite stubborn girl.”

“I know Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami. Isn’t that the Shinkage-Ryu guy? Which means, you can use Shinkage-Ryu as well?”

Hikita’s face immediately became sad for some reason.

“...No, I’m from the Kokage-Ryu. That’s because I left the Shinkage-Ryu to Yagyu and Tokugawa.”

Never one to know when to quit, Alice fired the Aeshma, targeting the point he had dodged previously with the Angra Mainyu. Hikita dodged the Angra Mainyu, and repelling the Aeshma’s muzzle with his shinai, he diverted the line of fire, then hammered his weapon into Alice’s head.

Tap!! With a slightly goofy sound, the shinai bent against Alice’s head.

“Figyah!?”

Though it hurt quite a lot, Alice was relieved her head hadn’t been cracked open. The shinai was a practice tool indeed. Had he been serious, Alice would have been cut in half with the blow just now.

“Getting hit with it is painful already, but if I stab you with it, the shinai will actually pierce your body. Even for a practice tool, it’s quite suitable a weapon, too.”

He wasn’t just bluffing. No matter what kind of rival Hikita had taken on, he had kept winning with that shinai made of bamboo sticks. Realizing that much, Aliced turned both guns to her back, and carried out her peculiar reloading method by kicking up the hammers with the heel. Since she held the guns with both hands, she used her heel as it was quicker than cocking them with her thumbs, and since these OOPArts guns had the magazine connected to another space, the bullets would be reloaded again just by cocking them. While that virtually meant they had an infinite magazine, only 3 bullets could enter at a time through the gun’s neck.

Furthermore, Alice decided to use the “Hidden power” Hikita had told her to.

“Boost On!”

Responding to Alice’s will, her bodily functions increased at once. With a tightened waist, her body gradually transformed from a girl’s to a beautiful goddess’.

“Oh? So this is the Boost state I heard so much about.”

“I’ll make it more worth your while now.”

Suddenly, a rising powerful kick attacked Hikita’s jaw. Somersaulting, he dodged the Needle Flechette she fired in a flash, got into a kneeling posture and took a suitable distance.

Her speed he could follow, but couldn’t really react to. A certain feeling was making Hikita’s swordsman’s blood boil, a feeling he hadn’t sensed since the last time he fought a beastman warrior.

“For the first time in a while, should I use my trump card?”

Jumping in closer, Hikita released a deadly thrust that Alice dodged as if dancing aside, and then she retaliated by aiming at his heart and neck with two simultaneous attacks from her daggers in a scissors-like motion.

She went in at the right timing for a counter; however, the very moment she thought not even Hikita would be able to dodge it, both of Alice’s hands were pushed back, and she received a crushing blow to her solar plexus.

“Are you... kidding me?”

The surprising object that the accelerated vision of Alice had captured in detail was… 3 tentacles growing from his back at a super-high speed.

“With the tentacles the Tentacle God Irukinuf granted me, I devised a style to match the Shinkage-ryu my mentor taught me, the Tentacle God Kage-ryu.”

As if his words were a cue, a new battle at a super-high speed ordinary eyes couldn’t follow. Alice slipped her way through the sharp stab of Hikita’s shinai, and rammed with the spike of the gun’s tip as a counter. Twisting her wrist, she repelled the tentacle that came to parry her dagger, suddenly bent forward as she flung back her heel, then struck Hikita on the crown of his head with it.

Hikita had caught her heel with his two tentacles however, and he tried to wrap them around Alice’s legs and swing her around. Still, Alice’s dagger came down towards the grabbed feet, and seeing that the muzzle was aiming at him again, Hikita tossed her away.

The moment Alice landed, she fired Needle Flechettes at Hikita’s feet and 10 Anti-Demon Cross Silver bullets at his chest. He jumped right away to avoid the Flechettes, and knocked down the cross silver bullets with his shinai. However, since he couldn’t move in the air, he took head-on the attack from the twin blades Alice aimed at him right then, and a spray of blood danced.

The moment Alice held her gun ready in order to respond to his attack, Hikita threw a shinai attack to her face, she rolled aside without standing to avoid it, and took a suitable distance again. The shinai had been split by the shock when he deflected the Cross Silver bullets; if she got hit now, she’d get pierced by a sharp bamboo skewer.

“You’ve certainly made me pull out my sword. Has it really been since that time with the Gurkhas in Shambhala?”

Hikita then pulled the sword from his hip, took it in his hands, and aimed it towards her eyes. In addition to that, the three tentacles that extended from his back each held a sword now; she didn’t know where they had gotten them from. His figure was the spitting image of Asura now.

“Tentacle God Shinkage-ryu, Asura Stance. Do entertain me to your heart’s content.”

Hikita jumped at the same time he stated so. With four blades, he attacked while delaying and stopping the timing of the edge ahead, the edge on the edge of hitting her, and the edges at his back.

Alice violently deflected them with her guns’ daggers, making high-pitched metallic sounds as sparks flew. Had she not been in Boost state, she wouldn’t have been able to react, and would have ended up split up into five pieces.

Yeah, I blocked them all!

The moment Alice felt some well-earned relief, she took a blow that felt like it was hollowing out her stomach, making her fall to her knees. One more tentacle extended from Hikita’s waist.

“One does not show his trump card until the proper time.”

The Tentacle Swordsman, Hikita Bungoro. Alice couldn’t but admit he was the strongest opponent she had fought so far in her life.

***

“Hurry up!”

Pressed on by Alice’s voice, Dorothy ran through the hallway in pursuit of Lynn.

“Wait! You pot thief!”

“Nyufufufu. No matter where you look at, you won't find anyone who would wait when told tooo.”

Going at full speed, Dorothy chased Lynn’s back up the rooftop. But, her opponent was incredibly fast. She wasn’t using her feet over there, but was running using the reach of her long tentacles; the distance covered by each step couldn’t be compared to what a human being could achieve.

“Urkh!”

Biting her lips, Dorothy switched on her mobile.

“Scarecrow, can you hear me?”

<Yes, Milady.>

“Please tell Lumberjack to hurry towards the Book Building’s roof of the St. Labels’ Academy with the A equipment!”

<I’ve already arranged for that. His ETA is within 10 seconds.>

“As expected from you!”

<Thank you very much.>

Satisfied with Scarecrow’s reply, Dorothy arrived to the rooftop in pursuit of Lynn.

“Now, I have you cornered!”

“Nyufufufu. I wonder who cornered whoo.”

Along with Lynn’s voice, a melody like a harp was heard. She was generating brainwashing waves by shaking her tentacles like strings. However, Dorothy’s reaction wasn’t the one Lynn had anticipated.

“Huuh?”

An interrogation mark appeared above Lynn’s head.

“Uhihihi. You seem to be puzzled.”

Seeing through Lynn’s confusion, Dorothy pushed out her slim chest.

“We’ve already analyzed everything about those brainwashing sound waves! The visual adjustment caused by the tentacles vibration, their ability to make a person not recognize something they’ve seen, everything!”

With sound neutralization devices fitting in her hair ornaments, Dorothy wouldn’t be affected by the brainwashing waves. That was also a measure by Scarecrow.

Full of confidence, Dorothy declared as she drew near to Lynn:

“If we can analyze it, it’s easy to take countermeasures!”

Dorothy smiled, and reached for her wrist bracelet. Then, she pushed a small switch.

Along with a dazzling light, her uniform changed to a battle dress that made one think of a golden angel. Just like as Alice’s bracelet, it was a transformation that used a multi-dimensional storage system.

“Wha!!”

Lynn’s eyes curled up.

“Ho~w shameleess~~~!”

Lynn’s sight was fixed on the lower part of Dorothy’s body. Compared with her back reminiscent of an angel’s feather, loaded with special features, and with the solidly built structure the ankle and wrists were made of, that served as connector with Lumberjack, around the waist she was almost naked, one could even say she was defenseless there. >

Then again, these were the design specifications for having a fully protected body when she united with Lumberjack, but Lynn had no way of knowing this. As a result, as far as Lynn went, it was like an exhibitionist had turned up.

“I-I don’t want to be called that by someone with tentacles growing out of her!”

Dorothy rebutted with a beet red face.

<Indeed! There is nothing shameless about Milady!>

“UGAH-!”

Overlapping with Dorothy’s objections, a giant in silver landed behind her, a girl with red-brown hair on his shoulder. The blast of air released by his "Air Booster" just before the landing made Dorothy’s hair flutter wildly.

“Lumberjack! Let’s combine!”

<Understood!>

The chest of the silver giant went wide open along with his reply.

“Löwe, distract our rival! You may even eat her!”

While jumping into the giant’s chest, Dorothy issued an order to the girl riding on his shoulders.

“SHE LOOKS BAD, BUT, I’ll BITE HER!”

Barking cheerfully, the girl leapt off.

Before Dorothy’s watching eyes, her little girl figure changed into a sexy woman’s.

That girl wasn’t a mere human. Beast-like hair grew on her hands and feet, sharp nails protuding from them. Glinda, Dorothy’s mother and the Baum family’s previous generation Treasure Hunter, had captured her in the backwoods in Africa, and had named the human beast “Löwe” as she had lion genes.

That was her. She had an astounding regenerative ability and a physical ability no human couldn’t compare to; if it was her, she wouldn’t falter even if she had to deal against tentacles.

“Now, while Löwe is buying some time for me...”

<Me and Milady shall become one.>

From Lumberjack’s body, a female hand stretched to gently hug Dorothy, and as supple brown fingertips brushed Dorothy’s lower abdomen, they grabbed the connector used for the union.

“Auh.”

At the same time Dorothy trembled, with a light numbness similar to being exposed to a small electrical current, the chest armor gradually closed. Dorothy’s view turned black only for an instant, then the height of her point of view was raised significantly.

<My body is Milady's.>

“My body is Lumberjack's.”

<I’ll protect you even if it costs me my life!>

“There we go!”

The silver giant’s eyes shone red. That was the proof that Lumberjack, who had become Dorothy’s reinforced armor for battle after being made into a cyborg by being fused with the biological metal "Roswell Metal", had released her full functionality.

“What is thiis, I never heard of iit!”

The puzzled Lynn could only wield her tentacles to try and fend off the looming beast. But, the beast didn’t even try to avoid them. On the contrary, she opened her mouth wide and bit the nearest tentacle.

“CHOMP!”

Her fangs bit deeply into the tentacle.

“Gyah-! What is thiis~~~!?”

Lynn screamed at this unexpected pain and attempted to beat Löwe up with her other tentacles. Löwe quickly took her fangs off it, and evaded the tentacles by a hair’s breadth.

“GAH!”

Moreover, she scratched them with her nails as she avoided them.

“Ki-h! Don’t you have any manneers~?!”

Shouting in frustration before those reflexes faster than a human’s, Lynn shook her tentacles and hid her figure. Merging into the surrounding space, she intended to get past them by erasing all traces of herself.

<Hahaha, do you think you could escape from the eyes of this Lumberjack?>

Speaking in a voice similar to a calm butler's due to the sound conversion, Lumberjack approached the place where Lynn had disappeared from. Then, the silver giant thrust her right hand towards Lynn.

“Uhyaah!?”

Lynn was barely able to dodge away from that crushing smash, and realized that invisibility had no effect at all against this opponent.

<You worked hard, Löwe. Leave her to me now!>

“UGAH!”

As if wanting to say she had bitten something unpleasant, Löwe spat out and stepped away.

<Now, do you intend to keep on hiding?>

Her red eyes shone. Lumberjack’s eyes were comprised of multiple optical sensors and a gravitational wave perception system; she could even see through the wall of a nuclear reactor if she so wished. Dealing with an opponent who concealed her figure with that visual trick was trivial in front of this super-vision.

<Now, you’ll receive your just punishment for calling Milady a pervert!>

***

Alice watched Hikita’s sword line closely as to get a clue about her possible counterattacks. Even in her Boost state, she was dodging by a hair breadth those four blades that moved freely at high speeds; she had limits on what she could parry. Besides, the one tentacle that didn’t hold a sword was unexpectedly fiendish; since dealing with it had lower priority than the swords, the damage from its blows had been quietly piling up.

If their physical ability was evenly matched, Hikita had more options, so he held the advantage. Since it had come to this, she couldn’t but use her last resort. The fire brigade would rush there in less than a minute too. This wasn’t the time to be hesitant.

“Your hidden power turned out to be quite underwhelming.”

“Hmph, it might be too early for you to tell.”

“Should I make you show it to me, then? Let me see if you can match my humble sword!”

The sword of Hikita, who had put his heart and soul into attacking relying on his speed so far, attacked the blind spot of Alice’s movement, destroying her timing all at once. As far as Hikita’s memory went, the only person able to cope with that instant when their movement was suddenly reversed was Jubei Yagyu. If she dodged to the other side, she’d take the Tentacle God Kage-Ryu Secret Technique: Willow Crush while she side-stepped. That deadly technique, developed as it buried numerous Yagyu swordsmen in the darkness, caught up with Alice!

“Overboooost!!”

Alice shouted out.

Overboost, a further Boost that went on to increase the limits of a human’s physical ability. It had a huge effect on her body. However, it also meant she had no more tricks up her sleeve now.

In response to Alice’s cry, her body, her mind, her thoughts, all the elements that constituted her very self suddenly accelerated.

The world went away in an instant. The sound disappeared, and everything around Alice stood still. For Alice’s senses, it felt as if the world had stopped.

No, that isn’t it. It was like time only ticked away quickly around her. She could clearly see the looming blade. Alice moved her body to avoid it.

It’s hot! That was the frictional heat generated between the air and her body moving at ultra-high speed. Without her protective solution, the heat would have burnt even her very skin. However, she couldn’t afford to pay attention to that now.

I have to bring it to an end by the time the Overboost expires! Alice pulled the Angra Mainyu’s trigger. But, the bullet didn’t come out.

No, that isn’t it. It was more like Alice’s movements were faster than the bullet. The moment the bullet finally came out of the muzzle, she had already overtaken it as she went ahead. She pushed forward her Angra Mainyu and Aeshma.

It’s hot! Feeling an intense heat in both hands, Alice unintentionally looked at her weapons. Both of them had become red hot.

If the ammunition hadn’t caused an explosion, it was because it wasn’t based on gunpowder. Disregarding that completely, Alice thrusted out her guns towards Hikita.

Surprisingly, Hikita had somehow entered the world of ultra-high speed. He caught the Angra Mainyu with the sword in his hands, and two tentacles had thrown away their swords and came to do a “bare handed sword block.”

Even more, he defended against the whip tail's strike Alice had unleashed with numerous entwined tentacles. And, he was starting to thrust with the remaining sword his tentacle had.

At that moment, the bullet she just shot finally caught up, and seeing as it was closing in on the middle of his forehead, Hikita cut it away with his tentacle. In a split second, Alice’s knee strongly kicked his jaw, and sitting astride the fallen Hikita, she pushed both daggers against his neck.

Calculating on the spur of the moment the highs and lows of feints, the number of moves and the ultra-high speed, it was a brilliant comeback victory for Alice.

***

“Tentacle God Kage-Ryu Secret: Willow Crush!”

For her to only be able to move that fast, she had been a boring adversary after all. Even if she was an opponent he had deemed worthy of releasing the Willow Crush against after such a long time, he didn’t think she could survive anymore after this technique.

“Farewell, Gate Ope... Gah!?”

During a fraction of a second, she had performed a tremendous offense and defense. Brought to a stop by an unexpected impact against his jaw, Hikita was slammed against the floor, and then, her sitting astride him got him pinned down. Daggers with enough heat to burn were pressed against his neck.

No matter how one looked at it, it was Hikita who had lost there. Though he had tried to match her somehow with his reflexes of a swordsman, she had used a speed he hadn’t been able to follow towards the end, and he could be said to have been completely done in by the feint work of the bullets and the knee.

“Since the time I became a non-human by growing tentacles, I’ve been practicing with the sword for four hundred years, but it's only now that you've made me realize my own immaturity. Gate Opener, the victory goes to you. So, you should take my neck.”

Hikita told her with a radiant look, but then his face was suddenly showered with a golden liquid leaking from Alice’s crotch.

“Buhah! Are you incontinent!?”

Alice fell down upon the head of the surprised Hikita: she had fainted as she was. Her voluptuous body shrank down in a moment.

Hikita crawled out from under Alice, and raised his sword.

“Though I lost the battle, this became my win in the end.”

But after wiping off the blood of his sword, he returned it to his sheath.

“A draw... how about we leave it at that?”

Hikita wiped his face, and as he rubbed his neck and chin, he watched with a slightly happy expression the sleeping Alice, still pouring away the golden water-based protective solution.

“I shall keep this figure of yours in my sights.”

***

<Now, you’ll receive your just punishment for calling Milady a pervert!>

As she talked, Lumberjack’s hand flew towards Lynn.

<Boosted Knuckle!>

Literally raising flames, two fists attacked Lynn as if they were missiles.

“Hyaaah!”

Lynn screamed and ran about, trying to escape. The invisibility the tentacles had given her had accomplished nothing. Sure enough, could she actually escape while holding the pot and the spear? ...That is, could she go back alive?

<Songstress, can you hear me?>

Hikita’s voice suddenly reached Lynn. It was the “Tentacle Communication”, the method of communication through tentacle vibration, that only people with tentacles could hear.

<What’s keeping you? I want you to hurry up and come heelp!>

<Unfortunately, I can’t do so. Your humble servant can’t move either.>

<Eh!? Hi-pon, did you loose!?>

<One can say, we reached a draw.>

And the “Tentacle Communication” was cut off.

“Boo, Hi-pon, you’re uuseless!”

Lynn spread her tentacles wide and jumped off the Book Building’s roof. She had turned invisible so she wouldn't be attracting attention, but the people off the street would be able to see the silver giant and the beast child if they followed her. If they didn’t intend to make a fuss, they wouldn’t chase after her.

***

“Wait!”

As she retrieved her Boosted Knuckles, Dorothy, in control of Lumberjack, ran after Lynn. The red-haired girl had jumped off the roof into the schoolyard side, so Dorothy activated her Air Booster: by overpowering the wind pressure with a blast of air forward, her three-dimensional movement would be quick and nimble, and she would easily catch up with her target. However—

<Milady, the time is up.>

“I won’t let you get away! Air Booster!”

<Milady!>

The voice of Scarecrow, sounding from the communication device, brought Dorothy back to her senses. Lumberjack’s sensors had picked up on the fire truck approaching the school. It’d be bad if her underlings Lumberjack and Löwe were revealed to the public.

In order to avoid unnecessary hostilities due to the intimidation it could cause, Lumberjack’s body was equipped with an Active Stealth function precisely for these critical situations where it could be seen.

<Milady, please withdraw.>

“Roger that. The retrieval point is?”

Löwe pointed at the school’s back gate, in the corner of her view.

<I’ll send a private trailer to the back gate. That way.>

Following Scarecrow’s directions, Löwe casually jumped down the roof of the 4-storied Book Building, and started running towards the trailer.

“By the way, what about Allie?”

<Please rest assured, Milady. I, Scarecrow, shall protect her.>

***

The damage caused by the fight at the Book Building was officially filed as a gas explosion. Since not that many students remained usually in the Book Building after school to begin with, and since it had happened after the few literature club members working there were manipulated by Lynn’s brainwashing waves into going back home, there had been no human casualties. Also, since the sprinkles that had been activated were the ones at the corridor and at the librarian room that the literature club had made into the exhibition room, the damages had been kept to a minimum, as the book collection area and the entrance hall hadn't been affected. Or maybe one could say that was part of Scarecrow's strategy as well.

After reaching a draw in her battle with the Tentacle Swordsman Hikita Bungoro, Alice escaped the Book Building with the help from Scarecrow, Dorothy’s underling, who had rushed there to take control of the situation. Though she turned back to her school uniform using the conversion function from her bracelet, for some reason her underwear had gotten wet by the excessive supply of the protective solution, and now she was placed into the situation of having to go home in such an unpleasant state...

“Haa... I want to hurry back home.”

Alice muttered with a sigh on the backseat of the limousine driven by March Hare. She was stripping off her underwear, as going commando was better than remaining wet.

“Meow-. If there was a party, I’d rather you invited March Hare, meow.”

March Hare kept driving as she complained in jealousy, swinging her rabbit ears.

“Hey now, you’re a rabbit, you can’t end your sentences with “meow”.“

“Well, I’ll use “rabbit” then, rabbit.”

Alice gave a big sigh. Couldn’t March Hare’s intelligence be raised a bit more? Not at Hatter’s level though, but she had always had wanted to make something about her homunculus' mind being like a flower garden all the time.

“By the way, Profeshor?”

“Whaat? Oh incidentally, since I’m in a bad mood right now, I’ll chew you out if you say anything silly. Yeah, so strongly, your ears will fly off.”

March Hare’s ears hanged down with a whoosh.

“Err, Profeshor, were you with Löwe today, pyon?”

“No. I met Scarecrow, I didn’t meet the others.”

“Is that so~? Then it’s okay, rabbit.”

March Hare was awfully afraid of that underling of Dorothy called Löwe. It was probably because Löwe was a human beast of the lion type, while March Hare was a rabbit type.

“Don’t you get along with her?”

“More than not getting along, it seems set in stone that she’s my natural enemy, pyon.”

When her mother had made the artificial life forms of March Hare and the others, she seemed like she wanted to arrange some limitations to prevent a revolt; apparently this was one of the parameters she had implemented.

“Well, she’s not here for the time being, but I’ll protect you if we meet her.”

“Thank you, rabbit-.”

“By the way, have we found any new information about the Gate? Did you hear if Hatter has made some progress?”

“Profeshor~?”

“Nh?”

“Profeshor, did you order Hatter to investigate the Gate?”

“...Ah.”

Artificial life forms only performed basically what they were ordered to. Phrases like “It was implied in what you said” and “I’ll naturally assume so, even if you don’t tell me”, those only came from humans’ awareness of the circumstances. Without an order from Alice, Hatter would only be investigating again about Irukinuf and the invisible tentacles.

Mom... Why hadn’t you arranged for a human friend? Alice felt a bit like crying. But it wasn’t like she was depressed right now. Although Dorothy’s subordinates were excellent, they had to take a rest, unlike the artificial life forms. At least, regarding that, she came out in top.

It’d be good enough if she issued her order after coming back... that was her only consolation. She was seized by an unusually shy thought. Saying that she had tied with Hikita, while in reality he had taken pity on her, made Alice lose a bit of confidence.

“When I get back, I have to arrange preparations at once.”

Due to the uproar from today’s gas explosion, the academy would be closed for a while. In the meantime, she had to settle the matters involving Irukinuf.

***

The great hall of the Baum house.

Without even changing her uniform, Dorothy groggily lied down in the sofa and became engrossed in watching the ceiling.

“Aah~, I give in.”

After managing to lure their opponent, it had ended in a disastrous result when that girl with tentacles had actually been able to escape while successfully stealing her treasures. No matter how optimistic Dorothy was, it was impossible not to get depressed.

“And I wanted to show my good side to Allie too...”

Löwe, who had returned to her girl form, came and rubbed her soft cheeks against Dorothy to comfort her.

“GAU...”

“Thanks, Löwe.”

As Dorothy patted her neck, her eyes turned to the slender maid. When one mentioned a maid with a tall, slender body, there was only one in the Baum house.

“Milady, is it ok to be that discouraged?”

Saying so with a smile, Scarecrow pressed a switch in her hand. A map of the Earth emerged on the great hall’s ceiling.

“What would this be?”

“It’s a map showing the location of the members from the Irukinuf’s clan. I call it the Irukinuf Sensor.”

As she talked, Scarecrow pushed the switch again. Red spots were projected everywhere around the world.

“So many?”

“Yes. If we trust the Sensor’s performance, there are probably around ten thousand people throughout the world.”

Ten thousand... Dorothy felt dizzy hearing that number, despite it having been dropped that casually.

“If it’s just those where a reaction appears without narrowing down the requirements, it could reach up to 3 billion.”

If it came to 3 billion, that'd be a number equal to half of mankind.

“So we really wouldn't be able to tell.”

“Yes. So, I ignored the weak reactions. As a result, the spot that reacts the strongest is here.”

Doing a close-up on a center of the map projected onto the ceiling, Scarecrow moved her pointer to one place in particular.

“Even if I match it against all the circulating maps, no island exists in this location in the South Pacific. There has been only one map describing this place in the past.”

“I know! It’s the Piri Reis Map.”

“As expected from Milady, you are correct.”

That was an ancient map that the Ottoman Navy Admiral Piri made in the 16th century. It depicted the coastline of the Antarctica, undiscovered at the time, and the mountain range, its altitude, etc, under the ice sheet, that would only be confirmed by sonar on 1956. The map also depicted distortions of the terrain one could only recognize after observing the place from a substratospheric altitude.

When the Admiral Piri made this map, he wrote that he had taken 20 old maps as reference, so it brought up the debate of whether there was a civilization advanced enough in the ancient times as to take measurements from the skies.

“Perhaps, this would be the stronghold of the Irukinuf clan.”

“What's the basis behind that?”

“Milady, the reaction we got from the thief that took the Pot and the Spear was heading there.”

Dorothy rose up, her clothes flapping. This really wasn’t a situation where she could keep feeling down.

“Start up the Twister! I’ll beat Allie at getting to the Irukinuf cult!”

It was her chance to boast to Alice after today’s blunder.

“Affirmative, Milady.”

Scarecrow began preparing immediately after Dorothy’s instructions.