Kapitel 57: Just a little more
The tunnel wobbled and shook. The Bandersnatch extended from where Alice had been thrust against the train, which was running at an enormous speed. It then entangled itself on the roof, expanding and contracting to draw the small girl's body back. Alice, who had been brought back intact and in one piece, stood on the roof of the train again and jerked her head in a disoriented manner.
"Uru… Urero… Urerea… Urero…"
She was muttering something in small words. Her pitch-black eyes were unfocused and wandered around her.
Alice lightly snapped her neck bones, whereupon she gritted her teeth firmly and clasped her hands. Then she screamed in a strained tone.
"I…! Do as I say…! Listen to me…!"
With trembling legs, she glared at the Jabberwock and Humpty. Then she started mumbling again.
"Which… to kill first…?"
"Kill…?"
"… Kill…?"
"Smash…? Crush…?"
"Twist it…"
"Let's do it."
"Let's do it."
"Let's do it."
Dropping to her hips, Alice laughed, her mouth hanging open as if it were about to split apart. At the girl's apparent loss of sanity, the Jabberwock and Humpty both stooped down and assumed a combat stance. The Jabberwock ripped off a piece of the suit he was wearing and uttered a spiteful remark.
"… It's indeed hard. And I'm almost 'turned' into a Bandersnatch…"
"You might have a rough time doing this on your own." Humpty puffed out his cigar and said in a hushed tone. "I'll join you."
"Thanks."
Humpty reached into the pocket of his clothes and withdrew something with a jingling sound. It looked like a pachinko ball. Grasping the black iron gravel in his hand, he made a wide swing. Then he hurled it at Alice without hesitation. There was a crashing sound and a shockwave. The train flailed and swayed for a second as the air exploded, and the gravel flew at Alice like a shotgun. As if in pursuit of it, the Jabberwock ran with a yell.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
Breathing intermittently through clenched teeth, Alice opened her mouth wide the next moment and screamed. The Bandersnatch solidified into a hemisphere around her, and the iron gravel pierced it with a gunshot-like noise.
None of it made contact with Alice's body. After a beat, it erupted in a column of fire, as if it had been loaded with gunpowder. Alice's tiny body was flung backwards and tumbled down the roof of the train.
There, the Jabberwock landed on her and lifted his arm to strike her in the face. Alice was incapable of reacting, and his fist struck her in the forehead, sending her stumbling. Alice was sprung up and… the Jabberwock seized her leg with machine-like precision and slammed her small body against the ceiling, just as he had done to her earlier.
But while being slammed, Alice twisted around and reached out her hand. She then lashed at the arm of the Jabberwock that was gripping her leg. The Jabberwock arm was torn off in half and blasted away.
When Alice landed on the ceiling of the train, the Jabberwock caught her with his remaining arm. His fist plunged into Alice's stomach with such speed that she could scarcely respond.
"…"
With her eyes wide open, Alice bit her tongue and coughed up a small amount of blood. She was launched up, and now with a raised foot, she was knocked down onto the roof of the train. The small girl's body easily penetrated the roof and gouged the train itself close to the wheels.
Lifting her pitch-black eyes, she looked around the interior of the train. Philrain seemed to have moved to the cockpit.
As the Jabberwock descended into the train, the bones in his neck snapped. Following behind him was Humpty, who also carried iron gravel jangling in his hands.
"…?"
Then Alice cast a dubious glance at the Jabberwock. His arm, which was supposed to have been blown off a moment ago was there. His clothing was gone, but his arm was still intact and functioning. On closer inspection, despite the stains on his ragged body, there were no visible wounds.
–He regenerated…?
Is that the ability of the Jabberwock…?
With that thought in mind, she gnashed her teeth as the billions of Bandersnatch "rage" reverberating in her head threatened to tear her head off.
Just a little more…
Just listen to me a little more…
The Bandersnatch's wrath had already surpassed the boundaries of Alice's ability to control it on her own. Her body went numb and she couldn't move properly as the fury broke through her tolerance range.
–Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.
The Bandersnatch cried out.
Hatred, suffering, resentment…
All the black emotions were loaded, and the devils shouted.
Yes, there was no rationality, no affection, nor anything else that one could call emotion. They only hated and wished for the death. A mass of resentment surrounded Alice.
The Bandersnatch that covered her body caused Alice's body to sway and rise of her own accord. The Jabberwock approached Alice and snorted.
"Your ally is… over there huh…" The Jabberwock snickered, saying to Alice as he started to move.
"It's a bit of a pain to deal with her. Let's destroy this train first."
"The girl in front of me could strangle me. She's thirsty." Humpty said with a slight smile.
Philrain was nowhere to be seen as if she had her hands full maneuvering the half-destroyed train. The train was moving at high speed, but there were sparks coming from the wheels. The speed control system may have been damaged. Through gritted teeth, Alice uttered a hoarse cry.
"Aren't you… aiming… for me…?"
"If you don't like it, you can try to stop me." The Jabberwock said, raising his arm towards the floor of the train. Alice struggled to move her body and leaped at the Jabberwock. In the next instant, she was hit head-on by the iron gravel that Humpty had flung at her, and the girl's small body was thrown up into the air.
A hole was made in the roof and she was blown off. By the time she realized what had happened, it was too late.
The Jabberwock shot up into the air, kicking the floor of the train, before Alice and the Bandersnatch could get a reaction. Grabbing her by the head, he tossed her to the front of the train.
An extraordinary shock swept through Alice's body as she became disoriented. The impact was incomparable to the one she felt when the Jabberwock struck her.
Yes, it was the train. She was thrown right at the front of the running train and was run over.
Her vision momentarily reddened as she was unable to disperse the impact that tore her body apart. Her eyes caught sight of Humpty running up to the roof, pulling a dagger from his bosom.
The Bandersnatch in her head sounded a warning. And at roughly the same time, a dagger was jabbed into Alice's right eye.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein