Bab 107: We are alive!
It was an attack that came from completely outside of her consciousness; it was a sudden surprise attack that even the Bandersnatch could not respond to.
Screaming and unable to catch herself, Iberis was knocked to the ground by the powerful blow that shook her brain. Then she rolled across the desert in a rumble.
"A… ga…"
The impact was too severe for her to grasp the situation. In front of her eyes flickered bright red, and her field of vision was wobbling. She couldn't even think about standing up.
It seemed that she had bitten her tongue at the instant she was struck, and the taste of blood spread in her mouth. The force of the blow, which could not be mitigated by the Bandersnatch, was enough to render Iberis incapacitated with a single blow.
Iberis' eyes flickered in and out of focus, unable to rise or even stay conscious.
Before she could even consider what had transpired, she knew she had to move. She knew that. Although she understood that, the blow was too fatal.
Desperately, she tried to look across at the object that had struck her.
A black suit.
A man with a huge body.
And a lion's head.
A Nightmare with glowing red eyes was standing there as if he had appeared from nowhere. Finally, Iberis' Bandersnatch reacted, widening around her as if to shield her from being caught in the fall and immobilized. Then it drew a vortex and formed an intercepting system.
The black-suited Nightmare… the Jabberwock took a few steps closer, jerking the bones in his neck, and looked down at Iberis.
"The Bandersnatch does not respond to… unconscious attacks. That's what Humpty mentioned before. Indeed, it is effective."
"Ga… u…"
With a small grunt, Iberis raised her upper body, trembling. Ahead of her, she felt her vision swaying. She could tell that the Jabberwock was looking down at her, but she had no way to attack him. Her mind couldn't focus on that.
"Your brain is completely trapped. If that didn't kill you earlier, the concussion should make it difficult for you to concentrate. By order of Master Lewis, I am here to finish you off."
"…"
Iberis crumpled to the ground again as she managed to get up. The Bandersnatch was rising up, wavering as if it could not be located. She couldn't even grant them the authority of erasure. It was such a deadly attack that even that didn't cross her mind.
In other words, Iberis was now entirely vulnerable.
"If you can hear me, I will ask you a question. Answer me, and I will bury you with a single blow without suffering." Saying that, the Jabberwock crouched down beside Iberis. Then he asked in a whisper. "Where is… Alice? Even if you don't answer, I'm going to enter the shelter, destroy everything, and search for Alice. I just want to save myself the trouble. Hey… can you understand what I'm saying?"
"…"
Iberis clutched at the sand, gasping for breath.
I have to run.
Run away.
She concentrated all her attention on that one point only. The Bandersnatch on her leg moved, expanding and contracting as she leaped into the air. Looking up at her as she leaped to the opposite side of the shelter, the Jabberwock brushed off the sand and rose to his feet.
His body distorted and disappeared like a mirage. Then in midair, he appeared behind Iberis. Before Iberis and the Bandersnatch could detect it, the Jabberwock slammed another fist into Iberis' cheek. The small girl blasted away like a bullet, piercing the desert below.
Again, the figure of the Jabberwock disappeared…
He halted when he spotted someone holding the unconscious Iberis.
"Heh…?"
It was Jack, carrying the weak and groggy Iberis, glaring at the Jabberwock with his eyes glowing behind his helmet.
"You devil…!"
Jack was holding a broken Dáinsleif in the opposite hand to the one carrying Iberis.
"The child's… you dare to do that to a girl's face…!"
"Hey hey hey… White Knight…" Shrugging his shoulders in disbelief, the Jabberwock continued. "I thought you recognized this already… but that's not a human. It's one of those data bugs, like 'us'. It has no face, nor is she even a child. If you don't kill it, it will kill you. That's the only thing, right?"
"…"
Jack replied in a stifled voice as he gently laid Iberis, the Bandersnatch completely gone, in the shade of a boulder. "But that doesn't mean…"
"…"
"But that doesn't mean all can be forgiven!"
Jack was furious and lowered his Dáinsleif.
"That doesn't mean you can infringe on them! That doesn't mean you can violate them! And it doesn't mean you can hurt them, trample on them, and spit on them!"
"…"
"These kids… me and even you, we are alive!"
"Alive…?"
The Jabberwock responded with a scowl, and the next moment he began to laugh out loud. Then he slapped his thigh with a hilarious look on his face. That expression returned to a straight face with a snap.
For a few seconds, a quiet breeze passed between them. Then the Jabberwock gnashed his teeth and yelled.
"What's alive in the data! For what purpose was it created, and where is the meaning of its existence? This emotion, this rage, this pain, all of it is a pretense programmed into us! We are a mishmash of falsehoods, and we are still alive..? Don't make me laugh!"
"Even so!"
Jack's voice rang out in a defiant tone.
"We are alive!"
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone