บท 42: How brazen of you…
Murmuring this in her mind, she bit her teeth and steeled herself. Iberis' foot… her Bandersnatch wriggled slightly. Then it pierced the rooftop of the building and began to extend downwards at a frantic swiftness.
She took a glance at Raffi, who cast his eyes at her, wondering what she was up to, and in her crouched position, she concealed herself completely behind the rooftop. Looking around, Tweedledee, possibly exasperated by the lack of response, began to screech.
"I don't like this! The other Alice! You're spying on me!" Tweedledum continued through clenched teeth. "Now I'm going to rouse this Alice! It would be in your best interest to come out before this one turns insane!"
Raffi let out a gasp. Iberis maintained the same expression and lowered Raffi to the floor breathlessly. Then she brought her fingers to the front of her mouth, silencing the black cat.
"What do we do now? Tweedledum."
"My heart is about to boil. I think we can 'unburden' her a little, right?"
"Shall we?"
Tweedledum said and snapped his fingers. As soon as that happened, Alice, who had been stripped half-naked, bounced up and down. And while Tweedledee gripped her by the hair, she screamed with the whites of her eyes.
Even though Iberis heard the muddy, squeezing scream, she still made no movement. Alice no longer seemed to have a clear consciousness. She was thrashing and flailing her body in a deathly frenzy. The Twins narrowed their eyes and sneered at the sight of her madness.
"What are you going to do now! If this continues, she will truly die!"
"Will the nerves in her brain burn out before that? Is that okay with you? Aren't you here to save this one?" Tweedledee said mockingly. Then, from the ground behind them, there was the sound of a stone rolling.
Hypersensitive to it, the twins simultaneously reacted and turned around.
Their eyes lit up like a vivid red flash. Iberis didn't miss a moment.
She stamped the floor of the rooftop, leaving Raffi to dance in the air. Then, pointing at the back of the Twins, she released the Dáinsleif in her hand with a snap and dropped it. Pulled by gravity, the huge long sword spun around in a circle as it landed. Perhaps sensing this, Tweedledee turned around in a haste.
"Up there! Tweedledum!" He shouted, his eyes glowing red. But in a split second, Iberis stretched out the Bandersnatch on her leg and thrust it into the tree in the opposite direction, telescoping it at once. Her body moved with incredible speed, and she evaded Tweedledee's gaze by a split second.
Tweedledum flung Alice aside in a panic and shoved Tweedledee out of the way. The Dáinsleif plunged haphazardly into the spot where the Twins had been previously. The Nightmares' eyes locked on it.
"This is the White Knight's…? The Seventh doesn't seem to have been invoked…" Tweedledum said as his eyes glowed red.
And then, through clenched teeth, he reached for the Dáinsleif.
"What are you do..?"
'What are you doing', he was about to say when suddenly, from underneath the ground… where the sword had pierced, rainbow-colored fluctuation erupted, breaking through the surface of the earth with a bang. It wrapped around the Dáinsleif like a twine. And then, in one swift side-swipe, Tweedledum's face was bisected.
"Tweedledum!" The other half of the Twins screamed out. With a gurgling sound, half of Tweedledum's head crashed to the ground. Black blood sprayed all around like a fountain, and the rest of the body jerked and bounced before collapsing.
"Kuh…!"
Through clenched teeth, Tweedledee glared at the Bandersnatch of Iberis protruding from the ground. The eyes glowed red and the Bandersnatch flailed around like a snake before dissipating. And the sword fell to the ground.
"There is no escape from… our demonic eyes, even if it is a part of your body…" Gritting his teeth, Tweedledee stepped forward. "You dug into the ground and ambushed us with your Bandersnatch, didn't you? That was wise, but now it's over. It hurts too much to move, doesn't it? I'll apply more interference and make your brain boil."
The demon advanced towards the hole. Then he opened his mouth to continue saying something… but then something pierced his chest and brought him to a halt. In the exact opposite… direction, that was to say, from behind, Iberis's foot penetrated Tweedledee's chest with precision.
"Eh…"
Black blood spurted from his mouth, and Tweedledee shifted… his eyes to look back. The Bandersnatch impaled into his chest, splitting his body into many layers and chopping it into pieces.
Pieces of flesh and blood littered the area as if it had exploded. Iberis, standing a short distance away, retracted the Bandersnatch and returned it to her feet. She then took a breath and swept her hair back.
"It is nothing but a breeze once I figured out your trick… Especially… if that girl hadn't acted alone, I would have been killed without question…"
The interference of the Twins' powers vanished, and Alice collapsed in a pool of bloody foam. Raffi rushed over to her, presumably having gotten off the building.
"Are you okay!"
"Look after her, not me. We'll be heading back to the shelter soon."
After saying this coolly, Iberis walked up to the corpses of the Twins and withdrew two crystal-like objects from their heads. Then she put them in her pocket.
It was a simple matter. From the roof of the building, she extended her Bandersnatch of the foot and stuck it into the ground. Then she detached it from her feet and manipulated it at will to appear behind the Twins.
Apparently, the Dáinsleif will not suck the life out of you unless you swing it vigorously. Therefore, if you just let it fall, it won't suck the life out of you. Iberis sacrificed a portion of the Bandersnatch that was detached from her body, and let them do the rest.
"… How brazen of you…" Raffi turned around and said to Iberis, after confirming that Alice was still breathing. Iberis pulled the air bike by hand and lifted the Dáinsleif.
"The opponent is the Original Nightmare. I had to risk my life to defeat them."
With one hand, she grabbed Alice by her clothes and placed her on the back seat of the air bike.
"It seems that she is unconscious. Can you help me tie her to my body?"
Raffi nodded hurriedly and approached the girls.
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