kscans

Chapter 97 - Slash the Magic Threads, Death and Traps Approach!

A heavy air hung taut in the throne room.

Amy's spear thrust out with a clap of thunder, and Tiris's dagger danced through the air. The two had already charged in. They were like a flash of lightning and a wind of shadow, plunging headfirst into hell.

"Magic threads, I have a visual. That rock, too...!"

Tiris looked up at the ceiling, her golden eyes locking onto a rock enmeshed in threads.

There, massive boulders floated in layers, suspended by magic threads spun like a spider's web.

"It's not just the dolls!? She's controlling the rocks too!"

"If one of those falling rocks hits us, it's instant death!!"

Just after Amy's shout echoed, a patsun! sound ran through the space.

One, two... The magic threads began to snap on their own, and the rocks started to fall.

"Here they come!!"

—Dogaaan!!

The rocks, crumbling like rubble, smashed into the floor, carving out a large hole.

"Th, this is... I didn't hear anything about a stage setup like this!"

Tiris kicked off the floor, sliding smoothly past a group of dolls approaching from another direction. Behind her, one of the dolls was caught in the rockfall and shattered into splinters.

"Don't stop! If we stop, it's over!"

Amy's lightning spear flashed, burning through the magic threads one by one. She calculated the trajectory of the falling rocks, evading them at the last second. The tip of her spear was their very lifeline.

"...Stop it, stop, don't come any closer...!!"

A clear look of fear appeared on Mel Aria's face as she stood on the steps of the throne.

"My dolls are...!!"

The number of magic threads was visibly decreasing. That meant her domain of control was shrinking.

"It doesn't matter how much of a stage you've prepared!"

Tiris shouted. Her voice echoed off the crumbling ceiling.

"We have no desire to be controlled by anyone!!"

And so, the two winged female warriors—with fire and lightning—ran their final blades toward the Puppet Princess seated on the throne.

Each time a thread was cut, a rock fell, rubble shattered, and the battlefield changed. But even amidst the chaos, Amy and Tiris advanced without hesitation, in a straight line toward Mel Aria.

Mel Aria's palms trembled.

(This is bad... this is bad... at this rate...!)

Cold sweat trickled down her cheek. The "stage" she had created was being destroyed by those who rejected her control.

Reflected in her eyes was a twisted light—a mixture of a ruler's "madness" and a young girl's "fear."

The match was not over yet. But with every severed thread, her "loneliness" was being laid bare.