11. Wonderland (47)
11. Wonderland (47)
"Hand over Cappi! I know you bastards are hiding him!"
Patty brandished the Reaper's Scythe, his threat unmistakable. Every time his foot struck the ground, the bedrock split with a sharp crack.
Scarecrow tensed.
This one was rougher in manner and speech than the Reaper they'd faced in Dvalchev, but his power was nothing to take lightly. That single swing of the scythe a moment ago had sheared off half the hilltop.
Patty paid little attention to Scarecrow and Rumi.
The scent of his friend had saturated this place long before those two ever arrived. His hostility locked full-force onto Chen Hawk, who'd clearly been here for a while. The Guard Corps armband with Squad Leader Mae's mark only confirmed that judgment.
"You? You're not even an Apostle. How did you... What did you do to my friend!"
"Calm yourself."
Hawk stood before the Reaper without so much as flinching. Beneath his falcon mask, a taunting smirk tugged at the corners of his expression.
"Your friend? We boiled him down into a nice stew. Should I have saved you a few bones?"
"You bastard!"
Patty swung the scythe again. As if he'd been waiting for it, Hawk spread his wings wide against the wall of rushing air and shot skyward.
"You think flying up means I can't chase you?!"
The black cloth coiled around Patty unfurled, shaping itself into a pair of bat wings. He launched after Hawk without a moment's hesitation.
But compared to the other Reapers, Patty was considerably heavier, and his command of Chilheuk Magic was clumsy at best. He flailed through the air, straining desperately to catch Hawk, but his movements were so sluggish he couldn't so much as graze a feather. Every attempt ended in failure.
"You think you can catch me at that speed?"
Hawk's taunts drove Patty into a frothing frenzy.
"Rrragh! You bastard!"
Between the Reaper's wild swings, Scarecrow and Rumi caught Hawk flicking glances their way. His intent was obvious: keep the Reaper occupied while they escaped.
Scarecrow and Rumi exchanged a look and nodded. They couldn't let his sacrifice go to waste — he was burning the last embers of his soul for this.
The two reached into their pockets for their Exit Tickets. But in that instant, the hands gripping the tickets stiffened and locked solid.
"Wha — what? Why is this..."
"This is... no, it can't be..."
Scarecrow noticed the frost spreading white across the ground, radiating outward from where they stood.
Patty hovered in the air, glaring down at them.
"Tch. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
The Freezing Curse carried in a Reaper's gaze.
While chasing Hawk, Patty had realized the man was deliberately stretching things out to let the other two slip away. He'd waited for the moment their guard dropped and then struck.
"I figured the two of you were nobodies. But you'll do just fine as hostages."
"Hey! Aren't I your opponent?!"
Hawk tried to claw the Reaper's attention back, but Patty ignored him completely. He descended in front of Rumi. Getting the better of her would be simpler than dealing with the scarecrow sprawled out like a corpse, barely able to stand.
As the Reaper fixed his gaze on her, ice crackled and spread across her body. Her complexion drained to a white every bit as stark as Maya's in an instant.
"Kk, kkak!"
Patty shouted up at Hawk, who still circled overhead, probing for an opening.
"If you don't want to watch her die, tell me where my friend is! Now!"
Hawk felt a cold wash of dismay. He had no idea what had happened to the man's friend. The whole pretense of knowing something had been a bluff to buy Oz and Rumi time to run.
Instead, that bluff had backfired, turning them into hostages. Admitting now that he knew nothing would never be believed.
In the middle of this grim standoff, Scarecrow stared blankly into the air.
He was reading a line of illusion-text floating before his eyes.
It came from Rumi. She'd once shown him a "lenticular" technique — an illusion visible only from a specific angle, blending Invisibility Magic with light refraction. Applied creatively, it could send a secret message to a single person in the same space.
- I'll tear your ticket for you.
Scarecrow glanced down at the hand clutching his Exit Ticket. Small blades were materializing there. Rumi had mustered the last dregs of her strength to conjure them, even as the ice crept up her body.
- What about you, Miss Rumi?
Scarecrow used the Sound Room Function to throw his voice so only she could hear it. She flinched, startled, then blinked her frosted eyelids and sent a reply.
- At this rate we both die. At least one of us should survive.
- Then save your own life first.
- I'm inside the Reaper's curse-field.
A biting, bone-cold wind howled around Rumi. The Reaper's curse didn't simply lower the physical temperature — it froze magic itself. Even mana seized up solid within its reach.
- Open your hand. Hold out the ticket.
- No.
Scarecrow refused her offer flatly. He couldn't abandon her and go back alone.
- We don't have much time.
The solid ice was creeping up toward her nose and mouth.
- I can just slice through that wad of cotton and go in.
The conjured blades circled his hand. They looked ready to punch straight through the back of it if he tried anything.
Scarecrow burned with frustration at his own helplessness.
Was leaving her behind really the only choice?
It ate at him, but he had no other options. Devolut only worked on living tissue. If his limbs had been whole, he could have thrown himself at the Reaper and forced something down his throat — but as things stood, that wasn't possible.
It can't be used on me, or on an enemy?
In that case...
An idea flickered through his mind.
A way to save them both!
"Hrrgh."
He hauled himself upright, pushing off the ground with fists and knees. His body wobbled, but he had one leap in him.
- Hey, what do you think you're doing! In that condition, you can't possibly...
- Miss Rumi, trust me and leave your body to me.
- What? What does that mean? What are you going to...
Scarecrow threw himself at her.
The Reaper spun at the sudden movement, saw Scarecrow wrap his arms around her and collapse limply to the ground, and let out a derisive snort.
"What, you think you'll be her shield?"
Scarecrow took the brunt of the Reaper's curse onto his own body in her place. The size difference between him and Rumi was significant; he could block most of the curse aimed at her.
"Hah... hah... y-you... wh-what... are you thinking...? This is... stupid... Hhgh... now we both die..."
She glared at him, her breathing ragged. She was more furious than grateful.
Her own ticket had frozen solid inside a fist of ice, and his had just met the same fate. Inside the curse-field, even the illusion-blades had vanished as their mana froze over.
Now they were both finished.
Scarecrow gave her a self-deprecating smile.
"I didn't want to run away alone."
"You... are you an idiot?"
Her mouth rebuked him, but her lips curved into a smile.
"So you really intend to die with me?"
"Hm? What are you talking about? We're getting out together. Alive."
"What?"
"Trust me."
Something pushed into her body along with his words. Rumi's instinct was to resist it, but when Scarecrow shook his head, she stopped manipulating her mana.
If she was going to die anyway, what was there to be afraid of?
She let the Devolut move freely.
What Scarecrow had done to her body was simple. It was a trait he'd used once before.
Trait: Palm Mouth
Applied Area: Hand
Effect: Creates a mouth on the palm.
Required Resource: [Devolut 6]
He embedded a single, immediate command with it: use your teeth to tear apart the paper in your hand.
A bright radiance burst from Rumi's hand and enveloped her body. The tickling sensation in her palm made her realize what he had just done.
"Hey, you!"
She quickly tried to conjure a blade and tear his ticket too. But the Reaper, startled by the sudden flash of light, fixed his gaze back on her. Her mana froze harder than before and refused to move.
Scarecrow whispered into her ear.
"Go up and wait. I'll be right behind you."
"You... you idiot..."
Rumi's body was swallowed by light and vanished.
She ascended to the surface.
"You bastard!"
Forgetting even to keep Hawk in check, Patty swung the Reaper's Scythe at Scarecrow. Hawk, who had been circling above for a chance, didn't let the opening slip. He folded himself into a straight line and dove, raking the back of Patty's skull with his talons as he passed.
"Argh, you flying insect of a—!"
With the Reaper's attention off him, Scarecrow could finally draw breath.
What he'd just done had been a forced choice between two bad options.
Her ability worked at range, but her body was inside the curse-field. His ability was immune to the curse, but required direct contact. So he'd had no choice but to throw himself at her.
That said, he hadn't exactly been ready to sacrifice himself for her.
He had one card left to play.
*Sub Quest — Mask Play
: In Wonderland, you are the Torch Dancer.
Completion Condition
: Do not let your companions (excluding Arno) discover your identity before all of them have exited Wonderland.
Success Reward
: You may take one Persona out of Wonderland.
Failure Penalty
: None.
The quest-completion notification from earlier.
He could use that reward.
Whether it would actually get him out of Wonderland was uncertain. But between abandoning her and gambling on a possibility, the gamble was the better choice.
Scarecrow designated "Torch Dancer" as the quest's success reward.
The Status Window responded with a negative.
[You cannot designate yourself. Please select a different Persona.]
The quest description only said he could take one Persona with him.
It couldn't be used as an escape method.
But he didn't despair. He still had one more move.
- Mister Hawk, can you hear me?
Hawk, who had been taunting the Reaper while dodging his attacks, flicked his gaze toward Scarecrow.
Replying was impossible for him — only troupe members could use the Sound Room Function. Scarecrow had set his voice to reach only a specific target, like a directional microphone.
- I need you to slice my hand in half.
At the request, Hawk's flight path wavered for a moment. Scarecrow quickly added the explanation.
- I mean, cut the ticket out of my frozen hand.
Using the quest reward would have been ideal, but now that it was off the table, he had to fall back on this.
Hawk understood his intent and honed the talons on his feet. But with the Reaper's constant attacks, an opening was hard to come by.
- When I count to three, I'll stun him for a moment. Ready? One, two... three!
Scarecrow aimed the Sound Room's directionality at Patty, cranked the volume to maximum, and bellowed:
"I've cracked a Reaper's skull too! You dumb rabbit bastard!"
"Krrragh!"
A ringing shockwave, loud enough to rattle the inside of his skull, filled Patty's ear canals. He reeled where he stood, both hands clamped over his ears.
Hawk folded his wings and shot toward Oz as if he'd been waiting for exactly this.
His razor talons could carve through Scarecrow's brittle, frozen hand effortlessly.
But the two of them had underestimated Patty's cunning.
He knew Hawk was trying to rescue the Scarecrow. So before lunging, he had laid a Chilheuk Magic trap right beside the Scarecrow.
"Got you."
The shadows around Scarecrow rose up, and something — was it black smoke, black cloth? — shot out and bound Hawk's body.
"Ghk!"
Patty swung the scythe at him where he hung frozen in the air.