13. Circus Charlie (24)
13. Circus Charlie (24)
Reina couldn't comprehend the scene before her.
Why was Ella aiming a gun at the Troupe Leader? How had he been injured so badly? And where had the kidnapper gone?
A whirlwind of questions churned in her head. But even through the chaos, a single thought moved her body.
'I have to save him.'
She didn't understand what was happening, but the Troupe Leader was in danger. She had to help.
But before she could take a step, someone grabbed her. She nearly pitched forward, only to spot a small hand clutching her cloak.
"Luri?"
"R-Reina... l-look, behind her..."
Ruelo's tangerine hair was trembling. Reina looked where she pointed.
A black shadow crouched behind Ella. What she had taken for one of the pillars supporting the stone chamber was writhing, alive. Even in the dim light, its red eyes and jagged teeth glinted sharply.
Studying its shape, Reina recalled the memory from two weeks prior: the demon army that had attacked Wonderland. The scythe slung over its shoulder matched the high-ranking demons that had led that very horde. Just as the thought clicked into place, Maya whispered beside her, her voice cold.
"Nua Zakanuba."
"Th-That's definitely a Reaper... right? What the hell is that bastard doing here..."
Karen flinched, pretending to hide behind Maya. It was an awkward gesture, given that Maya was a full hand shorter than her. Any other time, Mickey would have scoffed at her theatrics, but not now. The Reaper's presence was too overwhelmingly menacing.
One look at that massive scythe and those claws made it obvious who was responsible for all this destruction. Mickey, pinned face-down on the floor, struggled to lift his head and scan the cavern.
Where the hell had Charlie gone? To the demon? Had the testimony about Ella actually been true? But even if so, we'd thought he couldn't use his powers inside the 'Sanctuary'...
They weren't the only ones thrown off by the sudden appearance. Ella, frozen by her friends' arrival, quickly collected herself and gave the Reaper an order.
"Keep them from coming here. But do not hurt them. Not a single scratch."
"Kee-kee, understood."
Cappi grinned, a cryptic smile playing on his lips as he nodded.
They had no time to be shocked that the Reaper obeyed Ella's commands. Cappi closed the distance in two or three bounds. Reina quickly scooped Ruelo into her arms and threw herself aside, shouting a warning.
"Get back!"
The Reaper's claws swept just over their heads. A pillar exploded with a deafening crash and crumbled. Mickey, his limbs bound by ribbons, would have been crushed by the falling debris if Karen hadn't yanked him out of the way.
Ella cried out at the sight. Cappi had almost killed Mickey.
"I told you not to hurt them!"
"You should have been more specific, Miss Ella."
Wonderstein let out a tired sigh. Ella wheeled on him, her arms limp where he was pinned to the wall, her glare razor-sharp.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know the adage: be careful with every word when you deal with a demon. That Reaper followed your order to 'not hurt them directly.' He simply doesn't care if someone is crushed by a collapsing wall."
Breathless with shock, Ella whipped her head around at the sound of another crash. There was Reina, a hair's breadth from being buried under a pile of rubble from the Reaper's attack.
"No... oh no! Cappi, stop!"
The Reaper stopped, feigning an expression of pure obedience. But he couldn't hide the smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Though the direct attack ceased, the collapsing wall did not. Ella realized too late that she should have ordered Cappi to save Reina.
"Reina!"
Wonderstein, too, shouted her name from the wall, but there was no miracle. The stones came crashing down, swallowing Reina whole.
"Aah... R-Reina..."
Ella slumped to the ground. She'd made a reckless deal with a demon, gotten her friends killed, and now she'd repeated the same mistake.
"I... I'm..."
Just as tears were about to spill, Reina called her name.
"Ella."
"Rei... na?"
Ella looked up, bewildered. A blonde woman in a horned white ghost mask was staring down at her.
Was she dreaming? Or had her dead friend's ghost appeared?
That was when Wonderstein spoke, his voice low.
"My spell."
He had just used the trait he'd gained a week ago, when Reina's Affection level surpassed 15.
Name: Return Command
Target: Reina (Masked)
Effect: While calling the target's name, shout 'Curfew!' in your heart to summon the target immediately before you. The target must be able to hear your voice.
Required Resource: Reina's Affection level 15. Gains up to one charge each time she removes and puts on the mask.
Wonderstein let out a breath of relief.
"You almost killed your friends."
Ella glared at him with a mixture of rage and shame. His scolding, delivered at a moment like this, felt like nothing but mockery.
A demon.
After all the people he'd killed. Who was he to lecture anyone?
Don't talk like you understand people. You only care about Reina because she's a useful piece. Just like me.
Ella snatched up the fallen gun and rose to her feet. She ordered Cappi to subdue the other four—without harming them—and advanced on Wonderstein.
But she'd only taken a few steps before she was forced to stop. Reina blocked her path.
"Move."
Even with that ferocious look in her eyes, Reina didn't flinch. She replied calmly.
"No."
"I said move!"
"And I said no!"
Their voices echoed through the cavern.
Across the chamber, Cappi was busy binding people with his Freezing Curse. Karen, sturdy but slow, was caught quickly. Maya, tangled up with Karen, couldn't dodge in time and froze solid as well. Mickey, already bound, was cursed without a chance to flee. Only Ruelo, with her superhuman strength, was still smashing through the ice restraints and dodging, but it was clear she wouldn't last long.
Ella and Reina locked eyes. Just three hours ago, they'd clashed on the stage above. This place lacked all that spectacle and fanfare, but the tension between them was no less intense now.
"Snap out of it. Do you even realize what you're trying to do?"
"Yeah. I'm going to kill that man."
"Are you out of your mind? That's the Troupe Leader. Troupe Leader Wonderstein."
"I'm aware."
"Are you being controlled by the demon?"
Ella hesitated at the question, then gave a bitter smile and shook her head.
"No. I'm perfectly sane. I got my memories back."
Reina's voice was thick with incomprehension.
"Then why is that a reason to kill him? You said you'd just forgotten a few scenes."
"Right. But those few were pretty damn significant. So... will you move?"
Reina shook her head.
"No."
Ella decided they were talking in circles and prepared to strike. But what her friend said next wasn't what she'd expected.
"...Look in a mirror."
"What?"
"Take a good look at your face. How could I leave you alone when you look so miserable you could die?"
Ella closed her mouth. She lowered the gun slightly and stared at the floor.
Thinking she'd finally gotten through to her, Reina took a careful step closer. To comfort her friend.
But then, Ella slowly raised her head. She wiped away her tears and smiled at her friend.
"Thank you, Reina."
She said it as she launched the steel marble from her hand. It had enough force to knock someone out if it struck a vital spot. But an acrobat of Reina's caliber couldn't possibly fail to dodge it from this distance. She twisted her body and easily evaded the attack.
"As if I couldn't dodge something like—"
"Miss Reina, behind you!"
Right after Wonderstein shouted, Reina felt a blunt impact strike her back. She let out a short gasp, shot Ella one last confused look, and collapsed to the floor.
Wonderstein knew exactly what trick she'd used. The marble hadn't been aimed at Reina at all. It was aimed at the hat he was wearing.
Trait: Inspira - Hat Magic
Target: The interiors of Ella's hat and Wonderstein's hat.
Effect: The two targets are spatially linked. Place an object you wish to send into the hat and put it on. The object vanishes before it ever touches your crown. The moment the other person removes their own hat, it appears inside theirs.
Requirement: Ella's Affection level ≥ 30
Earlier, when fighting Wonderstein, she'd caught the bone bullets he'd fired with Charlie's hat and then quickly put it on, sending them into another space. That very attack had just burst out the moment she'd knocked his hat off, striking Reina.
Even now, she hadn't forgotten the groundwork she'd laid back then, using it to simply dispatch a troublesome obstacle like Reina.
Wonderstein, however, had no time to admire her skill. Ella walked up to him, his crushed limbs pinned to the wall, and pressed the gun barrel to his forehead.
"Well, goodbye."
He tried to summon the Shabain's tentacles he'd hidden in the shadows. But just before he did, he got a close look at her face. She was crying. The hatred and rage had been washed away by the tears, leaving only a muddied stain of sorrow and regret that refused to fade.
In that moment of hesitation, the gun went off.
Bang.
He felt like his consciousness had been hurled meters away and slammed into the ground.
So this is what having your brain blown out feels like? It's nothing special...
But he soon realized he had literally been thrown meters away from where he'd been. Some force had shoved him the instant the gun fired. He couldn't understand how.
Ella was equally stunned. As the one who'd pulled the trigger, she'd seen it clearly. The bullet had vanished into thin air.
"What the hell...?"
That was when a red liquid suddenly gushed out of the air. From the exact spot where the bullet had vanished. Blood welled from nowhere, tracing a smooth curve as it splattered onto the floor.
Unlike Ella, who stared in confusion, Wonderstein immediately understood. He remembered the item he'd given her long ago.
"Miss Maya..."
As he called her name, the invisibility illusion wavered and Maya's form was revealed. She'd been leaning against the wall, bleeding from a gunshot to her abdomen. The moment the illusion dropped, she collapsed to the floor.
"M-Maya? How did you...?"
Ella looked across the chamber. The Reaper was just now subduing Ruelo. The frozen image of Maya trapped with Karen wavered and vanished like a mirage.
She hadn't been caught by the Reaper at all. She'd fooled his eyes with an illusion, using transparent paint to slip away unnoticed. Seeing Ella about to fire, she'd launched herself with telekinesis and saved Wonderstein.
Normally, she could exert force from a distance, but the lingering energy of the Sanctuary was so strong here that her magic kept scattering. She'd had no choice but to propel herself like a human bullet.
"Oh no... h-how could this... Maya? Maya!"
Ella threw the gun aside and caught Maya as she collapsed, blood pouring from her wound.
How could this happen...? Two people. I've shot two friends in one day...
"*Cough*, D-Deputy Leader..."
With the last of her strength before losing consciousness, Maya spoke. Her face was as blank as ever, but her eyes held a desperate light.
"You mustn't harm the Troupe Leader..."
Her head drooped. Ella stared down at her, despair flooding her eyes as Maya's face grew deathly pale. She stood there, frozen like a statue, then gritted her teeth and screamed.
"Cappi!"
She clenched her fist. No matter how many friends tried to stop her, it couldn't be helped. Having come this far, she had to kill that demon.
"Kill that man, now—"
But she couldn't finish. Wonderstein, who she thought was on the verge of death, was now propped up by dozens of tentacles emerging from the darkness. He flashed her a dazzling smile.
"That's enough, Miss Ella."
He played his final card to end this.
"If you want to save your friend."
The tentacles squirmed, lifting something into view.
"*Ghk... gragh...* E-Ella..."
It was Charlie.