Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 136: Ch134. Rematch

Chapter 136: Ch134. Rematch

The throne room of the Queen’s castle was a cavern of ruin, its vastness swallowed by shadows, echoes of violence reverberating through the decayed stone walls.

[You killed a Monster: Card Soldier]

[EXP: 150]

Miles stood amidst the remains of her [Card Soldiers], shattered, defeated fragments of once-towering monstrosities, now reduced to little more than heaps of rust and broken steel with bleeding flesh underneath it. His scythe was slick with the remnants of their destruction, his breath ragged but steady, his mind half-adrift in a sea of memories.

The Last Verse...

The moment the Queen’s army had first charged, the scene had turned into a blur of motion and destruction. The [Card Soldiers], once towering and menacing, now lay crumpled beneath Miles’ relentless assault. Each cut, each sweep of the scythe, was an automatic reflex, a sharpened instinct, honed by unimaginable battles.

Yet, with every fall of their fractured forms, it was the quiet whispers in his mind, the memories of the Last Verse, that began to surge.

It had started with the lingering image of the Oracle, Alice, her cryptic smile, and the dizzying revelations that had followed. The whispers echoed in his skull like an unanswered riddle, a fading shadow of a truth he couldn’t fully grasp. The Tower, the trials, the hints buried deep in the world’s history, it had all started to piece together now, even if not fully yet.

It was no longer just about the Hatter, him, or leveling up to become stronger.

It was not even about the Queen of Hearts. There were threads here, connections made in unseen places.

A brutal slash cleaved through the air, cutting another [Card Soldier] in half. Its deformed body collapsing to the ground with a sickening clatter, but Miles did not pause, his next target already in his sights.

[You killed a...]

’What was all that for?’ He thought, his breath steady with the rhythmic clashes of battle. ’Senseless destruction and death. And there’s no one around to even remember...’

Another soldier lunged from the left, a clawed hand swiping with a speed that would have cleaved most in half, but Miles was already gone as soon as the monstrosity moved, his figure a blur, too fast to follow.

His scythe flashed in the dying light of the throne room, its blade distorting the space and time around it, reaching the enemy half a second before it even started to move. The Monster dropped to the ground, crumpling into a heap of twisted metal.

[You killed a...]

His thoughts went back to the god of war’s trial.

’Coming to think of it... Was that even a trial?’

It felt more like a test than a trial proper.

The memories came rushing back in fragments, and the more he remembered about his strange experience with the god, the easier it got to slice and slash through the ranks of monstrous abominations that protected the Queen’s wraith.

The floodgates of Miles’ heart had been open, and he poured every single drop of hatred and disgust he felt toward the god’s scheming mind into each strike of the [Harbinger’s Scythe] with cold and deadly precision, a dance of obsidian and steel that left nothing but scrap metal and mangled flesh behind.

[You killed a...]

[You killed a...]

[You killed a...]

But the Queen’s voice broke through his thoughts, her words echoing like a sickening mantra.

"You think you’ve won, thief? You’ll never escape me." Her voice came like a hiss, threading its way through the brokenness of the room. "You’ll never escape Wonderland."

He paused for just a moment, his eyes flicking up, but there were no [Card Soldiers] left to fight.

"Is that all you’ve got?" Miles asked under his breath, though his voice was still tinged with the weight of bitterness.

His chest heaved, his body was bruised, his mind still swirled with the aftermath of the fight. He could feel her presence crawling over the remnants of his thoughts like an invasive parasite.

As if summoned by his defiance, the ground trembled as something dark and ancient moved from the shadows.

The Queen’s wraith emerged from the twisted remains of the throne, her presence filling the room with an unnatural, suffocating pressure. Her hollow, burning gaze locked onto him, her skeletal body moving with a fluid, unnatural grace as she crossed the room toward him.

"Long time no see..." Miles’ lips curled upward ever so slightly. "I came to pay back for the pain you caused to Diego." He paused briefly, and then added. "And everyone else."

His hand tightened around the scythe’s shaft, and in the blink of an eye, he was ready once more. His muscles tensed, his mind sharpened.

He had fought through waves of enemies, but this... This was bound to be different. The air felt colder now, the room darker. This was no mere wraith. This was what remained of the Queen’s blazing rage.

"You took everything from me."

The Queen’s lips twisted into a hideous grin as she raised her hand, her fingers clawing at the air like the talons of some ancient beast.

"You will suffer for your betrayal!" She hissed, her voice layered with centuries of agony.

A surge of dark energy pulsed from her, blasting the air with an overwhelming force that cracked the stone beneath them. Miles twisted, dodging, but only just in time as the air around him split open with a sickening screech. The ground buckled beneath him, and in a blink, she was upon him, her claws raking through the air toward him.

But Miles was ready. He met her strike head-on with the edge of his scythe, the collision sending sparks of red energy scattering in every direction. The impact rattled his bones, but he held firm, planting his feet and pushing back with all his might.

’She’s still fast,’ Miles thought, a flicker of a grin creeping his lips up. ’But not so fast anymore.’

He moved the scythe with practiced fluidity, cleaving through the air toward her. Yet she danced around him with unnerving ease, every move a blur of speed and ancient malice.

"You are nothing, thief," she sneered, her voice thick with venom. "A mere insect beneath my boot."

Her claws slashed again, but Miles dodged it in the nick of time, letting out a sigh drenched in coldness.

The Queen’s laughter echoed around the room like a thousand twisted voices as she kept attacking, but Miles kept dodging and blocking, as if it was his living.

She lunged again, and this time, her claws tore into his side, but Miles spun, used to the pain, using her momentum against her, and drove his scythe straight through her midsection. The blow was vicious, yet she did not scream. Instead, her face contorted in an expression of pure hatred.

"You think this will stop me?" Her voice seethed, filled with wrath.

"You know..." Miles broke her monologue as he kicked her in the chest, putting some distance between them. "I had nothing against you in the beginning. I thought you were just one of the system’s construct, created for me to level up and become stronger to... To whatever means the game had in mind. But after the god of War and Progress told me about your business with him..."

He exhaled sharply, and suddenly, a second shadow appeared from the ground under his feet, enveloping him and reshaping itself into something else.

’[Doppelganger].’

Immediately, Miles was covered in a long, midnight-black coat with silver seams and straps that buckled it against his body.

Soon after, the two bronze vambraces that covered his forearms seemed to reshape themselves, flowing into the shoulders of the coat to become powerful pauldrons, and immediately, Miles’ presence was not the same anymore.

"Are you ready for the last dance?" Miles asked, his face a mask of cold determination.

"YOU THIEF!" The wraith lunged at him.

’[Timeless].’ Miles thought, and in the blink of an eye, the world seemed to stop turning around him.

Even the Queen’s wraith looked frozen in time, her indignant expression still etched to her decayed face.

Miles sent a clean slash toward her torso, time and space ripped from one another in that single movement, and just as quickly as time had stopped, it resumed again.

The wraith’s hollow eyes widened, and she let out a sharp screech.

[You killed a wraith: Queen of Hearts]

[You received: 15,000 EXP]

[You received an echo]

[You received: Hidden Piece (01/365)]

Miles’ eyes widened.