Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 210: Ch208. [Dark Forest] (12) - Kill them

Chapter 210: Ch208. [Dark Forest] (12) - Kill them

The sword thrummed as Miles stepped closer, and the air around it shimmered, vibrating with restrained energy, as if the weapon had not only weight, but will. As if the sword had not been touched by time at all, it rested, still alive and breathing, on the floor before the throne.

It pulsed faintly with a deep red glow, in time with something deeper than heartbeats, like a song being sung through the heartbeat of something ancient and patient.

Miles stood before it, hesitant.

The figure on the throne had fallen still, as though pointing at the sword had drained what little life remained in its shriveled form. The chains around its limbs were slack, as if they only bound it out of ritual now, not strength.

"Touch... It..." The thing spoke again, shaking Miles off his reverie, and he did. His fingers trembled as he reached out, brushing the hilt of the sword. His hand curled around it, and the world snapped.

There was a lurch, like falling through his own spine. The throne room fractured into light and shadow, then darkness.

***

The forest was different.

Sunlight filtered through soft green leaves. Birds chirped, and the breeze carried the scent of grass and old wood.

A girl with bright red hair ran between the trees, laughter trailing behind her like petals in the wind. She looked no older than fourteen, barefoot, her white dress stained with grass and dirt. Her eyes were a warm, deep brown, wide with joy.

"Catch me if you can, hatter-boy!" She laughed, running through the trees, pretending to be running from the boy, who pretended to chase her with everything he had.

He was tall for his age, with pale skin and a mop of black hair tucked under a tilted top hat far too large for him. He was trying to be serious, dignified, but the way he chased after her with outstretched arms betrayed his youth.

"Oh, you won’t get away from me, princess!" He said as if he were some kind of villain, and then he laughed, chasing the red-haired girl until they reached the edge of the forest.

They laughed together, tumbling through the clearing, the world golden around them.

Then they stopped.

At the edge of a clearing, hidden behind thick brambles and trees that bent unnaturally inward, there was a structure.

A temple.

It wasn’t overgrown, like the rest of the forest. No vines clung to its dark stone walls, no moss softened its sharp, cruel angles.

It stood silent, wrong.

The girl took a step forward.

"Do you feel that?" She frowned.

"Like something’s watching." The boy nodded, face pale.

She reached out to touch the threshold...

***

Sarissa stood at the threshold of the [Dark Forest], her blade drawn and humming faintly in her grip. The forest’s twisted canopy loomed behind her like the gaping maw of something vast and ancient, breathing its fetid breath onto the living world.

The line between the Dungeon and the surface had long since blurred. Behind her, the other players were silent, locked in place by the unfathomable presence before them.

Shinji stood with Victor at his side and a monstrous host behind them. [Card Soldiers] in a jagged mix of metal and flesh, their eyes empty of thought or soul. Insectoid creatures from the deeper levels of the Dungeon writhed and clicked, chittering hungrily.

Shinji’s coat was still the same deep violet, untouched by time, but the man inside it wasn’t the same. There was no pretense of civility anymore. The light bent wrong around him, and even the sun above the treetops seemed dimmer for his presence as it rose.

A low hum passed through the monsters, and one by one, they knelt.

Even Victor bowed his head, reverent.

Sarissa kept [Cheshire’s Gleam] raised, warm in her hand, she didn’t dare to blink.

"Shinji," Sarissa’s voice was steady. "You’ve finally decided to come out of hiding."

He turned his head slightly toward her with that same polite smile. But there was an impossible void behind his eyes.

"I never hid." He retorted. "I merely waited. You all were so busy playing the game, chasing ghosts, while I was out here, playing the real game, and now? The pieces are all in place."

"You were silent for months after the [Mouth of the Abyss]." Sarissa replied. "We thought you were regrouping, planning, but now I see that you were preparing something worse."

Shinji chuckled, low and pleasant, and it made her skin crawl.

"I was watching, learning. The world has so many stories. Most of them nothing but lies. But the true ones? The Deep ones? You can feel them now, can’t you?"

Sarissa didn’t answer. The forest around them whispered in a tongue not meant for mortals. She could feel it too. Something stirring in the roots, in the sky, in the breath between seconds.

"What do you want?" She asked, her stance coiled, ready to strike.

"To finish this Chapter." Shinji said. "And begin writing the next one."

She narrowed her eyes. Behind her, the others were shifting, readying their weapons. Sparks of magic hung in the air like fireflies waiting to explode.

"Where’s Miles?" She demanded.

"He will probably return." Shinji said, with no urgency. "If he’s not too badly injured to walk on his own."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You’ll see." Shinji murmured. "Or you won’t."

Victor remained kneeling, unmoving. The monsters didn’t rise, the tension built to a razor edge.

Sarissa stepped forward.

"I’m done with riddles!" she said. "If you want to start something, then start it here."

"Always so eager to fight. So dramatic. But no, not yet." Shinji tilted his head, thoughtful.

He raised a hand, and the air tore open behind him. A rift of raw black energy opened like a vertical wound, its edges shimmering with unreality. Through it, there was only darkness.

Victor rose silently and stepped toward it.

"You’re running..." Sarissa said.

"I’m attending more urgent matters." Shinji corrected. "This is just the first ripple. The tide comes later."

He stepped toward the rift, but paused at the edge. His voice came quieter, like an echo from somewhere far deeper than the forest.

"You should’ve stayed in the city, Sarissa. You’ll see soon enough, none of this was ever your story."

She gritted her teeth, her grip tightening.

But then, before anything else happened, Shinji tilted his head, and as if changing his mind on something at the last second, he snapped his fingers.

The [Card Soldiers] surged up, and the insects uncoiled and screeched.

"Kill them." he said.

And then Shinji and Victor vanished into the dark rift.