Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 55: Ch53. RE: [World Quest] (11) - Or I will

Chapter 55: Ch53. RE: [World Quest] (11) - Or I will

Sarissa’s pulse pounded like a war drum in her ears, the raw power of her new Attribute thrumming inside her veins like wildfire, even though she was not consciously using it.

The moment the system’s notification faded from her vision, she felt it. Something different, something untamed.

She didn’t understand it yet, but she felt what it meant.

Whatever it was, it was an antithesis to Miles’ skill, and one so powerful that it had broken his time stop completely.

The only problem was...

He knew it too.

Miles stood across from her, his scythe resting lazily against his shoulder. But for the first time since the battle began, he wasn’t laughing. Instead, the glowing eyes in his mask were narrowed to slits, and even the stitched lips, masterfully carved on the mask, were not smiling anymore.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," he mused, his voice devoid of any emotion while he tapped his scythe against the ground. "It looks like you’re finally starting to show your true colors..."

Sarissa exhaled sharply, forcing the erratic energy inside her to settle, to focus.

Her new Attribute had given her a chance, but she still needed to figure out how to wield it properly.

No hesitation. No second-guessing.

She lunged, a burst of fire exploding beneath her feet as her [Wonderland’s Inferno] ignited, launching her forward faster than before. The battlefield blurred as she closed the gap, her sword igniting mid-swing.

Miles reacted instantly, twisting his scythe up to parry the downward strike. The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the city. Sparks burst from their blades as Sarissa pushed forward, forcing Miles to brace himself. Then, she felt it.

The faint flicker of something unseen, a momentary distortion in the air around her.

Time. Miles was about to shift it again.

"Not this time!" She clenched her jaw, planting her feet and lowering herself in a defensive stance.

She felt it, the unnatural pull of time twisting against her body, trying to force her movements to slow, to stagger. Her Attribute, though, pulsed in response, almost as if it was a passive skill, raw and unrefined, and suddenly, the effect shattered like glass once more.

"Oh?" Miles’ mask tilted slightly, the red glow intensifying, his body already moving towards her.

"I said not this time." Sarissa grinned, her flames surging brighter.

Her sword swung low, aimed at his ribs as soon as Miles got within her range. He barely twisted away in time, but Sarissa was already moving again, predicting his retreat. She pivoted, fire roaring to life around her arms, her strikes faster, sharper, more unpredictable.

She wasn’t adapting to his time manipulations anymore.

She was outright rejecting them.

Miles blocked another blow with the shaft of his scythe, but she could see it now. The briefest hesitation, the faintest twitch of his fingers before he altered time’s flow. He was calculating, searching for a way to regain the upper hand.

And for the first time in their battle, he didn’t have it.

Sarissa drove her knee toward his gut, forcing him to leap back. She pressed the attack, unleashing a wave of [Wonderland’s Inferno] in his path. The flames twisted unnaturally, the embers whirling in chaotic spirals as if feeding off the presence of her new Attribute.

Miles skidded backward, his coat singed at the edges, and the fire was not disappearing this time. His mask’s frown stretched wider, but there was something different in his stance now.

For the first time, he looked dead serious.

"You really are something else." He spun his scythe once, the blade gleaming ominously beneath the storm clouds above them. "But let’s see if that little trick of yours can keep up... When I stop playing nice."

The moment the words left his lips, the air around them cracked like thunder, and Sarissa’s vision blurred violently.

A crushing force slammed into her from all directions, as if the very air had turned into an unrelenting tide, trying to pull her apart.

Miles raised his free hand, fingers curling slightly, and Sarissa gasped as she felt it.

Time fractured. Not only hers, but the time around the entire battlefield.

Even a few players who had probably been attracted by their commotion, now looked petrified, frozen in place like statues.

The rain froze in midair, droplets suspended like glass shards reflecting firelight. The embers of their battle halted, flames swaying but not moving. And then, it all snapped forward.

The rain poured down like a waterfall, fire exploded outward, even the players, unaware of the danger that battlefield represented, were drawn into the chaos, and violently expelled from it, nothing but red mist left of them. And suddenly, Miles was right in front of her.

Too fast.

His scythe sliced downward, and Sarissa barely blocked in time, thanks to the instincts she honed in that very battle of life and death, her arms shaking from the force of the impact. The pavement beneath her cracked apart, spiderweb fractures spreading out in every direction.

A chill ran down her spine. He wasn’t just altering her time anymore.

He was altering everything.

"Miles..." She hissed through gritted teeth, struggling against the weight pressing down on her.

"You’re learning," he said, almost lazily. "But let’s be honest, Sarissa. If I wanted you dead, you’d already be dead."

"Then why haven’t you killed me yet?" Her grip tightened on her sword.

"Because," Miles exhaled, pushing her back with a flick of his wrist. "I want to see how far you can go."

Sarissa staggered, but she refused to fall. Her mind raced, trying to make sense of the new layer of chaos Miles had just unleashed.

Before, he had been slowing her down, then speeding her up, making her fight against herself. Now, he was manipulating the entire battlefield at once.

’Just how powerful are you, really?’ She gritted her teeth, steadying herself.

The only thing keeping her in the fight was her Attribute. This strange, impossible ability to defy the logic of the world around her.

She had to push it further.

But then, just like when she had found a way to fight against his ability to slow her down, and then to speed her up, the seed of an idea sprouted in her mind. A fleeting flicker of realization that, tiny as it was, blew her mind, and the entirety of her understanding of the world.

Of the game.

’My Attribute doesn’t have to do with the world’s logic, for starters...’ She frowned, feeling her flames swirling wildly inside her.

No. Her Attribute, [Treasure’s Nature], had to do with her ability to question everything, just like it was stated in its description. However, it only bloomed once she pushed against her limits, fighting against Miles’ time-manipulating skill. But...

Sarissa’s flames flared wildly, her control over them growing more erratic, more unpredictable. But instead of reigning them in, she let them go.

’But what I questioned wasn’t the logic of this world, but Miles’s time-manipulation. And...’

And Miles’ power did not have to do with Earth, or even with The Glitch, it seemed.

No...

’It has to do with Wonderland itself.’

After all, just like Miles had said when they started to fight...

’He is the Mad Hatter...’

She let the chaos consume her.

’So, all I have to do is...’

She had been fighting him like a player. Like a human being.

But now, she understood.

Miles wasn’t just another overpowered opponent. He wasn’t someone she could simply outlevel, outlast, or outfight. He was something else entirely.

Something outside the system. Something she had never faced before.

And it meant that if she wanted to kill him...

’... Stop fighting like a player too.’

Miles stepped forward, but the moment he did, the very air warped around him. The flames he had dodged before suddenly turned, spiraling toward him in an unnatural curve.

"Oh?" His mask tilted slightly, as if amused.

"I think I’m starting to get the hang of this." Sarissa smirked, blood dripping down her chin.

Then, the battlefield erupted.

Flames danced like living things, the ground splitting apart beneath them as Sarissa forced the very concept of order to unravel. The air flickered, the rain stuttering midfall, Miles’ own time manipulations crackling against the force of her defiance, of her denial.

The world bent for both of them now.

Miles lunged, and Sarissa met him head-on.

Their weapons clashed in a thunderous explosion, the very air around them fracturing, time itself becoming unstable. For every step Miles took, Sarissa broke the rules further, her body shifting in ways that shouldn’t be possible, her flames burning where fire shouldn’t burn.

The fight was no longer about speed or strength. It was a battle of who could rewrite reality first.

"Yes! This is it, Sarissa! Show me what you’re really made of!" Miles’ laughter echoed through the storm, manic and wild.

Sarissa gritted her teeth, her vision tinged with red.

"It’s now or never, Miles..." Her lips curled upward without her even noticing.

She had to win.

Not for the guild. Not for survival.

For herself. And she would tear apart the very foundations of this world if that’s what it took.

However, before she could do anything this time, a different voice echoed from the mask.

Not from beneath it. From the mask itself.

"I don’t think so, Miles... You’ve been playing too much to my liking." The metallic, unnatural voice slithered through the air. "You’re going to kill her right now."

And after the briefest of moments, it broke the sudden silence in the battlefield.

"Or I will."

It was then that Sarissa finally understood.