Chapter 109
“…What a big chessboard.”
When Kirshtalia and Fujimaru Ritsuka arrived at the newly appeared chessboard area today, they found that the three teammates who arrived here earlier were setting up instruments to collect on-site data. The chessboard that appeared in front of them was just like the chessboard that looked like a huge field in "Alice Through the Looking Glass".
Many streams flow straight from one end to the other, dividing this huge and vast land into sixty-four square grids - but there are no chess pieces on them, there is only an empty chessboard.
"Mashu, did you find anything?" Fujimaru Ritsuka walked to Mashu's side and asked her longest companion, "Alice in the Mirror Adventure encounters different things when she passes through each chessboard, but this chessboard is empty - I suspect there is a trick on the chessboard, or a power that can change space."
"But the most important question is - who will go?" Kirshtalia called Ophelia and Mustard Hinamiko back and walked behind Fujimaru Ritsuka. "It's already the fifth day. For safety reasons, we have to complete the 'Soldier Promotion' ceremony before tomorrow's dinner time at the latest."
"I don't know if the Black Camp has figured out the content of 'pawn promotion'." Fujimaru Ritsuka glanced at the empty chessboard and walked forward, "But we all know that Alice, as the pawn of the White Queen, started from the second square of the chessboard. When she reached the eighth square, she was crowned as the Queen."
"We are the White Camp, and in chess, there are only White pieces and Black pieces."
Ophelia: "Alice's story is just about how she became the queen from the white chess piece..."
"So we have no way of judging whether the Black Faction has guessed that the 'Pawn Promotion' can qualify them to be crowned as the Queen." Mustard Namiko looked up at the castle not far away, "Because the participants of the Black Faction don't know whether this path on the chessboard is safe for them or a trap."
"Since Alice is the white chess piece on the chessboard, the White Faction's path to 'pawn promotion' is undoubtedly safe." Mashu looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka who had already stood at the edge of the chessboard and took out the portable spirit particle communication device from Ortenaus. "This is Alice's path to becoming the queen - Senior, are you ready to enter the chessboard?"
"...I have no objection to this." After a brief thought, Kirshtalia agreed with Fujimaru Ritsuka's decision, and then raised a more realistic question, "In that case, the final action to obtain the Holy Grail must be completed by you alone - if I am not mistaken..."
"The Holy Grail will only appear when there is only one group of participants left in each of the three camps." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at her teammates calmly and completed what Kirshtalia had not finished saying, "So, if you want to stay until the end, you can also choose to enter the chessboard - only one person can enter the chessboard, because Alice only replaced one white chess piece."
"Then I wish you good luck in fighting."
Mustard Namiko and Ophelia exchanged glances and watched Fujimaru Ritsuka step into the row of chessboard where the white soldiers were located - barely visible ripples spread in the air, and right after Fujimaru Ritsuka stepped into the chessboard, he disappeared from the sight of the four people without a trace.
"A soldier will move two squares in his first move, so Alice quickly passed the third square and came to the fourth square - this square belongs to the two brothers, Brother Dingdang and Brother Dingdang." Mashu looked at the empty chessboard in front of him and subconsciously began to repeat the content of the fairy tale, "The fifth square is full of water, and the sixth square is the place for the short fat man..."
"The seventh square is all forests, and there will be a knight named Alice to show the way." Kirshtalia continued what Mash said, but her brows gradually furrowed as she looked at the chessboard. "And in the eighth square, she will become the queen - by the way, if you can't finish the journey in one day..."
"Is Ritsuka going to stay out all night tonight?"
"There is a safe time..." Ophelia thought for a moment, "It can't be that dangerous, right?"
"No - before the safe time comes, only the safe zone is absolutely safe." Maxiu recalled what happened in the corridor on the first night. "Although we haven't encountered anything abnormal in the past few days, except for the daytime when we can confirm that there will be no abnormalities, nothing abnormal happened at night before the safe time arrives... It's just because we entered the room early."
On the other side, the two groups of people who were using the stork riders to observe the battles of other camps in the guest room witnessed a crazy battle - the red rose petals that flowed out of Zhenhong's hands flew around and surrounded the last few rose girls. In the bright red petals that covered the sky, the blonde puppet looked down at her sisters like a queen, and at the same time, the puppets who were about to become her defeated opponents.
No one knows why Zhen Hong, who clearly loves her sisters, suddenly turned her knife against them. The plan to encircle and suppress Xue Hua Qi Jing was originally proposed by Zhen Hong. At that time, Zhen Hong said that she didn't want to see her sisters leave her, so Xue Hua Qi Jing must be eliminated...
At that time, all the rose girls except Xuehua Qijing tacitly agreed to Shinku's proposal - after all, even the little Hemei has a body made by her father, and Xuehua Qijing without a body would naturally make them feel uneasy; so they surrounded Xuehua Qijing, and the seventh doll, the Rose Mother, fell into Shinku's hands.
After that, until yesterday - no other sisters died, and Shinku did not show the same strong attitude of wanting to kill all the sisters as she did today.
However, yesterday, under the attack of the Lord of Black Caster, the first puppet, Mercury Lamp, and the fourth puppet, Cang Xingshi, both lost the qualifications to continue fighting.
However, no one knows where their Rose Mother has gone - but seeing that Shinku has trapped all the Rose Girls and the power of the medium by herself, it is enough to prove that she took away the two Rose Mothers whose whereabouts are unknown when no one noticed.
It is difficult for the Rose Girl to be threatened by any means other than taking away the Rose Mother - however, as long as they are alive, they have spirit... Physical attacks cannot take their lives, but the only way the Lord of Black Caster can fight is mental attacks.
——It was an existence like a natural enemy.
"There are four Rose Mothers in Zhenhong——"
Before Canary could finish her words, she was suppressed by the increasingly fierce attack of the rose petals and could not speak - however, before the Rose Mother completely left her body, Iwanaga Kotoko grabbed her and pulled her into her arms, and the endangered Rose Mother shrank back into Canary's body; the other groups followed suit, and the mediums used their own bodies to protect their puppets.
"This is a battle that starts with failure..." After squeezing together with the other two groups, Iwanaga Kotoko hugged Canary and whispered the final conclusion she could draw based on the intelligence she had obtained, "We can't beat the fifth doll, or there is no need to beat the fifth doll - because she is already the winner of this game."
Iwanaga Kotoko has always been good at covering up the truth with hypotheses, but that doesn't mean she won't dig for the truth like a detective - and, based on the need to make up lies, she must know everything... So, in a sense, she is undoubtedly a top armchair detective.
——Even if the Rose Mother has left the body of the Rose Girl, anyone can snatch her as long as the winner does not take the Rose Mother of the loser into his body; and the Rose Girl who loses the Rose Mother will become an ordinary doll without life and can no longer move... unless the winner is willing to return the Rose Mother to the loser.
This is what Iwanaga Kotoko learned from Canary.
From the moment Xuehua Qijing left the stage, Iwanaga Kotoko had already begun her own reasoning - in this completely unfamiliar environment, the only thing she could rely on was her own brain.
——Although it is possible to infer that the fifth doll will return the Rose Mother to the sisters after becoming the winner, but for some reason, the Alice game is still going on, and the fifth doll seems to have completely lost the memory of being the winner... However, she is unwilling to accept this, even if she knows that even if Sakuragawa Kuro is by her side, she cannot change the ending of the fifth doll group clearing out all the members of the Crimson Camp...
——But I still feel unwilling.
"The winner of this battle is not just the winner of Alice's game - the battle we are fighting is the Holy Grail War." Iwanaga Kotoko took a deep breath and asked the two members of the same camp with whom she had little contact, "Which of you has contact with the other two camps!?"
——Since there is no way to shake the victory of the fifth doll, then we must do everything we can to put obstacles in her way of obtaining the Holy Grail.
——This is the last thing Kotoko Iwanaga can do.
"I know the people in the White Camp." Asaya Hanae held Hinamiya tightly in her arms, and under the pressure of the Red's attack, she managed to squeeze out a few words. She looked at Iwanaga Kotoko with the attitude of a servant of the Monster An, "I know all the people in the five groups of the White Camp. What do you need me to do, Princess?"
——Your Highness.
"Hahahahaha... this is really - I haven't heard this title for a while." Iwanaga Kotoko suddenly laughed. The two boys huddled together behind her didn't lose their composure amid the flying red petals. She finally remembered the self-introduction she heard in the banquet hall on the first day, "A servant of Monster Temple... So that's how it is. You - can be considered as someone who stands with those guys."
"Listen carefully - you don't need to defeat the fifth puppet, all you have to do is..."
"Give it all you have, run, escape, and live with the sixth doll—"
"That's enough."
——Only the Rose Girl who has collected all seven Rose Mothers can become Alice "Perfect Girl", and any one of the seven pieces is not enough; and before the Rose Girl is defeated, no matter what happens, as long as the Rose Girl does not take the initiative to offer the Rose Mother's will, no one can take her Rose Mother away.