A dimensional journey starting from the Dragon Clan

"I might as well go find Sigma. The uncertainties on his side are so big, maybe he can make a positive out of a negative, which makes it more interesting."

Dressed in a Gothic Lolita outfit, Francesca first muttered a few words that were incomprehensible, then immediately put on a smile and continued: "Forget it, I have thought of a more interesting game anyway. "

After Francesca finished her magical communication with someone, she looked lazily at the crystal ball in the dark.

More than ten minutes later, the crystal ball suddenly emitted an extraordinarily strong light. Francesca instantly noticed the strange change in the picture, and suddenly said with excitement: "Huh? Huh? Who is it? Could it be a stalker?"

Before he finished speaking, the scene on the screen changed again.

Francesca looked at the "corpse" in the crystal ball excitedly and laughed heartily: "Hahaha! So awesome, so awesome! We encountered such a disaster as soon as we came out! What should we do?"

Francesca was like a child at this time, her eyes were shining, her cheeks were red, and she was smiling intoxicated.

"Ah, ah, ah! Alto, what are you going to do, what are you going to do? The master died just after he was summoned. Isn't this too dramatic?"

Francesca was laughing all the while saying appalling things. Soon, the picture reflected on the crystal ball made her tilt her head, and the smile stopped on her face as if a pause button had been pressed.

"……Huh?"

A question came to Francesca's mind.

"Who is that 'swordsman'...?"

············

snowfield

Half of the opera house collapsed.

Ayaka Sajo is here cursing her fate. Even though this is the fate she brought upon herself, she cannot help but curse the so-called fate.

Because Ayaka was involved in endless incidents of abnormal situations, she couldn't think of a better explanation except that it was a prank by gods or demons.

Next to Ayaka lay the corpse of a human magician. The corpse had no external injuries, but it showed a painful expression as if its heart had been crushed, making it impossible to feel any signs of life.

In Ayaka's view, the magician's heart was crushed by someone's hands - the heart that appeared in someone else's hand had disappeared, but the magician's chest was not scarred, and even his clothes were intact.

The man who "crushed his heart" also disappeared from here.

Because an incredible man appeared in front of Ayaka and defeated him.

The cause of the matter goes back to a few minutes ago.

At that time, Ayaka lost her personal freedom. The magician hadn't turned into a corpse yet, and it was he who bound Ayaka's whole body with his magic tools.

"Do you think you are hiding well? You really underestimate me."

There was helplessness in the magician's words. He looked Ayakashi up and down and asked puzzledly: "Look at the imprint on your body that looks like a command curse... Are you the person Faldius mentioned? What is your purpose?"

"...How do I know? It was a strange white woman who asked me to come." Ayaka replied stiffly. Her eyes were filled with despair for the world and anger at the current unreasonable situation.

Seeing this, the magician thought for a while and said without interest: "So, you are a wandering magician who was treated as an abandoned son by Einzbern's 'flesh doll'... How pitiful. However, I can't You interrupted the ceremony. Sorry, I have to get rid of you first."

The magician let the magic power run through the magic circuits all over his body. He didn't even have a trace of murderous intention, and simply regarded killing Ayaka as a job.

However, at this moment.

"...Hmm." The magician suddenly stopped and pressed the magic-like earrings on his ears with his fingers. "Is it this woman? Why?"

The magician seemed to be communicating with someone through the magic tool, and Ayaka naturally couldn't hear the other person's voice.

"I see, I understand, then I will play this game with you."

After the call ended, the magician took a deep breath, looked at Ayaka who was restrained by the spell again, and said: "Although this is a spur-of-the-moment game, I am indeed very interested."

"ah?"

"Nothing, I just want to confirm how loyal the heroic spirit that is about to be summoned is to me."

The magician raised the corners of his lips and smiled.

"Let me see how the noble hero who is praised as the Knight King of the Round Table will react when he hears the order to 'kill this defenseless woman'."

Ayaka only understood one thing - she might be killed by the noble hero summoned by the magician.

"It can't be that if that guy from the Round Table refuses to kill me, I won't have to die, right?" Ayaka said sarcastically.

The magician answered bluntly: "I can also use the command spell to make that heroic spirit obey orders. Unfortunately, I am not the kind of hedonist who would use command spells in games. When the time comes, I will have to use this spell to strangle you." neck."

"Are you sure you don't want to kill me first? Maybe I will hinder your ceremony." Ayaka continued sarcastically in despair.

"Don't you notice that your voice is trembling? Stop trying to be brave." Contrary to Ayaka's almost self-defeating taunt, the magician's tone has been very calm, "When I tell you this information, it is almost equivalent to telling you that I am about to summon Which heroic spirit. Do you know why I did this?"

"Why?" Ayaka asked with a slight frown.

"Because the heroic spirit I am about to summon is also one of the 'War Letters'. Even if someone knows about it, there will be no problem. On the contrary, through your employer, you can make a big mockery of the association and Einzbern. Although I feel that this behavior is futile, after all, I have received a reward commensurate with it.”

Generally speaking, magicians would try their best to conceal the information they possess. This is their common sense, but this magician received a commission to "publicize the information." He shrugged and continued: "To put it simply, your risking your life to sneak in is also part of our plan."

"..." Ayaka fell silent upon hearing this.

"Francesca also asked me to confirm whether the suspected command spell on your body has the power to hinder the summoning. I really can't stand her. In her opinion, it seems that even we are just toys. But it doesn't matter, even if you do something Resistance ruined my ritual, but I can still receive the reward. Until then, I will just consider it as a 'Thank you for your patronage' in the lottery." The magician seems to have no idea whether he can successfully summon the heroic spirit, or even whether he can participate in the Holy Grail War. not interested.

Rather than wishing for something illusory like praying to the Holy Grail, he seemed to care more about the rewards that were right in front of him.

On the other side, Ayaka noticed that the curse tool wrapped around her neck was about to move, so she lowered her eyes silently.

She has lost hope. Being bound by such a spell, she has no defense at all and can only be slaughtered.

The magician ignored her and started chanting a spell toward the altar set up on the stage.

"The foundation is silver and iron, the foundation is stone and the Grand Duke of the Contract——"

For Ayaka, this is both a meaningless pile of words and a countdown to death. Because she is not actually a magician, and she came here out of necessity.

"My ancestor is my master..." the magician's chanting continued.

Ayaka listened to the magician chanting the incantation, and sighed as if it had nothing to do with her. She thought to herself: Oh, it's so boring that my escape drama is going to end here.

Yes, at this moment, she had given up hope of living.

"When the wind comes from the sky, we separate it with walls, and all the high doors in all directions are closed——"

Is this just a trick of fate? Or is it "the kid's" curse?

If possible, Ayaka hopes it will be the latter.

Yes, she is the protagonist in the ghost story, the ‘sinner’ being chased by Little Red Riding Hood.

But...if that's the case, I wonder if "that child" will just calm down?

It seems that as long as you find a reason, you can become more relaxed and escape from the reality of impending death.

At this time, Ayaka suddenly realized something was wrong.

As the magician's spell echoed around her, Ayaka felt a strange power moving around her body. The blood vessels seem to have turned into iron pipes, being continuously attracted by the magnet from the outside world.

Ayaka soon realized that the pulse did not come from blood vessels, but from the tattoos engraved on five parts of her body.

Does the pulse speak of resentment or joy?

Ayaka had the illusion that her body seemed to be screaming with the tattoo as its axis.

The sound became louder and louder, even covering up the magician's incantation.

The magician didn't seem to notice the strange change in Ayakashi. He remained vigilant and continued to send magic power to the magic tool that bound Ayakashi, but had no intention of interrupting the summoning ceremony.

However, Ayaka is not optimistic enough to think that as long as she performs some powerful magic here, she can kill the magician in front of her or teleport herself to a safe place.

I shouldn't blow myself up, right? Forget it, I can't escape death anyway.

After realizing this fact, Ayaka felt a sense of fear in her heart.

At the same time, there is also a desire not to die.

But this feeling feels very strange to Ayaka.

Don’t want to die? Why? I obviously have no purpose of living?

Is this a doubt emerging from the brain, or is it the tattoo engraved on her arm or the spell cast by the "white woman" that caused Ayaka to have such doubts?

Ayaka couldn't tell because the noise caused by the tattoo was so loud that she lost her basic ability to judge.

These sounds were like cheers or screams, welcoming something that was about to happen.

The next second——

Tangible "death" falls gracefully on the stage of the opera house. But "his" target is not Ayaka, but the magician who serves as Ayaka's executioner.

"From the Wheel of Inhibition, Guardian of the Scales?"

When did "he" appear there?

At least in Ayaka's eyes, "he" appeared suddenly.

The short figure was dressed in shadowy black clothes. Because "his" body was covered with black cloth, "his" face could not be seen clearly.

Ayaka only remembered one thing clearly - a strangely long arm stretched out from the gap in the black cloth and touched the magician's chest.

Seeing this scene, Ayaka instantly understood that the world she was now in was not the world she was familiar with - but the dark side of this world that ordinary people had never seen in their entire lives.

The moment Ayaka understood, a small figure appeared in her field of vision.

It was a little girl wearing a red hood.

However, Ayaka's brain was in confusion. She didn't know whether the little girl was a phantom or a real image.

Why is she here? This opera house...should not have...an elevator.

"He" appeared on the stage of the opera house in a posture like trampling a corpse, showing an innocent smile to Ayaka.

Before Ayaka realized the meaning of that smile, a feeling of fear ran through her body.

Was it Ayaka's spine that shivered first and creaked, or was it the uninvited guest in black who crushed the heart held by her long arms first? No one knows the answer.

"Woo...wow..."

Before the magician knew what was happening to him, blood spurted out of his mouth. Does he know who the person who killed him is?

Both the figure in black and "Little Red Riding Hood" scare Ayaka. But while Ayaka was afraid, she also had inappropriate worries: I don't want others to mistakenly think that I killed him.

Perhaps out of instinct, Ayaka knew that if she didn't think this way, she would be overwhelmed by fear.

After the magician could no longer move, the rope-like charms that bound Ayaka's body fell to the ground in pieces.

The moment Ayaka realized that she was free again and breathed a sigh of relief, "Little Red Riding Hood" disappeared from her sight——

The figure in black loomed right in front of her, causing Ayaka to hold her breath immediately.

"...Are you a magician who longs for the Holy Grail?"

As the other party asked mechanically, it seemed as if a cold air turned into countless sharp needles and pierced Ayaka's body. The previous fear was nothing more than a gentle drizzle in comparison.

From the voice, Ayaka judged that the other party should be a young woman, maybe even younger than Ayaka.

But this woman in black gave people the impression that she was colder, sharper, and more steady than the magician who just said he wanted to kill Ayaka.

When Ayaka saw this woman in black for the first time, she was convinced of one thing: she would be killed if she gave a wrong answer, and she would be killed if she told lies. The woman in black doesn't have "murderous intent" yet, but if I make a wrong choice, I will turn into a corpse before I even feel the murderous intent, just like the magician on the ground.

Thinking of this, Ayaka decided to answer the woman in black honestly: "I..."

But suddenly, something happened again.

The opera house was filled with light, enveloping the entire stage.

The woman in black jumped back warily. Ayaka had just been freed from the restraints and could not even stand up. Just squinting her eyes and looking in the direction of the light source had exhausted all her strength.

There is a figure in the light.

And, there's more than one.

The scene before her eyes made Ayaka feel incredible.

Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds. Among the group of figures, several people knelt down on one knee to greet the last thickly colored figure.