Chapter 229

Chapter 229: Crisscross

Seven Thunder Titans, armor cladding their bodies, dropped out of the sky, then hurled heavy bombs, bolts of thunder, and blinding rings of fire. White Phosphorus Bombs streaked like meteors and set the Forest roaring with flames. Smoke rolled up and baked the dusk. Next, a Tin Man V-2 Dive Bomber tore open a Rift between the clouds and started bombing the densest knots of the Wolf Pack, raking the ground with its tail gun as it flew.

The sky ripped apart, literally.

Above the Black Forest, the once whole dusk sky looked like a broken mirror. It was sliced into many jagged pieces, and each shard reflected a different scene: shadowy spires, a bloody and grim court, a bright ballroom, a field where a flute played, a great ship coming home at night, a castle overgrown with thorns… It was as if every “subset” was collapsing toward the Black Forest at the center.

At the same time, all kinds of things began to fall from those mirror shards into the Black Forest: dragons, Giants, soldiers, burning wreckage and sails, castles, Demons.

The barriers between subsets had been forced “open.” The Black Forest, the “first stage” of the Fairy Tale set, now threw open its Door to every story.

An imposing Giant in iron armor trudged toward them. The sharp teeth of ordinary Evil Wolves were nothing against this Titan’s might, even if this Giant was only a “short one” among Titans. The Wolf Pack retreated before him, and then a familiar voice rang out from the Giant’s shoulder, bright with joy: “Sister Red Hood! I came to help you! Isn’t this great!”

Little Red Riding Hood pointed toward the far sky and shouted: “Your ‘mom’ is on her way to kill us!!”

A powerful voice blasted across the Black Forest the very next second: “Come! Come! Come!! Even in this ridiculous place, I’ll blow you all to-”

The madwoman’s voice only got halfway through when a blast of fire shot up from the ground. A Knight in full plate stepped right into the air and swung a sword at the Evil Queen in her fancy court dress as he roared: “For the King’s glory!”

The Knight lost after only a few exchanges. But right after that, an army formed amid the burning trees. The Scarecrow led the ground forces and opened fire on anything in the sky that didn’t look like one of theirs. After a heartbeat of shock, the Thunder Titans joined the battle too.

A chubby Tabby Cat burst out of the smoke. The instant the Knight fell, the cat flicked a paw for another Summoning. Figures popped into the air: a priest from a small town, a washed up wandering swordsman, a mage on the road, and a young hero who had just left his village.

“King” tossed an old sword to the dazed hero, smacked the kid’s arm with a paw, then pointed up at the enemy wrestling the Thunder Titans in the sky as he ordered: “Go hit her! Remember, shout about bonds, friendship, and everyone back in the village, then charge and swing. Remember! You have to shout! Once you shout, you’ll definitely land a hit! Go!”

Clutching a saber and dressed in a commander’s uniform, Dorothy staggered up out of a nearby crater. Blood streaked her face, but her smile shone: “All together! Hit the targets marked by the flares first!”

The Mermaid began to sing. Her voice echoed over this burning, chaotic, crazy, white hot battlefield. The song carried the sound of the sea. A moist, gentle breath seemed to wash over everything.

Rapunzel, her golden hair dragging on the ground, pulled a gold spike from a dying Demon’s chest and melted it back into her hair. Her upper body was bloody. In the Mermaid’s song, she squinted like she was bathing in a sea breeze and took a deep breath as she muttered: “Ha… so this is the buff from the Mermaid’s Song… huh?”

Rapunzel blinked and looked at the girl with a human body and fish tail who was singing on a big rock: “Wait… your singing isn’t giving me any buffs?”

The Mermaid stopped and stared back at her: “When did I ever say my singing gives buffs?”

“Then what is your singing for?”

“For sounding good!”

Little Red Riding Hood stood in the middle of this whirlwind of a battlefield, staring blankly at everything around her. [This felt like a war, not a story.]

Things were already a bit beyond what she’d expected.

It looked like a “war” to her now, a war between many Fairy Tale stories, kicked off in the most unreasonable way. Dorothy’s Resistance Army and the heroes appointed by King were attacking the Evil Queen. The Little Match Girl’s White Phosphorus Bombs were blasting the Wolf Pack in the Black Forest. A Dragon Slayer fell from the sky. Wicked Witches died from the shockwaves of the Red Dragon’s crash. Jack’s Giant Beanstalk was slowly strangling the Red Queen. A Pumpkin Carriage smashed the head of the Giant guarding the Golden Goose, and the big lug toppled out of the sky.

There was even a Mermaid singing in the middle of the field. Sometimes she sang a ballad, sometimes she rocked out, and when the mood hit, she dropped a beatbox. It didn’t do anything useful, but it sounded great, like she was scoring this mad, absurd play.

Then a harsh noise shrieked from the sky.

She looked up in shock and saw the horizon spanning shadow cast by Anka Aila twist in pain, spasming as if it were cramping. Tiny cracks crawled over its surface, and those terrible eyes went dark one after another.

She also glimpsed a Rift, standing at the center of the Black Forest. It felt like it had always been there, only now showing its true shape.

She saw Yu Sheng turn back with a bright, happy smile.

“What did you do?” Little Red Riding Hood shouted in amazement.

“Anka Aila made you all suffer so many nightmares. Now it’s time for it to have one,” Yu Sheng said with a grin, giving the simplest answer he could: “When its ‘gaze’ fixed on this place, I ripped up every story’s script. It should be too busy to stop me now.”

With shells bursting around them, Little Red Riding Hood had to yell: “You planned this from the start?”

“Of course!” Yu Sheng laughed, then turned and strode toward the Rift as he said: “I’m going to see what the stage looks like behind the scenes.”

“Then we…” Little Red Riding Hood began.

Yu Sheng waved without looking back as he said: “Keep making a mess. Make it as big as you can, until the Forest collapses and everything burns out. Then you’ll meet again in the wasteland. Rest there first. If everything goes well, the next time you open your eyes you’ll be back at the Valley camp.”

Little Red Riding Hood stood where she was, a little dazed as she watched the backs of Yu Sheng, Foxy, and Irene. After a few seconds, she found herself muttering and repeating what she had just heard: “…meet again in the field after death, celebrate, and return to life at the Sanctuary… why does that sound so mystical?”

Yu Sheng couldn’t hear any of that now.

With Foxy and Irene, he crossed the center of the chaos, stepped over the last stretch of scorched earth held by the Wolf Pack, and cleared every obstacle in their way. The “Rift” was now within arm’s reach.

Only at this distance did he realize the Rift was far larger than he had thought.

It was like a wall reaching from earth to sky, filling his entire view.

A faint hum drifted from inside the Rift.

The babies’ crying and the other sharp noises had vanished at some point.

“We’re really going in…” Irene said, her body a little tense as she added, “It’s kind of scary.”

Yu Sheng didn’t answer. He looked at the little Squirrel in the Doll’s arms.

The tiny Squirrel was still curled there.

“You can stay in the Black Forest,” Yu Sheng told her as he said, “We don’t know what the place we’re going to will be like. It may be dangerous. It may be frightening. Or it could be something else we didn’t expect at all.”

“Squirrel Knight…” The Squirrel pushed herself up in the Doll’s arms. She started to speak, hesitated, then after two seconds she swung her paw hard and said: “I’m going with you!”

“Why?”

“I…” The Squirrel shrank her neck, but she still met Yu Sheng’s eyes as she said: “I want to see what ‘Anka Aila’ really looks like…”

Yu Sheng stared at her for a moment, then nodded lightly as he said: “Okay. Come with us. Stay put in Irene’s arms and don’t run off.”

Then he stepped into the Rift without a second thought.

There was a short fall, senses slipping out of place, dizziness, and Illusion Arts in the dark.

He felt himself drop into a crisscrossing “network.” Countless rootlike things spread through the dark and held up many platforms. He also felt like he shot through a pipe, rushing like cargo being moved inside it. He wasn’t sure how long he “fell” in the dark. Maybe only a few seconds, maybe a very long time. Then, all at once, he felt solid ground under his feet.

Yu Sheng opened his eyes, a little unsure.

Foxy, Irene, and the little Squirrel looked with him in shock at what lay ahead.

They stood in a white corridor. The walls and floor gleamed with a metal sheen.

Yu Sheng’s eyes swept the hall and landed on a nameplate set in the wall.

It was written in strange letters, but somehow, he could read it: “Anka Aila – Maintenance Passage.”