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Chapter 198: Dorothy's Feelings and the Upcoming War Game
"Woohoo! Hurry up, Jack! Whoever saves the princess first is the Hero!!"
A blonde boy sprinted across the grassy plains, kicking up a long trail of dust in his wake. He cheered excitedly, treating the entire ordeal like he was playing out a fantasy role-playing game.
"Ginta, how are you running so fast?! That's totally cheating!" a monkey-faced boy panted heavily as he desperately tried to keep pace with the blonde boy.
Further back, a dog walking on its hind legs and acting entirely human was struggling to catch up. Edward stared at the two boys pulling ahead and massaged his temples. "Seriously, was handing the mission to save the princess over to these kids really the right choice?"
Watching the distance grow even larger, Edward panicked. "Hey! Ginta! Jack! Wait for me!!"
Hearing the dog's shouts, Ginta looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Hurry up and catch up, Edward!"
But the adrenaline rushing through his veins simply wouldn't fade. Saving a princess! Becoming a Hero! These were the kinds of things that only ever happened in his wildest dreams, and now they were playing out right in front of him. There was no way he was going to slow down. He acknowledged Edward, but he didn't stop running for a second.
Suddenly, Ginta skidded to a halt. A man with spiky hair and a bizarre mask covering the upper half of his face was blocking the path.
"Who are you? Why are you in our way?" Ginta asked, looking at the strange man in confusion.
"Careful, Ginta! That guy is from the Chess Pieces!" Edward yelled between heavy gasps for air, finally managing to catch up to them.
"The Chess Pieces?" Ginta blinked.
"Oh, it's you," Ian said, noticing the dog. He smirked. "I let you run away earlier, and you actually managed to find two brats to help you save Snow White? I suppose since you're a dog, your brain doesn't work too well."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Edward glared at Ian.
A terrible premonition washed over him. He immediately snapped his gaze toward the distant castle that was supposed to be encased in impenetrable frost. The ice was rapidly melting away.
The ice covering the fortress was a defensive seal Snow White had cast herself to prevent the Chess Pieces from capturing her. If the ice was melting, it could only mean one thing.
Edward whipped back to Ian, his eyes wide with panic. "You bastard, what did you do to Her Highness?!"
"Well, who knows?" Ian replied with an infuriatingly nonchalant shrug, his eyes curving into a smirk. "For all you know, she might have already been taken back to our headquarters."
"You son of a b*tch!!"
Driven entirely by blind loyalty, Edward lost his mind and lunged forward, ready to fight Ian to the death.
Jack immediately tackled the dog to the ground, holding him back with all his might. "Edward, calm down! Think about it! If he was telling the truth, why would he still be standing guard out here? We still have a chance! Don't do anything stupid! Right, Ginta?"
Jack looked toward his friend, desperately hoping for backup.
But Ginta didn't answer Jack. Instead, he stepped forward, his eyes locked onto the masked man. "Why?"
"Hm?" Ian looked down at the blonde boy who was a full head shorter than him.
"Why do you Chess Pieces want to destroy this world?" Ginta asked, his voice trembling with raw emotion. "This world is so incredibly beautiful. Even the air here smells clean and fresh. It's perfect. Why would you want to destroy all of this?"
Looking down at the fiery, passionate youth, Ian couldn't help but sigh internally. Ah, the naivety of youth.
He pressed a finger to his forehead, feeling a slight headache coming on. "How should I put this? Let me think. While I can't speak for every member's personal motivation, I imagine it boils down to the usual things. Money, women, ÄRMs?"
"Just for that?! Because of things like that, you're willing to just wantonly destroy this world?!" Ginta's face darkened, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. "Unforgivable!"
"I'm going to protect this world. I'm going to beat every single one of you arrogant Chess Pieces into the ground!"
He had only been in this magical world for a few days, but everything about it—from the clouds in the sky to the pebbles in the streams—had completely captivated him. It was the absolute fairy-tale world he had spent his entire life dreaming about.
And now, a group of people were treating it like garbage, destroying it for their own selfish desires. To him, that was an unforgivable sin. The man standing in front of him was going to be the very first Chess Piece he took down.
With a furious battle cry, Ginta charged straight at Ian, throwing a wild punch.
"Oh? You've got plenty of drive, I'll give you that," Ian murmured, flashing his signature condescending smirk. "But drive alone isn't going to cut it."
Moving at blinding speed, Ian casually closed the distance and gave a simple, effortless flick of his sleeve. The impact sent Ginta flying backward, tumbling across the dirt.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Ginta hissed in pain, examining his arm where Ian's sleeve had struck him. A stark red welt had already formed on his skin.
He scrambled back to his feet, glaring defiantly. "I'm not giving up that easily!"
He charged again, but his attacks were completely devoid of technique. He had nothing but brute strength, which allowed Ian to suppress him effortlessly, leaving Ginta absolutely zero room to counterattack.
It was to be expected. Before crossing over to the magical world, Ginta had been the undisputed loser of his class. His stamina was abysmal, his grades were terrible, and he was nearly blind with 0.1 vision. His classmates used to jokingly call him "Two-Minute Ginta"—not because he only stayed angry for two minutes, but because if he got mad and tried to chase someone, he would completely run out of breath and collapse within a hundred and twenty seconds.
But everything changed when he entered the magical world. Not only was his eyesight perfectly restored, but his physical attributes had skyrocketed, turning him into a miniature superhuman. He possessed so much raw strength that he could casually wield Babbo's true form as a weapon—an ÄRM so absurdly heavy that even Dorothy couldn't lift it an inch off the ground.
Is that blonde kid really my son?
Hidden in the nearby bushes, Babbo watched Ginta desperately fighting Ian, muttering to himself.
Truth be told, Babbo's brain was still completely scrambled. He had just woken up with zero memories of who he was. Then, the man who woke him up casually informed him that he was the weapon once wielded by the ultimate villain who tried to destroy the world, making him an inherently evil existence.
Just as he was processing that horrifying revelation, the man flipped the script entirely, claiming that he was actually the Hero summoned from another world to defeat said villain. And in the final battle, his soul had been ripped from his body and sealed inside the villain's weapon—Babbo.
Babbo thought that was the end of the mind-bending lore drops, but the man had one last surprise: his son, Ginta, had also been summoned to this world and desperately needed his help. Before Babbo could even ask a single question, the man literally hurled him out the window of the castle.
With all that information dumped on him at once, Babbo felt like his metallic brain was going to melt into slag. If he still had access to his smartphone back on Earth, he would probably be logging onto a forum to post a thread titled: "Bro, you will not believe the day I'm having right now."
But watching the boy who was supposedly his son getting battered by the masked man, Babbo threw his existential crisis out the window. He hopped out of the bushes, bouncing toward the battlefield.
"Boy!" Babbo shouted at the top of his metallic lungs. "Do you want power?!"
"What the—?!" Everyone on the battlefield stopped and stared at the bizarre talking kendama.
Ignoring their shock, Babbo yelled at Ginta, "Then use me!!"
"Got it!" Ginta didn't hesitate for a microsecond.
For some inexplicable reason, a deep, resonant sense of familiarity washed over him the moment he looked at the weird, talking ÄRM. It felt like this weapon was meant specifically for him.
Ginta grabbed the silver hammer handle and swung the chain attached to Babbo's heavy spherical body, hurling it directly at Ian. "Alright! Let's do this!!"
Ian's eyes narrowed sharply. Even Loco, who had joined the Chess Pieces during the First War Game six years ago, had never seen Babbo's true form. Ian, who had just been a child back then, certainly didn't know what it looked like either. But he knew one universal truth about ÄRMs: any ÄRM that could speak was incredibly dangerous.
Ian swiftly sidestepped, narrowly dodging the heavy silver ball.
BOOM!
Babbo slammed into the earth, instantly blowing a massive, violent crater into the ground where Ian had been standing a fraction of a second prior.
"Well, now. It seems things are finally getting interesting," Ian said, his arrogant smirk fading into a look of genuine predatory intrigue as he glanced at the crater. "Shall we begin round two, Ginta?"
Meanwhile, inside the castle.
After dropping the lore bomb regarding the previous Hero and Ginta's father onto Babbo in front of the girls, Suyan tossed the artifact out the window, leaving it to find its way to Ginta on its own.
With Babbo out of the way, Suyan turned his attention back to Snow White, bringing up their earlier conversation. "Snow White, let's pick up where we left off. Have you made your decision between the two choices I gave you?"
Hearing the question, Snow White's eyes trembled slightly. She placed her hand over her chest, tightly clutching the fuzzy snowman pendant. She had already made her choice; she just hadn't been able to say it out loud because of Dorothy's sudden interruption.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, she looked Suyan in the eyes. "I choose to face my fear. I will go with you to see that woman."
She tilted her head, offering him a breathtakingly sweet, innocent smile. "After all, you said you would protect me every step of the way, didn't you? I trust you!"
"You absolutely can," Suyan smiled back, giving her a firm, unwavering promise. "You can trust me forever."
Truthfully, even if she had chosen to run away, he would have understood. It would have just made his plans slightly more annoying to execute. But her agreeing to face Diana was the best possible outcome. As the most crucial component of Diana's grand plan, having Snow White willingly walk into the lion's den meant Suyan would get to meet the Queen as quickly as possible.
"You're so sneaky!" Dorothy puffed her cheeks out, wrapping her arms tightly around one of Suyan's arms. She glared with open hostility at the princess smiling so sweetly at him.
"My, my, someone's awfully sour," Suyan teased, dramatically sniffing the air. "Is Dorothy jealous?"
"N-no! I am not!" Dorothy stammered, her face turning bright red.
"Stare~" Suyan didn't say a word, simply fixing his gaze on her evasive, panicked ruby eyes.
Dorothy lowered her head further and further, utterly unable to withstand his piercing stare. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she snapped, throwing caution to the wind. "Fine! I'm jealous! I like you! Are you happy now?!"
"You're an absolute jerk who saw me naked and stole my first kiss! But just because you put this Brikkin ÄRM on my wrist and kissed me again, I actually forgave you! So what if I'm the infamous Witch of Caldia? I'm still a woman! Is that such a crime?!"
"No, not at all," Suyan said softly. He reached out, gently stroking her vibrant cherry-pink hair. "Hearing you say that makes me very happy, Dorothy."
He leaned in, bringing his lips right next to her ear, and whispered in a voice meant only for her. "What if I told you that girl's name is Snow White, Princess of Lestava? And the woman I am protecting her to go see... is named Diana?"
"You—!" Dorothy gasped, her eyes flying wide open as she stared at Suyan in absolute shock.
Suyan pulled her into a brief embrace, continuing softly, "You don't need to say anything. I know. I know everything about you, Dorothy. I know about the impossibly heavy burden you carry in silence. In fact, our very first meeting was entirely orchestrated by me."
"So, you don't need to say a word. Leave everything to me. I will handle all the matters concerning your sister."
Looking into Suyan's earnest, unyielding eyes, Dorothy found herself completely at a loss for words. Should she be furious that he had manipulated their fateful first encounter? She didn't know how to feel. But beneath his confession, the only thing she could see in his gaze was absolute, unadulterated sincerity.
She forced a light, strained laugh, playing dumb. "Oh my, whatever are you talking about? I don't understand a single word you just said."
"Is that so?" Suyan chuckled knowingly. He didn't push the issue. Instead, he took Dorothy's hand in one of his, and Snow White's in the other, seamlessly shifting the topic. "Let's head outside and watch Babbo and the Hero take on their first Chess Piece."
"Oh, I just remembered I have something incredibly important to do. I need to get going." Dorothy shook her head, gently pulling her hand free from Suyan's grip.
She took a few steps toward the exit, paused, and quickly walked back. Leaning up, she planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thank you. For everything you've done for me."
"But that woman is far more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. So be careful. Do not die on me, or I will be very, very upset with you."
With that final warning, she hopped onto her Zephyrus Broom and shot out of the castle like a gust of wind.
Yes, she was running away. She couldn't bring herself to go with Suyan and Snow White to confront her older sister. For years, she had traveled the world hunting down the 798 stolen ÄRMs, desperately clinging to the hope that Diana had somehow been manipulated or deceived, wishing she could just drag her sister back to Caldia so things could return to normal.
But now, presented with the actual opportunity to stand face-to-face with Diana, she fled. She was terrified of discovering whether Diana's atrocities were committed of her own free will, and she absolutely refused to be the one to kill her own flesh and blood. So, she ran.
Suyan watched the Witch of Caldia disappear over the horizon. Smiling, he touched the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him. Feeling thoroughly relaxed, he turned back to Loco—ignoring her deadpan glare of protest—and grabbed her small hand. "Well, since the Miss Witch has departed, let's go see the show together."
Outside the castle, Ginta and Ian's battle was raging on.
However, even with Babbo acting as a devastating blunt instrument, Ginta had not managed to magically turn the tides. He was still being thoroughly suppressed by the older, far more experienced fighter. The only difference was that Ian was no longer treating it like a joke; he was now using a significant portion of his actual strength.
"I'm so utterly useless. I can't believe I'm forcing a child to fight my battles for me," Edward whined, watching Ginta get battered. "I'm literally one sleep away! If I just fall asleep one more time, that man will come out!"
"But I'm so stressed out I have insomnia! I can't fall asleep!"
Edward grit his teeth, turning to Jack. "Jack, hit me in the head with your shovel! Hurry!"
"What?!" Jack stared at the dog in disbelief. It was bad enough he couldn't help Ginta fight, but now Edward wanted him to friendly-fire? What kind of insane strategy was this?
"Hurry up! Before it's too late! You don't want Ginta to die at that guy's hands, do you?!" Edward barked frantically.
"Aaaah! Okay, okay, I get it!" Not entirely understanding the mechanics, but seeing Ginta in desperate trouble, Jack raised his battle shovel and brought it down hard on the back of Edward's furry head.
CLANG!
Edward was sent flying through the air, face-planting into the dirt. A massive, comical lump instantly swelled up on the back of his head.
"Is... is that good enough?" Jack asked timidly.
"It hurts so much!!" Edward scrambled back to his feet, clutching the throbbing lump on his head, tears streaming down his face from the sheer agony. And yet, despite the pain, he remained completely, frustratingly conscious.
"Do it again, Jack!" Edward commanded. "This time, you absolutely have to knock me out cold! Do it for Her Highness!"
"Are you sure this is a good idea?!" Jack asked, panicking.
"Just hit me!"
Shutting his eyes tight, Jack swung the shovel with all his might, purely on instinct.
WHACK!
A massive cloud of white smoke erupted from Edward's position.
A split second later, a tall, imposing silhouette stretched languidly within the smoke. A deep, masculine yawn echoed out, followed by a gruff voice. "Maaan, that was one hell of a long nap."
As the smoke cleared, the fluffy dog Edward was completely gone. Standing in his place was a rugged, hard-boiled, middle-aged man smoking a cigar. It was the second-in-command of the Cross Guard, Alan.
"Edward turned into an old guy?!" Jack's jaw hit the floor.
Alan shook his head, offering no explanation for the bizarre dog-transformation curse. Instead, he looked toward Ginta and called out, "You kids did great. Leave the rest to me!"
"Who the hell are you?" Facing this sudden variable, Ian instinctively whipped his glowing silver Python Whip toward the newcomer.
Alan casually raised a hand and snatched the lethal, high-speed whip right out of the air.
"The Weapon ÄRM, Python Whip? Not a bad toy," Alan assessed, his veteran combat experience instantly identifying the weapon. "But don't you think going all out against a kid with zero magic power is a bit excessive?"
"How about you try bullying me for a change?"
"What?!" Ian froze, utterly bewildered. He couldn't fathom how this scruffy, unremarkable old man had effortlessly caught his full-speed attack barehanded.
Instinctively, Ian tried to jump back to create distance, but Alan's grip on the whip was like a vice. He couldn't move an inch.
Just then, the brilliant blue flash of a Dimension ÄRM teleportation lit up the space beside Ian.
"Alan. You finally came out. I've been waiting a long time for this."
A bizarre figure appeared beside Ian. The man had a giant, grinning pumpkin for a head and carried a massive wooden cross strapped to his back. It was Alan's fated rival, the Knight-class Chess Piece, Halloween.
It made perfect sense. With a dog that could transform into the second-in-command of the Cross Guard at any moment guarding Snow White, there was no way the Chess Pieces would only deploy two Bishop-class members like Loco and Ian. The true heavy hitter backing them up was Halloween.
"Yo, Pumpkin Head. You're not dead yet? Wanna go a few rounds?" Alan took a long, slow drag of his cigar and casually greeted his nemesis.
However, surprisingly, Halloween declined the offer.
"Kekeke, as much as I'd love to tear you apart right now, the timing isn't right," Halloween cackled. "If you want to fight me again, come to Reginleif Castle!"
"When the time comes, Phantom will declare the start of the Second War Game."
"Well, that's just about the worst news I've heard all day," Alan sighed, blowing a thick ring of smoke into the air. "What about Princess Snow White? You're going to hand her over, right?"
"Well, about that—" Halloween turned his pumpkin head toward Ian.
"Alan!"
Just then, Snow White stepped out from the castle entrance and waved to him.
"Koyuki?!" Seeing Snow White's face, Ginta froze in place. She was an absolute dead ringer for his classmate Koyuki back on Earth, right down to the last detail. The only difference was their clothing.
"Princess!" Completely ignoring Ginta's shock, Alan looked at Snow White with deep concern.
"This time, I'm going with Suyan to face my mother. I'm going to face the fear I've been running from," Snow White said, taking Suyan's hand to show her resolve. "Besides, you have your own mission to complete, don't you, Alan? You don't need to worry about me. Go do what you have to do."
"Is that so?" Alan paused, his gaze shifting to the young man standing beside her.
He might look perfectly ordinary, but Alan's decades of combat instinct were screaming at him. The man radiated an incredibly dangerous, suppressed aura. Coupled with Snow White's absolute trust and intimate physical closeness to him, Alan decided to trust her judgment.
Alan couldn't help but smile proudly. "It seems our little princess has finally grown up."
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