I will keep dropping my discord server link here https://discord.gg/f2mzqAyDPJ
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The light intensified until it became almost unbearable.
Tanaka instinctively shut his eyes, raising one arm to shield his face as the brilliance washed over him. For several seconds, there was nothing but white, no sound, no sensation, no sense of direction.
Then, gradually, the light began to recede.
Tanaka opened his eyes.
An unfamiliar landscape stretched out before him.
Yet, somehow...
It felt familiar.
He stood upon a wide expanse of grass, its blades swaying gently beneath a clear sky. Beyond it, occupying the horizon like something that had been there for centuries, stood an enormous mansion.
Its white walls rose several stories high, surrounded by towers and ornate architecture that seemed strangely out of place within the peaceful landscape. Everything about it felt simultaneously foreign and nostalgic.
Tanaka stared at it for several seconds.
Then he scratched his head.
"So..." He looked around. "...Why exactly am I here?"
A faint blue glow appeared beside him.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, dozens of tiny spheres of light floated into existence around him.
They drifted lazily through the air, bobbing up and down like fireflies caught in an invisible current. Their light pulsed rhythmically, sometimes gathering together, sometimes separating again.
Tanaka watched them.
Somehow, he understood.
They were talking.
Not through words.
Not exactly.
It was more like impressions being transmitted directly into his mind.
Tanaka's expression slowly became more irritated.
"That's too vague."
The little spirits continued floating around him.
"I followed you all the way here, shouldn't there be more detailed instructions?"
One of the spirits pulsed brightly.
Tanaka narrowed his eyes. "That's not an explanation."
Tanaka sighed.
"Fine. Whatever."
There wasn't much else he could do.
He followed.
That was all he had been doing since he arrived. Following these little spirits.
The strange part was that he didn't remember why.
In fact, he didn't remember much of anything.
He looked down at his hands.
Tanaka.
That was his name. He knew that much.
But beyond that...
Nothing.
Not even a surname.
He didn't know who he was.
He didn't know what he was.
And yet, despite the emptiness inside his head, there was something else. A quiet, persistent certainty that something was wrong.
He couldn't explain why he felt that way.
Then
WHOOSH!
Something tore through the air.
Tanaka's eyes widened.
A massive iron ball swung toward his head, attached to a thick chain.
It passed his face by mere centimeters.
The wind generated by its passage brushed against his cheek.
"Huh?"
Tanaka barely had time to react.
Before the weapon could complete its arc, a translucent barrier suddenly materialized in front of him.
The tiny blue spirits had moved.
The morning star struck the barrier.
CLANG!
Its trajectory changed violently.
The iron ball veered away from Tanaka, smashed into the ground, and dragged itself through the grass as the chain rapidly extended.
SCRAPE—SCRAPE—SCRAPE!
A long scar was carved into the earth.
Tanaka stared. "...What the hell?"
The chain suddenly stopped, then began retracting.
The iron ball dragged across the grass until it returned to its owner.
And only then did Tanaka notice them.
Two girls stood several meters away.
They were almost perfectly identical.
Same face.
Same figure.
Same maid uniforms.
Same white headbands.
The only obvious difference was their hair.
One had pink hair.
The other blue.
The pink-haired maid stood at the front, her expression cold and suspicious.
"Who are you?"
Her voice was firm.
"And what do you want?"
Tanaka stared at her, then at the iron ball.
"...Why did you attack me?"
The maid's eyes narrowed.
"You're an intruder. You're the one who should be answering our questions."
Tanaka blinked.
He glanced toward her sister.
"Your sister just tried to kill me with a morning star." His expression became increasingly irritated. "I'm not answering shit."
The atmosphere changed immediately.
The blue-haired maid tightened her grip around the chain.
The pink-haired maid raised one hand. Wind began gathering within her palm.
Tanaka looked between them.
He sighed. "Hah..."
He rubbed his temple.
"Okay."
He raised one hand. "Stop it before you hurt yourselves."
His palm opened and the two maids froze.
Their bodies simply ceased responding.
The blue-haired maid's hand remained suspended around the chain.
The pink-haired maid's spell remained frozen in the air.
Even the wind stopped moving.
"What is..."
The blue-haired maid's eyes widened.
She struggled.
Nothing happened.
Tanaka stared at them.
"Stay like that." His voice was surprisingly calm. "I'm not going to hurt either of you if you just..."
"Oyaaa..."
Tanaka stopped.
The voice came from above. It was drawn out, almost playful.
His head slowly tilted upward.
"...What the f..?"
He looked toward the sky and then his expression went completely blank.
A man was floating above them.
No.
Calling him a man felt generous.
He was wearing an elaborate jester's outfit, complete with bells, colorful cloth, and an absurdly large collar. His body hovered effortlessly in midair, completely disregarding the laws of gravity.
Tanaka stared.
The stranger stared back.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then the floating clown raised one hand dramatically.
"I woooooon't ask youuuuu twice!" His voice echoed across the grounds. "Stop whatever you areeeeeeeee doing to my maids!"
Tanaka continued staring. His brain appeared to be struggling to process what it was seeing.
Tanaka slowly lowered his hand.
He shook his head.
Whatever this place was...
It was already giving him a headache.
"Listen up, Bozo. I was minding my own business when your crazy maids—"
He stopped, something was wrong.
Tanaka's instincts screamed as he sensed that his spell was broken.
But his mind didn't react as fast as his mind.
His eyes shifted toward the blue-haired maid.
Too late.
WHAM!
The morning star came crashing into him.
Tanaka twisted his body at the last possible moment, but the iron ball still slammed into the barrier surrounding him.
The spirits reacted instantly.
A translucent wall of light manifested between the weapon and Tanaka—
BOOOOOOM!
The barrier held.
But the sheer force of the impact didn't disappear.
It transferred through the barrier.
Tanaka's body was launched backward like a rag doll. He flew several meters through the air before twisting himself around and landing hard on his feet.
The grass beneath his shoes tore apart.
He barely had time to regain his balance.
"Ul Huma."
"Ul Fura."
Two chants overlapped.
The pink-haired maid thrust her hand forward and the blue-haired maid followed.
A storm of ice shards tore through the air from one direction while enormous blades of wind struck toward him from the other.
There was no hesitation, they were straight up trying to kill him.
The attacks collided.
BOOOOOOM!
The ground exploded.
Ice shattered against stone.
Wind tore apart the earth.
Dust and debris surged into the sky, swallowing the entire area in a thick brown-gray cloud.
For several seconds, nothing could be seen.
Roswaal descended slightly, still hovering several feet above the ground.
"Ram, Rem..." His expression hardened. "Stay back a bit."
The two maids immediately obeyed.
Roswaal raised both arms.
Mana gathered around him and the air itself seemed to tremble.
"Al Goa."
A gigantic sphere of fire formed above him.
The flames twisted around themselves, radiating an oppressive heat that caused the surrounding grass to blacken and curl.
Then he brought both hands downward and the enormous sphere descended.
Straight toward the place where Tanaka had disappeared.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The explosion swallowed everything.
A shockwave raced across the estate, bending trees and sending loose debris flying through the air.
Roswaal slowly lowered his arms.
"Are youuuuuu two okaaaaaaay?"
Ram and Rem answered simultaneously.
"Yes, thank you, Roswaal-Sama."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then, something felt wrong.
Roswaal's smile disappeared.
A shadow began spreading across the ground.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Much faster.
Ram looked upward.
Her eyes widened.
"...What?"
Rem followed her gaze and froze.
The sky had disappeared and gigantic mass of ice was descending toward them.
No.
Calling it a boulder would have been absurd.
It was a meteor.
A colossal mass of frozen earth and ice, nearly half the size of the mansion itself, plummeting from the heavens.
"Roswaal-Sama!"
Roswaal's eyes widened. He moved immediately, wind erupting beneath his feet.
He shot toward the two maids and thrust both hands outward.
"Get back!"
A violent gust slammed into Ram and Rem, throwing them away from the impact zone.
But Roswaal wasn't fast enough.
The ice meteor struck.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
The ground disappeared beneath the impact.
A massive wave of snow and shattered ice erupted in every direction.
Ram and Rem were thrown through the air.
"Roswaal-Sama!"
Their cries echoed across the estate.
Then silence.
Only drifting snow remained.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Until... A heavy presence emerged from the dust.
The cloud slowly began to disperse.
A silhouette appeared within it.
Then another.
And another.
Tiny blue spirits floated around the figure like an army of fireflies.
Tanaka stepped out of the destruction.
Not a scratch.
His clothes were barely disturbed, with his hair was slightly disheveled.
But his expression...
It was no longer merely annoyed.
His eyes were narrowed and his jaw was clenched.
He looked genuinely pissed.
Ram and Rem immediately recovered.
The moment they saw him, they prepared themselves to attack again.
Tanaka muttered. "Shamak."
Black smoke erupted from the ground.
It spread across the field in an instant, swallowing everything in darkness.
Everything, their sight, their hearing, their voices, all vanished.
The smoke suddenly dispersed, then...
A hand landed on the top of Rem's head, another hand landed on Ram's.
Both girls froze.
Roswaal emerged from the shattered ice, his clothes slightly damaged but his expression still composed.
His eyes immediately found them.
Ram and Rem were on their knees.
And standing behind them was the intruder.
Both of his hands rested firmly on their heads.
His expression was absolutely livid.
"Okay, dipshits!"
His voice rang across the courtyard.
"If either one of you tries anything..." His fingers tightened slightly. "...I'm going to blow the other's head off."
Tanaka looked toward Roswaal.
"And let's see if Heath Ledger over there is quick enough to disrupt my magic."
Roswaal blinked.
"...Who is Heath Ledger?"
Tanaka opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
He stared blankly for a moment.
"..."
He had absolutely no idea.
Why had he said that?
Tanaka's expression darkened.
"That's irrelevant!" He pointed toward Roswaal. "Shut the fuck up!"
Despite the absurdity of the situation, the clown-like mage seemed remarkably calm.
"What exactly do you want?"
Tanaka stared at him.
The anger slowly drained from his face.
He looked at Ram.
Then Rem.
Then Roswaal.
Tanaka let out a long sigh.
"I..."
He paused.
"I just want to talk."