So, this world needs understanding and trust between people! Why must problems always be resolved with violence?! Can't people listen properly without a fight!?
When Rin saw the glass cat-shaped bell fall to the ground, she knew there was nothing left to discuss.
If possible, Rin truly didn't want to fight Alice. Alice's magic was an independent magic system inherited from her mother: Shard of the First Magic. It was considered a mystery beyond mysteries, praised as an anomaly in the magical world. It was not publicly disclosed to the Mage's Association to gain rights and benefits, and even if it were, no one could use it because it required the bloodline of a pure-blood Witch.
Her familiars and Magical Artifacts were themed around fairytales. Her familiars were also known as Alicemurder, Grimmeater, operating by feeding on physical laws. These fairytale monsters have lived from ancient times until now, a magic that was sung into existence over a thousand years ago and continues to function today.
Since modern weapons do not exist in the fairytale world, even rocket launchers would have no effect. Only magic with a similar level of mystery can affect fairytale monsters. Additionally, they possess a special rule called 'Inherited Defense,' where simply powerful abilities or magic are not very effective; one must find a weakness stemming from the fairytale itself to defeat them.
A point remarkably similar to a Puppet Master is that despite possessing such unique magic, she herself doesn't have much direct offensive magic, relying solely on her familiars for combat.
And that glass cat bell that just fell was one of Alice's fairytale familiars: Diddlediddle (Night Feast).
A glass cat-shaped bell. When the bell sinks into the ground, it strengthens Alice's magic in the dead of night.
The surrounding scenery suddenly changed, as if space-time had shifted. The Western-style house and garden disappeared, and everything around them became an endless, nocturnal forest. A thin, cloud-like mist wafted through the forest. Only Alice and Rin stood facing each other from a distance; even Aoko had not been transported.
Fairytale Familiar: sleeping mirror (fairy eye/familiar) (Second Ticket).
Its true form is the mirror in Alice's room. It manifests as mist, and its abilities include creating barriers and distorting physical laws. It is responsible for scouting Misaki Town and guarding the mansion, though it sometimes loses control and lures people into the mirror world.
However, this time it was clearly not out of control but deliberate. By transporting Rin and herself into the mirror world, she didn't have to worry about being discovered by the world, and she could also divide the battlefield without damaging the Western-style house her mother left her. Alice highly valued her mother's keepsakes.
Rin looked left and right, then said, "Why didn't you bring your companion in?"
Alice replied calmly, "Aoko's magic isn't suitable for cooperating with mine. Working together wouldn't necessarily make us stronger."
"Even if you say that, Aoko must be stomping her feet in anger outside right now."
The Talking Twins, two black and white pigs of equal measure, suddenly appeared from the mist behind Rin. Don't let their cute, chubby, ball-like appearance fool you; when they opened their mouths, they were filled with stapler-shaped, gleaming sharp fangs!
The unexpected ambush caught Rin off guard. The two pig babies opened their mouths full of fangs and bit down on Rin's arms.
"Ah, I got you."
"Ah, I bit her."
"Clang."
"Clang."
Rin raised her arms, speechless, looking at the two little pigs hanging in mid-air, biting her forearms. Their sharp teeth gnawed at her arms, making a "squeak, squeak" grinding sound.
If Rin was speechless, Alice was utterly stunned. Her usually calm face couldn't help but widen her eyes slightly as she looked at her familiars dangling from Rin's arms.
The Talking Twins were Alice's most frequently used familiars. Alice knew their capabilities best. Although the two little pigs weren't large, with a diameter (diameter…) of less than a meter, once their sharp fangs simultaneously bit through the same target's arm, they would exert over a thousand catties of gravity, rendering the target immobile. They were very effective familiars for both attack and control.
But now… what was with this skin that even blade-like fangs couldn't pierce? Was this girl actually some kind of Phantasmal Species?
Rin's Magic Circuits flashed with a green light. Her Magic Circuits activated, Mana Burst filled her entire body, and a strong tremor erupted from her body. The two pigs had no choice but to let go and were shaken off. Rin grabbed their snouts, lifted them above her head, and with a powerful swing, slammed the two pigs, enveloped in rippling mana fluctuations, to the ground!
"Boom!"
On the ground of the Mirror World, it was as if a thunderous explosion had detonated. The flying dirt in the fantastical fairy tale world turned into nothingness again. A three-meter wide crater was forcefully smashed out beside Rin's feet, and the two black and white pigs dissipated into a dreamlike dust.
Rin knew that the "Talking Twins" hadn't been destroyed by her. Fairy tale familiars, which had existed since ancient times, wouldn't be killed like this. They had merely returned to the fantasy of the fairy tale, awaiting the fairy tale Magus's next summons.
Alice frowned, looking at Rin, and said, "A Magus who relies on brute force. Are you a Magus from the Nordic regions?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Are you toying with me?" A hint of anger appeared on Alice's usually indifferent face. "In this era, only the ancient Celtic magical families in the Nordic regions still have Maguss who fight by augmenting their bodies with runes. Ordinary self-defense techniques are simply not presentable!"
As she spoke, Alice secretly gritted her teeth, because this rare type of Magus was undoubtedly the least compatible with her. Alice's combat power lay entirely in the manipulation of her familiars; simply put, she was a summoner, and her own combat power as a Magus was almost zero. And this kind of highly mobile, agile close-combat Magus could very likely bypass her familiars and directly attack her. This type of Magus was undoubtedly the last thing Alice wanted to see.
In that case, Bridge Giant!
A huge humanoid shadow gradually emerged from the mist behind Alice. The ground began to tremble with the shadow's movement. "Thump! Thump! Thump!..." Finally, a giant humanoid puppet over ten meters tall appeared before Rin.
Rin immediately chickened out… Alice's mother, one of the three demon lord-level tools left by the previous Magus for her daughter, the fairy tale familiar: Bridge Giant (Thamestroll).
The personification of London Bridge, it can only be used in rivers and flowing water. Its true form is a lady's doll, appearing in the form of a puppet giant. It is Alice's strongest familiar in terms of power and physical attack!
You're using your ultimate move at the start! What happened to the promised probing attack?!
Rin cursed inwardly, but she dared not slacken her hand in the slightest.
Magic Circuits activate!
Mana Burst full power!
Reinforcement: Strength, Speed, Coordination, Hardness, Spring, Explosive Power!
Mana Externalization: Entwine!
A massive, explosive mana fluctuation spread from Rin's center throughout the entire Mirror World! Waves of mana undulated around Rin's body, and the entire illusory Mirror World convulsed under Rin's Mana Burst.
And with Rin's mana washing over the Mirror World, Alice's face instantly paled, because she felt that the world swept by the mana diffusion was disintegrating! The world in the mirror lost its mystery before that girl's mana!
Rin had no time to notice these things. Facing the rapidly approaching fist of the Bridge Giant, Rin stomped her feet and leaped backward, kicking up a cloud of dirt. The Bridge Giant's heavy punch followed closely… "Boom!"
Like a muffled thunderclap erupting from flat ground! The entire world trembled as the giant's fist landed.
Having dodged that punch, Rin had no time to sigh. There was a giant tree directly in her backward path. Rin pushed off the tree trunk with both feet! Her entire body shot towards the Bridge Giant like a moth to a flame!
She landed on the Bridge Giant's arm, which was about to be raised. Rin had applied "Reinforcement: Adhesion" to her boots, allowing her to stand steadily on the giant's arm.
A massive body over ten meters tall did not mean that the Bridge Giant's movements would be slow; otherwise, it wouldn't be worthy of being called a demon lord-level tool. As Rin landed, the Bridge Giant quickly swung its arm, crashing into the trunk of a nearby giant tree. The powerful wind pressure generated would have blown anyone off balance, even with adhesion.
Reinforcement: Body Balance!
Reinforcement Magic, when evolved to its final form, is not just about the conversion rate of mana-level effects. As it is evolved to the highest level, the traits that can be reinforced also increase, even allowing for the reinforcement of some traits that don't truly exist.
"Boom!"
Under the Bridge Giant's infinite massive strength, the thick, large tree trunk was directly snapped. Yet, Rin stood counter-intuitively on the side of the Bridge Giant's arm! That is, on the opposite side of where it struck the tree trunk, completely unaffected.
Not just simply standing, Rin's feet clung to the side of the Bridge Giant's arm like magnets, and Rin ran swiftly along the giant's arm as if on flat ground! She quickly rushed towards the Bridge Giant's head along the other end of its arm!
Running all the way to its shoulder, Rin looked at the comical head, three times larger than her entire body. As Rin took her last step at the end of the giant's shoulder, her entire body's Mana Burst forth again! The enormous explosive force caused the massive Bridge Giant's half-body to buckle, unable to bear it! Rin herself shot towards the Bridge Giant's head like a meteor from outer space!
"So I said, listen to me properly!"
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