Whoosh!
A translucent blue veil repelled the thorn trees that were pushing into the building.
Kagagagak!
The thorn trees scratch along the surface of the sphere as if trying to crawl inside looking for gaps.
I watched the soldiers running around here and there, and the Royal Guard commander confirming it. Behind them, people working in this lodging run around here and there blocking the windows.
As if frames were installed to block them in the first place, when they put hard boards against them and pull the frames on the side, they're blocked with a clicking sound.
And when the working people stop moving and check the numbers from inside, the place where we are now has become a small shelter.
It's certainly a place where important people reside.
The security is better than expected. Seeing that a witch burrowed in here without any trouble, the witch must be extraordinarily powerful.
There aren't many harvesters awake in the capital now. Some were swept away and died by branches that spread along the roads, some fell asleep when pierced by thorns, and some are trembling inside houses, watching in terror as thorn trees slowly enter.
Even if they block the door tightly, branches grow through the door cracks and pierce people with sharp needles. They don't sting like bees, the thorn trees just grow stealthily. But even if people are pricked very slightly by the thorn trees, they lose consciousness and fall asleep.
Maybe because there's a protective barrier here, there are no thorn trees digging through gaps.
"Is it safe here?"
"We won't be able to hold out for long."
The commander answered my question.
He's moving the soldiers with a calm expression. Maybe because they're the Royal Guard, there are no soldiers in confusion. Some are trying to communicate with magic, some are taking out clockwork machines from inside and turning them on.
The clockwork machines soon emit light with their characteristic operating sound.
And not long after, they projected the outside of the building into the air.
Wow. Hologram!
Maybe because it's magic-based, there are some strangely developed parts.
In the screen looking down from roof height, huge thorn trees are growing along wide roads.
Thick tree trunks are spreading along the roads, and small branches are digging into houses.
As time passes, the harvesters' views are gradually decreasing.
And in the middle, there's a harvester fighting until the end.
Victoria.
She's cutting branches approaching her using water streams. Except for falling asleep when pierced, she passes through spaces full of thorn trees without much effort as if they're ordinary trees.
"Shadow? Raise the screen to the sky now!"
While I'm watching the screen and the harvesters' views simultaneously, the commander pointed to the top of the screen as if he discovered something.
As if there's a camera outside, the screen rises up.
And above the city.
A huge black dragon is flying in the sky.
Arms and legs. And huge wings behind the back. Two sharp horns on top of the head. No matter how you look at it, it's a dragon, but the commander says in a low voice:
"It's the witch. Lower the screen immediately. Don't put the full figure on screen, just follow the feet. Otherwise, we'll be detected in reverse."
The screen went down with a whoosh. The witch really seems not to have detected this, as she's facing another direction.
"What are you going to do now?"
When I asked, the commander says this while hiding his tension by straining his face:
"Don't worry and wait here. The kingdom has been preparing for the witch for a long time."
He doesn't say they can defeat her. In fact, following the screen, light flies towards the dragon from the center of the capital.
And Sorindiges takes Aurora and heads to the basement of the building where Aurora lives. Listening to what he says, they've been preparing to protect Aurora.
Yet it was breached once, so they prepared thoroughly to never fail again, he says.
Right.
The fact that Aurora fell into a sleep she couldn't wake up from means they failed.
If she was an ordinary person, she would have died long ago, but because she's a princess, they kept her alive based on cutting-edge technology. They just kept her alive.
They drill holes in her body to supply nutrients, massage her limbs every day so they don't stiffen, and move her slightly so bedsores don't occur.
If she wasn't a princess, how could they have done all this?
"Like powerless worms! How dare you try to defeat me! Do you think you can achieve victory from me, the Queen of all Evil! That delusion will disappear along with your country today!"
Then Maleficent's shouting voice is heard penetrating the building. It's resonating loudly now.
And at the same time, the light that flew towards Maleficent on the screen bounced back in the opposite direction.
Boom!
It's not visible on the screen, but an explosion sound is heard from the direction of the royal palace. Then the complexion of the people around darkens rapidly.
But that's only for a moment.
Suddenly, rock chunks fly towards Maleficent from the ground with flames.
But none of them reach Maleficent and disappear burned by black flames around her.
"Maggots who don't know their place. Right, if you don't know your place, I should teach you. [I revoke your right to use magic power!]"
The words at the end somehow sound like they're spoken simultaneously from left and right.
And the effect appears immediately.
A crashing sound is heard from outside, and at the same time, all machines inside turn off. Even the lights go out, darkening the interior.
Darkness where you can't see an inch in front of you.
There's rustling in the darkness followed by tapping sounds, then soon a small fire rises.
"What's this."
Sometime the thorn trees had dug into the interior, the walls are already full of black thorn trees.
And starting from people close to the walls, they fall to the floor one by one. When people fall, thorn trees creep along them.
In the end, a frightened soldier swings his weapon, but he collapses pierced by thorn trees stretching out from all directions.
The commander swung his sword at the front until the last, but he soon fell to the floor too.
And thorns touched me.
I don't fall asleep.
Sharp thorns are stuck in my skin, but I'm not sleepy at all. My body moves fine too. I grab the plants without light or warmth and twist reality.
Crack.
Surprisingly, it resists slightly.
I carefully apply force, condensing it into one point, using the experience gained from the second world. With a feeling like a soap bubble popping, a white branch appears on my hand.
When I grab and swing it, the thorn trees move away from me.
As expected.
When I swing the branch again, the branches that crept through the window gaps swell and break the windows they were blocking.
Hmm, I roughly understand how to use it.
I grab the branch and climb up.
As if it grasped my method when it entered me, the thorn trees have no killing intent. Surprisingly, these thorn trees have no direct intention to kill anyone.
So this doesn't directly reach Maleficent.
In other words, it means I just need to go meet her.
I climb out the window. There are many thorn trees around, but when I swing the white branch, they make way on their own.
Coming outside and looking at the sky, the witch is no longer floating above.
But it's not hard to find her.
Because harvesters who gained superpowers are fighting against the witch.
There are over 300 superhumans in the capital. Among them, 43 people chose to fight the witch.
But their numbers are gradually decreasing.
They're torn by the claws of the witch transformed into a dragon, roasted by the fire breathed from her mouth, or melt from magic.
Still, they fought desperately.
Not just shooting their abilities, but combining abilities with each other, or using terrain features to attack the witch.
But time is on the witch's side. Harvesters are killed one by one by the witch, or fall asleep pierced by black thorn trees.
And the witch doesn't leave those who've fallen asleep alone, but deliberately tramples them to death.
While doing so, she sneers that the weak don't deserve to live, and that such crude techniques don't work on her, the most evil one.
The superhumans are killed one by one, and finally one person remains.
Victoria Bete.
From the harvesters' views, Victoria nearly got caught several times. But Maleficent didn't attack Victoria when she had the chance.
At first I thought it was a coincidence, but I realized when she ignored no matter how much water Victoria shot and killed people beside her.
She let her go on purpose.
And when she remained last, the hand of the dragon with black scales grasped Victoria's body.
"Ah, insignificant little miss. Did you think you could defeat the power of hell?"
Victoria's abdomen crumples.
Maleficent in dragon form squeezed her hand holding Victoria.
Victoria trembled in pain, then extracted blood from her hand to create a spear and shot it at the witch. She must have thought the eyes would be weak even in dragon form.
But the thorn Victoria threw was lightly deflected, blocked by the dragon's eyelid.
"Haha! That was cute. But it doesn't work on me. Tori. That's not enough."
Victoria is startled. Then she stares at Maleficent and opens her mouth stammering.
"Malley?"
"Ah, yes. Malley is my nickname. Not Merriwather's, but Maleficent's nickname. Remember that. Victoria Bete."
Like a cat playing with caught prey, Maleficent giggles and changes into the familiar escort appearance while keeping her arms as dragon arms.
In other words, it's not that Maleficent transformed into Merriwather's appearance, but that this was Maleficent's appearance from the beginning.
"What did you do to Belle!"
Then Victoria shouted loudly.
"Ah, that monster? By now she's probably fallen asleep pierced by thorn trees. Even if she didn't fall asleep, she probably can't escape this prison of thorn trees. I've watched for a long time, but her own power didn't seem that strong."
Maleficent laughs.
"No one can help you, Tori."
While saying that, she slowly applies force to her arm.
"Why, are you doing this?"
Finally, Victoria asked Maleficent with a sobbing voice while tears dripped down.
"Because I'm the Queen of Evil? Ah, of course there's not exactly no reason. A very long time ago, around when you were just born. The king insulted me. So I made him pay the price, but he used a cowardly method to escape the price, didn't he?"
She's talking about Aurora's story. I thought the names were strangely similar, and the story of Sleeping Beauty was being played out.
"The king trampled on my honor, so the country has to pay for it."
It's an unreasonable reason.
Victoria mumbles in a locked voice, barely able to make a proper sound, asking if she's doing this for such a reason. No, looking at the sense of touch, it's because Maleficent is gripping Victoria tightly.
And I've now arrived at the place where those two are fighting.
If this continues, Victoria looks like she'll burst, so I'll try to draw attention. Since she's like a villain from a fairy tale, she should be interested in a children's song.
"Don't cry. Don't cry."
While at it, I included the feeling of wanting Victoria to feel at ease.
I approach them while swinging the snow-white branch to clear away the black thorn trees covering the surroundings.
"Santa Claus doesn't give presents to children who cry."
When she hears the children's song, strength leaves Maleficent's hand. Then soon, she dropped Victoria from her hand. Victoria who fell to the ground coughs while choking.
Maleficent doesn't turn an eye to her, but glares straight at me and asked:
"Who is Santa Claus?"
She asks that with anxiety and agitation stuck all over her face. So I said this:
"He's someone who doesn't give presents to bad children. Merriwather. You were tricked for a moment."
"My name is Maleficent. You monster."
Maleficent answered as if growling.