It was strange.

I should be afraid. I was a civilian and had never truly been in combat before.

I didn't know how to fight, and I certainly wasn't used to being assaulted by an agile woman with an oversized mace.

But somehow, all that fear just... evaporated. It was like I'd entered an indescribable flow state.

I'd performed zero conscious spellwork, but magical energy coursed through me.

I numbly realized I was floating an inch or two off the ground now.

The woman with the clown makeup charged at me again, but this time, I pushed out everything around me with a shockwave above waist level. The man with the short swords took a low stance, bracing himself while the woman slid back against Haigha's wooden bedroom floor.

Haigha's bedroom was very spacious, but almost a dozen people were still strewn in there. As the shockwaves rolled out from my body, the tattered remains of his bed went sailing out the window with a crash.

Silence followed for several seconds as everyone froze in place. I blinked in surprise for a second, looking down at my hands as the bed landed with a clatter. The air around me burned with pure power as the wind rippled violently around me, causing motes of light and sparks of electricity to crackle around me.

A sudden sense of vertigo overtook me. My vision blurred as I felt a burning sensation in my chest. I took a deep breath, steadying myself with my wand hand extended.

"Aw, by the bloody Mother Goddess's teats," Fals muttered, breaking the silence. He was holding his good hand to his head, and he shook off the effects of the shockwave as he tried to pick himself up using the wall. "Here we go."

The girl with the mace dropped down onto one knee, shaking her head side-to-side like a dog trying to shake off water. She looked at me for a moment with a grin, seemingly unimpressed by the display of mana rolling off me. Then, she gave an excited laugh. "Oh yes! This will be quite the splendid encore!"

"Encore?" I asked aloud.

The implication wasn't lost on me. They strongly implied that I — or Alice- had faced them before. That meant they were expecting some kind of big fight, which made it all that much worse for me because I was no Alice.

Instead of answering me, she picked up her mace and rushed forward, only for Lori to intercept her path with a swing of her sword; their weapons met in mid-air with a clang as both women came to a halt in front of each other. While the woman didn't seem hurt from the impact, a slight glint in her eyes told me she'd felt something else entirely from the exchange.

Magic that I didn't understand coursed through my body again, and the air swelled like a vortex around us.

Lori and the woman traded a sequence of probing blows, only for the man to charge into motion behind her. His swords flashed at lightning speed, narrowly missing Lori's neck as she hit the floor into a roll. The man followed up with another flurry of strikes at the ground as the woman smashed down at the floor, but Lori quickly regained her footing while dodging the attack.

With a loud roar, the man charged forward, swinging his two short swords together in a cross-shaped strike. I raised my hand and formed a shield between them, but he smashed through my barrier in a single swing.

Only for his arm to be trapped in a layer of ice.

I let go of the mana I'd been holding back, and it flowed over my body. My skin tingled with power as cold energy raced across every inch of me. With a deep breath, I instinctively focused on one spot: the area where the man stood. A thin layer of frost covered him immediately, racing up his arm to immediately freeze him solid.

I was wracked with a splitting headache — the same feeling I'd experienced on my second day in this world. I'd just performed another spell without conscious thought.

"Well done," the girl said in a cheerful, patronizing tone. She grinned at me before turning her attention towards Lori. "You're a magnificent warrior, Lorina Liddell! If we did not have an obligation to kill your sister, I would gladly go out of the way recruit you. You wouldn't make a bad test subject, for that matter."

Lori growled, turning to face her sword toward him. "Don't even think about it. You'll have to get through me to get to her."

She turned to the man still stuck inside a block of ice. Her face lit up with a grin as she took a step closer. Then, she struck the ice with a single flick of her finger. The ice that had fully formed around him cracked, sending shards flying everywhere.

"I shall allow you to handle this alone,dear brother of mine."

The man yawned, slowly lowering his swords as he chuckled and shrugged off the remaining ice. "Ahh, yes, dear sister of mine. How pleasant it is to see you again so soon." He looked at me for a moment, then glanced over at Lori. "As for you, I am afraid we will have to accept your proposition. Sadly, there will be nothing I can do for you — may the gods grant you eternal rest and mercy."

He reached into mid-air, where a portal opened, and pulled something out; something I recognized from my first day here: a book. I couldn't quite tell what was written on its pages, and there were symbols all over them that I'd never seen before.

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"So, let us begin." He raised the book above his head, smiling broadly as he started chanting words in a language I didn't understand. His voice carried throughout the room with ease, and the air began to crackle and distort. Lori dropped into a low stance, then exploded in front of me, trying to stop him. But he calmly grabbed her blade with his bare hand.

He caught. Her blade. With one hand.

Lori struggled, trying desperately to pull free of his grip, but it was no use. Even though she was ludicrously strong — stronger than me or anyone I'd seen in this world, for that matter. Her weapon was wedged solidly in his hand and wouldn't budge. It looked like she was trying to let go but couldn't move.

A small smile spread across his lips as he stared at her. "A splendid knife! I must compliment its creator. This enchantment was woven spectacularly," he said with an amused chuckle.

Then, the air exploded behind him, sending pieces of stone and debris flying everywhere.

I at him, eyes burning furious as I bombarded him with dozens of small, flaming explosions.

I didn't understand why or how.

But that book was causing me physical pain and disgust. The more he chanted, the more my mana began to pour forth from the depths of my soul. It felt like it was resonating with something, and that something was about to burst wide open.

His body shook violently as I unleashed torrents of magic upon him. Every spell I cast left a fire trail behind it, and the man's clothes burned away as they were consumed by flames.

However, he continued to hold onto Lori's sword as the smoke cleared — chuckling.

Finally, he stopped speaking and closed his eyes. Then, he opened them again, looking at Lori with a sorrowful frown. "Farewell, young warrior."

Lori barely had time to take a breath before she was eviscerated from below.

"NO!" I screamed, reaching out with one hand.

The man's four swords suddenly flew out around us in a blur and extended into thorns in every direction. The thorns skewered Lori through multiple points across her torso as she let go of her sword, twisting in vain to avoid the blades.

No no no no no!

"Impressive instincts, youngling," the man spoke softly as Lori yelled out, blood spilling from her mouth, her voice thick with pain. "You may have some talent after all. Unfortunately, your skills are not nearly enough tonight. In half a decade, they would have grown to suffice, perhaps. Tonight, however... Well, you see, I am afraid this is where things end for you."

He took another step forward, raising his sword over Lori in her death throes.

Screaming in anger, I drew upon the mana well I'd felt pouring from my core and tapped it fully.

And then, he stopped.

.

.

.

.

Lori postured to move to stop the freaky clown's spell, but I summoned a barrier between them.

She stared at me in confusion, but I met her eyes and shook my head. I had a sudden, nagging gut feeling I couldn't ignore. My body reacted violently to the magic filling the air, filling me with nausea and disgust.

"Fals, relax and temper your aura. Don't resist my spells."

I turned to give the bandit a critical, serious side-eye as he leaned against the wall.

The raven-haired man sighed, giving me a scathing deadpan stare. "Aye, I have an inkling as to where this is going."

I thrust my hands out and yanked him out the window with my magic, along with Haigha and Lori. As we tumbled out of the building, I slowed our falls with a quick sequence of spells. We came to a soft stop on the cobblestone street, except for Fals, who landed with a loud thud.

Then, he fell back to his knees, shaking violently while holding onto a lamppost for support.

"Well I'll be skinned alive by the Wanderer himself. You're a right proper mage, lass," Fals said as he climbed to his feet with a laugh.

Haigha moaned in pain as he stirred on the ground, hissing at every movement he took. He climbed to his knees, heaving in pain before he looked up to see us staring at him with concern.

"Alice... Lori? G-gods, that wasn't a nightmare after all. Fuck."

"How do you feel?" I asked, looking over at him. "Can you walk?"

He nodded slowly. "Like shit. I've had worse."

"Well, that's what happens when you're stabbed repeatedly by an ancient cult and their nightmarish summons, Harry," Fals spoke with a chuckle.

"Lori," I spoke as I turned to my sister. "There's some kind of enchantment on them now. I... I felt it. You would have died there if you'd committed."

Lori let out a heavy, exasperated sigh as she stretched her shoulders before replying, "Figures. I had an inkling it was a trap but I felt like I had to do something, you know?"

It seemed like she took that information in stride.

A violent crashing sound filled the air, and all our eyes turned back to the apartment building as the clowns followed us. They jumped out of the fourth-floor windows cackling like maniacs, and the pair landed in front of us with a loud crash, cracking the pavement beneath them.

They both stood there grinning at us for a second, then the man broke into a chuckle. "Clever little girl. Too clever. You have our respect, as well as all of our contempt."

His companion just giggled, smiling softly at me with a hint of bloodlust.

I felt a familiar sensation well up in my gut as the two began to chant together. They were speaking an entirely different language.

My body reacted violently to the spell, and the energy I'd felt fueling my attacks poured forth, causing me to gasp as my head spun.

As the two continued, the air grew thick around us, almost suffocating. My throat burned, and I struggled to breathe.

"Contingency event triggered — High levels of Deliverance mana signatures detected. Enabling execution — second recorded incident. Activate soul core spell formula: Elysium Stasis Field," a familiar yet vaguely robotic voice rang out all around me like an alarm.

Then, the two of them stopped.

Time froze. Everything stopped. All sound ceased, and the world itself seemed to stop turning.

It was followed by a powerful flash of light that left a dark afterimage across my vision when it vanished.

When my sight cleared again, I found myself on a barren stone path, alone on a hill of tall grass that swayed in the wind from somewhere far off in the distance.

Distant trees dotted the landscape in all directions as if I were standing on an island surrounded by the sea.

"What a sight for sore eyes. Well, at least we aren't blackout drunk and drugged this time so we can actually have a conversation."

A familiar, yet unnatural voice approached me from behind, speaking with a wry sense of irony behind it. "Come to think of it — that was probably worse than any night out drinking before you quit in your previous life."

I turned slowly, taking in the sight of a familiar anime girl's face. Big, bright purple eyes, a dark robe, an incredibly painful ahoge on top of her hair, and dark blue, almost purple hair.

I would recognize this face anywhere. I've been waking up to it every day for weeks, after all.

She gave me a mischievous, beaming smile before waving at me with a wink.

"Hello, me!"