And lo, the slimes congealed into a wall that ensnared Otnagochi and the land beyond: a wall of shimmers of stardust and hundreds of planetary eyes in the spreading hundreds of galaxies. A scenery surpassing the marvels of magic. A cosmic orchestra that caused the very minds of mortals to throb painfully just to conceive of its magnificence.

The wall commenced its inexorable march, engulfing all in is path into the space dimension. Concretes, cannons, snares, men, and beasts. All were adrift in an agony of tremendous overwhelm to their final destination as blood stardust.

The marauding Binxtrunachs on the battlefield were now invaders of tactical ingenuity. The Formszazazs no longer required vessels for their metamorphosis: evolution had endowed them with the ability to sculpt merely by sight, and they were equally present with naked encephalon bulbs, their diadem of pride.

Yet the unknown Fish Mujino seemed untouched by change. Its hands continued their fluid dance amidst the ocean of clouds. Its known orifices kept absurdly birthing fingerlings. But now, ships were flocking to volunteer themselves as sacrifices within its maw. The chaos of the flights scarcely hushed in the marrad.

There was but one catalyst for their mutation, and the catalyst should have been inside the bunker in Sakon Cliff—a cliff that encircled the hindmost part of Otnagochi, the dividing line between the battlefield and the rest of the safe zone. However, their senses were no longer fixed on the bunker, for a lone human floating without a ship had lured them. The catalyst. And she soared higher and higher towards the inky expanse of the cloud bank.

The bunker survivors found themselves completely cornered. Their hearts were tempted to cave in for once and allow the nation’s demise. For what would it matter anymore?

"Somebody lower that girl!" Taro's throaty bellow thundered over the marrad. "Hashomon-dono! Take control of her two guardians!"

Even before Hashomon could issue a command, the automatons had sprung into action. Their leaps reached fairly high, but only one managed to grasp her knee, thus the second one used it as a leverage to ascend and seized her by the neck, wrenching her downwards.

Alicia did not budge an inch. It was as though nature's own decree to let her afloat. The gear-whirring hands clamping around her collar gave way to the lightning prongs of Orb, whose chirping had ceased. Then, the mightier, more dreadful forks sent the automaton plummeting near the bunker dwellers as if jabbed by a javelin. It exploded, inducing such terror that forced them to huddle together as tightly as they came. Their crotches were sodden.

Everyone was wondering what was keeping her off the air. Why would she allow the mujinos to blossom into walking calamities?

"I told you it is never a wise decision to put an Arcane wielder near or on the battlefield. Let alone a little girl..." Nakamura Taro blew out a lungful exhale. "Now what should we do, Hashomon-dono?"

Hashomon and Taro were perceiving the chaos within the town district near the cliff. Soldiers were in a panic flight. Cannons boomed, decimating more comrades than monsters. Black plumes towered on all horizons. Throat-scorching dust swept forth with every step and every fall.

"What do you think, Taro-dono?" Hashomon's face, although dissatisfied, bore an air of composure. "Perhaps it's time we lay down our arms and rest—"

"No! No! No!" Taro roared. "After all we’ve sacrificed! My whole devoted to this cause! Battles fought! The potion remedy! The fallen Donbe! The fallen soldiers! If we fail, all is lost! Soldiers! Inform the capital that Kagatse's secure perimeter has shrunk! Otnagochi has fallen! But we shall hold our ground!"

"Taro-dono..." The Magic General offered him a vacant stare. "If only you see that this is all vanity, peace will come to and enlightenment—"

"To depths of your serenity, Hashomon!" the minister snarled. "If fanatical ascetic ideals appeal to you now, then go and die!"

Taro's grenade launcher was primed. A rain of lead had begun to saturate the area. Yet Taro sensed the greatest threat lay in Alicia herself:

So it was towards her that he aimed his grenade launcher!

"I'll use the rest of my bullets on that girl and her Arcane orb. To the depths with the Magisterium! To the depths with Roma, to the depths with the world of Thaumaturgy! I tire of Onogoro's recurrence! Soldiers of the vessels! Direct all cannons towards that levitating girl! Ask no questions, just fire!"

There came no dissent. Morale was dead alongside the martyrs of this war. In accordance with the Minister of Defence's decree, the retreating ships swivelled their cannons at Alicia.

"No! Hold fire." A marrad response finally showed conscience. Henge approached Taro with a nimble lead from rooftop to rooftop. "Don't shoot the child, Taro-dono!"

"Stand aside! Don't you see defeat materialising so vividly before your eyes?"

"Taro-dono! All the bunker occupants are atop the cliff. The civilians! Come to your senses, Taro-dono!"

Taro became increasingly resentful. A bridge too resentful that the Henge’s resounding rebuke simultaneously eroded his sanity, forthwith compelling him to act.

"No, Taro-dono!"

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A grenade hurtled forth, but thanks to the aide's interception, the projectile careened off the cliff face. Taro struck Henge across the cheek with the rifle's stock, then discharged two more grenades. Alas, the grenades did not even reach half the height of the cliff. The casualties of their wakes were the delicate carvings of nature and the scores of unfortunate souls caught by the debris.

And there stood Hashomon, a witness to the old man's deplorable drama, his countenance impassive.

Only when the procession of monsters drew perilously close did the deafening roar of the wind assail their ears.

In the same instant, all gazes were arrested by the formation of the cloud, coiled where the Crimsonmane lass had originally taken to the air.

She was there no longer.

Eyes widened in astonishment, and true was their guesses, for Alicia was streaking across the city, then plunging into the maw of the piscine mujino through sheer intrusive thoughts. Yet the lass' intrusive thoughts wrought no harm upon herself but the fish itself.

The state-turning piscine horror imploded, its unborn offspring splattering as blemished globules of crimson slime.

Alicia forged onwards, bathed in blood before the crimson liquid evaporated, leaving her attire miraculously dry once more.

Eventually, she came to a halt before gargantuan planetary eyes, their gazes flickering erratically at the heart of the sprawling faux cosmos. Just as dense black tendrils threatened to ensnare Alicia, Orb shielded its wielder with crackling forks of blue flame. But soon, Orb underwent a bizarre convulsion. The glass sphere elongated, flattened, and tapered at its upper end:

Into an Arcane Sword.

With it, Alicia cleaved through the celestial curtain in a freefall.

The Arcane might steeped the rifts, coursing swiftly to every nook and cranny of the imitation universe. One fell swoop, and the conglomeration of countless Zaloses ceased to be. The expanse of nothingness buckled into nothingness. Not even a dying scream was left as a memento.

And when Alicia alighted successfully, the true carnage began. Both the mujinos, heaven and earth, fled and converged on her. The Binxtrunachs rained down scorching leads. The colony of wild Gothhotroo propellers nosedived. Purple-clad ninjas and automatons with all their pulverising ninshu techniques. A barrage that would try a soul, let alone end them.

...And all of that was cancelled by the resolute brilliant of a sturdy dome. Those monsters whose momentums faltered were vaporised by it.

She could have expanded the barrier to cover the entirety of the Otnagochi block, annihilated mujinos quickly as promised, and called it a day. But Alicia's face twisted into a snarl as itchy as her hands eager to wreak vengeance. Her round, luminous eyes emphasised how a figure as tender as Alicia could turn into that of a ruthless despot. Between her palms, Orb shook and gurgled strangely, and before long, it split a second time. No longer mere orbs, each took the form of a celestial-blue sword and pavise!

The Arcane Domain erupted and Alicia immediately set upon every mujinos that dared cross her path! With a swift stroke, each monster was reduced to pitiful ashes. Though not as nimble as a shinobi under the sway of the Arcane, her shield proved invaluable when the mujino's tentacles eluded her blade's reach. Those tentacles were all pulverised in one blow before Alicia leapt upon the monster's back, plunging the blade into its nape.

She continued to swirl about in erratic patterns with her sword and shield, as untamed as a beast crammed with wine. And yet, the Mujinos showed no inclination to withdraw. The Binxtrunach broods threw themselves to the ground so their humanoid horrors might freely pound the earth into subsidence—the tantrums stemmed from their animosity towards the lass. But emotions clouded judgements, even for monsters. Their pounding instead helped in Alicia’s favour as they helped squashing their own kins in the process, each eliciting a satisfying squelch. On the other hand, Alicia possessed a nigh freedom to hack their limbs, offering them to void.

It was a frenzy that strangely ignited a new fervour among the warriors and automatons, who had just dispatched several nearby Mujinos before proceeding to the distracted crowds. The swords, bullets, and magic of men began to echo as vigorously as before.

Everyone fought again, except for Hashomon, Taro, and Henge who were marvelling at the roof tiles. Wisesa and Izel also had to take a breath first, before Izel shouted again, "We shall not falter in this wave! I feel the heat of Citlalicoatl granting me the strength to press onwards!" With flames trailing behind her, she surged forward, leaving Wisesa and a sobbing captive behind.

Meanwhile, Alicia had not stopped tearing mujinos' guts out. Despite her dubious battle ardour, she was far too preoccupied with Binxtrunachs and Formszazazs on the ground, while the Gothhotroos in the air posed a constant threat with their propellers slicing through careless soldiers. That same treatment almost made a martyr out of Alicia when her shield took five spinning tops at once!

As Alicia fell, she was met by dozens more jaws and tentacles. Now the lass was thoroughly upset. So upset that she sulked. The swordplay concluded. Now she did what she should have done: invoking an Arcane force field, expanding it as wide and fast as possible so that the mujinos would not have a single moment to fall back. The battlefield shimmered with Arcane energy up to the latest layers of the Shinpi wall. Only then did the mujinos within the city limits have the presence of mind to flee into the forest.

Still, dozens of Gothhotroo remained hovering in the air. Alicia decided to take flight herself to draw their attention. It worked. The colony darted straight at her, while still swirling like tops. She faced them while flying backwards, but no, she was not trying to taunt the beakless birds even though to the worldly eyes it suggested otherwise. She willed the mujinos' eyes to remain sharp as they met her lustrous ones, while her hands spread Arcane might to both sides until they converged behind the rearmost mujino. In that instant, Alicia amplified her power and created a colossal Arcane prison sphere!

Only then did Gothhotroos' troops descend into a frenzy, flitting aimlessly about, maiming their kins. A grimly satisfying sight to true earthlings. The prison was certainly not as impenetrable as concrete and iron, and the Mujinos could simply flit through, as long as they accepted their fate of extermination.

As a matter of fact, Alicia wanted them to get out: the Arcane prison was shrinking over time.

But in the end, the Gothhotroo refused to leave, either out of fear or sheer hubris. They dismembered each other as a result, and the Arcane prison sifted their pieces into ash.

With the threat contained, Alicia returned to her vigil, hovering in midair once more.

All eyes were fixed on her. The overhead sun rendered the Divine Grace Holder's fore features a silhouette, while her round eyes still bore an intimidating blue glow. A figure as grand as a deity.

Citlalicoatl was still an indelible memory to the Tamoanchanese, no matter if the near-divine was in plain sight and nigh. They intertwined their fingers, caught the proximate star once more, and lavished it with the heartiest of thanksgiving. Others blew their trumpets and roared with more fervour than a New Year's Eve celebration.

But Wisesa was the only one fretting over the sight. Alicia's eyes were still burning. They were in the dark of what was to come from her.

O the contempt of it all. How little did they foresee that the glowing stare implied thus.

Before they knew it, Alicia landed on her knees and unleashed electric tendrils upon them!