'Sakura Kyoko should be gone by now, right?'
Lancer couldn't help but sigh as he walked into the building carrying the briefcase.
It was true—as Olga Marie had noted, Lancer attitude toward enemies was very straightforward, but he couldn't harden his heart when facing someone who wasn't hostile and was actually a victim. However, there was one exception: if the person threatened those he cared about. He wasn't a saint, after all; at the end of the day, he was just an ordinary person who happened to have power. He didn't mind giving up things he didn't care about, but as for "them"...
Lancer had expected a fierce battle the moment he entered the building. So, as soon as he stepped inside, he set aside all his distractions and focused entirely on the fight ahead. Bizarrely, however, once he actually entered the building, he couldn't find anything. The entire place seemed truly and completely abandoned. Normally, you'd expect stray cats to gather in a place like this, but sadly, there wasn't even a trace of them.
After spending ten minutes jogging from the ground floor to the roof, Lancer found no clues.
It wasn't that the "Witch" wasn't there; just as Olga Marie had discovered, Lancer also sensed the abnormal magical energy permeating the entire building.
Luckily, Lancer had a "helper."
"Zero?"
Opening the briefcase, he saw a little girl with short green hair curled up asleep inside. Her chubby cheeks made one want to give them a squeeze, but Lancer hadn't called her for that. After a couple of soft calls failed to wake her, Lancer had to use his "trump card."
Taking a plate of still-steaming grilled meat out of the "weapon box," Lancer noticed Zero nose twitch. He decided to press his advantage.
"I guess I'll just have the leftover grilled meat Tiger left behind for tonight's snack..."
He whispered this just loud enough for her to hear. The eyes of Zero, who had been "hibernating" in the box, suddenly snapped open. She used her chubby little hands to push herself into a sitting position, then, without a word, she reached her arms out toward Lancer and looked at him.
If this were a normal child, it would be a request for a hug, but for Zero—
Tear!
Zero ripped off a chunk of meat, charred on the outside and tender on the inside, in a very bold fashion. A portion of meat that a normal adult couldn't finish in one sitting disappeared in just a few minutes before her. However, Lancer hadn't called her just to feed her.
"Zero, can you help me find the specific 'Barrier' in this place?"
She had only taken a few bites, but she nodded.
Then, an extremely bizarre scene unfolded.
A man in a white lab coat with a long spear on his back was carrying a large metal box in one hand and holding the hand of a little girl—practically a toddler—in the other. Because of Lancer height, he had to hunch over just to hold her hand.
Meanwhile, the green-haired toddler whose hand he was holding was clutching a bone club longer than her arm in her other hand. The meat on it was disappearing at a visible rate. Even more strangely, she was wearing a fancy little dress that clearly wasn't something a normal person would wear—especially not in a deserted, abandoned building instead of a banquet.
When the two reached the second floor, Zero stopped. After tearing off the last of the meat from the bone, she pointed the club directly into mid-air.
"Is it there?"
She didn't speak, just nodded, but that was enough.
Crack! Crack!
The spear in his hand was gradually covered in solid ice. Lancer suddenly thrust the spear toward the air.
Crack! Shatter!
First came a strange sound of breaking, followed by suspicious cracks appearing in mid-air until finally, it shattered completely into fragments.
Through the gap, Lancer saw a world of chaos. The bizarre imagery combined with distorted visuals was enough to drive someone insane, but he didn't hesitate to take Zero hand and leap into the air.
As soon as he jumped into the so-called "Barrier," Lancer couldn't help but frown. He felt something extremely familiar here, something that shouldn't be here—All the World's Evil.
Wait, that wasn't quite accurate. It wasn't as exaggerated as All the World's Evil, but the space was filled with nauseating negative emotions.
"Zero, stay close to me."
The green-haired girl following Lancer instinctively grabbed the hem of his lab coat. Lancer warily observed his surroundings. Perhaps because his method of "entering" was too violent, he didn't have to wait long. Things that looked like "doorbells" around them suddenly started ringing. The piercing noise made Lancer frown in annoyance, and when they stopped, the bizarre sounds transformed directly into vines that swept toward Lancer.
"Don't waste my time with small fry..."
With Lancer provocative remark, the battle was ignited.
Inside this Witch's Barrier—or rather, Labyrinth—Lancer barely had a moment of actual rest. Those strange "Familiars" were almost endless. Lancer didn't believe the master of this place had the ability to create so many Familiars; the only explanation was likely that the Familiars he pierced and destroyed were being recycled into energy for the master.
Even more irritating was the complex terrain. If it weren't for Zero, this "Magical Girl (Pseudo)," guiding him, he might have gotten lost. Even so, it took the two of them a full ten minutes to find their final destination.
It was a hidden spot that could only be accessed after destroying a fence that looked like a door.
Although the surrounding visuals were completely distorted, one could vaguely make out certain things—for instance, the thorns and flowers on the fences. Though bizarre, it felt like a "garden."
But sitting in this garden wasn't a tea-loving young lady, but a distorted "monster."
Butterfly-like wings were stuck onto a strange torso. The body was bloated and hideous, and where the face should be, there were many strange features resembling compound eyes.
Almost the instant Lancer saw the creature, it spotted him as well. Lancer couldn't tell where its mouth was, but the piercing screech and the agitation of the surrounding "Familiars" were enough to show that he was an unwelcome intruder.
The bloated body rose slowly, supported by the butterfly wings, and then countless vines from the surroundings swept toward Lancer.
But how could Lancer just let himself be caught?
Slash!!
With a violent swing of his spear, the vines curling toward him were instantly severed. At the same time, a deep trench appeared on the ground, and a terrifying frost spread out from the trench. Any vines that touched it withered rapidly.
Generally speaking, fire is the enemy of plants, but in reality, extreme cold is even more lethal to them. In ashes, there might still be seeds, but within those beautiful ice crystals, there were only the beautiful yet utterly lifeless—"remains."