"This is..."
Phaga's pupils trembled slightly as he looked around.
There was no way this was the only spatial fissure.
Sure enough, there was another one right beside him.
Ellen quickly noticed it, a chill of fear shooting straight through her chest.
She lifted her hand, reaching toward Phaga.
But midway there, just a few centimeters from him, a spatial fissure suddenly tore open—silent, deep purple, hanging between them.
She could see him clearly, yet couldn't touch him.
They were so close she could almost feel his breath on her face, yet it might as well have been an unbridgeable chasm.
This was the horror of the Hollow.
And the Exquisite Doll's ability pushed that horror to its very limit.
Suddenly, Ellen's brows lifted.
She felt something against her fingertips, as if she'd brushed against an object inside the spatial fissure.
Her five clear, jade-like fingers curled back, grabbed hold, tightened, then yanked it out.
A clump of black-and-white fluff popped into her view, and Ellen's pretty brows shot up in anger.
[Ta-da! Congratulations to our beautiful, adorable little Miss Shark for fishing up the Black-White Doll big sis from inside the Hollow! Congratulations, congratulations!]
The black-and-white doll lay comfortably in Ellen's palm, completely unconcerned with the fact that it had walked right into a beast's maw.
Or rather—the shark's mouth.
Ellen's eyes darkened. Her fingers clenched, immediately squeezing the doll's body flat.
She even channeled the ice attribute power from her W-Engine; ice crystals formed over her five fingers, and frost spread rapidly across the doll's surface.
[Sigh, little Miss Shark doesn't even want to catch up with big sis? Going straight for a killing blow, huh?]
The Black-White Doll let out a theatrical sigh, its expression turning pitiful.
Ellen didn't budge, her tone ice-cold. "You actually dared to walk straight into my hand? That's what really surprises me."
She tightened her grip again, intending to finish the Black-White Doll in one move.
And sure enough, things went exactly as she wanted. The doll's entire body creaked and groaned under the pressure.
As the frost melted, it seeped into the cotton inside its body, making it denser and heavier. The threads binding the doll together began to snap one after another.
But the doll showed no hint of fear. Instead, it began to laugh.
On the edge of death, the mad sing loudest.
[Hehehehehe, hahahahahaha!]
The sudden laughter sent a tremor through Ellen's heart. She ground her teeth and poured even more force into her grip.
But the Black-White Doll didn't care. Even as thread after thread snapped, it refused to stop seeking amusement in the depths of despair.
[Look around you... my dear little Miss Shark.]
Its words drifted out faintly. Ellen's heart jolted; she looked up at her surroundings.
Black Marionette flashed into existence in front of Lycaon, engaged in a fierce clash with him.
Gray Marionette, on the other hand, moved more like a true ghost—darting out of spatial fissures from who knew where.
Then: a sneak attack.
Thankfully, Lycaon's combat experience was rich enough that even while defending himself against Black Marionette head-on, he still managed to track Gray Marionette's movements. That was the only reason he hadn't been injured yet.
But even so, it didn't look good.
Anyone could see that this kind of defense was draining him badly.
Especially his focus.
Lycaon's mind was pulled painfully tight. In that state, collapse was only a matter of time.
And once that final thread snapped, victory or defeat would be decided in an instant.
The worse part was that no one else could even help.
Corin tried to dash over to assist Lycaon, but he barked at her not to come any closer.
Rina attempted to hurl lightning from afar.
It was useless.
Just as Lycaon feared Corin might take one step too far, trigger a spatial fissure, and get warped high into the sky only to plummet back down—
Every single one of Rina's attacks was swallowed up by the rifts.
They detonated somewhere else entirely, nothing more than explosions decorating the distant scenery, while Lycaon continued to fight for his life.
Everyone could see each other clearly, yet countless spatial fissures wrapped around them all.
A cage. An unpredictable, impassable prison cage.
Their advantage in numbers had been effortlessly erased by the Exquisite Doll serving the Marionette Sisters.
And now, all the Sisters needed to do was fight two-on-one. Everyone else was reduced to spectators, forced to watch their comrades collapse, one after another.
A suffocating pressure climbed into everyone's heart, making it hard to breathe.
"Phaga!"
Ellen called out sharply, glancing toward where Phaga had been standing just moments ago.
She hadn't even realized when it started—but somehow, this junior she had brought into Victoria Housekeeping had become someone she relied on. A family member of her own choosing.
She wanted things to be like before.
Phaga would handle everything with that easy laugh of his, then tuck his head into the crook of her neck.
And just like that, the crisis would vanish like early spring snow, melting quietly under warm flowing blood.
But Phaga was gone.
Vanished without a sound, right under Ellen's nose.
Her pupils constricted. Her heart lurched, as though a piece had been ripped from it in an instant. Her hands and feet turned cold, and even her grip on the Black-White Doll loosened.
The doll seized the opening, slipping free from her fingers as it laughed:
[Oh my, my poor little Miss Shark—what are you so afraid of? Don't worry, none of you will get left behind. One by one...]
[You'll all die.]
The Black-White Doll flung its arms wide, its grin stretching unnaturally as it burst into wild laughter, eagerly awaiting the moment it could open its eyes and drink in despair in the little shark's gaze.
If she cried, if she knelt and begged for mercy—that would be bliss.
It couldn't stand to wait even a second longer. One less laugh was worth it.
As long as it could savor the despair in Ellen's eyes sooner, even betraying Marionette and stabbing her in the back would be a worthwhile price.
The Black-White Doll opened its eyes, staring excitedly at Ellen.
Huh?
There was no despair there at all. Instead, her eyes had grown more resolute.
What was she looking at?
The doll followed Ellen's line of sight—and clicked its tongue, its expression twisting.
[Tsk. Miscalculated.]
Just moments earlier, Ellen had caught a flicker in the corner of her vision. Her instincts pounced on it, and her gaze chased it down.
Sure enough, a pair of dark red wings blotted out the sky. The shifting light as they wove through the spatial rifts fell over everyone.
Phaga, as always, had never given up.
So long as there was even a sliver of hope, no matter how reckless the method, he'd take it without hesitation.
"How many spatial fissures haven't I passed through yet? Think. Think, Phaga!"
Even as sweat poured down his face and his head swam from the strain, Phaga forced his mind to replay every fissure he'd flown through.
Sharp as ever, the moment he realized they were surrounded on all sides by spatial rifts, a crude idea had surfaced in his mind.
Since this net of rifts had been created by the Exquisite Doll, and its Ether activity wasn't limitless...
That meant the number of rifts wasn't limitless either.
Using his vampire flight, he'd tear through every spatial fissure he could, memorizing them all, weaving them into a lattice within his mind...
...until the prison ceased to exist.
Clang!
At the splitting edge of danger, a metallic crash rang out.
Lycaon glanced back in a daze to see Phaga suddenly appear behind him, blade raised to intercept Gray Marionette's attack.
"Now it's two on two."
Phaga slashed, and Gray Marionette sprang backward.