The once silent amusement park now blazed with light.
Countless gingerbread men hopped and piled atop one another, building a ladder into the sky.
Alice stood comfortably in place, her fingers twitching slightly as several giant serving platters appeared, blocking the onslaught of black feathers.
So they chose to attack the Puppeteers after all?
Watching Suigintou and Shinku being assaulted by the gingerbread men, she allowed a faint smile to touch her lips.
Snark had already revived most of the surrounding amusement park rides.
The sound of flapping wings rose behind her as the carousel horses took to the sky, joining the fray.
The black feathers assaulting their position gradually thinned.
"Charlotte, call Sigmund back to rest," Alice said without turning her head.
Don't get caught in the crossfire.
Snark won't pull its punches just because you're an ally.
She leisurely hopped a step to the left, avoiding a high-speed swirl of petals.
Still has the spare capacity to attack over here? Seems they aren't busy enough.
Alice slowly raised both hands. A giant chessboard materialized across the grounds, and countless chess pieces appeared.
Like subjects rallying to their queen, they formed neat ranks and leaped into the battle.
The twin pigs also went bouncing up into the air.
"Let's go, let's go!"
"Charge, charge!"
The petals and feathers no longer had any attention to spare for this side.
Alice nodded in satisfaction, but her peripheral vision caught Sigmund, wrapped in a cocoon of black feathers, drawing her notice.
Why was he still here?
"Charlotte?" Frowning slightly in displeasure, Alice turned to look.
Charlotte was standing rooted to the spot, her mouth agape, the very picture of a wooden doll.
"Charlotte?" Alice's voice lifted a notch.
"Ah!" Charlotte jolted back to awareness, her words stumbling out. "A-Alice... wh-what is all this?"
...How to explain this to her?
Alice pondered with some difficulty.
After a moment, she gave up on thinking.
"They're Automata."
"This is an Automaton?!" Charlotte took a shocked step forward, her hands trembling as she gestured wildly. "Wh-what kind of Automaton is this?!"
"How can it... how can," she pointed at the animated surroundings, her speech growing more chaotic, "is this something an Automaton can even do?"
"Some Automata can perform spatial translocation, can't they?" Alice retorted curiously. "Is this really so strange?"
"Of course it is!" Charlotte exclaimed excitedly. "How... how could there be an Automaton that makes these inanimate objects, these lifeless things, come alive?!"
"I've heard of Magic Circuits in the East that can possess objects, but that's just controlling them. Yet these..." Charlotte looked at the active amusement park rides around her.
The gingerbread man she'd touched when she first entered was raising its hands, perched at the very top of the living ladder, preparing to leap towards the airborne Suigintou and Shinku.
The flying carousel horses soared through the air, crashing toward the two dolls.
The roller coaster, crouched on its tracks, trembled slightly, the cartoonish eyes drawn on its sides gradually becoming vivid and alive.
Charlotte could sense that these rides weren't simply being manipulated. They were truly...
...alive.
They've just been temporarily revived by Snark into Ploys.
Alice smiled wryly and pointed at the distant Sigmund, who was wrapped up like a turtle with only his head exposed. "Sigmund is about to pass out, you know."
Charlotte, in her shock, had long since cut off her magical energy supply. Relying on physical strength alone, Sigmund couldn't break free from the black feathers covering his entire body; his eyes had already swirled into dizzy spirals.
Charlotte hurriedly commanded Sigmund to shrink.
Seeming to understand that this side wouldn't be rejoining the fight, the black feathers happily released Sigmund.
Holding the small dragon, Charlotte still seemed somewhat dazed, staring blankly at the surrounding amusement park rides.
"Pretty amazing, huh?" Robin, who had been blown away earlier, struggled to fly back. He stood panting on top of Alice's head.
"Mhmm."
The stunned Charlotte, hearing this, nodded without thinking.
"This is one of Miss Alice's three most treasured Ploys, the Oil of the Moon."
"Three most treasured Ploys?"
"You can think of them as family heirloom Automata," Robin said proudly, lifting his head and fluttering his wings. "This is one of the three great miracles passed down from Miss Alice's mother's mother's mother... well, anyway, from the very first generation!"
But automaton technology only emerged in the modern era.
Charlotte barely managed to hold back her urge to question and complaints.
Maybe they really are a family that's researched puppets since ancient times.
She relaxed her mind. At least they aren't attacking me.
Her slender fingers stroked the dazed Sigmund as she carefully absorbed the chaotic commotion around her.
Come to think of it, I never did see what this automaton looks like.
With such a fantastical Magic Circuit, he must be quite beautiful, right?
What Alice did earlier must have just been a smokescreen. How could an automaton be mist-like?
It surely can't actually be that bit of mist Alice released.
Haha.
--+--
Under the full moon, gentle moonlight bathed the earth, illuminating the figures of the dolls and the amusement park rides.
Gingerbread men built wobbly human ladders, tumbling toward Shinku. Carousel horses beat their wings, circling around Suigintou.
The roller coaster whipped its seats through the air as it flew into the battlefield.
The tall Ferris wheel even began to tremble and shake.
The two who had been handling things with ease earlier were now looking somewhat worse for wear.
After dodging an attack from the twin pigs, Suigintou was slightly out of breath.
Her feathers had just entangled the two pigs when a nearby chess piece stomped hard on their heads, scattering the feathers.
Are they even this rough with their own side?
Suigintou gritted her teeth and glanced toward Shinku.
Shinku's condition wasn't much better.
It wasn't due to magical energy depletion, but mental fatigue.
Countless amusement park rides pressed in one after another. The gingerbread men building human ladders were fragile, but their numbers were vast, and they always managed to throw themselves forward at critical moments.
While her own mobility was high enough, the ground below was crawling with these gingerbread men!
A sudden whooshing sound cut through the air. Suigintou whipped her head around.
The front car of the roller coaster was already right in front of her.
Her weary body took the blow head-on, and she crashed to the ground along with the roller coaster.
Countless gingerbread men swarmed over like ants.
CRASH—
A tremendous impact sound erupted.
The roller coaster and the surrounding gingerbread men were sent flying together. Imprinted in the middle of the smashed-in front car was the clear mark of a small fist.
"So annoying!"
No sooner had she spoken than the light around Suigintou suddenly dimmed.
She looked up. The Ferris wheel was standing beside her, bending down to look at her.
Its gondolas had clustered together to form crude arms and legs, with two gondolas positioned like eyes staring fixedly at Suigintou.
It raised its gondola-formed hands high above its head.
Then, slammed them down toward Suigintou with immense force.
BOOM—
Dust filled the air, but there was no sign of Suigintou within it.
The clumsy Ferris wheel couldn't land a hit on Suigintou, but the oppressive feeling from its gigantic body still made her feel threatened.
Taking a direct hit from that would not be pleasant.
Suigintou casually shattered an incoming flying horse with a backhanded blow. She stood her ground, flicking the rapier in her hand.
Below, the roller coaster she had sent flying earlier suddenly spiraled upward, its 'mouth' gaping as it lunged for Suigintou.
The next instant, a whip composed of crimson rose petals lashed out and struck the roller coaster.
The powerful force cleanly sliced the roller coaster in two.
"Sneak attack!"
"It's mine!"
The twins' noisy voices sounded next to Shinku as she retracted her whip. The two piglets opened their wide mouths, aiming to bite Shinku.
"They belong to no one," came the voice accompanied by black feathers.
The feathers swarmed over the piglets' bodies, each strand scrambling to enter their wide-open mouths.
"Gurgle..."
"Ugh... first petals, now feathers?"
Simultaneously, a volley of black feathers forced the surrounding amusement park rides into a temporary retreat.
"Does Alice really have this much magical energy?" Shaking the piglets off, Suigintou looked with annoyance at the amusement park rides closing in once again.
She had initially thought that after using so many puppets, Alice would eventually tire.
But after holding out for so long, Alice wasn't even breathing heavily.
They couldn't even get close to Alice. The moment they tried, countless tableware and chess pieces would pop up.
Suigintou tightly bound the two piglets with her feathers and then flung them away forcefully.
If the feathers holding them were scattered while they were nearby, it would be troublesome.
"These amusement park rides are endless. Have you found the Automaton Alice released?" Shinku slowly flew to Suigintou's side.
"I've been looking all along, but there's no trace of it," Suigintou said, frowning with irritation. "I've even checked all the gondolas on the Ferris wheel."
Looking down at the gingerbread men starting to build their human ladders again, the two dolls fell into a brief silence.
A rush of wind announced the Ferris wheel swinging its cluster of gondolas toward them in a wide, sweeping attack.
"There's no other way."
Dodging the Ferris wheel's attack and casually shattering the gingerbread men at the base of the ladder, Shinku spoke without turning her head to Suigintou beside her.
"Let's join forces."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.