from side to side. Just like Alice had once before, she bent one knee and gave Elisabeth an elegant curtsy. "Welcome, Elisabeth. Welcome to Wonderland." It was an odd thing for her to say. After all, she was the person who'd arrived latest out of anyone there. Yet she said it loudly and proudly. Alice was there, and that was what made it Wonderland. She raised her voice. "Come on, Elisabeth! Let's play!" She sounded positively bubbly. It was like she didn't have a care in the world. Elisabeth pursed her lips at the irony of it all. Then she replied in a voice heavy with exhaustion. "Is that truly what you want? To destroy the world?" Alice blinked at the question. Drops of blood trickled down her eyelashes. Due perhaps to some odd fastidiousness of hers, her hair, hat, and ribbons were as white as ever. However, the rest of her body was drenched in the Saint's blood. The crimson little girl gave the question some serious thought. Eventually, she came up with an answer. "There's nothing I myself want to do, no. Nope, not a single thing. The one thing I want is to carry out Father's wish. But...there is one thing I want to ask, maybe." Alice looked straight at Elisabeth, and Elisabeth found herself reflected in the girl's ruby eyes. Eventually, Alice hacked her question up like so much blood. "Why should I have to be the only one who loses Father? Kaito Sena's Elisabeth is still alive, isn't she?!" The pained question hung in the air. Alice spread her arms out wide. She was facing the Torture Princess, but the question wasn't directed at Elisabeth. Alice had directed it at Kaito Sena, or perhaps even at the world itself. "Why me?! We're the same, we're both reincarnations! We both came from another world! So why?!" Her face contorted like she was about to cry. However, the very question was absurd. Those weren't the words of someone trying to destroy the world. Plus, the fixed batteries had been reincarnations as well, and that hadn't stopped her from using them the way she had. But whether Elisabeth wanted to or not, she understood. This wasn't about sin and punishment. Alice is... Sara Yuuki is but a child. Her death had filled her with a profound hopelessness, but it was still unclear how well she understood just how tragic her life had truly been. Despite the deep void in her heart, most of what she'd done and said had been happy. In all likelihood, Alice had honestly enjoyed herself. It was just like how Kaito Sena had found a family in his new world. She, too, had found a father. She had found someone who loved her. But now he's gone. Lewis was dead. Alice was alive. That cruel truth was her everything. And Elisabeth realized something. Sure enough, the reason for Alice's animosity toward the world was the simplest thing imaginable, yet was rooted in a heavy truth. "Someone she wished was alive had been killed." That, as always, was what gave rise to the flag called revenge. However, Alice wasn't the only one who'd lost people. 'Tis but a tale from long, long ago. Once upon a time, there was a boy who was brutally killed by another and a monster who brutally killed others. Or perhaps there was a child who was abandoned by his parents and a sinner who was abandoned by the world. Then the child disappeared. Only the sinner remained. "I am your reverse, then. Kaito Sena did not lose Elisabeth, true. But I lost Kaito Sena. The child is gone, and the monster remains alone. And yet, even so. He tried to protect everything, so I have a duty to protect it in his...stead. Ah. So... So that's it." Elisabeth trailed off. Another realization had just dawned on her. Perhaps...we're the same. Alice was trying to carry out Lewis's wish. And Elisabeth was trying to protect those who Kaito had left behind. That was all. They were the same, she and her. The only difference was whether the person they cared about had loved the world or hated it. And unlike Alice, Elisabeth realized something. By now, there was nobody left who knew how they had spent their days. But the sinner was fine with that. No matter what happened, no matter how tough things got, she was fine with that. The sinner and the boy used to be together. That was enough for her. "In short, what I'm saying isâ€”your grief means nothing to me." "...Is this some sort of joke?" Alice's red eyes went wide at Elisabeth's reply, and the force from the mana surging within her caused her white hair to floof outward. One of the blood drops that fell off her took on the shape of a small mouse, and it looked up at Elisabeth with a sleepy-looking grin. However, the Torture Princess was unmoved. She stomped the mouse flat. "I assure you, it isn't. Go on, look back. Just once will do. You've piled up mountains of corpses and inflicted pain upon countless people. If anyone has a right to call this situation nonsensical, surely it's those you've made victims of." "See, I knew you were joking. Why, what could it have been but a joke?" Elisabeth was all too aware that in Alice's eyes, there was nothing wrong with what Lewis had asked her to do. She simply had no grasp of the gravity of the sins she was committing. She was pitiable, in a sense, but there was no way to save her now. In all likelihood, Alice herself probably didn't even want to be saved. There was only one person who had ever loved and accepted her. Maybe she could have found more, but at this point, Alice would probably deny the possibility if anyone pointed it out to her. Knowing that, Elisabeth's tone remained cold. "I shall say one more thing, then. You said that you and he were 'the same,' but what similarities can you even claim to have? What of this world did you ever love? What did you protect? No, 'tis you and I who are the same. But Kaito Sena is different. He tried to protect everything. He loved everyone, knowing full well how foolish it was to do so. Why, he gave himself up to save a wretch like me. You are nothing like that fool, and I shan't suffer you to say otherwise." "Oh, is that so? I wasn't even given a chance to save Father. So you've got a lot of nerve, ma'am. We're the exact same, can't you see?! Elisabeth, Kaito Sena, and Iâ€”we're all the same!" All of a sudden, Alice's voice rose to a bellow. Tears streamed from her eyes, but it wasn't sadness that colored her expression. It was plainly rage. She was putting her hatred toward the world on display for all to see. She cried harder and harder as she went on. "Our fates were a little different, that's all! You could have become just like I did! So...so why? Why should I be the only one who has to suffer?! Why?! Why?!" Elisabeth nodded. "True enough. You represent a future that could well have been ours, I grant you that." There was a certain logic to Alice's claim. If Elisabeth had died for nothing, Kaito Sena might have come to hate the world as wellâ€”and that went doubly so if Hina hadn't been around. Plus, the same could be said of Elisabeth, too. Who knows what she might have done if Kaito had died cursing the world. It was as one would their confidante, or their brother, or their savior. As one would a kind, incorrigible foolâ€” As one would any whom they ought to loveâ€” Elisabeth Le Fanu loved Kaito Sena. And Alice Carroll loved Lewis. Hers was another form Kaito and Elisabeth might have taken. And yet, even so... "Don't you dare dream that your pain serves as justification for those you're trying to kill." I'm hurting / So I'm going to kill you / I'm hateful / I'm going to kill you / I'm sad / Kill you By all rights, that line of reasoning was unforgivable. Elisabeth brandished her sword. "Cease in this path of yours. Elsewise, I shall slay you." Alice gave her a majestic smile. Elisabeth laughed right back at her. Then a duo of silver and gold took their places by her side. It was Izabella and Jeanne. The two of them moved in to help keep Elisabeth's battered body upright. "Don't forget, we're here as well." "That we are. Win or lose, this here's our fight, too." The two of them were no match for Alice. However, neither Izabella nor Jeanne showed any signs of backing down. The three of them and the Fremd Torturchen squared off. And when they did, a stillness descended that seemed to last for an eternity. Eventually, Alice broke the silence. She spoke softly. "That's very bold of you. You know you're weaker than me. Bold indeed, I say." "Aye," Elisabeth replied. "We are weak. But if we fail to stop you, 'twill be our heads that roll. That's all there is to it." "I suppose you're right. You're doing the same thing I am." Alice gave them a cherubic smile and crossed her hands behind her back. Then she gave her head a little tilt, swaying from side to side as she went on in a singsong voice. "I'm going to kill you and lop your sinful heads right off. I'll make rivers of blood and mountains of bodies and burn everything to ash. And once I'm done killing...I'm going to go smash Kaito Sena's crystal." Alice opened her red eyes disconcertingly wide. However, her gaze itself was serene and unclouded. The look in her eyes was fair, but the words coming from her mouth were anything but. "Kaito Sena has God and Diablo in him, but... But I don't need them as a deterrent anymore. So the best thing to do is to break them. And when Kaito Sena dies, the world will come to an end. What do you think, Elisabeth? Doesn't that sound lovely?" "You plan on destroying the crystal, releasing God and Diablo, and bringing about the reconstruction? How very efficient of you." Elisabeth simply gave Alice's suggestion the nod. There was no denying itâ€”if she wanted to destroy the world, that was the logical way to go about it. Alice went on with great delight. "I even know where the crystal is already. You either put it back at the World's End or you moved it to your castle, right? It's okay, you don't have to tell me. Wherever it is, I'll destroy it." "'Tis at the World's End, in the cave where Ragnarok was fought. I returned it from whence it came." "Goodness me, how forthcoming you're being. Very well. Whether you're lying or telling the truth, it'll all end the same way." "One thing, though, Alice. You say you intend to enact slaughter on a grand scale. How about we play a game first?" Elisabeth asked offhandedly. Alice squinted at her. Then she laughed, as though mocking Elisabeth for even suggesting such a thing. She replied haughtily and with as sinister of an expression as could be. "But I just have to kill you and everyone else, Elisabeth. You're not even the Queen of Hearts, and you think you have the right to challenge me to a game?" "I do. For I intend to bet my whole self. For Kaito's sake, I cast myself onto the scales. Are you so base as to ignore such an act? O daughter of Lewis?" One of Alice's eyebrows sprang up. She put a stop to the spell she was about to unleash. Then she asked Elisabeth to elaborate. "All right, then... Tell me the rules. I'll hear you out, Elisabeth."