NOVPUBCRACK!
Piero’s fist struck me head-on, and with a boom, I was sent crashing into a building.
The sheer force of the impact numbed my thoughts—it was a kind of pain I had never experienced before.
"Urgh."
I barely managed to suppress the blood rising up my throat.
Ha-rim is watching.
I don’t want her to see me coughing up blood.
Piero, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care in the slightest whether I was injured or not.
He simply continued speaking in his cold, detached tone.
"The relic has been destroyed. It was sturdy, but with time, I was able to break it.
So if you’re still clinging to hope, you’d best find a different direction."
With those words, Piero stepped forward.
Slowly, but inevitably, he was getting closer.
Even though I was hyper-focused, watching him with all the tension I could muster, I still couldn’t follow his movements.
Everything before this had been nothing more than a warm-up.
I summoned a mirror.
CRASH!
It was instantly shattered.
"There are no mirrors left in this world. I broke them all.
And even if you could summon one this late, would you even be able to use it properly?"
"What’s happening?!"
The children, James, and Maria rushed in.
Time had skipped, and they had no idea what was going on.
Seeing me injured and barely holding on, they were even more shaken—understanding the situation would take them longer.
"Piero...?"
"What’s going on all of a sudden?"
"Step back."
Maria was the first to react.
She reached for a weapon she had never used before.
Her trump card.
A golden bullet, filled with divine power, fired straight at Piero.
CRACK.
The bullet's power was immense—it obliterated Piero’s head.
"Not bad, considering it was a one-time use."
But then, an uncountable number of balloons floated into the sky.
One popped, and Piero’s head was instantly restored.
Maria tried to pull out her cross, but before she could, Piero counterattacked, sending her flying.
James charged forward, activating his gauntlet to finish Piero off.
But all he managed to do was break his gauntlet while failing to inflict any real damage.
"Outsiders should step aside."
With a simple gesture, Piero turned the soldiers' guns into toys, rendering them useless.
At the same time, his subordinates swiftly neutralized the soldiers.
"Ugh..."
"How long do you plan to lie there, Director?"
"You bastard..."
"Time has already passed far enough for terrifying anomalies, strong enough to trouble even me, to emerge.
And over there, the half-blooded demon is trying to be born, even if only in an incomplete state."
"..."
"Do you know why, despite my body being consumed, my mind and voice remain intact?
The half-blooded demon has already decided that even if I warn you, even if I give you hints,
you will never be able to defeat me—so it sees no need to stop me."
"You don’t have time to be relaxed. At this rate, you’re going to die."
Hearing this, frustration and rage boiled inside me.
"Director?! What the hell does that even mean?!
What am I supposed to do here?!"
But even as I shouted, I quickly created a mirror behind Piero.
From within it, Bloody Mary lunged at him.
Piero didn’t even bother to turn around.
CLANG!
"Not even a scratch. This won’t work."
"Damn it. Ugh?!"
"When you helped Mary and Arachne pass on, the mirror horror story you used...
That wasn’t just an urban legend—it was a completely different kind of power.
So why aren’t you fully unleashing that power?"
"What power do I even have—"
"Stop it!"
Ha-rim pulled out various items from her bag, hastily cobbling them together to create a makeshift attack against Piero.
Piero casually dodged it.
"Oh? Enhancing power output by sticking together mystical artifacts... Quite amusing.
But Ha-rim, this is not your fight.
The reason this is a crisis... is because he cannot overcome it."
"Kids, run! Hurry!"
"You cannot defeat me.
That’s why this is an impossible challenge.
The one inside Ella—you—said it yourself.
That you would force a happy ending, no matter what."
"Keep your word.
Twist this despair and # Nоvеlight # create something new."
Piero seized Ha-rim.
The children desperately clung to him, trying to stop him.
But with a simple wave of his hand, they were all sent flying.
And it didn’t end there.
Piero pulled out a small dagger and pointed it at Ha-rim.
"Ha—don’t."
"Please.
Don’t make me be the one to kill them."
"Stop... STOP!!!"
The dagger drew closer to Ha-rim.
It was a blade meant to take a life.
Memories flashed through my mind.
I don’t care if I die.
I don’t care if I’m separated from them.
They’ve already given me something precious.
But—I cannot bear to watch them die.
They are my precious friends.
...Friends.
I had always wondered.
Would I cry if a friend died?
When my only, dearest friend—my senior—died, I hadn’t shed a single tear.
That was when my self-doubt began.
Could someone as emotionless as me ever truly belong with the children?
Was I really just a reflection—just a mirror showing them what they wanted to see?
I knew I was different from Ella.
But did I truly, deeply love them?
The fear and longing buried deep inside me—
A single droplet formed at the corner of my eye.
It traced a path down my cheek.
That’s when I proved it.
That my emotions were real.
BOOOOM!
Even though he was being controlled, Piero nearly flinched away.
The overwhelming presence of something transcendent was unmistakable.
Even as he trembled, Piero let out a breath of admiration.
"Ohh... That power.
This is it.
The force I have been searching for—
The one who twists despair, the one who isolates the impossible,
The Director—the one who defies the script and shows the audience something entirely new!"
Piero rushed forward to confirm it.
His arms swelled like balloons, transforming into massive hands as he swung them down with crushing force.
And she—
She pulled something out.
"...A snack."
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
When she ate the snack, her arms grew massive.
She grabbed Piero’s balloon-like fist and threw him instead.
As a result of being briefly caught, Piero’s fist was completely crushed—but he laughed gleefully.
While soaring through the air, Piero flung playing cards like throwing stars.
She didn’t dodge. She simply caught them.
Without a single wound, she stared at Piero.
Then, without much effort, she threw a single dagger.
Piero’s head flew off.
"If you don’t eliminate all these balloons, my life is practically infinite.
So, what will you do?"
Then, she spoke.
"Humpty Dumpty."
Suddenly, the balloons sprouted eyes and mouths.
They began laughing—an eerie, unsettling sound.
They laughed so hard that their mouths stretched wider and wider—until they reached the back of their heads.
And then, crack—their tops popped off, as if their heads had been unscrewed.
They vanished.
"...!"
She stretched her arm like rubber and grabbed Piero from midair, yanking him down.
Unable to defy gravity, Piero crashed into the ground with a brutal impact.
Even with his broken body, Piero laughed.
"Hahaha!! Magnificent!!
With that power, you have proven yourself!"
Piero was completely overpowered.
But that was exactly what he had wanted—he finally relaxed, allowing himself to let go.
"Now... I have no regrets.
Thanks to you, I am satisfied. I can finally rest backstage."
"..."
Piero’s body began turning transparent.
His wish had been fulfilled.
He was passing on.
Even he didn’t fully understand why he had desired this.
But he was happy enough.
It was time to step off the stage.
"..."
She waved her hand, summoning a mirror and held it up to Piero.
Was she offering salvation to someone who nearly killed her friends?
"...Hah. How kind.
But I suppose that is simply your nature."
The mirror reflected Piero’s past.
As he looked at it, he made his judgment.
"Not a very interesting story."
A clown who once performed joyful shows for his audience.
Like everyone else,
he had people he held dear.
But—
"During the war... you lost the children and your lover, who had come to see your performance...
And in your grief, you made a wish—to slaughter the enemy army."
"Hahaha... Now that part is amusing.
To regret it afterward—how ridiculous."
As he stared into the mirror, Piero understood.
The reason he had searched for a Director was because he had wished for a world where tragedies like war would never happen.
He had longed for an absolute being—
One who could twist fate itself.
A good entity, from a human perspective.
A wish so ordinary—a wish that any human might have.
"...I see.
I was terribly average.
But that’s not so bad."
Inside the mirror, Piero saw the smiling faces of a brown-haired woman and children.
He looked... content.
Finally, he turned to the golden-haired girl who had granted him salvation and bowed his head.
"Thank you."
Go to the church.
[Chapter 4 Cleared.]
[Acquired: 1 Demon’s Seed (Current Count: 4)]
[MP’s Message: Piero was the most unpredictable one. Still, I’m glad he was useful.]
"Ella! Your body—"
"I’m fine."
With Piero gone, the children rushed toward me.
My body was turning transparent.
They had already realized what was happening—instinctively, they knew.
"Somehow... I had a feeling this would happen.
There was no way that key item dropped for no reason."
"I was too arrogant.
I tried to take a shortcut to the end.
So now... I have to finish it properly."
"WAAAH! Don’t die!!"
"Ugh... Why does this have to happen at the very end...?"
"Wait, maybe there’s a way! Please—just hold on!"
...Don’t cry, guys.
Honestly, I’m happy.
This pain in my chest—this ache in my heart—proves that I truly, genuinely loved you all.
Isn’t that right, Ella?
[That’s right. I only realized it at the end.
My wish was to step out of the mirror and make friends.
Father thought I was possessed by something.
He believed I would hurt others.
So I wanted to prove him wrong.
I wanted to prove... that I would never hurt my friends.
And now, this is the end.]
It all worked out, didn't it?
[Thank you so much, big brother.
You're not me, but at the same time, you are.
Because of that, my wish has come true.
I'm happy! So, so happy!
...Can you say one last thing to the kids for me?]
Of course.
[Tell them: ‘You were the best friends Ella could have ever asked for!’]
"You were the best friends Ella could have ever asked for!"
"And to me as well."
"Ella! Are you really leaving? I still..."
I gently stroked Ha-rim's tear-streaked face.
"...Goodbye."
That was the end for me and Ella.
[Chapter 1 Cleared.]
[Acquired: 0 Demon’s Seeds (Current Count: 4)]
[MP’s Message: Ella. You were a fine vessel. You played a major role.]
As soon as Ella departed, the children were consumed by sorrow.
But this wasn’t over yet.
Terrifying anomalies still remained, and they had no way out of this world.
"I won’t give up.
Ella... Ella fought so hard for us."
The children stood up.
They had become the kind of people who would never give up, no matter how dire the situation.
Ella had made them that way.
And then—something miraculous happened.
The key item reacted to their determination.
The church.
"Let's go. We’ll finish this."
-----
I was in the backstage of the stage.
A ghost waiting behind the curtain after the grand performance of life had ended.
Then, a voice, laced with static, called out to me.
[Hand over the seed.]
"I can’t do that."
[Give up. Look at those anomalies—monsters so terrifying that even I don’t fully understand them.
Giants born from humanity’s fears.
Do you really think the children, left alone, can defeat them?]
[Shin Ha-rim will lose all her friends and break under despair.
And then, just as in the game’s bad ending, I will fulfill my narrative as the great demon and be born in full.
That seed.
The seed left behind by Father.
With it, I can be fully reborn.
So hand it over. Now!]
I spoke to the half-blooded demon that was trying to threaten me.
"Oh, you foolish Jabberwock, Jubjub Bird, and Bandersnatch."
(Terrifying creatures mentioned in Alice in Wonderland's poetry, but never appearing in the main story.)
"Even if you say that—I believe in the kids.
They are already complete beings.
They can stand against those horrifying creatures.
No matter what monster attacks them, they will overcome it."
"They will never face a bad ending."
"Now—look at that brilliant pillar of light."
The children had succeeded.
The half-blooded demon began to weep.
[No... Father... Did you want them to defeat me?
Then why did you create me in the first place?
No.
I don’t want to be left behind, to vanish as just another part of the program.
I want to live.
I want to enjoy life.
Game bosses... I envied you all.]
Leaving the fading demon behind, I surrendered myself to rest.
At last, I could embrace the end in peace.
The story that had played on the stage had concluded, and now I would retreat behind the curtain, falling into a deep slumber with its lingering echoes.
A night that would last forever, spent with a smile.
Then, someone spoke.
"What do you think you’re doing?
Are you just planning to sleep soundly?"
A familiar voice.
"...Senior?"
"Get out of there. Do you have any idea how hard I worked to make you?"
A sense of foreboding crept over me.
"...Go back."
Giggle. Giggle. Giggle.
"You hold four Demon’s Seeds, each overflowing with power from your pure soul.
You perfectly fulfilled the context of altering an inevitable ending in the game I created."
"You have no idea how much effort I put into making you.
And now, my precious daughter is just hiding backstage—in death—out of shyness?"
"Come on, come on. Be honest.
You want to see the kids again, don’t you?
Go wild. That’s what demons do."
Shaking with fear, I managed to whisper:
"I won’t.
I am satisfied with this ending.
This is where I belong.
I will not defy death.
I will die as a human."
"...That’s a problem."
RUMBLE.
"You hear that sound?
I bet you’ve figured out what it is already.
Yes. It’s a nuclear missile."
"No..."
"Where do you think it’s headed?"
"...No."
"Of course—it’s heading straight for the kids!
Now, what are you going to do?"
I begged.
"No.
No. No. No. No. No. No!!!
Don’t do this!
This is my ending.
The best ending I could have asked for.
I cannot be any happier than this.
I just want to fall asleep with this feeling of fulfillment.
Please.
Just let me go."
"...Alice."
"DON’T SAY THAT NAME!!!"
My senior giggled.
As if all my resistance was just an adorable tantrum.
Because in the end, he knew.
That I would never abandon them.
That they were too precious to me.
That in the end, I would do anything for them.
Then, his voice turned cold.
"Your precious children are about to die."
The curtain lifted.
Alice descended onto the stage.
Mephisto:
Through the vessel of Ella, I shaped her into a reflection of Alice and let her form bonds with the children, turning her soul into that of a child.
Using the nature of anomalies, I adjusted her soul, revived her dulled emotions, and in the end—she found her true heart.
The anomalies rejoiced as they followed behind Alice.
Alice has arrived.
Anomalies:
We are the impure thoughts, the stories, the fears of humanity.
We are a mere stimulus.
And so, we are entertainment.
We love Alice.
Mephisto:
Alice in Wonderland is a book filled with wordplay.
But if you actually experienced it, wouldn’t it feel eerie?
Fear and amusement are separated by a fine line.
And it is the protagonist—Alice—who decides whether it becomes fear or fun.
That is why Alice can control anomalies.
You have no idea how much thought I put into making this connection fit.
Alice stared at the incoming missiles.
Those strange objects, maliciously twisting the story’s ending into its worst possible outcome.
How strange.
For a world where people never gave up, where they fought so hard, to end like this—
It was nonsensical.
How strange.
How bizarre.
Mephisto:
Alice is a being who controls anomalies and turns fear into adventure.
That is Alice.
A being of good, yet a demon all the same.
Alice sealed away the strange ending in Wonderland.
Because that was the natural thing to do.
End of Part 1.
