The Final Desperation

"You're pretty good at fighting," Stella randomly commented as they walked through the maze. "Are you interested in joining my group?"

"No. I just want to get out of here, and we'll go our separate ways," Genji responded.

"Don't be so quick to reject me. This is a rare opportunity. Many people would kill to get an invitation, and I'm offering it for free."

"Oh? What benefits are there?"

"There's a lot. So many that you can't even imagine. Everything you could possibly want, and even things you don't know about. As long as you perform well, all these things can be obtained. For example, you can even regenerate your missing arm and eye. I bet you've never seen something so profound, but that's only the tip of the iceberg."

"You're painting a big picture there. Sounds like a scam," Genji replied.

"I'm not kidding. Look." Stella conjured a realm card out of thin air and presented it to him. "Everyone in the group has access to these storage spaces that hold items. It's a basic privilege. Take it. If you're interested in the future, you can activate the card and join us."

Seeing this, Genji understood what Stella was doing. When he entered the third step, one of the changes was that champions could invite outsiders into the realms and be rewarded based on the invitee's performance. Since Genji displayed strong combat strength in the previous battle, Stella wanted to pull him in and earn some privilege tokens.

However, this would only be true if he was a native of this world, not someone already affiliated with another realm. Members of the realms cannot join another realm. Once they make their choice, it is for life. This is to prevent poaching and other unsavory behaviors between realms.

Regardless, Genji still accepted the card to avoid raising suspicions and because it was free. Why wouldn't he take it? He could repurpose it when he returns.

Soon, they reached a dead end and turned back to try a different path. The hedge maze wasn't difficult, but it covered a large area and was fairly time-consuming to traverse. If Genji had to describe it, the maze was purely decorative rather than serving any defensive purpose.

After about two hours, they reached the exit and entered a semi-open area. A few playing cards with limbs stood at the side, painting the white "roses" red. Genji glanced at them before walking past without another word. He'd seen far stranger things already, and this couldn't even compare in intensity.

As they continued walking, they spotted a platoon of card soldiers blocking off an area. The squawking of flamingos and the squealing of hedgehogs sounded from within, followed by a frustrated cry. "You better stay still, or I will chop off your head!"

The sound of flamingos lowered in volume while the hedgehogs stopped altogether. The soldiers stopped them as they tried to pass, saying, "Sorry, this area is off-limits."

"But we're not even bothering you," Stella protested. "Why are you blocking off the whole road?"

"Queen's orders. This whole garden is reserved," the ten of clubs replied without a change in expression.

"Bullshit!" Stella cussed back. "This is the most entitled thing I've heard!"

"These are the rules. Either obey them or risk the queen's ire."

"Ire? What qualifications does she have to deserve this audacity? Let me see for myself." Stella pushed the guards aside and stormed into the enclosed area. The cards tried stopping her, but she threatened them with magic, and Genji followed out of interest.

They forced their way in because they suspected the queen was the master of this zone. They would have to meet her eventually if they wanted to leave this area. But even if she wasn't, there was a high chance she knew who was the real master. Either way, they had nothing to lose by doing this.

The flamingo's croaking grew clearer, and the rustling of grass sounded. They took a few more steps and spotted a girthy woman swinging a green flamingo at a hedgehog. She missed, but the hedgehog began moving anyway. As the hedgehog rolled, the card soldiers acting as hoops on the field jumped into its path, forming overarching tunnels.

All the cards, except for one, followed this pattern, allowing the woman to score an unnatural amount of points. The last card, however, was a few beats too slow and failed to catch the hedgehog. The spectators gasped in horror, and the woman roared in fury. "You dare miss? OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

Spit flew everywhere as an escort of red-hearted cards dragged the subject away for execution. Genji and Stella were speechless at this display of tyranny, but they didn't care too much. They weren't affected by it, so why should they interfere?

After the commotion ended, the woman finally noticed their presence. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"People who want to leave. Just tell us the requirements," Stella said.

"First of all, that's Your Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, to you! Second, who are you to barge in like this unannounced?" the woman snapped at them.

"Yeah, yeah. We don't care," Genji said dismissively. "We've both dealt with enough nonsense today. Cut the chat and answer the question."

"Rude! Off with their heads!" The queen roared again. At this command, the platoon of cards swarmed them, attempting to bury them with numbers.

Genji sighed and drew his saber. "Seriously, why does it always come down to this? Nobody wants to talk nicely anymore."

"Have you considered that you provoked her first?"

"Technically speaking, you started it first. I just summarized it." Genji bantered with Stella as they struck down the incoming guards. For whatever reason, these units were weaker than even the pawns in the chess battle, so this didn't require much effort on their end.

The Queen of Hearts fumed as Genji and Stella defeated her troops without breaking a sweat. "Insolent bastards! How dare you disrespect royalty like that!" she screamed with a shrill note.

"So we can't even defend ourselves anymore without being disrespectful? What amazing standards you have," Genji mocked.

At this moment, a tiny man with a red K on his chest appeared on the field. "Oh dear! What's going on?" he exclaimed. "Why is everyone so injured?"

"Hubby! Call a trial. They killed everyone!" the queen cried out in fake heartache.

The man's demeanor immediately changed, going from a bumbling fool to a mighty ruler. "Is that so?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Yes! Look! All my guards are dead."

"Very well. We shall proceed to a trial." The king put his hands together, and the surroundings suddenly changed.

When they regained their bearings, Genji found himself in a formal courtroom. They were on the left side of the room, behind a podium labeled "Defendant." On the right side, the Queen of Hearts stood, with a label of "Prosecutor."

Between them was a raised bench where the king sat with a loose black robe. Behind them was a crowd consisting of Wonderland's inhabitants. These included the caterpillar Genji met earlier, the rabbit he chased upon entering this place, the black chess queen, and many others. The man with the green hat and the strange bunny were missing, indicating the success of Genji's previous scheme.

They were now in the domain of the king. Yet despite that, Genji felt no danger from the surroundings. At first, he thought this was due to his instincts being suppressed, but he soon discovered this was not the case. The space here felt weaker than the outside world, as if a single well-placed attack could shatter it.

This was strange since domains shouldn't be this weak, especially those backed by the zone's principles. Otherwise, there was no point in summoning it since the user would suffer major injuries before the fight even began. After all, the backlash from a broken domain was no joke.

'Why does it feel like they've been weakened?' Genji wondered as the king slammed his mallet three times.

"Order in the court. Order in the court. Today, we are gathered here to witness the trial of these outsiders. The Queen of Hearts, my wife, has accused them of several first-degree murders—a homicide. This is the case of Queen versus Outsiders. May we hear from the plaintiff?"

The queen stepped forward and said, "Your honor, I believe the crimes you've outlined drastically understate the severity of their crimes. Not only did they show utter disregard for royalty, but they also committed widespread vandalism, inspired mass terror, and coerced in the first degree. Minor charges include painting my roses the wrong shade of red, organizing an unauthorized caucus race, tampering with my Pop-Tarts by adding strawberry jam, and putting mustard in the clock!"

Everyone gasped at the last statement, and their eyes grew unfriendly. No one puts mustard in ANYTHING in Wonderland. How could they?!?

"Based on these charges, I believe they should lose the right to a jury and be executed immediately," the queen finished with a bow.

"Very well. I shall consider it. But until then, does the defendant have anything to say?" the king asked.

"Hmm?" Genji looked up nonchalantly and picked his nose for extra disrespect. "Sorry, what were you saying again? I wasn't paying attention." Then he wiped his boogers on the podium, much to everyone's disgust.

Genji paid no heed to their reactions and went for another round, slowly drawing a picture with his snot. Stella snickered at his actions and spat a loogie at the queen, followed by a provocative look. She was essentially saying, 'What are you going to do about it?'

Neither Genji nor Stella were pushovers, and the lack of danger only heightened their unruliness. Since the queen wanted to tack on so many ridiculous crimes, they might as well add some more to the list. It was not like they would be punished any differently.

"Bastard! I'll add contempt of court to your charges. How dare you! Off with their heads already!" The queen roared back with a seething red face.

"OBJECTION!" Genji interjected. "You forgot to swear us in, so none of this counts as an actual trial. Therefore, it's not contempt of court."

"Objection!" Stella chimed in for fun. "The judge is clearly biased and has a connection with the prosecutor. As such, he does not have the jurisdiction to preside over this case."

They were making a mockery of the court, and there was nothing the inhabitants could do about it. The crowd erupted into an uproar, clamoring to execute them for their audacity. Genji cussed at them in every creative way he could think of, baiting them to retaliate and create a bigger ruckus in the room.

The king banged his mallet repeatedly, shouting, "Order in the court! Order in the court!"

However, his shouts were drowned out by the noise. He had lost control of the trial, and it was only getting worse. This confirmed Genji's suspicions about the weakened trial. For whatever reason, the principles of this domain had stopped working, leaving a motley crew to act out their preset instructions.

Genji fought back against the wave of insults, cursing all 18 generations of their ancestors. Astros cheered for him despite not understanding the meaning because it looked like Genji was winning. This continued for several more minutes until a cracking sound pierced through the room.

The noise died down, and everyone turned to the source. In the middle of the room, between the judge's seat and the two parties, was a tiny black crack in space.

*Krrrraccck*

The fissure widened, and the light dimmed. A wave of terror swept through the crowd as this unexplainable phenomenon continued its course. Colors faded, the air fractured, and a faint buzz sounded. Then the space distorted, and a girl in ragged clothes appeared. She had messy black hair, a dirtied apron, knee-high socks alternating in black and white stripes, and a white ribbon headband.

She clenched the side of her body, doing her best to seal the gaping wound impairing her. Her left ankle was bent at a painful angle, forcing her to limp heavily. Despite this, she rushed forward without regard, panicking as she escaped the source of her afflictions.

Behind her, a hand gripped the edges of the space crack and ripped hard. The sound of tearing cloth echoed loudly, followed by the enlargement of the crack into a portal. A man in leather armor, wielding a mithril straight sword, emerged.

He chased after the girl and swung down, leaving a deep cut along her back. At this moment, Genji finally got the opportunity to scan the girl.

[Special stat is lower than the target's. Severe difference in total stats. Obtaining 29% of the target's information.]

[Alice, Master of Wonderland]

Health: 22,890/50,500

Mana: 5,887/3,750

Con: 62

Str: 60

Dex: 58

Int: 75

Spc: 78

Skills:

 - Boss (Passive): +35,000 health

 - Imagination Fueled (Passive): Spells you cast gain special effects based on your imagination.

 - Childhood Innocence (Passive): The more pure you appear, the faster Wonderland grows.

 - Sovereign of Dreams (Passive): You are the embodiment of Wonderland. The bigger Wonderland grows, the stronger you are. In times of crisis, you can overdraw this power to fuel your abilities.

 - Domain Master (Passive): You can sense and control everything within Wonderland.

 - Reality Bender (Active): Use mana to change reality. The greater the change, the more mana it costs.

Note: No further skills can be read.

 

Genji finally understood why the principles had stopped working. The master of Wonderland had encountered a massive threat and needed all the strength she could get.

This included any world energy empowering the zone principles, causing the inhabitants to be drastically weaker than usual. Otherwise, Genji and Stella wouldn't have been able to get this far; they would have already been apprehended by the card soldiers or punished by the king.

However, the conversion ratio of world energy to mana was abysmal and should only be used as a last resort. The trade-off in normal times was simply not worth it.

Yet despite her best efforts, Alice still struggled against the man with the mithril sword. That alone testified to his powers. After all, Alice was a fully qualified boss and even ranked among the stronger ones in this world. Just her reality-bending powers could deal significant damage if used properly.

The wounds on Alice slowly closed under her urgency, but the man was already upon her. His sword glowed silver, and orange runes lit up on the blade. The weapon dug into her perfect skin and left a nasty burn along the wound. Alice screamed in agony as her magic scattered under her dispersed concentrations.

The man swung again and left another deep cut on her shoulder blades. Bone shards stuck out and worsened the blood loss. Alice's health and mana bounced back and forth like a slinky, but it couldn’t hide the downward trend. She was on her last legs and had no way to turn the situation around.

The man ground her down like a patient hunter and waited for an opportune moment to strike. Upon finding that opening, he stabbed his sword into her stomach and channeled a major spell. The runes lit up in shining gold and sealed Alice's remaining energy. The girl opened her mouth to give one last defiant shout, but her life faded before she could utter her words.

From her lips, Genji guessed it was something similar to, 'Noooooo.'

The man yanked the sword out, kicked the body down, and reached for the headband. After roughly untying it, he stored it away in a leather pouch and glanced at Genji.

"Get out of here while you can. This area is about to collapse," he said.

"Yeah, we've been trying for a while now, except these people won’t tell us how."

The man sized him up and gave his sword another downward slash. A black opening appeared behind the path of his sword, followed by him tearing it open. "Here. I've created an exit. Now get out."

Genji nodded in appreciation and stepped through. The next thing he knew, he was back in the forest—the normal forest without any strange dimensional anomalies. The man hadn’t lied to him. Genji had finally left that cursed Wonderland.

'Well, that's one way to end things. I'm not complaining though.'

Stella appeared behind him and accessed her surroundings. "Any idea where we are?" 

Genji took out his wayfinder's compass and performed a rough triangulation. The pointer swerved a lot more than he expected, meaning he was close to the anchor. Genji explored his surroundings and compared their descriptions to his map. After a few minutes, he pinpointed his location, which was only three zones away from the capital.

"Yeah, but I don't think it's that helpful for you," Genji replied. "There's a city nearby. Follow me if you want. Otherwise, let’s separate now."

"I’ll go with you. It’s better than getting lost in the wild."

Genji nodded and began sprinting back. For once, the map was actually accurate, and there were no hiccups in their path. Soon, they crossed the border and entered the city.

"There you go. Now please leave me alone. I have stuff to do." With that, Genji ditched Stella and headed for the castle. He gave his account of his situation and met with the surviving team. Including himself, only six people had made it back so far. The warrior was unfortunately still missing. None of the team had seen him so far. For now, they would assume he is dead.

Lynn had also survived despite her missing arm during the separation. Genji wasn’t too surprised since her combat style wasn’t as affected by the loss as a melee fighter’s. Plus, he was confident there was more to her than what she'd shown so far. After all, it was simply for a realm member to have multiple specialties.

Genji could also pass off as a sniper if he had the right equipment. In general, realm members are more capable than they look; they just haven’t been giving it their all when the team was around.

"What happened to your arm?" Edwin asked concernedly.

"A small price for survival," Genji answered.

"Will it affect your strength?"

"I’ll manage. When’s the next exhibition?"

"2 days. We need to recoup our losses and hire more people. Then lead a big team to investigate the disappeared village."

"Sounds good," Genji replied before walking away. With this, the 9th day ended and the 10th began.