“Looks like we’ll have to manage on our own.” Shogo had witnessed what happened between the two girls from afar.
Now that the dragooun had been struck to the ground, it was easy for the undead swarm it all over. It seemed that part of Lloyd’s plan was genuinely working, the creature was greatly overwhelmed by the horde. Even when the only thing everyone could see was the horde, they were able to notice the dragooun gradually shift back in size due to the amount of undead being stacked on top of each other increasing.
“Dammit! What do we do?” Nathan was in a dilemma.
There was the option of manually seizing it but the horde was too much to get through, and there was no telling that it would remain in its small size. Juno’s chant was truly their only trump card to winning this… but that was what everyone thought when in reality, it wasn’t the only one.
After all, they had Shogo Kuroiwa… a living trump card.
“Guess it’s time to share in on the scores, fellas. I’ll have to reward myself with a warm drink afterwards though, that cold coffee did not sit well with me. (Maybe I can invite you guys as well… my treat, of course.)”
He leisurely walked in the dragooun’s direction, breaking through the horde with ease, before proceeding to pull out his treasured pen, which he hadn’t used much for quite a while. But this whole matter was practically begging for him to interfere.
— That guy… Can’t get enough of his troubles, if it’s either him or Lloyd.
Nathan was at his wit’s end, and so was almost everyone. The only two that were embracing the experience to its fullest and enjoying their time were Shogo and Lloyd. But it was time to close the book and move on to the next. The fun doesn’t last for too long, Shogo believed.
“Tell Lloyd to break free of the folio!” Shogo ordered Nathan as he himself began writing forth what he was about to do on his own.
When Shogo Kuroiwa worked, all ceased.
Nathan looked at Lloyd from afar and swung his arms in a cross, signalling him to stop with the scenario and come down. Everything was under control.
“Falsus Sator,” Shogo whispered with a still smile on his face.
It was the keyword to trigger the effect of his most reality-bending power yet — never underestimate him. Just like the aspiring writers before, he finished off his writing with quite the swing, showing off the confidence in his ability.
[Recto-Verso Brace]
In an instant, the horde coating the dragooun was swelling up. It wasn’t the dragooun acting out on its own, rather, it was Shogo’s writing taking effect. His target was the dragooun, so it was only natural something like this would happen. The undead began to fall off as a black spherical void bolting with lightning emerged from underneath them all. Inside it was none other than the Wonderland creature itself sealed within.
That was the power of the Recto-Verso Brace.
Unlike the expansion method, which a lot of writers had the commonality with, the brace method was completely different. The brace was essentially a light version of the expansion, creating a small folio either within an existing normal folio or in reality. That folio worked very well as a seal of its own.
Given that the dragooun had shifted back to its original size, it took almost no effort to seal it within that small folio. Even if it tried fighting back, the folio would easily negate its powers. Shogo brought forth the sphere near him to take a closer look. Within it was the little dragooun, back to its former endearing self that would have children fawning over it.
“So you caused all this? They gave you too much credit…” He smiled.
“T-That’s it? You caught it?” Nathan couldn’t believe himself.
The creature that caused so much destruction, proving to be formidable and hard to catch foe from the start, was caught just like that like a mouse in a trap without any effort.
“What? You expected something flashy?” Shogo held onto the sphere from the tip of his pen, and was very careful not to get caught up in the lightning surrounding it. “Folios are spheres on the outside, you know. Imagining one percent of a world within a world is an easy endeavour no matter how you think about it. All it takes is grasping one page of that world, overwriting it on your own, and voila… like catching a butterfly in a bubble.”
Why Shogo was refusing to help them from the start was beyond Nathan’s comprehension. That man truly lived up to his fame.
“Now…” He stretched his back outwards. “How about “The Seven Potterys”? I’m craving something more than cold or hot coffee this time, gotta take a break once in a while, eh. And I hear it’s quite the hostelry in Lakesbrough. Lisa told me they got this Apple Ci— No wait, you guys are not eighteen yet. Even with non-alcoholic beverages, I doubt they’d let you in…”
— Like you can talk… You’re barely even twenty-one. How can he think of such things when we’re not even officially done? The things I’d do to get another leader.
“Captain!” Zoe shouted as she descended down the fire escape of one of the buildings that were still intact.
— Oh, to be as fond as you, Zoe
The only one who still maintained a considerable amount of respect to Shogo within the team was Zoe. Never once did she call him by his first name, it was either by his title or his last name — with an added “Mr.” at the start, which he did not favour at all and supposed it made him seem older than he actually was. As for the others, they were either close enough to be friendly with him or barely tolerate him, the latter mostly for Nathan. Juno might disagree with him on some points in his personality, but when he got down to actual business, she respected him greatly. It was Shogo Kuroiwa after all. Lloyd and Erina, on the other hand, viewed him as the older brother they would quarrel with and make peace later over a meal.
“Ah… Zoe!” He approached her as she ran up to him, “You seem to know your stuff when it comes to food. Know any good places around? (I wonder if I should raise the budget…)”
Mentioning the word “food” was enough to halt the clockwork of Zoe’s mind. “Oh! Hmm… Now, you see, there is Orchid Port, but all they serve is either seafood or vegetarian stuff, which are great if I say so myself — I know! It’s a real bizarre mix. Although, if you are aiming for…”
She went on and on like a hole that was unplugged.
That was when Lloyd and the others finally showed up. Erina and Juno were both extremely tired; Lloyd had to use his concealed path method from earlier to get them down — he couldn’t carry two people, and certainly not while trying to get them to a lower level. They descended down as if emerging from the gates of Babylon, thanks to Lloyd’s overly-dazzling sparkles that coated its blank surface.
Nathan hurried over to help. He carried Juno, who was completely out of it due to her energy depleting from the effort exerted in saving Erina. As for Erina, she rested one arm on Lloyd’s shoulder as he aided her in walking down, she had a small ounce of energy within her.
“We’re… not square yet…” Erina told Lloyd.
Being aided by him was but a small favour she did not want. Even with her almost out, she wouldn’t forget her provocation, especially if it was against Lloyd. From the moment they met, she developed an antipathy for him (for his recklessness and ignorance for what writing was), which eventually turned to tolerance and rivalry that somehow made them on friendly terms in some cases. Her objective had been to beat him in a fair fight. But instead of doing exactly that, fate had them always owe one another, and before they knew it, they were both drowning in favours.
“Yeah yeah whatever…” He said. She almost slipped out of his reach, but he caught her and helped her up once more. “I know how you’re dying every day for a chance to kill me and get rid of me once and for all, but that should really be the least of your worries for now.”
— And another favour to the list.
“I’m sick of…”
“All right. Forget about the favours, I’m tired of them as much as you are. You’ll get your damn fight… once you’re back on your feet. So shut up and listen for now.”
Shogo clapped his hands together from afar, “Chivalry! Equality! I like it!”
“It’s not…” Lloyd said.
“No…” Erina said.
If anything, Lloyd would be more than happy to drop her and leave her for the undead.
— Oh the undead!
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