[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/72bEcUi.png[/img][/center]

Lily nervously laughed along Ronin, though with lesser enthusiasm, and frowned as Alex suggested asking another question. 
[color=fff200]”Uh, I don’t think…”[/color] She was too slow to answer, as Gaia pointed out it was their only question.
But just as the party seemed to give up, Ronin was the one to lift their spirits, the green-aligned girl showing her ever courageous smile that caused Lily to shake off her fears.
[color=fff200]”That’s right…Let’s have confidence in ourselves!”[/color]

As Ronin opened the door, it revealed a corridor on the other side, with a wooden door at the very end of it. Tweedledee and Tweedledum gestured for the Mahou to enter, waving with both ribbon hands. Lily stepped in after the twins, holding on to Alex’ free hand as she did.
When everyone was inside, the door behind them closed, and the door before them opened, revealing…


An immaculate reading room befitting a monarch could be seen beyond the open doorway: the walls were lined with bookshelves, the books themselves flying in and out like flapping birds. A delicate round tea table stood in one corner, with a couple of equally dainty chairs, a hot cup of tea left there as if prepared by someone. A fireplace burned with gentle flames of iridescent color, and the middle of the room was dominated by a globe model of Wonderland, magically enchanted to show the various dukedoms and principalities of it on the surface.

The reading room had several wooden doors, and one of them opened. Beyond it stepped a curious magical girl forth: the [url=https://i.imgur.com/LlficM5.png]Cheshire Cat[/url]. She greeted the Mahou with a curtsy and a cat smile.

“Nyanderful! You have finally arrived. I was sure Alice’s chivalrous chevaliers would overcome all trials to rescue her! However, your princess is in another castle, or so I believe.” Her cat ears drooped as she frowned.

“Taken away by the wicked Red Queen herself. But worry not. For what is sought is most often found, if it is truly sought. If you truly seek the princess, then I can help you.”

Lily could not believe her eyes, and blinked a couple of times to ensure that she wasn’t hallucinating.

[color=fff200]”Ummm…”[/color]

Branch Nose, however, seemed less confused.

“What reason do we have to believe you?” He asked the question that most likely burned in everyone’s minds.

The Cheshire Cat grinned.

“Only a few find the way, some don’t recognize it when they do - some... don’t ever want to.”
She crossed her pointing hands. 
“However, they meet at a crossroads: your way, and that of my true mistress…The princess’ former fiancee knows whom I speak of, don’t you? After all, she was the one who aided in your daring escape from the Red Queen’s clutches,” she added with a wink towards Alex.

[hr]
Rachel was about to sigh from reprieve at the end of the battle, when she heard the sound of a zooming vehicle and turned to see the truck Penny drove accelerate rapidly and crash through the castle gates with tremendous force, causing the walls of the citadel to shake from the impact. She dropped down to meet with the Queen of Penrose once she had caught Violet with the finesse of a superheroine, less hostility in the Inquisitor’s demeanour than the android might have first assumed. In fact, there seemed to be a hint of a smile, before it was suppressed.

“You’re late,” she spoke curtly, and glanced at the truck, out of which Justine and Caroline clambered out of. “But it seems you found a solution to the petrification issue.”

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/K2ssvzh.png[/img][/center]

Justine supported her sister with an arm as they approached the taller women. 
[color=bc8dbf]”It turned out she needed a gold needle, which the local cactus creatures gave. They were surprisingly friendly,”[/color] she added, and gave a smile to her younger sister, who also gave a slight smile, if a bit less enthusiastic. They turned to look at the Mermaid Princess, who rode to meet the group on the back of an orca whale.

“Oh joyous day!” We have taken the castle! With the loss of her general and throne, the wicked queen will surely fall, and Princess Alice shall take her rightful place as monarch of Wonderland! Then, we will have finny freedom, and fun!”

Justine placed a hand before her mouth to stifle a giggle, while Rachel scoffed. She turned to look at Mayra, still in the form of a giant dragon, who pointed towards Brittany: she was at a nearby patch of grass on the side of the road, where she laid, her hands resting over her heart.

Rachel shook her head slowly. “She is alive, but not without consequence: I caught and healed her, but she still hasn’t woken. Sometimes mortal trauma can shut down weaker Mahou; I’ve seen it happen before in the ranks of Beacon. She was never meant for direct combat. Were it not for her enchantment-induced insanity, she probably never would have done what she did.”

[hr]
The Queen of Hearts was shocked at what happened as she unleashed her severance technique on what seemed to be but an appalling amphibian: the attack, designed to magically strike at the mind of the opponent and directly overwrite their Champion Scripture, was instead resisted to an alarming degree. Were it not for the assistance of the other one, she would have been left open against a counter-attack. Though she held her speech as intended, a twitching eye betrayed her true feelings, the queen realizing that she was running out of time: there was only so much ink that a pen held, after all. If it ran dry before she got to the end of the book, it would all be left unfinished.

With that realization in mind, the mad monarch of Wonderland witnessed Mariette’s return from the surface mirror. Her eyes grow wide at her next words.

“So this is it…The final looking glass…The Black Mirror. Finally, it is time! Come, everyone! Let us make haste! We are soon over the page!”
With those words, she walked through the mirror, leaving Mariette once again with a moment of solace.

On the other side was a dark realm, glittering with distant mirrors, like the dimension where Mariette’s mansion once stood. But here, the darkness itself seemed alive, as if made from intangible fingers that slid over reflective surfaces, always met with an opposite counterpart of illusion. In the distance stood the Black Mirror, as well as the greatest of Asengave’s champions.

The queen’s eye flashed purple.
“...Mikayla Synnot. Fitting that the Power’s most formidable servant would be set as watchdog.”

She considered her options. 

“Mikayla…”

She would no longer risk the severance technique, aware that Mikayla might have similar defensive capabilities as the merrow. 

“Mi..ka...y...la...”

However, there was an opportunity here, and a most fitting coincidence, as if fate itself conspired for this moment.

“...Mika.” She turned her head to Mika, and pointed her finger at Mikayla. “Against Mika. Mika versus Mika. Mano a Mano, Mikano a Mikano. But only one Mika may Mika, like no Mika has Mika before.” She opened her hand dramatically.

“Now is your chance to prove yourself. Get rid of her, and you shall be bestowed the title of princess, and the prestige of the gentry.”

[hr]
The populace turned into a wide-spread panic as Chloe’s skeletal scare force began their rampage across the city. Though curiously nonlethal, houses and apartments were turned inside out. Mirrors were shattered, and candles were ransacked, and brought to the streets, lit and raised up, as if a procession of the dead, or very metal concert fans, had gathered. Even Chloe’s words fell on deaf ears, as only a few confused citizens who actually comprehended the baby talk considered her excuse, the rest being too shaken to calm down.

Of course, regular people were not the only ones who Chloe reached with her announcement: she saw as a group of Beacon magical girls led by Ascendancy members hopped from rooftop to rooftop, until they reached the one where Chloe now stood: led by Tsuki, with Hudie in tow, the magical girls had their weapons summoned.

“What is the meaning of this? Are you trying to cause a scene even as Wonderland is mounting an invasion?” Tsuki accused her with a pointing finger.

“No, she’s not stupid enough to do that,” Hudie responded, her masked eyes seeming to see the strange actions of her underlings. “You are after Asengav, correct?”