Chapter 45: The Creation Learns to Fight.
We stood between the missing noble girl and Melanorus.
The creature was enormous.
Its body was a monstrous union of lion and horse, supported by six massive legs that ended in black claws. Pale strands covered its head and neck, twisting together like the roots of an ancient tree. They formed a mane that moved even when the creature stood still.
Its tail was worse.
Hundreds of ivory-colored branches grew from its rear, twisting and spreading behind it like the remains of a dead tree. They moved slowly, deliberately, as if they had their own awareness.
There was something ancient about it. Something that made the forest around it feel small.
All six of its eyes settled on me.
I felt it immediately.
That same wrongness I had sensed before.
Not evil.
Not hunger.
Something else.
The feeling of hearing a familiar song with one note slightly out of place.
Melanorus did not roar. It simply watched us.
That was worse than any roar.
Albruna moved first.
Her hands rose, water gathering, a spell forming. The circle began to take shape, the familiar glow of her magic.
Then…
Flicker.
The spell vanished.
The water disappeared. The circle dissolved before it could even finish forming.
Albruna stared at her hand. She tried again. The same thing happened. Her magic flickered and died, like a flame extinguished by water.
Adelgund stepped forward.
"Let me try."
Fire bloomed between her fingers.
For a brief instant, the flame burned brightly.
Then it disappeared.
No smoke.
No ember.
Nothing.
Averhilda planted the butt of her spear against the ground.
"Earth."
The ground beneath her feet should have responded.
It didn't.
She tried again.
Nothing.
Kaede raised her hand.
Wind usually answered her almost immediately.
This time, the air remained perfectly still.
Silence spread through the clearing.
Our magic was gone.
Melanorus watched us with its six eyes. The mane of pale roots shifted slowly. The branches of its tail twisted.
It did not move toward us. It did not attack.
It simply waited.
Albruna was still staring at her hand, trying to understand what had happened. The water that had always answered her call was gone. The magic that had been part of her since childhood had simply... stopped.
One of Melanorus's six eyes shifted toward her.
Its body moved.
Too fast.
A claw tore toward Albruna, massive, black, faster than anything that size should have been able to move. She saw it coming but could not react in time.
CLANG!
The doll launched itself forward.
It intercepted the attack, its armored form taking the full force of the blow. The impact sent it skidding backward, its feet carving furrows in the earth. But it held. It did not break.
Albruna stared at the doll. At its golden eyes, still burning. At its lion helm, still intact.
It had protected her again.
Albruna looked at Melanorus.
Its six eyes remained fixed on us.
It hadn't moved.
It didn't need to.
Kaede's expression hardened.
"Physical attacks, then."
Adelgund drew her sword.
Averhilda tightened her grip on her spear.
Kaede moved first.
She rushed forward and struck at one of Melanorus's legs.
CLANG.
The blade scraped across its hide.
No wound.
Averhilda thrust her spear toward its flank.
The point struck and glanced away.
Adelgund followed, swinging toward its shoulder.
Again…
Nothing.
The creature barely reacted.
Its hide was harder than anything we had fought before.
"Fall back!"
Kaede pulled us together.
We formed a tight circle around the noble girl and Albruna.
Melanorus's body was simply too powerful.
Our normal physical attacks were not enough.
The creature watched us with its six eyes, unhurried, unimpressed.
The doll stood beside me, its golden eyes fixed on Melanorus, waiting for the next attack.
But I knew it would not be enough.
We had lost our magic.
We had lost our advantage.
And Melanorus was still standing.
The fight was not over. But I did not know how we could win.
Melanorus turned toward me.
Its six eyes fixed on my face, and I felt the weight of its attention like a physical thing. The mane of pale roots shifted, and the branches of its tail twisted, reaching toward me.
I raised the G-Pen instinctively.
I didn't know.
But there was one thing I could try.
I drew.
Fire.
The circle formed.
I waited.
The magic should have vanished.
It didn't.
My breath caught.
The flame shot forward.
It struck Melanorus directly.
For the first time, the creature reacted.
Not much.
But enough.
Albruna stared.
"...Your magic still works."
I didn't answer.
I was staring at the fire.
Everyone else's magic had disappeared.
Mine hadn't.
A dark mark appeared across its pale hide, smoke curling from the wound.
Everyone went silent.
Melanorus turned its head toward me.
All six eyes. The twisted branches of its tail shifted, pointing toward me like accusing fingers.
I felt its attention settle like a weight.
My magic wasn't like theirs.
I didn't understand why.
But I couldn't stop now.
My hand slashed jagged angles into existence, ice.
Crystal spears exploded outward.
Several pierced its hide.
Another wound.
Another mark.
Melanorus took a step backward.
Not from pain.
From caution.
I tightened my grip on the G-Pen.
It was working.
But barely.
The wounds were scratches compared to the size of the creature.
I needed more.
I thought about the Fairy King's lessons.
Light.
Shadow.
Balance.
I drew.
The circle formed differently this time.
Light and shadow intertwined within the same pattern, neither overpowering the other.
I activated it.
A pulse of light burst outward.
Melanorus's eyes narrowed.
Then shadow followed.
Darkness spread across the clearing, confusing its senses and breaking its focus.
For a moment, the creature faltered.
"Now!"
Adelgund and Averhilda attacked together.
Their physical blows struck while Melanorus was distracted.
Kaede followed.
The doll moved with them.
For several seconds, we pushed it back.
Then Melanorus recovered.
The darkness dispersed.
Its six eyes found us again.
The creature was still standing.
I lowered the G-Pen.
My breathing was heavy.
Fire hadn't been enough.
Ice hadn't been enough.
Even Light and Shadow together hadn't been enough.
I looked at the doll.
It was still fighting.
Its armored fists struck Melanorus again and again.
CLANG.
CLANG.
CLANG.
Nothing.
The doll could block.
It could protect.
It could move faster than something its size should have been able to move.
But it couldn't hurt Melanorus.
It needed something else.
A weapon.
The thought came naturally.
I looked at the Grimoire strapped to my side.
A blank page waited inside.
I could draw one.
Kaede saw what I was thinking.
"Elsbeth?"
I opened the Grimoire.
Adelgund looked over her shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"Making something."
"Now?"
I nodded.
Averhilda stared at the approaching creature.
"That's going to take time!"
They still thought of drawing as preparation.
Something done before a fight.
They didn't understand.
Drawing wasn't separate from my fighting.
Drawing was how I fought.
The circles.
The ink.
The armor.
The doll.
All of it began here.
I knelt.
The G-Pen touched the page.
Melanorus charged.
Kaede stepped in front of me.
"Keep drawing!"
Adelgund moved beside her.
Averhilda took the other side.
Albruna grabbed a fallen branch and threw it toward Melanorus's face.
It didn't hurt the creature.
But it distracted it for half a second.
Half a second was enough.
I drew.
My hand moved quickly.
The lines came naturally now.
Years of practice.
Thousands of circles.
Countless hours spent learning how to make an idea become something real.
I didn't think about the battle.
I thought about purpose.
What did the doll need?
A sword?
No.
It had no hands.
A spear?
The same problem.
I paused.
The G-Pen hovered over the page.
The doll wasn't built like a human.
It had arms.
But no fingers.
No palms.
It had been designed to block.
To protect.
To stand between danger and the people it cared about.
My eyes moved over the blank page.
Then I knew.
Something simple.
Something familiar.
Something that could be controlled with movement rather than strength.
I drew.
The final line connected.
I signed the page.
Sayaka.
***
The ink shimmered.
Then the page went still.
I looked up.
An ink well appeared in front of the doll.
Black porcelain.
A narrow lip.
The familiar starlit blue threaded through the darkness.
Ink poured from it.
But this time, it didn't flow over the doll's body.
It moved toward its arms.
Albruna stared.
"What is it doing?"
The ink gathered.
Something formed within it.
A handle.
A cup.
A spike.
A ball connected by a string.
The shape became solid.
A kendama.
Adelgund stared at it.
Then at me.
"...Is that supposed to be a weapon?"
I almost laughed.
"It is now."
The doll looked down.
The kendama hovered in front of it.
Then stopped.
The problem became obvious.
The doll had no hands.
It had never needed them.
Its fists had always been enough.
I stared at the armor covering its arms.
Then something occurred to me.
The armor had never behaved like ordinary armor.
It had appeared when I needed it.
It had changed according to my intentions.
It wasn't simply something I had drawn.
It understood what I meant.
Or at least...
It responded to what I meant.
I remembered the first time it had protected someone.
The first time the armor had formed without my command.
The first time the doll had moved because someone needed protecting.
The armor had adapted then.
Why not now?
I looked at the doll.
"You don't need a hand," I whispered.
The armor moved.
Ink gathered around its forearms.
Plates shifted.
The material stretched.
Something began to form.
Fingers.
Not flesh.
Not human.
They were made from the same dark material as the armor, jointed and articulated, each finger formed from overlapping plates of hardened ink.
The others stopped fighting.
Even Melanorus paused.
The doll slowly raised its arm.
The new fingers opened.
Then closed.
CLACK.
The sound echoed through the clearing.
The doll looked at its hand.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then it reached toward the kendama.
Its fingers wrapped around the handle.
The string swung beneath it.
The ball caught the light, glowing faintly with the same blue-white luminescence that ran through the ink.
The doll tightened its grip.
I stared.
I had drawn a weapon.
But that wasn't what I had accomplished.
I had made my creation capable of using something it had never been physically designed to hold.
The armor had interpreted my intention.
It had changed itself.
Not because I had specifically drawn a hand.
Not because I had given it instructions.
Because it understood what the doll needed.
Melanorus lowered its head. The six eyes focused on the doll, ancient and unreadable.
The creature had been advancing without hesitation.
Now it stopped.
The doll took one step forward.
Its kendama hung loosely at its side.
Its golden eyes burned beneath the lion helm.
The forest became completely silent.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
Melanorus stared at the small armored figure standing before it.
For the first time since it had appeared...
It looked uncertain.
The doll raised the kendama.
The ball swung gently at the end of its string.
I tightened my grip around the G-Pen.
I had created the doll because I didn't want to be alone.
I had drawn it to protect me.
But now...
It was becoming something I had never imagined.
Something that could do more than what I had originally given it.
The doll took another step.
Melanorus lowered its body.
The six eyes narrowed.
Neither moved.
The forest held its breath.
And then the doll raised its kendama.
How will the Doll defeat Melanorus with a Kendama...
Find out in the next chapter, same time, same place.
