The Thrice Setting Nightmare

7 of Amberclaw, 999 A.N.S.

Inside a little bedroom lit by a light bulb, a girl with long black hair quickly woke up in sweat. The strand of hair on top of her head clunkily waved as she touched her neck. It was intact, not even a single scratch. 

She let out a deep sigh – her strand bowed too to emphasize her relief. 

"That hair on your head is weird."

Alexandra froze.

Someone suddenly sat on her bed, it was a girl around her age with short brown hair, a turquoise left eye, an eyepatch, and a nun's outfit. The girl pointed Alexandra with her bandaged right index finger, "I took the liberty to dress you up this time."

Trembling, Alexandra noticed she was indeed dressed in the same nun's outfit as the girl's.

"You… You…"

"Are real? Yes, I am. And yes, I did kill you once. That was an accident though. But, I will do it again if you try to escape."

"... How—"

"I turned back in time obviously."

"What?! Nonsense! That… That isn't possible even using bibliomancy!"

Shogo pointed the wall at her left, "There's a clock on the wall before you. Can you read it?"

"Huh?"

Alexandra turned the head toward the wall in front of her. There was indeed a clock there.

"Could you read the time, please?" Shogo asked. 

"What?"

"I can help if you don't know how to. It is—"

"6.09 PM! I can still—"

Shogo stabbed Alexandra in the head with a knife in her right hand. Her vision was obscured.

She was dead.

***

7 of Amberclaw, 999 A.N.S.

Inside a little bedroom lit by a light bulb, a girl with long black hair cried of terror as she woke up. Quickly she looked around the room. She was looking for someone; someone she wished to not be there, someone she didn't want to be there. But she knew her wish wouldn't be granted, she knew she would meet that girl in nun's outfit and that she would kill her again.

However… nothing… the girl wasn't there... 

The room was empty. Only the bed, the clock on the wall, the light bulb on the ceiling and the countless papers glued there. Aside from that, there was—

"Welcome back, marshmallow girl."

Someone suddenly held Alexandra from the back. Her eyes opened wide as sweat rolled down her cheek. She didn't turn back. She didn't want to. All this must have been a nightmare. Yes, a nightmare. It couldn't be real.

The girl behind her pointed to the wall in front of Alexandra with her bandaged right index, "Could you read the time again, please?"

Trembling, Alexendra closed her eyes. She didn't want to look. She didn't want to have anything to do with this. She just wanted to go back to her house. Why did she even accept that assignment in the lower ring? Now she was this thing's toy, living and dying at its whim. She didn't want that. She absolutely didn't want that!

"If you can't, I will help," the doll said. "It is 6.03 PM."

Alexandra slightly opened her eyes. On the clock, it was indeed the time that thing gave earlier, meaning, they were about six minutes before her last death. 

Alexandra gulped down her saliva, "Hey… Can… Can you really turn back in time?"

"I can."

"But… but that… that is…"

"Should I kill you again and turn back?"

Alexandra shivered. 

It couldn't be time manipulation since such a thing was impossible, but whatever it was, it was realistic enough for her not to want to go through that again. It must have been an illusion, but illusions can't create a feeling you never experienced or can't imagine. Alexandra never had her throat sliced open, let alone died before. Even now, she didn't understand what she just experienced, but she knew one thing – it was frightening. 

She started trembling, crumpling the bed's sheets. She didn't understand, and realizing that made her even more afraid. That thing – Shogo – even though it was a lower ringer and a doll, it somehow used a weird form of bibliomancy against her. Alexandra couldn't use any code, and her grimoire was nowhere to be found. Besides, her opponent had a weapon while Alexandra had none. She was totally at a disadvantage here.

"Are you saying that if you had your grimoire and a weapon, you could beat me?"

Alexandra's body twitched. She forgot that her opponent could read her mind. Nothing she could think of would be a secret. 

"(Damn mind reading!!!)"

She was fed up. Who did that lower ringer doll think it was? No matter how powerful, a doll stayed a doll, a being lower than a human. Being afraid of such a thing would be like admitting she was lower than the lowest filth. She was a Wolf! One the greatest line of bibliomancers there was! She couldn't possibly bow before a doll tool! 

Arrogantly, Alexandra glared at Shogo, "If I could use my codes, and my grimoire, you wouldn't even stand a chance!"

Shogo's eye widened in surprise, "Oh~?"

"What? Do you doubt myself? Why don't you try, then?"

Shogo rolled her eye to think, but Alexandra took it as mockery.

"Ah… Why not?" Shogo mumbled, getting off the bed. "I can't do anything about your codes or your grimoire, but I can give you a weapon. Is that okay?"

"What are you afraid of, mind reader? Are you trying to run away now you know the extent of my abilities?" Alexandra provoked.

"Not really," Shogo calmly replied. "Your skin was burned up and then flayed. If I understand correctly, those 'codes' of yours were words tattooed on your back, right? They are lost."

Alexandra remembered her encounter with the fire angel. She lost both her arms in that encounter, and was left to burn. She was sure that at least, that part wasn't an illusion… or was it? Her hands were there, and there was no way a lower ringer could heal such grave injuries.

"She can heal that much easily."

Alexandra's eyes narrowed, "Your master, huh? Ok, let's say I believe you. Why don't you give me my grimoire, then?!"

"It's not here."

"Don't lie to me! It couldn't have burned! A grimoire cannot be destroyed in such a way!"

"I didn't say it burned. It's not here."

"Liar!!!"

"You don't have to believe me."

Again, Alexandra clenched her teeth. 

She knew how to fight without using bibliomancy, she learned it at the academy. In fact, she was really good at hand to hand combat, but she had no way to be sure this thing could be trusted.

"If you want, I will use only one of my hands. Choose whichever you want. That should compensate for your grimoire, shouldn't it? Moreover…" A silver knife suddenly fell from under Shogo's right sleeve. "I won't use my knife. What do you say, marshmallow girl? Seems fair to you?"