Chapter-27

The air trembles with the weight of the moment, the very fabric of Wonderland straining under the collision of power and will. The Shadow, a writhing mass of darkness, looms before me, its tendrils reaching, its voices clawing at the edges of my mind.

"We are not weak," it hisses, a chorus of despair and malice. "We are the power that corrupts, the darkness that consumes."

I tilt my head slightly, watching as the entity swells, its form shifting, trying to intimidate, to suffocate. To break me.

But fear is a game I do not play.

The amulet at my chest pulses, not in warning, but in anticipation. It knows what I am about to do. It relishes it.

"You misunderstand, Shadow," I say, my voice cutting through the swirling abyss like a razor. "Corruption isn't power. Fear isn't strength. You don't consume—you cling."

The entity writhes, its tendrils twitching, uncertain.

I take a step forward, and the very ground beneath me obeys. The unnatural hum of the Shadow wavers, falters.

"You are not a force. You are a parasite."

A ripple of rage pulses through the darkness, a violent shudder that distorts the very air. The psychic assault intensifies, whispers twisting into roars, seeking cracks in my mind, in my being.

But they find none.

I exhale slowly, lifting my hand. The protective barrier around the rabbit flares brighter in response, as if feeding off my presence, amplifying, expanding.

"You thought I would fight you on your terms," I murmur, watching as the tendrils recoil from the light. "That I would let you dictate the rules of this battle."

I smirk.

"How unfortunate for you."

With a flick of my wrist, I unleash a pulse of pure, unyielding energy—not light, not fire, but something deeper, something undeniable. A force not meant to banish the Shadow, but to overwrite it.

The entity screams.

The Mad Hatter stumbles backward, clutching his head, his corrupted mind fracturing beneath the weight of what is unfolding.

The rabbit gasps.

And the Shadow knows.

It does not face a mere challenger.

It faces something it has never encountered before.

"You don't consume me," I say, stepping forward as the darkness writhes in agony. "I consume you."

And with that, I take what was once untouchable.