Thanks for the invitation. I'm in Type-Moon, inheriting the legacy of Zi-O.

Alice in Wonderland

The pages of the book fluttered everywhere, obscuring Nian Zhuo and the others' view.

The scenery before my eyes gradually changed.

"A small door, an eternal tea party."

A rainbow-colored grassland of black and white squares, where twins engage in Zen-like dialogue.

But, but, this is still my favorite.

Forget everything, and I'll welcome you into the nameless forest!

The girl's voice came, gradually dispelling the thick fog around them.

The scenery before them suddenly transformed from medieval London into a misty, verdant forest.

"Where am I..." Nian Zhuo had just opened his eyes when he felt a sudden pain in his head. "Ugh—!" He clutched his head in pain and squatted down, cold sweat beading on his forehead, as if a hot stick was stirring his brain.

Name, age, experience—everything seemed to be being stirred into a mess...

"Beep beep beep!" The long-absent system notification sound came from my mind. The system's emotionless voice was the best cooler. "An unknown force has been detected modifying the host's mind. Automatically releasing the barrier - 3, 2, 1, - Release complete."

A blue rune appeared on Nian Zhuo's forehead. The moment it appeared, Nian Zhuo felt the iron rod disappear and collapsed to the ground.

"Huff...huff..." Panting heavily, Nianzhuo stared blankly at the lush green forest around him, as if it had been carved out of a fairy tale. "What, what happened here—?" Still shaken, he had even forgotten his own name from what had just happened.

Getting up from the ground, Nianzhuo dusted himself off and looked around.

The first things to be noticed were Mashu and Ritsuka lying on the ground.

"—!" Seeing the two with their eyes tightly closed, Nianzhuo rushed over. "What happened—!"

Although the two were unconscious, they were clearly not seriously injured, and there was no trace of magic involved.

Then there is only one answer—Nianzhuo looked up at the surrounding forest.

"Is this forest the magic released by that nursery rhyme—?" As he said this, Nianzhuo suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes not far away, so he carefully walked over.

With extremely subtle movements, Nianzhuo parted the bushes and opened his eyes wide to look through the gap.

—It was Mordred, who was violently smashing against the trees on one side, clutching his head in pain.

"Hey, Mordred—!" Seeing that it was one of his own, Nianzhuo quickly ran over and helped her up from her kneeling position. "Are you alright—?!" He also looked the girl over.

Very well, there were no obvious marks on her bright silver armor, but she was clutching her forehead tightly, her emerald green eyes filled with pain.

"Ah...it's you...Nian Zhuo—!" Mordred visibly relaxed upon seeing Nian Zhuo, but then clutched his forehead in pain just before calling out Nian Zhuo's name. "It's...again...!"

"Hey, System—!" Nian Zhuo anxiously called out to the system in his mind, while helping Mordred to the side. "What exactly is wrong with Mordred now—?"

"Beep beep—" A familiar sound came, and the system's voice quickly echoed in Nian Zhuo's mind: "Servant detected: Mordred. The power it suffered is the same as the attack the host suffered, both of which attempt to modify the other party's mind and memories... However, relying on its magic resistance skills, Mordred can still resist for a while."

“Then—” Nian Zhuo touched the blue rune on his forehead and tentatively asked, “Could you share your barrier with her?”

After a brief silence, the system's voice came again: "Feasibility detected."

“Okay!” Nian Zhuo nodded and placed his index finger on Mordred’s forehead.

Then, the same blue rune as the one on his forehead appeared, and Mordred's furrowed brows finally relaxed.

"Ah..." Mordred breathed a sigh of relief and opened her eyes. "Finally—that damn thing is gone..."

Then, she stood up and looked around at the lush green forest.

“But where exactly is this? — Nianzhuo, do you know?” Mordred pulled the sword blade from the ground and looked at Nianzhuo behind him.

“I’m not quite sure either.” Nian Zhuo scratched his head, looking at the shattered sunlight cast on the ground by the shade of the jungle trees. “This should be the magic that Tong Yao released back then.”

"This is the Nameless Forest, one of the treasures of Nursery Rhyme." The system answered Nian Zhuo in its mind, and then repeated it to Mordred through Nian Zhuo's mouth.

"This place is itself a Reality Marble. A Reality Marble with the ability to make enemies forget their own names, causing their existence to become thin or even disappear." The system's voice was flat, but Nian Zhuo gritted his teeth, feeling a bit troubled.

Realistic Marble, yes, Realistic Marble.

As mentioned before, a Reality Marble is a magic spell that materializes one's mental landscape. Once activated, it transforms the surrounding space into a completely different landscape. The materialization of a mental landscape means that a Reality Marble replaces oneself and the world while maintaining the same boundary. At this point, the size of oneself and the world is swapped, and the world is completely confined within a small container. This small world is called the World Egg, which also became the name of the theory.

But for them, trapped within the inherent barrier created by the nursery rhyme, finding that girl was no easy task.

"But this is really impressive... Nian Zhuo, yours..." Mordred said with some surprise, touching the blue rune on his forehead, "My magic resistance can only weaken but not resist, but yours seems to completely resist without consuming any magic power..."

"Well, everyone has their trump cards after all." Nian Zhuo waved his hand to indicate that it wasn't important. "But speaking of everyone, where has everyone gone?"

“Ah, this—” Mordred pointed outside the bushes. “Mash and Ritsuka are sleeping soundly over there. I guess it’s because of the ability of the Demi-Servant on Mash that they didn’t suffer from this corruption and just fell into a deep sleep.”

Mordred stroked his chin, recalling the events that had occurred before he came into this world.

“As for Andersen… he, Ryotaro, and Urataros have gone to a safe place.” Nodding, Mordred patted Nianzhuo on the shoulder. “That means it’s just the two of us here.”

"So that's how it is..." Nian Zhuo shook his head helplessly, but then gripped the Time Gunsword in his hand and looked around warily. "But Mordred, did you hear anything?"

"A sound?" Mordred tilted her head curiously, looking around, but still couldn't find anything suspicious. "Nothing?"

No, indeed... Nianzhuo did hear something.

It was the sound of a huge creature stomping on the ground, a sound that made the earth tremble.

"This—!" Then, Nian Zhuo saw something tall appear behind Mordred!

Thump-thump—Nian Zhuo could hear his own heartbeat quickening as he saw the monster.

Two bull horns protruded from the tall trees, and fists, like human arms, were covered with scarlet scales.

Its body was marked with silver-gray patterns, but it had golden eyes on its head, and its tall body was as tall as a three-story building. Its entire body was dark red, and it even had ferocious barbs.

Behind the monster were a pair of huge, tattered wings.

Whether those could be considered wings or not was uncertain, because in his eyes, the monster's wings looked like countless planks stuck together, arranged from longest to shortest...

"Ugh—!" Exhaling a burst of hot white breath, the monster swept away all the trees in front of it.

Now, Mordred finally saw what the giant monster behind him looked like.

"【Dragon】——" No matter how strange the monster in front of them was, the word "dragon" appeared in the minds of both Nian Zhuo and Mordred the moment they saw it.

"Damn it!" Mordred quickly drew his sword and retreated, staring at the towering monster. He gritted his teeth. "What kind of monster is this dragon?"

The golden eyes darted around and spotted Nian Zhuo and Mordred on the ground not far away.

"——!——!" A huge roar spewed from its mouth, and the monster's fragmented wings flapped behind it as its body slowly rose from the ground.

Now, Mordred and Nianzhuo could see the monster in its entirety.

With enormous, humanoid fists that were completely disproportionate to its body, and surprisingly, even the monster's legs were humanoid, this dragon-headed, human-bodied monster charged towards Nian Zhuo and the others!

"What the hell is this monster?!" Nian Zhuo and Mordred were both shocked and quickly ran to either side.

The dragon's massive body crashed into the ground where Nian Zhuo and the others had just been standing. The enormous impact ripped up the surrounding soil and snapped all the trees in the vicinity, sending them crashing to the ground.

For a moment, the entire forest echoed with a tremendous crash—

At the same time, deep in the forest, a small dining table was set up under a white parasol.

There was no food on it, but stacks and stacks of books—

On top of all was the picture book that Tong Yao was holding—a girl in a blue dress with a white apron, shaking hands with a rabbit in a suit.

—Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The owner of this book, the creator of this world, the little girl with silver-white hair in the nursery rhyme, is currently sitting in a chair, holding her cheeks and rocking happily.

A huge impact came from afar, and upon hearing this sound, Tong Yao's movements clearly paused.

"It seems that [Gabok] has already seen them~" The girl smiled happily and picked up the picture book in front of her.

Then, an even more adorable smile appeared on her face, and she softly hummed a lullaby.

"The hollow dragon is as smooth as a flounder, wriggling and twisting like a vine, turning with ease. Its imitation is believable, making it hard to distinguish the real from the fake. Although its reaction is quick, it cannot hide its stupidity."

"On the journey of writing, beware of the hollow dragon, lest you suffer its harm and be heartbroken. Stroll through the forest of books, avoid the cacophony of birdsong, for fleeting companions are nothing short of ghosts and monsters. With strong hands gripping the sword of rhetoric, a shrewd young man leans against a concise tree trunk, his sharp eyes searching for redundant adversaries, and after a moment of contemplation, he gains much from his work."

"His thoughts were racing, when the Hollow Dragon arrived on the wind, still spouting nonsense as it drifted along, its eyes gleaming with a fierce light, clearly aggressive! With a swift and skillful swordplay, the Hollow Dragon was finally decapitated, and the young hero returned in triumph, sword in hand."

"The hollow dragon fell to his cold sword, and the young hero returned to our side, cheering and celebrating with unspeakable joy in his heart, his smile blooming with delight and pride. Smooth as a flounder, winding and wriggling, entwined like a vine, turning with ease, its imitation is believable, its authenticity hard to distinguish, its reaction swift, yet its foolishness cannot be concealed."

She recited the poems in the picture book and gently closed it.

Just as she closed the book, you could see the picture book in her hand through her arm.

The monster that fought Mordred and Nianzhuo was also imprinted on it.

Jabberwocky, also known as the "Burst-Necked Dragon," was a dragon as large as a dinosaur, with reptilian wings and a body covered in scales. It had long, sharp claws and two tails, one pointing upwards and the other downwards. On the prophesied glorious day, Jabberwocky was slain by Alice, who wielded the Buddha's Sword.

However, there is neither glorious day nor Alice here.

Upon realizing this, Tong Yao's expression darkened for a moment, but she then closed her eyes and softly hummed the poem.

She was waiting, waiting for someone... even though she knew he would never come again.

However, the situation for Nian Zhuo and his group was not so optimistic.

The enormous dragon-like monster smashed the ground, turning the already narrow area into an open space, as all the trees were knocked down by the monster's single impact.

"You'd better think of something!" Crimson lightning crackled around her, Mordred gripped her sword tightly and landed on the monster's back, raising the blade high and plunging it into the monster's back.

"—!" Clearly, the monster could feel pain, letting out a cry of agony, and its two tattered wings stood upright.

Immediately afterwards, the monster turned around and swung its fist at Mordred, who had just drawn his sword and was about to jump away.

"...Damn it!" The monster's fist grew larger and larger in front of him, and Mordred, who was in mid-air, could only raise his sword to prepare to block the impending impact.

"Thump thump thump thump—" Four soft sounds were followed by another cry of pain from the monster, and a purple shock bursting from its strange palm.

The attack caused the monster's assault to halt, allowing Mordred to land unharmed.

"This guy is a bit tricky..." Nian Zhuo stroked his chin as he watched the other party recover in an instant.

"Dragon... Dragon... Dragon!" Suddenly, memories surged in his mind, and he suddenly remembered one of his trump cards.

A young girl's tea party

Nian Zhuo finally remembered that a long time ago... he was also a warrior who had slain a dragon.

“Yo, Emu…” He rummaged in his pocket and finally grasped a watch face in his hand.