Page 71 of Knot My Wonderland, Part Two (Fairytale Omegaverse #2)
The Queen-construct shrieked in rage, clawing at the vines as they tightened their grip. Where her corrupted magic touched my creations, steam rose from the contact—two opposing forces locked in elemental conflict.
"Clever," she snarled, her voice distorting through multiple mouths. "But plants are fragile things, child."
Crimson fire erupted from her skin, incinerating my vines in seconds. The backlash hit me like a physical blow, forcing me to my knees as the connection severed violently. Through our bonds, I felt my mates' alarm spike, their magic surging through the network to steady me.
"Alice!" Heart called out, his golden patterns flaring as he rushed to my side. The protective dome around us flickered dangerously, corruption pressing closer as my concentration wavered.
The Queen-construct laughed, the sound echoing from all her mouths simultaneously. "Did you truly think garden magic could stand against perfection?" She raised one massive clawed hand, crimson energy crackling between her fingers. "Let me show you the futility of resistance."
A bolt of blood magic lanced toward us, striking the weakened dome with explosive force. The barrier shattered like glass, sending shards of silver-gold light scattering across the ruins. I felt the backlash tear through my magical reserves, leaving me gasping on the cracked stone.
"Now you see," the Queen-construct purred, advancing with bloodlust in her eyes as she looked at me.
“I’m not done!” I hissed, pushing more magic through the bond network.
The void connection with Seth pulsed like a heartbeat, darkness flowing into my depleted reserves as shadows coiled around my trembling form.
Heart's golden warmth followed, then Chi's silver precision, the Tweedles' synchronized calculations creating complex patterns of reinforcement.
I rose unsteadily to my feet, the pattern beneath my skin blazing brighter than ever before as all five bonds merged their power through me. The Queen-construct's advance faltered as she witnessed the display—silver, gold, and void energies weaving together in harmonies she couldn't comprehend.
"Impossible," she breathed, her multiple eyes widening with something that might have been fear. "The network shouldn't be able to channel such?—"
Her words cut off as I raised my hands, drawing on every lesson learned in the dimensional pocket, every moment of training with my bonded ones.
But instead of attacking directly, I reached out with my magic toward the corrupted earth beneath her feet, seeking the original pattern that had existed before her poison took hold.
The Queen-construct realized what I was attempting a heartbeat too late. "No!" she shrieked, all her mouths opening in unison as she felt me touching the foundational magic of this place.
But I was already there, my consciousness diving deep into the ruins' history through threads of silver-gold-void energy. I felt the echo of what this place had been—a garden sanctuary where the First Queen had once walked, where pure pattern magic had flowed like crystal streams.
"I can see it," I whispered, my voice carrying across the ruins despite its softness. "This place remembers what it was before your corruption."
The Queen-construct lunged toward me with desperate fury, but Seth's shadows erupted from the ground around her, tendrils of void magic wrapping around her massive limbs like living chains.
The darkness didn't burn her as my vines had—instead, it simply held, void magic proving immune to her corrupted fire.
"You cannot stop the inevitable!" the Queen-construct raged, struggling against Seth's shadows as I continued reaching deeper into the ruins' foundational pattern. "I have claimed seven nexus points! The corruption is irreversible!"
But I could feel the truth beneath her words—the original magic was still there, buried under layers of blood magic like clean water beneath oil.
Through the bond network, I drew on every connection: Heart's healing warmth to mend what was broken, Chi's precision to separate corruption from purity, the Tweedles' calculations to map the complex restoration needed, and Seth's void darkness to contain the Queen's desperate counterattacks.
Show her what balance truly means, a familiar voice whispered in my mind. Wonderland itself, speaking through the restored connection to this sacred place. Show her the difference between creation and corruption.
I let Wonderland's voice flow through me, my magic expanding beyond anything I'd thought possible. The pattern beneath my skin became incandescent, silver-gold-an opal and black energy streaming outward in waves that washed over the corrupted ruins like cleansing fire.
Where my power touched, the Queen's poison dissolved. Crimson veins in the stone faded to healthy gray, withered plants burst into vibrant bloom, and the very air cleared of its metallic tang. The transformation spread outward in ripples, each wave pushing back centuries of accumulated decay.
The Queen-construct screamed as the purified ground began affecting her directly, her blood magic writhing in agony where it contacted the restored earth. "This isn't possible! I am the rightful ruler of Wonderland!"
"You were," I replied, my voice carrying harmonics I'd never heard before—not just my own, but echoes of every pure soul who had ever loved Wonderland. "But you abandoned that responsibility when you chose corruption over creation."
The Queen-construct thrashed against Seth's shadows, her form beginning to destabilize as more of the ruins returned to their original state. Cracks appeared across her blood-armor, crimson light spilling from the fissures like wounded stars.
"You think this is victory?" she snarled, her voice distorting as her multiple mouths began to merge and separate erratically. "Even if you defeat me here, the corrupted nexus points remain. The pattern is already poisoned beyond repair!"
Heart stepped forward, his golden patterns blazing with painful resolve as he faced his mother's monstrous form. "Then we'll purify them one by one," he declared, centuries of grief hardening into determination. "Starting with the Heart of Hearts beneath your palace."
The Queen's laughter turned into a shriek of rage. "The Heart of Hearts? You think you can reach the sacred nexus while I still live?" Her form pulsed with renewed malevolence, drawing power from distant corruption sources. "I will drain every corrupted point simultaneously before I allow that!"
I felt the pull immediately—a massive draw of life force from across Wonderland as she prepared to channel everything into one final, devastating attack.
“You cannot undo what I've started!" she shrieked, crimson tears streaming from her eyes. "The nexus points are mine! Wonderland is mine!!”
"And yet here I am, undoing it before your eyes," I replied, my voice steady despite the strain of maintaining the purification wave.
The bond network hummed with unprecedented power, all five connections feeding into a singular purpose that made the pattern beneath my skin blaze like captured starlight.
The Queen-construct convulsed as she drew more deeply from the corrupted nexus points, her form growing increasingly unstable. Blood magic oozed from the cracks in her armor, sizzling where it touched the purified ground.
"If I fall, I take Wonderland with me!" she howled, her voice distorting as her features shifted between human and monstrous.
She raised both massive clawed hands toward the sky, crimson energy swirling between her fingers like living flame.
Through our bonds, I felt Seth's urgent warning—the void connection vibrating with alarm as his shadows sensed what was coming.
"She's attempting to trigger a cascade collapse," Seth warned, his shadows straining to maintain their hold on the Queen's thrashing form. "If she channels all seven corrupted nexus points simultaneously?—"
"Wonderland itself will begin to unravel." Dee finished, his temporal devices humming frantically as he calculated outcomes.
I could feel it happening—distant pain radiating through the pattern beneath my skin as the Queen pulled violently at the corrupted nexus points.
Each one responded to her call, blood magic surging through invisible channels toward our location.
The sky above the ruins darkened to crimson, reality itself beginning to warp as the Queen's desperate gambit gained momentum.
"Alice," Heart called urgently, his golden patterns dimming as the corruption's pull affected even his magic. "If she succeeds?—"
"I know," I replied, my voice stead as I felt an energy star to seep out of the ground.
Take what you need. She is no longer one of mine . Wonderland’s voice was dark anew furious as magic was pushed into me. Feral…ancient.
Raw, primal power surged through me as Wonderland itself opened its deepest reserves.
This wasn't the gentle guidance I'd felt before—this was the realm's fury made manifest, ancient and terrible in its protective wrath.
The pattern beneath my skin transformed, silver and gold light darkening to something deeper, more fundamental.
Through our bonds, my mates staggered as the overwhelming energy cascaded through the network.
"Alice," Chi gasped, his silver patterns flickering as they struggled to process the influx of power. "What?—"
"Wonderland is done playing games," I said, my voice carrying harmonics that made the air itself vibrate.
The Queen-construct's eyes widened with genuine terror as she recognized what was flowing through me—not borrowed magic or learned techniques, but the pure, undiluted essence of the realm itself.