Taking Over The Gothic Queen

“Mess? What mess?” Enishi asked, his face twisting into a look of pure frustration. The shop was quiet now, with Granny and Terenzio back to their professional business mood.

“What was all this trouble then? The guns and the cops?” Raine asked.

“Trouble and I have a long-term relationship! You wouldn’t get it!” Enishi’s voice rose to a frantic scream. “No matter how many times I try to stay out of it, I’m NEVER ABLE TO ESCAPE IT! BELIEVE ME!!”

“Yeah, I get it, but STOP SHOUTING!” Raine snapped back.

Raine took his credit card back from Terenzio just as Kris returned from the aisles, clutching a red cardigan. Kris quickly paid at the counter and took the bag, giving a polite, “Thank you!” to the still-shaking Terenzio.

“Let’s get going, Raine,” Kris urged. “Or we’re going to be late.”

“Right.” Raine opened the thrift store door, the bell chiming one last time as he and Kris stepped out onto the sidewalk. Raine paused by his car, looking back at Enishi. “I’m curious about this friend of yours. It’s been half an hour and he still hasn't shown up. Do you know where he went?”

The road was quiet. It was early afternoon on a normal, peaceful day. The classic citrusy smell from the nearby florist and perfume shops lingered in the air.

“Yeah, he went to that cafe down the street,” Enishi replied. Just then, his stomach let out another aggressive growl. “Thanks for the help. Don’t worry, I think he’ll be back soon.”

“The cafe isn’t too far,” Raine noted, glancing toward the corner. “Maybe you should just head there yourself.”

Before Enishi could respond, a blood-curdling scream echoed down the street, piercing the air. All three of them froze, their heads turning in unison toward the sound.

***

Meanwhile, on Zed’s side…

Zed stepped inside the Banco Magnoms cafe. He pulled out his wallet, revealing three distinct types of currency: crisp yen bills, a stack of euros, and several peculiar, flat, octagonal white crystals. They were shiny, with Yindites 1.03 engraved onto their surfaces.

The cafe was exceptionally classy. Checkered tablecloths covered the polished wooden tables, and a grand chandelier hung from the ceiling, surrounded by decorative mugs suspended in the air. The wooden flooring glowed under the warm light, and the walls were lined with shelves stocked with liquor bottles.

Zed made a cross with his index and middle finger, covered his mouth, and whispered, ”La Lyra: Weaver’s Tongue.”

He was casting a multi-way translation spell, summoning mana directly from the Orihime constellation. A white halo flickered over his head for a brief moment before vanishing as the spell took hold. With the language barrier gone, he headed toward the service counter.

“How may I help you?” the staff member asked with a polite nod.

“Can I get three burgers and two iced teas? That’ll be all,” Zed said, placing his order with total confidence.

The cafe was filled with the rich, calming aroma of coffee. Suddenly, a violent blast erupted from outside, the shockwave rattling the windows and echoing deep into the cafe. Without a second thought, Zed bolted toward the door and rushed into the street. A fire hydrant in the distance had been destroyed.

"Ehe... ehehehe... ehehehehehe! May I do the honor of sewing and devouring your delectable brain? Respectfully, of course!"

A woman who appeared to be in her early twenties stood in the center of the chaos. She was dressed in a wine-red Gothic Lolita outfit, accented by a single, stark black bow. In one hand, she held a high school boy aloft by his neck; in the other, she gripped a thin, dark black, spiked wire that shimmered menacingly in the light.

She began to wrap the wire around the boy's head. One... two... three...

The spikes bit deep, and blood began to soak through the boy’s hair and down his face. He whimpered, his voice cracking as he sobbed in agony. "Leave me, onee-san... I just stumbled into you by mistake!"

The woman threw the boy to the ground. There weren’t many houses nearby, only a pottery studio and the cafe in the distance. The rest of the street was covered with hedges and walls. His screams filled the air as the wire tightened. Nearby, another girl lay collapsed on the pavement, her eyes wide and glassy as if her soul had left her body.

"That woman is a devil," she whispered repeatedly. "Someone please save my classmate... just don't get near me..."

She was utterly paralyzed, her terror radiating through the quiet street.

“Hey, you! What the hell do you think you're doing to that kid?!”

A man in his thirties burst from a nearby pottery studio, his face twisted with a mix of courage and desperation as he charged at the woman. He had no idea he was running straight into his own execution. The moment he stepped into her range, the woman didn't even flinch. She simply began a cold, rhythmic incantation:

”By the sacrifice of the Queen and the golden tresses lost to the void: I call upon thee, respectfully, Coma Berenices: Dark String of Death!”

Thin, pitch-black filaments materialized out of thin air, coiling around the man’s charging frame like a web of invisible razor wire. Before he could even react, they constricted with violent force. His clothes were instantly shredded, the strings digging deep into his skin and carving through muscle with terrifying ease.

“Someone help! What—what is happen—”

The man’s scream was cut short as his mind shut down from the sheer agony. But the strings didn't stop. They tightened with a mechanical, bone-crushing intensity. His legs were sliced into thin, symmetrical sections before his entire body began to bleed out in heavy, rhythmic pulses. The pressure became so immense that his very bones began to show, surfacing through his ruined skin.

His nerves and skeletal structure were exposed to the open air as the wires squeezed and crushed everything in their path. The strings cut through his core, shattering cartilage and snapping bone like dry kindling. Within seconds, the man had been reduced to a fully sliced, ravaged mess, nothing more than a heap of shredded, unrecognizable remains.

Blood sprayed across the pavement, painting the entrance of the pottery studio in a thick, steaming coat of crimson red. In the center of the carnage stood the woman, her wine-red lolita dress perfectly clean, without a single drop of red on her.

“Haven't you heard? Disturbing someone while they are teaching a child how to act respectfully is... well, it's just plain disrespectful.”

She spat the words at the crushed, motionless body of the man before turning back toward the strangled, coiled boy.

“Onee-san, please... I’ll be a good boy from now on. Please don’t kill me... Kaa-chan, Otou-san... help me...”

Ignoring his pleas, the woman grabbed the end of the wire and began to pull. The string tightened instantly, forcing more blood to seep through the boy's forehead.

“Isn’t this beautiful? You’re a student, right? You’re getting the chance to learn a lesson outside of school. Isn’t that wonderful? Ehe... ehehe... ehehehehehehe!”

She began to giggle in a disturbingly graceful manner, her hand resting delicately on the end of the coiled string. The boy lay on the ground, his body racking with pain as he begged and grieved for his life. Beside him, the girl was in a state of total panic. Her mind had completely fractured; she clamped both hands over her mouth, trying to stifle her terrified sobs as tears streamed down her face. The air was filled with vile grief and terror.

“Why? Why are you crying, dear?” the woman asked, tilting her head. “Little kids shouldn’t cry. You should smile elegantly, like me. That is how you earn everyone’s respect. Respectfully!”

“Hey, b*tch! What the hell do you think you’re doing to that kid?!”

Zed slammed his burgers and teas onto a nearby bench and sprinted toward the chaos. He didn't hesitate for a second.

“Takeover Spell—Cassiopeia: The Hollow Vanity Throne!”

He snapped his left hand around his right wrist, his grip forming the metaphorical shackle of the bound Queen. As his right fingers clawed at the empty air, the woman’s spine jerked upright with a sickening crack. He slammed his hand into a tight fist, summoning the ancient mana from the Cassiopeia constellation.

The spell took hold instantly. The woman’s limbs began to twitch and jerk as if she were being bound by the same celestial chains that held Queen Cassiopeia in myth. Her entire body erupted in a warm, blindingly bright glow as Zed’s will overrode her own.

The takeover was complete. Zed glared at the monster in the red dress and issued his first order:

“First Command to the Queen: Psyche Takeover! Release the kid.”