Alice's Choice

Hearing Lilia call out her name in such a manner, a surge of pain flooded Alice's heart as she glared towards the woman with wrath filled eyes.

"YOU! What did you do to her!" Alice roared out, surprising the woman with the sheer amount of emotions she was displaying.

"Oh my, who knew you could show this much emotion. Let's just say… I had someone make her more compliant so she actually follows orders properly." The woman chuckled, before clapping her hands.

"Dance girl, show your friend your new form." The woman grinned as Lilia started to twitch before her limbs were forced into a dancing posture. Each movement she did caused Lilia to cry out in pain as Alice dashed towards the woman and grabbed onto the chains separating the two of them.

"Stop that! What do you even want with us!" Alice shouted out while shaking the chains, hoping to tear them apart so that she could reach the woman.

"I just want some entertainment. I lost a lot of money after both the Assassin and the spider died. So I'm getting my money's worth. You shouldn't turn your back against your friend though, since in this arena, you two are enemies." The woman smiled while snapping her fingers.

"ARGGGG!!!" Blades erupted from Lilia's body as she burst into a crawl before lunging towards Alice with her elongated limbs.

Gritting her teeth, Alice rolled to the side before taking a few step backs.

However, Lilia was persistent as she continued to throw large swings towards Alice with her blades. Each swing caused her skin to rip as blood dripped against the white floor of the arena.

Panic filled Alice's mind as she didn't know what she should do. She didn't know how she should return Lilia to normal. How would she fix Lilia's body? She didn't know.

"Lets make her a little… motivated shall we? Can't have you dodging constantly." The woman laughed while clapping her hands. To her, this was like a circus where two actors threw knives at one another, each threatening to take their life. But the daggers always went wide, there was no excitement in this.

She wanted to see the moment where the knife brushes against on of their cheeks, the moment where blood is spilled and the cold claws of death gripped their throats with each subsequent throw. She desired to see that bone chilling rush of adrenaline with this fight.

With her command, one of the vials within Lilia's back started to empty out as the vial of blood coursed through her body. Her veins were dyed in a deep green as the machinery around her body roared into life. Steam escaped through parts of her body as the red fluid within turned a deep shade of green.

Lilia's body contorted as vines erupted from her limbs and covered the ground of the arena.

Furrowing her brows, Alice wanted to cut away the vines but she understood that doing so would cause Lilia a great deal of pain.

'Deep Root Spirit Blood. Blood belonging to a type of plant beast that sets traps on the ground. Each of its vines are highly sensitive and the moment it senses a foreign living being, it'll snap up and trap the opponent. Drinking the blood gives you the same type of ability as you'll be able to set traps. But the downsides are that pain is significantly enhanced due to the sensitivity. A great torture tool.' Alice recited in her mind.

She could vividly remember the sensation of having the roots being cut off from her body when she was undergoing the experiment. It felt as though her nerves were being torn out strand by strand, little by little while making sure it was as painful as possible.

Since cutting the vines will be harmful for Lilia, Alice gritted her teeth since there was only one thing that she could do!

She had to kill the woman giving commands to Lilia. Doing so may help Lilia momentarily.

Jumping up, she grabbed onto the chains as she cut a line across her palm. Coating her dagger with blood she flung the dagger towards the woman in one swift motion.

"Why are the two of you both like this?" The woman sighed in disappoint.

"All you have to do is kill the other and you'll be allowed what I promised."

Before the dagger could land against her, the guard knocked it aside while also making sure none of the blood even came close to hitting her.

"I don't believe I have ever broke a promise that I've set. Granted, what comes after is up for debate but I did what I promised." The woman joked before snapping her finger once more.

Another vial activated as more blood was injected into Lilia's body.

Glaring at the woman for a moment, Alice turned her attention back to Lilia who was now clutching her body while making groaning sounds.

Gritting her teeth, Alice watched as the two Abyss Bloods mixed within Lilia's body, forming an unholy union that sent shivers down her spine.

Two large horns erupted from her forehead as black ichor erupted from her orifices. Her eye turned completely black as it was hard to tell where she was looking.

"I'm… S…orry…"

Hearing the groans from Lilia, Alice bit her lip and held back the flood of anger in her heart. Lilia was someone she considered to be a friend. Something she thought was impossible for 10 whole winters.

She was someone who helped her out in this place yet the woman who sponsored her revelled in Lilia's pain.

As her anger reached its peak, Alice looked towards the ground and saw another sword pierced into the floor.

Leaping down, she grabbed the sword and rolled to the side, sensing danger from behind. A wave of vines spread this black substance wherever it touched as Alice dipped the tip of her sword into this fluid.

Seeing that there was no reaction, she could only estimate that it reacted based on human contact but it was a blood type she had never seen before nor felt the sensation of.

Adjusting her grip on her swords, Alice stared at Lilia who slowly turned her body towards Alice's direction.

"I'm… S… orry…" She repeated once more as Alice made up her mind.

She didn't know if it was the right answer but it was the only thought of mercy she could imagine. The look of fear in Lilia's eyes, the pain of having one's body flayed open and injected with a myriad of blood, she understood it all.

It was a demon she has fought for 10 long winters. Had it not been for her unnatural mutation, she would not have recovered from the experiments just like Lilia.

Biting her lip, Alice adjusted her gaze on Lilia.

The shaking of her grip against the sword, she was nervous. Alice understood that while she may try fool herself into a mindset internally, her body language betrayed her fear, her anger and her sadness of what she wanted to do.

She wanted to put Lilia out of her misery but to her, it was not entirely an act of selflessness. It was selfishness. Selfishness in wanting to survive this god forsaken place and see the light of day once more.

With her mind now made her, Alice could only pray for redemption in her mind as she dashed towards Lilia, causing the woman to sit up on her seat.

Her eyes flickering with expectation as she understood the light in Alice's eyes. Her mind was made up and she was going for the final kill!

Excitement filled her heart as she wanted to capture every moment. From the instant that Alice's face warps from realisation at what she had just done to the anger she'll feel towards her.

She wanted to see it all.

Dodging through Lilia's attacks, Alice broke through her defence with ease. Her chest was fully open, one twist of the sword was all it'll take to extinguish this life.

All she had to do was plunge the blade in and the fight will be over.

But she hesitated. Simply because it was Lilia.

With her unable to take the final strike, Alice gritted her teeth and jumped back, avoiding the vines that were about to grab her.

"Why! Why did you give up at the last moment! There was such beauty in your gaze! That fiery passion, that resolve to kill your friend! Why did you stop!?" The woman shouted out in annoyance as Alice only glared towards her.

"Tsk! Fine, let's do it this way then!"

Snapping her fingers, the rest of the vials emptied out into Lilia's body as she started to twitch from the pain. Her body contorted with bones and flesh bursting out of her torso while tears of blood streaked down her cheeks.

"What's your answer now Alice! Will you kill or be killed!?" The woman questioned while Alice could only clench her fist.

Biting her lip, Alice tried to dodge as much as she could but the ferocity of the attacks were increasing.

"A..lice…"

Looking up, Alice watched as Lilia opened her arms as though welcoming a hug, exposing her chest. Mustering the best smile she could in this condition, she tried her best to halt her attacks.

"Do… it…"

Hearing this, something snapped within Alice's mind as she let out a gut wrenching cry before dashing towards Lilia. Plunging her sword into Lilia's chest, she twisted the blade as black blood flooded the arena floor.

Holding back her feelings of pain, Lilia gave Alice a hug as images of her sister and brother flashed through her mind. But there was one more thing she wanted to do. Something she had to do to make sure Alice didn't blame herself.

"Thank… You…"

Squeezing out the last two words with what remained of her energy, she fell limp next to Alice.

Feeling Lilia's body fall limp next to her, Alice started to pant heavily as anger and sadness surged in her heart. Gritting her teeth, she glared at the woman who orchestrated all of this.

She was going to kill this woman if it's the last thing she did.