**Bell monument**
"Let's go, missy!" Ophelia shouted as she touched Alice's shoulder, and they darted off into separate directions.
"An obvious flank," Evalyn said as the eight armed creature behind her raised two of its pair of large hands up like shields to them both.
As Ophelia and Alice arrived, Ophelia stayed back to fire as Alice drew near to Evalyn's opposite side. She swung her Morning Stars—large as they were, wielding them almost effortlessly.
Right as the spiked, iron balls were about to make impact, and the bullets from Ophelia's pistol had reached, they stopped just inches before the creature's hands in midair.
There's that reaction again! Ophelia thought. But it's slightly different this time…
Ophelia observed as the creature and Evalyn began to shudder, as well as the bullet and Alice's Morning Stars.
Then, suddenly, they maneuvered back at an instant speed, releasing the two objects.
With Evalyn gone, Ophelia's bullet was now on a direct path to Alice, but her Morning Star had blocked it, bouncing it off elsewhere in the space.
Looks like the contingency worked… Time for the main phase…
Ophelia found Alice's quick gaze as she nodded and bolted again toward Evalyn, but the creature behind her had already made a hand sign right as they had previously darted away.
"Spirit Grace Magic: Spectral Pact!"
The air seemed to thicken as Alice's movements began to slow, as did Ophelia's in that same moment. Evalyn cracked a finger afterward…
Shit! she can slow down time!?
"Spirit Grace Magic: Twin Blade Pact!"
Evalyn cackled as the creature behind her summoned two blades to her sides and she grabbed them, cracking another finger as she did. "This was hardly a fight! You will die here and now!"
The creature touched her shoulder, making her speed at a staggering pace over to Alice, who was still in slow motion.
"Die!" she shouted as her blade met her down the center, severing her in two.
Or so she thought…
What?
The severed parts of Alice faded, and two more Alice's appeared from the ground on opposite sides near behind Evalyn.
Clones? But how? Evalyn thought as her eyes swiveled.
She swung swiftly, her blades passing through each Alice clone as they faded after each attempted strike.
"You were too busy to notice, but…" Ophelia spoke normally. Though their movements were slowed, their minds and manner of speech were not. "While we distracted you with our flank, I touched Alice's shoulder just as she activated her magic ability again."
Evalyn clicked her tongue, facing Ophelia.
"That first hand sign you made that odd creature behind you make," Ophelia went on. "Embargo Pact, was it? Seems it prevents main magic usage, especially to ones most used by its targets. It also prevents one shot spells, like Alice's Domain and a certain spell of mine… but it doesn't stop the spell completely. If it did, it'd be more of a Nullifying spell than anything else. Meaning, we can still use our abilities, just not as well—forcing us to find loopholes to use them rather than normally."
"Didn't take you for a talker, bitch," Evalyn said as she turned to face her completely.
But she failed to notice something…
Ophelia grew a smile as she still continued to move slowly. And Evalyn's eyes widened when she realized.
Two blasts detonated behind her from where Alice's fading clones were.
She sped away, avoiding them, but when she situated, another Alice clone surfaced, already mid-detonation.
It exploded, and Evalyn darted away to yet another spot. Another clone emerged, and did the same, creating a chain reaction.
Before Ophelia had used her ability to send Alice under, Alice temporarily accessed her Pink Room without entering, allowing her to conjure from imagination in real time. This allowed her to conjure her Morning Stars from earlier, and at this moment, allowed her to use a clone of herself, which was the one that flanked Evalyn.
However, because of Evalyn's 'Contrary Pact' that was still in place, sending Alice down would have sent her 'up' instead. But no one knew how Contrary worked better than Ophelia.
My sister uses Contrary magic. You really think I'd be thrown off by such a tactic? Maybe if I was a different mage… Ophelia thought, as she recalled riskily sending Alice 'up' just to send her down. And unlucky for you, I have Alice…
When Ophelia thought of their plan, Alice had been suspended underground just beneath her boot. And below, she was conjuring her imagined clones, scattering them underneath the ground, letting them rise once they were disengaged with Ophelia's Full-Body Ghost magic.
In this moment, Evalyn was basically standing atop a clone minefield.
"Annoying pests!" she shouted as she bolted to another section, just for another Alice clone to rise and explode.
It detonated right at her landing, engulfing her in a cloud of smoke.
"Fine!" she said as she bolted out at sonic speeds. "I'll just take out the source!"
She charged with blades readied to her sides, the creature following close behind, matching her speed.
Ophelia barely turned, as she was still caught in the Spectral Pact, but she didn't worry. Her magic was already engaged.
But just as Evalyn had made it inches from her, she chanted, "Disengage!"
Right then, Contrary Pact was released, and Alice and her clones shot upward.
"Shit! Ophelia!" she yelled as they were both within Evalyn's strike.
Ophelia, disoriented, threw a hand to Alice, engaging her magic onto her, but it was only half connected, as they were still affected by the Spectral Pact.
Evalyn's swing passed through Alice, but had made contact with Ophelia, slashing her dead center, and sending her flying to the nearest pillar.
She crashed, and spat blood.
Alice suspended after Evalyn's first attack missed, but without Ophelia there to save her, she swung back her blade onto her gut, and the sound of metal clashing rang as she sent her flying as well.
Alice grunted as the strike connected, rolling on the ground from where she had been sent.
She gasped as she slowly checked herself for any open wounds, but there was none…
How? she thought as she felt an odd sensation over her skin.
Is this… armor? Alice pondered, feeling the invisible metal that she somehow now wore. This isn't my magic…
She looked over to Ophelia, who had fallen after that crash into the pillar across, slamming her knees to the ground before falling face-flat, nearing unconsciousness.
"Ophelia!" Alice panicked.
She didn't look up, but she still managed to respond with a trembling thumbs up in her direction.
The armor Alice wore was from Ophelia's hidden inventory. A set that she had on at all times in case situations came during battle where the enemy was able to get a leg up over her magic. A tactic Asura had taught her so as to never rely solely on her ability.
This armor had saved her during her fight with Milo in the past. This time, it had saved Alice instead. For she had transferred it over to her in the last second before Contrary Pact was disengaged.
Evalyn grew a wicked smile across her face, fixing her strawberry hair as she mocked, "Typical bottom of the barrel mages!"
Alice trembled as she witnessed Ophelia, now forming a bloody puddle from beneath her.
No! Why does this always happen? Why do others always have to get hurt on my behalf?
She thought back when the Arabella Maids defended the Den, and protected her because she thought she couldn't use her abilities. Thinking how they suffered against Drakthor. And then Greed, when he had suffered against that Pain puppet and Terek at the underground fake Black Wolves club.
All for her.
Why am I always left sniveling to myself? Like the useless girl I am!
But then a booming voice echoed in her head.
Stop, he said. Do not put yourself down, you fuckin' pipsqueak!
G-Greed…
Never… Never put yourself down.
She thought of his face and how she had sobbed when he arrived that day against Drakthor. His back was facing her, but she could distinctly see the fluttering jacket and that wolf logo on his back. A logo that now carried immense weight to her.
I never wanna hear those self-depreciating words come out of your mouth ever again. Do you understand?
Alice rose slowly to her feet. Slow as she was. Heavy as her bones had felt. She rose.
She gritted her eyes shut to the point tears had squeezed from them.
But they were not tears of fear.
When she opened them, only conviction shone from her baby blue eyes.
"Such ferocity coming from such a tiny body!" Evalyn goaded as she beheld her. "Tell you what… I'll let you go if you promise to never look back. I only really wanted to teach this bitch a lesson after all. You were just caught in the crossfire."
Alice glowered; dirt smudged against her cheek. Tired eyes twitching. She did not care her condition. Not when others have given more and still chose to fight. To protect.
She looked once again at Ophelia.
Evalyn scoffed. "I'll take that as a no?"
Alice gripped her hands, and the same Morning Stars from earlier had reappeared within them, glitching and distorting like before.
"All right, then. I tried to be nice."
In a breath, Evalyn was in front of Alice with an unmerciful swing, wicked smile etched across her face.
But as her blade struck, Alice blocked it with one of her Morning Stars almost effortlessly, and in the same speed…
What the hell!? Spectral Pact should still be in effect! Evalyn thought as she released her blade and swung down again with the other. Again, and again, and again.
And Alice had blocked each strike.
"How!?"
"Gee, you lose your composure so easily," Alice uttered with a dead calm. "And here I thought I was the sniveling one."
She pushed back, leaping a good distance away, and threw both Morning Stars behind her, charging her mana aura as Evalyn was being pulled in by the gravitational force she emitted, all the while.
How the hell!?
"It's simple, really," Alice spoke amidst the charge. "Once I snapped myself out of my weakness, I realized something…"
Evalyn's eyes twitched at the young girl before her who was somehow emanating a massive aura.
"You emanate a lot of mana aura. Each spell you cast. Each spell you maintain. And then earlier when you purposefully flaunted your aura at us like a flex… It's like you're so confident that no one can take it away from you. Like you're not fighting a mage who can conjure anything from her imagination. Like I couldn't just create Morning Stars that can absorb all the mana coursing around us and use it against you!"
Even though Alice was not in her Pink Room, she could still conjure her imagined abstracts through it and pull it out for temporary use. Each time she did this, the things she conjured always had a spawn limit of approximately one minute and thirty seconds. Which was why she had to re-conjure her Morning Stars.
However, this time she had not only conjured back the weapons, she had enhanced their capabilities with a separate magic ability—the magic being Mana Absorption.
Like the time when she summoned lava and water when she fought Drakthor in her Pink Room, she can also attach those attributes to things, or people for that matter, temporarily. This was something she could normally only do within her Alternate Space, but because she was awakened, she was able to take that same affinity and apply it in the real world—with the caveat being that her time usage for such a conjure had gone down from one minute and thirty seconds, to one minute and one second.
When Evalyn glanced over to her conjured spirit, Grace, the lingering Spectral Pact had been disengaged.
"And then I realized another thing," Alice went on as she continued to absorb Evalyn's mana. "These 'Pacts' you make require some kind of sacrifice for a decent amount of exchange. The bigger the spell, the bigger the sacrifice."
Alice looked at Evalyn's fingernails.
"This whole time, I was watching what that sacrifice could be… And then I noticed how you like to crack your fingers after each spell. When I looked closer, your fingernails had disintegrated. Even 'disengaging' active spells generates a cost. Like when you disengaged that Contrary Pact, and when I forced you to disengage Spectral Pact just now due to lack of mana." She then met Evalyn's violet eyes again—which were now quivering. "Now what was that first spell you used at the very beginning? Embargo Pact? With all this mana leaving you, I wonder how much of it you need to keep that active…"
Evalyn's eyes shuddered more as she spoke, biting her lip in agitation.
"If I keep this up, Spirit Grace will lose its foothold, and by then, you'll only have one more spell you can cast. That is… unless you're willing to make sacrifices elsewhere?" Alice then gestured to Evalyn's very taken care of feet within her open-toed heels. "Which I highly doubt."
"Stupid bitch!"
"Anyway… Even if you do decide to sacrifice a toenail for a spell, it's not like you'll have the mana to cast it."
Evalyn roared as she rushed and swung her blades at Alice, forcing her to withdraw.
Alice now had enough mana to conjure more refined abstracts, so she manifested angel wings to maneuver more swiftly.
She met Evalyn in close combat, eventually overpowering her Twin Blades as they shattered and faded back into the ether.
Evalyn clicked her tongue as she dashed away, and Alice hovered above near the large bell.
"Keeping your distance won't help you," Alice spoke like an ominous spirit. "Though, that little scuffle actually let me absorb more of your mana."
She threw both Morning Stars ahead of her, extracting the last bit of Evalyn's mana, causing the room to surge.
I only have about twenty seconds… Twenty seconds and all this mana I absorbed will release into the room again, giving it back to her. If I could just disengage her Embargo Pact, then… Alice shook her head. That's wishful thinking…Ophelia is—
When she looked back to Ophelia, she had managed to make a hand sign while still on the ground. She was still face down and bleeding, but she had willed her hands together. And though nothing was happening, it seemed she understood what Alice was doing, and was betting on the same outcome.
Alice found her resolve and faced back to Evalyn. "It's over for you."
"No!"
At last, the final bits of mana had been pulled from Spirit Grace, and it released the very first hand sign it casted. The one that prevented Alice's Pink Room. And the one that prevented the one spell Ophelia had that could end it all…
But right as Embargo Pact had been disengaged, Alice's Morning Stars shattered.
What!? I still had a few seconds left!
Though Alice's conjured abstracts had a set spawn limit, because of the amount of mana she had forcefully made it absorb, it was only inevitable that it shatter from the inability to contain it all.
Evalyn sensed this as she felt her aura rush out, filling the space once more. And she hissed hideously. "So close. Yet so far!"
The creature slammed a pair of hands together as Evalyn chanted that same galling spell, sacrificing her last fingernail to make it happen,
"Spirit Grace Magic: Embargo Pact!"
That same purple aura had shrouded Alice and Ophelia like before, But Evalyn went on. "Enhance!"
It was then that Alice's wings had faded out, causing her to fall back to the ground.
Evalyn crowed, shuddering from the adrenaline of it all. She threw a hand to her face like it was all some big joke, pinky finger looking burned as she cackled lunatically. "Try as you may… You still fail. You should have ran when I gave you the chance."
Almost immediately, as if the ethers had spawned her, a female emerged. One that, unlike Ophelia and Alice who were like flowers that bloomed in the sun. She was a flower that bloomed from the shadows.
Rather… she was the shadow.
There, an eye of purple and an eye of yellow glowered ominously from behind Evalyn. A looming scythe born of darkness lorded over her, followed by a voice so soft, but stern. One no one in their right mind would dare to cross. For if they did, only one outcome awaited them. One of eternal rest.
"Are you the one… who cut down my sister?" Raeyn spoke.