Ruri ran through the familiar city. The countless pathways that she’s taken in the past, the marks she left behind.

Right now, her brain was working at maximum potential. No, in fact it was working harder than ever.

"Sh*t! Sh*t! Leave me alone!" Ruri shouted, tears rolling from the corner of her eyes as she activated her Sigil once more.

In her hands, a dagger appeared as she immediately threw it into the ground.

A portal opened up as she dove through and reappeared on the other side of the city.

But in the same moment, a set of eyes snapped towards her location.

"!!!"

Inhaling a sharp breath, she quickly hid her tracks and tried to hide but it was futile.

Opposite her, a single droplet of blood started to roll down the side of the wall as fear took hold of Ruri’s chest.

From that droplet, the inverted world reflected from its crimson surface.

A single droplet became two. Then two became four. It split itself over and over until this droplet had become a stream of blood that was now flooding the room.

Ruri finally got hold of herself as she turned to run.

Yet the moment this droplet appeared, her exits were already sealed.

*BANG!!!

Metal bars shot out of the blood, caging off the window as Ruri stumbled back.

Should she fight?

Even if she wanted to fight, how???

*Crack...

The sounds of bones crunching appeared behind her as Ruri slowly glanced back.

From that pool, a figure started to emerge as the blood swelled until Suna’s face could be seen.

A smile, a flick of her cigarette and that lazy look in her eyes.

This was no trouble for her at all.

"Why don’t we talk about this, yeah?" Ruri forced a smile as Suna chuckled.

"Talk? Sure. But I don’t think talking requires you to run so fearfully now does it?" Suna scratched her chin before taking a deep drag of her cigarette.

Blowing out a cloud of smoke, she flicked what remains towards Ruri’s face as she whipped her finger to the right.

A needle was caught between her fingers and the target would’ve been her temple.

Ruri clicked her tongue. Even using her Sigils to conceal the needle as best she could, the moment it crossed a certain distance, Suna reacted almost instantaneously.

A boundary of absolute focus that could not be crossed no matter what.

Manipulating perception didn’t work as Suna’s defence relied on multiple factors outside of her conscious control.

Narrowing her eyes, Ruri was able to spot the issue immediately and understood that trying to sneak attack the woman in front of her was impossible.

"Now, provided that you don’t run, I’m more than happy with a talk." Suna snapped her finger as two chairs appeared from the blood.

Recoiling at the sight of blood staining the chair, Ruri had a face of disgust as her hand touched the chair.

Her eyes narrowed and immediately tossed the chair towards Suna’s face.

Batting it aside casually, Suna watched as Ruri dipped into the shadows and run away from the place.

"Well, Lab did say she was an energetic one based on the reports. No wonder the people in the capital struggled to capture her." She chuckled, taking a step forward and diving into the blood.

Her gravity flipped onto its head as she exited in the Void and propelled herself towards Ruri’s location and made an exit portal.

Spotting Ruri beneath her, Suna slowly reached out with her hand to catch the young princess.

"I’M SORRY PLEASE HELP MEEEE!!!" Ruri screamed.

In that moment, Suna or rather, Alice’s senses were heightened to the maximum.

The sudden feeling of a Lord level entity staring at her direction.

Her pupils constricted and Alice immediately gave up on catching Ruri. Instead, she traced a line with a finger and a tear in reality appeared in front of her.

*BANG!!!

A spear of light was immediately swallowed but the impact forced Alice backwards.

Sliding across the rooftops, a frown hung on her lips.

’Seems like you played a bit too much. Can you handle the heat?’ Alyss smiled.

Ideally, they would’ve been able to have a conversation with the princess and by extension the Royal family. But after seeing the tricks the princess was pulling, Alice wanted to mess around.

And now, a Lord was intervening.

’Of course I can. Who the hell do you think I am? No matter who comes, be it Lord, Apostle or God, so long as they bleed...’ A grin formed on Alice’s face.

’Why do I need to fear?’

Hearing the confident remark, Alyss was about to say something when both of them paused.

Overhead, the clouds parted to reveal countless shining spears manifesting one by one.

An array of weapons, each radiating with an obscene amount of power where even just one would’ve been enough to erase a village.

And in the middle, a figure of splendour could be seen draped in white and gold.

’Sh*t...’ Alice mumbled as cold sweat rolled down her back.

’Are you still sure there’s nothing to worry about?’ Alyss clapped back as Alice rolled her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Alice immediately configured her Sigils for full offense, minus what’s already been changed.

"So you’re the one chasing the princess." A voice echoed out behind Alice.

Fast.

A speed comparable if not faster than her maximum speed using Void Steps that Feris taught her.

Alice couldn’t turn around.

Doing so would trigger a battle to break out.

"If the princess didn’t run, there would be no need to chase would there? I simply wanted to talk." Alice shrugged as a halo whirled to life above her.

Energy snapped into place as Void Fang manifested in the form of a spear.

*BANG!!!

Alice stabbed backwords, creating the much needed space between her and the newcomer.

"As expected." The woman mumbled, flicking her finger as wings covered the upper half of her face.

Golden threads rained down from above with spears chasing right after.

Tracing her fingers along the ground, Alice’s eyes darted around the place as her Sigils lit up one by one.

Vision!

A pulse of energy expanded with her in the centre.

The world revealed itself to her as her ’eyes’ captured everything in her surroundings.

Hidden threads, invisible traps. Ruri hiding in the corner, watching everything while it unfolded.

Stabbing Void Fang into the ground, a smile widened on Alice’s face.

Void Flux!

Channelling her signature move through Void Fang, singularities sparked to life around her.

Countless orbs of Void energy perfectly positioned to intercept each and every spear and thread. Making sure that nothing breached a 100 meter radius around her body with the exception of the Lord.

She glanced up and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Not yet a Lord... And still wielding such a ludicrous output like no other.

"What now?" Alice exhaled softly.

The Lord hadn’t been taking her seriously despite the absurd flood of energy.

Even though she made it seem easy, pushing her mind to the limit for just one exchange was a little... worrying.

The worst part being the fact that had she not stopped it, what kind of destruction would follow?

"Be patient, darling. So much time yet you choose to rush towards your death. What a waste of life." The woman shook her head.

Three feathers stabbed into her back before dispersing into golden energy that threaded into her body.

*BANG!!!

"!!!"

Instinctively, through both Vision and Triggered casts, Alice raised her sword as the woman’s fist collided with the face of her blade.

An overwhelming flood of force slammed into Alice’s body as she was tossed into the air without a chance to counter.

’That’s not normal strength. She must’ve modified something or else your Vision wouldn’t be taken by surprise.’ Alyss warned as Alice agreed.

It must’ve been Ruri.

To make one ignore the presence of a another... a power similar to Sellen only to a lesser extent.

Twisting her body in the air, Alice created a clone of Void Fang and used it as a platform to slow herself down.

Yet before she could come to a complete stop, a palm appeared in front of her view.

The Lord had crossed the distance already!

Inversion!

Activating Duality, Alice jumped backwards while the woman suddenly grabbed her own throat, much to her surprise.

Stumbling back, she moved her fingers a few times before lunging forward towards Alice with renewed vigour.

’Ah hell no! F*ck you mean she figured it out with just a twitch of her finger!’ Alice deactivated the inversion as the woman adjusted in an instant.

Either she was a freak of nature who was a master at hand to hand combat or she was more than familiar with the body!

Holding her breath, Alice unleashed a wave of slashes that were all parried one after another. Punching the empty air, the crackling of energy pushed Alice’s guard out of the way as a secondary punch rushed towards Alice’s stomach.

Twisting her body at the last second thanks to Vision, Alice spun her body and slashed.

Void Flux Cleave!

An arc of energy was instantly swallowed and dispersed by five radiant spears.

"Five? Thought two would’ve been enough." The woman mumbled. It was meant to be praise yet Alice’s smile twitched.

To her, it was an insult.

’Since she thinks two is enough let’s see how she thinks about this.’

Energy crackled around her body as Alice was too focused on the fight to even notice her disguise slowly being stripped away.

Tiamat’s wings unfolded as the crown above Alice’s head radiated a menacing red.

###

"She’s not giving Alice an easy time if she." An old man smiled helplessly.

"No, I suppose she isn’t." A woman chuckled with a soft smile. She was resting her chin on her palm while watching the fight. A sense of warmth could be seen in her gaze as she reached for the cup and took a sip of mead.

And next to the mead, a cigarette had been prepared.