Chapter 1072: Three On One
*CLAP
Interrupting Alice’s declaration, Nyer clapped his hands as all eyes turned to him.
Yet... Alice took advantage of this moment of distraction to the best of her abilities!
Space folded, and the gap between her and the Doctor shrank in an instant. Her blade hummed with energy as countless Sigil abilities, skills, and reinforcements were applied to her body in an instant.
Her eyes were completely focused on cutting the Doctor’s neck.
Now that she knew he had split himself into several vessels holding his soul away from this place, she had to shred the countless tethers extending from his body.
"Did Lua never tell you not to attack when someone is trying to talk?" Nyer sighed, catching Alice’s blade for a second time.
Since it wasn’t Void Fang, he didn’t hesitate to destroy it with a single pinch.
"Nah, she told me to take advantage of everything."
Snapping her fingers, a bead of blood detonated between them as several blood tendrils coiled around Nyer’s body.
Letting out a soft exhale, a snapping sound could be heard as a pulse of energy was released and retrieved in an instant.
The blood ropes snapped, and Alice was forced away.
Without any delay in her movements, Alice swiped her finger and dove into a Blood Mirror.
"None of that." Nyer swatted at her with his hand.
"!!!" Widening her eyes, Alice was expelled from the Blood Mirror, and Lab quickly caught her.
A trickle of crimson escaped Alice’s lips as she glared at Nyer.
With everything he demonstrated, it wasn’t simply a matter of being good at controlling space.
For a moment, it felt as though she had been rejected by the Void itself.
Alice narrowed her eyes.
Feris...
While Feris’s condition was still unknown, it seemed like Nyer had found a way to usurp some of her authority for now.
"I believe it’s in our best interest to leave things here today. Don’t you agree, Lua? Or are you unsatisfied with a battle unless it ends in either defeat or victory?" Nyer asked, but Allura simply shrugged her shoulders.
"Don’t look at me. I’m not the one fighting you right now. Whether or not you want her to keep fighting will depend on how well you speak."
Furrowing his brows, Nyer turned his gaze from Allura to Alice.
Seeing the fighting spirit in her eyes as well as the circulation of her energy, it was clear that she didn’t plan on letting any of them go today.
He still had uses for the Doctor, and even if they were fearful of Alice’s power, the stronger she became, the more effective his plan would be.
Of course, the only issue was that he had to keep her within certain limits to ensure that everything could proceed as planned.
And so far, her growth had been mostly expected.
Though in some parts, she was adapting far faster than any of his calculations could’ve predicted.
Calculations had to be rerun, and so what he needed to do now was...
"Hm?" Nyer froze.
A sudden shot of pain. One that came from the back rather than the front? He turned his head.
Blood.
There was a wound on his back, a slash mark. Not the kind from Alice, but one from someone like the Doctor.
He turned his gaze. The Doctor was standing there, confused.
"What?" He shrugged his shoulders.
It’s not like he had just attacked him after all.
Something else did.
Nyer tilted his head momentarily.
This feeling... something was off.
There was something happening that his senses weren’t capturing. And that slash across his back was a result of that.
Right now, the battlefield was at a standstill. Alice couldn’t use her Void powers, Allura wasn’t interfering, neither Lab nor Karya was moving, and Gin was still recovering.
Something’s wrong.
Nyer trusted his instincts.
*BANG!!!
A Void Rift manifested above him as Nightmare energy poured out, displacing the ambient energy around them.
For a short moment, like a Personal Realm, this location was transformed into the Nightmare Realm.
And with that, Alice’s illusion started to melt away.
Their conversation, him forcing her out of the mirror, it had all just been a trick played against his senses.
Behind him, a raw clash of energy burst outward, with all the Lords trying to capture the Doctor as well as the Outer God.
"F*ck! He’s awake! I warned you not to let him attack!" Alice shouted as sweat rolled down her face.
She thought she would be able to get more time if she forced a situation where Nyer would monologue, but one of the Doctor’s attacks managed to slip through, waking Nyer up from the illusion.
With him now awake, they had one more chance to get the Doctor before things collapsed.
No more hesitation. No more holding back.
Revenant Recollection!
Alice’s eyes snapped from one ally to another.
Their ideal fighting styles, their decision-making.
What kind of power would they prefer? What kind of weapon would best fit them?
Right now, Alice perfectly copied each of their habits, and a plan formed in her mind.
"Gin! Karya! Lab! Keep Nyer away! Use the weapons I send you! Elf! Beast! Take care of the Eldritch one!"
By this point, even the Royal Guards decided to listen to Alice without hesitation. The demonstration of her capabilities and their opponent’s power made it clear that hesitation would cause their defeat.
In an instant, the group split up as Alice quickly clapped her hands together.
Blood converged into her palms, forming a single droplet of darkness that seemed to swallow all light from the world.
An uncanny sight. One that felt as though a higher-dimensional being had just grabbed an eraser and erased a portion of their world.
Allowing the droplet to fall, Alice snapped her fingers.
Second Resonance!
Reverie Of Ruin: Litany of Dual Horizons!
In an instant, the world unfolded. The world around them shifted as ruined buildings burst out from the ground. Flames, corrupted mass, miasma.
An oppressive aura crashed down on them, but they kept running.
Don’t question what’s happening. Trust that Alice had your back.
That was the only thing they had to do.
Difficult yet simple at the same time.
The deployment of Alice’s realm was much faster than any of them had expected. Within a mere fraction of the usual deployment time, her realm had been fully established.
Alice pinched her fingers and twisted her hand.
The world split in half.
A line was drawn between each group and their fight.
Flicking her hand, the world started to turn, flip, and shift.
With a single step, the Lords found themselves in the middle of an empty paradise while a reflection of hell could be seen in the windows and water.
But they had little time to enjoy such sights.
"Keep running!" Gin shouted, summoning his scythe.
Yet to his surprise, the moment he did, a gravestone in the distance shattered into countless fragments of light that rushed towards his location.
Latching onto his scythe, Gin widened his eyes in shock.
An instantaneous injection of information. His fingers trembled in disbelief.
The light faded, and his scythe was now equipped with a set of chains with new engravings across the links.
"F*cking hell..." His smile twitched. He couldn’t believe it.
Not only was there an instant injection of data telling him exactly how to use it, but there was also the fact that these skills were tailored to him!
Alice had essentially given him new Sigils to synergise with his current skill set!
"What the hell is she?!" Karya furrowed her brows while flying next to Gin.
She had a set of golden bracers with different engravings, but judging from her aura, Gin understood that Karya had received the same gift as him.
"Don’t ask me. I have no clue either."
Twisting his body, Gin threw his scythe and grabbed the chains.
Above his head, a black halo spun to life as dark markings spread across his body. He swapped locations with his scythe in an instant and swung.
The chains retracted as Nyer went to parry the attack when Karya shot into the sky.
*BANG!!!
A pillar of light slammed down into Nyer’s body.
"!!!"
Blood erupted from his pores as his body started to rot away.
There was only a single ability that Alice needed to give to Karya. One that would help her become a fighting machine with overwhelming offensive capabilities.
Duality!
Extreme healing was inverted into extreme destruction as Nyer was forced onto his knees for a moment.
Nyer glared at Gin, preparing to counter.
*KRK!!!
A chunk was ripped from his neck as Gin’s body faded away.
Clenching his teeth, Nyer glanced back and saw Gin lurking in his shadow to avoid Karya’s attack.
With both the Lord of Life and the Lord of Death keeping him occupied, Lab was allowed to gather her powers by a nearby building.
There was a bow in her hand as the powers of her Lordship flowed smoothly through the weapon.
As a Lord, Lab had a high affinity for fire and destruction.
The only issue was that she struggled with fully condensing all of her power into a single attack, thus causing a lot of waste whenever she fought.
However...
If paired with certain powers from Tiamat and Allura?
She leaned back and aimed a flaming white arrow towards the sky. Dragon wings had unfurled from her back, gathering the ambient lost energy and recycling it back into the arrow.
A constant loop that sought to heighten her efficiency as much as possible!
*BANG!!!
As the arrow ripped from the bow, the ground beneath her shattered apart.
A giant ritual circle expanded overhead as energy converged into the form of a dragon. Cracks could be heard as its jaws slowly parted.
Gin felt sweat drip down his back.
Having met Tiamat himself, he knew full well what she was capable of.
And to think Alice even managed to usurp some of Tiamat’s authority...
Despite being in "paradise," the skies turned ominous as the clouds darkened, with the firmament being dyed a deep red.
Countless streaks of fire rained down towards Nyer, transforming paradise into a reflection of the end of days.
Life, Death, and Cinder. Three authorities working together with the singular goal of keeping Nyer occupied.
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