"That does make things a little difficult you know?" Alice sighed deeply while scratching her hair.


    "Is themission really that important to you?"


    "Unfortunately it is." Rowan reaffirmed as Alice put down her hands and sighed once more.


    She had wanted to avoid this but there was no helping it. She''ll make it quick.


    Turning around, Alice looked as though she was about to leave when she exploded with blinding speed and shot towards Rowan, surprising the party.


    "FIGHT BACK!" Rowan shouted, raising his shield at thest moment and barely being able to block Alice''s sword strike.


    "Ohya~ Old man that was quite the fast reaction speed." Alice chuckled as she expected him to be knocked out immediately from her surprise attack.


    Of course, her turning around was simply to let Ria know not to kill them. She wanted to spare them if she could since it was simply a conflict of interest.


    Jumping off of Rowan''s shield, Alice backflipped over a sword sh from the swordswoman before grabbing her wrist.


    "What the?!" Widening her eyes in shock, the swordswoman was unable to react as Alice used her arm as a handle.


    Twisting her body, Alice kicked the woman in the face and made a small cut on her arm.


    Tens of blood needles hovered around her as she sent them flying towards the weaponless girl, stopping her from using her Sigil abilities as she was forced to dodge.


    ''Rowan has recovered from the surprise, swordswoman should take a moment to attack again. Girl in the back should be able to follow up this next attack by the fighter.'' Alice thought to herself, analyzing the state of the battle thanks to Ca.


    Landing on the ground, she stomped her heel against the fighter''s foot before bending back to avoid his punch.


    With him unable to adjust his footwork, Alice twisted her body and round house kicked him in the side of the head while keeping her heel on his foot.


    Just as the fighter fell, Rowan''s shield entered her vision and Alice was forced to raise her sword to block his charge.


    *BANG!!!


    Widening her eyes at the weight behind his charge, she was forced to stumble back as he helped the fighter back on his feet before adjusting their formation.


    Their eyes were now full of hostility which was to be expected.


    Massaging her neck, Alice adjusted her grip on the Bloodme de while retrieving the needles and allowing it to close up the cut on her arm.


    "Wanted to handle it quickly what a shame. Any second thoughts about giving the beast up to me? You''re only here for themission anyways while I''m here for the Sigil." Alice asked again. The chances of them epting are rather low but she wanted to give them the option.


    "Thanks but no thanks. The same could be said for you. We don''t want to hurt you but you''re forcing our hand." Rowan frowned while Alice shrugged.


    "Sorry, but I''m not changing my target." Crouching down, Alice shot forward as mes erupted from her de.


    "Get ready!" Rowan shouted.


    Activating his resonance, an emerald aura enveloped his body as a new set of armour manifested around him. His shield was now a towering wall of white and green metal while his sword had been transformed into ance.


    mming his shield down, the ground beneath Alice cracked apart as he charged forward like an unstoppable beast.


    Widening her eyes in surprise at his speed, Alice didn''t hesitate and activated her gloves.


    Jumping to the side, she hooked her threads against his body, using his momentum to propel her towards the rest of his party!


    "Not on my watch!" The fighter shouted, rushing towards Alice.


    Activating his resonance, three Sigils manifested around his body as another set of metallic arms erupted from his back. His hair grew longer as it was dyed into a pure white with crackling red energy.


    Appearing next to Alice, he clenched his fists and swung towards her.


    "I''ll deal with you first then." Alice grinned as she retrieved her threads.


    Using her sword to stop her movement, she vaulted above him and grabbed his arm.


    Twisting her body, she kicked him in the face, forcing him to stumble back and swing wildly at her.


    Prying open his guard using her arm and leg, she hit him in the throat using the pommel of her de before jumping off him.


    Right as she jumped up, a surge of orange energy rushed towards her as she coated her de in violet mes and cleaved down without hesitation, splitting the wave in half!


    "The f*ck?!?!?" The girl in the back shouted out in absolute bewilderment and confusion. She had never seen anyone or anything cut apart her attack like that before. It had always been either dodged or resisted! Never shed apart!


    "Focus!"


    The swordswoman shouted, appearing beneath Alice.


    Unlike the others, she didn''t have a resonance but three Sigils glowed brightly across her body.


    Her form blurred slightly as she lunged up at unparalleled speed. Her de was enveloped in a blend of blue and white energy, crackling as though it was tearing apart the very space around Alice.


    Even without getting hit by the attack, Alice could sense the force behind the strike and if she was to get hit, she would be out ofmission! Not only that, this energy was surging from all sides, blocking her path of retreat.


    ''That''s quite the interesting attack… I wonder if I can replicate it.'' Alice thought with a smile as she snapped her finger.


    An orb of blood converged in front of her before exploding into mist.


    At that moment, the swordswoman''s sh disappeared, leaving only the de as Alice transformed her bracelet into a glove and caught the de with ease.


    "!!!" Widening her eyes, the swordswoman couldn''t believe what she had just witnessed. It was as though all of her power had just disappeared the moment Alice caught her de!


    Her confusion was short as she immediately adjusted her posture and kicked towards Alice''s stomach.


    Blocking it with her arm, Alice was able to guard against the kick but she was stillunched into the air where Rowan was waiting for her!


    Behind her, he stabbed down with hisnce as a surge of wind threatened to shred her to pieces.


    ''It looks like he''s holding back. These are nice people.'' Alice mused after noticing his restraint.


    She understood that they just wanted to take her out ofmission without killing her. She almost felt bad for taking this beast from them now.


    Pointing her finger towards his stab, she converged a small amount of blood into a miniature Nova Core and detonated it at the tip of hisnce, forcing his stab to go off course and miss her entirely!


    Missing his target, Rowannded heavily on the ground as he swung himself to face her once more.


    Countless thoughts rushed through his mind but all he could settle on was how much of a monster Alice is!


    Her reactions, her speed, her intuition. She was practically untouchable even though they have four people on their side!


    ''She''s this strong yet she''s looking for the Blood Coil for her Sigil? Don''t tell me she''s not even four star yet…'' Rowan thought to himself as cold sweat covered his back.


    However, it wasn''t over yet. Mira was just about to finish the activation of her Sigil!


    Compared to other Sigil users, Mira was a little different. She was a rare summoning type where her Sigil''s would conjure an avatar to fight in her ce! On top of that, the Sigils she gains further down the line will only augment this avatar. It was the reason why they were looking for the Sigil belonging to the Blood Coil.


    By giving her avatar the Lifeblood Link Sigil, it could fight with increased vigour!


    Behind Rowan, a pir of crimson energy erupted out around Mira as a strange female humanoid materialized behind her.


    ck and red energy converged towards her back and bloomed like flower petals while a ck and red dress wrapped around her pristine white skin. Covering the top half of her face was abination of flowers and horns.


    Hovering next to Mira, the summoned beast aimed her hand towards Alice.


    *BANG!!!


    From the ground, countless vines erupted out,shing towards her as Alice narrowed her eyes.


    ''What is that? Is that a beast under her control?'' She mused to herself before turning her attention to the vines.


    Curling her lips into a menacing grin, Alice shed towards the two closest to her before adjusting the grip of her sword. Twisting her body, she dealt with the other vines and pointed her de towards the beast.


    ''I''ll break their spirit one by one and make them surrender!''


    Stomping her foot down, she rushed towards the beast as Rowan intercepted Alice''s charge but this was fine. It didn''t matter who Alice''s target was as she wanted to test out the new technique she saw earlier!


    Crouching down, she entered the same stance as the swordswoman and shed up with her sword.


    Purple and red mes weaved with one another as her me looked as though it had transformed into the maw of a beast! Cutting off all paths of retreat and forcing Rowan to grit his teeth and pray he could withstand this attack!


    Meanwhile, the swordswoman halted her movements in disbelief seeing Alice mimic her attack after having seen it once.


    ''Who the hell is she?!'' She cried out inwardly. Her hesitation to help opened a gap in their formation as Rowan''s guard was shattered in an instant by Alice''s attack.


    Forced to drop his shield, Rowan could only jump back and allow the fighter to face Alice but once again she was prepared!


    Flicking her wrist, threads shot out and restrained his arms as Alice performed a high kick into his jaw!


    Taking this chance to rush towards the swordswoman, Alice threw a ssh of blood towards her, making her hallucinate. With her dropping her guardpletely, Alice took advantage of this and mmed her elbow into her chest followed up by a pommel to her ribs.


    There was only one target left and Alice moved swiftly.


    Flicking her wrist, the threads wrapped around Mira''s ankle.


    "Eh?"


    Before she could even react, she was dragged towards Alice as the Bloodme de stabbed toward her head.


    Closing her eyes out of fear, Mira could hear her heart pound once she realised the de barely missed her face, stabbing into the ground beneath her.


    "Would you surrender the beast to me now?"