Standing in a familiar room, Lilia stood without saying a single word while the VIP stared at her silently. The guards around her blocked the exit while another guard stood beside her as usual.
Nothing had changed since she had last arrived in this place.
"Now I must say, I do believe I have been quite kind to you. Even now, I'm expressing a tremendous amount of patience. And it all hinges on how you will respond to me from this moment onwards. I do hope that you prepared an adequate explanation for why you deviated from the plans." The woman asked as Lilia stood still.
"Because if I didn't make a move I would've died with her. I could find anot-" Lilia tried to explain but the woman shook her head.
"No no, what I'm asking is why you decided to feed her your own Vampire Lily blood at the end. She would've easily died from her wounds sooner or later yet you decided to feed her your own blood." The woman narrowed her eyes with a glare.
When a person suffering from the side effects of Vampire Lily begins to reach the final stages of their transformation, their blood will take on the properties of Vampire Lily. Meaning it was a slightly weaker healing tonic if given to someone.
While the potency of such a haphazard fix was low, it was good enough to seal a few wounds and stop blood loss. The important fact was that it had allowed Alice to survive.
"Though I must say, I was rather surprised by both of your performances. Hers especially. Who knew she actually got a Sigil from her fight against the spider, perhaps that was why she was so adamant in killing it despite the dangers and the Assassin already having died to the spider. Either way, I have discovered more uses for that girl but for you… your uses are running out." The woman sighed while standing up.
Walking around her desk, she sat on the table and looked at Lilia before crossing her legs.
"What reason do I even have to keep you around?" She asked as Lilia gritted her teeth and had nothing to say.
"How about this? I want you to carve off everything affected by Vampire Lily manually. After that, I'll forgive you for what you have done in round 3. Surely, this is easier to do than to sacrifice your friend, right? I'm just asking you to take out everything that's negatively influencing your body." The woman asked as she gestured for her guard to throw Lilia a dagger. She wasn't scared of Lilia attacking her with the blade since there was three guards in the room.
Widening her eyes, Lilia knew that the woman was just playing around with her but there was nothing she could do about it.
Holding the dagger in front of her, Lilia bit her lip and adjusted her grip.
"If I carve out everything you'll forgive me right?" Lilia asked as her voice quivered from the thought of carving her own flesh.
"Of course, you have my word. In fact, we'll even make sure you live through the process." The woman smiled. There was a glint of amusement in her eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Lilia plunged the blade into the flower growing out of her eye.
"ARGG!!!" Letting out a scream of pain, Lilia wanted to stop but she had to keep going. She had already betrayed her own flesh and blood once! She refused to do it again for someone like Alice. Someone who she wanted to protect like her little sister.
Tensing her jaw as hard as possible, she continued to dig away at the flower as green and red blood splattered across the floor. Grabbing the petals, she tore it out with her own hands before throwing it against the ground.
"You're not done yet." The woman laughed.
Ignoring what the woman said, Lilia continued to flay her skin as she tore out the roots growing through her body. The flowers that slowly blossomed on the side of her body, her back, everything. Every root, every flesh petal, she carved it all out.
Her bloodshot eyes continued to glare as she carved the last piece of flesh and tore out the roots. The entire right side of Lilia's body was now torn and bloodied with large chunks of infected flesh tossed out around her.
"PFTT!!! Ahahaha okay okay, I didn't think you'll actually go that far. Oh goodness, alright I'll reward you for that. Keep her alive with this, I don't want to touch her." The woman laughed while throwing a blue vial to her guard.
Kneeling next to Lilia, he stuffed the vial into her mouth as her flesh started to melt together before stopping.
Once all of her wounds had been patched up, the guard could see Lilia's gaze fluctuating as she was barely keeping herself conscious. The amount of pain and shock she must've gone through was enough to knock out a seasoned Hunter yet she was able to keep herself awake during all of that.
"As promised, I'll forgive you for what you've done." The woman smiled as Lilia felt relieved.
"Thank-"
"Don't thank me just yet. Just because I forgive you doesn't mean I don't have more jobs for you to do." She grinned sadistically as Lilia felt her heart sink through her chest.
"Take her away, I'll have the hosts set up round 4 in an hour. And take her to Kailn while you're at it. Make sure she actually does her job this time." The woman narrowed her eyes.
Hearing this, Lilia widened her eye and grabbed the blade. She wanted to see if there was even a small chance that she'll let them go. But with things as it stands, she had nothing to lose.
Throwing the dagger towards the woman, she wanted to lunge forward and kill her but her actions had been predicated.
An expectant gaze could be seen on her face as the guard parried Lilia's dagger before grabbing her by the throat and slamming her against the floor, causing the wooden boards to crack from the force.
"What did I say? She'll try to kill me no matter what." The woman chuckled.
"Setting that aside, has the hosts given a deadline for purchasing Alice?"
"Not yet. It seems they are apologetic that both the spider and the Assassin died in the same fight. They're extending the grace period for a little longer if you wish to play around some more." The guard shook his head.
"Perfect. That means my plans for today can go ahead as expected." The woman smiled in satisfaction.
"Once the meeting with Kailn finishes, go take the half and half girl to the arena then wake her up with Vampire Lily.
Nodding his head, he understood that Alice was in for a terrible life at the hands of this woman.
Making his way out of the room, he went to notify the hosts that his master wished for round four to start in an hour as Lilia was now on a timer while Alice was still suffering from wounds.
'Dirty jobs as always…' He sighed.
But as much as he hates what he has to do under that woman's name, he had to follow orders. He was simply a guard doing his duty.
With the hosts notified, he arrived at Alice's cage and unlocked the cage. Seeing that she was pale from the blood loss, he was tempted to feed her some blood now to stabilise her condition but that was not what his master wanted.
Taking her away from her cage, he lifted her up on his shoulder and made his way to the arena where round four was going to be hosted. It's a much smaller venue compared to the main arenas for the more… intimate combat scenarios.
One on one fights.
###
Feeling a bright light shining against her face, Alice furrowed her brows and slowly opened her eyes. She still felt lightheaded but it was manageable. She could faintly taste the flavour of iron in her mouth as she understood that she was fed some blood while she was unconscious.
'Did I get healed?' Alice wondered to herself while clutching her head.
There was a single bright light shining in her direction making it hard for her to see anything around her.
Furrowing her brows, she tried to remember what had happened before this moment and realised that she had been knocked out after witnessing Lilia finish off the other two.
'Is Lilia safe?'
Ignoring the headache, she walked out of the spotlight so that she could make out her surroundings.
Compared to the usual arena, this place was much smaller on scale with large metal chains forming a web around the edges, preventing her from leaving. A myriad of weapons was scattered about in a similar manner to the arena meaning she had to fight something.
'If I'm still alive then that means we made it out of that round.'
Walking over to a dagger and a single sword, she adjusted her grip on both weapons before walking around the arena, trying to see what she was going up against.
She noticed that there was an extra extravagant seat just outside the arena and a beautiful woman in a red dress sat upon the seat with a small smile on her face.
"Who are you?" Alice asked with a frown. There was something unsettling about this woman that was triggering alarms within her head. She couldn't put a finger to what the feeling was but she did not want anything to do with it.
"I'm your sponsor, dear. Let's just say I'm interested in what you can do so this will be the last round in the arena. If you win, I will purchase you, become your new master and grant you a life much better than this one. If you lose… well you die." The woman shrugged as Alice furrowed her brows.
Clapping her hands, the sounds of chains rustling echoed out from above the arena as Alice took a few steps back in caution.
"And let's just say your friend Lilia has been given the same opportunity." She chuckled.
Slowly entering the spotlight, Alice saw Lilia, or rather what she had become climbing upon the chains surrounding the arena.
Clutching her chest, she understood why she had an uneasy feeling with the woman. She had the same smile as the scientists that experimented on her, the uncanny smile that viewed everything as a test to see what result humoured her.
Large stiches could be seen across Lilia's body as her limbs had been separated at the joints and connected with mechanical contraptions that pulsed with red tubes threading through her skin. Unnatural cannisters and gears clicked across Lilia's torso as her body twitched with each movement.
She was like a clockwork doll that was crafted from an amalgamation of flesh and machinery. Her jaw had been entirely replaced by a mechanical mask while her bloodshot eyes roamed around the arena before focusing on Alice.
Twisting her body 180 degrees, she dropped down into the arena, revealing her flayed back. It was completely exposed as her lungs had been replaced by rhythmic pumps that pushed red fluid through her body. Her heart, beating against the machinery with several vials attached to her veins, each carrying a vial of unknown blood. Her skin had been stretched and sown to represent wings while blood dripped from the wounds.
"Lilia?" Alice muttered in horror as Lilia slowly stumbled towards her with mechanical movements.
"A…li…ce…"