Abyssal Awakening

At first, the people around Minerva wanted to jump in and help her but the onslaught of blade attacks and close quarters combat made it hard for them to intervene.

If they cast skills, they risk harming Minerva as Alyss was keeping herself close for that exact reason.

However, they couldn't go in for close combat either as the skill level of Alyss and Minerva was far beyond their level!

"Forget about me! I'll deal with her!" Minerva gritted her teeth.

Rather than having her subordinates do nothing while watching this fight, she'd rather them go and help out the attack!

"Confident are we? A little rude don't you think?" Alyss narrowed her gaze.

While she may not be as good as Alice, using these gloves was still simple enough!

Flicking her wrist, threats shot out and latched onto Minerva's body as she widened her eyes.

She wanted to separate herself but it was already too late as Alyss lunged forward and gave her a punch across the face.

Twisting her body and using her full weight to drag Minerva back, she slammed her heels into Minerva's stomach before letting go and allowing her body to slam into the walls.

With Alyss now separated from Minerva, the people around her jumped into action, not wanting Minerva to fight this alone.

'Back to you twinnie, my fun lies in hand to hand.' Alyss laughed as the chains shattered apart.

With Alice now back in control, she slammed her hand down and focused her control of energy.

Sigil of Duality + Zone!

While her Zone wasn't as stable as when she had Cayla, it was now usable!

At that moment, Minerva's subordinates felt as though the world was flipped on its head. When they wanted to use their hands, their legs moved. When they wanted to move their legs, their mouth opened.

All of them stumbled over as Alice activated her personal artifact and harnessed the forces of the Void.

Slamming her hand down, a force of repulsion pushed out, flinging their bodies away from Alice.

Just as Alice was about to attack Minerva again, she felt danger through the rubble and immediately twisted her body.

*BANG!!!

Dodging at the last moment, Alice watched as a bullet tore into her shoulder.

She could feel her flesh twisted from the rotational force as it ripped through her bone before exploding with a burst of pink energy.

The explosion caused her arm to fly off as her disguise showed signs of being dispelled.

Reacting quickly, Alice shielded her face and hair with a blood veil while her arm regenerated quickly.

Using this blood, she created a plain mask with a single eye hole. As for her hair, she had a thin layer of blood coating the strands, effectively dying her hair a deep crimson.

"Tch, I was aiming for the head too." Minerva muttered in annoyance as she pulled herself free from the rubble.

In her right, she held a flintlock pistole while her left held a cutlass.

Spitting out some blood, she glared at Alice now revealed herself to be a red haired woman with a mask.

"Seems like you're hiding your real identity. Can't take a hit?" Minerva narrowed her gaze before focusing on the regenerated arm.

The regeneration was much faster than she had originally expected. It was to the point she even wondered if the person in front of her was human or not.

"The world isn't a safe place, can't go around showing my face to anyone and everyone." Alice replied as that pistol was bad news. One hit was already enough to tear off her entire arm. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if she were to allow a bullet to strike her head or neck.

"Then let me help you take off that mask!"

*BANG!!!

Creating bullets using the strange pink energy, Minerva fired two shots before going in for a strike with her cutlass.

However, Alice was now prepared and dodged the first bullet while intercepting the second using her personal Artifact.

A singularity spun to life in front of the bullet, swallowing it whole before it could detonate.

Once the bullets were dealt with, Alice leaned back, dodging the cutlass strike.

"Naïve!" Minerva pressed the barrel of her pistol against Alice's chest and fired.

But before the shot could escape, Alice smacked Minerva's hand from the left, forcing it off target at the last moment.

Minerva quickly followed up with a stab using her cutlass but Alice parried with a blood dagger.

She leaned in and gave Minerva a backhand using the same hand that smacked the gun away.

Dropping down, she tried to sweep Minerva using her leg but the Pirate Queen took a step back and aimed the pistol at Alice's head.

"Tsk!" Clicking her tongue, Alice leaned her head to the side and quickly closed the gap, making it difficult for Minerva to take the shot.

She flicked her fingers, throwing the dagger towards Minerva who was then forced to focus on dodging, giving Alice the upper hand.

Bringing her fingers in front of Minerva's face, Alice snapped a small Void Flux into existence before detonating it.

The tiny explosion made Minerva flinch as Alice took advantage of this and kneed her in the stomach.

Wrapping threads around her body, Alice pulled the Pirate Queen in for an elbow to the nose, causing blood to pour down her face.

But she was far from done.

Wrapping her hand around the back of the head, Alice brought Minerva's head down into a knee followed up with an uppercut.

Gritting her teeth in anger, Minerva tried to aim at Alice but she was too fast.

Ducking down out of view, Alice created a staff using her own blood and slammed it up into Minerva's back.

"ARG!!!" Letting out a cry of pain, the Pirate Queen crashed against the ground as Alice transformed the staff into a sword and prepared to slash downwards.

*CLANG!!!

A spear intercepted her sword as she curled her lips up into a smile.

"Finally feel like interrupting? Can't say I'm very happy about someone peaking without paying money." Alice skipped back a few steps while twirling her sword between her hands.

"I apologize but I must as you to step back for now."

A tall male could be seen wearing a set of dark clothing, hood, belts and pouches. He reached for the spear and stood in front of Minerva, protecting her.

"Kolin… I can handle this." Minerva groaned, forcing herself to stand up.

"Boss's orders. I think you've done enough today, we're heading back." Kolin didn't look back but focused his gaze on Alice.

Alice didn't say anything either as the two stared each other down.

To Alice, Kolin felt 'weaker' than Minerva in terms of power. However, despite that, he felt more dangerous.

'He's probably well versed in killing humans rather than brute force.' Alyss theorized as Alice agreed.

Meanwhile, Kolin was also observing Alice.

This feeling he was getting, this chill down the spine. The goosebumps on his skin and the sweat on his palms.
Experience more on empire

He's never felt this way while looking at a human.

Never.

No matter how strong they were, how powerful they may be, he never had this kind of reason.

Everything in his body was telling him that whatever he was looking at was not natural.

'It' was not human.

He knew that if he made the wrong move, his head might just fly off his shoulders before he understood what was happening.

After all, the girl never used her full power against Minerva.

She was toying with her prey.

Silence followed as Minerva didn't dare speak a single word. She knew that she was outmatched but didn't want to admit it.

In the end, Alice flicked her wrist and dismissed the sword.

A shimmering effect flickered across her body as she reactivated her Jester Sigil and disguised herself once more.

She dismissed the blood mask and fake dye.

"As long as you don't interfere, I don't plan on killing anyone. Deal?" Alice offered.

After all, she wasn't planning on sticking with Lorien the whole way through. In fact, she was even tempted to 'jump ship' just now since her curiosity about what was inside those boxes burned bright. But even if she was to jump ship right now, Alice doubted the Pirates would trust her.

"Deal. We'll call off the ships and leave you be." Kolin nodded his head as she stored away his spear.

Receiving a glance from Kolin, Minerva bit her lip before pulling out a flare gun from within her jacket.

She aimed it at the sky and pulled the trigger, releasing a red flare.

Soon, the sounds of battle ceased as her ships began to pull away.

Seeing as how Minerva complied with her side of the deal, Alice made her way to the main deck while ignoring the glares she was getting.

"That wasn't a bad fight, good luck next time~." Alice grinned while giving Minerva a wave.

Taking a few steps back, Alice gave it a short run up before launching herself back towards Lorien's main ship.

Watching her leave, Minerva gritted her teeth in anger and punched the debris around her.

"Kolin, is Darrow still going to do nothing?!" Minerva asked in frustration.

Contemplating for a moment, Kolin opened his mouth.

"I'll report what I've seen today. Whether or not Darrow decides to make a move is up to him. For now, just reflect on what Darrow said before." Kolin suggested, giving the enemy ships one last glance.

He had zero confidence in assassinating Alice.

No matter how he tried to hide himself during the fight, Alice would always be able to find him.

It felt as though a pair of eyes was always staring down at him from above, keeping a note of where he was.

For this kind of enemy, Kolin never wanted to fight them! It was simply too troublesome and almost a guaranteed suicide run if he dared to try.

The fact that Alice chose to back off was a blessing in itself as he had zero confidence in keeping himself safe never mind needing to protect Minerva.

Glancing down at his hand, he could see it trembling even now as he took a deep breath and calmed his mind.

He'll escort Minerva back as ordered and let Darrow figure out the next steps.