Jackal : The Goddess Of Death

Alice listened for the next 20 minutes as Yoshi recounted the brutal torture he and Belle went through. Alice wasn't prepared for everything that happened to the two of them. His body explained only a fraction of the torture he went through.

"I-I don't think... I-I can't do this anymore." cried Yoshi.

"Yoshi... tell me where Belle is. I'll go find her."

"What, no! Y-You can go! Not To that monster!"

"My best friend is currently being tortured. I'm not just gonna sit around and let her suffer."

"T-Than... take me with you."

"Dude, you just broke down crying for 30 minutes. Maybe you should sit this one out."

"No, I'm your leader... Of course, I-I have to go along."

"You can barely even walk. You'd only hold me back and you know it."

Yoshi was stunned by Alice's words. It was like a dagger to the heart, but she was right. He would only slow her down. Alice realized what she said didn't come out right.

"Y-Yoshi... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just-"

"No, you're right. Until I get... all this fixed, I'm kind of useless."

"Sweetie..."

"Just... come back alive, ok? It's not like I have the power to stop you."

Suddenly, Willow and Taiyo burst through the door.

"Oh, good. You're back." Willow said coldly. "You look like shit, bro."

Yoshi looked down in disappointment. Suddenly, a burst of death aura came out of her, blowing Willow back, and shocking her. Both of Willow's arms gave out after being hit by the death mist.

"Don't you dare say another word about my boyfriend!" Alice said harshly.

"Oh." Taiyo said curiously. "Even though Alice isn't even aether class yet, she can still push back a paradox class. How impressive. Yo, Alice, are you gonna leave Yoshi now that he looks like Freddy Kruger's slightly uglier twin brother?"

"Of course not. The man I love is still underneath this flesh."

"I see. Well, if you are gonna attack Star's dungeon, then I would recommend breaking into his lab. He has phoenix vitals there."

"Huh?"

"Oh, there's made from phoenix blood. Basically, when you kill a phoenix keeper, you can use their blood as a one-time permanent cure to any disease or... whatever Yoshi is now."

"W-Why don't we have them?"

"Have you ever seen a phoenix keeper before?"

"A-... No, actually, I haven't."

"That's because Star kidnapped all the phoenix keepers. He will forcefully and painfully extract the semen and eggs from the keepers to make baby keepers. Then, he'll murder the babies to harvest their blood to make phoenix vitals."

"... I'm sorry, when did we start fighting the Joker?"

"Oh, trust me. You've seen nothing yet. Since Star Zenith class, society and the world at large bow to him wims. That's just how keepers work. The strong get to decide everything. Though I personally don't agree with his methods, I can't deny it's smart. Make a few people suffer and you basically get immortality."

"And why haven't you dealt with this yet?"

"To put it simply, if I fought Star, there would be no more phoenix keepers... or people for that matter. The world would most like... no, the world has been destroyed before when we fought and tore the atmosphere to shreds. The only reason we're all even here is thanks to a friend of mine and my overpowered abilities."

"Someone as pathetic as you could never hope to even perceive Star." Willow said condensingly.

Alice glared at the two. "So what?"

"..."

"My best friend is locked up and Yoshi here needs those vitals. I'm sorry I'm not a coward like you 2 and I'm actually willing to fight for what I want."

"What did you say, bitch?!"

"Don't talk to my girlfriend like that, sis." Yoshi demanded.

"Shut the fuck up!" she retorted angrily.

"Wow. A principal calling a student a bitch. How mature." Alice said smugly.

Willow was about to attack her, but Taiyo stopped her. "I'm interested. Let's see if you can rescue Belle by yourself. If you can, I'll let you skip aether class and go straight to paradox class."

Alice got ready to head out. She passed Pinoy on her way out. Even with the 2 months they had together, she barely had a single conversation with him.

She had the coordination Taiyo gave to her. Alice started heading out with both her scepter and Yoshi's katana strapped to her back. Nearly a full day later, she arrived at the location in question. It was a massive research facility, nearly the size of the Pentagon.

Alice grabbed Belle's pen from inside her pocket and sniffed it. She got the scent and her nose tracked it inside to a specific chamber underground.

"Hold on, Belle. I'm coming."