A Story of Evil

Chapter 39: The Surprise

[Miss Alice, you are going past the training hours. Your body may accumulate negative effects are you sure you wish to proceed?]

"Yes!"

[Understood, generating the Lightning Wolves]

As soon as Solomon left, Alice began training non-stop. She continued fighting the same thing that Solomon did. Ten lightning wolves in a stormy night setting. It was completely dark and, the only light she had were the lightning bolts that tore at the skies and, the spells of the wolves which had the same property.

"You think you're so tough? You think you can beat me that easily?"

Alice was also the one who created the difficulty. As soon as she was on the brink of death, the level will be halted and she would be healed by Pandora's Box. Resetting the fight as soon as she was fully recovered.

"You think you're the only one who can win the Culling? Well do you boy genius?"

With every battle that passed, Alice was getting stronger. It wasn't a normal growth like what other people had. She was rapidly developing her battle senses and adapting to her enemies. One. Two. Three. The number of wolves she killed increased and the amount of damage she retained began decreasing.

The numbers added in such a superhuman speed that, at that point, Alice was just as strong as Sol.

"Too slow." Alice dodged three lightning strikes, making quick dashes and retaining her balance despite the muddy and wet ground.

"What are you waiting for? Attack!" The wolves got annoyed at her provocation, releasing another onslaught of lightning attacks. Chaining this up were two wolves which pounced to rip their opponent using their lightning claws.

All their attacks seemed well coordinated and, any normal citizen of the Void would've been frightened. But not Alice. She waited for this; already having combinations in her mind. All their movements were becoming slow and dull for her; allowing her to predict what would happen next

"You really don't use your brain much huh."

Alice jumped up as soon as the two melee wolves were in range. With the lightning concentrated on their claws, their fur became non-electric. This allowed Alice to stab them on the sides; burying her daggers within their flesh as she slit them open within the next second.

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They weren't dead of course; just grievously wounded. Hence the other wolves tried saving them - attacking with a larger set of melee strikes. That time around, four lightning wolves came charging in.

"That won't do." Alice threw both her daggers high up in the air; unsheathing her sword immediately and throwing it at one wolf's head. The aim was perfect, killing the first wolf with a head stab but this was not all.

Alice ran towards the remaining three. Meeting their aggression head on. As soon as she was within range, they tried hitting her with their lighting claws. Yet the girl simply made use of the terrain sliding on the mud as she ducked. She then jumped up and, using the hilt of the sword buried on the dead wolf, made another leap as she spun backwards catching the daggers that she threw and burying both on the heads of two more wolves.

The fourth wolf was still alive however and, as it opened its mouth, Alice threw a wind crystal inside. Snapping her fingers and blowing it from the inside out. Remains of the wolf mixed with the downpour as the beasts that remained watched in horror.

"That's six." She commented, with the first two wolves she wounded finally dying.

"Turn them into direwolves." Alice commanded.

[Are you sure miss Alice?]

"Why do you keep asking that? Yes I'm sure." Alice was hungry and tired, making her temper run thinner than usual.

[Understood.]

The wolves howled and a strong lightning struck them from the skies. The transformation didn't take long as Alice immediately noticed the change. With four wolves, twice the size of the earlier ones, standing right in front of her.

"This should be enough to beat him." Alice murmured as she made her first step.

However, things didn't go according to her plans as the direwolves moved in the seeming speed of light. Two wolves left sparks of lightning, vanishing from sight and appearing immediately right beside Alice.

"Shit." The best that her reaction speed could do was pivot her body to the left as their claws finally reached her petite frame, sending Alice flying in midair.

Two more direwolves charged lightning attacks, glowing ever more frightful with the calamity brought by the storms. They fired this just as quickly, releasing fully charged lightning bolts towards Alice.

Yet even in this dire situation, Alice had something planned. Her brain went into overdrive, allowing her to snap her fingers and activate the two remaining wind crystals that were on her pockets. Alice was catapulted right back to the ground, dodging the spell within a hair's breadth.

She used this combination, moving in short burst of the wind crystals and changing directions just as quickly. She didn't give the same opportunity to the four direwolves to attack her.

"This isn't gonna last for long." Alice thought to herself, navigating through the darkness and, finally finding her sword which was still stuck on a dead wolf's head. One of the four beasts was able to catch up to her in this interval but, it was too late as the sword was already pulled.

"Orryaaa!" With a full swing and, with all the wind left on the crystals, she catapulted herself to one the said beast. Decapitating it and disabling Pandora's Box along the way.

"W-what was that? I-I wasn't de-ead yet." Alice's legs gave up at that moment. Dropping to the cold tiled floor and staring at the white ceiling.

"I know but you were about to." Alice recognized the voice and quickly and tried rising to her feet. All the blood rushed back to her head and, her wobbly legs couldn't hold on after the adrenaline rush. She was about to fall when the person who entered caught her.

As mentioned, nobody could enter another Pandora's Box. Each was unique based on the crystal that was used which, imprints the DNA of whoever touches the crystal first. But all those rules only apply to the normal citizens and, not to the king himself.

"Careful there girl, you might hurt yourself." King Jubilee said.

"I believe that should be the least of my concerns my liege." Alice replied, remembering the fact that it was the king who ordered Solomon to kill her along with Ethan and Jake.

"Indeed it is." King jubilee gently laid the girl back down into a sitting position.

"Why have you come here?"

"Dropping the honorifics I see. That's understandable seeing how I've ordered your execution and everything."

"Are you here just to mock me and tell me I'm useless?" Alice was bold with her words. She looked at the king without any ounce of respect and, the king found this intriguing.

Jubilee thought how Solomon was good with his words and, how the boy could even turn any conversation to his favor using his wit and understanding of the flow. The girl named Alice, on the other hand, had none of that. She was sharp, direct and, whatever was on her mind was spoken.

"I'm not here to do any of those. In fact, it's the opposite?"

"What does that even mean?" King Jubilee smiled, thinking Alice was also interesting in her own way.

"I just thought that I haven't been fair to all of you. In fact, throughout this whole training, I've only ever set my eyes on Sol because of his extraordinary genius."

"So you just wanted to brag about boy genius?"

"Boy genius?"

"Yeah, that's what I call him."

"I see." The king said, with the smile still on his face.

"Well, boy genius was the one who made me realize how foolish my decision was. Particularly when, he told me how he wanted to be with you." The king furthered and, he saw Alice's expression slowly change.

"H-he what?" Alice's face flushed red once again, not knowing what to believe anymore. The king found this to be entertaining, how her emotions were just as straightforward as her words.

"That boy's judgement is clear. Although it may be lacking at times, he nevertheless has a solution to any problem presented to him. And when I told him to kill you all, do you know what he told me?"

"What?" Alice began sounding hopeful. Of course she didn't want Sol to be a bad guy because, it was leaving a heavy feeling on her heart.

"He told me that you're special." It wasn't Sol's exact words. King Jubilee was carefully knitting together sentences that benefitted him without straying much from the reality of what Solomon said.

"H-He said that?" Alice was finally beginning to calm down.

"Yes. That's why I'm going to give you a choice girl."

"What would that be my liege?" With the honorific back, Jubilee was sure that things were flowing in his favor.

"Ethan and Jake. If you could kill those two tonight, I'll cancel your execution."

"That won't be enough. I'd still get killed in the Culling." Alice wasn't dumb. She knew that King Jubilee still favored Sol and, at the end of the day, all the king's support would still fall on him.

"Except you won't."

"That's not possible my liege. Only a single person could win in the culling." Alice said, with the king immediately reading between the lines.

"Here's the thing. If you can pull off what I ask of you then, both you and Sol, will leave the Culling alive."

"How is that possible?"

"Ahh don't ask me those things. I am your king and, I can make the impossible, possible." Jubilee extended his hand, with Alice not knowing what to do with it.

"So do we have a deal?" Alice thought about the act that was needed to be done. How she needed to kill people yet again. It wasn't entirely new to her so, the girl didn't mind. And so, without a shred of hesitation, she extended her hand.

"Deal."