Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... Watching Z and Alice walk into the toy room, Instructor Swet entered the control room to watch with Mistress Juliana.

"Ooh, interesting, Alice has been our best experiment yet and today is the day she becomes our strongest weapon. So exciting!"

Mistress Juliana said as he entered the room. Instructor Swet shook his head as he answered quietly.

"Honestly, I don't know what to think, the upper brass had spent a significant resource on Zero, even removing his family so there are no obstacles and now, he's just becoming a sacrificial lamb?"

"Now now Swet, you know we don't say that that's taboo, use the words 'removal protocol'. Yeah, it is a pity that he'll be a sacrificial lamb, even after the 'removal protocol' it still didn't push him over the edge, just making him sink into depression. But it's his fate for getting close to Alice. Once Alice kills him, she will finally be free of her emotions."

Z and Alice walked into the Toy room the previous mess had already been cleared away and it smelled like disinfectant.

After going through the rules again with the two of them, there was a look of anguish in Z's eyes, he averted his gaze from Alice as he clenched his fist. He knew the situation was bad for him, it was kill or be killed. He knew full well Alice's capabilities and it was not in his favor to go head-on into a fight with her.

However, with the loss of his mother still quite fresh on his mind, he refused to acknowledge defeat. With the thought of taking revenge on behalf of his mother fueling his willpower, he immediately dashed to a nearby sword and immediately swept the sword up with his feet, catching it.

Inspecting the blade of the sword, he knew it was rusted and lined with brown spots. He looked down onto the hilt of the sword and an intricate carving of a lion is on the pommel of the blade, it looked almost like a lion come to life.

Alice calmly walked over and picked up a spear as she got ready to move on the offensive.

Neither of them had taken a life before, today was going to be their first time whether they liked it or not. The threat of death was a really good motivator to break limits. Zero psyched himself up ready for a fight, more importantly, ready to take a life. He knew he couldn't let this stop him, he was going to find those responsible for his mother's death and he would reap their lives.

Zero stepped forward towards Alice who was already on the defensive, her spear pointing upwards threatening to strike at any time, staying still just like a viper, making Zero who was already on the move act more cautiously.

Z did a large sweep in an attempt to parry the spear with his blade, but Alice who had already predicted his move did a circular disengage around the sword of Z pushing it down and locking it in place. In that single moment, Alice made use of that momentum and rushed forward hitting Z with her shoulder. In an instant, Z stepped back immediately releasing the sword he had held in his grip and dampening the blow coming from Alice.

Without a weapon Z scrambled, he picked up a round shield made of wood from the floor and used it hold it in front of himself and Alice, while he urgently scrambled to look for another weapon on the floor.

'Crackkk'

Z was shocked as the tip of the spear pierced through his shield narrowly missing his arm and face. Z immediately rotated his arm and forced the spear out of Alice's hands and discarding the shield he was holding, leaving both he and Alice defenseless.

Z rushed forward and reached his hands out to grab the shoulder of Alice wanting to throw her off balance. But all he could grab was air as Alice disappeared into the shadows.

Alice appeared behind Z and reached to her back and pulled a dagger she had hidden from the start of the match and pierced it directly at the shoulder of Z missing any vitals, Z who was shocked and in pain immediately stepped back, unintentionally stepping on the shield he had dropped earlier, he lost his balance and fell to the floor hard.

Before he had any time to recover, Alice had already mounted onto Z and had him pinned down. Z reached out to grab her hand as the familiar voice rang in his ears.

[<Shadow Manifest> obtained, remaining slots 1/2]

Instantly Z dissipated and appeared at the far corner of the room holding onto the wall keeping himself steady.

The two started disappearing and reappearing like two shadows flitting in the light. A blade extended by darkness breezed past Z's head as he ducked with quick speed. Barely missing the hit.

The two continued to fight at full capacity with Z losing slightly due to the handicap given by <Avarice>. Hit after hit rained down until Z was completely exhausted. With a huge kick from Alice, he flew to the wall and ended up slumping down. He quickly grabbed a dagger at the side of the wall picking it up and putting it in front of him in a panic.

Alice slowly walked in front of Z as he raised his dagger to protect himself. He had wanted to take revenge, but it all seemed like a pipedream, in the end, he wasn't strong enough he was weak, he had given in to his weakness.

"YES! TAKE HIS LIFE, BE COMPLETE! MY BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE!"

Mistress Juliana was screaming in the background looking as if she had lost her sanity. Instructor Swet just watched on, cold and unperturbed.

Z closed his eyes, waiting for Alice to make her move, to kill him.

Z felt his c.h.e.s.t go wet, it was warm and sticky, blood splashed across his face as he widened his eyes in shock.