[hr]ATTN: [@PaulHaynek], [@Enkryption] (Alice/Carroll), & [@Rezod92] (Kerry)[hr][hider=To Stand Tall Against One's Walls]Alice wasn't expecting, of [i]all[/i] people, for Takeshi to be the one to kick off the party, but it would seem, he'd elected to start things with brutal, ruthless finesse. As the first blow was theirs, Alice had no issue following through, "[color=976f29]Nozarashi, Carroll,[/color]" and leaping into the thick of it, "[color=976f29]Hacht-hit![/color]"

Having been gone for a fair bit of time since the day before, Liliana would rush into the fight, swinging Whimsy to intercept one of the students. Yet, anyone looking that had seen her before could tell that her actions were sloppy, spells not being thrown out as readily. Something seemed wrong. 

Alice would slide past Liliana, as she cut down the man that the Fairy had blocked, and hefted Carroll upon her shoulder - blood splattering the ground, before she looked back. "[color=976f29]I don't feel you, Bladeflower,[/color]" she says, "[color=976f29]Your head isn't in the fight. Keep out of it, unless you wanna die.[/color]"

Frozen at hearing Alice’s words, Liliana would look down at Whimsy and grasp the handle tightly, trying to muster her resolve, but finding herself lacking. As such, the best recourse was for her to do as Alice said, shrinking down and…finding a flower to hide in. [color=f49ac2][i]"Why am I…why can’t I think about the fight at all…?"[/i][/color] she questioned herself before looking on as the battle raged, her eyes starting to well up with tears.

Alice didn't stop Liliana's retreat. Her words were cold, but meaningful - if Liliana couldn't focus, she was going to die. The fight wasn't going to let her sort her feelings out. However, it didn't mean she wouldn't address the matter. Blocking a sword with her axe, Alice moved her body along the beat, and thrust her fist through flesh and bone; a bloody explosion splattering the ground, as her fist exited a Human body.

"[color=976f29][i]Liliana, in your mind, I believe there is a question, and it's the wrong question. Don't ask yourself about this fight, here and now, but that fight, then and there,[/i][/color]" Alice says, "[color=976f29][i]The fight in Wonderland.[/i][/color]"

Clinging to her sword as if it were a pillow, Liliana would ignore whatever teasing Whimsy was throwing into her mind, tears flowing freely as she wondered…was she even a good friend? Was she a friend at all? Even now she wasn’t helping the Oja clan win, she was sitting. Crying. All while everyone fought for their lives.

Pathetic.

"[color=976f29][i]Tell me, how are you going to answer the question,[/i][/color]" Alice asks, "[color=976f29][i]What are you going to do about that fight? Years in the future, yet promised,[/i][/color]" she says, as she shifted her posture, "[color=976f29][i]Tempo... Prestissimo... Invasion... Heavenly Strike...[/i][/color]" and disappeared into a blur of strikes, her axe shattering swords within her Line of Intention - expanded to thirty feet from ten - before skidding to a halt. "[color=976f29][i]Maa, maa..[/i][/color]" she panted, "[color=976f29][i]That's tougher than I envisioned.[/i][/color]"

Alice gripped Carroll, blood dripping off her wrists from the sheer acceleration.

Thinking to the future, Liliana…wasn’t sure. Could she proclaim she’d never return home and stay in Wonderland? Would she be of any help at all against someone so strong that Alice was defeated by her twice? …No. She wasn’t scared at all of losing a fight, but she was terrified of breaking the promises she’d made to Rosebud, of never basking in Marigold’s warmth, of never butting heads with Peony again, or having the best nap ever after Thistle tried to explain science-y stuff while Anthur played some relaxing music over tea time. Terrified of never being annoyed by Camelia’s smug attitude, or get patched up by Monk again. Petrified that she’d never get Sage’s advice ever again, or hear Leo’s cool stories from far off lands, or spar with Mint to improve their swordplay. Promises were heaped upon her mind, little vows she had to return to fulfill and yet…

Liliana would burst from the flower holding her as she zipped through, still in her diminutive size. If all those promises meant the world to her, and she meant to keep her word to Alice, there was an obvious, foolish answer. 

[color=f49ac2][b]"Gaia Hazard…Heavenly Strike!"[/b][/color] she cried out, before penetrating through one of the student’s swords, stopping just short of stabbing him as she grew back to human size, eyes aglow as Whimsy’s magic came alive. [color=f49ac2][b]"Giant Strength!"[/b][/color] Liliana said before punching one of the students square in the chin, sending him flying a foot in the air, reeling, but conscious. Grabbing him
By the collar, Liliana would start super-slapping him, carrying him to the sidelines. [color=f49ac2][b]"WHERE! IS! YOUR! MASTER? PLEASE!"[/b][/color]

Alice chuckled, as her palms healed, and Liliana found her reason to fight. Whatever her answer was, Alice had no intention of challenging her on it, but she would keep her eye on the Fairy, regardless. "[color=976f29][i]Benihine, Carroll,[/i][/color]" Alice says, changing her Demon Sword into an actual sword. "[color=976f29][i]From a savage dance to a noble waltz...[/i][/color]"

Carroll didn't speak in turn, her attention elsewhere, as well. However, unlike Alice, she had no stake in the life of the Fairy Knight. It was her lover that she focused on, for Eula had yet stained her hands in blood, and yet proven that she could...

Incapacitating someone was child’s play when you had the equivalent of a taser for an arm and yet, gripping the neck of the human beneath her, every instinct Eula had screamed at her to stop. In watching Liliana, she had been taken off guard, wanting to learn how to fight from someone who had just regained their resolve to.

Now, with the warm jugular and throat of a man in her hands, Eula questioned…could she do it? She couldn’t question whether she had to or not in this instance, as Liliana had already captured one man.

Her hands trembled as the man clawed at her arms in a bid to escape, only for her thumbs to cinch together, a sickening crack flooding her ears as his body went limp, along with her own.

Static filled her vision, protocol violated, shutting down, Error, Error, ERR-

Eula would release her hands as her arms fell limply at her side, starting to fire off demonic energy blasts into the ground, fingers spasming as she failed to retain control of herself.

Alice took notice, "[color=976f29]Tempo, Aldante. Invasion,[/color]" and skirted the ground, as she turned Carroll, and bashed Eula in the chest with her pommel, before turning the pommel up,  "[color=976f29]Infection,[/color]" and bashing Eula in the chin, before she spun around her back, "[color=976f29]Injection,[/color]" and slammed her to the ground, before slinging Carroll into the ground by her head.

"[color=976f29]Deal with her.[/color]"

Carroll bit back the myriad of curses she had in mind for Alice, as she forced her stunning attacks to disable Eula for a moment.

However, Eula was more important.

As Alice discarded her blade to deal with the weakest link, she would shift down, and extend her right hand, "[color=0F52BA]The Rebellion Queen calls, heed me, and obey. Dismiss and turn to me, Dusk,[/color]" as she gave the order, Kerry would feel Dusk shaking, disobeying, before Cecilia would catch it, and swing the spear down. "[color=0F52BA]Kill in the name of Cecilia, the Rebellion Queen, o' spear that cannot.[/color]"

Narrowing her eyes, Cecilia would whip Dusk forward like a javelin, and punch through a student facing against Kerry - leaving him to fall with a hole in his chest. "[color=0F52BA]Hn.[/color]" scoffed the Mad Hatter, as she pocketed her left hand, and raised her right; catching Dusk as she walked off.

"[color=808080][i]...didn't have to be a bitch about it,[/i][/color]" Carroll says, before transforming into her Human form, "[color=808080][i]Eula, are you back?[/i][/color]"

Silence permeated Eula’s form as she didn’t move, before her right hand’s pinky finger twitched twice. [color=C48BD3][b]"...I…ha…had…a feeling…it wasn’t as simmmmple…as-as-as-as-as-DOING it…"[/b][/color] Eula’s voice croaked, distorted. Automatons lived under a set of unbreakable rules. Ones which she was asked to break. Now, the consequences of it were plain to see as Eula had lost control of herself, trying to rise up with her arms only to fall back into the mud, unblinking eyes looking up at Carroll. [color=C48BD3][b]"Alice was-was-was-was-wassssssss…was right. I am useless. Worse than. I shouldn’t…"[/b][/color] tears of oil escaped Eula’s eyes as she tried to speak. [color=C48BD3][b]"Play at. Having freedom."[/b][/color]

"[color=808080][i]Alice is right about a lot of things. She's always a bitch about it, too. Doesn't mean she has to stay right,[/i][/color]" Carroll says, transforming her left arm, "[color=808080][i]There's only two options that you have in earnest...[/i][/color]" she says, "[color=808080][i]Die in the mud like a bug, wasting the life that Europa and Laguna sacrificed their own to breathe into existence, rebelling against the Demon Lord's Will,[/i][/color]" Carroll extended her hand, "[color=808080][i]or take my hand, rebel against the program, honor their sacrifice, and pave your own path. Make your choice, Eula.[/i][/color]"

Europa and Laguna…

Did…Eula know anybody by those names?

She wasn’t sure. She never would be, on her own. And on her own, she had no chance to break the programming that had even bound her creators, utilizing every ounce of will the automaton had to reach out for Carroll’s hand. She made her choice, and now, with hands stained with a human’s blood, she had no choice but to continue walking. Even if that path lead her down a road mired in bloodshed, of throwing away her love for humans.

[color=C48BD3][b]"Help…me…"[/b][/color] she pleaded in a quiet voice.

"[color=808080][i]I can't help you, I can only walk beside you, as you learn to help yourself...[/i][/color]" Carroll says, as she clasps Eula's hand, "[color=808080][i]...and so, we'll make a pact, to go together, down this road of rebellion, until we stumble and we fall,[/i][/color]" Carroll's hand would split wide and parasitic slime would seep into Eula, before she transformed and swirled throughout Eula's body, "[color=808080][i]If you borrow my power, so shall I borrow yours... such is the burden... such is the price...[/i][/color]"

Eula would feel Carroll hijacking her right arm, her circuits, and her machinery, before transforming her stun gun into a stun cannon, as it widened and extended back to her elbow, before she shifted into her normal axe form.

"[color=808080][i]I will not leave you to walk alone, but I cannot make you take the first step, either.[/i][/color]"

Feeling a certain degree of control once her body was reformatted, Eula would narrow her eyes, static leaving her vision as her crimson eyes came aglow once more. [color=C48BD3][b]"Together, then,"[/b][/color] Eula said before taking the first step forward, intercepting a sword that was meant to clash with Takeshi’s, a cannon soon pressing into the offending swordsman’s stomach before launching him with enough force to slam him into a nearby tree, splintering the trunk. 

Staring at the Varjan legionnaire, Eula would heft Carroll over her shoulder, her anger starting to build. [color=C48BD3][b]"Carroll. I have analyzed their technique. Considering this new upgrade you have provided, attempting to replicate Liliana’s speed-boosting via magic seems the most optimal way to activate it without the requisite training. Allow me to attempt to replicate it, if you feel comfortable."[/b][/color]

"[color=808080][i]Let's go crazy,[/i][/color]" Carroll says, "[color=808080][i]together.[/i][/color]"

[color=C48BD3][b][i]"Limiters Broken. All power to thrust. Chance of Survival calculating: 19% Varjan Survival rate."[/i][/b][/color] Eula would bend her axe-holding hand back, while the arm bearing her cannon would snap backwards to function as a thruster, now pushing out more energy than it ever had before.

[color=C48BD3][b]"Optimized Prototype: Heavenly Strike"[/b][/color], Eula said before bursting forward fast enough to let out a thunderous boom as Carroll clashed with the Varjan’s weapon, threatening to break it, his arm, and his body from the force alone. [color=C48BD3][b]"Surrender or face extinction. There is no other option."[/b][/color]

If Carroll could fall in love twice, she would. Alas, that was a one time affair per person, so she would have to settle with her vorpal edge pushing through the Varjan's sword. As far as she knew, there was not material in the Mamono Realm that could withstand her impossible edge forever.

She would inch through, and cut true, inevitably...[/hider]