"Nnnn..."
The warrior was sent flying by
Alice's retaliatory attack. The remaining two enemies, however, were undeterred. They paid no attention to
Alice's seemingly mad ramblings to herself and continued their assault. This time, with a bit of strategy.
When one of the warriors was about to strike
Alice with an upward slash, he suddenly stopped and moved aside. The cursed Mad Hatter then felt a pang of pain to her back and the other warrior appearing in front of her, seemingly from thin air. She was hit by the technique from the rear, although still not drawing blood from the monster. Still, the pain from the attack was growing stronger. Her monstrous physiology was beginning to buckle.
The two warriors then increased distance from
Alice, with their swords raised. They knew better than to push their attack, now knowing that the Mad Hatter was perfectly capable of counterattacking. For now, they waited for her next move.
"
Owie! That hurt!" Alice whined, as she taken by the feint, and struck from behind.
"
I believe we've piqued their interest," Carroll says. "
I would suggest we keep it, then."
Alice whined, as she shifted her stance. "
But, like, it's gunna be, like, so much harder to land Rain Breaker if they keep outta rangejuh..." she whined, dropping her guard suddenly. "
I wanna give up, Carrroolll... If they, like, keep attacking my back, I can't counter themmmah! It's not faiiiirrruuhh...!."
"
Dummy! You don't say that outloud!" Carroll shouted. "
Those mushrooms in your brain can't think or something!?"
Alice continued to whine; pitching a tantrum, as she healed from the strike at her back, and moved towards the man she'd thrown, while making her movements seem erratic. It looked like she was just having a fit over things not going her way.
In truth, she was stalling for her spores and moving to a free source of Demon Energy.
The two remaining warriors listened to
Alice seemingly whine to herself. They were confused, to be sure, but made no attempt to inquire. To them, they were above questioning the thoughts and reasonings of their enemies. They only needed to kill
Alice, nothing else.
They, were, however getting dizzy... and woozy. It was starting to impair their focus, making it hard to concentrate. "
What the? What's going on?" Their sword arms trembled, their minds getting clouded. They were sure that they had come to this fight of sound body and mind, so this sudden lapse could not have come from them. "
I-It's her! She's making us like this!" The warriors finally figured it out.
The warriors, now knowing
Alice's strategy, went on the offensive. One of them disappeared again, and the Mad Hatter felt another painful slash upon her body. The two then unleashed a series of stabs and strikes with their swords, hoping to take down
Alice before they succumb to her spores. The desperation made them reckless.
Alice would weather the blows, as she used them to move her closer to the fallen swordsman, and as a reason to literally be knocked out of her shoes. "
Shall it be enough," she asked, as she stumbled and stood on the fallen man; her left foot on his chest, and her right on his face - roots digging into his flesh, and sucking away at his Spirit Energy, and converted it into Demon Energy. "
No, I didn’t get to him fast enough."
"
It will have to suffice..." Carroll says, as his blade starts to warp and reshape. "
Callooh! Callay!"
"
It’s a frabjous day!" Alice beamed, her voice changing again. "
Eenie... Meenie... Miniee..." she pointed between the two, before settling, "
Mo..."
Switching to a one-handed hold, Alice would dash forward.
"Snicker-snack, the Queen goes tromping through the bricker-brack;
Crickle-crack, roar the flames left with each snicker-snack...
Flame Breaker: Inverse Eruption!"
Alice would make her attack at the swordsman, but seemingly would miss him, as she buried the “face” of Carroll into the ground. However, much like Inverse Rainbow, the attack was done with her left hand , and therefore was to the reverse of whatever it was supposed to be.
The context clues of “Eruption” and “Flame” must have meant that it was supposed to involve flame erupting from her strike. So, if it was meant to go forward, then the inverse would be...
...behind her.
Right where the targeted man was standing.
By time he came to this acknowledgement, a pillar of flame would rumble to erupt from underneath his feet.
He’d two immediate options:
[Heavenly Strike] at Alice, and risk her counterattacking with
[Rain Breaker: Inverse Rainbow], or try to dodge with his own speed, and open himself up to her, potentially, following up with another magical attack.
Either way, she had his number.
And, to add insult to injury, she STILL wasn't taking this fight seriously.
The two warriors cleared away when
Alice made a vertical strike that buried her cursed weapon on the soil. Believing the feint, one of the warriors came up behind her to plant his sword on her back. Unfortunately for him, that was the Mad Hatter's plan all along. Just when he was about to strike, an eruption of flame from the very ground he stood on launched the warrior to the air. The fire damaged him badly and he landed back on the ground out of the fight.
The last warrior attempted to continue the fight, but
Alice's spores were becoming too much. His swings at the Mad Hatter were getting slower and weaker, enough that
Alice could easily dodge them or simply swat them aside. The warrior coughed as his legs trembled, his sword arms going limp. Soon, he dropped his weapon as he could not stop coughing. The spores soon finish him off and the warrior fell to the ground, defeated.
Alice the Mad Hatter had won this particular bout. She may have taken down three warriors who knew the legendary technique, but took a bit of damage doing so. Maybe she should fall back for now, and come back with allies. Or she could move forward towards the camp, where there will surely be more of those warriors and they may not be alone.
Panting, Alice would place Carroll to her side, and sank to her knees; just because he closed her wounds, didn't mean there wasn't blood loss, and the fatigue that came of it. "
Carroll, I think we are going to have to break our rule..." she says, as she stood up, and started to form roots between her hands. After a minute, she formed a decent length of hempen rope, and started to bind her fallen foes at the ankles and wrists, before she linked the ankles and wrists together, and formed a noose around their neck, which was linked to their wrists. She'd repeat this process for all three.
She didn't know, if they were alive, dead, and/or dying, and she didn't care; if anything, she was miffed, because she was breaking their rule:
Never take prisoners.
"
This feels like a betrayal..." Carroll groused.
It was aggravating, true, but Alice wasn't a fool, and Carroll wasn't at his apex. Even if she could temporarily access her
[Queen of Diamonds] Alice form, and augment it further with
[Bloodthirsty] Carroll, it meant nothing if this was the effort needed to take on merely three at this level of strength. She was exhausted and hurt. Pressing on with a fool's errand, and getting help was the brighter course of action.
...even though... that meant interacting with people she didn't have control of. Smartly, she gathered the swords of her fallen foes, and bundled them together to wrap onto her back. Maybe, they would help curry favour and make it easier to control the people she was going to have to talk to.
Humans liked swords, yeah? Especially, magic swords.
Lying the swords(-or-lack-thereof-)men on their back, not bothering to check if they were alive or dead, still, she would wrap them under their arms, and set to dragging them back to town...
Xaltwind