We're truly cornered now, and the only way I can see to get through this is to defeat them all here—but not with Alice. She pulled out a card and planted it in the ground beneath us—BANG—Ciel had already shot the card, making it vanish instantly.
"I won't let you get away!" the woman in the police uniform shouted; she seemed to have realised that Alice intended to conjure a chunk of ice to lift us up and create an escape route. "ARREST THEM!" and the police officers immediately charged towards us in unity.
"We have no other choice… Are you ready, Violet?" Alice asked, giving me a teasing smile; she still looked full of confidence in a situation like this.
"How long are you going to keep making those jokes?" I retorted before drawing my shotgun and preparing to fight back.
A group of people aimed their shots at me; a dozen bullets whizzed past simultaneously, and I had to focus intently to dodge them all. I managed to make all those bullets hit the ground instead of my skin; I slid forward towards one of them and—BANG—the bullet immediately made blood spurt from his chest before he fell to the ground.
Without wasting a moment, I leapt up and struck the policeman standing beside him on the head with the butt of my shotgun—he screamed in pain, and his other colleague immediately tried to shoot me from behind, but I dodged it easily. I aimed at the man who'd fired, but unfortunately I was blocked by another police officer who fired at me from the side, targeting my shoulder.
I ducked and immediately tripped the policeman in front of me, causing him to fall; before I could shoot him, Alice shouted from a distance, "Blue, don't hurt them too badly!" Hearing that, I came to my senses and decided to just strike him in the face with the shotgun stock.
"Ugh, I need to think of a nickname for her too..." I muttered to myself and continued to face the never-ending stream of police officers.
Meanwhile, Alice was fending off a large number of police officers using the roots she had summoned from her cards; without giving them a moment's respite, she flung a handful of cards into the air, and from within them shot out icy thorns that flew towards the officers still standing.
The police began to dodge them in a panic, but several spikes managed to cut and tear their uniforms. "I hope you've got spares!" She laughed gleefully, thoroughly enjoying toying with them.
Alice threw a card forward and a hand made of clumps of stone emerged, delivering a punch to the two police officers who were about to attack Alice from behind, sending them flying and crashing into the wall. "Attacking from behind? A very dirty trick for people who work for justice," she said sarcastically.
However, help arrived quickly; she stepped back until our backs collided. She glanced over her shoulder at me, who was starting to sweat. "Tired already, green?" She smiled arrogantly.
"Shut up," I sighed deeply. Unlike her, I had to keep my emotions in check so my attacks wouldn't be too fatal. If we accidentally killed a single policeman, it could label us as genuine criminals—that was the hardest part.
"I've got no choice but to help you, have I?" she said, already producing eight cards at once, held between her fingers, and in an instant—four cards were flung forward and our feet moved nimbly once more.
Two of the cards produced two giant stone hands capable of flinging a dozen people aside, whilst the remaining two released roots that bound the remaining police officers in their tracks. Leaving Alice and dozens of helpless police officers behind, "The sheer number of people they've sent is truly astonishing."
Alice turned towards me and flung the four cards in her other hand at me; one card released a gust of air that allowed me to swiftly close the distance to the enemy before I slammed the butt of my shotgun into his stomach, sending him flying far away. One card sent me soaring into the air and as I plunged down, I brought the butt of my shotgun down on the policeman's head, making him scream in pain; another card prevented my feet from hitting the ground so as not to break my bones.
Meanwhile, the last card tied up the police officers who were trying to escape. We had defeated all the police, and finally I could breathe a sigh of relief. Alice approached with that smug smile of hers, "What would you say to me—?! Ugh, you need a shower after this." She immediately backed away when she caught the scent of my sweat.
"That's only natural, isn't it? You're the odd one out for not sweating."
"That's because my sweat is afraid of ruining this perfect appearance of mine."
We chatted casually like this, but something felt off… It was as if we'd forgotten something… or rather, someone.