Show her who's boss.

"You will not pass," says the ALICE, and as she speaks, her free arm transforms quickly into a familiar laser cannon. While gripping her spear in the other, she aims said appendage towards you, and it doesn't need to charge for more than a moment before blasting out a powerful bolt of magical power.

You're about to dodge, but before you do, Lynx leaps in front of you with a hand outstretched, landing in a dramatic pose. A barrier appears, and it absorbs the entirety of the blast with ease--one of her Rite of the Sun markings at full effect. This leaves the opponent stunned and **** to a counter attack! So, you dash straight past your spymaster, and lunge at the opponent with your magic blade. The first slash is dodged, as is the second, but as she clears tumbling into her own army of ants, she's **** into bringing the spear up to block instead. Her arm transitions back into normal a moment before she needs to grab hold.

In a fluid motion, before you strike, you slide your hand up the blade and speak aloud, "Flare Blade," causing the weapon to erupt into scorching fire. Upon impact, you carve her weapon straight in half, and her army steps back in fear. Flickering lights flash off the cavern walls as you continue your ****, now like a king of devils. Your opponent discards half the broken weapon, and now wields the spear head like a dagger, which she stabs forward, nearly striking your stomach.

Behind her flies in Mela. The ALICE turns and stabs, though the wispy ghost simply dissipates, which leaves her open for a swift whip of your foot across her legs, forcing her to the ground.

You then tap your foot on the ground and whisper, "Entangle".

The army parts, allowing her to roll away and back to her feet. Clearly, however, the odds are against her. She shows no fear, however. This automaton is fearless, and admittedly very powerful. It's still taking multiple of your party members to match her speed. Thankfully the insectrin aren't joining in, or you might actually be overwhelmed. It's obvious they didn't expect to run into a Demon King's party down here.

Suddenly, she dashes forward. Though as she steps on your trap, you trigger the barrage of blue tendrils which quickly snag her feet. They pull her back, and two more grab her arms. One threads through her legs, nudging up her skirt to reveal a pair of pure white, frilly panties beneath. She tries to struggle free, but for the time being, she can't budge.

With a whip of your sword, the fire goes out, leaving behind a subtle rising smoke from the tip.

Carefully, you approach her, and you keep your weapon ready. You stare into her glowing eyes, and while she shows no reaction in response, you glance over to the metal of your blade. It's glowing slightly more than before. As it nears the ALICE's body, there is a noticeable change, even if small. Back when you first met Alice, despite her appearance and manner of speaking, she was just like any other girl. All the automatons you've faced made by Elok Daven, however, have acted like emotionless assassins. You can't help but feel empathy for her as you stare at her face--glistening eyes, soft lips, flowing green hair. You don't know what to think of her. Something is just drawing you away from doing something as rash as cutting her down, like you might with a mindless monstrosity.

You sheathe your blade. Then, you give a quick jerk of each of her arms, popping them off with ease. It causes some to reel in shock, though any who know the anatomy of these golems aren't surprised in the least. You hand both limbs over to Rose. "Hold these. Careful, they can still move as normal."

"Uh. All right," she says with hesitation before holding the ALICE's arms within hers.

Then you cause the tendrils to disappear. "We aren't here to kill you. But you're going to let us follow this tunnel."

The insectrin look among each other. One raises her hand high in the air like a student in class.

You stare back at her for a long moment, unsure of how to respond. "Y-Yes?"

Her voice is high and cute voice, and her pincers are more visible now that she smiles wide and speaks aloud. "Uhm. Are you here to destroy it? This tunnel took us a lot of work, even with the help of the King."

All of them nod in unison. It's a little unnerving.

"Not specifically," you reply. "But can you tell us what it's for?"

The ALICE wobbles in place. She can move just fine, but it's awkward without arms. "Do not say any--" But she's cut off by Vivi behind her. She covers up her mouth with her hand, and holds her tight.

Another raises her hand.

You point back. "You don't need to do that to respond to me..."

"Uhm. We just do as the Demon King asks."

"Is that the King you mentioned?"

"Uhm. No. The King is the King. The Demon King is the Demon King. The King is made of metal and digs. We're better, but it's faster for a tunnel this big."

They all sound the same too. It's really strange, almost like Sen-nu, if she had dozens of bodies instead of two. "So something made of metal helped you all dig this tunnel."

"Uhm. Not just us," another one speaks up, thankfully without waiting for permission this time. Her antennae twitch. "We're just patrolling with ALICE."

"How far does this go?"

They all look between one another. Yet another speaks up, and her abdomen wiggles. "Uhm. Really, really far."

I have a feeling that's all they know in relation to geography. They've been honest so far. "We'd like to keep going this way."

One that had already spoken previously looks to the ALICE. "Uhm. Don't worry. I think it's fine. The Demon King should already know anyway."

You raise a brow. "What are you talking about?"

Vivi, appearing a little nervous, continues to hold the ALICE's mouth. "From what I've heard, formica insectrin can form a sort of hivemind. Not that they all share the same mind, but they connect with one another. That's how they can work with such efficiency. It's perfect teamwork."

"So all of their allies know we're having this conversation."

All of the ant-girls nod in unison once again.

Shit. "Well, then you have nothing to lose. Take us farther in."

Mina tugs on your pants. "Are you sure, Demon King? Anything could be waiting for us, if they all know we're coming."

"We don't know where this leads, but we need to find out. It could be our only chance to do it so easily. But I need to ask. This Demon King. Surely it couldn't be the one said to be defeated. The creator of the insectrin race. Who is this Demon King you all serve?"

The ALICE shakes her mouth free for only a moment, but she manages to speak. "You already know," she says. "Do you not?"

You glare back. "Yeah. I guess I do. I don't know how he's found an army of ant-girls, but I don't like it. Come on, everyone. Let's go."

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