It was too quiet.
This Hive Lord Hunter was far too calm.
After her experience in the Alien world, where she was ambushed by humans and nearly met her end in an unexpected pitfall, Lilith had learned to treat every enemy with the highest level of caution, no matter how weak they appeared.
A layer of blood-colored particles, so dense they were almost liquid, seeped from the gaps in Lilith's Bone Armor. Like living organisms, these blood particles enveloped her entire body, forming a constantly flowing, close-fitting barrier.
This was the compressed form of the Blood Domain, sacrificing range for strength. Any energy attack attempting to act directly on her body would be absorbed and delayed by this barrier, giving her enough time to react.
Three seconds of observation.
She confirmed there were no high-level mutants lying in ambush around the clock tower, no abnormal energy accumulation, and no toxins or parasites detected in the air other than the Spiritual Spores.
Thus, the only threat was the golden-haired young girl before her.
Without warning or buildup, Lilith's Wing Blades were suddenly enveloped in a blinding blood-red light!
The blood-colored particles attached to the blade surfaces were highly compressed and activated, instantly transforming into two half-moon-shaped blood glows!
The speed of the slash was faster than sound.
The moment the blood glows left the Wing Blades, the air was compressed into circular white ripples.
Two intersecting arcs of blood-red light tore through the air, enveloping Alice and the Tyrant behind her within the range of the attack!
Alice did not dodge.
She didn't even take a defensive stance.
Just an instant before the blood glow arrived, deep within her pink-blue pupils, those rotating points of light suddenly accelerated.
"Pop."
A sound as light as a bubble bursting.
The blood glow pierced Alice's body, slicing her and the Mutated Tyrant behind her into four segments.
There was no expected spray of flesh, nor the sound of shattering bones. The bodies of the Mutated Tyrant and Alice, once sliced, cracked like a broken mirror and transformed into countless drifting pink light particles, slowly dissipating in the rain.
An elaborately constructed illusion—an advanced illusion that had briefly deceived even Lilith—had shattered.
With the shattering of the illusion, the surrounding world began to fade.
The remaining flying monsters in the sky vanished like bubbles, the bizarre mutants on the streets rapidly collapsed, and even the gloom in the sky faded slightly, revealing the true clouds behind it.
The illusion Alice had constructed with her massive spiritual power was completely dispelled at this moment.
Only the most authentic Raccoon City remained: burning buildings, wandering Mutated Zombies, and the much-thinner embers of Spiritual Spores still permeating the air.
Lilith's gaze locked onto the high sky.
At her level, ripples appeared in the air.
Golden hair first emerged from the void, followed by pale cheeks and a slender body.
Alice's true body, upheld by invisible spiritual power, slowly manifested.
She still floated barefoot in the air, her pink-blue pupils having turned azure blue as she gazed calmly at Lilith.
"What a pity."
Alice spoke, her voice transmitted directly into Lilith's consciousness via spiritual power.
"I was only forty-seven minutes away from completing the catalysis of the Guards."
There was genuine regret in her tone, like an artist watching an unfinished sculpture being destroyed.
"However,"
Alice's tone shifted, a strange light flashing deep within her azure pupils.
"Since you destroyed my work..."
Alice looked at Lilith and spread her hands, as if in some sort of welcoming ceremony.
Screech—!
The sound of air being torn was clearly audible.
On either side of Alice's body, two distorted Spatial Rifts over fifty meters long appeared out of thin air!
Unstable pink-blue electric arcs flickered at the edges of the rifts, and from within came the resonance of countless bones grinding and flesh proliferating.
Two chaotic, tyrannical auras, filled with an endless desire to devour, surged out from the depths of the rifts!
"These two half-finished products shall be my parting gift to you."
After saying this, Alice gave Lilith a faint smile, though a trace of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth.
Evidently, forcibly pulling out these two monsters had damaged her foundation.
An instant before Lilith's Wing Blades slashed a second time, Alice's figure rippled and blurred like a reflection in water, completely vanishing into the air.
Leaving behind only a fading whisper.
"I hope the next time we meet, you can still maintain such a charming form..."
She had left.
It wasn't high-speed movement; she had directly used spiritual power to warp reality, transferring herself to a safe area on the outskirts of Raccoon City before choosing to return from the mission.
For her, the data that needed to be collected had been collected, and the hidden moves that needed to be set had been set. Staying here to fight a death match with a war machine whose combat power was clearly off the charts was meaningless.
Lilith's Wing Blades slashed through empty space, leaving a blood-red trail in the air that lingered for a long time.
She did not pursue.
Although she didn't understand the long string of words the girl had muttered, she knew the opponent had left her with two even more powerful enemies.
Because those two Spatial Rifts were expanding violently, and the roars from within were getting closer and louder.
Something was about to come out.
Lilith slowly retracted her Wing Blades, her four crimson eyes simultaneously locking onto the rifts.
The blood-colored barrier around her expanded again, moving from a close-fitting state to a three-meter range, with countless particles rotating at high speed, emitting a low hum.
Her tail-whip slowly rose behind her, lashing the air with a crisp sound that seemed like a provocation, or perhaps a declaration of war.
She could sense that these two creatures were plot creatures, and also plot BOSSes.
But now, they had been completely remodeled by that Hunter, far beyond what they were in the original story.
A premonition told her that as long as she killed these two plot BOSSes, her dungeon evaluation for this run would skyrocket!
...At this time, on the other side of the City, deep within the underground laboratory, the gargantuan creature formed by the fusion of G-William with a large number of Pursuers and Tyrants finally completed its final metamorphosis.
It opened twelve eyes and spread its wings made of connected flesh and limbs. A malformed, tyrannical aura instantly filled the entire Underground Research Institute.
It raised its massive head and looked toward the rift in front of it, in the direction where Lilith was located...