Lara knelt helplessly on the floor of the building she owned. Even the pain of her knees shattering felt detached from her existence at the moment.

The only things that remained constant were the two women that stood in front of her.

Of course, Lara was able to talk and move freely if she wished, but reverence kept her kneeling and submissive more than anything.

It wasn't that she didn't want to speak, but more like she didn't dare to. Alice was like a beacon in front of her eyes, something that lit up the darkroom of memories lost.

It was as if Alice was the answer to all the questions she ever asked since returning from the island.

Seeing Elizabeth walking towards her, Lara decided it was now or never.

Clenching her fist, Lara shakily managed a sentence through gritted teeth.

"Please… I don't remember anything," she said.

Elizabeth paused and looked at Lara confused as realization dawned on her face, then a gleeful look emerged in the depth of her eyes.

Lara's memory loss meant that her position in Zeel's heart remained unthreatened. Not that she was concerned about Zeel's love in the first place, it was more about the pride of a woman.

Alice looked at Lara kneeling on the ground and sighed.

"That energy inside your body is toxic, you can die or worse from it. You don't even know it's there so we'll get rid of it and you'll live normally again, without being repulsed by males.

We are doing this to help you and ourselves. If we hadn't found you first, you would have acted as a beacon for our enemies…" Alice said, then gestured for Elizabeth to continue.

Elizabeth flashed next to Lara, her hands pulsing with rainbow brilliance as she placed them on Lara's forehead.

Slowly, Lara felt as if something valuable to her was being taken away, something she desperately wanted to hold onto, something she was entitled to.

"Please stop!" Lara yelled, grimacing in pain of the loss that accompanied the extraction of the Draconic-Energy.

Elizabeth sighed, finally softening her heart and speaking the truth.

"It is best for you never to remember his name. I can tell from the way you tremble that he did something to you.

He is not human, he doesn't think like you, talk like you, or love like you. I am pretty sure he left you here for us to find, to see the choice we would make…

If we don't do this... eventually, you will kneel before us again, only the next time it would be for Alice to kill you because that is the way Zeel functions.

It is nothing personal, it was the way he was raised, so we are sparing you from it all… the suffering… the pain of love lost… the helplessness of sacrifice without returns…" Elizabeth said.

"I don't want to let GO!" Lara shouted, shakily rising to her feet with all the energy left inside her body.

Something strange ignited in the depths of her mind and turned Lara's eyes into slits. Lara felt energy returning to her body, and the first thing she wanted was for Elizabeth to release her.

She could feel that Elizabeth was dispersing the energy she held as precious as her own life… the only reminder she had of that mysterious stranger she could not recall.

Alice sighed, knowing that any resistance from Lara was futile, but she never expected what happened next.

Lara raised her left hand into the air and ….

*plap*

A resounding slap echoed throughout the empty building that was 'Croft Industries'.

Lara was angered and peeved at the controlling effect both women had on her mind and body.

It was disrespectful so Lara forgot her position in the hierarchy and slapped Elizabeth across the face impulsively.

Even if Lara didn't know anything about the ways of Homo-Superiors, she instinctively knew that she had done something wrong.

Unlike humans, Homo-Superiors had no written rules, all taboos were wired instinctively into each individual synapse of their brains.

And that was how Lara knew that she had just fucked up.

Her actions were not only an affront to the authority Elizabeth held as Zeel's Second Wife, it was an affront to Zeel, himself, who always preferred order over chaos.

"I'm so sorry!" Lara quickly apologized for her heat-of-the-moment action.

The slap had weak traces of Draconic-Energy so it managed to faintly sting Elizabeth, but it was nothing to be riled up about.

Yet, Elizabeth could not allow the disrespect to stand.

Alice and Elizabeth flashed at the same time, but Elizabeth was somewhat faster than Alice since her Divinities included Light.

Elizabeth's body radiated rainbow lights as she used [Multi-Colored Travel].

She gripped Lara's raised left hand, swung Lara's body upwards over her shoulder, and threw Lara into the marble floor of the building.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye, and Alice knew she could not stop the attack, but she could mitigate the impact.

Alice stomped her foot onto the marble floors as [Hell Flames] ignited just beneath Lara's collision location with the floor.

The marble was instantly vaporized and Lara's body went through the floor instead of colliding with the floor.

This allowed Alice extra time to save Lara's life, but Elizabeth still had not gotten her pound of flesh from Lara.

Elizabeth and Alice stared at each other as time slowed around them both. As wives of Zeel, both women also had small dominions over different Time-Zones, but it was only Shallow.

They could move faster, but it was not to the point of absurdity. Maybe they could dodge a bullet or two, but a barrage of bullets would certainly hit them.

As both women stared at each other, Lara's body was halfway down to the next floor. After a moment of staring, Elizabeth sighed in defeat, indicating that she would let the matter rest.

But Alice knew her lover better than anyone.

The moment Elizabeth flashed, leaving behind a trail of rainbow colors, enormous blue wings of flames exited Alice's back as she used [Wings Of Heaven].

Alice's wings darted through the floor, covering Lara from head to toe in their blue brilliance.

*BOOM*

Elizabeth appeared in front of Lara a moment too late, impacting her [Prism Beam Emission] fist into the blue flames instead of Lara's face.

The impact caused compressed air to radiate outwards from the point of collision, shattering the windows on three immediate floors, and shaking the foundation of the entire building.

Police had already arrived at the scene after the earlier fire alarm. The crowd that surrounded the building felt the Earth shake before everything returned to normal.

Knowing they would be fucked if the fighting continued at this location, Elizabeth pulled out her Ring Swords as she, Alice, and Lara disappeared with a ripple of water.

Elizabeth used the [Connection]ability of the Ring Swords to transport everyone to a nearby location that held meaning to Zeel.

∞∞∞

*Twrp*

*Twrp*

*Twrp*

Alice appeared with a frightened Lara in her arms, Elizabeth reappeared next to them but did nothing to continue the fight.

Lara was bleeding from her orifices due to the impact of Elizabeth's earlier punch.

However, Elizabeth had much more important concerns on her mind at the moment.

"Why did you stop me?" She asked.

It was unlike Alice to go against her for someone as meaningless as Lara.

Unless…

Alice did not answer Elizabeth, instead, she gestured to the table in the living room that held a bouquet of genetically-modified roses that were imbued with Hybrid-Runes.

The roses were altered to stay vibrant for as long as the person gifted thought about the person who gifted the roses.

That meant that even without her memories, Lara still thought about Zeel every single day or the roses would have lost their luster a long time ago.

It was a woman in love, and Alice knew what it was like to love Zeel – addicting, exciting, fulfilling, and equally painful.

If she didn't have Zeel in the apocalypse, Alice had no doubt that she'd still be in her Universe killing zombies until she died of old age.

So who was she to deny Lara a chance to pursue her love?

Elizabeth sighed "You should have let me kill her, but now, he won't even let her go,"

Alice also sighed since she knew that Zeel did not do things without a reason.

Killing Lara now would be going against his will.

"Get the memories, leave the Draconic-Energy," Alice said, knocked Lara out, and walked around the room, stopping next to a Centaur Sculpture and smiling faintly.

"At least, he has a little heart," Alice whispered.

Elizabeth placed her hands on Lara's forehead and extracted the required memories using the nanites.

Everything about Lara was uploaded into Elizabeth's mind. Every moment Lara spent with Zeel was witnessed by Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was relieved that Zeel never had sex with Lara using his soul, or that would have hurt both her and Alice.

Sex with the soul was true-sex for Gods, while sex with Psychic-Connection was true-sex for Homo-superiors.

Elizabeth and Alice had both connections.

Elizabeth had a psychic connection with Zeel through Lorien, and Alice still held the psychic imprint from when she first met Zeel.

Safe to say, apart from Aurolana, Alice and Elizabeth were amongst the only few people to truly have sex with Zeel in his life.

Any other form of sex for Zeel would be equal to a human fucking a monkey, which was more fun than it was considered 'cheating' for Elizabeth and Alice.

"I get the feeling that Zeel doesn't want us to look for him yet," Elizabeth told Alice about the intentions she felt.

The Mbeamer on Elizabeth's hand flashed red, and they both got the message transmitted by The Red Queen.

"The situation has changed," The Red Queen said before falling back into slumber to recharge her Sentient Core.

Alice and Elizabeth joined hands as the Ring Sword pulsed and they dispersed into water droplets.

Lara slept soundly on the couch, the memories fading into obscurity once more, along with any impression of Alice and Elizabeth ever confronting her.