Abyssal Awakening

"Haven\'t heard much back but it\'s definitely changed. The reaction of the water is far too quick and almost instantaneous while before, it would kill the person first then transform them over the course of the next few days." Allura sighed as she remembered her own shock after seeing the transformation.

It was unnatural.

\'Is the Abyss reacting to Alice\'s presence? Her existence and return of the Eye… If this is true then the Abyss might be preparing for revenge.\' Allura thought to herself as too many things were happening outside of her control and despite all the power she wielded, all she could do was watch.

If this was the will of the Abyss, as a denizen, she could only comply.

"We should probably send work to the coastal cities and have them be careful about the waters. If they don\'t keep their guard near it, an outbreak of beasts could happen at any time." Allura suggested as Gin nodded his head.

With Gin now sending word out to the other cities, Allura made her way over to the carriage and saw that Alice was contemplating what Gin had said.

Sitting down next to Alice, she gave her a pat on the head, surprising Alice as she didn\'t notice Allura\'s approach.

"Don\'t think too much about it. Gin is just like that, prone to worrying. How\'s your body? I know I told you that you could snack on the shard if needed, I didn\'t think you would eat it whole though." Allura chuckled as that had also surprised her.

"Body still hurts a bunch. Probably because I ate the shard. But I heard strange stuff when I was sleeping." Alice shook her head as Allura raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"Seems like the Blight Caller manifested itself in my mind. It was only briefly though. She said the Abyss always wins in the end, how I can run and hide but it\'ll always catch up. Will all of the side effects that should happen to me reappear in the future?

She said the dark mother will forever welcome me into her embrace and I\'ll become a beast." Alice sighed as she held her arms to stop herself from shaking.

If all of the side effects that came from 10 years of consumption happened all at once, what kind of monstrosity would she become?

Hearing all of this, Allura pulled Alice into her embrace as she patted her on the back.

"Don\'t worry. The Blight Callers are beasts of spite. They love to make their targets fear the unknown as that fuels their power. But there is truth in her words of caution. Your body is something we know very little about and having a mind of caution is a must have when dealing with something like this.

"The Abyss will always catch up. She is not wrong, but even I will find a way to help you, no matter how far you are. If you are in danger, I will sense it and come to your rescue." Allura comforted as Alice started to calm down and nodded her head.

"So what she said was true then? The Abyss always catches up?" Alice asked, curious as to what Allura meant.

"To a certain extent yes. The moment a person partakes in drinking the Abyss Blood, they have essentially entered a contract with the Abyss. In exchange for power, their corpses will be given to the Abyss to be use however it wants. The more you drink, the faster this contract is fulfilled.

There has… only been one exception to this rule but now it\'s become two if we include you." Allura explained with a smile.

"There was someone else? Who?"

"My master." Allura chuckled.

"She had a different kind of immunity compared to yours. But it was very similar. She could drink as much Abyss Blood as she wanted and never get the side effects. Instead, she would receive the benefits of the blood. Though unlike for you, her powers never really fade." Allura explained as she recounted the time her master was still alive.

"Did she use it often?

"Nope. She found it unfair to her citizens. Unless she was forced to, she rarely used this power." Allura shook her head.

To her master, using such power was akin to laughing at her citizens who would suffer from the side effects.

But the reason she has this power is very different to Alice. If she had to put it cruelly, Alice was like an unholy imitation of her master.

\'How did Alice even get this power…\' Shaking her head, she had Alice get a bit more rest since she was still injured from eating the shard.

Ria hadn\'t woken up just yet and Allura assumed that she was still picking her Sigil since it hadn\'t appeared on her body just yet.

###

Back at the Zenia family, Luthor continued to stand over the repaired prison in silence. He looked at the pristine bed without saying a word. The family had been trying their best to track down Alice yet they haven\'t heard anything back yet.

"Father, you\'re here again." A voice rang out as Luthor sighed.

He was a handsome young man with short brown hair tried into a rat tail and golden brown eyes. He wore a black vest, white long sleeved shirt a blue tie and black pants. He was the first born son of the Zenia family, Albert Zenia.

"Have you gotten any news about her?" He asked.

"Nothing still. There\'s no sign of her anywhere. We don\'t know how they broke into the compound nor do we know how they got out. Their tracks just disappeared. No one has seen the beast. Do you think they went down to the Abyss?" Albert asked as Luthor contemplated the possibility.

While there should be no entrances to the Abyss near the Zenia prison, he couldn\'t rule out the possibility of it happening.

"Alright. Have your brother lead some men down to the Abyss. Unlike the surface, survival in the Abyss is harder so give him some strong guards." Luthor ordered as Albert nodded his head.

"How is your training coming along? Do you think you can graduate by the end of the year?" Luthor asked curiously as his oldest son was getting close to achieving his sixth Sigil. It was just a matter of time.

"It\'s coming along just fine. However, there are some complications on my end. Master had told me to clear my heart first."

"Keep me updated and give my thanks to your master." Luthor nodded as he watched Albert leave the room.

Looking back at the bed, Luthor sighed softly before looking at the memento of his deceased wife.

###

After talking with Allura, Alice went back to sleep and rested her body.

Once she woke, she could see Ria stretched her body by the side with a wide smile on her face.

"Oh you\'re up. Was I too loud?" Ria asked but Alice shook her head.

"Did you get the Sigil Allura said you should get? Or was there something better?" Alice asked curiously.

"Nope I went for the one that Allura mentioned. The others were nice in giving me more power over raw speed but the teleport is still too good to give up. On one hand, I can get absolute speed. The power to jump around the battlefield avoiding any attack I can and being able to fight longer will make my future hunts easier. On the other hand, it gives me absolute power.

Yet absolute power is worthless if I can\'t land a hit. Perhaps I\'ll look for something that\'ll boost my power as my fifth Sigil but for now, I chose speed. Ria chuckled as she continued her stretches.

"I see… Well you like to fight with your body so it suits you to have more speed."

"Yep, that\'s why we\'re going to test it now. Allura wanted me to show her everything I obtained with this fourth Sigil. Including my Anti Beast resonance." Ria smiled as the fourth Sigil was an Anti Beast synergy, making it so that she now owns 3 Anti Beast and one Anti Hunter Sigil.

Going by this pattern, Ria figured that her next two Sigils should be Anti Hunter synergy so that she has two resonances. Anti Beast and Anti Hunter.

Nodding her head, Alice was about to jump out of the carriage when a flash of pain shot through her body, causing her to fall face first against the dirt.

"Ouch…" Alice groaned as the side effects of consuming the shard lasted longer than she thought. It wasn\'t a mutation but rather her body healing her so that she didn\'t die.

"Yikes, you okay? Don\'t push yourself too much if you\'re still injured. Grandfather told me that your body is kind of in shambles after eating the shard." Ria furrowed her brows as she rushed over and helped Alice up.

"I\'ll be fine. It\'ll probably take a few days to heal but I want to see you spar with Allura first." Alice reassured as Ria helped her walk to where they planned to fight.

The location that they had chosen was in the middle of a clearing as it allowed them to fight freely without too much worry.

Sitting down on a rock, Alice felt awkward with Gin standing next to her as she could still remember their talk.

"Don\'t think too much about it. I\'m not holding anything against you." Gin sighed as he focused on Ria and Allura who were standing in the middle of a clearing.

Placing a cigarette in her mouth, Allura scanned Ria up and down before curling her lips up into a smile.

"Let\'s see if you can force me to use more than three Sigils. And just so you know, very few have managed to achieve this." Allura chuckled as Ria nodded her head.

Without hesitation, she took a deep breath and activated all four of her Sigils as lightning erupted from her body.

She was going to start at full power by activating her newly obtained resonance!