Abyssal Awakening

There was another large open space in front of the main entrance, showing a large fountain with civilians walking by and giving a prayer.

"The city is called Blackrock City but most know it by the Castle as the lord there has been protecting this land for generations now." Carter explained as they were queuing up to enter the city. There were guards stationed at the entrance who would examine your identity before letting you enter.

"I see… What are they even fighting out here? Or it is just stray beasts and whatnot?" Ria asked curiously while inspecting the towering city walls.

"In the past, there used to be skirmishes between Blackrock Castle and Cult members who were situated near this place as most of the people in Blackrock Castle believe in the Church of the Sun. However, in recent years, it\'s been rather peaceful with no battles to date." Carter explained while handing the guards his identification.

Once all three of them had been checked, they were allowed into the city.

Sitting up, Alice glanced towards the statue placed above the fountain. It depicted a tall muscular man clad in heavy armour, markings around the corners of his eyes and the crest of a blazing sun in the middle of his forehead and long hair that reached to his waist.

In his hand, he wielded a large spear that contained the same crest that could be seen on his forehead.

Despite this being the first time seeing this statue, Alice felt a sense of anger and hatred well up within her as she wished for nothing but to smash that Statue to pieces.

Furrowing her brows, Alice closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening her eyes once more and the feeling faded.

\'Was that Cayla? Or was it Allura\'s master?\' Alice thought to herself. She noticed that there were moments where emotions that belonged to Allura\'s master would leak into her mind. Whether that was a side effect of having Cayla or not, Alice didn\'t know.

\'Though it seems like there\'s some bad blood between this person and Allura\'s old master.\'

"Carter, do you know who the statue is depicting?" Alice asked as her eyes remained on the statue.

"He\'s a rather famous figure of the Church of the Sun. It\'s the god that they worship, the Sun God Solaris." Carter answered as Alice memorised that name.

In the future, when she is able to learn more about the kingdom of Ayr, Allura\'s master and the forgotten era, she wanted to see what kind of connection the Sun God had with Allura\'s master.

After all, to have invoked such anger and hatred from residual spirit, he must\'ve been a menace towards her.

"Are you curious about the Sun Worshippers?" Ria raised an eyebrow since she was surprised that Alice was showing such interest.

"Not really. Just curious as to who the statue was of. Say, do you think they saw the God himself if they carved a statue like this?"

"Er… That\'s a good question. I know the Gods exist but I\'m not sure how they got the depictions of their god. Maybe they showed up in the past?" Ria shrugged, looking towards Carter for answers but he too was clueless on the matter.

Steering the carriage through the city, Carter arrived at the stables that weren\'t too far from the entrance and paid the stablemaster some silver.

"I\'ll be selling the parts of the beast to the Hunters Guild, I can also give you the gold I owe you since you saved my life." Carter smiled as he prepared to carry the bags but Alice and Ria were a step faster.

"We can carry it don\'t worry." Ria reassured. She didn\'t reject the money since they needed some extra travel funds with her being unsure of how far they needed to go to reach Luke.

Leading them through the city, Carter explained some of the popular stalls that had been set up along with the locations of some Hunter focused facilities such as Abyss Blood stores and blacksmiths.

As they approached the Hunter\'s Guild, it was not the magnificent spectacle they are used to in Zadash but rather a humble building in comparison. It had two floors with the first being a mix between the hall and reception.

As for the second floor, it was for the Branch Manager along with private rooms for discussing important information with certain clients.

Upon bringing the carcass of the beast, Ria took this time to update her ID with her having achieved a fourth Sigil.

She needed to take a test to be properly registered as a four star Hunter by the Guild standards.

"Do you want to watch or explore the city a little?" Ria asked curiously since it was going to take a while before an examiner was ready to see if she was prepared.

"Hmm… I think I\'ll look around for a bit. I want to see some of the blacksmiths and if they can repair my gloves or not." Alice shook her head.

It\'s not like they were going to leave this city in the meantime so splitting up shouldn\'t be an issue even with Ria\'s directional sense.

"Alright. Where do you want to meet back up?"

"At the statue place. It\'s hard to miss even if you get lost." Alice smirked.

Before she could hear Ria\'s reply, Alice had jogged off already as they split ways with Carter as well. After all, he was there to bring them to this city and show them to the Hunter\'s Guild.

As Alice jogged away from the Hunter\'s Guild, she glanced into her money pouch and counted her share of gold.

\'With this, I have around 14 gold pieces now. That beast was surprisingly rewarding.\' Alice mused to herself as she stretched her body and walked around the city at her own pace.

In the weeks she had spent with Ria out in the wilds, she was given time to think about herself.

While she knew her final goal was to erase her old family and help Allura rebuild Ayr, she needed something to live for aside from these. Fighting was enjoyable to an extent but only because she had to fight no matter what. It was not what she or rather, Ria, would call a hobby.

In Ria\'s words, she classed her own enjoyment for fighting as a hobby because she treated it as an art. She enjoyed studying the fighting forms and history behind these forms while for Alice, it was merely for survival.

"A hobby huh? What do I even want to do." Alice sighed while walking to some of the stalls.

However, feeling the glances that were being sent her way, Alice understood that she wasn\'t exactly dressed to impress hence some of the sellers may be less inclined to trade with her.

Looking at her tattered sleeve, Alice scratched her hair before sighing.

She didn\'t have enough money to purchase a proper Hunter\'s attire but purchasing some civilian clothing should be fine.

She remembered how Ria would buy clothes that she would consider to be cute despite their disadvantages in battle.

Just as she thought of this, a bitter smile appeared on Alice\'s face.

"Right… Lilia wanted to visit some clothing shops when we left the arena. She wanted to buy some cute clothes while I wanted to read some stories on Hunters." Alice muttered.

She didn\'t have anything to remember Lilia by except for her memories.

With no memento other than her own memories, Alice decided to honour Lilia through her actions instead.

"Let\'s buy some cute clothes then I suppose." Alice smiled softly, walking through the streets in hopes of finding a tailor who sold cheap yet cute clothing that she could afford with her current funds.

\'I can spare roughly 4 gold for clothing which I think should be fine. Allura mentioned that the standard family gets by with 10 gold per week, surely clothes shouldn\'t cost that much right?\'

However, thinking back to how expensive her current attire was, Alice couldn\'t help but shiver at the thought.

"Maybe I need to take some bounties from the Guild to fund this purchase." She muttered, once again realising the importance of money. She lamented the fact that Allura had confiscated their original funds due to the fact that it was payment from Neal to commission Allura and Gin\'s help.

Walking through the street, she noticed something strange off to the side. There was a huddle of what seemed to be Hunters surrounding the alley grinning while kicking something.

Her curiosity got the better of her as she wandered over, glancing over their shoulders and noticed that they were kicking a scarred man with horns and scales across their body. He was shielding his head while laying down in a foetal position while suffering from the abuse.

Scratching her cheek, Alice noticed that he had 4 stars above his head yet the abusers only had three.

\'Why is he letting them hit him like this? Well it\'s none of my problem but…\' Alice thought to herself and noticed that there were two shadows belonging to people hiding around a corner. Judging from the shadow, she could tell they were young.

Sighing softly, Alice opened her mouth.

"Can I ask why you\'re kicking him? I don\'t think he serves as a good challenge compared to beasts no?"

"Hm? It\'s none of your concern. Though I suppose we are attracting a bit too much attention even if he is a half beast. Come on guys let\'s go." The man in the lead gestured as they walked off, making sure to bump into Alice on the way out.

"Weirdos." Alice shrugged as she walked over to the man.

Just as she was about to help him up, she understood why they had called him a half beast.

In addition to the horns and scales, his body was suffering from the late stage effects of Abyss Blood usages to the point he was now half man half beast.