Abyssal Awakening

The last thing she could barely remember was clawing through the rift to reach Terminus once more after Tiamat sealed her in the personal realm. After that, everything had turned dark.

Looking down at her hands, she noticed that her outfit was practically in tatters, but she was not wounded at all.

In fact, she felt as though the fight was simply a dream had it not been for the painful ache that permeated throughout her body. Even the slightest movement would send her body twitching and jolting in pain.

Trying her best to ignore this, Alice looked around to get a feel of where she was.

Right now, she was lying on a rocky platform surrounded by tall walls of stone and chains. A strange red glow emanated from below but strangely, she didn\'t feel any pressure on her body. It was as though she was no longer in Terminus.

Standing up, she made her way to the edge of the platform and glanced up to see if there was a way out but the top was blocked by a thick layer of mist that she couldn\'t see through.

Looking down, she was greeted by another layer of mist.

With no clues as to where she was, Alice could only sigh and scratch her hair.

"How do you have so much energy already." A groan rang out behind her as Alice recognised it to be Tiamat.

Widening her eyes, she entered a defensive stance while reaching for her bracelet in preparation to turn it into a blade.

Watching a figure jump up from the mist and land on the platform, Alice saw Tiamat looking annoyed with a frown on her face.

"You young\'uns always got so much energy after a beating it\'s actually impressive. Just take this time to rest, I\'m not going to kill you." Tiamat scoffed in annoyance while making herself a throne.

Sitting down and crossing her legs, she observed Alice silently. Her face didn\'t betray any of her internal emotions but inwardly, she was once again shocked by Alice\'s recovery.

While Alice had indeed proved that the Abyss had no control over her, that wasn\'t what drew Tiamat\'s attention. No, it was the insane regeneration and adaptability displayed by Alice during their fight.

Thinking back, Tiamat was glad she didn\'t give Alice a higher purity sample of her blood. If she did, the fight would\'ve lasted much longer.

In the final moment when Alice had clawed her way out of the rift between realms, she had exhausted all of the power left in her body and passed out. Yet her regeneration still kicked in and saved her. Meaning the regeneration did not come from the blood but rather, from Alice herself.

"So will you help me?" Alice asked after a brief pause. She had proven her resistance against the Abyss, all that was left was for Tiamat to make a decision.

"Ha? Help you with what exactly?" Tiamat frowned.

"Weak physical body."

"PFT! Oi brat, who do you think you\'re fooling? Does a weak physical body withstand the burden placed by Abyss Lord Blood? Does a weak body regenerate lost limbs torn off by my Dragon Heads? I\'ll give you a hint, my ability severely limits regeneration." Tiamat spat out in annoyance. This was the reason why she was shocked by Alice\'s regeneration.

The attacks she used to attack Alice all possess the Corrosion effect, an effect that constantly eats away at the flesh and makes it impossible for them to regenerate quickly. But despite all of that, Alice still regrew limbs without any issue.

"But isn\'t that from your blood?" Alice tilted her head.

Seeing that Alice wasn\'t joking and indeed had no clue about this, Tiamat was speechless.

Furrowing her brow, she let out a deep sigh.

"Listen here young\'un. If I had regeneration like yours back then, I wouldn\'t have lost against the f*cking Executioner. If you were Abyss Lord level, the regeneration that you displayed outclassed anything I\'ve seen. With the exceptions of weirdos who only focused on regeneration and survival over power." Tiamat shrugged.

"Wait… That was from me? But I don\'t usually regenerate like that though." Alice pointed at herself.

"Don\'t ask me, it\'s not like I know what the hell is up with your body. But answer me this, why do you have the power of Null?" Tiamat asked curiously.

"Null?"

This was the first time Alice had heard anyone put a name on her ability.

"You don\'t know? Hmm… How much do you know about your own power? I\'m talking about the power to copy abilities if you drink the blood." Tiamat asked, fishing to see how much knowledge Alice had on her own power.

"A little bit but not a lot. Abyss Blood doesn\'t seem to work on me long term, I can copy Sigil abilities if I drink the blood and apparently each time I do, I take a piece of their soul with me." Alice scratched her hair while Tiamat could only sigh in annoyance.

"Young\'un. Do you want to enter a ritual with me?" Tiamat asked while Alice paused in a mixture of surprise, bewilderment and cautiousness.

"What\'s in it for you?" Alice frowned. Rituals followed the rule of give and take. To get something from her target, she needed to offer something of her own.

"Power." Tiamat chuckled while Alice was confused. What kind of power could she even give to Tiamat?

But regardless, if an Old Abyss Lord wanted power, it was most likely used to break out of her prison. She wasn\'t sure of the consequences of establishing a ritual with someone from the memory but knowing the Abyss, she wouldn\'t rule out the likelihood that the real Tiamat may receive the benefits of this contract.

And if she did, it would cause chaos in the Abyss.

"I\'ll pass. It\'s more suspicious for you to want power from a weakling like me." Alice shook her head while looking for a way out.

If Tiamat doesn\'t plan on helping her then there\'s no reason for her to stay.

"Why are you young\'uns so anxious? Have some patience. You haven\'t even heard my explanation yet." Tiamat rolled her eyes.

"When I say power, I meant the power you stole from eating my soul. The seal placed onto us losers from the old war by the Abyss is one that constantly drains us. Leave us like this for long enough and we enter a comatose state.

"Thanks to our little fight and your stunt of eating MY SOUL, I\'m a little fatigued. Tiamat explained.

Since Alice had no control or understanding over her power, the best way she could \'reclaim\' pieces of her soul would be to exchange it through a ritual.

Usually, this wouldn\'t be an issue but thanks to the seal placed on both her physical and spiritual body, losing a piece of her soul equates to entering a vegetative state if she doesn\'t do anything soon.

And as the Dragon Queen, that was a fate she refused to subject herself to. She\'d rather die than live in a vegetative state under the seal of the Abyss.

"In exchange, I\'ll give you the help you want. You want the method to reinforce your body without Abyss Blood right? And as an added bonus, I\'ll tell you a bit about Null." Tiamat offered with a grin on her face.

Information was a small price to pay for getting parts of her soul back. Not to mention, after seeing Alice\'s crazed state, she could already imagine the chaos she\'d cause in the Abyss if she were to run rampant.

\'Allura seemed to value this kid. With how crazy she is… If she goes out and causes some chaos, Allura probably won\'t kill her. Meaning this cycle will just keep repeating. Oh I wish I could see the expression on that b*tch\'s face when that happens.\' Tiamat thought to herself.

Alice in her crazed state was a monster that not even her, the Dragon Queen wanted to deal with. The more you send to restrain her, the stronger she\'ll get. The more souls she consumes, the more abilities she\'ll adapt to.

She was a weapon of war in the shape of a girl.

"I\'ll accept it on one condition." Alice narrowed her eyes.

"Stingy brat. Fine, speak your condition." Tiamat\'s smile twitched.

No one had dared to speak about conditions in front of her yet this brat was doing just that. The only exceptions before were other Abyss Lords but now she\'s listening to a three Sigil kid who hasn\'t even unleashed their second Resonance.

"You will only take pieces of your own soul back. Nothing more, nothing less. There will be no permanent connections between us, no tethers, no tracking, no bindings no nothing. You take your soul, I get the information and help I need. There will be nothing more after this." Alice narrowed her eyes as she didn\'t want to risk having a permanent connection to Tiamat.

"Tsk so cautious. But sure, I don\'t want anything more to do with a monster like you anyways. I will take only my soul and nothing more. There will be no ties between us." Tiamat shrugged.

"Satisfied?"

"Mnm. How will we do this ritual then?" Alice nodded.

"Simple."

Snapping her finger, blood began to ooze from her finger tip as Tiamat drew out a ritual circle between the two of them. Ambient energy began to funnel towards this circle as conditions manifested before the two of them.

Dragon Queen of Apocalypse, Tiamat, will offer Knowledge and a Method of reinforcing the body.

In exchange, Alice Agnelia will return pieces of Tiamat\'s soul.

A simple ritual contract of exchange. No bindings or connections.

"I accept these terms." Tiamat smiled, gesturing for Alice to do the same.

"I accept these terms."

The moment both parties accepted the terms, Alice could feel a foreign wisp of power digging into her body, pulling out strands of a black and red energy from her chest. The aura of which resembled that of Tiamat who reached out with her hand and absorbed the energy.

*BANG!!!

Her aura flared out as she took a deep breath in satisfaction, feeling whole once more.

"Now then, shall I tell you about Null?"