Abyssal Awakening

"I'm back~" Alice called out, returning to Caera's lab alone.

With so many things needing to be prepared, Caera excused herself and had Alice head back first. Find more chapters on m_v l|e'm-p| y r

Originally, Alice wanted to help out but Caera rejected the idea. After all, she'll be busy providing the cure to every Warrior that's been infected.

This would no doubt exhaust her so she wanted Alice to get as much rest as she could now.

"Welcome back, how was it?" Selen asked, leaning back on her chair and glancing towards Alice.

"It was pretty good. Got a great reward and had some discussions on what we could do to help those who want to fight." Alice explained as she grabbed a chair for herself and slumped over it.

"Unfortunately, there wasn't much choice aside from what me and Caera already mentioned so the risk of them staying as berserkers remains. Though I've gotten the green light to see if I can make them into semi hybrids similar to Egil with the bloodline release. But that entirely depends on their talents." She shrugged.

Thinking about Hybrids, Selen couldn't help but wonder about her own state. Her hand gently caressed the feather just above her ear.

"So what was the great reward? I don't think I've ever seen you with such a skip in your steps." Selen shook her head and asked with a smile.

This was the first time she'd seen Alice being this happy while sober.

"Hehe~ You know the rare mead that I told you about? Ayrian mead that can't be made anymore?"

"What about it? Did the Queen have access to it?" Selen tilted her head.

"Nope~ But I made her mobilize pretty much the entire nation in order to reverse engineer the mead. Not only that but they signed a few contracts where they'll only provide it to me and not sell it elsewhere without my knowledge. Oh I also get it supplied to me for free~" Alice rubbed her hands together with a grin.

Hearing this, Selen's smile twitched before letting out a sigh.

"Isn't that a bit of a waste though? This is your reward for saving the capital. Using on mead is… Well, I wouldn't say wasteful since it's you who's asking for it but wouldn't most people request good equipment or something?"

"Oh if you're wondering about equipment, I've already sorted it out. I made another contract with Sigurd. In exchange for being able to use my blood as fuel for the fire he's given me a 40% discount for five pieces of equipment. Naturally, they're going to be high quality." Alice waved her hand with a grin while pulling out a bottle of mead.

Since she now has the entire nation mobilising to recreate Ayrian mead, Alice decided to indulge herself a little and had a drink of the precious mead.

Enjoying the taste of Ayr, Alice leaned back and relaxed her entire body.

Opposite her, Selen's brain short circuited.

Meeting Lord Sigurd was already a difficult task not to mention getting an equipment from him. But Alice has requested five! Five high tier equipment at a 40% discount no less!

"Ah! Wait what about the blood? Wouldn't that put him in danger?" Selen questioned. With the Zenias approaching the capital, Sigurd's possession of another source of Alice's blood will definitely make him a target.

"Don't worry about that, I've already taken the precautions. Whenever my blood is summoned, it'll be detonated as fuel immediately. There is not a single chance that they can make use of it. Plus, you gotta remember that if the contract is somehow broken, he'll lose access to my blood." Alice shrugged.

"I see… Seems like there's nothing I need to worry about." Selen smiled.

She could still recall the times when she had to do everything for Alice since her body was injured.

Keeping her safe, fending off wild beasts, feeding her and dressing her wounds.

She was a little hesitant when it came to her decision to stay in the north but now that she was sure Alice wouldn't have any issues, her worries were dispelled.

All of them except for one last worry.

"Say Alice, have you ever been to the east before? It's very different from the north, Extalia, and even the Abyss." Selen asked.

"I've been locked up for 10 years then thrown into the bowls of the Abyss. Of course I haven't." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Just asking smart ass. In the east, to travel the desert, you need a kind of compass unique to the eastern kingdom. These compasses stop you from getting lost since the deserts there hold a unique property. Even with the power of the Void, I don't think you'll be able to travel easily since the space there distorts. You should also keep most of your body covered when travelling in the desert no matter how hot you feel.

"Exposing yourself to the 'sun' of the desert will poison your body." Selen warned.

Hearing this, Alice paused and sat up with a raised eyebrow.

"Poison my body?"

"How do I explain it… Honestly, I'm not that familiar since I've only visited the East once. But even for us experiments of the Zenia family, we can't look down on the desert." Selen scratched her hair.

Now that Alice was visiting the East, she wished she had paid more attention when they were explaining these things in the past.

"Things might've changed since I last visited but these two are the main things you need to remember."

Nodding her head, Alice made a mental note of it before thanking Selen.

"Actually, I need to check something. Can you lay down for me and take off your clothes?" Alice spoke up after a brief pause.

"!?!?!?" Selen widened her eyes in shock while Egil choked on his saliva.

"You want me to WHAT now???"

"I need to check the effects of the hybrid blood in your body. You drank it, didn't you? You reached the state of being a hybrid through unconventional means so we don't know the full effects on your body yet. If I don't check it, how do I know you're in the clear? I wanted to do it before but considering you were unconscious, it wouldn't be good." Alice clarified as Selen coughed awkwardly.

The tips of her ears were red as Egil took this chance to leave the room. Creating a makeshift bed since Egil's mother was resting in the only bed they have, Alice had Selen take off her shirt, exposing her back.

Sitting next to her, Alice placed her palm against Selen's back and closed her eyes.

A layer of red appeared on Alice's arm as spider lilies began to blossom.

She could sense the concentration of blood within Selen's body.

Previously, Selen only had a small diluted portion of Alice's blood. But now? That small portion had grown tremendously in size. In fact, one could say that it was now around a third of Selen's blood. It was quite a miracle that she was actually able to survive without any major issues.

'Was it the environment? I scattered my blood through the capital and she might've unconsciously absorbed more than expected.' Alice thought to herself as she continued to scan Selen's body.

But despite the increase in concentration, Selen's body was holding on well. Her constitution was adapting well to the changes and even formed a balance similar to Egil.

'Now the question is what is acting as that third anchor.' Alice furrowed her brows.

Egil had his Sigils, bloodline release and Alice's blood.

But Selen? She had her own Sigils, Alice's blood and the third unknown factor.

[Do you think it's Miralith?] Cayla spoke up.

'What makes you think that?'

[The prototypes, ones before the Hybrids, have been given a portion of a Lord's power to act as a balancer. If the sealed Lords were to… intervene, they could theoretically act as an anchor point.

[With that in mind, it wouldn't be surprising for Selen to be unaffected right?]

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice agreed. But if that was truly the case then she wanted to make some back up plans. Having a sealed Lord acting as an anchor for Selen without her knowing didn't put her in a great position.

It essentially gives the control of Selen's life over to the Lord.

Since that was the case, then Alice needed to ensure that such a thing didn't happen.

"Selen, it might hurt a little but bear with it okay? Your body has formed a resonance type balance with an unknown source, possibly the sealed Lord Miralith. I'm going to imbue my blood in your body with a certain… power that should keep it at bay and cut it off if it gets dangerous." Alice spoke up as Selen nodded.

She still remembered Miralith whispering in her ear about a contract, to give up part of her body and that's not what she wanted.

Taking a deep breath, Alice had Alyss replace her first Sigil with Allura's Sigil!

The spider lilies around them trembled as the blood began to shimmer with a silver light.

Gritting her teeth, Selen clenched the bed cover as Sigils lit up across her body. Spikes and feathers started to manifest across her body, forcefully entering her into the hybrid state.

###

"!!!" Rearing her head up, Miralith's pupils constricted in anger.

She could sense a foul power, a familiar one from ages past. The reminder of an old order that should've been destroyed. The one who helped defeat the old Lords and subsequently seal them away.

"ALLURAAA!!!" Miralith roared, thrashing around in her seal as she wanted to break out but the chains held strong.

The connection between her and Selen had strengthened thanks to Tiamat breaking out of her seal was now weakened again thanks to Allura!

Selen would've been her chance to break out but Allura intervened again! When?! When did the girl come into contact with Allura?!

Questions flooded Miralith's mind as she could only cry out in anger and indignation, sealed away in a place where the sun couldn't reach.