Abyssal Awakening

"Well aren't you a f*cked up looking piece of sh*t? No wonder you got those robes." Alice furrowed her brows while putting on a brave smile.

However, they were giving her the chills.

It's the first time she's sensed someone completely free of the Abyss's influence despite looking… this way.

And frankly, it was weirder than even the Hybrids that she sensed.

"Kill her!" The eyeless monster of a man shouted as the other robed figures rushed into action.

A strange black mist like energy surged through their body as Alice instinctively countered with her flames.

Her instincts were warning her not to touch this strange energy!

As her flames clashed with the black mist, Alice's pupil constricted in shock.

She lost the contest of power!

Her flames were immediately swallowed up and she was forced to jump back to create some distance.

Creating three orbs of Void Fluxes above her, she fired them towards the figures but they managed to dodge with ease.

Behind her, a figure manifested from a cloud of black mist and slashed down.

"Too easy!" Alice shouted out, hoping to dissuade the robed figures.

She stomped down with her foot and Tiamat's Sigil roared to life.

A burst of energy erupted from Alice's body, pushing the figure back.

'The flames aren't working. But Tiamat's had some effectiveness.' Alice thought to herself as she forged a blood blade in her hand.

Taking a deep breath, she focused her mind and using her spare hand, conjured her personal artifact.

Fractured Form!

*CRACK!!

The space cracked apart as Alice disappeared from her spot.

Void Steps!

Appearing behind the robed figure, she slashed down with Void Flux + Tiamat's power!

The world lost its colour momentarily as energy converged towards the blade.

Just as her sword was about to cut the man in half, a tendril of black mist caught Alice's wrist.

'Sh*t!'

At that moment, Alice felt as though her soul had just been dragged out.

She felt infinitely small while standing on what looked like a palm. As she tilted her head back, she gazed into the infinite unknown and saw countless sunken holes that felt like eyes.

[ALICE!!!]

Golden chains burst out of Alice's body as the vision around her was instantly dispelled.

Realising the danger she was in, Alice didn't hesitate to activate her trump card.

Duality + First Sigil + Tiamat!

*BANG!!!

A destructive aura burst out of her body as the robed figure was blown back by Tiamat's power. His body crashed across the ship deck as the robes were torn off, revealing his monstrous body.

Alice had entered the second version of Tiamat's Sigil in order to create some distance for herself.

With a moment of safety, she quickly switched to the first variant as the world lost its colour. Rather than energy, she could now see the aura around the robed figures.

It was the same as the strange black mist that transported her to a different realm momentarily as Alice ducked under another attack and forced them to back off using her personal artifact.

The first variant of Tiamat's Sigil when used with Duality allowed her to absorb energy by turning her into a walking conductor.

But no matter how experimental and reckless she may be, even she knew the black mist was bad news.

[I knew it.] Cayla frowned.

'What did you find?' Alice asked while using her threads to keep the robed figures at bay.

They were primarily using this strange energy to try and restrain her. But with Alice focusing on defence, she proved to be a slippery target.

[It's not Abyssal, Void or Holy. It's… It's energy belonging to Outer Gods.]

Furrowing her brows, Alice recalled hearing some information on the Outer Gods. But this was limited to the fact that Velouria and the other Gods were trying to keep them out.

[It shouldn't be possible since the barrier protecting this world is still in place. Did a crack appear?] Cayla paced back and forth before shaking her head.

[We can talk about that later. For now, don't touch it at all. Touching the mist forcefully establishes a connection with their patron Outer God.]

'What the hell am I supposed to do then? Tiamat's Sigil has limited effectiveness on them and for some reason, mine and Alyss's flames do jack sh*t.' Alice gritted her teeth.

Stomping down with her foot, she created a singularity and fired off several disks of energy around her in a circle.

The robed figures reached out their hands and activated a strange power.

The same spectral hands that blocked Darrow's attack earlier manifested and shattered the rings.

"Thanks, I didn't think you'd take the bait like that." Alice grinned as in her hands, a spark was being cultivated.

Activating the second state of Tiamat's Sigil, energy erupted from her body as she sought to expel everything at once!

Blue and gold strands converged towards the spark while the figures realised the danger.

They immediately moved to stop her but Alice was a step ahead of them. Briar thorns erupted from the ground while spider lilies blossomed. Explore new worlds at empire

First Resonance!

Alice's form shifted as a new dress appeared on her body.

Artificial Resonance!

Her personal artifact split into three as the pattern in her eye changed into that of a singularity.

As the figures touched the briar thorns in an attempt to reach Alice, they found themselves locked in space while energy was siphoned from their body!

The briar thorns were connected to Alice and she was using them to funnel more power into her attack!

"Darrow!" Alice shouted out as she clenched her fist around this spark and jumped back.

"Hm?" Parrying the scythe, Darrow knew Alice was preparing something but he didn't know what.

As he glanced back, his pupils constricted as he recognised this flare, this phenomenon. He saw it from afar after all.

Without hesitation, he wrapped himself in his mist and evacuated.

Meanwhile, the figures were confused and felt that something was wrong.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

But before they could escape, Alice activated Void Steps and appeared several meters away from the ship and falling towards the sea.

Behind her, luminescent wings of energy manifested as she overlaid the powers from three Resonances into one.

Ruinous Flux!

Amplification circles manifested in front of Alice as the spark shot through the array with the help of Void Steps, amplifying the speed further.

Lightning crashed against the sea as a torrent of destruction shot forward, turning the world into a canvas of white and blue.

Feeling the energy leave her body, Alice prepared to look for a platform when a chill filled her heart.

Snapping her gaze towards the ships, she noticed the black mist forming a swirl of black purple and red.

From within this mist, a single black and gold eyeball stared back at her, freezing her in place.

It was the same feeling she got from the Doctor!

She needed an attack that hit the soul!

Anger filled Alice's heart as she sought to fire a second attack.

At this moment, black chains burst out from the strange swirl, looking to enslave Alice!

"Foul beast watch my blade!" A voice roared out.

From the sky, a pure arc of energy crashed down in a crescent, shattering the chains and causing the eye to flinch momentarily.

Despite it being day, a moon could be seen in the sky.

Before Alice could crash into the sea, Darrow caught her in his tiny boat.

"Don't… touch my blood." Alice warned.

With her using that attack, she couldn't keep up her disguise anymore and had to recall her blood before it tainted the sea.

Hearing her warning, Darrow understood that it was serious and quickly placed Alice down on the other side of the boat.

Taking a deep breath, Alice made a small cut on her finger and recalled the blood.

Her 'crimson hair' returned back to normal, revealing the split between black and white. Her mask disappeared and Darrow was able to see her true face.

"Quit staring." Alice clicked her tongue, feeling annoyed that she was forced to this extent.

"Sorry sorry, but no wonder you wanted to hide your appearance. With hair like that, it's hard for anyone to forget what you look like." Darrow laughed with a grin.

Alice simply rolled her eyes before looking at the figure falling down from the sky.

That voice, it was no doubt Tristan.

Of all the times for him to appear, it's when she was out of energy and her disguise disappeared.

Landing on the crow's nest of the trader's ship, Tristan frowned while looking at the eye that was glaring back at him.

He had attacked it out of instinct due to the abnormal aura he was sensing from it. It felt as though it was something that shouldn't be in this realm.

As though looking at a spot of darkness on a white canvas, Tristan understood that it's his duty to eliminate this abnormality.

And more importantly, Alice was about to be injured by it. He didn't know why she was here but regardless, that was something he could worry about later. Especially the power of duality coming from her body.

Readying his sword, silver armour manifested on Tristan's body as the moon glowed with a radiant light above him.

###

"Give it up Lorien, or do you want all of your men to die?" Minerva called out with a frown.

Lorien's men were a lot more tenacious than she initially expected. Even after pushing them to the bring and breaking their barrier, they refused to give up.

They even began taking drugs and fighting back with renewed vigour.

Looking at Lorien, she could clearly see that he wasn't in the right state of mind. He didn't reply and ran into the storage while Minerva gave out the order to seize the ship.

He could hear the footsteps above him as panic began to set in. However, a twisted smile appeared on his face.

Since it reached this stage, he might as well go out on a gamble.

Grabbing a blade, he slid it across his palm as blood started to pour over the shipments that he received…