Abyssal Awakening

"Ria?" Alice called out hesitantly as Ria closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Clenching her fist, she stood in silence before opening her eyes with a new calm.

"I'm feeling better. Seems like this place has connections to the Cult of the Eclipse. But I thought your family only dealt with the Church of the Moon? Are they currying a favour with the Cult as well?" Ria asked curiously but Alice shook her head.

"The Zenia's dealt with the Church due to the medicine they produced and the resources they could gain as a result. I doubt they would make themselves an enemy of the public by siding with the Cult. Unless it's the Scholars that are involved with the Cult rather than the family itself." Alice replied with a frown.

Despite all the dirt beneath the surface, the Zenia family seemed benevolent to the public eye and they intend to keep it that way. Doing something like this would only harm everything they've worked for thus far, an entire generation's worth of effort wasted by siding with the Cult.

"The Scholars?" Ria raised an eyebrow as this was the first time that she had heard Alice mention them.

"Mnm. They're the ones responsible for the… Testing and production of medicine and Abyss Blood that they sell to the public. While the Zenia's are powerful and influential, the Scholars hold all of the key information to their research.

There are restrictions to what the Scholars can do but if they found a way around that, then there might be a chance that they're working with the Cult to further their ambitions on discovering the secrets of the Abyss." Alice explained while recalling the people who experimented on her body.

Their fervour for knowledge far exceeded the average person and they were willing to do anything and everything to attain the knowledge they desired. Perhaps that was the key to how they were able to produce so much usable Abyss Blood for the public.

While Alice played a large role in that, an average person could never achieve what the Scholars have done and repurpose it for the public.

'There's no one that comes to mind that would side with the Cult. They're too loyal to the Zenia family. Perhaps there's someone else that learned of the Zenia's research.' Alice mused to herself as she slowly approached the beast that was patrolling these tunnels. If they wished to venture further, they had to deal with this beast quickly and quietly.

"Want me to deal with it?" Ria asked but Alice shook her head.

With Ria's power over lightning, an attack that would kill the beast was far too loud and might alert anyone that's waiting further in.

The best person for this job was Alice.

'It remains most of its humanoid body so I can assume it has a brain and a heart. The best way to kill it would be to use my fire from the inside out but it might scream and alert the others. I need to be fast with my fire.' Alice thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes at the beast.

But there was another way she could do this. And that was to simply remove its ability to harness the Abyss momentarily and assassinate it!

Activating both of her Sigils, Alice could feel the power surging through her body, building up before reaching a limit. With her physical strength now enhanced to the limit, she made a small cut on her arm and allowed the blood to climb up the walls and make its way above the beast.

Small sparks of fire appeared above it as Alice had made sure the blood was thin enough to not create a large flame but instead, evaporate instantly.

With fumes now covering the beast, Alice jumped out and turned her bracelet into a dagger.

Turning its head towards her, the beast was shocked at Alice's appearance before regaining composure and aimed its palm at her. Yet nothing happened.

Before it could figure out what was happening, Alice stabbed the knife into the beast's mouth, transforming it into a spear that pierced the back of their head.

Kicking the body of the spear, she transformed the shaft into a blade that sliced the beast's head off while rotating and separated the head from the shoulders.

Taking this chance, Alice poured some of her blood into the body and set it aflame. Using her weapon to 'catch' the body, she allowed it to fall slowly, making sure it didn't make too much noise.

"Damn… I'm jealous. The fact that your fire makes Abyss powers obsolete, even just for a moment is scary." Ria whispered with a slight shiver. She could already imagine how dangerous Alice could be in the future if she decided to walk the path of an assassin.

The simple fact that she could merge her blood with any liquid and set it flame to cancel out Sigils means even those in power were vulnerable to her.

"Don't be." Alice replied while making her way to the next section of the sewers, confusing Ria as many would die for this kind of ability.

But what she didn't know was the price of this ability meant losing everything Alice held dear. Had it not been for Kaden, her torture would've continued indefinitely.

'With or without this power, I would've still been jabbed by a needle at my birthday and turned into a monster.' Alice thought to herself as having this power simply meant she would survive that day only to be greeted by torture.

She had thought about the possibility of not having her resistance to the Abyss many times while rotting away in the Zenia prison. Many times she had wondered if it would've been better had she just died. Many times has she tried to make that a reality yet it never succeeded.

Now that she has her freedom, she wasn't going to give up like she did in prison. The only path she now desired was the destruction of the Zenia family and it had to be done by her own hands. Only then, will her anger be quelled.

Making their way through the sewers, there were a few more beasts similar to the first one they saw patrolling these tunnels. Taking them out in the same matter, they progressed without much issue and soon, they came across a large opening that led down to a giant open space full of broken pillars.

"What the…" Ria muttered, seeing that the path down led to a large cavity in the ground with countless bridges crossing the gap.

It reminded Alice of the tunnels down that hosted a sealed Abyss Lord in the Slaughter Docks yet different.

'Is it a similar containment? Though I doubt they would build a sewer above it.' Alice thought with a frown.

"Do we keep going or back off?" Ria asked curiously as this was far bigger than what they had originally predicted.

"Keep going."

###

In the furthest reaches of the sewer, a woman could be seen sitting on a chair while a group of people were discussing with one another regarding the situation in the slums.

She had long side braided grey hair and a pair of cold blue eyes. She wore a black dress adorned with blue jewellery, white plated boots and a large white jacket with a large fur collar.

"It seems like the material has manifested itself to a small degree. Though the side effects are far too strong for us to make use of it." One of the men frowned as a female researcher chimed in.

"But it's a proof of concept is it not? The fact that we can indeed turn people into shards should be a cause for celebration. Perhaps it's because the subjects are half beasts that it was a failure. Next time we should aim for real humans."

"Their body may have interfered with the transformation process. We should release a second wave but into the market space to test the effectiveness." Another brought up.

"It's too risky though. The City Lord is already investigating the situation. If we're not careful everything we've worked for could be destroyed before we even report back to the Cult."

Upon mentioning the City Lord, they started to murmur to one another as the City Lord was their main concern. He was not someone they wanted to face directly as that would mean death.

"Settle down." The woman sitting in the chair called out as everyone in the room turned silent.

"I have already sent the results of the research back to the Cult. Your work will not be forgotten. But I suggest you prepare an escape route that does not involve going back into the city." She called out as a shadowy figure emerged next to her.

"There are two rats that have entered the sewers. One is a survivor of the Ritual of Starvation. Surprisingly, she has kept her human appearance despite the ritual taking an effect on her body. Maybe it was interrupted half way. The second rat seems to hold a strange power but much is unknown. She seems to be under the effects of Abyss Blood side effects since one of her eyes is affected.

It seems like the City Lord has employed them to figure out what happened." The figure smiled.

"Honestly, if you get the girl that survived the Ritual you might find out what you need to cultivate these worms further without distorting the base body." He shrugged.

"And news about the City Lord?" The woman asked without looking at him.

"He has his guards surrounding the entrances. But he can't cover everything properly. I'm sure you know what that means, Bishop Tasia." He grinned.

Tasia was silent. Tapping her finger against the armrest, she sighed and stood up.

"I'll deal with the City Lord and his two rats. I know your allegiance does not lie with the Cult hence you can scurry off and do whatever you want. You wouldn't want to break your side of the Agreement." Tasia narrowed her eyes as the figure chuckled and nodded his head.

"Of course. I will take your scholars out of the city once you engage in combat. I promise on my honour." He bowed yet Tasia only scoffed in disdain.

"Don't promise me what you don't have. I only trust in the Law of Agreement when dealing with men like you. Adhere to your side of the Agreement and I shall do my part."

Stepping out of the room, Tasia adjusted her gloves and prepared to face the City Lord. He who is judge, jury and executioner of Blackrock Castle.