Abyssal Awakening

Making their way through the sewers, Alice tried her best to keep quiet. There was no telling what could be waiting in the shadows, but so far, she couldn't see any beasts. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Alice glanced back at Ria and gestured for her to follow along quickly as they were now reaching the end of the room.

'There are lots of paths, but most of them are blocked.' Alice thought to herself as they had explored some of the paths on the way down but yielded no result.

"How much further do we need to go? I'm not sure if we'll even find anything down here," Ria asked while scratching her hair. They had already spent more than two hours down here, and they have nothing to show for it except for the strange beasts they encountered on the way here. Products of the Ritual of Starvation.

"Just a bit more." Jumping down, Alice landed on the stone paving and prepared to venture forward when she noticed something strange in the air. Sniffing the air, she furrowed her brows, as this was not the standard sewage smell that they were used to smelling while being down here. It was something else entirely. It was faint, but warning bells were ringing in Alice's mind.

"Ria, stay up there." Alice called out, warning Ria not to jump down as doing so might be dangerous for her.

Walking up to the walls, Alice noticed faint marks between the rocks and glided her finger across the surface.

'Half-dried blood. Not quite powdered form… The consistency is quite thin too… But this is definitely Abyss Blood.' Alice thought with a frown as she held the blood to her nose and smelled the scent.

It was faint, and the sewage smell covered the scent, but she was familiar with the feeling she felt from this blood.

"Is something wrong?" Ria called out while Alice was trying to figure out the composition of the blood. She had definitely smelled this scent and combination of blood before, back in the Zenia prison.

"There's Abyss Blood down here. Vapor Spider Blood mixed with Nightmare Jackle and Phantom Pod. Effects are most prominent while being inhaled, causes hallucinations and agitation.

It also dulls your reaction speed and makes it so that you become hard-focused on what you're trying to accomplish that you ignore everything around you." Alice recited, as this was a byproduct of the scholars making her ingest the combination of blood.

With them inhaling the fumes, they had lost track of themselves and began to experiment without care for her survival and had almost killed her on the operating table. The madness in their eyes was especially clear that day.

"What the… How do you know?" Ria asked, blinking her eyes in surprise as all she saw was Alice walk up to a wall and smell the dust between the gaps. Yet that was enough for her to recognize the combination and Abyss Blood types.

"Just experience." Alice shrugged, as 10 years of having everything burned to memory through pain allowed her to recognize the blood that had been used on her. Climbing up using her dagger and threads, Alice sat down on the platform and frowned.

"It seemed to be recently applied so it's a sign that we're getting close. But going further might be dangerous for you." Alice glanced at Ria, as there was no telling what other blood might be down there.

"Shall we report back to the City Lord then? They can check out the rest of it since we've already found a clue about where they are." Ria suggested.

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice nodded her head as this was far too dangerous for Ria.

'I don't have any issues with this, but the same can't be said for Ria. If we enter the more dangerous parts and inhale blood that takes effect immediately, Ria will die before I can make a move. Even with my flames.'

Turning around, they prepared to make their way back when Ria stopped for a moment and activated all of her Sigils at once. Entering her resonance, she gathered a spear of lightning and stabbed behind Alice.

*BANG!!!!

Widening her eyes in surprise, Alice jumped out of the way and glanced back. She saw a woman who was about to stab her with a blade of ice.

"Hou~ I didn't think your senses would be so sharp." Tasia raised an eyebrow as her original plan was for them to approach the tunnels yet Alice backed off after noticing something was wrong. She had decided to eliminate the split-haired girl first as her knowledge of Abyss Blood seemed concerning yet the other girl had actually managed to block her attack.

'Her lightning is stronger than average. She seems to be using four Sigils… I can finish this quickly.' Tasia thought to herself while kicking Ria's wrist and threw an ice dagger at Alice who parried with her own weapon. The force of the collision sent Alice rolling back as she could feel her wrists becoming numb just from blocking!

"Ria! She has six Sigils!" Alice shouted out as she never expected to be ambushed by someone with six Sigils. The fact that Ria was actually able to block just even one strike was enough to prove how powerful she was despite only having four Sigils!

Squinting her eyes, Tasia was surprised that Alice had figured out that she has six Sigils. She had made sure to only use 3 during that assassination attempt. 'How did that girl know? Regardless, I should make this quick. The City would've definitely noticed the fluctuation of power right now.'

Adjusting her posture, she was about to attack Ria, expecting her to be on the defensive. However, to her disbelief, Ria did not hesitate to strike out towards her despite the gap in power!

Ria understood that she needed the physical powers to match against this woman if she wanted a chance at survival! Charging into close range, Ria slammed her elbow towards the woman's chest as she blocked with her palm. Following up with a kick towards the knee, Ria activated her resonance ability and enhanced her physical capabilities to its limit!

Several motes of lightning manifested around her and coated her body with a protective layer.

Letting out a shout, Ria punched down on the platform with countless bolts of lightning crashing down around her, forcing Tasia to jump back as she didn't expect this kind of firepower from her. Just as she landed on her feet, Alice's dagger swung around a pillar and pierced towards her with a violet flame dancing on the blade.

Seeing this, Tasia flicked her fingers, preparing to ward off the blade with her ice as the fire was invoking a sense of unease in her heart. "!!!" Widening her eyes, Tasia noticed that her ice wasn't forming and had to bend her body back to avoid the flames.

'Gotcha!' Alice shouted in her mind as she pulled her thread, causing the dagger to be pulled back and swung towards her head!

*BANG!!!!!

A blade of ice pierced up from the ground and knocked the dagger aside as Tasia regained control of her Sigils. 'What the hell was that?!' She thought to herself with caution as she didn't expect her abilities to malfunction. Even if it was just for a split moment.

Re-evaluating how dangerous Alice was, Tasia crouched down before disappearing from her spot. Even with the capabilities of Cayla, Alice couldn't react in time as Tasia was about to stab her in her throat using her daggers. Ria had reacted instantly but she was still a step too slow!

Before the dagger could reach Alice, a black blade slammed down from above.

"Attempted murder of a Hunter I commissioned personally, crimes of being a member of the Cult of the Eclipse while inside the city blessed by the Sun, ties with the outbreak in the slums. Your crimes are heavy, and nothing short of a death sentence shall cleanse your sins." Kallus' voice rang out as Alice glanced up and saw that Kallus was now wearing armour.

"My my, what an honour. To be visited by the City Lord himself despite your busy schedule." Tasia smiled. Flicking her wrist, a blade of ice appeared behind Alice and Ria and stabbed towards their hearts. Yet before they could find their target, a shield appeared and blocked the attack.

Seeing this, Alice and Ria understood that this was their cue to leave as staying behind would only risk death!

Without hesitation, the two dashed towards the exit while Kallus was grateful that they were quick on the uptake.

'Bishop Tasia. Sighted near Blackrock City. She is a step away from attaining the role of Archbishop within the Cult.' Kallus thought to himself as black mist started to wrap around his body. Activating his resonance, he decided to spare no effort in eliminating a future Archbishop!

Running to the original tunnels, Alice and Ria could sense the eruption of power behind them as they dashed towards the exit.

"She seems to be covering for the true culprits for the outbreak." Alice frowned.

"How do you know?"

"There's no smell of Abyss Blood on her body. The blood on the walls was recently applied and it's not a smell that can easily be erased. She's not the one who put them there meaning she's more like a guard." Alice explained.

"What do we do then?"

"Let's find the other exits and let Elyn and the guards know about what's happening. We need to catch the ones responsible for the parasites." Alice narrowed her eyes. But that wasn't the only reason. The secondary reason was so that she could figure out the connection between the Zenia's and the Cult!

Making their way out of the sewer tunnels, they could hear the cries of distant screams and the clashing of weapons. The voices of those in command shouting out instructions to the guard while helping with the evacuations.

Widening her eye, Alice used her dagger to climb onto the rooftops and saw the chaos that was occurring within the city square. Countless half-beasts mutated beyond recognition ran across the streets, slamming into houses and grabbing whoever was closest to them and infecting them with the same parasite.

The effects were less pronounced than the samples she saw in the castle and the slums but this was no doubt the same parasite albeit a different variant! They had to contain this outbreak or else the damage would go beyond repair!