Abyssal Awakening

"What the hell is going on?" Ria frowned while seeing the chaos within the city. Even as they spoke, people were dying around them as Alice frowned before opening her mouth.

"Ria, can you help the guards? I know you're stronger than them so you can deal with the threats more easily."

"Sure. But what will you do in the meantime?" Ria asked, noticing that Alice hadn't mentioned her own role within this.

"I want to keep looking for the people responsible. The City Lord is dealing with the woman underground so he doesn't have time to check the true culprits behind the outbreak. When we exchanged attacks, I noticed that she didn't have the smell of the Abyss Blood attached to her body.

"Usually, when you handle this blood, the smell is hard to get rid of. Even if it can be blended, there is still a distinct 'sting' to it. She didn't have any of that so I think there are more. I'm going to check to see if there are any other exits around this place." Alice explained as she was about to jump away when Ria grabbed her arm.

"What if there are people with more Sigils than you can handle?" Ria frowned.

She knew that Alice had her secrets and that she didn't know the full extent of her ability to 'borrow' Sigil power. But she couldn't just watch her friend jump into unknown danger.

"I have some backup plans don't worry." Alice reassured with a smile as she pointed the pouch on her hip.

"Trust me Ria, I don't plan on throwing my life away without taking down the Zenia family. I held out for 10 years, I'm not going to stop now."

Hearing this, Ria was silent.

Alice was similar to Allura. Having spent two weeks with Alice, she understood that Alice was just as stubborn and if she wanted to change her mind, it was going to be difficult.

"Fine. But give me a spare vial. If you need speed to get out of danger, my blood would be best, no?" Ria smiled.

Making a cut on her arm, Ria drained her blood into a vial before drinking some healing blood to stop the bleeding.

"Stay safe."

"You too." Alice smiled, receiving the vial of blood and storing it in her pouch.

Turning around, she activated her first Sigil and jumped to the next roof while using her threads to help her slow down her fall.

She was currently dashing through the Slums while trying to pick up the scent of the blood. After coming in contact with the main source in the sewers, she was now homed in on the smell and noticed that it was prevalent above as well.

'Whoever left the blood behind had already visited slums. If I want to catch the source, I need to track down a fresh scent!' Alice thought to herself.

*BANG!!!!

Bursting through some wooden fences, a half beast appeared as its eyes full of madness locked onto Alice. It had a wide grin on its face with countless thorns acting as teeth.

Slamming its hand against the walls, vines erupted out in an attempt to kill Alice but she was prepared. With her main target being those who seemingly have ties with the Scholars in the Zenia family, she wasn't about to slow down because of a beast!

In one swift motion, she activated her bracelet and turned it into a blade while slicing her arm, allowing it to feed off her blood.

With the edges of the blade coated in her blood, a Sigil appeared on her face as the blade exploded into a violet flame that tore through the vines without any issue.

"I'm sorry for what I must do but you're not slowing me down." Alice apologised coldly as she cleaved up with the blade, tearing the beast in half while the flames consumed its body.

The power of the flames seemed to grow in strength as their goals had aligned! All the flame wanted was to eradicate the filth that spawned from the Abyss while Alice was willing to cut down anything that blocked her path!

With this mutual goal in mind, controlling the flames had become far easier as she was able to extinguish the blaze so that she didn't leave behind any evidence of the purple fire.

Continuing through the Slums, she noticed the smell getting stronger as the trail seemed to have been made not long ago.

Alice could feel her mind becoming sharper as she locked onto this scent. Her senses were enhanced to their limit as it seemed as though the world had become clear to her. Despite not seeing the beast, she could feel a gaze locking onto her back.

Flicking her finger, she twisted her body and slashed her thread behind her while having it be coated with her blood. Slicing the beast in half, Alice continued to chase down this scent.

'It's leading out of the city.' Alice thought while narrowing her eyes.

Glancing at the city wall, she turned her blade into a hook before throwing it towards the top and using it to climb up. Landing on the battlement, Alice closed her eyes and focused on her sense of smell.

Within this darkness, a crimson trail slowly manifested as Alice understood that this was the scent she had been following!

Opening her eyes, she jumped down and dashed into the forest and noticed a group of unconscious guards near a sewer exit.

'The tracks are fresh. They're not far away.'

Hiding herself behind the tree trunks, Alice made her way through the forest and noticed a shadowy figure holding up a guard by the throat.

"Oh? One of the rats actually survived going against Tasia?" The figure smiled as he snapped his head towards Alice.

Realising her cover was blown, Alice slowly walked out of her cover with a frown.

Using Cayla, she noticed that he possessed 5 Sigils.

'Depending on what happens, I might be able to win this fight.' Alice thought to herself as she could smell the distinctive scent of the Abyss Blood on his body.

"Were you the one who smeared the blood on the wall? Where did you get that formula?" Alice asked while adjusting her grip on the dagger.

With her spare hand, she held the vial of blood belonging to the five star Hunter she killed.

"Is that how you tracked me down? I'm pretty sure I didn't leave any tracks behind." The figure wondered as he threw the corpse to the side.

"Now, I believe you can be reasoned with. Shall we do a little trade?" He laughed while sinking into his own shadow and manifesting above Alice on a tree branch.

"What kind of trade?" Alice asked while jumping back.

There was something about this man that sent shivers down her spine. She found his present abhorrent and every part of her body rejected the existence of this man. Just looking at him made her want to throw up in disgust.

"A simple one. Information for information. My contract with my client doesn't prevent me from obtaining information through trading with their enemies." He explained while hanging upside down using his legs to hook himself to the branch.

"What kind of information do you want? And what makes you think I can provide you with the information you need?" Alice questioned while slowly circling the man.

She noticed a group of unconscious scholars next to the guards. But unlike the guards who are death, they were still breathing.

"They're just unconscious. I wanted to talk to the rat that survived Tasia privately after all." He reassured while jumping down.

"What I want to know… Is about your friend who survived the Ritual of Starvation."

Before he could continue, Alice pointed her dagger at him.

"Never."

"Now now, don't be so quick to reject my offer. I have other ways of gathering information after all." He shrugged while snapping his finger.

Shadow chains erupted from her shadow as Alice reacted immediately and bent her body to the side, dodging the chains.

Right now, she was in a state of heightened senses and Abyss power was no exception.

Adjusting her grip, she swiped up with her dagger and cut the chains apart.

Pausing in surprise, the man didn't think a two star Hunter could actually break his chains.

'Her power shouldn't allow this… Is it her weapon? It's not a material I'm familiar with…' He narrowed his gaze as his curiosity was piqued.

'Should I test her out a little?' He mused to himself as he could find out information regarding the survivor later down the line. Right now, he wanted to know more about this woman who could break his chains without any difficulty.

Crossing his arms, he tapped his finger down as countless spears shot up from the ground.

Realising the time for talk was over, Alice jumped back and adjusted her dagger into a blade and dashed towards the figure.

*SHATTER!!!

Breaking the spears apart, she noticed that they transformed into droplets of ink.

'Ink?' Alice frowned as her initial expectation was that he was using shadows. But this was clearly different to what Kaden could do.

Sensing danger to her left, Alice bent her body back and avoided a thin blade of ink that cut off a small portion of her hair.

Having missed its initial target, the blade sunk itself deep into the tree trunk and slashed the tree in half.

'I can still deal with this for now!' The speed of these attacks, while fast, were still slower than what she had to experience from the Maiden!

Stomping down, Alice was about to dash forward when she could feel herself begin to sink as eight long legs made from ink erupted around her.

Without hesitation, she used her thread and coated it with her own blood. Twisting her body, she swiped towards one of the legs, cutting it in half and using the gap to escape.

"!!!"

Even though his intention was to simply trap her, the trap should've had more than enough power to hold her back. Even if he was overestimating her.

"Seems like I've underestimated you despite trying my best not to. Shall we make this more interesting?" He chuckled while clapping his hands.

From the shadows around the forest, creatures made from the same ink appeared as Alice glanced around her and frowned.

'If I use the Hunter blood, I NEED to make sure I can kill him. For now… This should suffice.'

Taking a deep breath, Alice sliced her arm with her blade and coated it in a violet flame.