Abyssal Awakening

Clutching his head in pain, the man glared at Alice before taking deep breaths to calm himself.

Both Alice and Ria were confused by his reactions but right now there was nothing they could do.

'She has no soul yet she is in this realm. Something is anchoring her down to the realm of the living… But what?' The man thought to himself.

He had attempted to peer into the true nature of their souls, to see why they were able to resist the influence of his most benevolent lord. For Ria, it was because the Cult of the Eclipse kept its hold over her.

For Alice, it was something far too paradoxical in nature. A being with no soul yet she is still pulled into the realm of souls. She who should by rights be a husk could think and act on her own.

Strange, too strange.

Getting over the initial shock of almost having his soul devoured by this husk, the man watched in silence as he contemplated his next moves.

With two prime subjects, talented ones at that, he didn't want to waste this chance. However, he couldn't make use of them in their current state.

'I need to observe them… But the Eclipse girl can't be tampered with. At least not yet. As for the girl with no soul, I can't mark what doesn't exist.' He frowned.

But he couldn't deny that once he got over his initial shock, he was very intrigued by the girl's existence.

An impossible anomaly.

"I'm simply me. What do you mean what am I?" Alice retorted with a brave smile but her mind raced for a solution.

Above his head, Alice couldn't see anything meaning this was not Sigil power. This was something else entirely.

He was able to influence their souls while they could not harm him at all.

'Ria is holding on strong but her attacks can't harm him. He said the influence of the Abyss doesn't reach this far but is that the same for my violet flames? My flames are technically manifested from my own blood while the Sigils merely help me in bringing it out…' Alice wondered to herself.

However, she couldn't expose her intentions so easily or else she'll lose the element of surprise.

". . . Perhaps it would be better to deal with you now. You are clearly an anomaly upon this world. Perhaps I may even be doing the world justice to get rid of you." The man squinted as Alice gritted her teeth and lunged towards him.

Sighing at the futility, the man simply stood when he felt something was wrong!

*BANG!!!

Exploding out of her body, violet flames roared out into the shape of a dragon and clawed down towards the man, aiming to consume him in his entirety.

Jumping back, he activated strange glyphs that's been etched onto his skin and chains erupted from the ground.

The same chains that held the islands to one another.

Wrapping around the flaming dragon, it was forced to kneel down as Alice ran past the dragon and dodged the chains.

She could tell the flames were working!

Taking a deep breath, she enveloped her entire body in flames and launched a punch towards him.

*BANG!!!

Parrying with his arm, he tried to push her away but the flames lashed out at him in defiance.

"What are these flames?!"

Without responding, Alice used his arm as a handle and launched a kick towards his head.

Dodging the kick, he created a dark spike above his hand and stabbed towards Alice's chest but she was able to flip backwards and avoid the attack.

The chains around the dragon shattered as it was unleashed once more, releasing a torrent of flames towards the man who conjured a wall of darkness to swallow the flames.

Seeing that it wasn't working, he adjusted his skill and an opening appeared behind him, releasing the flames while avoiding the damage.

Looking at the violet flames that were burning on his arm, he frowned before flicking his wrist. A portion of his arm was separated from him as it the flames fizzled out having consumed the piece he discarded.

"Answer me now. What are you?" He asked while frowning at Alice.

"Haven't I explained myself already? I'm simply me."

"Fine. Better to remove you from this world than to pursue a fruitless task." He scowled as the glyths around his body started to light up.

Blood pooled beneath him as a large ritualistic symbol slowly manifested.

*RUMBLE!!!

Before he could continue his ritual, he could feel an oppressive aura descending upon the realm. The island trembled as the man glanced up in shock and bowed immediately while neither Alice nor Ria dared to turn around.

'Something' was behind them and turning around meant death!

Silence dawned on the realm.

As quickly as it arrived, the aura disappeared leaving Alice and Ria panting for air.

"Unfortunately, it seems like our meeting will be cut short. Perhaps my benevolent lord has taken a liking to you and your… strange talents. Perhaps he sees a use for you in the true future of this realm. I dare not presume his will as I am merely his loyal subject. But I will do as the lord commands." He sighed.

Flicking his finger, a rift opened beneath Alice and Ria, expelling them from this realm.

Kneeling towards the altar, the man gave one more prayer.

His Lord has given him his order.

'Keep an eye on the Anomalies. Find out the secret behind the girl with no soul.'

"All is as you command my Lord." He muttered before leaving the realm.

While he could not tamper with the soul of the girl that belongs to the Eclipse, marking her was still possible.

"Seems like I'll have to apologise to my lady. Lord Andrius will be dealt with and his secrets left untold for my benevolent Lord has ordered the observation of these two young seedlings. Meaning, Andrius shall be sacrificed for the greater good." He smiled, flickering through the realm as he sought out Andrius.

###

After being expelled from the strange realm, Alice and Ria found themselves collapsed beside the road.

Both of them were silent as they digested what had just happened.

How they were dragged into a strange realm for the soul. How the man proclaimed the future of the Abyss is to be ruled by his 'Lord'.

"With each day we have more sh*t to tell my grandfather and Allura. At this point I'm wondering if it was better for them to just follow us." Ria sighed while scratching her hair.

She couldn't help but feel angry about the fact that she couldn't do anything in that realm. Her 'soul' was helpless there.

The only one who could move was Alice and even then, he was able to handle her strange fire with ease.

"Mnm. I don't know why he looked afraid for a moment though… Is it because of Cayla?" Alice muttered.

She could see his fear when he was staring into her eyes.

It was genuine fear that couldn't be faked. Not to mention his reaction afterwards, questioning who she was.

"How many Sigils did he have?"

"No idea. He had nothing above his head. Not a single Sigil."

Hearing this, Ria paused. Everything that he did, all of the powers he demonstrated and the strange symbols on his body. None of it was Sigil related.

"Should… We use one of the life saving tools that Allura and grandfather gave us? I feel like this information shouldn't wait." Ria asked hesitantly.

"Maybe Allura might know more. But these are supposed to be used to save our lives. I'm not sure if it'll summon them or not." Alice frowned.

They only mentioned that these will help them and didn't tell them the effects of activating these items.

"True… Urg, what the hell is even going on. No matter how strong we get it never feels enough. We might need to speed up a little and get more Sigils." Ria sighed in frustration.

Nodding her head in agreement, Alice wanted to get her hands on her third Sigil as quickly as possible.

Standing up, Alice looked down at her outfit and frowned. Giving her sleeve a quick smell, she couldn't help but recoil in disgust as the stench was an unbearable mix of dried blood and trash.

"Let's get changed first. I don't want to spend another second in this state."

Ria couldn't agree more as the two made their way to their room within the Guild.

They needed to sort out how they should deal with the Lord who clearly hide something from them and the Guild.

The fact that the Demonette was a person and not a puppet was not something they could just overlook.

Leaving the area, they didn't notice a single lone raven staring at them from the building above.

Its eyes sparked with intelligence as the bird let out a cry before flapping its wings, flying away from the duo.

###

Cleaning his hands, the man that had taken Alice and Ria earlier looked down at his handy work. The body of Lord Andrius now laid dead beneath him without a single wound.

His face warped with anger and betrayal.

"Quite the interesting way you've decided to deal with that Lord. I must say, it's not often that you meet someone who can directly communicate with the soul." A voice rang out behind him as he froze up in surprise.

He didn't know who it was but he could clearly tell the other party was far above his level. Even with his traits, it was not something he could deal with.

He didn't dare to turn around.

"May I ask who it is that I'm speaking to?"

"Don't bother. I'm merely visiting to see who dares to tamper with my little lass. And it turns out to be quite the strange fellow. You know, you had me concerned when she suddenly disappeared from my radar." The visitor chuckled as the cries of ravens started to echo out.

The man could see a raven bird landing on his shoulder while shadows stretched out around him.

"So why don't you tell me why you bear unfamiliar crests upon your body. They're not gifts of the Abyss." Kaden narrowed his eyes as the realm lost its colour.

"Ah… Seems like I've attracted the attention of someone powerful. However, my Lord has work for me elsewhere, I do hope we can meet in better circumstances." With an explosion of blood, the man disappeared as Kaden furrowed his brows.

"Strange b*stard. What has that girl gotten herself into."