Abyssal Awakening

"Pink apron."

Upon hearing these two words, Kaden froze up as he choked on his saliva. The corner of his mouth and eyes began to twitch as he looked down at Alice who had a sh*t eating grin on her face.

"I don't even need to ask where you disappeared off to now. No wonder I sensed something disgusting trying to break the barrier." Kaden knocked Alice on the head as she remembered something and reached for the bag strapped to her waist.

As she turned around, Kaden noticed a nostalgic crest, the crest of Ayr. A small warm smile appeared on his face before hiding it just as quickly.

"I brought something. I'm not sure how much you'll like it since… You kept making Cake for your precious Lua~" Alice laughed as Kaden felt as though a vein was about to pop.

What was nostalgic has become a source of embarrassment.

Pulling out a flask of Ayrian Mead, she handed it to him.

"You took care of me quite a bit in the memory with Allura. I've also learned a lot about Velouria and what kind of person she was. I don't know if I can do my job well but I'll try to live up to her standards."

". . ." Staying silent, Kaden patted Alice on the head.

"You don't need to live up to her standards kid. You're doing just fine." He chuckled. In the short time he hadn't seen her, it seemed like she'd gone through quite the transformation and matured a lot in his absence.

Perhaps this is what a father feels after their kid comes back after many years.

Storing the flask of mead in his shadow, he turned around.

"I'll be staying around for a while since the Churches are busy cleaning up the mess I made. I'll check on your progress while I'm at it too. Your friend's pretty worried about you so you should catch up with her for now, the exams have been postponed for now due to this incident so you have time to relax." Kaden waved before disappearing into shadows.

Alice wanted to take this moment to give him a punch but she was feeling mentally exhausted after everything.

'He really is different to the him in the past isn't he?' Alyss crossed her arms but Alice shook her head.

'He's a little different but there's still signs of the old him.'

[A person doesn't change that easily. Kaden may be feeling the guilt of what had transpired but he's trying to find solutions for Allura's condition.] Cayla chuckled as both Alice and Alyss froze up, seeing Cayla appear in their mental space.

[O' master mine, did you forget who this space belonged to?] Cayla raised an eyebrow as Alice gave an awkward smile.

[Relax, I'm not going to stop you from using this space. I'm going to have a small nap.] Cayla shrugged, creating a bed for herself to relax on.

'Haven't you been sleeping for all this time? How are you still tired???' Alyss blinked her eyes in confusion.

[It's one thing to be sleeping by choice and another to get forcefully knocked out.]

While Alyss and Cayla were arguing about the logistics of sleeping by choice or through forced hibernation, Alice chuckled and focused her mind back on reality. She could see Ria and Luke running over with worried expressions on their faces.

The first thing Ria did was pull Alice into a tight hug, squeezing the air out of Alice's lungs.

"Ria if you hug any harder Alice is going to die." Luke chuckled, causing Ria to panic for a moment.

"Ah! Sorry sorry, are you alright? What happened in there? You were trapped for so long!" Ria asked, scanning Alice as she noticed the new outfit with the crest of Ayr.

"Let's head back first, I can tell you on the way back. However, we need to buy some supplies." Alice grinned.

Ria tilted her head in confusion while Luke felt a chill down his spine.

"I've brought some Ayrian mead with me so naturally, we need some good food to go with it. I also got someone to introduce to you later too, she'll be making an appearance at the party."

Seeing that Alice was so excited in having a party the first thing after coming back, Ria laughed and nodded her head.

Now that all of them were safe, this was indeed a moment to relax and have a party.

Just as they were about to leave, the principal wanted to have a word with Alice but upon feeling a chilling gaze on her back originating from Kaden, she decided to not say anything.

"Don't meddle where you don't need to. The kid is just happy to see her friends again, no need to trouble them with what happened in the Inverted World." Kaden smiled while sitting on the principal's chair.

In his hand was a glass containing some Ayrian mead. Giving it a soft swirl, he brought the drink to his nose and inhaled the scent as though he was drinking the most expensive wine in the world.

But this drink wasn't something that could be bought with money. After all, it's priceless to him. It's the taste of home.

"But… I still need to give an explanation to the other families regarding what occurred here. At least if I hear what Alice has to say I can figure something out and lie to them."

"Just give them any excuse would be fine. If anything, pin it on the Eclipse Cult. In order to retrieve a broken relic from a bygone age, they attempted to forcefully utilise the properties of the Inverted World to bring it back.

"By choosing to act during the exam, they can escape our notice by planting a spy amongst the students. Unfortunately for them, brave students stepped up and foiled their plan. One in particular managed to stop the relic from being brought out." Kaden smirked.

"They'll eat this sh*t up like it's the truth and turn their attention to the Eclipse. Everyone hates them anyways."

Hearing his suggestion, the principal's smile twitched but nodded her head in the end.

"Fine. So erm… How long are you planning to stay here?" She asked hesitantly.

After all, having an Abyss Lord reside here was attracting too much unwanted attention!

"Are you that eager to kick me out?"

'YES!!!!'

Seeing the principal trying her best to hold back, Kaden shrugged.

"I don't plan on staying for much longer. I'll check up on how Alice is doing, give them some advice then be on my way. I'm sure the Churches are livid about my attacks so they're out looking for me."

Looking at the sky, Kaden raised his glass before drinking the mead from his hometown.

###

Slowly opening his eye, Nyer ignored the countless medical tubes connected to his body and sensed the changes in the Abyss.

A smile crept onto his face.

"And so… the fake Heart becomes real. The connection to the Will has finally been severed after all these centuries. All my work was not for naught… Soon." He muttered with a satisfied smile.

Now that the requirement of turning the fake heart into a real one has succeeded, all that's left was for him to complete the final requirement before his plan could be put into motion.

Forcing himself to stand up, he stepped towards a glowing container and placed his hand on the glass. His gaze softened as he looked at the being within.

The corpse of a fallen God. The corpse of the real Velouria who was missing parts of her body.

###

With Alice now escaping from the Inverted World, the final entrance disappeared and peace returned to the academy. There were still repairs being made while the reflection of the Inverted World that hung above the Academy seemed to have dimmed to a certain extent.

There were worries that re-entering the Inverted World may have dire consequences and the teachers tested out the entrances regularly to ensure that there would be no more interference.

However, that was merely a show that the principal was putting on to reassure people. The only reason why the Inverted World reacted was due to Cayla and now that she's awake, the Inverted World will be quiet once more.

With this came the announcement regarding the exam that had been halted due to this incident.

Most of the students still managed to demonstrate bravery and expertise in the face of danger therefore, this will be taken into account during the retest. Each student will get another chance to advance while those who don't want to take the test will be allowed to remain in their current grade.

Details regarding the new exam will be announced soon and that it will not be revolving around the Inverted World since there are still doubts about safety.

There were also rumours spread across campus regarding a certain 'crazy b*tch' who appeared during the exams. She was the last one to come out and rumours say she was busy killing things inside the Inverted World and refused to come out until everything was killed.

With such rumours acting as the foundation, things soon became exaggerated but Alice was in the dark regarding these rumours.

She was too busy partying with Ria and Luke while enjoying the mead she brought back.

With Alice and Luke going crazy with drinking different alcoholic drinks, Ria simply face palmed but joined in soon after.

They weren't just drinking Ayrian mead either, Luke had brought countless other drinks with the intention of making Alice black out before she could knock him out.

What he didn't know was that Alice hid her blood mirrors in his drink and continuously teleported alcohol from the bottles into his cup, forcing him to drink more.

With each mouthful, the cup seemed to refill magically.

It was only after seeing her sh*t eating grin did he put the pieces together.

"You b*tch!!! *GURGLE!"

Alice had teleported more wine into his mouth and a battle between who could make the other black out drunk sparked with greater intensity.