Abyssal Awakening

'The Zenia Crest!!!'

Widening her eyes, Alice's hand clenched tightly as killing intent seeped from her body. Just thinking about them made her blood boil but she closed her eyes and bit her lip.

She had to calm down.

If she's too hasty, she'll never be able to achieve her goal.

Killing them on sight is good and all but what truly mattered to her was rooting out every last piece of scum within the family. Be that her father, brothers, scholars or even the chef. The Zenia family will be no more once she was done with them.

Taking a deep breath, Alice calmed her mind and approached the port, wanting to see who it was.

In her mind, she could hear Alyss complaining that they should go kill them all immediately, but Alice ignored it for now.

Leaning against the wall near the entrance of the port, she peeked over and saw a group consisting of seven members.

During her time locked up, she was able to familiarise herself with certain ranks of the family.

Guards, researchers and core members.

These were the names they gave them since she never found out about their real names. However, based on their uniform, their reactions during certain incidents she caused and their reaction towards the ranks, Alice summarised them into these categories.

'Four guards, two researchers and seems like one core member.' Alice narrowed her eyes.

Unfortunately, she didn't recognise any of them which was a slight shame but she could never give up on an opportunity to kill a Zenia.

'Three of the guards have six Sigils while the one in the middle has five. Researchers are both on three and the core is four. Killing them should be doable if I take advantage of the current situation.'

Narrowing her eyes, she began to walk towards their direction.

###

Looking towards the 'Eye' of the Inverted World, I am once again reminded of how surreal the Abyss was.

A whole new world within this Realm, a world where it lets us travel back in time and witness history being made.

There was an incident recently that caused quite an issue with the Academy but it's also this same incident that allowed us to better barter with the principal.

Finally, us Zenia researchers can explore the inverted world without the hindrance of the Academy.

Of course, I wasn't the only one who was in awe of the Inverted World. My colleague whom followed me on this journey only recently joined the Zenia research department.

"Melissa, let's focus up. Remember what we're here for and it's certainly not a holiday." I cleared my throat and hid my excitement.

"Oh you can't expect me not to be excited seeing this can you? It's a peek into history Michael! History!" Melissa shouted excitedly as I couldn't help but smile and nod in agreement.

Indeed, when else are you going to get a chance like this?

The formation of an 'Inverted World' was an extremely rare occurrence that can only happen if an Abyss Lord dies. Not only that, but they have to die in a peculiar manner that allows for the Abyss to form a gateway to the network of information.

After that, someone needs to be close enough and powerful enough to seal this gateway to preserve the passage.

All of these conditions had to be achieved for the formation of an Inverted World and yet we were standing in front of such a miracle.

"Let's not attract any more attention. You'll have plenty of chances to explore the Inverted World if we can reach a deal with the Academy." Erick Zenia smiled towards Melissa.

He had a fancy towards my colleague and it was clear as day. The fact that he brought her to this kind of important talk because she wanted to see the Inverted World was a clear indication.

"Alright~ I guess shopping and exploring can come later." Melissa sighed.

Just as we were about to continue onwards, I heard a collision near us as one of the Hunters had bumped into the guards on accident.

"Watch where you're walking dammit! Don't you have eyes?!" The Guard shouted with an annoyed expression.

*Sigh… Not again.

We've had people bump into us several times during this journey, sometimes they were trying to rob us because we seemed rich, and sometimes they'd try to lure us somewhere. I could only assume it was another one of these situations.

But when I glanced over, I was stunned by the person who was rubbing their nose with tears in her eyes.

That long blonde hair and naïve red eyes, the way she smacked her sleeve against the guard's leg, it was hard not to pause and observe her.

"I'm sorry, does this road belong to you? Can't you see you're blocking the way to the schedule board?!" She pouted in annoyance while standing up.

I could hear the murmuring of the crowd around us, whispers of amongst them saying that the guard was done for.

I couldn't quite understand it but from their words, it seems like she was a newcomer to the gambling arena who made a name for herself in just one day.

But seeing her raise her small fist, I couldn't imagine someone like her being able to make a name for herself arena.

The guard looked infuriated by her gesture as he reached for his weapon but Erick interfered.

"Now now, let's not fight. We're new to this city so we're a little unfamiliar with the placement of things. Please, we don't want any trouble." He apologised while gesturing for the Guards to step back.

The girl leaned towards Erick and scrutinised him before scratching her cheek.

"Well… I got a little heated too. Sorry about that." She glanced to the side with a small blush on her face.

Clearing her throat, she adjusted her posture and folded her arms.

"I'm Kale. Kale Grani." She introduced herself with a wide grin.

"Erick. Erick Zenia."

Hearing this, she paused and blinked her eyes.

"Wait for real?" She asked, scanning her eyes across all of us before looking back to Erick.

Seems like she was someone who didn't think she'd bump into a Zenia which was to be expected. As the prime family involved in Abyss Blood, it'd be stranger for people not to know about us.

"Yes, for real." Erick chuckled while Kale smiled awkwardly.

"You're really a Zenia? In this place? Really? You're not trying to scam people with the Zenia name, are you? If you're really a Zenia I'll treat you all to a meal in the best restaurant here hmph!"

The guards looked at one another with a laugh as Erick pointed towards his chest where the crest of the Zenia family could be seen.

"Here's the authentic crest. You might not know but anyone impersonating the Zenias are dealt with rather seriously." Erick warned.

Seeing the crest, she began to sweat as she poked her fingers together.

"Erm… I'll be honest I didn't think you were a real Zenia ahaha… Sorry! I'm kind of broke!" She apologised while sticking out her tongue playfully.

She was like a child who was caught doing something bad and tried to make an excuse, only for it to be exposed immediately.

Seeing my reaction towards Kale, Melissa jabbed me in the ribs causing me to buckle over.

"Don't tell me she caught your eye too?" Melissa pouted while I could only laugh awkwardly.

But this could work in my favour since it solves the headache of Erick being interested in Melissa.

If I could have him get interested in this Kale instead, it'll make things easier for us.

"You are? Well what a shame since I'm indeed a Zenia. What to do what to do~" Erick teased while scratching his chin as though thinking about an alternative solution.

"Erm… I'm broke but I'm strong! Don't look down on me just because I have three Sigils! I can knock down Hunters with five Sigils ya know?!" Kale flexed her feeble arms proudly.

"Tell you what, if you go to the Inverted World I can act as a guard for you." She grinned.

The guards that were laughing earlier stopped laughing as it seemed like she was looking down on them.

"What did you say you brat?!" The guard that bumped into her earlier frowned.

"Exactly what I said gorilla. If you don't like it why don't we take this into the arena? I can hand you a can of whoop ass and a earn a bit of money while I'm there." Kale taunted while giving him the middle finger.

Seeing that things were about to erupt between the guard and the girl, I cleared my throat.

"Sir, we're still waiting for the Academy to arrange a meeting time and we had a long journey as well. I'm sure a quick detour to the arena shouldn't be an issue." I whispered towards Erick who nodded his head in agreement.

"Plus, she's been sneaking a few glances at you. Seems to me that she wants to impress you." I made sure that it was only audible to Erick.

Knowing him for a long time, this was bound to spur him on and it wasn't like it was a lie either. She had indeed been sneaking glances at him even before realising that he was a Zenia. Perhaps it was because he looked handsome but this was enough for him to agree to the arena spar.

###

'F*ck f*ck f*ck! Gross gross gross!' Alice cursed in her mind repeatedly as she had to act sweet towards a Zenia of all people. However, the more they interacted the better it was for her since she could leave a mark on them to track them down later.

She had thrown on the arena suggestion seeing if they would bite the bait or not but it was unlikely. Yet one of the researchers actually inadvertently helped her and at the same time, grossed her out.

She was looking at him thinking of ways to butcher him, when it did become looks of wanting to impress the b*stard???

Meanwhile, Alyss was laughing hysterically at Alice's pain during acting while Cayla simply relaxed on her bed.

But now that he had agreed to her suggestion of going to the arena, things would become a lot easier for her. And all she needed to do was defeat this gorilla in front of her.

After facing Abyss Lords? This was a piece of cake for her. In fact, he'll be her punching bag to vent all her grievances.

Just thinking of this caused her to shiver with excitement while the Guard felt a random chill that confused him.