Abyssal Awakening

The ride to Verten was rather uneventful as Alice simply spent the time sleeping on the boat.

Once she arrived, she could see that the town was rather deserted for a coastal town with only a few ships surrounding the docks. The people that live here seem dispirited, lumbering around like lifeless zombies.

Furrowing her brows, Alice hopped off the boat and wandered around the place.

No matter who she talked to, all of their responses were lacklustre and they didn't find anything wrong with it. Meanwhile, the people who sailed into this town were just as confused as Alice but they went about their day, thinking this was probably just how it's always been.

In the end, Alice decided to sit atop the tallest building for now.

During the time she spent around asking for some information, she managed to get the directions to Cradle Orphanage but the person who told her warned her about the dangers.

"They say the Orphanage is cursed right now and it's not because of the beast guarding it."

Aside from this, they refused to elaborate and made sure to hurry away before Alice could ask them more questions.

'What do you think?' Alice frowned while Alyss scratched her hair.

[Just from surface glances, it doesn't seem like they're under any Sigil abilities. All of them just seem tired to me.] Cayla shook her head.

Of course, if she could still access her power, it would make it a bit easier but with the seal in place, she can forget about that.

'Regardless, our goal is the Arachne right? Let's deal with that and leave. This place is giving me the shivers.' Alyss frowned, surprising Alice as there wasn't much that Alyss would be cautious about.

But if she's being on guard towards this area then Alice should complete this hunt as soon as possible.

Her main goal was to adapt to her new vision and lack of control, going out of her way to cause trouble was beyond what she wanted to do.

The town could be described in three sections. The docks leading to Silverwind valley, the centre where most of the shops, stalls and so on were placed and finally the outer edges.

The Cradle Orphanage was situated just outside of the outer edge, a little further out from the town and there was only a single path leading towards the building.

Buying herself a lamp to help with her eyesight, Alice stabbed it to her waist while making her way out of the town.

The soft glow of a blue flame flickered, its light illuminating the path out of the town as Alice repeated a small experiment with her third Sigil to practice her control.

She would make a line of blood that wrapped around her fingers and have it slither through the gaps. The goal of this exercise was to control the line of blood to make sure the blood was evenly distributed while hovering above her skin at the slightest elevation.

Once it's done five laps around the fingers on her right hand, she would conjure a line of blood on the left and repeat.

If she could still use Cayla, this would be a walk in the park but right now, these lines of blood left a trail on her finger as she wasn't able to ensure the consistency nor could she hover it just above her skin.

Rather than a hovering line of blood, it was more a blood worm wiggling across her fingers.

Letting out a helpless sigh, Alice continued this exercise all while trying to maintain a basic zone around her perimeter, warning her of any external dangers that might be lurking just outside of her sight.

After a while, she began to spot threads that were barely visible to the eye. Had it not been for the lamp, she would've walked straight into it.

[Red Thorn Arachnes don't use threads as their primary weapon but more so as a tool for alerting them. There have been cases in the past where it's been used as triggers for traps so be careful if you're trying to get rid of them.] Cayla warned as Alice took her warning to heart.

Leaning down to avoid the thread, Alice began to navigate her way through this field of threads and soon, a building came into view.

A gentle fog rolled around the building as Alice narrowed her eyes.

The Orphanage featured a large prominent clock tower with broken hands and moss that grew on the surface, showcasing the passage of time. Arched windows devoid of light, broken stonework revealing gaps in the building and pointed spires with broken tips.

Tall trees draped with thin thread acted as a veil that blocked the entrance of the building.

Surprisingly, the threads began to glow from the moonlight, covering the orphanage in a ghostly visage as Alice extinguished the flame in her lamp and stored it in her pouch for now.

'Four healing vials and a berserk vial. Should be more than enough even if things go south.' Alice thought to herself, creating a sword that mimicked the shape of Void Fang using her third Sigil.

A blood blade using metal as its core.

Just as she took a step towards the building, Alice felt her entire body break out in cold sweat as though a thousand eyes had just locked onto her being.

In that split second where she felt the chill, a speeding object breached her Zone!

'ALICE DUCK!!!' Alyss shouted in a panic.

Without even thinking about why she needed to duck, Alice relaxed her legs, allowing her body to fall limp as her reflection could be seen against the silver blade of a scythe like limb.

*BANG!!!

Even though the initial strike missed, the explosion of it colliding against the ground was enough to throw Alice tumbling away as she managed to catch sight of her prey.

A large spider like beast with a woman's torso. She was taller than the average human, even above Allura as her face was partially obscured by chitinous claws that protruded from the side. A pair of glowing red eyes with no pupils, white hair that fluttered loosely behind her.

She wore a wide grin revealing a row of sharp jagged teeth. However, this is where her human features begin to fade away.

The upper half of her body was a chimeric blend of flesh and chitin stitched against her body and stretched her skin. Cracks revealing a pulsing red energy flooded out from her body while synthetic tubes hung from her back, looking as though it's been pulled apart forcefully.

The Arachne's blood dripped from these tubes and onto her spider like lower half. While one may assume that the girl's upper body would be cut off and attached to the body of a spider, Alice could see signs of what used to be legs blended into the armoured plates. Twisted and bent the wrong way.

Her overall figure, a grotesque amalgamation of twisted human flesh, limbs and arachnoid parts, merging into a single being that bore a faint resemblance to a Red Thorn Arachne.

The spider like limbs are spread out in unnatural ways, a mutation. Each limb, gnarled and cracked, ending in sharp clawed appendages that clutched against the dirt.

One look was all Alice needed to understand the truth of this creature as she gritted her teeth.

This was not the sign of the Eclipse.

No, their methods would not result in such a haphazard amalgamation.

Jumping back, Alice focused her mind as her second Sigil lit up.

Void Flux!

Firing the orb of energy towards the beast, Alice watched as its figure stabbed one of its legs into the ground.

*BANG!!!

A single red thorn erupted from the ground, piercing the Void Flux and forcing it to detonate early while Alice rushed towards the beast.

In an instant, golden chains manifested around her body as Alyss took over, ducking a leg sweep before slashing up with the blade.

*CRACK!!!

"Tsk! Hard!" Alyss clicked her tongue in annoyance.

The shell protecting the beast was far tougher than what she had expected as her blade cracked apart in her hands.

Taking over in one swift motion, Alice created a blood mirror and flung her body away since she wasn't able to set out correct coordinates for an instant teleportation.

Rolling across the dirt, Alice could see the beast studying her movement, observing her actions and learning how she fought.

Her gleaming eyes narrowed while the smile only stretched wider.

'Do you want me to take the lead in this twinnie or should I leave it to you?' Alyss frowned.

'Leave it to me. I'll make the switches when we need since I don't think I can survive that well up close right now.' Alice nodded as she dashed towards the beast.

There was a light in her gaze that Cayla was surprised to see, a light that only appeared when Alice was talking about a certain family.

Weaving through an onslaught of red thorns despite some grazing her skin, Alice created a dagger and threw it above the beast's head.

Since she couldn't accurately set the coordinates for her teleport, she'll use a dagger as a marker!

Switching places with her dagger using the blood mirror, Alice swapped roles with Alyss as she created two blades.

*CRACK!!!

Slashing down with both blades, she clicked her tongue once more as the blades couldn't penetrate the skin but she wasn't done.

Doing a backflip, she created a bow as violet flames gathered into a single arrow.

Aiming towards the tubes sticking out of the beast's back, Alyss fired the arrow!

*BANG!!!

Watching the spire of violet flames roar out in this darkness, Alyss grinned as she handed back the controls.

No matter what they do, they had to take care of this beast and find the source.

After all, this was a product of the Zenia's! A beast caused by forced side effects!