Abyssal Awakening

"I'm going to kill them." Alice grinned.

"Ideally in a way that doesn't implicate the Academy considering you have ties with Allura and Kaden and that you look like my adoptive mother. It would feel rather sh*tty on my end to put you through that which is why I'm here. And unfortunately, it's unavoidable. I WILL kill them."

A silent stare-off ensued between the two as Rosalyn's frown grew deeper, understanding that Alice wasn't joking around when she mentioned wanting to kill them.

"I don't like it. Frankly, I think it's downright stupid. It's a stupid choice and even if you have a vendetta against them, its brainless to go after them right now. How much manpower do you think the Zenia's have? In fact, let me ask you this first. Do you know what they desire from the Inverted World in the first place?" Rosalyn asked, her face cold.

She didn't care if Alice was chosen by Kaden as this didn't mean she could do whatever she wanted.

While Kaden may be free spirited and nihilistic to some extent, even he knows the stupidity of going after the Zenia's while their goal is right in front of them.

Killing the group would only give the Zenias more reason to claim the Inverted World and less room for her to negotiate.

"And if you do know what's at stake then still choosing to go after them because of your vendetta is childish and immature. You may gain instant satisfaction but what will you do when the Zenias claim the Inverted World? Will you kill every Zenia that enters this city?" Rosalyn asked as she narrowed her eyes.

Her aura seemed to dwarf this room as Alice swallowed her saliva.

"Can you afford to stay in this city for that long? I don't know what Allura and Kaden have planned for you, but I doubt you can stay in this backwater area for long. There are true monsters living in the mainland. Monsters that can kill me with a single flick of their finger despite having the same number of Sigils."

Silence ensued between the two of them before Alice sighed.

"Fine. But what do you propose if I don't kill them immediately? Two of them have already died by my hand and it was a complete accident. I didn't think a quest I received from the Guild would result in a confrontation with them." Alice shrugged, throwing the evidence she recovered from the Orphanage towards her.

Catching the experiment notes, Rosalyn began to read through it. Little by little, her expression turned cold as her hands clenched against the pages.

"Don't destroy it. It's important evidence after all." Alice reminded as Rosalyn took a deep breath to calm herself.

With this kind of evidence, anyone would be inclined to kill the group inside Silverwind immediately. But once again, doing so was simply ignoring the consequences of pitting themselves against the Zenia family. No, they needed to handle this carefully.

"I'll take this into account so don't kill them immediately. If you do, it'll be the same as welcoming the Zenia family into my city with a red carpet." Rosalyn massaged her forehead with a sigh.

If Alice was anything like Allura and Kaden then she'd probably go after them anyway and let her clean up the mess afterwards.

"Alright. I'll hold off as much as I can. But once they track it back to me, I'll have no choice but to kill them like I had originally planned." Alice leaned back in annoyance.

As much as she hated it, the principal wasn't wrong. Killing them now would only invite more trouble in the future. If she kills them now and leaves, the Zenias will gain access to the Inverted World. Once that happens, she'll have to deal with an immortal army bolstered by the collar.

On top of that, letting them live will give her time to investigate Selen, the one who let her go despite knowing she was the one who killed Jyn and Rita.

A decision that confused Alice no matter how she thought about it. Especially since Selen was involved in some of Zenia's plans.

'Do you think she's trying to rebel and leave the Zenias?' Alyss asked but Alice shook her head.

'It's too early to say. But if we hold off a little, it should give us time to investigate and time for the principal to convince the Zenias to stand down. Or at least I hope so.'

While Alice and Alyss were discussing the issue around Selen, Rosalyn blinked her eyes in surprise.

'She… actually accepted my suggestion? She didn't ignore my side and go ahead with what she wants to do?'

"Are you truly Allura and Kaden's chosen?" Rosalyn asked as Alice furrowed her brows.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, don't mind it. But alright. If they go after you, you obviously need to protect yourself. There are two locations where I could reduce the impacts of their deaths with some excuses. First, the Inverted World.

"Since you're dealing with memories of the past, there's always a chance of you running into an abnormally strong beast that was never mentioned. Butterfly effects and so on. The Inverted World records all of the variables that could happen during that instance in time.

"The second is to kill them outside of the city. More preferable since it's out of my jurisdiction and the Zenia's can't hold it over me. However, doing it this way gives the Zenia's a chance to establish a branch just outside of my city. Once again, outside of my jurisdiction so I can't say much about it." Rosalyn suggested as Alice listened with a nod.

Since she had killed both Jyn and Rita outside of the city, the Zenia's can't do much and even if they do establish a branch, it's not as though they haven't already with the Orphanage. Moreover, the principal didn't know about it until now!

"But me giving you these two options isn't an invitation for you to lure them into trying to kill you or for you to provoke them into trying to kill you there or for you to attack them while they're out of the city. It's a last resort okay?!" Rosalyn reminded sternly.

"Don't worry I know. I'd rather not have the Zenia's access the Inverted World if it can be helped which is why I'm keeping an eye on them." Alice shrugged.

Just as she stood up, she decided to ask a favour from the principal.

"Speaking of which, can you help me set up a fake ID or something similar? I'm using a fake identity to know them after all and the Underground doesn't have eyes inside the Academy. It's the only way I can safely change my appearance." Alice asked with a smile.

"Eh? What do you mean? I don't think you have a disguise type Sigil right? Or are you drinking blood for it?" Rosalyn blinked her eyes as Alice let out a soft chuckle.

"Who knows~"

Activating her Sigil, her appearance changed into Kale Grani, leaving Rosalyn stumped before Alice left the room.

Standing rooted in her spot, Rosalyn blinked her eyes as she began to question what she had just seen.

'What? How? Huh? She should only have four Sigils no? When did she get a disguise skill?' Questioning how Alice was able to disguise herself, Rosalyn soon remembered where she had seen Alice with that appearance.

The girl that was seen hanging out with the Zenias not long after they would finish a meeting, go around shopping and occasionally fight. It was Alice all along!

The flip in personality and manners was shocking to say the least. It's as though they were completely different people!

"No wonder the Zenia's didn't notice anything wrong…" Rosalyn furrowed her brows as she leaned back in her seat.

Letting out a groan, there was more work for her now. Planning a second exam, pressure from the noble families, Zenia's wanting access to the Inverted World and now Alice wanting a fake ID.

However, at least Alice warned her beforehand. It was far better than what Allura and Kaden have been pulling.

###

"You couldn't find the culprit?" Erick raised an eyebrow in surprise. Selen of all people couldn't find it despite taking the tracking relic.

"The one who killed Jyn and Rita didn't stay the night. I scanned everyone in the town but the compass didn't react at all. I even checked the boats and carriages leading to other cities. My best guess is that they left immediately after finding out the truth about the Orphanage." Selen reported. Her gaze didn't flicker nor did her expression change.

After all these years, she's gotten used to hiding her emotions when she needed to.

Taking a frustrated breath, Erick sat on his bed while tapping his heel repeatedly against the ground.

While the Zenia's could cover up everything that has happened, having this kind of negative news while they were trying to acquire the Inverted World didn't work in favour of increasing their odds.

Plus, the principal of the Academy was being rather stubborn, refusing to budge a single inch even when the Zenias were prepared to go above and beyond for her.

"Send word to the main family. Let them know that the branch was breached and that the guards were killed. The culprit no where in sight and have them send some of our best trackers to clean up the loose ends. We can't make a big deal out of this."

"Understood." Selen nodded her head as she turned around and prepared to leave but Erick stopped her.

"Have someone else send the message. You have a more important job." He revealed a lecherous grin as Selen bit her lip until it bled but soon, the wound healed as she returned to her nonchalant state.

"Understood."