Abyssal Awakening

Upon seeing the syringe, Alice's mind went blank.

This entire time, the events that led to her torture, it was Nyer all along.

Nyer planted the Abyss Blood inside her body!

Her breathing sped up as her vision flickered between Nyer, her younger self and her father who stood in front of her.

Gritting his teeth, Luthor let out a shout as he turned around and slashed down with his blade.

"ARGG!!!" Letting out a cry of pain, young Alice collapsed onto the ground as Luthor had cut off her arm!

Black tendrils of ink exploded from the veins, trying to claim Alice's main body but Luthor kicked the arm away.

"Sienna! Take Alice away! NOW!" He roared, dashing towards Nyer who created a beast of ink that collided with Luthor, stopping him in his path.

Biting her lips, Sienna nodded and grabbed Alice who was crying while blood poured from her wound.

Her brothers were panicking an unable to react while the guests were trying to find an exit.

At that moment, briar roots exploded from the arm that was cut off and a large tree sprouted in the centre of the room.

"Why choose such drastic measures as cutting off your own daughter's arm on her birthday? I merely gifted her a personal project of mine. Are we not supposed to gift presents to the princess of the day?" Nyer chuckled, curling his mouth into a grin while caressing the tree trunk.

Briar thorns shot out from the tree and embedded themselves against the walls while the exits were being sealed one by one.

As the roots approached the southern exit, Alice could feel something stirring within her. Try as she might, she felt as though her powers were going out of control.

Violet flames burst forth from her body and within that flame, her red spider lilies blossomed.

"Hm?" Furrowing his brows, Nyer paused as he glanced back and saw the reaction of Alice's body.

'Wait…' Widening his eyes, he closed his left eye before opening it to reveal a transformed eyeball!

The whites turned black and the pupil turned purple!

That power, that radiance. There's no doubt that it's an artificial power outside of the Abyss. Not only that, the flames and flowers rejected the very notion of the Abyss itself!

"Ah is that how it is? Pft ahahaha! If the truth of this reality is such, this one should see how far my product has grown." Nyer let out a laugh.

His mind began to piece together the hints that he'd seen thus far and understood the truth of the matter!

Focusing his gaze on Alice's body, he saw past her disguise and saw her appearance for what it is.

"Is this how a father feels seeing their product all grown up?" He muttered while scratching his chin.

Creating a knife from ink, he slashed along her arm and poured his blood onto the tree. Reaching into his pouch, he retrieved a shimmering vial of blood. Blood that flickered with the light of the stars and gold in colour.

The blood of a God!

Pouring it onto the tree, Nyer smiled as the tree began to absorb the blood without any issues.

###

'Urg… What the hell is going on?!' Alice gritted her teeth as she could feel her power going out of control. The roots that dug into her flesh, the fire that burned without control.

Alice wasn't the only one feeling these effects as Alyss buckled over from the pain.

'F*cking Nyer…' Alyss squeezed out while clutching her body.

With this variable thrown into the mix, their understanding of what transpired on this day began to shift.

She doubted her perception of her birthday.

For Alice, it had always been 'someone' stabbing a syringe into her causing her to go on a rampage. But the current event didn't follow the timeline at all.

Nyer stabbed the syringe into her, Luthor cut off her arm and a tree sprouted in the centre.

Watching the swarm of people trying to leave and ignoring the fact that she burst into flames, Alice turned her attention to Erick and the others who were beginning their slaughter of the guests.

Alice could roughly guess their plan of action. Seal the room, prevent the guards from entering, kill the guests and take care of Nyer along with Luthor before extracting the 'relic' from this memory.

[What… is that tree…] Cayla muttered, unable to comprehend the composition of the tree that sprouted from young Alice's arm.

A coldness that assaulted her mind, the fear of looking at something completely unknown. Every part of her was saying that this is a tree that shouldn't exist and yet here it stood.

She had this feeling with Alice before but never to this extent.

This feeling of helplessness. The feeling of a prey looking up at a predator.

Moreover, Cayla could see the resonance between Alice and the tree. Perhaps it was due to the passage of time but right now, Alice was akin to a branch, an extension of this power but not the source!

[We have to switch out the second Sigil, immediately!] Cayla shouted.

If they didn't switch it and allow this resonance to continue, there was a risk that Alice could be completely dominated by this foreign object. But neither Alice nor Alyss could reply.

Alyss had recognised this danger from the start and had already tried to replace it but the Sigil took root deep within their Spiritual Heart, refusing to be replaced.

Acting as a waymark, energy from the tree was siphoned into Alice's body while Alice's energy was siphoned into the tree. This link prevented Alyss from swapping out the power!

Slashing down a noble who tried to leave, Selen wiped away the blood before glancing over at Alice who was buckling over while violet flames flickered around her uncontrollably.

Within these flames, red spier lilies began to bloom as they also appeared on the tree.

'There's no doubt anymore!' Selen widened her eyes.

Kale Grani or rather, Alice Agnelia was in fact Alice Zenia, firstborn daughter of Luthor Zenia and their target for this mission!

This appearance, that power. Selen knew that the goal was for the tree to merge with their target.

But if she was indeed Alice Zenia, why was she here? How is she here and why doesn't the Zenia family know about this?

'Did she sign the contract because she's higher than Erick on the hierarchy? No… If she did she still can't harm the family. That's one of the conditions for the contract…' Selen furrowed her brows, slamming her staff down and pausing the time around her momentarily.

Flickering through the crowd, she flicked the blood off her blade as the people slowly broke apart into chunks of flesh.

'Does that mean there's another loophole I didn't know about?'

"What the hell is going on with Kale?! Since when did she have a Sigil with blue flames?!" Erick panicked as the plan had immediately begun to derail.

"I'm not sure. It seems to be resonating with the tree though." Selen sighed.

Now that things have gotten to this stage, she could only bide her time and wait for Alice to make a move.

Since she's the first born daughter, it'll allow her to override a part of her contract with Erick, letting her break out of the bindings.

"Forget it, focus on the mission first. We need to let the tree assimilate itself with the young girl otherwise we can't take her out of the Inverted World. Stop Lord Zenia for now and stall him. I'll deal with the rest." Erick shook his head as Selen nodded her head.

As this was a memory, her contract doesn't apply to the mimicry of Lord Zenia. Meaning she could use her strength against him.

Taking a deep breath, Selen sighed as she summoned her staff and rushed towards Luthor.

As for Erick, he needed to separate young Alice from Sienna.

Melissa and Michael were having their fair share of 'fun' spreading a new poison amongst the nobles while the other guard was tasked with keeping Alice's brothers at bay.

Even though they're young and posed no danger, having them interfere would make things more annoying when they extract the 'relic'.

Watching the chaos unfold, Alice stumbled to her feet as sweat dripped down her body.

With so much energy coursing through her, she felt as though she would explode at a moment's notice.

Taking several deep breaths, she glared at the guard holding her brothers.

She wasn't doing this out of love or care, no those feelings can be fed to beasts for all she cares. She was going to target the guard since all the others were distracted!

Narrowing her gaze, she redirected this energy across her body and used it as fuel for her partial bloodline release.

*BANG!!!

Before she could rush towards the guard, Nyer dropped down in front of her with a maniacal grin.

"Are you sure you should be focusing on that friend of yours?" Nyer smiled as Alice didn't hesitate to gather her energy and fire a point-blank Nova Core.

"Oh hou~ Now that's something I haven't seen in a long long time." Nyer let out a laugh, swatting her hand aside and knocking the blast off course.

*BOOM!!!

Creating a hole in the roof, Nyer grabbed Alice's arm and pinned it against her back, threatening to break it as he grabbed her chin. Forcing her to look towards Sienna and young Alice, he opened his mouth.

"You've already proved my success. Shall we witness it together?"

Widening her eyes, Alice could see Erick pushing Sienna away before grabbing young Alice and throwing her towards the mutating tree. Briar thorns erupted from the trunk as a female figure formed from the bark.

Cracking her mouth open, the beast grabbed young Alice with its roots.

*CRUNCH!!!