Abyssal Awakening

Raising her hand, Selen prepared herself to slash down but hesitated before letting out a fatigued sigh.

She hated Alice.

At first, she thought the two of them were kindred spirits, both the result of heinous experiments conducted by the Zenia family. Little did she know, Alice was the root cause of it all.

The source of the cursed blood that runs in her veins.

Everyone that had been injected with her blood mutated without exception. It was simply too potent and the Zenia's struggled to dilute it without losing the effectiveness of its properties.

It was only recently that they had a breakthrough. To merge the abnormal blood with the blood of various sealed Lords.

To have several 'poisons' fighting one another within one body in order to balance it out. For each 'portion' of Alice's blood they injected, they needed to balance it out with the blood of four different Lords.

However, the experiment proved to be a failure as it couldn't maintain the properties of becoming immune to the effects of Abyss Blood.

What it did prove was its adaptability. By merging with the blood of sealed Lords, the user was able to take false Sigils so long as they are able to withstand the power.

Powers that held similarities to the sealed Lords.

Selen was one of the few who had a body compatible with the power of Miralith, the sealed Lord of Time. But even then, the procedure caused permanent damage to her body and side effects unseen to the eye.

She hated the Zenias for dragging her into such experiments. She hated Alice for having this blood.

However, she couldn't deny the fact that it was also Alice who dissolved her contract that tied her to the Zenias. She was the reason for her pain but also for her freedom.

Leaving the tent, Selen shielded her eyes from the harsh sunlight across a sea of snow. She had cleared the space around their tent but snow kept on piling up every night.

After Alice had collapsed the Inverted World, she tried to relocate them elsewhere on the island. Unfortunately for the both of them, outside interference destabilised the pathway that Alice had set out and instead flung them deep into the Void.

With Alice not having enough power to keep the protective barrier around them for long, she made the decision to slingshot them in a random direction. To attach a 'rope' to them and anchor the other end to a single point.

She swung them around in the Void before cutting the connection.

The next thing that Selen remembers was falling through the sky with Alice. Both of them were bleeding from head to toe but it was worst for Alice. Cuts that refused to stitch together, bones exposed on so on.

While Selen had superficial cuts, Alice was on the verge of death.

After Selen managed to protect the two of them from falling to death, she noticed a serious situation. Her control over her own powers had waned dramatically!

Compared to her time in the Abyss, Selen struggled to fully channel her powers. If using her powers in the Abyss was comparable to a gentle ride down a river, using her powers on the surface felt like pushing a heavy log through a thick swamp.

It took ten times the effort to even manifest her powers never mind using it to its full potential.

Perhaps that was why Alice's regeneration was slowing down to the point she was stuck in a state of limbo. Neither dead nor alive.

Shaking her head with a sigh, Selen made her way over to some trees that were covered in snow.

Adjusting the grip on her blade, she cut down the tree and turned it into several logs that could be used as firewood.

Bringing the log back to her tent, Selen used her powers to speed up the drying process before storing it on a makeshift shelf.

It has been around three days since they escaped to the surface. A few beasts would attack but it hasn't been anything that Selen couldn't deal with herself.

Thankfully, she had some supplies in her pouch. Healing blood, bandages and some spare clothing. The tent was made from animal skin. Crude but sufficient to block out the wind and snow.

After scouting out the area, Selen concluded that they were in the far regions of the north. She wasn't sure where but as long as she could find some traces of merchants, she should be able to find her way to a city.

But to find these traces, her best chances are to travel south towards Extalia. The borders between the two nations are constantly embroiled in skirmishes but there's a truce during this time.

Finding some help and getting a new life should be relatively easy there. She couldn't return to the Zenia family nor could she parade around as her current appearance in Extalia. The Zenia's have eyes everywhere.

Therefore, her best options would be to travel south, find a village belonging to Verona and then travel north again to start her new life. She didn't know what Alice preferred and frankly, she didn't care.

She was already doing Alice a big favour by keeping her alive. Not only that but also taking her with her during this journey.

'What a hassle.' Selen thought inwardly as it was going to be a pain in the ass to take care of everything all while carrying an unconscious Alice on her back.

But even if it's a pain, she had to do it if she wanted to live.

The only issue was food.

She was fine but she wasn't sure how Alice was doing. It seems fine so far as she's being sustained by a supply of blood that Selen had but this was going to run out soon.

'She's immune to the effects of Abyss Blood but even so, I can't keep feeding her this stuff.'

Selen had enough supplies to last another 3 ish days for Alice. After that, it'll be feeding her unfiltered blood from the corpses of beasts.

Getting the rest of their supplies such as dried beast meat, some makeshift fur coats and dried logs, she split the pile into two stacks.

One for each pouch that they had as Selen took it upon herself to borrow Alice's pouch. Naturally, she found Alice's unnaturally large supply of mead within the pouch but left it untouched.

Setting aside some logs, leather and fur, she got to work.

To secure the logs to each other, Selen used a mix of sharpened bone, teeth and tendons. A layer of leather and fur to lay Alice's body on with a blanket made of the same material on top.

A makeshift bed/sled to carry Alice around while keeping her warm in this cold.

One of the key dangers to the Northern lands was the freezing cold! Depending on the zone you were in, not even six star Hunters were safe and they could die within the first hour of not getting warmth!

"Ah… Not enough fur." Selen muttered as she noticed there wasn't enough to make another coat for herself.

Furrowing her brows, she was just about to go out to hunt when a wave of snow exploded beside her.

From the depths, a four armed beast burst out from the ground. A pair of cracked curved horns with one side being broken protruding from its head. On its back, two horns larger than the ones on its head curved out from its back and over its shoulders.

A pair of glowing white eyes, large tusks and a thick leathery chest with white fur across the body.

Horned Yeti!

One of the most common beasts that one could find within the north. Despite their large stature and powerful physiques, they were pack based beasts who often hunted in groups. The weakest of the group could be as weak as two Sigils while the strongest was at an astonishing six!

If one was to appear, more would surely follow.

After hunting these beasts in the past few days, Selen was familiar with their strategies.

And as expected, the moment she turned to face the first Yeti, two more burst out of the snow behind her, ready to strike.

"F*cking predictable." Selen muttered, conjuring her staff and slamming it into the ground.

*BANG!!!

A large ritualistic circle expanded with her in the centre as time seemed to slow to a halt. The flakes of snow that was flung by the Yeti froze in the air as Selen released her staff and maintained the circle.

Unsheathing her blade, she released a flurry of slashes and grabbed her staff. A new attack that she had thought up of after her fight in the Inverted World.

One that would make the most out of her time based abilities.

Fester!

*KRK!!!!

As time resumed, the small wounds upon the Yeti's body burst open as blood poured out like a fountain. An attack where everyone wound Selen causes would fester and age, rotting the flesh and reaching the bone within a single moment.

Looking at the corpses of the Yetis dying the snow in their blood, Selen massaged her shoulders.

Hidden in the snow next to a tree, another Yeti was hiding but Selen sensed its presence. During her attack, she had made sure to land a strike on it as well.

With all the Yetis dealt with, even the hidden one, she wasn't worried that more would show up. If anything, they would only think a strong beast had shown up in this region.

"Now then, time for me to carry the sleeping princess." Selen sighed, hoisting Alice onto her sled and grabbing the tendon rope.

Dragging it behind her, she departed for the south in hopes of finding a village where she could get some proper treatment for Alice. That way, she could pay off her debt and have nothing to do with her anymore.