Abyssal Awakening

Once Keira disappeared from her view, Alice could finally let out a sigh of relief.

If she was to grab her attention now, there was a chance that the other two would also show up.

However, if she doesn't destroy the western tower now, she'll be telling Olivr to kill her here and now.

'So you've shot yourself in the foot.' Alyss snickered as Alice rolled her eyes.

With no other choice, she began climbing up the western tower.

The formation they deployed around the city was rather rudimentary as they didn't even try to hide where the nodes are. Had it been the Abyss, Alice would've needed to try a little harder to spot it.

As she was climbing towards the top, she could sense the presence of more than 3 guards.

If she wanted to do this, she needed to do it fast.

Taking a deep breath, Alice pulled up her face mask to make sure her identity was hidden. Not that it mattered but it was good to have a safety net.

Flipping herself over the edge, she came face to face with the surprised guards. Before they could even react, Alice threw a dagger at each of them before dashing towards the core of this tower. The node of the barrier.

But just before she could reach it, one of the guards got between her and the node. Even without Cayla, Alice knew he was the strongest here.

Without hesitation, he activated resonance as a black mask and tattered jacket appeared around him.

Unsheathing a guardless sword with bandages wrapped around the handle, he slashed towards Alice.

"You're no fun, going all out from the beginning." Alice forced a smile, using her Shard of Kara to forcefully block that strike despite shattering immediately. She knew that she wasn't able to redirect that slash nor was she able to dodge in time so the best option was to block!

"Hmph." Ignoring Alice's attitude, he pivoted on his right foot and slammed a heel towards her.

Golden chains manifested around Alice's body as she suddenly did a handstand on the guard's foot.

Twisting her body, Alyss kicked towards the Guard's head. She wasn't surprised that it was blocked with ease since her physical power was completely ass right now. Hell, they're only barely managed to dodge because they're observing the movement of the body beforehand and making guesses rather than reacting!

"Catch this." Alice laughed, throwing an explosive towards the guard while shielding herself with her Shard.

Since it's gotten to this point, there was no point in keeping a stealthy operation as long as she could destroy this node.

It's why they gave her the explosives after all.

*BANG!!!!

Shielding himself from the point blank explosive, the guard quickly looked for Alice but she was already on the way towards the node.

"Stop her!!!" He roared as the other guards finally recovered from their stupor and lunged towards her.

Sliding under their attacks, Alice tugged on the wire and triggered a fire trap she dropped behind her, setting the two guards on fire as they rolled across the ground.

Jumping over the guards, the first guard stabbed at Alice with his blade.

"Nice try!" Alice stepped to the side before relaxing her knees, allowing herself to drop down instantly to avoid the following horizontal slash.

Grabbing another explosive, she threw it towards the guard and rolled back. Tugging on the wire, she watched as he tried to knock it aside only for it to drop towards his crotch right before exploding.

*BANG!!!

"ARGGGG!!!"

Widening her eyes, Alice's smile twitched as she quickly planted the rest of her explosives on the node.

Just as she placed the last one, she felt a thick killing intent behind her as she glanced back and came face to face with a pair of bloodshot eyes behind that mask.

Switching with Alyss, they hastily dodged the grab and flipped back but the man wasn't done.

A string of slashes, stabs and blasts were launched at her.

Stepping to the side, ducking down then using her Shard, Alyss fended off the attack. She couldn't help but notice a trail of blood dripping from the man's pants.

'Why the hell did you have to blow up his d*ck of all things???' Alyss questioned in disbelief. If Alice hadn't done that, he might not have gone berserk like this.

'It wasn't my fault okay!? Who told him to knock it down?' Alice snapped back as it truly wasn't her original goal. If she knew this was going to happen, she would've just dodged.

Once she was far enough from the node, Alice was about to tug on the wire to detonate it when she bumped into something.

"How did a rat like you even get in?" A familiar voice rang out as Alice shivered. It was Keira!

'Sh*t! Of course she's here, she didn't even get that far.' Alice cursed, ducking down to avoid the slash but Keria smirked. Grabbing Alice by the armpits, she lifted her up to take the strike.

Gritting her teeth, Alice swung herself up to dodge and entered a handstand.

"Oh?" Keria's eyes glimmered as though she found a new toy.

Throwing herself back, she slammed her knee into the back of Keria's head.

"!?!?!?" Widening her eyes in pain, Alice felt like she just kneed a brick wall as Keira didn't even flinch.

'The f*ck?! Why is her head so hard???' Alice questioned inwardly.

While her mind was questioning, her body didn't stop.

Tugging the wire, she wanted to detonate the bombs but Keira was already ahead of her.

A thin trail of fire could be seen, burning up the wire and preventing Alice from detonating it.

"Well how about that little mousey? Can't detonate your bombs now can you?" Keira smiled while narrowing her eyes at Alice.

Feeling a shiver down her spine similar to the strange feeling she got when she was at the academy, Alice instinctively took a step back.

###

"How unfortunate." Olivr muttered while narrowing his eyes.

The captains and the stealth group were by the back of the city, ready to climb up from the sea but there were still plenty of guards around.

He could sense the orb he gave Alice. She was flanked by two presences. One was roughly that of a strong guard and the other a Grandmaster level being.

Since the bombs hadn't gone off, there was only one thing he could do.

'Don't blame me, blame the fact that you didn't succeed otherwise I wouldn't have needed to resort to this.' Olivr curled his lips into a grin.

###

At that moment, danger signals erupted in Alice's mind. All of her senses warned her of the imminent danger as she could feel her chest getting warm.

Widening her eyes, Alice realised what was about to happen.

'F*CK YOU OLIVR!!!' She shouted in her mind.

Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the orb and tried to throw it towards the node while using her spare hand to grab a vial of blood from her pouch.

At this point, she couldn't calculate the risks anymore! She had to survive!

*BANG!!!!!!

Before she could even let go of the orb, a surge of power erupted from within, collapsing in an instant and then bursting out with power. Alice's arm was shredded in an instant as the explosion began to expand.

Even Keria was surprised as scales began to form across her body.

The guard was killed in an instant from the eruption as the upper floor of the watchtower was engulfed by a sea of flames and smoke. On top of this, the explosives that Alice had set down earlier erupted thanks to the orb.

*BOOM!!!

A secondary explosion blasted the node apart as a shimmering barrier manifested above the city. Cracks could be seen stretching out from the west before breaking apart.

Civilians who were asleep were woken up by the earthshaking eruption as they looked out their window in shock. They paled at the realisation that their defensive barrier had been breached.

Panic and fear invaded the minds of the weak as they scrambled for safety.

Meanwhile, back at the source of the explosion, Keria pushed the flames aside as anger filled her eyes.

Her dress was in tatters and on fire but she was fine herself thanks to the scales. However, this didn't relieve the annoyance of having an explosion detonate in her face.

"F*CK!!!" She roared, looking around her and seeing that all the guards had died. Looking for Alice's body, she punched what remained of the node out of anger.

"That rat f*cking survived!"

Walking to the edge, her bestial features began to manifest as she was about to chase down the rat and find out where she landed.

But recalling Elowen's words, Keria gritted her teeth as veins bulged on her neck.

"Gods f*cking dammit!" She cursed, knowing that she had no choice but to ignore her. If she went after her now, it would be going against her orders.

Turning around, she disappeared from the watchtower.

As for Alice, her vision was hazy and there was a high pitched ringing in her ears. At that last moment, she managed to drink the beast blood before the explosion sent her flying from the watch tower. She wasn't sure where she landed but she couldn't feel her right arm nor could she feel parts of her body.

If anyone saw her, they would pale in shock.

But despite these injuries, a familiar power flowed through Alice's body as strands of her flesh began to twitch and tremble.

Little by little, her body began to reconstruct itself.