Abyssal Awakening

Countless swarms of guards could be seen rushing towards the burning tower. Civilians peeked through their curtains to assess the situation while Alice tried her best to hide herself.

She didn't need any of this attention.

"Urg…" Flinching slightly, Alice could already feel her regeneration slowing down as energy began to leave her body once more.

The effects of the beast blood could only last so long without sufficient purity and volume. In order to fight for a longer period of time, she'll need to better blood.

'I wonder how Bo is holding up against the Grandmaster now. They should've entered the castle right?' Alice thought to herself while slumping against the wall. Sitting down to catch her breath, she gritted her teeth in pain.

Even though her regeneration was temporarily brought back, it was already pushed to its limit by regenerating most of her body.

Some of her wounds were still open as they weren't life threatening so it didn't take priority. The main thing was regenerating her limbs and her important organs.

She was tempted to drink another vial but with only two left in her pouch, she didn't want to use them all right now. Once she had a quick rest, she'd be able to get out without any issues.

At that moment, Alice glanced to her right and noticed someone staring at her.

Her pupils shrank in shock as she didn't sense him at all despite having her guard up.

He has short blonde hair and a pair of sharp blue eyes. He wore a striking white and gold attire that looked between a blend of nobility and knighthood with armour on his right shoulder and arm along with armoured boots. Gold accents could be seen on the armour and outfit with golden chains linking his armour to a cape.

On his waist, he carried a single longsword with a golden cross guard and silver details. Most importantly, Alice could see the crest of the Church of the Moon.

The details around the crest signify a high standing.

This man was no doubt a high ranking member of the Church of the Moon. Reaching into her pouch, Alice gritted her teeth and prepared to fight if she was pushed into it.

###

Tristan glanced at the girl in front of him. Eye full of distrust, body positioned in a way to strike whenever he decides to make a move against her.

While he was on his way to check out the tower that suddenly exploded, he had sensed a large bundle of cursed energy far more potent than anything he had ever felt before and thus decided to have a look.

He thought a beast might've snuck into the city but he didn't think that a girl would be the source of this energy.

'How is she even walking with such a potent curse on her?' He thought to himself.

Blood stuck against her bandages and she was clearly fatigued.

"I don't want to hurt you. I just want to have a look at the curses placed upon your body." He called out slowly. He didn't want to startle the other person since he truly just wanted to have a look at the curses.

If he could figure out what kind of curse this was, he might be able to help more people in the future if this ever appeared again.

He could see the hesitation in her eye.

". . . Fine." She nodded, walking out slightly and pulled down her hood.

Pausing in surprise, Tristan stared at her split hair and appearance.

"What? Never seen someone with split hair before?" She spat, causing him to cough awkwardly before shaking his head.

He could see the dark radiance of a curse on her eye, the bracelet on her arm and what seemed to be collateral damage along her body.

Furrowing his brows, Tristan realised the severity of this curse the more he looked at it. And frankly, just being able to form words was impressive never mind walking around like she was.

A curse like this would constantly siphon energy from the person until they were completely dry.

"Where did you even get a curse like this?" He asked but the girl rolled her eyes.

"Have you gotten a good look now? Can I go? This isn't the doctor's office."

"Ah sorry, give me one moment. Would it be alright if I try and dispel it?" Tristan asked as the girl was clearly surprised. She contemplated silently, mulling over the decision before curling her lips into a smile.

"Sure, go for it. But if you ask me, you won't be able to do anything about it." She taunted.

Nodding his head, Tristan took a step back as he unsheathed his blade.

Sigils started to manifest across his body as sparkles of lunar energy coiled around him.

Glancing around her, the girl could see the strands of lunar energy clashing against the curses on her body but to no avail.

Sweat dripped down Tristan's body as this was truly the most tenacious curse he had ever experienced.

*BANG!!!

Breaking apart the clash, the curse lashed out against him as he hastily defended himself with his blade.

Sliding back a few steps, his hand trembled from the backlash.

Had it been designed to counter, he might've been inflicted by the same curse just now!

Cold sweat filled his back.

"You done? Shall I go on my way now?" She asked, clearly not surprised by this turn of events.

Feeling a little embarrassed, Tristan could only nod as he watched her pull up her hood and walk away.

He didn't recall sensing such a potent curse during his time in this city.

'Maybe it's something that can only be activated at night?' He theorised but eventually shook his head. He'll do more research once he gets back to the church.

###

"Weird guy." Alice muttered.

She wasn't in any condition to fight so she went along with what he wanted to do. If at any point did he show signs of trying to kill her, she'll fight back.

But strangely, that wasn't the case. He really did try to dispel her curse then backed off when he couldn't.

Maybe this was common on the surface, but she half expected him to try and kill her since she was clearly suspicious. But if that wasn't the case, she was more than happy to oblige.

'He was similar to the principal in terms of power I'd say. So on the verge of Lord.' Alyss remarked.

[Looked very young too. Shame he's already been claimed by the moon. If that wasn't the case, it might've been a good choice to make a friend out of him o'master mine. His purification powers aren't at the level where it can take out Kaden's curse but for most curses, it should suffice.] Cayla explained.

'Well, that's something we can think about if we live. I still have to deal with getting more Sigils so my personal artifact can stop trying to kill me every second.' Alice shook her head.

'Though that does make me curious. How would you even go about dispelling Kaden's curses? I know he made this one so that it dispels naturally after a while but if I were to go against another curse user, how would I go about it?' She asked curiously.

[That's the fun part o'master mine. You don't. Kaden is the highest pinnacle of curses but that's only when he uses his grimoire. As the Apostle of Corruption and the holder of the Grimoire of Original Sin, he is the only one in the world who can cast multiple curses of Sin onto one person. Most would require large rituals and heavy expenses to cast just one, but Kaden? He can cast all seven and more.

Though by then, you'll be dead already.] Cayla shrugged, boasting about Kaden's powers.

[But in terms of fighting against other curse users, I'll be honest, I'm not so sure. Kaden's talent as a curse user was already very rare never mind reaching his level of proficiency. It's a rare occupation with even rarer talents.

[There is only one suggestion that Kaden has ever said when it comes to facing off against a high level curse user. Kill them before they can target you! The more you give them time, the harder the fight becomes. It turns into a countdown of whether or not you can end things before it reaches that stage.]

Hearing this, Alice couldn't help but swallow her saliva in shock as she didn't think fighting a curse user would be this annoying. Thankfully, she hadn't met an enemy curse user before this otherwise her journey might've ended short!

[It's not that surprising in all honesty. Curse users have one glaring weakness and that is they're weak to direct confrontations. They have to choose between having strong curses and not being able to defend themselves, or weak curses and being able to survive. Then there's the case of having resources, studying material and someone to teach them the ways.

[It's a very expensive occupation and rather than a strong curse user, most large factions would rather use that money to foster an Anti Army Hunter instead with abilities that are specifically used for wiping out large groups.] Cayla reassured.

[Plus there is the battle that wiped out most of the curse users quite a few years ago since they were getting a little too out of control. Most of the important study materials were destroyed with few actually keeping copies.]

Before Cayla could continue her history lesson to Alice, a pillar of energy erupted into the sky from the centre of the port city.

Glancing over in shock, Alice realised that's where Bo and the others were.