Abyssal Awakening

"Wait, you know Allura and Gin?" Ria blinked.

"Just a little. We've had some contact before, but these days? Rarely." Neal chuckled as Ria narrowed her eyes before curling her lips into a smile.

"You mentioned you would help us pay off the fees incurred in this hunt, right?" Ria asked with a harmless smile.

"I did say that, yes. Why?"

Hearing this confirmation, Ria gestured for Alice to pull out her contract.

"You see, on top of using a bunch of Abyss Blood vials, weapons, and even having my clothes ruined, we needed to take a small loan from the Church of the Moon in order to pay for my treatment. Now, I believe it all comes under the fees incurred by crossing paths with the Cultists that you said you'll reimburse." Ria explained while placing the contract on the table.

Seeing the price of 3 Platina, Neal understood what they were wanting to say.

"Alright, I'll pay off this contract with the Church of the Moon. You do not need to worry about it. As for everything else, you can consider it a reward for the information along with passing the same over to Allura or Gin." Neal reached into his desk's drawer and pulled out a small pouch before placing it on the table.

Taking the pouch, Ria opened it slightly. The shimmering reflection of Platina coins reflected in her eyes.

"All of that is for the two of you to split amongst yourselves and replenish what you had to spend during this trip as well as the damages incurred." Neal smiled as Ria grinned and put the pouch in her pocket.

"We will let Allura know when she comes back."

Not wanting to stick around, Ria grabbed Alice and left the room while Otto was confused by why Neal spent so much money.

"I don't believe I've heard of either Allura or Gin. Are they really worth giving those two 10 Platina to use?" Otto frowned. Such a reward was usually reserved for far more experienced Hunters.

"Oh, trust me. 10 Platina is a very, VERY, cheap price to pay if I can get the help of Allura or Gin to help defend the city.  A beast created from the body of an Abyss Lord is not something any of us can hope to contest against," Neal explained, "Even in the holy cities, the Churches have their Popes deal with such a threat."

Upon hearing that a Pope was required to deal with such a beast only caused Otto's confusion to grow.

Two people he had never heard nor known about were on the same level as the second highest reigning authority of the big three churches?

"Regardless, I can only hope the two would be willing to help. For the time being, however, prepare the shelters and escape tunnels. Have some Hunters scout for any nearby pathways to the lower layers and update the map accordingly. I want to see every point of invasion and have our defenses ready." Neal ordered seriously. Otto nodded and left the room.

Leaning back on his chair, Neal massaged his forehead. He could still remember the few times Allura and Gin had demonstrated their prowess. While he could say that Gin was indeed around Pope level, Allura felt stronger despite what she revealed.

It was as though she was never pushed to show everything she had saved up.

'Is she stronger than the Popes?' Neal thought to himself, but dared not imagine the potential truth.

###

Leaving the guild with a grin on her face, Ria took a deep breath and sighed out in relief.

"Well, I suppose our issues with funds have resolved themselves, aye?" Ria laughed as Alice nodded her head.

"Yes, it has. Do you want to buy some more Abyss Blood first or get some clothes?" Alice asked, pointing at Ria's outfit.

Missing sleeves, a shoe, and several burns on the fabric while bandages could be seen beneath the clothing made Ria look like she nearly died and came back from the edge, which may not be wrong.

"Probably some clothes, if I'm being honest. I'm not saying I care about the stares I'm getting, but at the same time, walking around like this isn't very good." She shrugged.

"There's a Hunter's Tailor near the Guild. We can go there for now. But I must say, what the hell is your outfit even made of? There's like hardly any damage to it." She remarked while seeing Alice's outfit.

Except for her cloak that she lost, the outfit was practically undamaged, with the exception of some dirty spots.

"I'm not sure, actually. Sera had it laying around for another customer that died. So, she gave it to me. I know that Allura said Sera was good at making outfits."

"I mean, if Allura vouched for her, then you can probably imagine that what she does is far above the standard of high quality, as it has proven itself to her. I'm pretty tempted to buy something like that myself, but the commission fee is going to be crazy, I bet." Ria lamented. Good Hunting gear cost quite a fortune.

"You can use my half of the reward to buy something that lasts a bit longer, if you need. The expenses will stack up if we have to keep buying outfits every time we run into some trouble." Alice offered.

"Well… It's not every day we run into Cultists, right?"

Making their way to the Hunter's Tailor, Ria eventually settled for a similar design to the one she had before, an eastern-style outfit with semi transparent sleeves that looked as though they were made from silk. It was composed of a turquoise sleeveless dress with floral patterns, long turquoise sleeves that reached up to her bicep, a pair of stockings, and shoes.

Alice expected Ria to have chosen something more practical despite the fact that the outfit was resistant to her lightning due to the materials it was made from.

Seeing Alice's gaze, Ria coughed lightly.

"What? It looks cute. Just because I punch people or kick them doesn't mean I want to do it with dirty leather armour and stuff." Ria pouted. She wasn't a fan of the usual Hunter attire. Plus, as a physical fighter, her body was her shield.

"Hmm… Maybe I should get something that looks nice too." Alice muttered as she remembered her conversation with Lilia back at the Slaughter Docks.

A conversation about going to clothing stores and finding dresses for her.

"When I've paid off this outfit, I'll ask Sera to make me something nice and practical." Alice pointed at her own outfit while Ria paid for her selection. Overall, her new outfit only cost her 1 Platina. A little more expensive than her previous outfit, but more durable as well.

Happy with her new purchase, there was a new bounce to each of Ria's steps. She was clearly in a good mood, which only made Alice curious as to when she was going to ask about her being able to borrow power from other Sigils.

"Let's go buy some blood now. We've got a bit more money, so we probably shouldn't buy something that can stack up fiercely like the Black Blaze Blood." Ria scratched her cheeks awkwardly. That choice almost took her life.

"Let's go for something relatively safe with low side effects, so that it can be drunk in quick succession. I've got a few ideas in mind, but they were too expensive for our funds at the time. It's a type of blood called Blood Wyrm Tonic."

Hearing that name, Alice took a moment to see if she was familiar with the name or not. It didn't ring a bell to her.

"What kind of blood is it?"

"Blood Wyrm Tonic basically regenerates your body at a high-speed using your blood or foreign blood. The side effects are pretty negligible if you get the high quality version, since the tonic only makes it so that you desire blood and become short-tempered." Ria shrugged.

With such side effects, Blood Wyrm Tonic was considered very high quality healing blood, even more so if one gets their hands on the high-purity variants.

"Oh? When was it discovered?" Alice asked curiously.

"When was it discovered? Hmm… I don't know, actually. It just kind of appeared out of nowhere and took the market by storm. No one knows who found it, no one knows who the creator was nor do they know the composition of the blood. When they tried to reverse engineer it, the product always failed. No one has encountered a Blood Wyrm to verify things, either.

However, there's a steady supply and it's been proven to work, so people are using it more often now." Ria shrugged.

"Of course, not everyone just drank the blood without care. It took a few years before it was actually allowed into the market, since the Apothecary Guild was making sure of side-effects and so on."

"Hmm… Strange." Alice muttered. The circumstances seemed too weird.

"They are. But you can't deny the blood's effectiveness."

Once they finished buying the blood, the girls were left with 7 Platina. The blood had cost them 2 whole Platina pieces. It was way more expensive considering their previous purchases, but their life was more valuable.

With the time getting rather late, the duo got back to the Minstrel's Dance and had some dinner. Alice expected to have a conversation about their previous Hunt once again, but Ria seemed to be oblivious to it and ended the night early, leaving Alice to her own devices.

Having some time to herself, Alice eventually decided to go on a late night walk. She wanted to visit the book store and see if she could get some information on the White Death that was birthed from the Abyss Lord's body.

The fact that it noticed her staring at it thanks to the effects of her Eye caused some concerns on Alice's end. With Allura not being back yet, the book store was her only source of information.