Abyssal Awakening

Jumping onto the roof of a building, Selen glanced at the destruction around them. Beasts tearing apart houses while guards try their best to fight back. But with this outbreak, many of them were having trouble just standing never mind fighting back.

"Hounds! Come to me!" A voice roared out as Selen noticed that it was the governor whom they met earlier.

Behind her, several figures flickered into existence as all of them had the distinguishing feature of animalistic ears and tails.

"Burn Spirits at full power! Do not let the corruption take hold! Kill the beasts and believe in the Lords! That is all!" The Governor ordered as six Sigils lit up across her body.

"UNDERSTOOD!" All of the Hounds shouted in response. Without a moment's delay, they rushed towards the beasts, each of them activating their Sigils and all of them had six!

Already, Selen could see the unwavering faith they had towards Frida and Sigurd, the Lords tasked with protecting the capital.

'They're targeting normal beasts while the hybrids are commanding the airspace. The Lords are dealing with the Hybrid Lords and there seems to be another prepared for Queen Verona.'

Holding back her anger, Selen calmed her mind.

If she was to let anger take hold, she'd lose her advantage. That being the hybrids don't know she's here right now.

There were two options for her. First was to act as support for the Lords.

However, choosing this method could cause the third Lord to enter the fight. And if she was to help them, the other hybrids would be left unattended.

That brings in the second option.

To assassinate the hybrids before joining Sigurd and Frida!

Can you even do it?

A doubt crept into her mind. Her doubt towards her own abilities.

Could she pierce the defences of the hybrids that even Alice struggled against?

She didn't know.

But! Even if she didn't know, even if she wasn't sure, she had to do it. Just the image of seeing Egil struggling on the bed was enough to light a fire of anger in her chest as Sigils lit up across her body.

'I have less damage than Alice and I'll struggle to get through their armour. But with perception manipulation, I should be able to disrupt their formation and chain of command. Even if I can't do that, I should be able to be a nuisance to them. I just need to buy time for the right moment.' Selen thought to herself.

This battlefield was not for her to stand out in. That was reserved for the Lords. But where the eye can't see, she'll do what she can.

###

Laying the flame across Egil's body, sweat rolled down Alice's face.

"F*ck… How the hell did the Zenia even make something like this." Alice gritted her teeth.

Compared to the disease she saw plaguing Egil's mother, this was far more destructive. Far more violent and volatile. Even the slightest stimulation was enough to drive it into a frenzy.

Had Egil not instinctively protected himself with his Sigils, the disease would've invaded his spiritual heart already.

If the disease in Egil's mother could be described as an infection that's slowly spreading, then Egil could be described as being dunked into a tank of curses.

Side effects that assaulted every part of his body without stop.

Not only that but there was even a slight hint of Alice's own blood within this mix.

'It's similar to your blood mist. I just didn't think they would actually go this far and make it into a weapon.' Alyss frowned.

In the past, Alice had entertained the idea of doing something similar.

But to see it in action was truly horrific.

Just dealing with Egil was enough to give her an idea of the chaos occurring in the capital right now. People sleeping peacefully only to be woken up by the horrific transformation.

Biting her lip, Alice decided to do a small gamble.

'Don't even think about it.' Alyss shut it down immediately.

Even though she wasn't at the heart of the battle, her twin was still trying to attempt something truly stupid without caring about herself.

'Why not though? I think it'll work pretty well. I have my hands tied with trying to figure out a solution anyway.' Alice pouted.

'It's not a matter of you being occupied or not. It's the fact that you're exposing yourself if you do. What do you think the Zenia's will do if they realise that their outbreak was hindered? And what if, I'm just saying what if, a Hybrid sees that it's you doing it?' Alyss frowned.

'Alternatively, what if Verona owes me a debt of saving her capital from falling to ruin.' Alice grinned with a peace sign.

'. . .' Letting out a deep sigh, Alyss face palmed.

'Then you can tell Cayla of your plan and see if she approves or not.' She suggested as Alice nodded her head.

Not far from them, Cayla was sitting on the floor with several sheets spread out around her. In order to track her thoughts and findings better, she manifested her theories, tests, and results on sheets.

Noticing Alice approaching, she paused while listening to the plan she had in mind.

[Alice… Did you hit your head? Or are you drunk right now?] Cayla asked, making an expression of disbelief.

'I'm not drunk! If I do this, things will be far more advantageous for us don't you agree?' Alice folded her arms.

[Advantageous yes. Downright stupid? Also yes. Reckless? Very much so. How do you even guarantee that you'll be able to keep your consciousness if you were to lose so much blood? I get that you have regeneration but losing focus for a moment while exposing yourself will get you killed. Also, you need to think about Egil's condition while you do it.] Cayla scratched her hair.

Between Alice and Velouria, Alice was no doubt the most reckless one.

However, both had similar thoughts when it came to helping people. Similar to the extent that Cayla couldn't help but to relent to these ideals and try her best to help her accomplish it.

[If you regulate your power slowly, you should be able to do it without passing out.] Cayla smiled as Alice grinned.

'Huh??? I told her to talk to you so that you can dissuade her not encourage it!' Alyss blinked her eyes in disbelief.

[Just look at Alice, does it look like my words would've dissuaded her? If anything, it's more like she's trying to persuade us so she doesn't feel bad about doing it.] Cayla laughed as Alyss let out a fatigued sigh.

'Just do what you want.' Alyss relented. Her twin was always like this. Stubborn to a fault. But she knew that Alice wanted to do this since her blood was the root cause. To see this level of destruction, if she didn't do anything, it would haunt her conscious.

Upon getting approval from Alyss, Alice created a portal next to her as she transferred Egil to a floating blood bed.

Stepping through the portal, she appeared near the top of the giant tree situated in the centre of the city.

"I'm going to apologise before hand for this your majesty. But this isn't a situation where I can wait for your approval okay?" Alice called out as she understood that Verona was probably watching everything that was going on.

It was still a mystery why she hasn't made a move yet but that wasn't Alice's focus.

With the tree in the centre of the city, it was the best place for her to be since this way, her ability could reach every corner of this capital.

Taking a deep breath, Alice set Egil aside.

She kept a sliver of her focus on him to ensure the disease didn't progress further.

After trying to resolve the issue in his body, Alice got a slight hint on what she should do. It wasn't enough to completely purge the disease but halting the progression was enough.

Resonance!

Activating her resonance, spider lilies began to blossom around her as a pool of blood swirled into existence.

To hold back the disease, she needed to use her own blood to counter it. Poison vs poison. While it had its benefits, it had an equal amount of risk. That being how much blood could she actually use without people just dying from the dosage.

The only advantage she had over the outbreak was the fact that she could control her own blood.

One misstep and it could be pure destruction.

But… Within the dangers of destruction, comes the chance of creation.

She will use her destructive blood and forge a cure.

Bloodline Release!

Behind Alice, her soul manifested itself.

Strangely, she was not crying tears of black blood. Instead, a pool of blood began to expand with spider lilies blooming in crimson.

Silken strands of energy began to emanate from Alice, stretching far into the sky.

What Alice wanted to do, what she had to do, was spread her blood across the entire capital. And the best way to do that was from the tree.

Raising her hands, energy and blood converged into a single orb.

She recalled her previous experiment, recalled Kaden's power. She couldn't visualise his abilities properly but there was a feeling that she wanted to grasp.

A sense of warmth within the curse. Just like how she was going to use her blood to fight against this poison, she'll use the curse as a catalyst for her cure.

A cur(s)e for the people of the capital.

Upon her body, the Second Sigil began to glow as Alice fired the orb into the sky.

A single trail of red shot up before detonating into a spider lily amidst a land of snow and ice. A single red lily that stood unyielding as blood mist enveloped the capital.