Abyssal Awakening

Sitting in silence, the spider lilies around Alice glowed with a mesmerising crimson hue.

The side effects have stopped manifesting across her body as most of the patients were now 'cured'.

Despite forming a resonance to balance out the effects of the curse, there were still lingering aftereffects that she couldn't completely get rid of.

Simply put, they were infected for too long.

Their soul had been permanently dyed and she did what she could to return them back to 'normal'.

Most of them will spend their life feeling a little on edge around Abyss Blood and develop some form of slight resistance. It's a good and bad thing considering side effects are harder to appear on them but at the same time, healing vials will become less effective.

Alice could drink healing vials and they maintain their effectiveness. These folks will find the vials losing their effectiveness after a few drinks.

Meaning, that every time they get injured, they'll have to worry about spending more money to heal injuries next time.

However, compared to losing their life here and now to the side effects, this was a very, very small price to pay.

The bigger worry for Alice was… The warriors who were burning their energy to fend off the curse. Because they were burning their energy, most of their natural resistances were being burned away and replaced by the curse.

To put it into perspective, their body and spiritual heart was a canister. Every time they burned energy to fend off the curse, the energy inside the canister was being displaced by the curse once it's been expended. Meaning the longer they fought while being infected, the faster they were damaging their body.

The effects may be warded off momentarily but that's only on the outside. They were rapidly burning through what remains of their life.

She managed to offset this through the resonance since she's replacing the energy she burned with her own that could combat the curse. But it's not a long term solution. They'll no doubt exhaust it eventually and be left with a permanently half empty supply of energy.

After tonight, they'll never be able to fight the way they could before.

'What a pain in the ass…' Alice sighed.

The toughest part was now resolved but it was still hard to deal with the lingering effects.

As of right now, it was going to be impossible for her.

"Urg…" Groaning out in pain, Alice turned her gaze towards Egil in surprise as she didn't think he would wake up this early.

She didn't know why but his body reacted far more aggressively to the curse.

If others were reduced to 50% of the normal capacity, Egil was reduced to only 20% of his overall capacity.

Meaning, unless something was done, his life as a Warrior was over.

"Where… Where…" He stuttered, feeling pain across his body as his vision blurred.

"You're safe. We're at the big tree right now." Alice replied, thinking he was asking about where they were.

However, he shook his head and sat out in pain.

Clutching his head, he took several deep breaths before turning to Alice.

"Where's Selen? Is she safe?" He asked as Alice let out a small sigh.

He wasn't even worried about his own safety. Rather, the first thing on his mind was Selen's safety.

"She's fighting the hybrids right now. Killed 4 of them before I lost contact since she dragged the last few into her personal realm."

Hearing this, Egil nodded his head before trying to stand up but his body collapsed beneath him.

"You're in no state to fight right now. The curse did a number on your body. If you go now, you'll only be a hindrance." Alice let out a deep sigh.

*BANG!!!

Punching the ground beneath him, Egil forced himself to stand up.

"Just be honest with me Alice. My body isn't looking good is it? I can feel it myself. The spirits I've attuned to can't be manifested." Egil smiled bitterly.

All of his Sigils refused to activate and every time he tried, a stinging pain would assault his chest.

Considering the state of those who were infected by this curse, Egil understood that it was quite a miracle for him to even be standing right now. But he was greedy. He didn't want to just fall down and call it quits.

Not when Selen was risking her life killing hybrids.

Even if he was to die, he wanted to be a shield for her in his last moments.

". . ." Hesitating for a moment, Alice gave the back of his leg a light jab, forcing him back down.

"Yes, it's a mess. You only have 20% of your usual capacity. You kept burning it to keep yourself alive. Honestly, after tonight, you should probably think of doing something else other than being a Warrior." Alice told him truthfully since he is a friend.

For Egil, his Sigils consume a lot of energy to activate but are highly efficient once it's been activated. But that activation cost was the issue.

With just 20% of his capacity, Egil couldn't activate any of his Spirits.

Hearing Alice's assessment, Egil's eyes trembled for a moment before letting out a fatigued sigh.

"Is there nothing I can do about it?"

"I… Don't know." Alice turned her gaze down.

If it wasn't for her Spiritual Heart taking on his burden, his capacity would be at 0 right now and he would likely be dead.

For Egil to resume fighting… Alice wasn't sure how.

His main issue was capacity. If he didn't have a way to increase his capacity, even artificially, there was no way for him to return to fighting condition.

But in order for him to make an artificial container for energy, he'll have to form a resonance effect. To use the balance of three sources to form a container.

Just using his Sigils won't be enough since his Sigils work on his main container.

Closing her eyes, Alice was hesitant. There was an idea in mind.

But doing so would be… Similar to what the Zenia family does.

To use her blood and take advantage of the marks left behind by the curse. By fusing Egil with her blood, she'll allow him to access his full capacity one more and perhaps even expand it.

But then comes the question of resistance.

How well can he resist the transfusion?

However… Is she really willing to go down the same path as the Zenias? Would it not be hypocritical of herself to hate them for what they do only to turn around and do it herself? Alice struggled with the choice.

Egil noticed his hesitation.

"Please Alice, I don't want to lose Selen. Please let me go help her."

Biting her lip, Alice scratched her hair.

If he was to ask her like this, how could she say no? If she was the in same position, she wouldn't hesitate to gamble either. But that's only because she's in a position to gamble!

Her own body helps offset the side effects but Egil doesn't have the same boon.

[If you're worried about resistance, why not introduce a third source so that he can balance it out like you do?] Cayla suggested.

She knew that Alice wanted to help Egil out but without a way of resisting the side effects, she couldn't go ahead with the idea.

'A third source? Hmm…' Furrowing her brows, Alice considered the sources available.

'Can't you just teach him the Bloodline Release like what Tiamat did for you? His powers are based on summoning Spirits to overlap his body right? Sounds like he'll do just fine with manifesting his own.' Alyss cut in.

'Right! That's true! Tiamat never said I couldn't teach it to anyone else.' A glimmer appeared in Alice's eye.

However, even with the right conditions, it was still going to be risky so Alice needed to let Egil know the consequences of failing.

"I have a way for you to fight again. But it's… How do it put it. Risky isn't even doing it justice. With this method, you'll have to learn a new technique. One that'll let you fight but only when you activate it. Because if you don't, your body will crumble from the inside out from the effects of my blood." Alice warned.

If they were to form a resonance between Egil's current energy source, Alice's blood and the Bloodline Release, it'll help him balance out the effects and maintain a state of fighting capability.

But if he were to try and only use his current energy source with the damage done by the curse, her blood would only accelerate the 'infection' in his body and cause side effects to manifest, killing him in the process.

Therefore, unless he's able to use Bloodline Release properly, he'll struggle.

"I'm not talking about an ordinary death. It'll be extremely painful and far worse than what you experienced from this curse. If you thought this curse was painful, just know that it only holds a small fraction of my blood. But what we're doing is injecting you with the undiluted source. Are you sure you want to do this?" Alice questioned.

Closing his eyes, Egil recalled the acceptance he felt from Selen. The warmth that spread through his chest.

He wanted to protect this.

If other people saw the choices he was given, they may call him stupid to accept. However, he wanted to be there for Selen. Through the good times and through the bad. If she was fighting against four hybrids right now, he wanted to be there as her shield.

To make sure nothing bad could happen to her.

"Yeah, I want to do this. Plus, I trust you Alice." Egil grinned.

Letting out a sigh, Alice nodded her head.

"Sit up properly. I'll show you the technique. The rest will be up to you."

###

Grabbing Ayla's hand, Egil glared at her with bloodshot eyes. Anger assaulted his mind as the living armour around his body twitched.

There was only one thing on his mind right now…

To slaughter the woman who tried to kill Selen!