Abyssal Awakening

*CRACK!!!

Breaking the glass in his hands, Troy frowned as veins bulged on his neck.

Next to him, Elowen was sitting on a chair with a composed expression.

"Troy… I believe you told me that Keira was just going to take care of them rats before coming back?" She asked slowly, her voice calm and devoid of anger.

"That's… What she said yes." Troy replied after a light pause. His voice was strained as he was holding back his anger.

"So why is she dead? Why has a precious hybrid died in battle? We don't even know who she fought." Elowen asked. A dark creeping aura began to exude from her body.

Even those outside the room felt suffocated by the pressure but they dare not speak a single word.

Silence dominated the room as Elowen let out a fatigued sigh.

"Forget it. What's done is done. We'll need to monitor the north a little more carefully after this." Elowen stood up as she adjusted her dress.

"Don't do anything stupid and follow orders like what you're supposed to do." She glanced back at Troy who bit his lip and nodded his head.

After Elowen left the room, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.

"Stupid idiot…" He muttered, recalling Keira's confidence only for her to die when he wasn't around to cover for her.

###

Looking at the mark left behind by her attack, Alice folded her arms as her Bloodline Release and Resonance faded away.

Exhaustion kicked in but Alice managed to remain on her feet. There was on last problem now.

The woman who owned the Void.

It was brief and barely noticeable but Alice definitely sensed an inkling of killing intent. Her guard was up as she glanced towards the top right and spotted the woman sitting on a boulder.

"I don't suppose you're going to teach me the thing you promised now. I did finish the task rather quickly if I can say so myself." Alice smiled despite the danger she was feeling from the woman.

Narrowing her eyes, she blinked from her spot and appeared behind Alice.

"Of course. But first, a few questions."

"Go for it. But every girl has her secrets so whether or not I answer might depend on what you ask." Alice glanced back but the woman had already disappeared and reappeared near the singularity she had left behind.

"For what reason have you gained all this power?" She asked, confusing Alice momentarily.

"Why does anyone get power? I got it because I wanted to keep myself safe and get revenge on those who wronged me. I also want to rebuild my mother's old home." Alice replied honestly.

Her reason for power had always been to keep herself safe from the Zenias and prevent more like her from appearing.

Hearing this, the woman was silent. She contemplated Alice's words and the truth behind it. Eventually, she nodded her head.

"Alright. Just don't make a mess out of my realm or the realms connected to it." Waving her hand, the Void began to repair itself at a visible place.

While Alice was impressed by the owner's control over her realm, she didn't know the woman was actually shocked.

The attack should've been repaired instantly with nothing left behind. Instead, it was healing slowly with the realm struggling to piece itself together.

'If I didn't do anything, this would've been left like this.' She thought to herself before turning to Alice, hiding her surprise.

"So what do you wanna teach me?" Alice asked with a grin, seeing that the slight moment of hostility disappeared.

"Greedy minx…" The woman's smile twitched before letting out a sigh.

"You already know Void Steps, what else do you want to know? Unless you want me to teach you how to stop yourself." She asked, blinking to a boulder and sitting down.

With the question thrown back at her, Alice paused for a moment before folding her arms. She wasn't sure what she wanted to know from the woman considering a lot of the knowledge can be self taught through experimentation.

Seeing as how Alice was struggling to say something, the woman smoked her pipe in boredom.

"Can't think of anything?" She called out.

"Can we… postpone this? I'll come back another day or something when I think of what I want." Alice asked with a smile.

"Hah??? Are you stupid? Why would I burden myself with keeping an eye on you whenever you appear in the Void? Either think of something now or shoo." The woman clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Coughing awkwardly, Alice furrowed her brows and scrambled her mind for anything she wanted to know about.

"Actually, rather than teaching me something what about some assistance instead?" Alice asked as an idea appeared in her mind.

"Hou? What do you need assistance with? And don't you dare tell me it's a favour for the future because I'm not honouring it if it is."

"No no, it's nothing like that don't worry ahaha. I just need your help with completing my surprise attack that I used earlier. When I collided with the hybrid, a lot of the energy was lost. How can I prevent that?" Alice asked.

Since she was trying to create a personal skill for herself focused on using the Void, who better to ask than the owner herself?

Blinking her eyes, the woman nodded her head.

"If that's what you want then sure."

After all, how hard could it be?

"I wasn't looking properly earlier. Show me how you activate this skill." She gestured.

"Erm… I'm a bit exhausted right now. Activating it is a tad impossible." Alice scratched her cheek.

"Just do what you can, I'll piece together the rest."

Seeing as how she was confident, Alice nodded her head and closed her eyes.

She began to move her energy while hints of her Resonance showed signs of activating. The control of the different forces within her body and the visualisation of her attack.

After a short demonstration, Alice stopped and opened her eyes.

She could see the woman furrowing her brows.

"So? How is it?" Alice asked, waiting for her response.

"Take this. If you need my help or if you think of anything else in the future just channel it when you're in the Void. Okay bye~" She threw over a small tablet to Alice before disappearing.

She's the ruler of the Void for gods sake not the master of energy. With so many sources of energy within Alice's body, it was a miracle that she wasn't blowing up on the spot yet she wants her to help her? Impossible.

She'd rather let Alice call back this favour in the future than try to figure this sh*t out right now.

"Huh???" Blinking her eyes, Alice caught the tablet hastily as she was confused as to why the woman ran away so quickly.

"At least tell me your name before you go!" Alice called out.

However, the woman didn't reply. Instead, the tablet began to glow and a name appeared on the surface.

[Feris]

Seeing this, Alice couldn't help but shake her head and stored the tablet away. Seems like perfecting her skill was going to be harder than she expected if even Feris didn't want to help.

"WAIT! DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU WERE GOING TO HELP ME GO BACK TO REALITY?!" Alice widened her eyes just as she was about to make a portal. If Feris wasn't going to help, who knows how long it'll take her to go back.

But there was no response. Not even the tablet glowed as Alice was met with silence.

Her smile twitched furiously as she grabbed the boulder that Feris was sitting on earlier and threw it into the infinite Void out of frustration.

She was now forced to wait before opening a portal back. During that time, there was no doubt that Selen is going to be worried and give her a lecture once she returned. Just thinking about the lecture gave Alice a headache.

###

Folding her arms, a tall woman frowned as she looked at the traces of battle left behind.

The flames have already extinguished but the mark of energy was unmistakable.

"Tiamat." Allura muttered, brushing her hands against the charred ground. Even now, she can sense the destructive energy left behind by the attack.

How did she even get out? Did a hole appear in Terminus? Were the barriers broken? Who opened the path?

Questions flooded Allura's mind but there was no one to give her answers.

"I'm guessing this is a bad sign?" Gin asked while looking at the reformed landscape.

Just standing here gave him chills.

"Just a tad. A sealed Lord broke out of Terminus and she's gathering energy quickly. It'll only be a matter of time before she's back to full power." Allura shrugged.

If she was to fight Tiamat right now, she might be able to force a draw. But if Tiamat gets any stronger, Allura understood that it'll be near impossible to pull her back into Terminus.

"The fact that you didn't give me a confident response is already plenty to worry about. My old bones can't handle this sh*t." Gin complained while opening his flask to take a drink.

With Allura being unable to give him a proper response, Gin already knew the kind of danger this sealed Lord could bring.

The two of them were definitely not enough and it didn't help that they were being pursued by a bunch of fanatics from the different churches. They had to draw attention away from Alice after all.

"It'll be fine. I'll just need to find a few old friends to help us if Tiamat does indeed recover. And…" Allura trailed off. She didn't want to say it out loud but she'll need to find Kaden if Tiamat recovers.

The only issue was… if she was to see that face again…

She might kill him by accident.