Abyssal Awakening

Selen's smile twitched while looking at the clueless Alice. Even if she was locked away by the Zenia family, surely she would've overheard something about the birds and the bees right? RIGHT?

Thinking about this, Selen suddenly recalled the time they went to the banquet in the Inverted World. During that time, she clearly recalled Alice making something under her skirt to scare off the people flirting with her.

"Didn't you… ya know, make something under your skirt when we were at the banquet? How do you not know about the birds and the bees?" Selen questioned, grasping at straws so that she didn't have to explain it to Alice.

"That? I heard a scholar do it and the person seemed really scared. Like, really really scared and started to beg. It's probably a punishment, right? I even copied the tone and everything." Alice tilted her head, trying to recall the exact scene in her mind.

Meanwhile, Alyss froze up.

'Twinnie, switch with me for a moment and let me talk to Selen. And while I'm doing so, don't eavesdrop.' Alyss requested as Alice furrowed her brows.

'Huh? Why?'

'Look, just do it okay? It's not like I ask of this from you often.'

Finding it a little weird, Alice eventually nodded her head and agreed.

Golden chains appeared on her body as Alyss took over while Alice blocked her ears and stopped herself from eavesdropping.

"Selen." Alyss called out.

Hearing the unfamiliar tone, Selen frowned.

"Just think of me as someone who lives with Alice. I think I figured something out about that." Alyss scratched her hair.

"She's doing a monkey see, monkey do kind of situation. So unfortunately, she doesn't know f*ck all about the birds and the bees." Alyss explained while letting out a sigh.

"That… still doesn't explain what little information she has though." Selen decided to question Alice about this woman later. But for now, she wanted to figure out the level of knowledge that Alice has.

Looking around for a moment, Alyss gestured for them to follow her.

"You know roughly about how Alice was raised right? Well… At least somewhat of an idea." Alyss opened her mouth while glancing at Egil.

She needed to word her words carefully as to not tell the whole story.

"Somewhat, yes."

"She spent 10 years there. The only thing she could learn was whatever she overheard and what the guards talked about. She may have some vocabulary that leans towards the… advanced level of the birds and the bees thanks to this but she has no foundation.

"And I'll be honest, I do NOT want to talk about the birds and the bees with her." Alyss's smile twitched imagining such a situation.

She already found it weird a while back. Alice didn't have the same reaction when she pulled the prank at the banquet as her.

There were only three possibilities at that point. She found it enjoyable, she didn't care about it or she didn't know what she was doing. Like a child who didn't know waving a knife around was dangerous, she didn't know that what she was doing was rather… vulgar.

But never did Alyss think that it was the third option. She had always just assumed it was the second option.

"So what are we supposed to do? There's no doubt that she'll be asking about what the birds and the bees mean now." Selen asked with a sigh.

"There's one thing we can do."

###

'Twinnie you can take over again now.' Alyss tapped Alice's shoulder.

'What did ya talk about?'

'Nothing important, just some complaints on how reckless you are. But Selen wanted a spar with you since she's making a new skill. It seems pretty advanced so she wanted your reaction on it.' Alyss chuckled.

Hearing this, Alice's eyes began to sparkle as she immediately jumped up.

'Selen got a new skill? What is it about?'

If Selen was making a new skill, there was a good chance that it could serve as inspiration for her own skill or give her a chance at breaking through her current bottleneck.

'If I say it, it'll be a spoiler, won't it? You'll find out when you fight her.'

Just before Alice took over, Alyss turned around and gave Selen a loud high five. The action signifying that Alice had completely forgotten about their earlier talk just as planned and was now interested in the spar.

There were only two words on Selen's mind.

'Thank f*ck!'

As the chains disappeared, Alice blinked her eyes.

"Welcome back~ So who was that anyways?" Selen asked, pretending like nothing ever happened.

"Oh you mean Alyss? She's like my twin. How do you put it… Two souls one body? She pops out occasionally when I'm fighting or if she wants to do a bit of shopping too." Alice explained as Selen recalled the first time they fought.

There was a moment where her body controls kept flipping while these chains manifested on Alice's body.

"Ahh… I see. So that's what it was." Selen mumbled.

"But setting that aside, you said you wanted to spar right? With your new skill." Alice grinned.

"Yep. But I don't think this area would be good considering there are too many eyes."

Folding her arms, Alice thought about it for a moment before suggesting that they should go to the crystal forest that was created thanks to Keira. Since the place was already destroyed, they might as well make use of it.

With the arrangements sorted, they began to discuss the rules while making their way over.

"Since this is a spar, I'll be limiting the stuff I can use. I'll be honest, a lot of my skills are made for killing after all, not quite suitable for a harmless spar." Alice scratched her cheek with an awkward smile.

After all, if she was to take Selen by surprise with a Void Flux, she wouldn't come out of it unscathed.

"I mean… I think you can still use it. Just not the crazy stuff please. I can handle the standard variants." Selen chuckled.

If Alice were to use the attack she used back in Kvia then…

There won't even be a crystal forest left to look at.

"Alright. So no variants of Void Flux. I'll probably avoid using my fifth Sigil too. Don't need to create another rift between me and the realm for just a spar otherwise my body might explode." Alice nodded.

For this fight, Alice was going to limit herself to the first four Sigils, Resonance, Bloodline Release and the Shard of Kara.

"What about your artifact and the weird Resonance that you did when the meteor came down?"

"Oh that? I mean I could but I'm not sure about the lethality of it yet. I haven't had much practice with it after all." Alice folded her arms.

There were still a lot she didn't know about her Artificial Resonance. Thus far, all she could tell was that it worked similar to her Artifact in that it significantly enhanced her control over the Void.

It seems to also boost the potency of her Void based abilities but that could also just be a placebo effect.

"It'll be fine though. I still got plenty of cards up my sleeve for the spar so don't worry about it." Alice reassured with a grin.

Now that her Bloodline Release has been unlocked, even if its just for her own soul, her physical power was boosted to a level where she should be able to keep up with Selen.

Arriving at the entrance of the crystal forest, the three of them made their way towards the heart. Since they were relaxed, they didn't notice the cartographer and Torgeir on the opposite end.

Finding a clearing within the heart, the two stood opposite one another while Egil acted as the referee for this spar.

"I'll have to warn you though. If you let your guard down, you'll lose in an instant." Selen gave her body a stretch.

"Ohya? Confident are we? But if you say that, it's going to be harder to make me drop my guard ya know?" Alice laughed. Her curiosity was at an all time high. If Selen was this confident in her new skill, she must have a plan to end the fight in an instant.

Alice was dying to know what kind of skill could give Selen this much confidence.

"Oh I know don't worry. Why don't we make a bet about it?" Selen offered.

Hearing that Selen wanted to make a wager, Alice curled her lips up into a grin.

"Fufu~ What kind of wager are we talking about now?"

"If you win, I'll buy you some mead from the tavern. Enough to replenish the supplies I saw last time in your pouch."

"!!!" Alice's eyes practically radiated fighting spirit as she wasn't about to give this up.

"But on the 'off chance' that I win… Why don't you do me a favour?" Selen asked as Alice tapped her chin.

"What kind of favour?"

"I can't think of one for now so why don't we postpone until I need?" Selen shrugged.

"Sure, I can do that." Alice nodded.

With the rules and wagers now put into place, they got ready for the duel.

Taking a deep breath, Alice focused her mind. Even if it's a spar, she's not one to just take it easy on her opponent.

Plus, she understands that Selen is a strong fighter. The fact that she lost/drew to Selen in the past when they met was indicative of that. A woman who's incredibly strong with her time powers and body control.

"BEGIN!" Egil called out as Alice immediately activated her Resonance.

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.

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"Eh?" Blinking her eyes, Alice froze in shock as she didn't even know when Selen had placed a blade against her neck.