Abyssal Awakening

'Are you able to designate the Lord of Duality as the target for a Sigil?'

Hearing this question, Cayla's mind short circuited.

[It's… possible? I think? Considering a Lord level being is beyond humanity and practically half beast already. But there's never been a case of designating another 'human' as a target for these Sigils. There are Lord level beasts that's for sure. But… Actual Lords? Ones favoured by the Abyss?] Cayla muttered as she tried to make sense of Alice's request.

All logic points to the fact that it's possible!

Especially since she has the ability to manually designate targets of their desire.

'Well the theory is simple alright? When I kill beasts, I take one of their abilities as a Sigil and permanently engrave on my body. But when I take someone's soul, I don't have any guides on what they can do.

"It's a case of me remotely choosing their abilities and slotting it into my Sigil. However, their… ability as a Lord. It's something the Abyss granted no? The power of their titles. Duality for example.

'If I'm able to unlock this much through my soul siphoning, it proves that it can be taken as a Sigil. So through logic, it means that I can have you designate the Lord as my target right?' Alice clarified as Cayla furrowed her brows and began to frantically flip through her notes.

Never in her life had she heard anyone even mention this or attempt it. Plus, even with the technology of Ayr, no one there was insane enough to designate a Lord as their Target.

Beasts were far easier to hunt than Humans, even if they were intelligent.

[Setting aside whether or not this is possible, there's still the case of the Goddess you need to worry about. Killing the Lord is one thing but turning them into a Sigil is another, especially for Lumiria.

[She'll take this as an insult and hunt you down with her Apostles. This isn't the Inverted World. The danger is many times greater than in the memory.] Cayla warned.

'I know but just think about it.' Alice grinned.

[Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Honestly, it's far better for you to just pick something else and switch it out if needed. You already have access to her powers.] Cayla tried her best to convince Alice.

However, before Alice could respond, Alyss spoke up.

'What do you think will happen if you ate the entirety of her Soul? We know that the Abyss retains a fragment of it due to the contract we make whenever we take a Sigil. But what if you took all of it? Would your power of Duality increase?'

". . ."

[. . .]

Cayla needed Alice to hold her back as she wanted to smack Alyss on the head.

She had almost succeeded in stopping Alice from going after a Lord belonging to Lumiria but before that thought could even grace Alice's mind for more than a second, Alyss had to go and ruin that.

But now that the idea was in Alice's mind, she too was curious about how that would work.

Example being Tiamat's Sigil. Stay tuned with empire

She only consumed a small fragment and even gave back what she could. But with just this small fragment, she was able to replicate her power to its current level. Would consuming all of her soul give her full control over everything that Tiamat has achieved in her life?

And if that was successful, if she was to take the full soul of an Abyss Lord such as that of Esse, would she become the second Abyss Lord of Duality? Even though she's not at seven Sigils?

To push it further, what if she ate multiple? Would she gain multiple titles? Would her abilities expand to house all of their Sigils too?

Alice didn't know exactly what the hell Nyer wanted to achieve through giving her this kind of body. But one thing was for sure and that was he made something completely outrageous!

She could negate Abyss abilities, consume souls and attach them to her own Spiritual Heart. She could replicate abilities and even regenerate from most wounds so long as she's not killed instantly.

Alice wouldn't even know where to begin if she was to try and make something of a similar nature.

Just what has Nyer researched since the fall of Ayr?

In the end, with Cayla begging earnestly, Alice decided to reel her ideas in a little and focus on what she could do here and now.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

There was only one task and that was to familiarise herself with this new ability.

###

Waiting by the docks of the Underworld, Lorien had his arms folded while looking at the time.

He had clearly told Calista not to be late yet it was almost the promised time and there wasn't even a shadow of her in sight.

While she wasn't the only guard that he hired, she was by far the strongest available.

Should the Pirate Queen intercept, the biggest chance of success would be to rely on Calista.

"Where the hell is she?" Lorien muttered, tapping his foot in annoyance.

Looking back, he could see the countless workers preparing to set off as they made the final checks on the ships. In order to receive this new batch of shipments, he had to go out to sea to reach the drop off point.

Once at the drop off point, they'll exchange cargo before going their separate ways.

As the organiser, he wasn't planning on going since that would put himself in too much danger. Especially with the looming threat of the Pirate Queen.

But that was only if it was the usual cargo.

With the… delicate nature of this batch, he had to go in person to make sure there were no issues.

Which is all the more annoying for him seeing as how Calista was nowhere in sight!

"THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER!!!" One of the workers shouted out in a panic as people began to run.

Turning around in confusion, he could see a portion of the sea begin to bulge up before a crab like beast burst out from the sea!

*KRRRRK!!!!

Letting out a rattling cry, the beast towered over the port!

Guards prepared to attack but they noticed red threads tied to the claws and the rest of the body.

"Hi~ Hope I'm not too late!" A woman's voice could be heard as Lorien paused.

On the beast's back, Calista could be seen hanging on using the threads.

She was using it as a set of reigns before flicking her wrist and recalling the threads.

Twisting her body, she hopped off the beast in one swift motion before narrowing her eyes and warning it with her killing intent.

At first, the beast wanted to fight back but seeing as how the girl was merely warning it, it gave off one last hiss before diving down into the sea and leaving the area.

Landing next to Lorien, Alice gave her outfit one last check as she had surrounded herself using the Void to avoid getting wet.

Once she was sure that she was dry, Alice glanced up at Lorien who couldn't believe what he saw.

"Told you I wouldn't be late. I'm guessing those are the ships that I'll be protecting once you load it with cargo?" Alice asked as Lorien furrowed his brows before adjusting his sleeves.

Ordering the workers to resume what they were doing, he turned to Alice.

"Yes, they are. There are three ships today that you need to protect, three tomorrow, and four on the last day. But that's not important, what was that just now?" Lorien asked as Alice glanced at him briefly before shrugging her shoulders.

"It's an acrobatic move called a front flip. Should be pretty easy to pull off if you try hard enough." She gave him a peace sign.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about. Are you a tamer? Why was that beast listening to you?" Lorien asked again as Alice tapped her chin.

"Ohh, that's what you meant. Well… It's simple really. You just have to be much stronger than that beast for it to listen to you." Alice narrowed her gaze with a grin.

She simply threatened it a little when she realised she overslept. In return for leaving it be and not killing it, Alice wanted to hitch a ride.

As a high level beast, it was clearly intelligent but lacked a method of communication. Therefore, Alice made it easy for the beast to understand. Her methods were a little rough but they achieved the result she wanted. She arrived on time and the beast got to live another day.

A win win situation.

"Fine then, keep your secrets." Lorien clicked his tongue.

The girl in front of him was extremely stubborn when it comes to any information about herself. No matter how he wanted to pry or investigate, she was simply a bundle of mystery that couldn't be unravelled.

Even after checking the people who'd arrived in the city, she was nowhere to be seen.

It's almost as if she simply popped out of nowhere.

"So what's the prediction today? Anyone interfering with the cargo? Targets I should keep an eye on?" Alice asked, playing around with her hair.

"There's only one person you need to be concerned about since I doubt the others will make a move. Pirate Queen Minerva. She'll probably seek to intercept us. Make sure none of the ships are damaged and you'll be paid as promised."

"Hou~ Pirate Queen Minerva huh?" Alice muttered.

If she could claim this kind of title, surely she should have a decent amount of strength to back it up.

As her for her next experiment, Alice wanted to see how her new discoveries would fair into someone like Minerva.