Abyssal Awakening

Seeing the pillar of energy, Alice understood that they failed at assassinating the Grandmaster ranked Warrior.

Gritting her teeth, Alice was at a cross road of decisions once more.

She had two choices. One was to try and help them to the best of her abilities with another vial of blood. Two was to just escape and leave them to their fates.

If she was being honest, two sounded just lovely right about now but they'll struggle with the journey back. And even if they returned to the outpost, they'd probably be branded as deserters since the captains died.

If that was going to be the case, trying to stay in the north would become difficult.

[O'master mine, please don't tell me you're trying to overload your body again.] Cayla sighed as Alice coughed awkwardly.

'Don't worry, I'm not going to try something like that. Just… Just resolving some issues okay? I'll get rid of the Grandmaster then leave. With that pillar of light, the vanguard group should be beginning their assault on the main city gates.

'Selen and Egil are there since the weird hybrids haven't appeared yet. So they're relatively safe. If the Grandmaster dies, the captains will be able to help the other groups.' Alice explained as she understood Cayla's worries.

But if she could save the captains, even if they don't know it's her, it'll certainly make her life easier.

Except Olivr of course, he could die for all she cares after he tried to bomb her.

She is a forgiving person. But the moment the other tries anything that takes her life or causes the potential loss of it, she no longer cares if they live or die. In fact, most of the time she'll ensure they don't survive the next encounter.

Pacing back and forth, Alice let out a sigh and began to run towards the castle.

'Twinnie can you change out my Sigils or is the body too weak for that?' Alice asked, grabbing a vial from her pouch and unsealing it. Pouring the contents into her mouth, she jumped onto some railings before launching herself up the side of the building.

'Should be doable. Which one do you want me to switch?' Alyss asked.

'Switch out the first one since my blood is too volatile right now. If the fumes make the captains addicted it'll be pretty bad.'

'What do you want me to switch it to?'

'Jester. I'd rather keep my identity a secret after all.' Alice chuckled, landing on the roof. Crouching down, she made a mad dash towards the castle as splinters of glass began to manifest across her body.

Each time the glass disappeared, her appearance would change slightly.

Landing on a roof near the castle, Alice's appearance had completely shifted as no one would even expect they were the same person.

Long pink hair with two small pony tails at the side while the back flowed freely. Strands of blue could be seen between the pink. A pair of eyes and a toothy grin.

Her outfit changed to match her new appearance with pink and black being the main colours. The underside of the pink was a bright blue like her hair.

The design of the outfit was rather revealing and up to Alyss's tastes with it being a pink bralette top with black details, a pair of pink frilled shorts, briar thorn bracelets and thigh straps. She wore a stocking only on her left leg with a pair of pink heels including straps on the ankle.

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah~" Alice adjusted her voice to be more whimsical and smug than her usual tone. The pitch was higher than normal too.

"Nyehehe~ Perfect!" She grinned, seeing no similarities with her usual self.

Creating large blood staff wrapped in metal briar thorns, Alice dashed towards where the fight was happening.

###

*BANG!!!

Slamming against the wall, Bo was forcefully pulled out of his resonance as blood poured out of his wounds.

His vision was hazy as he clutched his chest.

Everyone in the stealth group was dead except the captains. And even then, out of the seven, only four were left Alive.

Olivr was barely hanging on, Bo was heavily wounded, the shield captain was still alive and helping Olivr while the last captain was knocked out from the previous attack.

Frida and two others died, one of them being the healer.

"Is this the best that Verona can send? How pitiful." The Grandmaster twisted his body and slammed his fist into the shield captain, shattering his shield into pieces.

He didn't wear any armour and only a set of tattered clothes as a result of their fight. However, peaking through the gaps was a refined body packing more power than even Egil.

Golden Sigil markings stretched across his arm and torso, pulsing with pure energy.

He has medium black hair that fluttered due to his aura and a pair of bright golden eyes as a result of his Sigils. A golden halo could be seen behind him with a symbol in the middle but Bo wasn't sure which religion it belonged to.

However, he could guess that it was probably one that belonged to the Church of the Sun considering the sparks and flames that crackled around him. Above where his heart would be, a pulsing crest danced with flames.

Gritting his teeth, Bo could feel his breathing becoming difficult.

"Yikers what a mess this is. You feeling alright boss?" A cheerful voice rang out beside him as Bo glanced over and saw a pink haired girl looking at him with a wide grin.

She was squatting down while hugging her knees.

"Ya got any healing vials? Or you out? I don't got any spare for you." She asked, scanning him up and down as Bo struggled and pointed at the pouch that he dropped after being thrown into a wall.

It was close to where Olivr was fighting against the Grandmaster.

"So you got some healing vials in there? Gotcha." The girl chuckled. Flicking her finger, a strand of blood shot out and hooked against the pouch before pulling it towards them.

"You should be fine now right, boss? I don't need to look after you or anything like that right? Because it's gonna be a pain in my ass if I have to."

Shaking his head, Bo grabbed a vial of healing blood and poured it into his mouth.

Feeling his wounds healing, he let out a sigh of relief before asking what's on his mind this entire time.

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm just a bystander boss. A bystander who can't help but interfere." She stuck out her tongue before standing up.

Looking at the Grandmaster who was fighting Olivr right now, she tapped her staff against the ground and a crack in the Void appeared beneath Olivr.

Widening his eyes from suddenly losing his footing, Olivr fell down next to them as the Grandmaster turned his attention to the girl.

###

Teleporting Olivr next to them, Alice narrowed her gaze at the Grandmaster.

'Thought you didn't care if Olivr died or not?' Alyss raised an eyebrow.

'Of course I don't. This beast blood isn't going to last me the entire fight you know? Just using Jester and my fourth Sigil is enough to make me feel drained so obviously I need a battery elsewhere.' Alice shrugged.

She didn't save Olivr because she wanted him to live. She saved him so that his blood didn't go to waste if she was to need it later.

Twirling the staff in her hands, Alice began to walk towards the Grandmaster.

"Are you with these barbarians of the north?" He questioned but Alice shook her head.

"Nope~ I mean just look at me. Do I look like I'm from the north?" Alice laughed, giving her body a light twirl.

Just as she finished her twirl, she swung her staff towards the Grandmaster who blocked it with his arm. But just as he did that, a spark of energy manifest between the staff and his arm.

Void Flux!

*BANG!!!

Dodging at the last moment, the Grandmaster looked at his arm with a frown. Despite his dodge, the attack still tore off a piece of his skin.

He could sense something trying to invade his body from that attack and forcefully expelled the foreign substance before healing his arm.

*Whistle~

"You're no joke are you, big man? First time I saw someone shrug it off like that." Alice remarked.

While her personality might be an act, her surprise wasn't. With the upgrade to her blood that makes it far more volatile, she was shocked that he could forcefully expel it from his body in time. Not only that, but he also dodged a point blank Void Flux!

Taking a deep breath, the Grandmaster calmed his mind and looked at Alice.

"I suppose even if you aren't from the north, you are siding with these barbarians." He asked as Alice tapped her chin before nodded her head.

"For the moment, yes."

"I see. Then you are my enemy. Caelum, Ex Arch bishop of the Church of the Sun, current master of this Port. State your name challenger." Caelum erupted with radiant energy.

"Mirabella. Just a cute bystander who decided to intervene even though it's none of my business." Alice stuck out her tongue and slammed her staff into the ground.

Blood manifest around her as several strands shot towards Caelum who slammed his fists together.

A pulse of radiant energy pulsed out, burning away most of the blood. However, the blood that remained began to spark as he jumped back to dodge.

However, a portal to the Void opened up and Alice appeared.

"Peekaboo~" Pointing her staff at his back, she fired another point blank Void Flux!

*BANG!!!!

With a series of detonations in front of him and a Void Flux behind him, Caelum covered his body with a golden energy and withstood the impact.

"Tough guy." Alice whistled.

After firing the Void Flux at his back, she dove back into the portal and appeared above the ground, sitting on her staff that was floating above ground thanks to her control of blood.

While this was happening, Bo had one thought in his mind.

'She's strong!'