Abyssal Awakening

*Whistle~

"Is that the frontline?" Alice asked curiously seeing the multiple smoke clouds in the distance. The countless abilities that are flying through the air with a myriad of arrays and weapons echoing their song of destruction.

A constant barrage of war every second of every minute with hardly a rest between the attacks.

"That is… URG… So." Torgeir squeezed through his teeth as he felt like throwing up.

Everyone else was paralysed on the ground with Alfva already thrown up over the cliff.

Egil was pale but he managed to hold it in while Selen was out cold.

As for Bo, he took it the best since he was used to fast speeds but this was still a little difficult for him to stay composed.

"So how are we supposed to even help them? I'm not sure if you've noticed but there's a constant barrage of attacks hitting them back. The moment they show signs of weakness or retreat, the opposition will probably attack harder than before." Alice asked curiously while making a small orb.

Overlaying the power of the Void from her fourth Sigil and the power granted to her by the Artifact, she used it as an 'Eye' to observe the situation.

She had it float through the Void and manifest in reality, showing her the state of battle.

Countless corpses littered the battlefield as even those who might've shown promise at one point lay unmoving in the cold dirt.

The haggard appearance of those on the defence, deep bags under their eyes and the emotionless stares as they watch the next attack, the next barrage.

Seeing this, Alice couldn't help but feel a slight chill as it was rather unnerving to see this kind of person. A person who felt like no matter what would happen in the world, nothing would scare them.

"It doesn't matter… We still need to get them out of there as soon as possible since there is no longer any support from the supply lines." Torgeir groaned.

"Honestly, I don't think we can retreat without any casualties. That's a lot of people we need to help. Even if we pave the path back, I don't think we'll outrun a barrage." Alice frowned.

With just a rough estimate, Alice could guess that there were more than a thousand warriors stationed in this place alone. They were all spread out along this border hurling abilities when they could and fighting skirmishes if the enemy approached too far.

If there was a silver lining, it would be the fact that this place wasn't in the direct centre of attack. Otherwise, the number of warriors they need to help would easily exceed five digits.

"So what's the plan boss? I did promise my help because you said you could handle it unless something abnormal showed up." Alice asked with a slight frown. No matter how confident she was in her own instincts and reactions, war was something else.

Even if she's on guard, she could be easily hit by an ability she didn't notice and die in the process.

"You already know the plan. Fight to a path of retreat. We draw the enemy inland and send out messages to the other branches next to us and have them collapse in. Depending on the number of enemies that follow, we'll wipe them out and continue the retreat as a large group." Torgeir explained, feeling a little better.

Folding her arms, Alice furrowed her brows before nodding.

Of course, she had an idea as well but it was completely unfeasible no matter how much she wanted to overestimate herself.

"Most of the soldiers will be exhausted from fighting. I'll talk to the Commander responsible for this place and organise the retreat. For now, follow me and wait for orders." Torgeir glanced back at the group and sighed.

While Alice's transport method did help them reach the frontlines faster, the impact of doing so was… rather costly. If he could choose, he would rather not accept this method of transport unless it was truly the final option.

Helping Alfva first, Torgeir had her begin healing the others while they made their way to the command post.

###

"I'm boredddd." A girl complained while watching the battle in front of them. She wanted to join in and cause some chaos but her orders were to simply observe and ensure nothing went wrong.

"Blame yourself. You already caused quite a mess because you couldn't take care of a single rat back at the port. Now we're stuck here as punishment." A man snapped in annoyance while doing some push ups.

These two were Keira and Troy, hybrids created by the Zenia family.

"Hah?? My fault?! Don't blame me if the guards of the port can't do one f*cking job right!" Keira gritted her teeth in annoyance.

"If Elowen was here do you still dare to blame the guards for your mistake? Just shut up and do what you've been ordered to. We're not supposed to reveal ourselves in the first place unless we're ordered to." Troy shook his head before resuming his workout.

"Tsk, boring." Keria clicked her tongue.

Due to the incident at the port, the discussion regarding the newly appointed Cardinal of the Moon was delayed by his request. With this delay, all of their plans had to be halted until further notice.

And all of this was because of a single rat that managed to get through. There was no doubt that the rat survived the final suicidal explosion too.

Had it not been Elowen's orders stopping her, she would've gone after the rat and cleaned up the loose ends.

But even if she were to do that, it doesn't change the fact the rat still managed to take out the watchtower even though she was there.

'If only I can get my hands on her again…' Keira narrowed her eyes as scales began to appear on her body.

"Hold back your killing intent. Scales are showing." Troy interrupted.

"Tsk! I know!"

Glaring at the battlefield, Keira could only hope that an abnormality occurred so that she could vent the frustration in her chest. It was fine as long as she didn't reveal her bestial form after all.

There was nothing stopping her from killing the enemy as long as they didn't find out.

###

"The Commander died yesterday, I'm the vice commander that's taken over for now due to protocol."

Hearing this, Torgeir froze up as his pupils trembled. Biting his lip, he took a deep breath and composed himself.

"Alright. Bring me up to speed on everything that's happened and whether or not we can facilitate a retreat successfully." Torgeir ordered as the two went into the room to discuss the next steps.

Meanwhile, he had already ordered Alice and the others to stand guard for now.

Leaning against the wall, Alice glanced over at the battlefield.

Thoughts ran through her mind as this was potentially what she'll have to go against if she was to fight the Zenia family.

Would she be able to survive against this kind of bombardment? It was unlikely but she was tempted to try.

To throw herself on the frontlines and see if she could push them back on her own.

'Seems like you have the same thoughts as me twinnie.' Alyss chuckled as she too wanted to throw herself in there and see how long she could last.

She wanted to see how her power measured up against the armies of the world. To see where she stood on the food chain and how far she still needed to go.

[. . .] Cayla was speechless seeing these two wanting to go wild.

She wasn't the only one either as Selen noticed Alice's gaze towards the battlefield and leaned next to her.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't."

"What do you mean?" Alice stuck out her tongue, acting dumb.

"Don't play dumb with me. I've seen that gaze wayyyy too many times t be ignorant of it. You want to throw yourself in the middle and go wild don't you?" Selen rolled her eyes.

Overhearing this, Alfva glanced over in confusion. Surely there wouldn't be anyone that wants to do that right? Right?

"Tee hee~ you got me. I wanted to see how many of those attacks I could push back on my own. I'm pretty much recovered after all, gotta limit test a little." Alice chuckled while Alfva almost tripped over after hearing that they weren't joking around.

She thought Egil was going to be the scariest one considering his stature and his notoriety as someone who argues with his teammates a lot but that didn't seem to be the case here.

If anything, he's the most calm out of all of them!

The scariest one in the party so far was no doubt Alice!

After a short while, Torgeir left the room and clapped his hands.

"We're going to prepare the retreat immediately. We'll be slowly reducing our attacks on the frontline so the warriors can conserve some stamina. In the meantime, I want Alfva to help out with the healing since you're suited for this.

"Bo, I want you to scout around the frontlines, see if you can gather some information from their side since you're the fastest. Selen, help delay the condition of those seriously wounded so we can save them. Alice… just enjoy yourself but don't tire yourself out since we'll need you to help pave the path back.

Egil, cover for her in case her condition acts up again and she needs someone to carry her back." Torgeir ordered as Alice cracked her knuckles with a grin.

Now that she was given a reason to play around, she wasn't going to reject the offer.

It'll also be a decent chance for her to test out the potency of her fifth Sigil amidst the confusion on the frontlines.

With the roles now distributed, the group split up as Alice, Egil and Bo made their way to the battlefield.