Abyssal Awakening

With Alice returning back to their side of the battlefield, they decided to rest up while Torgeir finished their preparation for retreat.

Attacks from their side began to slow down while the enemy was preoccupied with the damaged barrier thanks to Alice's stunt.

Since there was nothing else for her to do right now, she decided to go for a little walk around the frontlines. To see how Selen was doing as well as to get familiar with the healer girl who seemed a little too scared.

Thinking about Alfva, a question appeared in Alice's mind. How did she even get five Sigils if she's this scared?

The more she thought about it, the more confused she got. After all, Alfva wouldn't have picked weak Sigils if Torgeir had chosen her out of all the healers they had. There must be something else about her that Alice didn't know about.

Shrugging her shoulders, she made her way to the medical bay.

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"OI! SLOW MOTHERF*CKERS! MOVE THE INJURED IN ALREADY AND GET THOSE WHO'S BEEN SORTED OUT OF HERE!!! I NEED THE F*CKING SPACE!"

". . ." Blinking her eyes, Alice wasn't quite sure what she was looking at. Selen was frantically running around, casting barriers while throwing up in a bucket occasionally due to over-exerting herself. The medics on the field scrambled to follow orders as stretchers carried bandages warriors in and out of the area.

Alfva was covered head to toe in blood while standing on a table and shouting out orders at the top of her lungs.

There was not a single sign of the timid Alfva from earlier, only a warlord who only expected you to follow her orders and nothing else.

"Selen! I need you to freeze his condition now!" Alfva jumped down from her table.

Rolling up her sleeves, she grabbed a fresh pair of gloves as Selen conjured her staff and created a time slow zone focused on the patient.

Without hesitation, Alfva grabbed a scalpel and tore into the man's body. Digging out some punctured organs along with rotting flesh, she activated the Sigils on her arm.

Emerald energy surged towards her as crystalline butterflies began to fly out from this stream of energy. Latching onto the wound where she pulled out the organs, the butterflies shattered apart, turning into crystalline copies of the organ.

Once they were in place, Alfva activated another Sigil and the crystals melted away, revealing new functioning body parts.

Shoving the flesh and organs back into the body, she had her butterflies latch onto the opening and seal it up.

"Undo." She ordered while Selen followed.

Once the barrier was undone, Alfva slapped the man in the face as a Sigil mark appeared on his cheek.

Green energy flooded his body, rejuvenating him.

"Now get this f*cker outta here! BRING THE NEXT ONE!" Alfva shouted, gesturing at the on-field medics to carry him away while another was brought in.

The next patient was missing an arm, a leg hanging on by strands and burns all over his body.

"What the f*ck are the third rate medics doing?! DID YOU EVEN GET HEALING SPIRITS?!" Alfva screamed in annoyance as she tossed the gloves away before grabbing new ones.

"Barrier, now!"

Holding back the urge to throw up, Selen created another barrier. It faltered momentarily but managed to stabilize itself.

Once again, Alfva waited for the barrier to stabilize before getting to work.

Grabbing the leg, she forcefully tore it off and threw it over her head as it landed in the arms of another medic who panicked and dropped it.

Stomping down, a ritualistic circle spun to life around her as butterflies appeared once more. Lining up next to one another, they broke down and turned into bones, attaching themselves to the stump before melting and turning into real bones.

Repeating the process with the flesh and eventually the skin, she had Selen drop the barrier and slapped him on the face.

A marking appeared and his burns began to heal.

"Tell the dumbf*ck who's supposed to look after him to not let him walk or use his arm for at least a week. Let my crystal flies adapt to his body before he uses those limbs. Otherwise, he can forget about having them." Alfva wiped the sweat before screaming for the next patient once more.

Both Alice and Egil didn't know what to say. It was the first time either of them saw Selen pushed to this extent while Alfva did a complete 180 turn in personality.

"Erm… Maybe we shouldn't stay here." Alice's smile twitched. She was afraid that if they blocked the flow of patients, Alfva's anger may be turned towards them.

"Agreed. Though… Selen looks like she's at the end of her ropes." Egil nodded.

Noticing Alice and Egil, Selen wanted to run over and cry for help when Alfva stuck out her leg and tripped her over.

Slapping a mark on the back of her head to heal the wounds, Alfva grabbed her by the ankles.

"You're not going anywhere, you're too good of a help to go. You two! F*ck off if you can't help!" Alfva glared at Alice and Egil who shivered and nodded their heads without hesitation.

"Don't leave me here!!!" Selen cried out for them, breaking her stoic nature as she didn't want to stay in the med bay anymore. But neither Alice nor Egil wanted to annoy Alfva right now as they simply apologized to Selen and ran away.

Leaving the med bay, they ran into Torgeir who was looking over some documents while making his way over.

"Ah, you're back. Did you have fun on the battlefield?" Torgeir asked with a small wave.

"It was alright. Fun got cut short. But setting that aside, I don't suggest you go to the med bay right now. Alfva seems a little… on edge." Alice coughed.

Hearing this, Torgeir tilted his head for a moment before realising what she was talking about.

"Ahahaha, seems like you saw what Alfva's like when she's doing her job. She get's like this whenever it comes to healing people but you get used to it. As long as you don't obstruct her, you'll be fine.

"Here, come with me." Torgeir gestured as both Alice and Egil swallowed their saliva.

As they made their way back to the med bay, they stepped through.

"What now?! I'M BUSY!" Alfva snapped as she glanced back.

"Should I come back another time then?" Torgeir asked as Alfva froze up.

Gesturing for Selen to dispel the barrier, she slapped the woman on the operating table with a marker and sent her off.

"Ahaha… Erm… nope… What do you need?" Alfva squirmed as her voice got quieter.

"????????" Both Alice and Egil blinked their eyes in disbelief while Selen ignored what just happened.

She immediately found the closest bed she could use and collapsed on it, getting as much rest as she could.

"How are the injured? Do you think you can get all of them prepared for travel? We'll be retreating from this location soon." Torgeir asked as Alfva thought about it for a moment.

"I'll still need… Erm… 2 hours if you want them to survive travel... Though they won't be fully healed." Alfva replied quietly as Torgeir folded his arms.

"Hmm… That's fine. The key is to get them out of here. We'll be moving our supplies onto carriages and having our casters set up an illusion as well as timed attacks to make it seem like we're still here. The faster we get this done the better." Torgeir nodded.

"Let me know if there's anything you need help with okay?" He smiled as Alfva nodded her head eagerly.

Turning around, Torgeir checked his list for the next location he needed to go.

"See? Not that bad once you get used to it." Torgeir chuckled while Alice and Egil was left stupefied.

Looking back at Alfva, the two couldn't believe she could just flip her personality like that of a switch.

For Alice, she had a literal second soul inside her so it made sense. But Alfva? It confused her.

"The f*ck are you looking at? I thought I already told you to help or f*ck off!" Alfva snapped as Alice and Egil jogged out of the tent.

Walking away, the two began to piece together the situation.

"Torgeir?" Alice asked.

"Torgeir." Egil nodded as he too had the same guess.

Since their interaction with Alfva was short, they couldn't say for sure as they never saw her elsewhere. But with all the clues they've gotten, it was probably more so due to Torgeir's presence rather than work.

But considering how Torgeir seems oblivious of it, the two couldn't help but sigh.

After a while, Bo came back with some good news. Thanks to Alice's initial barrage of attacks, battle and her final attack that damaged a node, the members of the Extalia army was faltering since they weren't sure when Alice will appear on the field again.

Even now, they still haven't completely doused out the flames that appeared on the node and were panicking.

Not only that, but some of them even gave her the moniker of split hair demoness. The power that she showcased was enough to leave a lasting impression on their minds.

Hearing the nickname, Alice hid her face from embarrassment and tried her best to ignore the stares.

As for Torgeir, this new was indeed good for them.

"Since they're preoccupied with Alice's attack, let's speed up the retreat. Alfva, I'll need you to treat the injured while we're traveling. I can't give you the full two hours that you wanted." Torgeir apologised but Alfva shook her head.

"That's fine… I can heal them while we're travelling."

"Good. Alright, gather your things, we're preparing for the retreat now." Torgeir ordered as everyone got to work.