Abyssal Awakening

Watching all of the casters gather to form a ritual, Alice couldn't help but observe in silence.

Her understanding of rituals was basic since she never dove deep into the concept. All she knew was that it was an act of equivalent exchange. One where she would make a 'contract' with the opposition in order to bolster her abilities.

For her, it's a unique situation where she can exchange some power with Alyss since a lot of it is sealed thanks to Velouria's power. But for others, the target of exchange is usually the Abyss itself or a powerful entity with a prewritten contract.

Of course, it wasn't limited to just these. According to Cayla, all of the high ranking members of the church can form rituals in order to gain some divine power from their gods. The Eclipse sacrifices via battle or blood rituals to gain power and it's a similar case with the other religions as well.

However, it's a little different for the Moon and Sun since their doctrines does not include killing the masses and inciting chaos.

Little by little, Alice could see the illusion being constructed by the casters while others prepared timed attacks that would go off in intervals.

She would've helped out but her illusions are based on people inhaling her poison blood mist. It wouldn't help out in a large scale illusion like this one.

The only task she was given was to help with defence if the enemy noticed and sent attacks their way.

Glancing down, Alice could see Selen sleeping on the seat as she was completely exhausted having helped out Alfva at the med bay.

Without Selen being around to help speed up the process and make it easier, Alfva became more quiet and focused on the treatment. She couldn't just brute force it without the time slow.

Shaking her head, Alice turned her attention to the caravan. Compared to the other groups that she's been part of, this was far bigger.

The injured were in the middle, healers next to them, casters lined up front and back while tanks covered their rear and paved the path home.

Thanks to Alice's transport skill, they were able to arrive far earlier than intended at the cost of not fully checking the path back. However, if they came too late, the damages would've been far worse. To Torgeir, it was better to come early and figure out a way back than to come late and see ruins and destruction.

There was one issue however and it was that the casters were absolutely exhausted except for a small handful and Alice.

They were already exhausted having to keep up with the enemy barrage. But after casting the illusion and setting up timed attacks, they were completely empty and had to rest. Even if they pushed for it, they couldn't use their Sigil power.

As for the small handful of casters… they were a little lacking.

Even without Cayla telling her how many Sigils they have, Alice could already guess by seeing the energy around their body.

They could probably fend off one or two waves of attacks but after that, they'll also be exhausted.

"Tsk." Clicking her tongue, Alice let out a sigh.

She knew that she was supposed to help out with the retreat but she didn't think it was going to be this bad.

Taking a deep breath, Alice calmed herself.

In order to defend this whole caravan properly, Alice had to make an efficient system for countering attacks quickly.

Her reserves weren't endless so she couldn't just keep throwing large scale attacks out without care. Especially if she's the only one responsible for their safety.

The most energy efficient method was to use her violet flames. But using the flames might take a little too long for it to take effect. It takes time for the flames to properly consume the attack after all.

She could try to block by opening pathways to the Void. But this method was the most exhausting. Especially since most barrages are slightly off time to prevent one ability from blocking them all.

Furrowing out brows, Alice let out an annoyed sigh.

So far, it seemed like she'd have to try her best to brute force it. There's still the method of drinking blood to upgrade herself to six Sigils but in front of this many people? Absolutely not.

Therefore, she had to figure something out with just the five Sigils she had on herself.

Once the casters have finished their set up, Torgeir ordered the group to begin retreating.

Looking towards the timed casts, Alice decided to modify them a little in order to buy them some more time.

Making a small portal, she created small sparks of violet flame and planted one in each attack. That way, the moment they explode, her flames will begin eating away at whatever it hit.

Plus, she adjusted her flame to be the tenacious type. One that hung on so long as there was energy to consume.

With this, it should trouble the enemy quite a bit and make it harder for them to follow up even if they discover the truth.

###

"They're moving." A scout reported as the commander curled his lips up into a smile.

"They are truly desperate if they're preparing to leave this quickly. Such a large scale illusion must've taken quite the toll on their casters."

With Torgeir being so preoccupied with saving his allies, he didn't even notice that some of them were spies planted by them in order to keep track of their movements.

"Prepare the next wave of attacks, we'll take them out once they leave their barrier." The commander ordered.

Leaning not far from the commander, Keira narrowed her gaze and walked away.

"What are you planning?" Troy grabbed her shoulder but Keira smacked his hand away.

"One attack. That's all I need. I just need to make sure they don't see me right? I'll wipe out the entire group in one attack." Keira glared as Troy furrowed his brows.

"For you to be this insistent, she must've really gotten under your skin huh? Go for it, I've already warned you plenty. If you're not satisfied after one attack and expose yourself, you only have yourself to blame." He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"I can take care of myself." Keira ignored his warning and stepped away.

Shaking his head, Troy let out a sigh as he'll probably have to bail her out again.

As long as she leaves after one attack, regardless of what happens, the family wouldn't blame them. But if she was to push her luck?

He'll be assigned a new partner for future missions.

*BANG!!!

Hearing a loud explosion, Troy furrowed his brows and glanced up.

He could see the first wave of attacks colliding against the barrier as it was able to defeat the Extalia's counter without any issue. Violet flames latched onto the barrier and began to spread rapidly while frantic shouts echoed out.

"What are you idiots doing?! How can you let this attack hit the barrier?!" The commander shouted in anger.

But the barrage wasn't over. As the second wave of attacks was released, the Extalia was too slow in responding since they were preoccupied with the faltering barrier and once again, violet flames latched onto the barrier.

After the previous damage caused by Alice's attack, the barrier had already lost a lot of its structural integrity. It lacked the same defensive properties as before and these violet flames have become far more deadly.

With this being the case, it was going to be harder for the Extalia army to chase after the fleeing barbarians with their counterattack.

Meaning…

"Seems like luck is on your side Keira." Troy chuckled.

Without the eyes of the army on her, she can go wild so long as she takes care of the witnesses. He wasn't afraid that she'd fail the surprise attack. But the split haired girl still worried him.

Her confidence shook him.

She seemed to know all about them yet they didn't know anything about her. She showed power capable of wounding Keira to the extent where she's pushed to transforming or risk dying, all without resonance at that.

There were far too many secrets with the girl and an anomaly they needed to be careful with.

But to ensure there were going to be no witnesses to Keira's rampage, Troy placed his hand against the structure behind him as iridescent crackles of energy shot through the base.

The nodes around the barrier began to crack apart, weakening their defences further as they had to focus on blocking the counter attacks with their full force rather than preserving power to go after the barbarians.

Meanwhile, Keira noticed the situation and saw that Troy interfered with the barrier.

Knowing that this meant there were no witnesses, Keira curved her lips into a grin as scales began to appear on her face.

Sigils manifested across her body as they slowly lost their shape, covering her entire body in a layer of energy.

Within this cocoon of energy, a silhouette of her body could be seen twisting and stretching. Her eyes emitted a piercing red glow as cracks began to form across the surface of the cocoon.

*BANG!!!

With an explosion, the cocoon broke apart to reveal the bestial form of Keira, an elongated serpentine dragon with obsidian armour and lava all over her body.

She already saw how Alice struggled with diverting her breath attack. Now that she was at her full power, her death was guaranteed.

Just thinking of it brought joy to Keira as she shot into the sky and hid herself amongst the clouds.