Abyssal Awakening

Egil felt a wave of dizziness strike his mind. A hallowed whisper echoing in his ears.

He could feel a foreign energy invading his body, changing him, corrupting him. A sensation not unlike the feeling he got when he first drank Abyss Blood.

The touch of corruption that changed him on a fundamental level.

Raising his hand, he could see the scales breaking through the top layer of his skin while black blood filled his veins.

He saw Selen calling out to him with a panicked expression.

Instinctively, he understood what this was. He had seen many patients with these symptoms after all.

Glancing up at the destructive battle taking place in the sky, Egil gritted his teeth as his Sigils flared with power. Several spirits wrapped around his body, and their forms began to distort due to the black blood infecting him.

However, by burning his power, he was able to maintain a semblance of sanity and defence against this disease.

His senses began to clear up but the corruption burned through his energy much faster than what he had expected. Compared to the disease that latched onto his mother, this was far worse!

"No… No, no, no, no!" Selen gritted her teeth as she watched the side effects manifesting across his body. Her pupils trembled in panic as she didn't know what to do.

She only had resistance to this kind of poison thanks to the innate abilities that Alice's blood provided to her. But that was to her alone. Even if she was to feed her blood to someone else, there was no guarantee that they'd be able to adapt to such a potent poison.

At that moment, Egil hugged Selen, calming her down.

"It's alright. Everything will be fine. It's a little tough but I'll manage. The important thing is to take care of the beasts above, right?" Egil forced a smile as Selen bit her lip.

She recalled the conversation she had with Alice. How things were uncertain but Alice was still in the midst of developing a cure for this disease that the Zenia family unleashed.

Activating her Sigils, Selen imprinted a marker onto Egil's body.

Deceleration!

Slowing down the progress of time within Egil's body, Selen supported his arm on her shoulder.

She had to get him to Alice immediately!

For the first time in her life, Selen felt truly happy. No matter what the Zenias has done, no matter what she had to experience, it was fine for this moment of happiness. But she refused to let the Zenia's rip that away from her!

Glancing up at the beasts that were pouring down through the portals, Selen gritted her teeth and dashed towards their inn with Egil leaning on her.

###

After the discussion with Alyss, Alice decided to focus a little more on the technical skills and properties behind each of her abilities.

Sitting by her desk, she had a sample of her blood in a vial while she observed the reactions based on what she did.

Her second Sigil manifests the properties of her blood, that being negating Abyssal Abilities, in the form of fire as that was her ideal image in her mind.

Allura's power.

However, if her mental image of this skill were to change, there were perhaps more variations of her second Sigil that she hadn't seen before.

One instance of this was her spider lilies. None of her abilities should've manifested the spider lilies yet they still appeared.

Alice had no doubt that it was her second Sigil at work. Every time she experiences a change, an awakening, an epiphany, the Sigil reacts and changes.

'Allura's impression on you is pretty big after all. It's no wonder it keeps defaulting back to fire.' Alyss folded her arms.

For her, the Sigils manifested as darkened limbs that grab and tear apart anything they get their hands on. A reflection of all the torture she had to endure in Alice's place. The hands of scholars that rummaged through her body, pinning her down.

It had forever left a mark on Alyss's mind and thus, the second Sigil solidified this power into limbs.

Spinning the pen on her fingers, Alice furrowed her brows.

She closed her eye and recalled Kaden's power. The power of shadows.

As her saviour, the one who sent her into the Abyss to meet Allura, Kaden had just as big of an impact on her as Allura did.

But unlike Allura, his power was more… conceptual in nature.

The power of curses, shadows and adaptation based on his understanding of the world around him.

To manifest aspects of his power through the second Sigil was going to be difficult unless Alice had a clear visual imprint of his power.

"It's difficult." Alice muttered with a sigh.

Out of all of her Sigils, her second one held the most potential as it synergised with the blood inside her body. A Sigil obtained from a modified beast.

Activating her fourth Sigil to tap into the power of the Void, the blood within the vial began to shift as the liquid began to shimmer with an otherworldly glow.

She could see the energy of the Void travelling through the blood while it began to adapt to the change.

Tapping her finger across the table, Alice closed her eyes and tried to imagine her ideal self.

An ideal self capable of cleaning out the Zenia family.

First of all, she needed a cleansing or resistant type ability.

If she was to take out the family, she needed to ignore their control type abilities. If she can't, she'll be a sitting duck. Next was a way to kill them without completely exhausting herself. This was going to be a one vs many situation and if she's alone in the matter, she needs to have a way to replenish her stamina.

Right now, she had firepower, plenty of it. But her stamina was sorely lacking.

Her fifth Sigil offset this to a certain degree but it was still far too little.

Most importantly, she needed information. A way to scout. This could mostly be resolved via Cayla but she was sealed right now so there was nothing Alice could do about it.

'You realise that the others will be more than happy to help you out right? You don't need to take revenge solo. Selen hates the Zenias as much as we do, Ria will be happy to assist and the same with Luke. They know that we'll help them in a heartbeat if they need it against the Eclipse Cult after all.' Alyss reminded.

Trying to cover everything alone was rather ambitious even with their unique skill set of being able to replace Sigils. They still had to take into account the fact that each Sigil can only be replaced once per day and once it's done, they can't undo the change.

'I know, but it's more of a precaution in case we're in a situation where the others can't help.' Alice nodded.

She knew she had people she could trust in but she had to consider the worst case scenario. If she prepares herself for the worst case scenario, things will go more smoothly.

'First Sigil bolsters strength and poisons blood, second adapts to my blood and grants me Abyss negating flames. Third grants me blood and metal manipulation. Fourth grants me Void control and fifth… Fifth gives me the biggest boost while risking the chance of being exiled from the realm.'

In terms of the pattern of her getting Sigils, it was leaning towards the Void while removing the influence of the Abyss. Rather ironic considering the fact that she has obtained all three key relics of the Abyss and is destined to be the next Velouria.

However, what the Abyss gives, the Abyss can take back. In order to take care of those abusing the gifts of the Abyss, she must first rid them of the blessings.

Creating a singularity above her finger, she thought about the Skill she was trying to create. A personal skill that only she could use. It was still lacking that final touch, that final flare before it could truly be called a skill.

The go to ability and her trump card.

Before she could continue indulging in her thoughts, the door was kicked open.

*BANG!!!

Glancing over, Alice noticed that Selen was the one who kicked the door. Her joyous surprise soon disappeared as she saw the panic on Selen's face while Egil was leaning on her shoulders.

In an instant, Alice understood the situation.

The side effects manifesting across his body despite Selen trying her best to hold it back, the dark strands of energy invading his body and most of all, the familiar flow of energy that she saw coursing through his mother's body when they went to visit her.

"Get him on the bed. I'll see what I can do." Alice gestured as she had Alyss wake Cayla up.

"What happened?" She asked while activating her Second Sigil.

Violet flames began to worm its way through Egil's body, hindering the progress of the disease. She had to be careful with the strength of these flames. Too strong and it'll permanently damage Egil's body. Too weak and the disease will continue to spread.

"An ambush, by hybrids. Lord level ones. Egil he- he just collapsed. They're spreading the disease through the capital. People aren't realising what's going on." Selen tried her best to keep things short but her mind was in chaos.

"Leave him with me, I'll try my best to stop the disease. Go help the city. Since your skill works on Lords, even if its for a moment, you should be able to help them get the upper hand. The sooner we drive them back, the faster we can deal with this outbreak properly." Alice ordered.

She wanted to rush out and stop the invasion but she couldn't leave Egil alone. Not when so much time had passed. If she was to leave him alone, it'll go past the point of no return.

The only one that could delay them while she figures out a solution for the outbreak was Selen.

Hearing this, Selen clenched her fist. Looking down at Egil's struggling expression, she gritted her teeth and nodded her head.

"You have to help him, please." Selen practically begged as Alice nodded her head with a reassuring smile.

Turning around, Selen rushed out the door.

Her eyes were bloodshot as Sigils lit up across her body.

In her hands, energy gathered into a single staff.

Right now, she only wanted one thing. To tear off the heads of these hybrids!