Abyssal Awakening

Spending the day looking for odd jobs that could pay her well, Alice let out a sigh and settled on just helping out.

After the disaster, no one had the thought of offering jobs but rather doing all that they could to piece together what used to be their daily life.

Countless buildings were destroyed and no matter how Frida tried to erase the damages, it was impossible to forget.

"Ah Alice dear, can you help out in district 2? They're lacking a bit of manpower over there." An old lady called out with a soft smile.

Alice was currently carrying two logs of wood on her shoulders while using her blood to carry the rest.

"Got it. Can you point me in the direction? I'll drop off these logs first." Alice nodded her head.

Snapping her finger, she created portals and placed the logs next to a broken down house before following the old woman.

Listening to her instructions, Alice hopped over to district 2 and greeted the workers there.

With this district being close to the workshops, there were large beams of metal crushing houses and so on.

Many of the guards had their maximum capacity reduced so activating Sigils was quite the burden, leaving most of the heavy lifting to Abyssal Engineering contraptions. Mostly just rope and gears that'll help move heavy objects.

But at the end of the day, it couldn't beat having a warrior help out.

Marking down where all of the metal beams were, Alice tapped her foot against the ground as a pool of blood expanded beneath her.

Letting her blood latch onto the beams, she activated her fourth Sigil and used the gravity of the Void to lift them up through portals.

Once they were suspended in the air, she had them lifted away from the buildings and set aside to be repurposed at a later date.

"Anything else you need help with?" Alice asked as the workers took off their hats and shook their head with a grin.

"Nope, with you around a whole day's of work can be done in an instant ahaha." One of them laughed as Alice shrugged her shoulders.

"If there's nothing else, I'll check and see if there's anywhere else that needs help."

Giving them a wave, Alice left the district before helping elsewhere.

With her being unable to focus on Caera's explanations, this kind of distraction was perfect for Alice and soon, a day went by before she knew it.

Glancing up at the setting sun, Alice wiped away the sweat and glanced at the capital that was slowly regaining its former glory.

"Alice! We're going to the tavern for a party after this, want to join us?" One of the workers called out.

Hearing the words tavern, Alice's eyes shimmered with excitement before calming down.

"I can'ttt~ I'm flat broke." Alice stuck out her tongue.

"Come anyways ahaha, you've helped us plenty today. A drink or two is the least we can do!"

Curling her lips into a grin, she jogged over.

"Well, what are you waiting for then? Common!" She'll never turn down a free drink.

###

"F*ck…" Letting out a groan, Alice sat up slowly and glanced around her.

She could see countless workers passed out on chains and she was one of them.

Last night, things got wild after the first drink.

From gambling games, arm wrestling to drunk singing. After a point, they began to shout their grievances about Extalia. After that, there was confusion and anger regarding why the beasts attacked and doubts towards the Lords and guards who failed to make a proper stand.

Even if Alice wasn't there to see if, lots of lives were lost as collateral damage and she knew it.

She could feel the connections severing after all.

Each severance meant another life lost.

As for how much she drank…

Looking at the mountain of mugs around her, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the people who had to pay for this.

Thankfully, it wasn't limited to one person otherwise they might've gone bankrupt. When they arrived at the tavern, there were others that Alice helped and they decided to split her bill amongst them, letting her drink as much as she wanted.

Letting out a yawn, the aftertaste of mead could still be tasted as Alice grabbed a coat from her pouch.

Her outfit was soaked in mead and the chilly morning air didn't help at all.

Even with the barriers that Frida put in place, it was still cold in the morning.

"Urg… my head." Alice groaned.

Making her way back to Caera's lab, Alice figured she should be able to concentrate on the lessons now that she had a break.

Perhaps it was the accumulated stress from linking herself to everyone in the capital.

Regardless, she didn't want to delay any further when it comes to making a cure.

As she entered the lab, she noticed Caera sitting with her eyes closed.

There was a dark aura simmering around her. To Alice, it felt… abnormal.

Otherworldly in fact and didn't resemble the feeling she got from the Abyss or the Void.

A third source?

'It's not divinity either…' Alice folded her arms.

Her observations were noticed by Caera who opened her eyes and greeted Alice with a smile.

"Welcome back, did you enjoy your break dear successor?"

"It was a good change of pace. What was that just now? It didn't feel like it belonged to the Abyss or the Void." Alice asked curiously as Caera tapped her chin.

"It's a small secret~ You see, I do not wish to bow down to the Abyss or the Will that controls it. Just the thought makes me want to throw up so I figured out a different way to become a Lord. Are you perhaps interested in it?"

"To an extent. But I'm still waiting for the right chance to get my sixth Sigil. It's too early to consider becoming a Lord." Alice shrugged, sitting down by her usual seat.

"Then this is something I will tell you when you're on the doorstep to becoming a Lord. On a side note, I've completed a diagram of what might work as a Cure. As I stated, the warriors that are infected will suffer from two states once the cure is activated.

"A 'berserker' state where their resistance of the Abyss is increased but so is their bloodlust. They're able to enhance their physical prowess to a rather impressive degree. I've tried to work out a formula that gets rid of this berserker state but it's kind of necessary. Without this, they won't be able to discharge the curse fast enough." Caera handed over several sheets as Alice gave it a read.

Indeed, it's as Caera said. Without the berserker state constantly burning the curse to give them physical reinforcement and resistances, the consumption won't be fast enough to balance out the scales. Once a balance is reached, however, they'll naturally exit the berserker state and be able to use their usual Sigils without worry.

On top of that, Alice was rather impressed by the methodical details that Caera had noted down. It's been short but Caera had taken into account everything that Alice had told her thus far and even made back ups in case certain methods didn't work the way they wanted or failed.

This was how a researcher should be rather than her own self taught method.

However…

"Caera, I'm sure you know as well as I do that prolonged use of this method will make it harder and harder for them to leave the berserker state. Eventually, they'll be stuck in that state, unable to regain sanity. No different from beasts wearing the skin of man." Alice narrowed her eyes as Caera stood with an unflinching smile.

"And? I don't see an issue with that. Isn't the most glaring problem the potential for a secondary attack by the unknown forces? In order to prepare for a counter offensive, this is the best they can hope for." Caera replied, not finding anything wrong with her proposal.

Furrowing her brows, Alice tapped her finger.

There were probably a better way to go about this but the reality of the situation was that she was not prepared at all. She was not prepared for the evolution of the curse nor was she prepared for the sudden attack.

The warriors were exposed too much and this was the best they could hope for outside of turning them into hybrids.

Both had their risks.

Choosing Caera's method had them risking their 'mind'.

Choosing Alice's method had them risking their 'body'.

The hybrid operation was still largely unfamiliar to Alice. She was only able to pull it off thanks to Egil's innate talent for spirits and his ability to activate the bloodline release.

Without these two factors, the operation would've never been considered, especially with her own blood that hasn't been diluted.

Even the hybrids that the Zenias are proud of had diluted blood!

Massaging her eyes, Alice let out a sigh.

In this situation, she could only choose Caera's method!

"We still need to let the queen know. Overall, the choice must be given to the individual. They need to know the risks of using this power otherwise it would not be fair to them."

It was Alice's way of giving them a way out.

They had already risked their lives to protect the capital.

"Shall I ask the queen to schedule a meeting then?" Caera asked as Alice nodded her head.

It was about time she met the queen and now was a good time.