Abyssal Awakening

After their sparring session, Allura decided to take a break to help Alice turn her theories into actual skills.

The main one being the trick she used at the end. The skill to project herself while Alyss controlled the main body.

In Alice’s own words, it was simply a projection/illusion for the time being.

Something that lacked a complete physical body but instead relied on using Tiamat’s Sigil, Revenant Recollection, as well as a combination of other factors to manifest as a ’physical’ being.

In other words, trickery.

"Hmm... that’s nice and all, but every time you cast, your body fades a little, you know? Is that planned?" Allura asked while Alice rested her head on Allura’s lap.

"Not really. I wanted to make a body for myself, something that could actually support Alyss in battle." Alice grumbled. "Instead, a side effect of that is showing exactly how much energy this spare body I’ve created has left."

"I didn’t even manage to achieve my first goal either." She sighed.

Allura simply patted her hair.

"Take your time. Actually, we have a bit of good news today so we don’t need to focus on training for the rest of the day."

"Hm? Good news?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

With everything that’s been going on, something that could be classified as ’good’ was rather rare.

"Yep. Nalem finally finished negotiating with the Royals, and it seems like we’ll be cooperating with one another until the threat that Nyer poses is dealt with. This naturally includes the Zenia family and any future allies they may gain." Allura gave her a reassuring thumbs up.

"In addition to that, during this period, we are allowed to know any secrets the Royal family may hold on themselves as well as the elves they are contracted to should it hold the potential to work in our favour.

"The tower, access to where the Elves live, the World Tree, and even their own resources such as the noble families that still work under them."

Alice blinked her eyes.

How did a simple partnership turn into... this?

"What did Nalem even offer to them for them to agree to these conditions?"

"What else other than knowledge?" Allura shrugged.

"Nalem may not be a Lord, his fighting prowess might suck a little. But behind all of that, he’s a very useful person to have around. It’s why Kaden travelled with him in tow after all." Allura smiled as a book dropped down from above.

Naturally, she caught it between her fingers with ease.

"I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an insult. Are you sure we’re allies here? After I worked so hard to leverage everything we could." Nalem’s voice echoed out.

Compared to usual, his voice was now full of fatigue. The sound of a man who couldn’t wait to sleep.

"Of course we are. These words come from a place of love, you know?" Allura laughed, offering him some snacks, but Nalem shook his head.

"But setting that aside, is there anything we need to do in the agreement? Like offering them service or maybe even having Alice help out?" She asked.

"No, most of the stuff I promised them are all things I can give or we can provide without much hassle.

"If there is one thing, however, it’s that they want us to sort out the Nightmare as fast as possible instead of focusing on the Zenias." Nalem sat down with a yawn.

"And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Drop everything and focus on resolving this issue immediately is their main demand." He exhaled and locked eyes with Allura.

Allura frowned slightly.

"So that means ignoring Kaden?"

"Unless his ass magically appears in the heart of the Nightmare again, which I highly doubt considering the methods he used to escape, yes. We ignore him."

Allura was about to stand up when she realised Alice was on her lap and held herself back.

Nalem relaxed slightly, grateful that Alice was acting as a weight for now.

"Kaden is a tenacious motherf*cker. Maybe not as much as you, but something like this won’t stop him from doing what he needs to do."

"So you want me to just abandon him? You never felt pain inflicted by Famine before, so maybe you don’t know. Maybe you saw me holding out for centuries, so you underestimated it.

"However, this is the kind of pain that’ll make you want to die. A pain that hurts deep in the soul and causes damage no matter what you do. I’m not sure how well this’ll work for you, but maybe if you try this cigarette, you’ll understand the seriousness." Allura offered him a cigarette.

It was medicine that she had relied upon before, but now it was rather lacking in effectiveness.

Nalem furrowed his brows but accepted it regardless. Allura wouldn’t offer him anything that would cause him issues.

Meaning... this would likely have no major effect on him.

The moment Nalem placed the cigarette in his mouth and lit up, his pupils constricted.

His eyes snapped towards Allura as a look of disbelief appeared on his face.

"Now you get it, right?" Allura folded her arms with a look of annoyance.

One of the main effects of the cigarette was to act as a painkiller of sorts. One powerful enough that she could still act despite holding back the pain.

But for anyone not afflicted by Famine’s attack, this painkiller would be no different from something that causes sensory deprivation.

Nalem’s finger trembled as sweat rolled down his face.

Just a single breath made him lose all feeling in his body. How the hell she was able to fight with this kind of thing was a mystery to him.

However, recalling how often Allura had to smoke this, Nalem understood the severity of the situation.

"I get it. But even so, we need to ignore Kaden for the time being." Nalem clenched his teeth as he put out the cigarette.

Allura was about to say something when Alice tugged at her sleeve and sat up.

"It’s okay. If we’re dealing with the nightmare, we’re going to be dealing with the World Tree and the Void. If I get the chance, I’ll trace the history of Kaden’s prison previously and track down where he’s at." Alice reassured.

She understood the stance that Nalem was taking. A show of trust towards Kaden as they had to quickly deal with the Void before it turned into something irreparable. However, she also understood Allura’s point of view since it’s the same as hers.

She wanted to save Kaden as soon as possible.

Therefore, the best she could offer was to try and find out Kaden’s exact whereabouts while they dealt with the Void.

". . ." Allura was silent.

She saw the worry in Alice’s eyes and understood that she too wanted to help Kaden.

Letting out a sigh, Allura titled her head back and nodded.

"I suppose that’s the best we can do for now. Alright, we can do that." She smiled helplessly.

Hearing this, Nalem let out a sigh of relief as he wanted to get the most uncomfortable news out of the way first.

Had Alice not been here, Allura wouldn’t have been convinced so easily.

But with the difficult part over, Nalem quickly broke down what they’re planning to do.

"So to deal with the Void issue, we’re having a small group make their way to the Elven homes to sort out the World Tree. There will also be a second team regarding Void exploration and from what you’ve mentioned, we also need to find the main source of this.

"That being Feris, right?" Nalem looked towards Alice as she nodded her head.

"With Feris being the Realm Ruler, any major changes done to the realm are done through her. What team do you want me to be part of?"

"You’re part of the Elven team. Leave Void exploration to the others."

Hearing this, Alice’s finger twitched.

Last time she left Void exploration to others...

She recalled the sight of her drinking buddy and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Alright. Tell me everyone who’s going on the Void Exploration team. I’ll sort something out so that they can make an emergency escape while also acting as an anchor for me to find them." Alice exhaled softly as she opened her eyes.

"Mnm. You should have a bit of time to do so since we’ll be setting off in a day or two. We still need to sort out the people needed for each team since there will also be a few reaching out to the Underground as well as keeping an eye on the Zenia family." Nalem nodded.

Talking for a little longer, Nalem made his way back as he couldn’t wait to sleep for the rest of the day. But before he left, he mentioned to Allura that Karya wanted another session with her to monitor the progress of her body.

With both of them leaving, Alice gave her body a good stretch.

[Seems like you already have a rough idea on what you want to do for the safety devices.] Cayla materialised next to Alice as she nodded her head.

"It’s been on my mind ever since Nyer f*cked with the space and we couldn’t escape. Since he has control over both Space and Void, I’ll need to make something that can bypass his barriers." Alice created a sort and a target in the distance.

She could mimic his Space Lock to a certain degree while also applying Void defences.

In order to bypass all of this, the choice was obvious.

A spear appeared in her hand as Alice narrowed her eyes.

Ruinous Void had an ability that let her track down and hit her target no matter what. If she could modify or even replicate this to make it repeatable...

It could also become the foundation of her future attacks.