Abyssal Awakening

Looking at Egil who was twitching and writhing on the ground with barely any strength to stand up, Alice stabbed her spear into the ground and leaned against it.

"There are four issues we need to immediately resolve. If we don't resolve it, you'll only be stronger in strength than the old you but you'll be weaker overall." Alice spoked as Egil glanced up, listening closely.

"First, linear movement. With the increase in physical power, you're not used to it. You can't make adjustments in your movements as you did before and all of your attacks are in a straight line.

"Second, open killing intent. With you becoming a half hybrid using my blood and the bloodline release, your killing intent is far too potent. It's too obvious. Your opponents can easily detect where you're looking or what you plan to do. Unless you resolve this, it'll be hard for you to take people by surprise or even hit them despite your physical power.

"Third, mental state. With the armour, you're too… How do I put it. Reckless? You can't rely on your physical defence as you once did with your own body. While it may have heightened your speed and power, your defence definitely took a hit. More so with that armour constantly eating away at you the longer you keep it on. Any hit you take will hurt more than usual and do more damage.

"The last one is the worst one it's not something we can change easily. Stamina. The armour eats away at your stamina at a ridiculous pace and uses your own blood to keep itself running. Even if you increase your stamina, you'll die of blood loss." Alice crossed her arms.

With this kind of drawback, it'll be hard for Egil to fight for a long time.

"I… I don't think that fourth one is accurate." Egil forced himself to stand up before collapsing on his knees.

"If I was limited by stamina and blood, I wouldn't have been able to fight the weird winged hybrid for as long as I did."

Hearing this, Alice raised her eyebrows in curiosity. If the armour needed his blood to remain activated, then it wouldn't be strange for him to extend the duration by absorbing the blood of others.

"Put the armour on again, I want to test that theory."

Nodding his head, Egil forced himself to activate the armour but it was barely able to form. Seeing the armour struggle to wrap itself around Egil's body, Alice snapped her finger and conjured a storm of blood around them.

Directing the blood to enter the armour, she watched as it began to regain its vigour and latched onto Egil's body.

Strangely, the more Alice fed the armour her blood, the calmer Egil was. It was completely opposite to the berserker state he was in earlier.

But while Egil was calm, his armour began to react differently. The way it twitched and lashed out to consume blood, it's as though it had a mind of its own.

"Urg!!! It's not listening to me!" Egil gritted his teeth, trying his best to wrangle the armour under his control but it refused to settle down.

Snapping her fingers, Alice dismissed the blood and folded her arms.

"Hmm… When consuming blood, you maintain your sanity but the armour is hard to control. Without consuming blood, the armour harms you and puts you into a berserker state so that you can get blood for it to feed on. Maybe the duration was short because you couldn't land a good hit on me." Alice theorised as the armour slowly disappeared, leaving Egil exhausted on the floor.

"What can I do then?"

"What else? You just have to get better at hand to hand combat so you can actually draw blood. But I'm more of a caster so I'm not suitable in teaching you." Alice sighed.

"So there's nothing we can do." Egil sighed as well but Alice shook her head.
Continue your adventure at m|v-l'e m,p| y r

"When did I ever say that? I'm going to tag out for a bit. Someone else is more suited to teach you than me."

Closing her eyes, golden chains manifested as her aura shifted.

"Yo berserker boy~ Shall we start punching?" Alyss grinned.

###

'Thoughts?' Alice asked while looking at the twitching Egil.

'Not great. He's basically fighting a war on two fronts. His armour is telling him to go left when he wants to go right, it's messing with his rhythm and habits. He can't fight how he usually fights on top of being very predictable thanks to the killing intent.' Alyss folded her arms with a frown.

The consensus the two have reached was that this was more of a downgrade for Egil rather than a upgrade.

Of course, that's only at the start. Once he learns how to control the impulses and how to use his strength properly, it'll become a powerful weapon rather than a downgrade.

"Let's stop here for today. I don't want to go overboard after you just recovered." Alice helped Egil up.

"You call this not going overboard?" Egil's smile twitched.

"Of course. If I was remotely focused you would've been blasted to kingdom come the moment the fight started."

Recalling Alice's power, Egil let out a sigh.

"Fair point."

"Now let's head back, I'm sure Selen is feeling pretty lonely with us two going away for so long." Alice chuckled.

There was something else they had to discuss.

Travel plans.

Even though the Zenias might be attacking, Alice had no plans of staying in the north. She just wanted to make sure they could tide over this difficult time before she left. Ultimately, it was partially her fault that they're focusing on the north now.

But once she dealt with this, she wanted to travel south east to visit Sikha and broaden her horizons. She wanted to explore the surface a little before heading back down to the Abyss.

Once she's done with the north, she'll have to go separate ways to Egil. The time they spent together was short but a sweet one. She trusted him with her back and if he was ever in trouble, she wouldn't hesitate to help.

Which is why it was important for her to make sure he could survive whatever was coming to the best of her abilities.

So that he could keep his mother safe.

###

"Master, you don't have to come to the north with me. It's a mission given to me by my father." A young man sighed while sitting in a wagon with his mentor. He had short brown hair tied into a rat tail and golden brown eyes.

A person that Alice used to consider her brother.

Albert Zenia.

"The north isn't a place you young bloods can just survive on your own. I don't know what your family is doing sending you to a dangerous place like that nor do I care. I just don't like you going alone with that crazed mad scientist as your ally." An woman could be seen speaking with a blade of grass in her mouth.

She looked to be in her mid 20's yet her way of speaking was similar to that of old people.

"Plus, with your heart in constant turmoil and unable to calm down, how am I supposed to keep teaching you? Just focus on reflecting on yourself rather than some mission given by the family." She waved her hand dismissively.

However, Albert revealed a slightly bitter smile.

He wished he could but it's not something he could ignore.

"I'm sorry."

"Bah! Hearing you say sorry all the time is making my ears itch. But you know… Nevermind. Forget it, go a meditate." She narrowed her gaze and scanned her surroundings.

Nodding his head, Albert closed his eyes and did as his master told.

There was a part of him that felt guilty. Guilty for the things he's had to do, guilty at the fact that his master didn't know anything yet still taught him with everything she's got. He wanted to tell everything to her if possible.

If he was to do so. . .

Letting his thoughts wander, Albert felt a sword pommel tap his head.

"You're distracted again. Focus up."

"Sorry."

Looking at the face of her disciple, the woman scratched her hair before spitting out her blade of grass.

She wasn't sure what's going on in the Zenia family recently but it felt… Dangerous. Like the raging currents beneath a calm water surface.

To the outside world, the Zenias were taking their time with their next Abyss Blood discovery.

But she knew that something was going on. Many of the scholars were annoyed recently and now even Albert was being sent to the north.

There was no one in the world without skeletons in the closet. But the Zenias might not be hiding just one or two.

Especially that new wife of Luthor. She didn't know why but that woman gave her the creeps despite not being a fighter.

There was an aura around her that just… felt wrong.

Shaking her head, she decided to not look into things too deeply. Those who are too nosy dies first. She only had one job and that was to teach Albert.

Once she pays back the favour she owes the Zenias, she'll go her separate way. No matter how many skeletons they hide, she'll simply follow along for now.

'What a pain.' She groaned inwardly.

This was why she never wanted to get involved with noble families.

###

"You what?" Alice blinked her eyes.

"I erm… I think I want to stay in the north for a bit." Selen scratched her cheek.