Abyssal Awakening

Aside from visiting the Academy, it seemed like they were checking out the rest of the city. From its defences to the different alleys and even the sewage area.

\'What do you think she\'s trying to achieve by showing us all of this?\' Alyss asked curiously.

\'No clue.\' Alice shrugged.

\'If she\'s acting against the Zenia\'s, is she not afraid of their retaliation?\'

\'Considering the fact that she\'s a captain and she went to find out what happened to Jyn and Rita, it\'s clear that she knows about the things the Zenias hide from the public eye. Either she\'s grown a conscience or she\'s looking for a chance.\'

Continue to observe their movements over the course of the day, Alice didn\'t find anything too strange until Selen began to move rapidly to the docks as Alice took this as her cue to meet up with the girl.

Making her way to the docks, she spotted Selen waiting by an alley.

"Yo~ You wanted to talk with me?" Alice asked with a smile as she threw the pin over to her.

Catching it with her hand, Selen glanced towards Alice.

"You can drop that act now. I\'ve seen how you reacted when Michael mentioned the lab. You know what the Zenia\'s do don\'t you?" Selen narrowed her eyes as she tapped her finger against her arm.

At that moment, Alice felt overwhelmed by a sense of weightlessness.

Widening her eyes, Alice immediately adjusted her posture as she rolled against the black and white ground within a realm of monotony.

A single eclipsed sun hung in the sky, bleeding a colourless blood while withered branches protruded from the trees.

Seeing the eclipse, Alice immediately associated her with the Eclipse Cult but that doesn\'t seem to be the case either. Selen didn\'t hold any traces of Enris\' energy.

But understanding that her act as Kale Grani was dropped the moment she flinched at the word Lab, Alice scratched her hair in annoyance and dropped her act while keeping her disguise.

"What about it? Are you here to silence me now?" Alice narrowed her eyes towards Selen who sat atop a boulder.

"You should stop while you still can. Getting involved with the Zenia\'s is more trouble than it\'s worth. Though if you persist, I can only tie up loose ends." Selen warned as a thick killing intent oozed from her body to the point that even Alice felt goosebumps forming on her arms.

"If you felt that way, you wouldn\'t have given me a chance to talk to you. You don\'t like the Zenia\'s either, do you?"

". . ." Staying silent, Selen stood up and held out her hand to her side.

From her palm, a black material began to form, breaking free of her skin as blood and black metal fused together to form a single guardless blade.

"So you insist on going against the Zenia family."

"Naturall-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Selen burst into action.

Widening her eyes, Alice slashed up with a blood blade to counter her attack.

*BANG!!!

Releasing a horizontal slash, Selen destroyed the blade with ease as she appeared in front of Alice.

Just as Alice wanted to counter, Selen grabbed her wrist and flipped her over her shoulder before continuing with a kick to Alice\'s stomach.

"ARG!!" Coughing out a mouthful of blood from the kick, Alice\'s body was sent tumbling away as she crashed into a boulder and pulled herself out from the rubble.

"If you\'re trying to fight the Zenia family with this meagre strength then give up. I was mistaken, deciding to include you was wrong." Selen sighed.

"But that blood blade… You never showed it before. Seems like you have more than three Sigils after all."

"Who knows?" Alice forced a smile as she didn\'t think their talk would result in a fight.

"I can\'t stay away for long. So either prove yourself or die. And if you die, I\'ll apologize to you personally when I die in the future." Selen narrowed her gaze as energy began to surge from her body.

Taking a step towards Alice, symbols manifested above her head as Selen disappeared from her spot!

[She\'s adjusting time!!!] Cayla shouted, surprising Alice as the blade plunged into her chest.

*KRRRK!!!!

Ripping out a chunk of Alice\'s chest, Selen let out a sigh as the blade in her hand started to disappear.

Once again, she let her eagerness drag someone into her plans. Had she waited a little longer, she wouldn\'t have needed to kill them. But it was better to test them before Erick could take her to the Zenia family.

Should that happen, Alice could forget about leaving the compound without them forcing a contract upon her.

*Step…

Pausing in shock, Selen turned her head as she heard a footstep behind her.

She could see Alice\'s flesh stitching together but more importantly, her disguise disappeared!

\'The girl from the other night!!!\'

*BANG!!!

Firing a point blank Void Flux at Selen, Alice jumped back as she spat out a mouthful of blood in annoyance.

\'What do you mean she\'s adjusting time?\' Alice asked as she flinched from the pain of having her chest carved out.

[That power she displayed, it wasn\'t exactly like the beast that I know of but it\'s clear that she\'s manipulating her own time. She\'s speeding up her motions and attacks.] Cayla explained as Alyss sat up.

\'Oi twinnie, want me to take over for a bit?\' Alyss asked with a frown.

If Selen could manipulate her time then for Alice who hadn\'t grasped her depth perception just yet, it was a dangerous fight!

\'Same plan as usual.\' Alice nodded as she handed the controls over to Alyss.

Rushing towards Alice once more, Selen furrowed her brows upon seeing the golden chains appear on her body.

Revealing a maniacal grin, Alyss let out a laugh.

Slamming her hand down, flames erupted around her as black hands rushed out from the ground, aiming to grab Selen\'s body.

Feeling a chill from these hands, Selen wanted to jump back but Alice quickly took over.

Abyss Lord of Duality!

"!!!" Widening her eyes, Selen realised her body controls had been flipped and reacted immediately.

Conjuring a second weapon that looks like a wand, she stabbed it into the ground.

Suddenly, the sound of clock hands ticking slowing down sounded out before all sound came to a halt.

Looking around in confusion, Alice realised that Selen stopped all of the abilities around her.

Letting out a deep breath, Selen moved her body a few times before aiming her sword at Alice.

"Truly, I wonder how many abilities you\'ve kept hidden. A Sigil that absorbs the surrounding energy, one that releases slashes, another that creates corrosive surges of energy, blood manifestation and manipulation, these flames and those black hands. Not to mention your disguise and whatever you did to change my motor functions." Selen narrowed her eyes.

*BANG!!!

Exploding with earth shattering speed, Alice flipped her controls once more but Selen didn\'t slow down.

\'F*ck! She\'s a monster with body control! Let me switch!\' Alyss shouted as golden chains manifested around Alice\'s body.

Creating a blood blade with a metal core, Alyss parried Selen\'s attack.

"Metal too huh? Logic tells me I should classify you as an Abyss Lord level being since you have 8 powers. But clearly, that\'s impossible otherwise I would\'ve stopped breathing by now. Your experience shows that you\'re a pretty young Hunter, immature even. How long has it been since you stepped on this path?" Selen asked, adjusting her guard and disarming Alyss.

Grabbing Alyss\'s wrist, she punched up, breaking the elbow before following up with a uppercut.

Forcing Alyss to take a few steps back as her arm began to regenerate, Selen threw her sword at Alyss which stabbed into the shoulder.

"On top of that, you have regeneration. That makes it 9 different abilities now. You are clearly not the pinnacle of human power, a nine Sigil Abyss Lord so I ask you, what are you?" Selen asked, slamming her staff down as time froze once more.

Alice could feel the sword being stuck to her shoulder, fused even, and it refused to come out no matter how she pulled.

"Who knows? Wanna take a crack at it?" Alice forced a grin as she tore off her arm and regenerated her flesh.

Furrowing her brows, Selen stabbed her staff down before letting go.

Raising her guard, Alice wondered if Selen was about to continue the fight but that didn\'t seem to be the case. Her killing intent faded away as Selen began to unbutton her shirt.

"The f*ck are you doing???" Alice blinked her eyes, wondering why Selen was taking off her clothes.

"Calm down, I\'m not undressing for you to get off to me." Selen rolled her eyes as she turned around and revealed her back.

Just as Alice was about to continue, her pupils constricted seeing the amalgamation of stitches and scars left behind by countless scalpels tearing across her flesh. A horrifying curtain of torture that was printed upon her back.

"Everyone is surprised when they see my back. But you, you have an idea on what caused this don\'t you?" Selen revealed a small smile, hiding the scars with her shirt once more.

"You said you wanted me to take a crack at what you are, right?" Selen turned around, recalling the sword to her hand.

"I\'m thinking… You\'re just another f*cked up experiment in the long line of f*ck ups created by this family."