Abyssal Awakening

Once they were far enough, Alice tried to step away from Albert but he held on tight.

A vein bulged on Alice\'s neck as she aimed her finger at his head and energy converged into a single Void Flux. She might be injured after using everything she\'s got in that attack but one Void Flux was still possible.

"Don\'t push your luck." Alice spat out as Albert frowned.

"I\'m not doing it for you. I\'m doing it for her."

"And what makes you think that she\'d want your help after you abandoned her?" Alice clicked her tongue, pushing him away.

"That- I didn\'t- Tsk forget it." Albert gritted his teeth and looked down since there was nothing he could say to refute her.

"What about you then? Why did the chains appear when she took over? Are you keeping her locked up?" He accused.

However, Alice ignored him since she wanted nothing to do with Albert and the same goes for Alyss.

The reason why he was still breathing right now was because his master saved her from the Doctor.

This was her repaying her debt.

In the distance, she could see Selen and Egil rushing over.

On top of the building next to her, Caera sat while observing Albert.

She could see the resemblance he had with Alice despite the difference in hair colour. And judging from their brief conversation, she came to the conclusion that they were indeed related.

The key point being Albert focusing on the one inside Alice rather than Alice herself.

"Caera, you saw what happened didn\'t you?" Alice glanced up, surprising Caera as she thought that she\'d been suppressing her presence. Though perhaps she gazed a little too intently for too long, thus exposing her.

"Indeed. It was a magnificent strike that you unleashed dear successor. However, it baffles even me how that man survived. I didn\'t see the entire fight but I certainly saw the strange crystal that lay in the centre of his being." Caera jumped down, surprising Albert as he didn\'t sense anything.

"Alice! Are you alright?" Selen rushed over, examining Alice\'s wounds.

However, the moment she saw Albert behind her, her pupils constricted as she conjured a blade and tried to lung forward but Alice stopped her.

"Alice! He\'s-!"

"A Zenia I know. Albert Zenia, first born son. Technically my brother." Alice gave Albert a side eye but he showed a face of disgust.

"I\'m not your brother. I\'m Alice\'s brother."

But his reply only confused Selen who thought Alice hated her entire family.

"Be that as it may, me and Alyss share the same body and my body is her body. My things are her things. And in reverse, her things are my things, same with connections. Don\'t worry, the fact that we even share a bloodline makes me want to drain out my blood and replace it with something else but that\'s not something I can achieve now is it?" Alice glared at Albert before turning to Selen.

There\'s only one thing she needs to say for Selen to understand why Albert was still allowed to breathe in her presence.

"The Doctor is here."

"!!!"

Selen\'s face paled as she stumbled back. Egil caught her, confused but understood that this must be part of their past connections coming to haunt them.

"Albert\'s master is keeping him occupied but I don\'t know for how long. I used everything I got to try and kill him but he regenerated from a weird crystal in his chest. I don\'t think I can stay here for another day. Selen, you should keep yourself hidden too. The Doctor doesn\'t like it when his subjects escape his grasp, no matter how small they are." Alice scratched her hair.

"If he finds out that you used to be part of the experiments, he\'ll track you down to the ends of the earth."

Hearing this, Selen bit her lip and nodded her head in agreement.

However, her concern was still on Albert.

He\'s a main member of the Zenia family, saying all of this while he was here… Selen didn\'t understand why. What if this was a ploy for him to gain Alice\'s trust?

"Caera, I\'ll let you resolve the agreement I have with the Queen. You\'re already familiar enough with the procedure to help with those infected by the curse. All you need is my blood now right?" Alice asked as Caera nodded her head.

Taking out a vial from her pouch, Alice made a cut on her arm and drained several vials worth of blood for Caera.

Even though her Sigil could create her blood using energy, it was still better to use the blood within her body rather than energy. Especially when it came to healing those infected.

"I\'ll make use of this with care. I suppose you\'ll be departing for your journey now, right?" Caera asked, receiving the vials.

"Mnm. I can\'t expose myself to more danger than this." Alice nodded.

"In that case then what about the lad behind you? Should I deal with him?" Caera asked as killing intent seeped out but Alice glared at her.

"His life is mine and Alyss\'s to take. Not you."

"Understood." Caera bowed before taking a step back.

"Now what to do with you." Alice narrowed her eyes at Albert.

###

Taking several deep breaths, Eryn had a frown on her face as the Doctor was truly a strange foe.

His attacks were invisible and he could recover from any strike she landed on him.

It\'s as though he didn\'t care what happened to this body since nothing would truly harm him in the first place.

"Why must you be like this? Has the family not treated you well all these years? We even helped your brother did we not?" The Doctor asked as Eryn didn\'t reveal a single bit of emotion in her expression.

Instead, she took a single step back as the scars on her arm seemed to come to life. The pattern began to shift before transforming into a dragon that coiled around her arm and up her neck.

Raiko!

*BANG!!!

Before the Doctor could even react, Eryn had already appeared behind him as steam was exhaled from her mouth. Lightning crackled around her body as the realm seemed to be cut in half. The Doctor\'s head flew from his shoulders but strange tendrils jumped out from his body, grabbing his neck and pulled the head back on.

"Tsk!" Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Eryn flickered for a moment before returning to her earlier spot.

"This kind of physical attack can\'t stop me. Why do you keep up the futility? And you still haven\'t answered my question yet either. Has the family not treated you well? We saved your brother, gave him everything he wanted and extended his life by five more years.

"When you brought him to us, he was nothing but a husk and you know that. But our technology saved him. What do you think is the foundation of that technology? It\'s the girl." The Doctor explained.

"Without dear Alice, we would\'ve never made such huge leaps in progress and development. Without her, your brother would never have lived as long as he did. Shouldn\'t you be helping me recover her instead?" The Doctor asked but Eryn let out a deep breath while veins bulged on her neck.

"Keep my brother out of your filthy mouth. If you stayed on the path of right, I would agree. I stayed out of your business because I care not for it. My brother was my everything. He\'s far more kind hearted than I. I stayed out of it because I can overlook such actions since the Zenia family indeed saved my brother.

"That was my gratitude to the family. But, if you decide to reveal such heinous acts in front of me and even show no repentance, my brother would only hate me if I didn\'t make a move."

Hearing this, the Doctors smile faded as he showed an expression of boredom.

"Alright. If that\'s the case, I\'ll take you back as a sample as well. I wonder what kind of specimen you\'ll turn out to be." The Doctor curved his lips into a grin.

Closing her eyes, Eryn took a deep breath before snapping them open. Her right eye now burned with a blue energy as cuts appeared all around them.

Rend!

*BANG!!!!

Sheathing her blade, everything within the space was cut as the Doctor\'s body was shredded apart, except the crystal. She had tried to target it with her attack but it was far more resilient than expected.

"You can\'t kill me like this." The Doctor was relaxed as everything was under his control.

"No. But I marked down your coordinates now. I may be a swordswoman but my powers focus on space." Eryn gave him a side glance before walking away.

"By the time you return to the north, we\'ll be long gone. Farewell."

Tapping her sword against the ground, an array expanded beneath the Doctor as he realized what had happened.

Just as he wanted to do something, the scenery around him flickered and he found himself deep in the layers of the Abyss.

A frown appeared on his face as the growls of beasts rang out around him. A vein bulged on his neck before disappearing.

"I\'ll relent to you this time. Dear Alice still lives and there\'s plenty of chances to track her down now that I know what she looks like." The Doctor sighed as a beast lunged out from behind only for an inky maw to jump up and consume the beast.

Being annoyed with the current situation brought him no benefit. Instead, he should think about how to best utilize the Zenia assets to track down dear Alice.

He\'ll be the shadow in the back of her mind, always watching, always waiting for the right moment.

And when her guard drops… He\'ll put the cage around the bird that\'s grown used to freedom.