Abyssal Awakening

'Pathways?' Alice frowned.

If that was the case, it made sense why Alyss's arm was torn off despite her body being stuck in place.

It's simply a case of manipulating two different pathways. The first to secure the body and the second to move the arm.

Then came the question of how much force can be exhibited and the restraints of her ability.

'She had a nosebleed while trying to control too many pathways. I'm guessing there's a limit to what she can manipulate before her body gives in. She didn't show this power without the collar either.' Alice analysed.

Just as she was about to continue, Alice noticed the blue haired woman deactivating her collar before collapsing on one knee.

The woman with the scarf held her up with one arm over her shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Clenching her fist, the space around them began to collapse as Alice refused to let them leave so easily.

However, the scarf created a cage around them, cancelling out Alice's ability.

Triggered Cast!

Appearing in front of the woman with a grin, Alice reached out with her hand.

She knew that the woman would try to stop her through the scarf. Therefore, the moment she does, Alice will teleport herself into her range.

Since the scarf was made by weaving her blood, she'll hijack it!

Snapping her finger, several blood needles stabbed into the scarf as Alice injected her own fresh blood into the mix.

Immediately, the woman's eyes turned bloodshot as her scarf began to twitch and mutate.

Seeing this, the blue haired woman reached out to Alice and tapped her on the leg.

*BANG!!!

Throwing Alice away, the two stepped into a blood portal and left the area.

Landing on her feet, Alice had a frown on her face.

Even if she couldn't cancel out the scarf or hijack it, she at least wanted to plant a tracker so that she could keep an eye out.

Instead, what happened was that her blood was hijacked instead. It was assimilated into the scarf. It wasn't the same assimilation as Eldritch energy but instead, it was more akin to stealing.

The blood she injected into that scarf no longer 'belonged' to her.

[It's probably why her body showed negative signs. She absorbed what you injected.] Cayla furrowed her brows.

'I suppose it does make it easier to deal with her next time then. That scarf seems connected to her on a physical level. If I overflow it with my blood, she'll die.' Alice let out a sigh.

She already knew that the Doctor reported about her survival. So them finding out wasn't that big of an issue. What was an issue was the fact that now they know she's in the East.

'Tsk, we can't stay here for long. We'll have to finish what we're here to do quickly.' Alice scratched her hair.

Giving the battlefield another glance, Alice couldn't help but wince at the loss of life.

The countless corpses of friend and foe scattered across the land. Not all of them were strong, some might just be normal humans.

But in the end, they still fought to their last breath. They were already braver than most by throwing themselves into danger like this.

Especially Suyin.

When Alice laid her eyes on Suyin, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Not a single speck of Abyss energy accepted her.

No strands, no nothing.

It's as though the Abyss rejected her existence.

Instead, she filled her body with machinery, using that as an extension to accept healing vials. Flesh 'regenerated' as an extension of her machines rather than her.

Then there was all of the weapons that she created. The mechanical arms that acted as the walls of the city.

She could sense a tremendous amount of energy beneath the city. Suffice to say, she WAS this city and this city an extension of Suyin.

###

*Stumble

Collapsing on the ground, the woman with the scarf coughed up a mouthful of blood as she clutched her arms in pain.

She writhed on the ground while the blue haired woman held her tightly.

"I suppose she is the prototype for our existence after all. We cannot deny the fact that our blood comes from her. It's because the family wanted to learn how to harness the potential of her blood do we exist." A woman chuckled, watching the twins hugging each other.

Even though their emotions couldn't be seen properly, she could tell.

They were disturbed by the original!

That regeneration, the powers she hold. Even her adaptability and potency of blood.

The blood they received was watered down variants. No matter how 'recent' they were, they still couldn't handle the original blood.

"Kaine, take Mira to the scholars that we brought with us. Have them extract the original's blood since the family is lacking some samples. Doing so should save Mira's life." She ordered as Kaine, the blue haired girl nodded her head frantically.

Unlike Laura and Kagen, twins of the previous generation that could fuse into one beast, Kaine and Mira were 'made' as separate entities.

One showed talent in perceiving space and manipulating it while the other showed affinity for using the base properties of Alice's blood.

Therefore, the Hybrid protocol was different for the two.

As twins, having a connection was unavoidable. Therefore, their solution was to have Mira act as a regulator for Kaine.

Kaine limit breaks by injecting more blood into herself, unlocking the power to control Vectors while Mira ensures that Kaine can fight for the full duration without dying to the after effects.

The two fight side by side and even though Mira rarely intervenes, that's because her focus was on keeping Kaine from breaking apart.

Losing one would be akin to losing both since neither can fight without the other.

If Kaine fights alone, she'll die before the fight even ends.

If Mira fights alone, she lacks the powers to kill a strong opponent.

Had Alice not injected her blood into Mira's scarf, she would've been able to help 'fix' Kaine's body, allowing her to continue the fight.

But because Alice took Mira out of commission, they had to retreat.

Not that she believed the two could retrieve Alice to begin with.

They were simply there to gather information. Only taking damage to this degree was outside of her expectations.

'Her abilities haven't changed much compared to the Doctor's report. Though she was still holding back.' She narrowed her gaze.

From the Doctor's report, she understood that Alice could manifest a soul state of sorts, amplifying her power.

Then there was also the crimson halo that pushed her abilities beyond what's originally perceived.

It was also because of this ability did the Doctor add some extra modifications to the collars, helping them break past their perceived limit.

"She's not going to make this easy. I might have to get more reinforcements from the doctor. What we have is lacking." The woman sighed but there was a calculating look in her eyes.

###

With the enemy army retreating, the City of Fusha was given a break.

Even though it should be a happy occasion, a sombre aura filled the city with the countless corpses of the deceased in the distance, reminding them of the price they had to pay for this 'break'.

After returning from the battlefield, one of the guards had guided Alice to the emergency ward as Suyin wanted to see her.

Naturally, Alice was careful not to accidently bump into any of her equipment.

Standing behind the glass, there was a frown on Alice's face as she watched Suyin being hooked onto a large contraption.

"Sorry for the. . . current state I'm in. I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible." Suyin let out a hollow chuckle. She wore a breathing mask right now, numbing her sense of pain while wires were being hooked into her arm.

Mechanical bones were being inserted into place with pieces of tissue being applied to the surface.

"Honestly I don't mind waiting if you need some time to finish this procedure." Alice raised an eyebrow.

"I wanted you to see this so that you don't try to shake my hand. I'll die if you do hahaha." Suyin joked.

With a lot of her body being a result of her experimentation, just touching Alice could cause her to explode.

"That is a very fair point." Alice paused before agreeing.

Having the commander of Fusha explode because of a handshake would be rather…

"But now that you've seen my arm, let me get up first then we can talk." Suyin smiled.

Injecting Abyss Blood into the pieces of flesh grafted onto her arm, tissue began to regrow with Suyin wincing from the feeling of foreign flesh fusing with her own flesh.

Little by little, her arm was being reconstructed with mechanical bones. And finally, the skin was regenerated.

Moving her arm, Suyin furrowed her brows before shrugging.

The arm itself felt a little numb but it was better than not having an arm at all.

Stepping out of the operation room, Suyin had Alice follow her to the lab.

"After we had the chat when you were still at the port, I ran a few tests to see what could've possibly caused this reaction. After all, I've designed all of my tech to avoid situations where it might go berserk and explode like it did with you.

"Yet it still happened so it was clear that something was wrong with my calculations. I have some answers but these came with more questions.

"One of the questions that I wanted to ask you was. . .

"What's your connection with the Abyss?"