Abyssal Awakening

Hearing this theory that Alice proposed, Cayla wanted to say something but paused.

'By having Alyss act as my temporary soul for the moment, it allowed me to develop my own container by using it as a template of sorts. All three were present, but perhaps the soul seen as 'damaged'.

'Over time, as Alyss began to manifest more and more, I think that's when my soul was going through development until the two of us finally split into two beings inside the same space. Two souls in one.' Alice suggested as Cayla folded her arms.

Indeed, if she was to go with what Alice had said, a lot of things now made sense.

[Then what about all the souls trapped in the spiritual heart?] Cayla asked since that was something that the Apostle belonging to the moon brought up.

Like her, Alice or rather, Alyss has countless souls attached to her, using her as a bridge to access their powers.

If the Soul was indeed the container, then what are those souls?

'Better question would be how does the Abyss keep a catalogue of powers. I think… Nyer was trying to make a second version of the Abyss in my body. Similar to how Velouria could access a myriad of powers, my body became a library. Rather than souls per say, I think these things inside me are something else entirely.' Alice furrowed her brows.

What she was consuming might not be the 'soul' by previous understanding.

When she stole Duality, the Goddess of the Moon was livid. Rightfully so.

But with Alice's theory, the soul doesn't hold 'data' in the sense that there's nothing there except a container. What holds data is the mind and body that's being connected by the soul.

Unless…

At this point, Alice opened her eye wide, coming to a conclusion.

'Cayla. What if the 'shell' is where the Abilities of the Abyss are being carved rather than the body? We always been talking about the Spiritual Heart but what if the Spiritual Heart is merely one aspect of the shell?

'When me and Alyss swap out abilities, we modify the shell of our soul. By taking that piece the Sigil is occupying and replacing it with something within our library, we modify our soul to fit that newly added piece.

'Theoretically, that means we can quick swap the pieces as long as I understand the structure of this shell. Right now, perhaps unconsciously, whenever we swap out abilities, we're not doing it more than once in fear of damaging the shell too much. An unconscious act of self preservation.'

[Then what about Griselda?]

'For that, I need to first understand what exactly I'm consuming when I take the souls. Since the some of these shells are 'crying' which I can only assume to be a remnant of despair in their final moments. Since it works in threes, perhaps what I'm taking from them is the Shell and the Mind? No, that doesn't quite work.'

Furrowing her brows, Alice snapped her finger.

'Their blood. When I consume their blood, that replaces the body. As you know, my blood is a concentrated source right? Perhaps the body is being replaced by me. No… That still doesn't answer why they're crying.' Alice frowned.

She was glad that Cayla asked these questions since it allowed her to modify her theory regarding the souls.

The more she understood, the better it'll be when it comes to manipulating it.

'Setting that aside for now, what if a portion of Duality allows you to modify or tamper with this shell? The Will said I could kill Kazira two times over. With that being the case, had I saved one of my lance usages, I could've probably killed her at the end. Or, alternatively, I could've used Duality to maybe invert her shell and kill her that way.' Alice theorised.

But without being able to use her energy for now, it was hard for her to test out her ideas.

Frustration began to build up inside Alice as so many ideas and inspirations was flooding her mind but she couldn't verify them!

It's akin to having starved for weeks on end and a meal appears before you.

However, it was locked behind a case that you couldn't open at all.

Absolutely agonising.

As time passed, her finger tapping against the table began to speed up as a small dent was being formed. The Guards outside felt like they were going insane, hearing this constant tapping but they couldn't or rather, didn't want to be rude to her.

Inside the tent was the Demoness after all!

Thankfully, someone came to relieve them of this duty as a man entered the room.

"Are you the one who's going to conduct my final test? I have to say, isn't this a little extravagant?" Alice asked with a frown.

She didn't even need to open her eye to sense that the person in front of her was a Lord level being.

Just the aura he was exuding was enough to warn her.

"To speak this way despite knowing the kind of power I hold, you're exactly how Sect Leader Jian described you as." He frowned as Alice glanced up.

He had pale white skin, practically the same colour as chalk, a pair of deep crimson eyes and dark grey hair that reached his lower back. On his forehead, a crimson mark could be spotted and he wore a black and gold outfit.

"It's simply the truth. I don't believe a Sect Leader like yourself should come meet a patient like this for the final test. Unless the test is merely an excuse for me to meet the esteemed leader?" Alice shrugged.

She couldn't use energy but that doesn't mean she couldn't use her other tools.

If needed, in her pouch, there were still vials of her own blood.

She couldn't detonate them or use them however she wanted but as mist that disperses Abyssal energy, it was still doable.

The two were locked in a stare down for a while as the Sect Leader appraised Alice from head to toe. Despite the fact that she should be injured and the lack of energy that he was sensing from her, she still felt dangerous.

Like a sword waiting to be unsheathed at any moment.

"Seems like the Cult's energy didn't corrupt you at all. How and why?" He asked.

However, Alice simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't know. I fought then I passed out. Next thing I know I was here."

"You were the only one outside the heart of the ritual by the time we found you. How did you escape the initial stages?" He questioned once more.

Having the Sect Leader question her like this while white walls surrounded her, Alice had to admit that she felt discomfort. Rather than meeting a patient, it felt more like an interrogation.

Furrowing her brows, Alice's finger twitched for a moment when a shadow lunged towards her.

*BANG!!!

Jumping out of her chair, Alice widened her eye for a moment before grabbing a dagger from her pouch along with a vial of blood.

"Stop!" The sect leader shouted while massaging his eyes, stopping both Alice and the shadow.

"Reckless like he mentioned as well. This isn't an interrogation. We're trying to figure out a way to counter the corruption caused onto the civilians and disciples of the sect. See for yourself." The sect leader gestured with his head as he motioned for Alice to follow him.

Glaring at the shadowy figure that faded away, Alice stored away her dagger for now and walked behind the sect leader.

'You saw that too didn't you?' Alice asked as Cayla nodded her head.

At first, she thought that nothing had changed with her body after Nyer's tampering.

But now it was clear. Her body got stronger! Without access to her energy, she wouldn't have been able to avoid that grab just now in the past.

And judging by the energy she could sense from the man, he was around five to six Sigils in strength.

Or at least that what she presumed from the energies of people she's seen in the past.

But this only brought up the question of how it was even possible outside of getting more Sigils.

Abyss blood doesn't work on her in terms of reinforcing her body.

There was something else that Nyer did which she didn't know about.

Either that or perhaps it was a byproduct of Alyss consuming Eldritch power.

Shaking her head, Alice dismissed the thoughts for now as she observed the civilians lying on the beds.

There was a dark murky energy flicking from their shadows.

The spread of corruption had stopped but it didn't disappear.

In fact, on the beds that they were lying on, there was signs of having a ritual carved into it, keeping this energy at bay.

"If you don't have a method that can counter act this corruption, then there is no need for her to keep speaking." The Sect Leader spoke up after seeing Alice being unresponsive towards the patients.

"Yeah I got nothing here, sorry." Alice shook her head.

If it was Abyss energy, she could wait a week before helping.

But Eldritch? There was too much she didn't know about.

And she refused to consider the idea of consuming it to help these people.

Doing so meant putting Alyss in danger and no matter the situation, she's picking the safety of her twin over the lives of people she didn't know about.

Letting out a sigh, the man nodded his head.

"Do as you please. Sect Leader Jian has already mentioned the mistake of the bounty to me. The guards won't hold you back." After saying this, the man walked away, seemingly to concentrate on his own tasks while Alice decided to track down her marks.

She wanted to see how everyone else was doing.

Especially Jin.