Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 703: Baiting Out Kazira and Voruth’Zal

Standing upright with her arms folded, Alice had a blank expression on her face while her hair fluttered in the wind.

She thought back to the discussion she had with the group and the. . . experiment they did conducted afterwards.

Alice only had one thought in mind.

'I can't f*cking believe it worked.' She thought flatly, resisting the urge to slam her face into her palm.

Never in her life did she think that the Will would actually agree to such a thing and yet, here they were.

[Honestly it's probably easier to try and guess what the Outer Gods want than to figure out the intentions behind what the Will does.] Cayla sighed.

'I mean if you really think about it, it's technically ours to begin with. He's the one who took it away without consent.' Alyss shrugged her shoulders.

Nodding her head in agreement, Alice glanced up at the sky and let out a deep sigh.

In order for her to be a good bait for Voruth'Zal and Kazira, they needed something that'll force them to move.

Just having Alice on the field wasn't enough. There needed to be something. . . more.

Something that Kazira will absolutely have to move for. Something that she couldn't pass up the chance to get.

Something to push her over the edge and fight against Voruth'Zal's decision no matter the consequences.

Unfolding her arms, Alice activated her Sigils and blood threads manifested from her body.

Beside her, a portal split open. She reached inside with the threads, grasping at something beyond the rift.

"Kazira!" She shouted with a mocking stone. "I know you're watching. How does it feel? To run away with your tail between your legs? To run away from a weak little five Sigil mortal?

"You want to take the divine throne? Don't make me laugh! And here you are calling yourself the Apostle of War! Why don't you change your name to Apostle of Cowardice!? Maybe that'll fit better!" Alice grinned. With a vicious tug of the threads, she ripped her prize from the portal.

*RUMBLE!!!

From the portal, a figure began to emerge.

Red threads weaved through the limbs with Alice becoming the puppeteer.

Her threads dug through the flesh like hooks, pulling the prize into position.

And the moment its full form stepped into view. . .

A tsunami of killing intent slammed into the area!

In the sky, energy began to take the shape of Kazira who glared at Alice with a pair of enraged eyes.

The clouds parted, energy crackled across the firmament.

Veins bulged around her temple and neck, looking as though they could burst at any moment.

"ALICE!!!" Kazira roared with the earth trembling beneath her.

But Alice simply grinned. Wide, vicious, mocking.

As expected, to someone like Kazira, this was the biggest insult they could hurl towards her.

Someone who had abandoned everything to live, someone who had lost everything.

To Kazira, this was probably her last straw.

After all, beside Alice, suspended like a puppet on display, stood the corpse of Kazira that was being crudely used as a puppet. An insult and violation of her mortal vessel.

###

A day ago.

"Alright, say I do agree to your point of becoming a bait for the Outer God and the Apostle. I still don't think it's enough to draw them out. They want casualties and I've already shown myself quite a few times.

"Kazira hasn't yet made a move while Voruth'Zal has been lurking around in the shadows." Alice leaned back on her seat.

She wasn't too against the idea of becoming bait but more so the fact that it hasn't proven to be useful yet.

She's shown herself more than once but Kazira was silent all the same.

Jin was about to counter but paused, realising that it's as Alice had said.

Kazira hasn't made a move.

No matter how much she might want to kill Alice thanks to what she did, Kazira has been awfully patient.

"Maybe she knows that she can't beat you with an incomplete vessel?" Isolde spoke up.

"True. As angry as she is, she's no fool." Alice lamented.

If Kazira was stupid, it would make things a lot better.

But she's already revealed a lot of her cards last time they fought. Kazira knows that Alice can forcefully upgrade her strength.

Then there's also the Grimoire of Sin that she made use of last time.

[If it wasn't for the Grimoire or Feris stepping in for a moment, I don't think we would've been able to come close to fighting her properly.] Cayla admitted begrudgingly.

The grimoire practically severed Kazira's strength in half.

First was the Curse of the Black Shroud that Alice had used.

Requiring both Severance and Corruption, the Curse of the Black Shroud was one that severed the connection between a God and the Apostle. To supress Divine Authority, stripping away their power until they become a 'strong Lord'.

And what truly balanced the fight was the next curse.

Curse of the Shackled Scale.

A curse that forcefully balances the combatants within a given area. Of course, it didn't work on Apostles since they have the protection of Divine Authority.

By forcing Kazira to lose her divine authority using the first curse, Alice made it so that she lost the protection against the curse. Thus forcing them to be on the same level.

'Now that Kazira knows you can access both Severance and Corruption to some extent, there is no doubt that she would've made preparations to counter it. Though we probably can't count on Feris to help.' Alyss reminded.

They were already stretching Feris's patience thin. Anymore and they might turn Feris from somewhat having good terms to being enemies.

And with so many of their strategies being based on controlling the Void, Alyss wanted to avoid that.

"So we have nothing to force their hand?" Suyin sprawled out on the table.

"Not quite." Isolde suddenly spoke up, surprising the group.

"My Lord has mentioned that Alice is in possession of one thing that'll force her to move."

"She has something like that??" Jin blinked his eyes.

"I have something like that??" Alice was baffled.

"You have her vessel do you not? The original body that she abandoned when she fled for her life." Isolde reminded as all eyes turned to Alice.

Scratching her cheek, Alice coughed.

"Kind of? After the fight, I didn't retrieve her body. Rather. . . The Will of the Abyss is keeping it safe? I guess?"

"The f*ck is the Will of the Abyss?" Suyin creased her brows.

If it's what she thinks it is, then are they the reason why she can't even have a single bounty?

Thinking about how to explain this, Alice simply summarized it as one half of the authority that controls the Abyss. How he was the one who set Kazira as Alice's sixth bounty.

Ignoring the second half of her explanation for now, Suyin was hung up on the fact that Alice was talking with basically the ruling authority of the Abyss.

At this point, who WASN'T she talking to?

"So can you get her body back from him or not?" Jin asked curiously.

"I'm not sure. Give me a second." Alice furrowed her brows.

'I know Velouria probably could've contacted the Will at certain points. But is there a way for me to do the same?'

[Kinda of? But also not really.] Cayla frowned. [In the past, he just showed up whenever he wanted and Velouria didn't actively seek him out either.]

Facing a dead end once more, Alice let out a sigh.

'Wait a second.' Alyss suddenly spoke up.

'Twinnie, you injected your blood into Kazira's body right?' Alyss asked as Alice nodded her head.

'Can't you. . . Just use Ruinous Void Lance form to target it? Overlay it with the power of the Void and force open a gateway? That way you can go directly to the corpse.'

Alice blinked.

Cayla blinked.

'Holy f*ck. You're not wrong.' Alice sat up in shock.

Ruinous Void's lance form overlays it with the power of the void for a single guaranteed hit. It's what they used to fight against divinity and it's also what they used to guarantee a hit against Kazira.

Since they've always used it to target their enemies, they never thought about using it as a method of transport.

As long as she leaves behind a marking, can't she just target that a rip a hole through the Void no matter the distance or realm?

By using the Void as a medium, a transport in other words, she's able to travel anywhere she wanted.

'Let's just hope Feris isn't too pissed about me ripping a hole directly to the Will.' Alice forced a smile as she stood up.

"You might want to step back, I got a bit of an idea." Alice warned.

"Oh sh*t." Suyin's pupils constricted, knowing that if Alice has an idea, it was going to be bad. Without hesitation, she stepped to the door, ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.

Summoning her artifact, Alice took a deep breath.

Resoannce!

Artificial Resonance!

Abyss artifacts!

Feeling the beat of her heart, Alice established a connection with the realm itself as the lance hummed with power.

She searched for Kazira's body, a thread connecting the two of them together.

A singularity manifested on Alice's eye as her smile faltered.

"Coordinates locked on."

Getting Alyss to swap out one of her Sigils for Severance, Alice stabbed the lance forward.

Void Flux – Cleave! Realm Severance!

*BANG!!!!

In front of Alice, before her lance could stab into the Void, a hand grabbed the tip, stopping it from going further.

A pure white hand with no details.

At that moment, Alice found herself in the endless white. Not in soul, not in mind state.

Her own physical body was here.

"Don't you agree that it's rather rude to try and break into someone's home?" The Will of the Abyss grinned.