Abyssal Awakening

Taking a deep breath, Tristan could sense that these robed figures had a deep connection with the soul.

A speciality of the moon!

"Alice! We'll talk later!" Tristan called out before a scarf of lunar light appeared on his neck.

A helmet manifested around his head as he reached his hand up and summoned a greatsword.

Behind him, a halo spun to life as he crashed down and rushed towards the robed figures.

One of them tried to capture Tristan using the black mist but he stabbed his sword down and a giant array of lunar glyphs expanded with him in the centre.

The black mist was immediately dispelled as he pulled his sword out and released a vertical slash!

*BANG!!!

One slash was all it took for the robed figure to be cut in half before breaking down into mist that was absorbed by the sword.

Furrowing his brows, Tristan realised just how abnormal these figures were and split his greatsword into two longswords.

Crouching down, white flames burst out from the blade as he released a wave of horizontal slashes.

Realising that their opponent was probably the worst matchup for them, the abnormal monsters jumped back and looked for a way to escape.

"Don't even think about it." Tristan glared.

A blue light erupted from his body, dragging everyone within range into his personal realm!

As the light cleared, a garden of white cherry blossom trees could be seen while a single radiant moon hung in the sky above.

There's no need for multiple fanciful strikes.

Just one to take care of the wave!

Combining his swords into a greatsword once more, Tristan raised the greatsword upright as a neon blue light manifested across the blade's face.

Runic symbols appeared along the centre of the blade while lunar light filtered down from the moon.

This radiant energy made it seem as though the blade was on fire as he pulled it back and took a single heavy step forward.

[Go forth my blessed one] Lumiria's voice echoed out in Tristan's ear as veins bulged on his arm.

*BANG!!!

A wave of raw destructive power swept forward as Alice engraved the view into her mind.

The black mist couldn't put up even a moment of resistance as the robed figures were wiped out in an instant.

The only one left was a woman with her scythe.

Behind her, the black mist started to tremble as the avatar of a reaper could be seen.

A skeletal figure wearing a set of tattered robes and black chains.

Purple crystals jutted out of their body as the reaper slashed down with its scythe.

A pillar of crystals erupted from the ground in front of her, blocking the wave and giving the woman enough time to pull out a strange orb.

"Darrow, just you wait!" She cried out before crushing the orb.

The space around her began to tremble as Tristan flickered beside her and tried to slash her in half.

However, by the time his sword reached her, she had already phased out of existence.

Furrowing his brows, Tristan sighed as he dismissed the greatsword.

The realm disappeared as he walked to the edge and stared at Alice who was exhausted on the boat.

"Well this is a little awkward isn't it?" Alice forced a brave smile.

However, there was a big issue.

She clearly felt a hint of divinity at the end! He's personally blessed by Lumiria!

If that was the case, then the likelihood of him being part of the top echelon of the church was very high.

Dismissing his armour, Tristan looked at Alice with a slight frown.

"An enemy of yours Calista?" Darrow asked curiously.

"Calista?" Tristan paused.

"Nope, not an enemy but rather the boss of the Inn I'm staying at." Alice shook her head.

"Want to talk about this later? I got a job to deal with right now." She asked as Tristan hesitated for a moment.

There were too many questions he wanted to ask.

Why did Darrow call her Calista, why does she have the power of duality, why did she tell him to seek her out for the medicine?

Letting out a sigh, he nodded.

"We're definitely talking later."

"You got my word." Alice gave him an ok sign with her index and thumb.

But just as she did this, a burst of malevolent aura erupted from behind them.

Snapping her gaze back, Alice understood that the source is where Minerva was right now.

Meaning…

"The other shipments!" Trying to stand up, Alice couldn't help but stumble over as she exhausted herself far more than she had expected.

Despite having great power, the drawbacks of using Tiamat's Sigil with Duality meant that she was purging all the energy in her body all at once.

An all-or-nothing attack that leaves her defenceless.

"Hang on tight, I'm speeding up." Darrow warned.

However, Alice was confused. It's only a little far away so it's not like they could pick up that much speed.

Walking to the back of the boat, Darrow massaged his shoulders.

*BANG!!!

Beneath the ship, an explosion occurred as they were launched through the air.

Alice's pupil constricted in shock as she didn't expect him to use the shockwave to launch them through the air!

Her body began to float.

Just before she could fall off, Darrow grabbed her by the back of the jacket.

"I did tell you to hang on tight. What is it with kids these days and not listening to instructions." Darrow let out a sigh and a shake of his head.

Minerva was the same. He would give her instructions and she would dismiss them before regretting.

"Maybe if you told me what the f*ck you were about to do, then I'll listen. You can't just shout something and expect me to follow!" Alice snapped back in annoyance.

Lifting the small girl up like a cat so that he's face to face with her, Darrow raised an eyebrow.

"Need I remind you that before you released your big attack, the only thing you shouted was my name."

Hearing this, Alice paused and coughed awkwardly.

Indeed it was as he said. The only thing she shouted was his name.

"That… Maybe you just didn't hear me." Alice forced a smile and made an excuse but Darrow simply rolled his eyes.

It's impossible for someone of his senses not to hear something during battle, especially when someone is shouting towards him.

Turning his attention away from Alice, Darrow glanced towards the sinking ships with a frown.

Minerva could be seen on the main ship with wounds all over her body.

The phantom fleet swarming around the whirlpool of destruction while firing a constant barrage of attacks, hiding the figure within.

Once the barrage stopped, the creature revealed its form.

Much like the towering mountain of a beast that Alice saw back in Kvia, the size of this underwater beast was far bigger than average.

It had an elongated armoured head with a long row of sharp teeth yet no eyes. Armoured scales lined the head, forming a strange natural crown. Its body was slimy and muscular with the back being the same blue hue as the ocean and the underside being a greyish blue.

The forearms have jagged armour extending from the elbows while its claws resemble a reptiles with webbing between the fingers.

Unnatural bits of bone and armour jutted out of his body around the joints as a single long, curved tail trailed behind it.

Its aura and appearance didn't look like anything that the Abyss would produce.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

[A minion of the Outer gods.] Cayla spoke up with a deep frown.

'So that's what he was trying to bring in through the shipments. But why did he need so many boxes?' Alice questioned.

She couldn't comprehend the body composition of these strange beasts belonging to the Outer Gods.

No matter the person, they'll have strands of energy coming out of their bodies and linking them to the Abyss. It's something that Alice can choose to focus on or entirely ignore.

But this beast in the whirlpool… there was nothing at all. No strands, no connections.

Not only that, but they also have the strange black mist that counter her flames…

Alice wanted to figure out the cause otherwise it'll be far more dangerous for her in the future.

Just touching it is enough to bring her face to face with what she can only assume to be an extension of the Outer Gods.

"This power… This feeling… So this is how it feels… Haha… Ahahahahaha!!!" The beast glanced down at his hands before releasing a maniacal laugh.

"Minerva, I bet you thought you had me cornered right? Serves you right!!! You can watch me kill everyone you brought with you!"

A pulse of blue light erupted from the beast, forming rings of natural blue energy.

From this energy, the sea began to churn as it soon condensed into a long serpentine body that wrapped around the beast.

A leviathan created from sea water!

"Yo, Lunar Cardinal, do you plan on giving a hand? Or are you going to watch things unfold?" Darrow asked while sweat rolled down his face.

He's faced many beasts in his lifetime. But this? This was outside of his power. No wonder Lorien was ready to risk everything.

Darrow could tell that a connection has just been formed between this beast and the sea!

Furrowing his brows, Tristan eventually nodded his head.

He didn't want to involve himself deeply with the conflicts of Caethis. However, this was beyond just a scuffle between two factions.

"I, Cardinal of the Moon, will lend you my aid." Tristan summoned his armour once more as the three of them descended into battle.