Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 302: Twin

Once she had her fill of spicy food, [Alice] took the remaining time to just wander around Ayr.

'Now that we had a moment to relax, shall we focus?' [Alice] smiled, feeling satisfied with her taste of freedom after so many years.

Naturally, there were more that she wanted to do but for now, those were things she'd rather do in the real world than in the Inverted World.

'What's on your mind?' Alice raised an eyebrow curiously.

She thought that her twin would spend more time enjoying herself considering how long she's been locked up.

'Nothing much. Just a bit of research. Remember when you first got the crown? The gate we saw leading to Terminus was far more advanced than anything the real world has produced. I can only assume that after the collapse of Ayr, a lot of its technologies were lost without Velouria and its residents around to maintain them.

'Example being the way they get Sigils and the shrine Kaden showed us. If we can understand this technology and even bring some back, we could get a huge advantage over people and even help Ria get her Sigils easily with the shrine. The key is to understand and bring back the knowledge.' [Alice] explained while Alice began to blank out.

This thought had completely slipped Alice's mind as she had focused on fighting ever since she got here.

'Don't tell me you never thought of this?' [Alice] asked in disbelief. She could see what Alice was doing from the inside but she never thought this idea completely slipped her mind.

Poking her fingers together meekly, Alice stuck out her tongue.

'I'm actually speechless. Who's the murderous one here??? You got nothing but fighting and mead on your mind!' [Alice] facepalmed, baffled by her twin's actions.

'Ahem alright alright, I'm sorry. So what kind of technology do you want to find first?' Alice changed the subject.

'First, we need to figure out the shrine. That's the most important thing since it solves the biggest issue of Hunters in our era. Failure of a hunt. Since we're Velouria's successor, we should be able to replicate her control over this shrine to a certain extent. Of course, this is unknown since we don't know how it works.

'Even just setting aside helping Ria or Luke, if we ever want to pull favours and whatnot, we can force people to sign Laws of Agreement before using the shrine. That way we can guarantee their assistance if we ever want to go against the Zenia family.

'With how big the Zenia family is, just killing the head of the family isn't enough. They have branches everywhere and while not all of them are guilty, many of them are. We'll need lots of help to fully root them out so if we can understand the shrine, it'll be perfect to lay the foundations of our revenge.

'After the shrine, it'll have to be their way of transport through the Abyss. That gate made it far easier and safer to live here. Kaden may have teleported us around but the same can't be done for Civilians and people who travel between the layers and even to the surface.

'While we won't have the upper hand in negotiations with this as we would with the Shrine, just learning how to operate and possibly fix these gateways would make our lives a whole lot easier and give us negotiating power with the Hunter's Guild. They'll need the power to transport large amounts of people through the layers after all and even cargo to trade with the surface.

'For merchants, the gates are indispensable so it's something else that we need to focus on.'

While [Alice] was using this time to explain her plans and goals, Alice was silent.

She felt ashamed since the first thought she had after finding out that this place was Ayr was the mead!

Compared to her, [Alice] was far more reliable and sought to get as much value as she could from this trip.

'Why are you so quiet all of a sudden? Something wrong?' [Alice] frowned.

'N-nothing. So other than the Shrine and gateway, what else are you looking for?'

'What else? Well... the main things I want to find are those two since I don't think we have time to go for more. But if we get the chance then knowing how they make their clothing would also be good. Even though I hate the layers of these outfits, I can't deny their durability.' [Alice] shrugged while looking at her sleeves.

'The Hunters gear you got from Sera was also good but it's a far cry compared to what we have now.'

'True...' Indeed, while Sera's gear that she gave her was focused on functionality, it was still restrictive and not only that, but the pouch for blood vials could be easily damaged.

Maybe the more expensive outfits solved this issue by using spatial storage similar to what she has now. But just based on what she experienced, Ayr was still superior in terms of outfit durability and functionality.

'After outfits it would be…'

Listening carefully, Alice wondered what [Alice] was going to say.

'How they make their spicy skewers! Oh Gods it would be a horror if I can't taste them again once we get back. Actually, scratch that. Let me ask the chef for the recipe now, this is my top priority!' [Alice] grinned, wiping away her drool while running back to the restaurant.

Seeing this, Alice couldn't help but laugh as the two of them were different yet so very similar at the same time.

But hearing about this reminded her that she should learn about how to make mead.

'Remember to ask them on how they make their mead! Use Allura or Kaden's name if you can so we can get some leverage!'

'Ohh!!! You're right! Nice one!' [Alice] praised as they would probably be reluctant to reveal the secret behind such a delicious dish.

###

Surprisingly, it was far easier to obtain the recipes than what they had originally expected. Even without mentioning Allura or Kaden's name, the owner handed over the recipe without issue and simply patted her head afterwards.

'Do all the people just like patting each other's heads in Ayr? Why does everyone do that?' Alice frowned.

'Don't know. But we got the most important treasure so I don't mind it. We can go ask Allura and Kaden to bring us to more shrines or talk to someone who knows the functionality behind them. Same goes with the gateway.' [Alice] crossed her arms before closing her eyes.

'Do you want to take over? I don't know how to talk to them and I'm pretty sure we'll just confuse the hell out of them if we keep swapping mid conversation.'

'You need to talk to them just as much as I do you know? Since we'll be swapping more often. Plus, I'd want them to know about you too.' Alice shrugged.

'Ehh… Really?' [Alice] frowned while scratching her hair. Honestly, she preferred to just have moments to herself and pop out to help Alice during a fight rather than being there to talk to people.

But now that Alice has acknowledged her existence, knowing Alice, she'll be pushing for her to be out more often than before. Meaning this wasn't something they could avoid.

Thinking about them, [Alice] clenched her fist. Would they look upon her like Alice would? Or would they mark her down as an anomaly not meant to exist and deny her?

Realising [Alice's] fears, Alice revealed a soft smile.

'Come into the mental scape for a moment.'

'Hm? Sure, something wrong?' [Alice] nodded, as the two faced one another.

Looking at [Alice], she understood that perhaps this is what she would've looked like if Kaden never implanted Cayla into her.

Pulling [Alice] into a hug, Alice patted her back.

'Allura and Kaden won't reject you. At the end of the day, we're both in this body. I won't deny you and neither would they.'

Hesitating for a moment, [Alice] returned the hug and let out a small chuckle.

'Alright. Don't blame me for what happens okay?'

'As long as it's nothing crazy then sure.' Alice laughed.

Opening her eyes, [Alice] had a smile on her face before glancing up at the sky.

Narrowing her gaze, she could see the minute twists within the flow of energy and curled her lips into a grin.

"Kaden, Allura, can we talk for a moment." [Alice] called out, surprising Kaden.

Opening a portal, the two jumped down while [Alice] gave them a small wave.

"Yeah no this is weird. What's going on with you?" Allura asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Can we talk elsewhere first? You guys attract a lot of attention after all." [Alice] shrugged while gesturing to the crowd around them.

Nodding his head, Kaden created a portal back to their home.

Sitting around the table, Kaden was about to give [Alice] some mead when she shook her head and pulled out some spicy meat skewers she bought as take out.

"Alright now that we're alone, care to enlighten us on what's going on?" Allura crossed her arms while [Alice] nodded her head.

"Sure. Do you want the simple version or the long version?"

"Give us the simple version."

"Simple version is that there are two Alices in one body. We're both the real Alice and I'm just someone who's true to my needs and wants. The other Alice is the one you're familiar with." [Alice] shrugged while chewing on a skewer.

Blinking their eyes in confusion, [Alice] decided to prove it.

Closing her eyes, she handed control back to Alice as the chains faded away.

Assaulted by the sudden taste of the spice, Alice made a disgusted face before grabbing the mead that Kaden had offered.

"Cough! Blerg… I don't know how she can eat this crap. But setting that aside, she's telling the truth." Alice smiled while Kaden nodded his head.

"So I'm guessing she's the one that's been helping you during a fight then? Your 'Core' from the visit with the Moon Apostles." Kaden asked.

"That's… Spot on. But rather than Core, it's more like twin? We're different but also the same." Alice corrected while Allura understood that [Alice] was the one who pushed her to four and five Sigils.

"I see…" Kaden furrowed his brows. It was a lot to take in but at the same time, it wasn't the craziest thing that Alice has done.

And honestly, against Gods, Apostles and being able to defy the Abyss, having a 'Twin' in the same body was the most acceptable thing Alice has done thus far.