Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 494: Neia

Dashing across the different rooftops, Selen glanced towards the tree and saw the giant spider lily.

Her gaze trembled in surprise before furrowing her brows.

With such a big phenomenon hanging over the city, it was clear that everyone was going to be distracted by it.

Acceleration!

She had to use this opportunity to the best of her abilities. To deal as much damage as she could before stopping them from going to Alice!

###

Seeing the spider lily blossom in the capital, Elowen couldn't help but furrow her draconic brows. For some unknown reason, she was feeling… Enamoured by this strange source of energy.

A warmth that was strangely familiar yet at the same time foreign.

Not only that but from this warmth came the paradoxical sensation of disgust and repulsion.

She wasn't sure what the source of this energy was but it was no doubt a bad sign. So far, they have 8 hybrids on their side excluding the Lords. With the 8 of them, they've brought an army of beasts along with the airborne disease that was recently developed by the Zenia family.

Rather than developed, it was more accurate to call it a failed product. A failed attempt to recreate and resupply the already dwindling supply of sacred blood.

Instead, this failed attempt brought forth a weapon far deadlier than what they had produced before.

"Neia, go and check it out." Elowen commanded as she glanced back at an ethereal figure that hovered nearby.

Her form was shrouded by a thick darkness with no distinguishing features behind exposed except for a pair of hallow white eyes.

Her 'jacket' was a strange liquid like energy that shimmered with a light blue. It trailed behind her in strands similar to the tentacles of a jellyfish. The jacket itself was grafted onto her body with a few strands fusing with the darkness.

"Do I have to…" Neia groaned, her voice soft and lacking energy.

"Can't we just let it be? We just need to spread the disease and make sure the Lords are dead right?" She asked but Elowen gave her a glare.

Jolting up from the glare, Neia sighed and nodded her head.

"Fine… I'll go check it out."

A stream of energy stretched out before her as she jumped up slightly before diving in, joining the stream and rushing towards the Spider Lily in the distance.

Watching Neia leave, Elowen wanted to massage her eyes but it was a little difficult in her current form.

Neia was the best one out of them when it came to scouting due to the unique properties of the beasts that she's fused with. It allowed her to join the energy stream, avoiding most attacks and detection. Not only that, but it allows her speed to increase exponentially, letting her arrive at the target location practically in an instant.

"Elowen Elowen~ What should we do?" A cheerful voice asked behind her as a young girl bobbed her head up.

The girl had soft lavender coloured hair and a pair of mismatched eyes. The right was black with a white cross while the left was white with a black cross.

"Don't bother the captain. She'll tell us what to do later." Another voice rang out as a young boy smacked his twin on her head.

Much like her, he had soft lavender coloured hair and mismatched eyes. But instead of the right being black with a white cross the left being white with a black cross, it was the opposite.

If one were to put these two in front of each other, some might even think there's a mirror between them.

"Laura, Kagen, I'll let you two have fun later. For now, we need to see how Verona responds to the situation. If she were to make a move, I can send all of us into the Void quickly." Elowen chuckled.

Laura and Kagen, a pair of twins who had a unique resonance effect due to the status of their birth. When experimented on using the hybrid protocol, the scholars discovered a fantastic reaction. They were able to fuse to become one beast.

It meant that they could insert twice the number of beast blood since there were two hosts while creating one strong beast containing a myriad of properties, far more than the standard hybrid.

A pair who saw everything as a game and had fun while killing the people she told them to kill. Products that are broken in the mind.

But even if they're broken in the mind, they made fantastic weapons that the Zenias are more than happy to put to use.

"I'm guessing you want me to be the one probing around for a bit while the rest of you watch." A familiar tree beast asked as Elowen nodded her head.

It was the same beast that had transformed into the cartographer and sent the information regarding Alice being the one to deal with Keira.

"Probe around and see if you can find the girl called Alice. If she can deal with Keira, aside from the Lords, she poses the biggest threat." Elowen ordered.

"Roger roger boss." Folmar gave her a joking salute before transforming into a bundle of roots and diving down towards the capital.

She was their guarantee for escape, Troy and Haldir acted as their defence. Haldir being another hybrid that's been built to focus on defence.

Laura and Kagen are there as their trump cards. Aside from the Lords, the last member was the wild card, in case anything unexpected happened.

Ayla, the one who they brought to deal with Queen Verona.

A perfect ambush with pawns to react to any change in situation that may occur. In Elowen's mind, there was no single chance of failure.

Unbeknownst to the hybrids, a single woman hid on the rooftops and eavesdropped on their conversation. A woman who eliminated herself from their perception.

'The tree hybrid is looking for Alice while the ghost looking one is already rushing towards her. The group is split.' Selen thought to herself as she activated acceleration on herself.

This made her job easier as she just needed to deal with the ghost and the tree before targeting the others.

Glancing towards the Lords, she could see a dance of fire and ice painting the sky while the twisted malefic lord level hybrids responded in kind. Eldrich streams of energy, tendrils and pulsating shadow collided against the flames and ice, swallowing them in the darkness.

Neither side could drag each other into their second Resonance as doing so would leave them open to a sneak attack.

With a third Lord watching by a nearby rooftop, Sigurd and Frida dare not expose themselves even for a moment.

As much as Selen wanted to help them out, she couldn't let the other hybrids move freely for now.

###

Gliding through the stream of energy, Neia approached the tree. There were a few barriers in the way thanks to Verona but she could bypass it rather easily due to her unique trait.

What's more confusing for her was the fact that Verona was observing things with her barrier but not making a move.

Regardless, if she didn't want to make a move then it's better for her.

'Let's see what we're dealing with I guess…' Neia sighed.

Materialising not far from the stem of the spider lily, she paused in shock upon seeing Alice who was kneeling with a spectral figure hovering behind her.

A constant pool of blood flowed from her body with her face being pale and sweat rolling down the side of her face. A haggard appearance despite the power that was emanating from her body.

Even from this distance, Neia felt her control waning, her connection being tested.

However, what's most shocking was Alice's appearance.

That face, that form… It was unmistakable.

'Alya? No… Alya was made as a failed clone of the original that was then placed in the hybrid experiments.' Neia frowned as her pupils trembled. A thought crept into her mind as her heart pounded against her chest.

If this woman wasn't Alya nor was she part of the Hybrids that came with them then…

"She's the original that went missing…" Neia muttered.

Countless thoughts rushed through her mind as she immediately turned around and prepared to leave.

She had to report this!

The original that the family has been scrambling to find with their ever dwindling resources was here in the north!

There was no doubt that she'd survive the outbreak due to the property of her blood. Rather than Verona, they had to focus on taking her back!

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice rang out above her as Neia widened her eyes and glanced up.

*KRK!!!!

Catching sight of Selen right before her blade was plunged into her back, Neia gritted her teeth and released a pulse of energy to push Selen away.

However, before her attack could go through, it scattered apart before the pulse could fully form.

Selen had also disappeared from above but the wound remained.

'Where?!?!' Looking around her in a panic, Neia wanted to dive back into the stream and run but doing so would expose her back again.

"Don't bother looking around."

"ARGG!!!" Feeling a blade stab directly into her face, Neia cried out in pain as she couldn't even register when Selen appeared. She wanted to lash out around her but none of her attacks succeeded in activating. It's as though the activation was cut off from completing at the last moment.

'What is going on?!?!' Neia flailed to no avail.

No matter what she did, no matter what she tried, nothing succeeded. Selen continued to phase in and out of existence while stabbing Neia across the body.

Even though she tried to regenerate her wounds, it failed to seal up as blood continued to flow.

Fear dominated Neia's mind as death wrapped its hands around her neck.

In a last ditch gamble, she focused her power on a energy web around her in an attempt to find Selen before she could strike.

Just once was fine. As long as she can find Selen, it'll be over!

'Eh? Why is the world spinning? Why can I see my own body? Why am I missing my head? Why is she on my back?'

. . .

'How did I die?'