Abyssal Awakening

What is an Avatar?

The Avatar of a Lord is a crystallisation of their powers and title that's been granted by the Abyss. An icon for them to channel the full extent of their abilities to the extreme. In essence, it's their 'third resonance' without getting 9 of the same type of Sigil.

However, crystalising your power this way has its risks as it weakens the Lord when they don't utilise it. It's a separate reservoir where they keep their power.

Repairing a damaged Avatar was easy. All they needed was a bit of time and effort. But if it was to be completely destroyed or 'consumed' in this case?

Fear lingered in Frida's eyes as she watched the bestial Avatar approach her own. Its jaw hung open with countless rows of teeth within.

*CRACK!!!

Crunching down with its jaw, it bit down on the Avatar's neck as Frida cried out in pain. Wounds appeared on her body matching the wound of the avatar.

"FRIDA!" Sigurd roared, jumping up in an effort to assist but the humanoid living shadow was already prepared.

Intercepting Sigurd, he twisted his body and released a hammer swing, sending him crashing back into the ground.

Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Sigurd gritted his teeth. In order to help Frida, he had to get through this humanoid living shadow first!

This damn curse of his, restraining his powers! All because of Enris!

Punching the ground, Sigurd let out a shout from the depths of his soul as flames burned around him.

###

Watching everything unfold, Verona had a frown on her face. She knew she had to make a move and soon.

But if she did…

She was at a crossroad of choices.

Frida and Sigurd's life or their dream.

Could she really sit by and do nothing?

Biting her lips, Verona contemplated. She weighed the options.

If she was to make a move now, the nation was going to be doomed regardless. One move and everything they worked for would be for nought and an army of the three gods will invade their nation and raze it to the ground.

But if she didn't do anything, it would be razed to the ground regardless.

If she didn't make a move and Frida was to lose her avatar, it would give their enemies an incentive to just attack.

They wouldn't be able to defend the nation with just one Lord. Sigurd was cursed and Frida would only be classed as half of a Lord.

Making up her mind, she was about to stand up and leave when a spider lily began to drift down from above.

###

Slashing her blade towards Ayla, Selen gritted her teeth as her attacks weren't working.

Every time her ability was to reach Ayla, the space she occupied seemed to shift and her attack would dissipate. This wasn't limited to just her direct attacks either.

Something was warding off her perception manipulation.

None of her time based abilities worked.

She couldn't be slowed, accelerated or even held in place.

"Such futile struggles, is it not a waste of effort? Just relax your body and allow me to guide you to your rightful path." Ayla sighed.

Jumping up slightly, she batted her wings as a pulse of energy rippled out.

Raising her guard, Selen was confused when she didn't feel any pain. But one glance behind her caused her pupils to constrict.

A spectral figure of similar to her unchanged form could be seen floating with her eyes closed.

Curling her lips up into a devilish grin, Ayla flicked her finger and an arc of light lashed out, cutting off the arm.

"!!!" Feeling a sting of pain on her arm, Selen glanced down and saw her arm being cut off by an invisible force.

Immediately activating her new skill, she recovered her body back to the state it was before Ayla cut off her arm.

Jumping back, Selen could see her spectral form slowly dissipate and reenter her body.

'Abilities doesn't seem to work on her, she can push out a spectral form and any damage done to it is reflected onto me.' Selen made a mental note as a frown appeared on her face.

She could tell that Ayla was playing around with her right now.

Selen was keeping the twins and Elowen in check so the moment she gives up her focus on them, it'll become a 1 vs 4 again. In that kind of situation, her death was guaranteed.

'Those eyes on the wings are creepy too…' Taking a deep breath, Selen forced herself to calm down.

In her current state, her mind was filled by a myriad of voices. Some angry, some sad, some jubilant.

But she had to be the one in control.

Letting those voices dominate her mind will only accelerate her death.

"My dear, are you still thinking of a way out? Isn't it easier just to give up?" Ayla's voice whispered in Selen's ear as she snapped her gaze to the right but no one was there.

"I've already marked your soul for redemption, you can't escape my voice anymore."

This time, the voice seemed to exist in her mind as Selen twisted her body and launched an arc of energy towards Ayla.

Not making a single move, Ayla watched as the blade dissipated before it could even reach her.

"How about you stop this futile resistance? Seeing you put so much effort is exhausting even for me when it all comes to nought." Ayla sighed.

The eyes on her wings twitched for a moment before focusing on Selen.

Spectral chains shot out of the ground as red energy lashed out towards Selen.

Slamming her hands down, she froze the time in the space around her and jumped out of the way before launching another arc of energy towards Ayla.

"Trying the same thing over and over won't yield you a different result. Things simply don't work that way."

"No, but it distracted you didn't it?" Selen grinned.

While throwing the attacks and dodging, she had slowly inched towards where the twins were so that she could finish them off for good!

She placed her hand on the twins as green energy could be seen flowing from their bodies into Selen's.

Her wound began to patch up while the two slowly dried up into husks.

"Oh my… How vicious." Ayla remarked.

The death of the twins didn't affect her at all as she didn't care about their life or death.

All she cared about right now was the recovery of the original.

If she could get that, all of the lives they used in this expedition could be forgiven.

If they could get their hands on the original, another army would rise.

"If you want to grant dear Elowen a peaceful death then please, go ahead. I'll wait. I'll wait and let you understand your futile defiance of your fate." Ayla gestured, leaning back slightly.

Furrowing her brows, Selen walked over to Elowen who gave her a hateful glare.

Grabbing her by the head, Selen didn't give her a second glance before stealing her time into herself.

Now that it was truly a 1 vs 1, Selen could focus everything into killing Ayla.

Since abilities don't work on her, she'll have to rely on the physical!

Acceleration!

Blinking from her spot, she appeared above Ayla who slowly turned to her with a smile.

Slashing down with her blade, her pupils constricted after noticing her attack phased through Ayla's body.

*BANG!!!

Before she could register what had happened, Ayla's wing slammed into her body, sending her crashing towards the ground.

It felt as though an entire building had crashed into her as blood seeped from Selen's lips.

She wanted to recover her wounds but Ayla was faster.

*BANG!!!

Slamming her heel down into Selen's chest, Ayla smirked as she lifted Selen by the hair.

"The flames of life still burn in your eyes… How rebellious."

Lifting her up slightly, Ayla twisted her body and punched Selen in the face before grabbing her ankles.

Slamming her body into the ground, she gathered energy into a white orb and jammed it against her stomach.

Blood splattered everywhere as Ayla lifted Selen once more.

She could see that Selen was barely breathing.

Her lips trembled as Ayla wondered what she was trying to say.

"You… Finally got… close enough." Selen squeezed out as a small smile could be seen on her lips.

At that moment, Ayla wanted to let go but it was already too late.

Her hand withered in an instant as she let Selen go and kicked her away.

Furrowing her brows, she tore off her arm and threw it away before the withering could get to the rest of her body.

"You're different from Alice after all. An inferior copy. You might be able to negate abilities thrown at you but once it hits your body, you're no different than the rest of us." Selen cackled as blood poured out from her mouth.

Unfortunately, she could only roll back her wounds by a small degree since it took too long.

Forcing herself to stand straight, she looked at Ayla's twisted expression of anger while her arm was missing.

"Struck a nerve did I?" Selen taunted.

She understood what the Zenias were aiming for when they created Ayla. They wanted to use the properties of Alice's blood to fight against people who focus on casting. Naturally, she had her own countermeasures to physical attacks but once she grabbed Selen's hair, that countermeasure disappeared.

It allowed Selen to directly inject her abilities into Ayla's body, stealing her arm in the process.

Seeing Ayla's arm bulge and writhe, Selen understood that she probably had her own form of regeneration but it was far inferior compared to Alice.

Unable to hold her anger back, Ayla rushed forward ready to kill Selen.

'Seems like 7 was my limit… Did I do good?' Selen asked in her mind despite knowing that neither Alice not Egil could hear her.

Closing her eyes, she waited for the final strike.

*BANG!!!

But the pain never arrived.

In front of her stood an armoured knight donned in black plating and demonic horns across his body. Red energy fluttered through the gaps as he grabbed Ayla by the hand, preventing her from reaching Selen.

He stood as an impenetrable wall, protecting the woman behind him.

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