Abyssal Awakening

Glancing back at Alice's smile, Jin couldn't help but wonder what had happened.

While he was gathering information last night, he returned to a somewhat destroyed Inn and Alice's sleeves being torn apart.

But she didn't find it necessary to tell him and only had him get a new room for her.

"If you keep glancing back like that, someone might think you're planning something shady." Alice called out since his glances were a little too obvious.

"Ah! Sorry!"

"So did you find out anything interesting last night?" Alice asked while pulling out a flask.

Pulling out a notebook, Jin told her everything he found out.

For the Jejin region, it was split into three tiers of sects.

The major sects consisted of three sovereign sects that essentially controlled the region. Beneath these three were the six houses and six sects. Everything beneath is deemed as lesser.

The sect that Alice had invaded, the Linyu sect was a lesser sect that didn't have much influence.

Rather than a proper sect, it was more accurate to call it a tourist attraction since it was by the port.

As for the other regions, only the Fusha region follow the same layout. The last region, Yatari, the region that Lord Kizan belonged to, didn't accept any sects.

Instead, they focused on two aspects. Clan heritage and demonic strength. The so called demonic strength was… rather unique in that it was somewhat similar to a mix between how beasts gain strength and the human system of Sigils.

The details were largely unknown since the last region kept their secrets closely guarded, even if they were in an alliance with Fusha and Jejin.

Regardless, Alice was only focused on Jejin right now.

Looking at the map, it'll take them quite a while to travel through the entirety of Jejin to reach Fusha.

Ideally, her route should cover both Jejin, Yatari and finally, Fusha. That way, she could explore the entire nation minus the south which was off limits due to the movements of the cult.

[If I recall, a hundred or so years ago, maybe more, there used to be competitions held often in the east. I'm not sure if the tradition is still being kept but back then, it was a way to determine their strength and prestige.] Cayla spoke up as she had some outdated information on the east.

Kaden had travelled east in the past but didn't stay for long.

"Jin." Alice called out.

"Yes?"

"Do you know if the different regions still hold a competition?"

"You mean the Dragon Phoenix Gathering? Yes, it's still being held but it finished about a month ago. If you want to participate, you'll have to wait another year." Jin replied.

"Is there a different competition then? Or is it just that one?" Alice frowned.

She didn't want to wait a year just for a competition especially when she could just attack the sects instead.

"I think there's another one but it's more so for fighting against the south. I'll keep an ear out for information regarding that one if you want."

"Sure. For now, let's just head to the closest sect or house." Alice nodded while taking a drink from her flask.

Having someone else plan the route for her was rather nice since it meant less work for herself.

If Ria was the one leading them… yeah, Alice didn't even need to think about it.

###

"Where the f*ck are we?!?!?!?!" Ria shouted out as lightning crashed down around her.

Luke sighed from a boulder as they didn't even have a map to work with since Ria had accidentally fried it during one of the fights.

"This is the fifth time we've past-"

"I KNOW!" Ria stomped her foot.

They've been walking in circles for a while now and even killed every Abyss Beast that was checking out the strange situation.

But after all the ruckus they were causing, it was now strangely silent.

"Has Rosey sent out a bat yet?" Ria sprawled out on the ground.

"Yes, but I don't think you'd want to see what she wrote." Luke pulled out a note.

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

Hearing this, Luke shook his head but didn't deny her the chance to read the note.

Passing over the note to Ria, Luke took shelter behind the boulder and summoned some chess pieces to protect himself.

[Are you lost? Are you? Huehuehue~ Who's my directionally challenged idiot who'll get lost on a straight road? You are~ yes you are~ I suppose your gracious master might feel generous enough to give you a way out~ You know what to say hehehe~.

From your beloved, beautiful, merciful and perfect master, Rosalyn.]

*PUCHI!!!

Ria immediately felt a vein burst on her forehead as lightning crackled across her body.

Dark clouds loomed from above as her chest heaved from rage.

Just as she was about to shout something, the note shifted and new words appeared.

[Huehuehue~ Are you annoyed? Well are you? Hehehe~ this only appears if you start losing your marbles. You wanna smack me don't you? Shame you're too weak to even hurt my toenails~ Tell you what, if you managed to get out in a week, I'll hold back a little next time okay? I know your directionally challenged ass can't even handle 10% of my power so I'll drop down to something more within your… league shall I say?

Let's go with 2% next time if you get out. Bye bye for real now my lightning chihuahua~

From your beloved, NOT directionally challenged, beautiful, merciful and perfect master, Rosalyn.]

"You blood sucking, vampiric piece of sh*t!!!" Ria threw the note on the ground and stomped it over and over.

After staying together for so long, Rosalyn knew exactly what to say to get under her skin. This wasn't even a unique situation. No matter what training expedition they were sent on, she would keep sending notes like this, poking fun at her.

Mid stomp, Ria noticed a third change on the note.

[If you stomped this, the map that was meant to show disappears.]

It was followed by a hand drawn chibi of Rosalyn giving her a smug face and a middle finger.

*CRACK!!!

Something broke within Ria as she involuntarily entered her Resonance state out of pure anger.

As though wanting to complain about the noise, a beast crawled out of the ground and saw Ria covered from head to toe in blue and yellow lightning. A dee malevolent aura was fluctuating around her, making her look as though she was a lightning god ready to unleash her wrath.

Immediately, the beast turned around and wanted to escape but it was too late. Continue your journey on empire

Raikiri!

*RUMBLE BANG!!!!!!!

Calamitous lightning converged above and struck down on the area, cleaving in half as the beast was eradicated without even a speck left of its existence.

It was instant, brutal and deadly. One blinding strike to erase everything in a straight line.

Undoing her resonance, Ria took several deep breaths to calm herself as Luke stepped out from behind the crumbling boulder.

"Let's get out within a week." Ria forced a smile as Luke shrugged.

Watching the two leave the area, Rosalyn had a grin on her face as she enjoyed Ria's anger.

"Don't you think you're going a little overboard with teasing them like that?" Allura revealed a helpless smile with her arms folded.

Despite Rosalyn's… methods, it was true that Ria had shown significant improvement since the last time Allura saw her. Granted, it was just one strike but that was enough to impress her.

Raikiri, an instant strike containing concepts from the attack that she taught Gin. It's not an exaggeration to say that Ria took everything that was good about it and transformed it into an attack that suited her own nature.

"My methods are overboard? Have you seen yourself???" Rosalyn rolled her eyes at the spectral image of Allura.

"You left these two milk sucking little sh*ts at my door and said f*ck all. Same with Kaden. If I didn't know that he'd start abusing me if I rejected, do you think I'd still take them under my wing?! You can't blame me for getting some entertainment out of this." She clicked her tongue while kicking her legs back and forth.

"Hey, I never said your methods are overboard. Simply that maybe you should cut down on the teasing. If Gin saw you like this, he'd rush over immediately and get revenge for his darling granddaughter ahaha." Allura laughed.

"Let his wrinkly expired ass come. I'm not afraid of him. The only complaint I have is that his blood tastes like expired milk, absolutely vomit inducing." Rosalyn made a throwing up expression before turning serious.

"So? I don't think you contacted me just for an update on how the little sh*ts are doing. What do you want?"

"Can you take a look at the east for me? I've noticed some… traces of outer gods in the war zones where I'm at. It seems like a group in the east has been shipping them out. I can't exactly investigate it myself since I'm a little preoccupied here. And… Well… I don't need to say anything about Kaden right?" Allura revealed a helpless smile.

"Urg, fineee. I'll go check out the east. Can't be that bad now, can it? And can't you make up with Kaden already? Do you know how f*cking annoying it is to act as a middlewoman for you two? Are you mocking me for being single? Well? Are you?!" Rosalyn tapped her finger against the spectral Allura out of annoyance.

"You know we're not like that."

"Uhuh, sure you're not. If you're not like that I'm also not horny for blood then." Rosalyn rolled her eyes before ending the connection.

Despite her joking around, even she understood how serious the situation was for outer gods to get involved.

"Urg… there's too much garlic and spicy blood in the east." Rosalyn muttered in reluctance before disappearing from her spot.