Abyssal Awakening

"Can I get another sample? I want to compare them." Alice asked as Elyn nodded her head and made her way out before wheeling in another table with a sample placed on top. This time the corpse belonged to a woman with feathers and wings protruding from her body.

Opening up the chest, Alice dug through the flesh before finding the heart.

Just like the first sample, there was a thin veil covering it.

"What do you know about this thin veil?" Alice asked but Elyn only tilted her head in confusion.

"Thin veil?"

"You don\'t see this?" Placing the heart on the table, Alice separated the bloodied veil from the heart. However, it seemed like Elyn could only see the heart and not the veil.

\'Is this something only I can see?\' Alice frowned as she didn\'t remember the parasites having this kind of reaction with the body. Perhaps it was due to her resistance against the blood but this kind of veil was never created around her heart.

Picking up the strange material, Alice was about to take a better look but then it started to break apart and disappeared. Yet she noticed something strange with the residual energy the material left behind.

It felt similar to the Blight Caller Shard that she had consumed yet very different and far more \'corrupt\' in nature.

\'No way…\' Alice widened her eyes as an outlandish theory appeared in her mind.

"Miss Elyn?" Alice called out.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask that everyone leave this room for a moment? No one is allowed to peak while I verify something with the sample. I will let everyone know when they can enter once more. Also, I need a new sample along with their details such as name, age and Sigil Abilities." Alice asked as Elyn furrowed her brows before nodding her head.

The City Lord had instructed her to help Alice however she could while he was away. Should he be here right now, he would allow her request.

Letting all of the doctors know, they left the premises one by one until it was only Ria and Alice left.

With a new sample in front of her, Alice took a deep breath and sighed, preparing herself for what she must do next.

"What\'s on your mind?" Ria asked, clearly understanding that this had something to do with Alice\'s secret with her asking everyone to leave.

"Just testing out a theory of mine. If it\'s proved correct then we\'ll need to find a way to send a message to Allura." Alice frowned as she gestured for Ria to step back.

Reading through the document, Alice memorised the information of sample 3 before opening the chest and prying out the heart.

Once again, the strange material was present on the heart.

Biting her lips, Alice took off her mask and grabbed the veil with her hand.

Without hesitation, she threw it in her mouth before swallowing and an infernal pain shot through her body.

Black veins appeared around her neck as Alice could feel a foreign power flowing through her body as black ink flowed out of her orifices. From the ink, spikes manifested, proving her theory correct.

Both of these powers belonged to the person in front of her when they were alive but compared to the Blight Caller Shard, this power was rough and unrefined. The potency was low and the duration was short.

A waste of a person\'s life. Yet the results of this wide-scale experimentation was that they have successfully, albeit in the initial stages, transformed human Sigil Abilities into shards that people can activate.

Gritting her teeth, Alice did not hesitate to activate her Second Sigil as her body flared with a violet flame, burning away the ink around her and cleansing her body of the foul power.

After a short moment, Alice dismissed the flames and sighed. Putting on her mask, Alice placed the heart on the table.

"They\'re trying to turn people into Shards that can borrow Sigil powers. It\'s similar to what I can do but crudely as it requires the life of a person. Side effects are rather potent and the moment it is removed from the body, it will disappear quickly." Alice summarised with a frown.

"What the hell?! Is it your old family?" Ria furrowed her brows while glancing back at the tables.

This method, this level of cruelty, reminded her of the Cult of the Eclipse. People who would do anything to attain their goal and worship their god, even if it means killing your own family or lover.

"I don\'t know. Maybe the scholars started the initial research but this has been modified heavily. If we can find out the person who released these parasites into the city then I might be able to learn more." Alice shook her head.

Pushing open the door, Alice could see the doctors discussing amongst themselves while Elyn waited patiently.

"I\'ve verified what I wanted to know. Can you take me to Lord Kallus? I need to inform him of my discoveries." Alice asked as Elyn nodded her head.

Following behind Elyn, Alice could hear the doctors whispering to one another and doubting her capabilities as she had only arrived for not even an hour and had already discovered something that they hadn\'t.

However, they didn\'t voice their doubts directly which saved Alice the trouble of trying to convince them.

She placed the protective clothing into a basket that Elyn had prepared and made her way to the main hall where Kallus could be seen overlooking the entire operation. There were more bloodstains on the ground along with signs of him using his Sigil.

"Seems like you\'ve already made some discoveries." Kallus nodded as he gestured for Elyn to step away for now.

"I have an idea of their end goal. Or at least it\'s what I\'m thinking is their end goal." Alice shrugged as Kallus raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Even after giving the doctors hours to see what\'s wrong, the most they had discovered was that it was akin to a potent poison that rots the body from the inside out. It was unknown as to whether this was simply a hate crime or a test with larger goals in mind.

But with how Alice was wording it, it seemed to be the latter.

"And their end goal being?"

"It seems like they\'re trying to make humans into items for consumption. In the past, I have come into contact with something called a Blight Caller Shard. I\'ve noticed that there is a thin layer of energy surrounding the heart that acts in a similar manner to the crystals." Alice explained, excluding the fact that you could gain their powers by \'eating\' this energy.

After all, saying so would simply raise questions on how she knows this.

"Is that so? Hmm… That is truly concerning. So if I\'m understanding it correctly, should I consume the same parasite, I will have my power turned into a shard for others to use?" Kallus asked with a frown but Alice shook her head.

"It\'s still in the preliminary stages it seems as this energy dissipates quickly after being removed from the body. Unfit for use."

Thinking in silence, Kallus sighed before opening his mouth.

"Do you have a way to perhaps identify who has come into contact with the parasite or possibly who is in possession of it?" Kallus asked as it was better to go for the source of this outbreak. The half beasts who have been infected are a lost cause and they\'re practically dead men walking. He needed to prioritise the living.

"Hard to say. When I first found out about this parasite, its form was simply strands of flesh writhing in liquid. Maybe it\'s changed in the current iteration." Alice shook her head as this was the limit of her assistance.

Of course, there were some investigations she wanted to make of her own, but she doubted her movements would be overlooked by the City Lord.

"I see… Aright. I will take it from here. When you make up your mind about your reward, bring this to the castle gates and they will allow you to see me." Kallus nodded, handing Alice a silver token with the crest of the sun engraved on the surface.

Nodding her head, Alice made her way out of the castle as she and Ria had been cleared of suspicion.

"Seems like the city will still be in Martial Law until the City Lord gets to the bottom of this." Ria sighed as she wanted to kill whoever released this parasite into the Slums.

But it was not as simple as just appearing and then killing the culprit.

Taking out her bottle of mead, Alice drank the rest of it in one go as there wasn\'t much left.

\'Is it the Zenia\'s? Are they getting desperate after I disappeared?\' Alice thought to herself as that was a possibility.

With her no longer taking the brunt of the experiments, there was a chance that all of this was due to her disappearance.

The Zenia\'s would need to experiment with more casualties if they wish to continue producing Abyss Blood for the masses and retain their current status.

\'Or is it the work of the Scholars? They\'ve always been over-obsessed with Abyss Blood. I was practically a treasure trove for them.\'

Taking a deep breath, Alice sighed before scratching her hair.

"Ria, what do you think about doing some investigations around the slums at night?" Alice asked as Ria cracked her knuckles.

"I was getting bored anyway. Plus, I also want to know who caused all of this and send them to the afterlife."

All that was left was to wait till \'nightfall\' when most of the Civilians and Hunters stop their daily activities and go back home.