Abyssal Awakening

Seeing the drinks, Alice\'s eyes lit up as she closed the door behind her and threw her jacket onto the jacket stand.

"Fufu~ Nothing beats having some mead after a hard day\'s work ahaha." Alice laughed, picking out a bottle from within the pile just for herself.

"Usually, people would go for the food but I suppose it\'s only expected that you\'ll aim for the drinks." Ria sighed. In her hand, she had a chicken skewer that had been seasoned to perfection.

"Blehh~ Mead is my lifeblood. Naturally, I\'ll go for it first." Alice stuck out her tongue before looking over in Luke\'s direction. Seeing how he has four Sigils above his head, she knew that his hunt had been successful.

"So, how was your special mission? Was it dangerous? It took you a week after all." Alice asked with a grin.

\'He probably doesn\'t want Ria to know that he was behind her in Sigils. Let\'s see how he handles this.\' She mused to herself.

Today was a day of party, she wasn\'t going to hold herself back and enjoy it to her fullest.

"It was alright. A little on the annoying side but not that bad overall." Luke smiled, acting as though his special mission wasn\'t a scramble for his fourth Sigil.

"Oh hou~ How annoying was it? Were there others interfering with the hunt?" Alice gave him a smug grin while kicking her shoes aside and sat on her beat.

Hearing the word hunt, Ria sat up with a confused expression.

"A hunt?" Ria asked while Alice waved her hand.

"Ah sorry, I\'m so used to calling every mission a hunt now. That was just a slip of the tongue don\'t mind me." Alice chuckled while opening her bottle.

As for Luke, he had choked on his food for a brief moment.

\'Does she know? Surely not right? I don\'t think Xinbei told anyone. Not even Miki knew about my hunt for the fourth Sigil.\' Luke thought to himself while giving Alice a slight glance.

"So what kind of annoyance was it?" Alice asked, seeing Luke sneaking a glance at her.

"Nothing much don\'t worry. It\'s too boring of a story for a party like this." Luke dismissed with a forced smile.

"Speaking of stories, have you heard the incident at the Department of Combat?" Ria asked while Luke shook his head.

He had been away from the Academy and had only just returned not long ago. He needed to catch up on everything that had happened.

"There was a brave gal who decided to challenge the Hall of Champions. She wasn\'t part of the department and had entered with a visitor pass. It stirred up quite the commotion too."

"Hm? Hall of Champions? Isn\'t that what they used to test the graduates? For an outsider to be able to access it… She must be rather talented then since that door doesn\'t just open to anyone." Luke remarked while picking up another portion of food.

Stifling her laughter, Ria simply smiled and pointed behind Luke.

"Huh?" Turning around, Luke simply stared at Alice who was drinking the bottle of mead at a visible pace.

"What? Who told them to leave it unguarded? Not even sure why I have to do the entrance exams when I finished their test for graduates." Alice shrugged while Luke could only massage his eyes.

"Do you realise, how absurd that sounds? The Hall of Champions, the greatest achievement that the students of the Combat Department could obtain. Their dream of having their fighting styles forever integrated into the history of this Academy was… completed before you even enrolled???" Luke asked while Alice simply shrugged.

"I mean… I\'m not saying it wasn\'t hard. Just a tad annoying."

Hearing Alice call the test for Graduates a \'tad annoying\' Luke felt like something had just broke within him. A sudden surge to throw whatever was closest to him toward her surfaced but he suppressed that feeling and reached for some mead instead.

He prided himself on being calm and collected yet a few simple interactions with Alice had already made him break his cool.

\'Was Ria influenced by her? There was also the dress she wore last time…\' Luke thought to himself while throwing his head back and drinking a mouthful of mead.

Just as he wanted to put the bottle down, he realised he couldn\'t move his arm.

"???"

Opening his eyes, he saw Alice in front of him with a grin on her face while holding the bottle in place.

"!!!"

"Hehe~ Drink! Drink! Drink!" Alice chanted while Ria laughed in the background before joining in the chant.

Shocked by her strength, Luke could only follow the instructions and try his best to drink the mead.

"BLERHH!!! What the hell!" Luke cried out.

"Pft ahaha! There you go. You should loosen up a little if we\'re having a party." Alice grinned while Luke felt like a vein was about to pop.

"You want to play!? Fine let\'s play!" Grabbing the closest bottle to him, he removed the cap before shoving it into Alice\'s mouth, forcing her to drink the mead.

"Jokes on you b*tch, I\'m an alcoholic!" Alice declared proudly as the party descended into chaos within mere moments.

Watching Alice and Luke forcing each other to drink mead, Ria was laughing hysterically on the floor while clutching her stomach. Tears formed around the corners of her eyes from the laughter as she enjoyed this kind of atmosphere. When she was travelling with Gin and Allura, it was always a serious environment. The complete opposite of what was happening here.

Seeing Alice enter a martial arts stance while dual-wielding bottles of mead and Luke doing the same but with a single bottle, Ria glanced over at their supply of drinks and wondered if they even had enough.

"Shall I go out and buy some drinks for us?" Ria asked while Alice and Luke were panting from trying to force each other to drink more.

"Fufu~ Don\'t underestimate me. Do you think I wouldn\'t keep a supply of my best mead for these occasions?" Alice smirked as she carefully took steps back, not turning her back to Luke as he\'d take the chance to ambush her if she wasn\'t careful.

"Maybe you should watch where you\'re walking, would be a shame if you tripped over." Luke taunted while Alice scoffed in disdain.

"It\'s my own room, I got it memorised. But maybe you should turn around instead, you just stepped on some left-over chicken, it must feel gross on your foot."

"A small price to pay if it means you don\'t get the upper hand." Luke retorted.

"Shall we have a momentary truce then? After all, I need to unveil my collection of mead." Alice offered.

However, Ria noticed a flash of mischief in Alice\'s eyes while Luke was none the wiser.

Before she could even warn Luke, he nodded and dropped his guard.

\'Gotcha!\'

Creating two threads of blood to restrain his arms, Alice jumped up and latched onto his shoulder before shoving two bottles into his mouth.

"Mmnth!" Widening his eyes, Luke warned to curse Alice\'s lack of honour in this duel but the surge of mead entering his body prevented this.

Dusting her hands after feeding him two full bottles, Alice skipped over to the wardrobe before opening the bottom shelf.

Stepping aside, Alice revealed the rows upon rows of mead carefully stored away.

"Behold, my mead." Alice grinned, grabbing several bottles before closing the shelf with her foot.

Walking over to the table, she placed the bottles down on the table while grinning at Luke who felt like he was about to throw up with how much mead he\'s drank.

"Fufu~ Seems like I\'m the winner of this battle. Bow before the might of my addiction!" Alice declared while Luke only rolled his eyes.

"Urg… I\'m actually about to throw up in a second." He groaned, feeling bloated.

"Oh~ you\'ll be fine. Just means you have more room in your stomach for mead." Alice laughed, opening another bottle.

Shivering from the thought, Luke couldn\'t help but admit defeat before this alcoholic. Her stomach for mead was truly unmatched.

"So what\'s up with the crown? I didn\'t want to ask earlier because it might\'ve been rude but I doubt that\'s a worry anymore with you force feeding me f*cking mead." Luke asked, eating some skewers for a change of pace.

"Just a slight accident on my end. I thought it might disappear after a week but it\'s staying so I might as well embrace it. At least it looks pretty neat aye?" Alice smiled, glancing up at the crown that hovered around her head.

"I suppose you\'re not wrong. I\'m sure the students in the Theory Department would be pretty interested in this crown of yours. Most side effects manifest on the body after all." He shrugged.

"Runi seemed interested but didn\'t ask so I didn\'t answer."

"Oh? You met Arunya?" Luke blinked in surprise as he didn\'t think she would\'ve interacted with another assistant like him.

"Just a brief contract through the Hunter\'s guild. But enough of this talk, we should party. And I couldn\'t help but notice a certain someone who hasn\'t drank anything yet." Alice smiled as she slowly turned her eyes towards Ria.

Blinking her eyes in confusion, Ria was clueless about the danger that was about to befall her as she noticed both Luke and Alice staring at her.

"What?"

"Nothing~ Just stay right there Ria." Alice grinned.

Without giving Ria a chance to run, both Alice and Luke ambushed her with bottles of mead.

"W-wait I\'m not an alcoholi- MNMF!"