Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 1061: Erasing Contracts

Alice glanced up at Allura, who was keeping her eyes focused on the two Lords on either side of the Royals.Did she hear that correctly?

She wasn’t sure.

Perhaps, for a moment, her own desires and reality overlapped. Or perhaps she might have spaced out, hearing what she hoped to hear rather than what Allura actually said.

A part of her couldn’t believe what just happened but...

What the Queen said next confirmed what she had heard.

"She is your daughter? Pardon my rudeness, but I see little similarity between the two of you. Not to mention the fact that the youngest daughter of the Zenia family is one that both my husband and I met many years ago." She narrowed her eyes.

"Regardless of what may have happened in the time between then and now, even if you have adopted her as your own, little of what you said can dispel my doubts regarding dear Alice over there suddenly shifting her allegiance should a command fall from the top."

The contracts of the Zenia family could largely be summarised into three rules.

One, she must adhere to the hierarchy of the Zenia family.

Two, what happens in the Zenia family cannot be disclosed to outsiders without permission from the family.

Three, she will not harm the family.

Points one and three were the most concerning, as Alice, while having the role of the firstborn daughter, would still have to listen to her father if they met.

Even with Allura backing her up, a contract isn’t exactly something they can just break without care.

Allura, at her prime with Severance, could make an attempt, but the chances of success were unknown.

Making empty promises, especially in front of the Queen of Extalia, would either backfire badly or, in the best case scenario, make them lose trust in the group.

Something to convince them...

Alice closed her eyes for a moment.

"You just need me to prove that they can’t control me with the contract, right?" Alice spoke up despite the Lords having a stare down.

In this suffocating hall with four Lords on the verge of fighting, Alice spoke without care. She stood with her head held high, unaffected by the potential dangers and consequences of her actions.

She stared the Queen in the eyes, refusing to back down.

If Velouria wished for her to become the next ruler of Ayr, the next Goddess, the one who would stop Nyer...

How could she shrink back before a mere Queen? Respect was given. That much was certain. But respect did not mean giving up or backing down against their pressure.

There was no need to show open hostility either. All she needed to do was prove that she wouldn’t be a liability. That’s all.

And if the Royals requested that from her, then there was something she must also request. For this should be an equal partnership.

Their group was no less than the Kingdom of Extalia after all.

They had an Apostle, the Lords of Life and Death, a freak of nature who would become the Goddess of the Abyss, and a retainer of the Underground who served as direct access to Faust.

But that wasn’t all. This was merely counting the people they had here.

However, through her journey, through her time travelling across the realm and the people she’d met...

Alice had no doubt that they would show up should she request their assistance.

She had connections with the Sun, Moon and Eclipse. And outside of that, alliances with the East and North, along with an immortal Vampire who couldn’t be killed no matter what.

While asking for Rosalyn’s brother’s help might be difficult due to the restrictions he was under, just having him on their side was helpful enough.

The information he could access was no less than the Underground’s and in some aspects, even better since Caelan had actually lived through the events himself.

With this kind of lineup, backing down was never an option.

Taking a deep breath, Alice brought out a vial of blood and drank it in one go.

The three Lord guards protecting the Royals were on guard, but Alice didn’t make a move to attack them.

She drank the blood for another reason after all.

*BANG!!!

The tiles beneath her cracked from the sudden increase in her aura. The appearance of another Lord!

The Queen widened her eyes for a moment.

She wasn’t sure if this power was a result of the Zenia family or not but... if Alice could elevate herself to the rank of Lord so easily, what about the rest of the family?

Swapping her Sigils around, Alice gave her body a stretch.

Allura was confused but seeing Alice’s confident gaze, she took a step back.

Sometimes, being a parent meant simply trusting in your child’s ability. There was something Alice wanted to prove and seemed confident in doing.

Even if she herself may have believed otherwise, she wouldn’t stop Alice from proving herself. Removing the opportunity for success is what a bad parent would do.

"What are you doing?" Nalem asked the one question hanging in everyone’s mind.

Was she planning to fight? Why was she powering up?

Did she not want this alliance to succeed?

However, Alice simply smiled.

"This negotiation can’t finish so long as the contract is in place, right? Then I’ll cut it all off. I’ll remove my connection to the Zenia contract so that you won’t have to worry."

Her Sigils started to light up one after another as the Three Abyssal Relics hummed to life.

Within her mental landscape, Cayla gave her body a good stretch.

[I suppose this will be a good experiment to see whether or not we can remove the influence of the Abyss from others.]

The last time they tried something like this, they received help from the Will.

But this time? Since it was simply a Law of Agreement, breaking it should be far easier to accomplish.

*RUMBLE!!!

Condensing her power into a single spark, Alice snapped her fingers as her body was suddenly enveloped in a raging pillar of flames.

Back then, removing Arwen’s contract acted similarly to a refund. She gave up everything the contract granted, thus ridding herself of the side effects.

But this time, Alice wasn’t looking for a refund.

The Zenia contract gave her nothing. It was simply authority. Giving it up was easy enough.

Her eyes shifted.

A heartbeat could be heard throughout the hall.

A crown manifested above Alice’s head as the aura of the Abyss spilled forth.

Every single Lord in the room widened their eyes without exception.

Including Allura.

Upgrading oneself to the rank of Lord was impressive. A jump in power so vast that it defied logic.

But it could be explained rather easily. Perhaps it was a temporary boost. Perhaps it was a contract of sorts. One that exchanged future potential for power in the present.

However.

What Alice had just done couldn’t simply be explained by a contract.

As Lords, they were deeply sensitive to changes in Abyssal energy. They were granted authority by the Realm after all.

So imagine their shock when Alice’s aura transformed.

No longer was she simply a Lord of the Abyss. This sensation. This energy...

It was not an exaggeration to call Alice the personification of the Abyss in this moment. A walking manifestation of the Realm.

Spectral strands of energy unwrapped from Alice’s arm as they dug into her chest. Motes of energy hovered around Alice as they slowly transformed into symbols. The connection forming between her and each of these symbols...

The flow of power between them.

Alice narrowed her eyes.

A flood of energy swarmed her mind, but Cayla quickly stepped in and isolated the knowledge, preventing Alice from being overwhelmed.

Red spider lilies formed beneath Alice as a confident smile appeared on her face.

She had filtered through the information thanks to Cayla’s help and, with that, found the contracts linking her to the Zenia family.

One of authority and subordination to the Family Head.

Though unsurprising, there were two contracts linking her to the Zenia family.

The first was the one she signed as Kale.

The second was one she must have signed as a child.

The Law of Agreement, the contract that binds the soul to a consensual agreement between two parties. A law designed to ensure that a deal is carried out without falsehood.

Usually, these laws are dispelled after the contract is fulfilled unless there is a lasting clause between parties. In which case, it would require consent from both parties or the death of one.

But right now, Alice was going to ignore that process altogether and destroy the contracts prematurely.

Energy gathered at her fingertips as Alice prepared to erase the links.

Yet just as her fingers came into contact with them, the world around her flashed into a realm of nothingness.

An expanse of white as far as the eye could see.

"Tsk, you really like to drop in unannounced, don’t you? What’s the problem this time? Am I going to die because I destroyed the contract?" Alice exhaled, resting her hand on her hip before turning around to face the Will of the Abyss.

He was hovering in the air, acting as though he were sitting on a chair with one leg tucked beneath him.

"You misunderstand. I’m not here to warn you but rather to congratulate you." The Will laughed, clapping his hands.

"Congratulate? What’s there to congratulate?" Alice scoffed. She doubted the act of simply erasing a contract was enough to bother the Will. Especially since this wasn’t a contract with the Abyss but rather one with the Zenia family.

"There is plenty. But shall I keep it simple?" He grinned, hopping off his chair and landing in front of Alice.

"With this accomplishment, the incomplete vessel has fulfilled one of the requirements I’ve been waiting dearly for." He laughed, creating a cake between them. On it was a single candle with a flickering violet flame.

"So of course I’m here to congratulate you."

He spread his arms wide.

"You are now one step closer to your birthday."