Abyssal Awakening

'Cayla, do you know that emblem?' Alice asked curiously as she's never seen that kind of icon before. Three eyes within a fire.

[I've seen emblems with fire, emblems with eyes but never three eyes in a fire. I'm afraid this is probably a new organization that didn't exist before.] Cayla shook her head.

'Hmm… Alright.'

"So, these fine gentlemen the people you're trading with?" Alice asked as Lorien nodded his head.

Making his way to the main deck with Alice following behind him, he calmed his mind and adjusted his sleeve.

"I believe it should be Lazarus, correct?" Lorien asked as one of the shrouded people stepped up and stood silently.

Reaching out with his hand, he clenched his fist and a red ring appeared around his wrist.

At the same time, Lorien flinched and the ring appeared on his wrist as well.

"Confirmed." A strange voice rang out. It was neither male nor female and sounded like several voices merged together into one. Waving his hand, the other shadowed figures began to collect the shipment from below.

"Secretive people aren't they? Can't see what they look like, don't know what they sound like. Who knows if their height is accurate since they're all the same." Alice leaned back against the railings until she was almost about to fall overboard.

"That's just the kind of people they are." Lorien ignored Alice while instructing the others to prepare to receive the shipment.

"Oh? Now I'm curious about what's inside. What made you make a deal with these guys." Alice narrowed her gaze but Lorien frowned.

"Don't. Curiosity killed the cat. Just do what you're paid to do."

Raising her hands, Alice revealed a smirk but didn't say anything.

Once the first box arrived, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

The material of the box was neither wood nor metal. It was this… strange material with a matt finish.

But what's strangest of all, was the fact that it was blocking out energy from entering or exiting. A perfect seal that didn't let Alice see what was inside even with her unique property of being able to see energy strands.

'Well if you show this kind of thing in front of a gal, of course she'll get curious.' Alice pursed her lips while making a small prick on her finger.

Gathering her blood into a tiny drop, she condensed it into a tiny bead before stretching her body.

During this motion, she flicked the bead onto the other boat.

One of the shrouded people glanced over at Alice but she gave them a wave before blowing them a kiss.

Alice could clearly tell the other party was annoyed but paid it no heed as she simply glanced at the boxes being carried onto their ship.

The first shipment consisted of ten boxes, each roughly the size of a small room.

During this time, the other two acted as lookouts in case Minerva was to suddenly attack but the sea was strangely calm.

There were no boats out on the horizon and not even a single sign of Minerva potentially approaching.

Even Lorien was a little on edge and confused as he paced around the deck, checking the horizon to make sure no one was approaching.

Once the first ship had finished loading, the second ship came in and the first ship was now out lookout duty.

"Isn't it a good thing if the Pirate Queen doesn't attack?" Alice asked with a smile.

"Yes, but this only makes me more confused. What exactly is she aiming for? I received news saying that she clearly wasn't happy about this operation. So for someone of her personality to not do anything, it's too strange." Lorien frowned as Alice glanced up at the sky.

"Or maybe she's being careful. I did appear at the last moment after all." She shrugged but Lorien shook his head.

"Minerva wouldn't stop at something like that. She'll just consider you as another obstacle to get through." Lorien adjusted his sleeves once more as Alice noticed that it was a habit of his whenever he gets a little restless.

Just as she was about to dismiss his claims, her gaze snapped upwards as her pupils constricted.

Right above their heads, a flaming cannon shot came into view and Alice jumped into action.

Activating Tiamat's Sigil, energy converged into an orb above her palm as she fired it towards the cannon shot.

Void Flux!

*BANG!!!

The sudden explosion caught everyone's attention as a sea of sparks rained down but the ship avoided destruction.

"Minerva!" Lorien shouted out as ships began to burst out from the sea around them. Spectral ships with a crew of ghost like beings roared out in unison as they began to surround Lorien's ships alone with the ones from overseas.

"Lorien! I thought I warned you about pulling this kind of sh*t! Seems like I'll have to take care of you for good today!" Minerva's voice rang out.

Bursting out from outside the entrapment of the phantom fleet were five large ships surrounded by a protective barrier.

As they crashed down on the sea, a wave of water rushed towards Lorien's ships but he had his crew block it with a barrier of their own.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Compared to Lorien's ships, Minerva's ship was far larger and majestic than the rest. A beauty of wood and gold plates decorated the body while a mermaid decorated the bowsprit. The masts unfurled themselves as the ships revealed their full glory.

Even Alice was rather amazed and curious as to how this kind of vehicle was even created in the first place.

But that was not her focus. Her focus was on keeping Minerva distracted so that her job would be considered complete. Of course, this didn't include killing.

"I take it that I should keep her occupied?" Alice asked, giving her body a light stretch.

"Yes! Make sure she can't maintain the Phantom Fleet." Lorien hurriedly nodded before shouting out orders to the rest of the crew.

The people they were trading with seemed less inclined to fight as they activated barriers around their ships and didn't make another move.

Giving them one last glance, Alice made her way to the edge of the main deck and measured out the distance between them.

Once she was done calculating the distance in her mind, she crouched down and jumped.

*BANG!!!

Her body shot through the air as the crew on the ship stumbled over from the sudden force punching down on the ship.

Lorien couldn't keep his footing either as he glanced up and widened his eyes.

He could see a maelstrom of energy gathering towards Alice as she activated Tiamat's Sigil once more, ready to unleash a devastating attack!

The seas churched and the clear sky overhead was now covered by stormy clouds.

*RUMBLE!!!

Lightning crackled as though welcoming the dawn of the apocalypse.

"Hi!~ Dear Minerva, show me you can at least handle firepower of this level!" Alice's laughter rang out as lightning crashed around. It wasn't a manifestation of her power but rather a natural phenomenon in reaction to the amount of energy gathering towards Alice at this moment.

A maelstrom converging with Alice in the centre.

Glaring up at the spiral of energy, Minerva gritted her teeth as she raised her hand.

All the cannons on the phantom fleet aimed upwards as she could instinctively tell that this was a dangerous attack!

"All hands on deck! Leave her to me! Focus on erasing Lorien!" Minerva commanded as the cannons lit up with a neon blue glow.

At that moment, runic symbols appeared around her as she clenched her fist.

*BANG!!!

A wave of cannons shot upwards as Alice couldn't hold back her grin!

"HAH! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!"

Twisting her body, she adjusted the attack she was preparing and released a horizontal slash!

As the slash collided with the cannon shots, a display of fireworks erupted as she dove into the ash and smoke.

In her hands, blood converged into a single blade.

Since she switched out her third Sigil, this blood was blood from inside her body and lacked the proper reinforcement of metal.

But after learning the forging method that Sigurd used, it was far stronger than before!

'Twinnie, I'll let you have some fun.' Alice chuckled as Alyss cracked her knuckles.

Golden chains snapped around her neck and limbs as her aura shifted to that of Alyss!

"Let's see what you got!" Alyss rushed in from below as Minerva was shocked at her speed.

Immediately, she pulled out her cutlass and aimed for a diagonal swing but Alyss parried it with ease.

She flicked the cutlass away using the handle of the blade before going in for a poke but Minerva punched up against Alyss's wrist, pushing her poke off target.

Sliding into Minerva's range, not bothered by the fact that her attack missed, Alyss slammed her shoulder into her chest before stomping down against her foot in an attempt to force Minerva to lose her balance.

However, Minerva used this opportunity to adjust her grip on the cutlass and have it cut upwards towards Alyss's neck.

"Not bad! Not bad at all lassie!" Alyss laughed, adjusting her body and caught the blade between her fingers, preventing it from reaching her neck.

Flicking the blade away, Alyss attempted to knee Minerva in the chest but she caught it with her hand and pushed down.

Utilizing the momentum, Alyss swung her body and crashed down with her heel instead.

*BANG!!!

Your next chapter is on empire

Minerva was barely able to block it with her arm as she flinched lightly from the pain.

Seeing as how Minerva was even able to react to this, Alyss stabbed her sword into the ground and used it as a momentary platform to support her body weight.

She twisted her waist and unleashed two devastating kicks in quick succession, forcing Minerva to slide back.

Pulling out her sword, Alyss licked her lips before rushing forward once more!

This was the kind of fight that really made her blood pump with excitement!