Chapter 1150: Destroyed Balance

Organising her thoughts, Alice gathered everyone and sat around a table. Including Alyss and Cayla.

Cayla manifested in her small form which sat on Alice’s lap while Alice patted her hair and squished her cheeks, much to Cayla’s frustration, while Alyss also sat to her left.

This time, Alyss was the projection rather than the main body.

"First things first, I should probably brief you on what happened with Feris." Alice spoke first.

She gave them a brief run down on what had happened, the souls trapped in stasis near Oblivion and Feris choosing to take over a new authority.

Hearing this, Allura was the most surprise as even with her understanding of Oblivion, she didn’t realise you could even trap souls near it.

No wonder Feris couldn’t find them since they were essentially ’erased’ while hovering near the end that is Oblivion.

However, with this, she also realised how much Feris must’ve wanted to protect them. That even in her rampage, she found a way to save their souls.

"Right now, she’s undergoing a transformation to accept the new authority. But with that, as you can imagine, the full authority of the Void has landed in Nyer’s hands." Alice smiled bitterly.

In the first place, it was a losing tug of war. Only Feris’s existence prevented Nyer from grasping everything. A loose anchor.

Sure, if Alice had chosen to kill Feris, Nyer would only be left with partial authority as the next Void Real Ruler was being selected but rather than that, Alice would much rather Feris survive.

Thus she chose for Feris to succeed the Surface ruler rather than helplessly grasp at the Void Authority.

"It might seem bad at the start but it’s the correct choice." Allura spoke up.

"With the full authority at their disposal, they’ll need more time to adapt to it. This should give us a bit of breathing space as the Nightmare Realm won’t immediately lash out and transform the entire Void.

"And just like them, Feris will also need a moment to adapt to her new authority. Whether or not she can adapt faster than them is a bit of a gamble but at the end of the day, being a Hunter is simply a case of making the most of what you have rather than what you don’t have."

By this point, Allura had brought out a cigarette and lit it with her finger. ℴ

"We can set that as a secondary objective for now. If we tunnel vision on this, we’ll lose sight of the overall picture."

Alice nodded in agreement, which brought them to her next point.

The three actions that must be done.

News brought by Zal-Ka’Rith at the request of Monika and Plume who had sacrificed a great portion of their own essence to make a bargain.

First, she must converge in the depths of the Abyss. Though her allies are strong, a greater foe looms over them.

Second, she must deal with the anchor that allows the energy to act. Cut off their arms and legs and the battle will naturally flow in her favour.

And finally, she must investigate the tower no matter what. Do not dimiss what she sees, go past the dead end and see the world for herself.

Those were the three tasks that Zal-Ka’Rith left for her.

Of course, there was then the warning he gave regarding the gods.

Solaris was getting impatient. Gwen’s ascension to Lordship posed multiple issues with his reputation. Specifically the Lord who did everything compared to the Sun God who simply watched.

Faith and Trust was naturally flowing towards Gwen, especially with her control of the Primordial flame.

As for Lumiria, she was waiting for Solaris to fumble before taking his spot. A predator hiding in the bushes, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Though Zal-Ka’Rith told her to dismiss the Eclipse, Alice couldn’t.

Their relationship was that of a temporary truce. One where they would help each other so long as it benefitted them.

Tapping her finger on the table, Alice fell into deep thought.

Deciphering the hints weren’t difficult.

Especially the second hint.

There was only one anchor that can help Nyer act freely.

The Zenia family.

Taking a deep breath, Alice exhaled.

The Zenia family must fall. Their connections and wealth allowed Nyer to access things that would usually expose him to their notice.

But with this at his disposal, he could lurk in the dark without care. They couldn’t possibly check everything to find his location after all.

Sliding her finger across the table surface, Leon manifested next to her.

"Are you able to target and locate Nyer based on the residue we have? Or does it come to a dead end?" Alice asked.

Leon ’shook’ his head in disappointment as Alice reassured him with a gentle pat.

She didn’t expect him to be able to since Nyer’s aura would change every time they met.

Like Feris reshaping her body to suit the authority, Nyer seemed to be reshaping his body every time they met.

But why? Why was he going through so many vessels?

Alice didn’t have the answer.

Watching the myriad expressions unfold on her daughter’s face, Allura couldn’t help but reach out and squish her cheeps with a chuckle.

"Uwah! Yuu couldvvv ust coll my naim..." Alice creased her brows, unable to speak properly with Allura pinching and kneading her cheeks like they were dough.

"I can’t help it when my daughter’s concentration face is so cute. Don’t worry about it too much. If you keep creasing your brows like that, you’ll leave marks." Allura reached out with her thumb, smoothing the creasing of Alice’s brows.

"First things first, let’s find Ria and the others. We’re severely lacking in manpower right now and getting everyone together is the important part. Once we have more hands available, we’ll be able to think about dealing with the Zenia family, investigating the tower and dealing with Solaris and Lumiria." Allura reassured.

She didn’t want Alice taking on all the burden by herself since she’ll burn out quickly.

Nodding her head, Alice concluded the meeting.

With Feris now safe, they had report the situation and meet with Elven Royalty.

Dismissing Cayla and Alyss, Alice was about to walk when she noticed the golden chains still around her wrist.

The damage to the edges was still present.

Tilting her head, Alice lifted the chains in front of her.

Last time this happened, it was because they consumed too much Eldritch energy.

Though they didn’t consume anything, was using Oth’Zeruun’s power too much in the end?

However... there was one thing that Alice was curious about.

The corruption at the edges of the chain.

Reaching out with her fingers, she made contact.

"!!!"

In an instant, Alice felt overwhelming nausea strike her soul as her shadow violently spilled across the ground. Like dropping a cup of water, darkness enveloped the earth.

Crimson eyes snapped open as thick miasma filled the air.

Miasma so thick that even Allura, someone used to miasma, couldn’t help but recoil and stumble.

Her shadow wasn’t the only thing that changed.

It was as though a bullet had been fired through the back of her skull.

Flesh, blood, and eldritch energy burst outward from the socket before stopping.

Frozen in the instant of impact. Her blood hung suspended in the air alongside strands of black energy.

It didn’t fall nor did it dissipate.

Alice choked on her own breath, her teeth gnashed as her pupil trembled.

A splitting headache like no other. Distorted vision and the twitching of ’something’ moving within her body.

Darkness covered the left side of her face, spreading like worms and roots beneath her skin.

Branches twisting from her head, curling and cracking.

Within this darkness, eyes. Dozen, hundreds, thousands.

Each one blinked independently, staring off in different directions.

Alice tilted her head.

Ah... She felt hungry.

So so hungry.

She wanted to eat.

Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat.

This pain, this ache in her stomach.

She wanted to fill it immediately.

*Ripple

Black and crimson energy coiled above her head, forming a twisted mutated crown.

Darkness slowly covered Alice’s body, hiding her expression with the exception of the crimson eyes.

*BANG!!!

Before this could go any further, a golden collar snapped around her neck.

"ARGH!!!" letting out a scream, Alice clenched her teeth and reached for it with her fingers only for more restrictions to appear across her body.

Karya wasn’t idle either.

Though Allura couldn’t do anything, the same couldn’t be said for her.

Clasping her hands together, radiant energy crashed into Alice from above as she focused on enhancing what remained of Velouria’s blessing rather than harming or restraining Alice herself!

This was no time to question what had just happened but rather the time to act!

Chains whipped around Alice’s arms.

Cuffs snapped around her wrist and ankles.

Spikes dropped down from above, slamming and embedding themselves into the ground before pulling the chains taut.

"URGH!!!" Letting out a grown, Alice tried to thrash around but her body was completely restrained by the chains that hissed against her skin.

They dug into her flesh until skin tore apart and blood dripped onto the chains.

Opening her mouth, Alice was about to say something before a mouthpiece snapped into place, gagging her voice while a blindfold wrapped around her eyes.

In mere moments since the instant she touched the chain, Alice’s form burst apart before being restrained by the chains.

Salvia pooled in her mouth, dripping from the mask as a single thought dominated her mind.

Hunger.

Cayla manifested away from Alice with a shocked expression on her face.

As one of the relics inside Alice’s body, she could tell what had just occurred.

With the ’consumption’ of Oth’Zeruun, whether intentional or via proxy, the balance within Alice’s body tilted ever so sightly.

The delicate balancing act shattered the moment she touched upon the corruption hanging on the chains. With one side being ’stronger’ how could the other sources of energy fight it off?

Right now, Alice’s ’nature’ was no doubt...

Eldritch.

An Outer god.