Chapter 1153: Near Miss

The group quickly arrived where Feris was.

And while Alice had half expected it, seeing the changes in her body happening in real time was a rather big surprise.

Enough to elicit a reaction out of her. Granted, that wasn’t exactly hard to do considering her current state of mind.

*Whistle~

"Woah~" Alice whistled as she flew up to the membrane housing a new body for Feris.

Her old vessel had been corrupted beyond repair so like the time she ascended into the Void Realm Ruler, a new, suitable vessel had to be created.

But this was a process only opened to those trying to accept a new authority, especially one at the level of a Realm Ruler.

It should’ve been a ’one time’ process but Feris managed to undergo the process a second time due to the special circumstances around the authority.

Of course, there was also something similar for those who become Lords. But the difference is that Lordship accension was more of a Vessel Reinforcement than reconstruction. You don’t lose the old vessel for the power.

"Mom! Do you think that if I became a Lord, would I get something similar to Feris or just reinforcement? My body’s special after all." Alice glanced back Allura who was staring at her as if she was a hyperactive child... which wasn’t incorrect.

"You’ll probably get something like Reinforcement. From the beginning, your body was already suited for the Abyssal Authority considering what Nyer had planned. It wouldn’t make sense for you to gain a new vessel when the old one is probably the best you can have."

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice nodded her head in agreement.

Turning back to Feris, Alice wondered how exactly she should go about concealing something this... huge.

Just because she was constructing a new vessel didn’t mean the old one magically disappeared.

Everything was still the same except it was now being used as a foundation for the new body. Fuel for the new vessel to feed on in order to mature quickly.

As for the corruption, Feris naturally filtered it out.

With how long she’s spent having the Nightmare creeping over herself, she was familiar enough to the point where she could confidently filter the energy without much worry.

As for her secondary line of confidence...

It would be Nyer’s nature as a person.

Just because he was trying to achieve something world breaking didn’t mean he wanted to kill everyone and everyone.

Whilst walking towards his own goal, he welcomed others to challenge him. To deny, re-reshape and even overtake his goal.

He didn’t stop anyone from getting stronger not did it sound like he was someone who would actively sabotage the people from reaching his level.

It would be no stretch to say that he loved people becoming stronger.

Only through adversity did one grow. The same could be said for him as it does for everyone else.

He’ll outsmart, outmanoeuvre but he’d rather avoid completely terminating a clueless child in his eyes. That would be too cruel after all.

So for the people around Alice, he never stopped them from getting strength.

Feris was a special situation but once her stance became clear, Nyer didn’t pursue the matter further.

After all, it would’ve been easy enough for him to rip through space to arrive at the front of her cocoon.

Now, just because he allowed her to live, didn’t mean he was going to protect them either.

This was merely a transaction of mercy and faith.

He had no obligation to protect them. If they couldn’t protect themselves, what right did they have?

Just being allowed to live should’ve been enough.

With that kind of philosophy, Feris was rather confident in creating a new vessel and started as soon as possible without any delays. Even going as far as to not place a single piece of protection for herself aside from one flimsy barrier.

Without saying much, Kayra started to create a barrier around Feris while also doing something to help speed up the construction process.

Namely, a conversion barrier that would gather ambient energy and use it to reinforce Feris’s life energy. In this situation, it served to help speed up construction.

Of course, Alice wasn’t idle either. She wanted to help but with only Holy and what remains of the Void, creating a disguise for this was.... A little unrealistic.

Whatever she did half assed would only cause the situation to get worse since it’ll stick out like a sore thumb.

She opted to simply just watch Karya work while planting herself on Allura’s thigh.

Allura tried to pet the tiny thing in front of her only to smile sadly when her hands phased through.

Petting was put on hold for now.

###

Once the barrier was completed, Karya wiped the sweat from her brow.

"If anything tries to break this thing, I’ll be the first to know. We should get back now since I’m sure the others are concerned about the state of the World Tree." Karya suggested as Alice nodded, jumping from Allura’s lap with a small hop.

While a barrier was beyond her, leaving behind a small node for the previously created device to lock onto wasn’t hard.

But just the simple process of creating a node informed Alice of how weak here Void energy had grown.

At that point, if she was to try use Void energy, it would be a limited resource with no chance of being restored.

Regardless, their work here was done. All that’s left was now to hope Feris can complete her vessel fast enough and gain the power to stabilize this realm.

Making their way back, a portal split open in front of them with the confused and concerned faces of several elves waiting on the other side.

Even without talking, Alice could guess what they’re worried about so she decided to rip off the band aid.

"What’s wrong? Y’all look like someone has just stolen your food right in front of you? Lemme guess, what thing behind me?" Alice pointed at Feris’s cocoon behind her.

Just as one of them was about to open their mouth, Alice floated over without care.

With no filter, her mischievous side was on full display!

"Do you wanna know what happened? Do you? Should I tell you? Maybe I should. Or... maybe I shouldn’t. Ah! But what if I blame what happened on the portal taking too long to prepare?" Alice giggled as the researcher’s face turned pale.

How could one blame him!?

He was simply an employee, how could he take responsibility to whatever the f*ck happened to Feris?!

Seeing him rapidly shake his head back and forth, Alice couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

"I’m only kidding~" She stuck out her tongue.

But if he hadn’t reacted favourably to her teasing, that ’joke’ might become reality just because it would be more amusing that way.

"Please stop teasing my worker. He doesn’t have the mental fortitude to endure this kind of wearing."

"Fine fine~" Alice shrugged, floating back to Allura’s shoulder.

While she played around, Allura quickly briefed everyone and what had happened. Listening carefully, quite a few of the elves had pale faces as they realised the Void had essentially collapsed.

With no ruler preventing the spread of the Nightmare Realm, this would soon turn into a place of chaos. Especially since the World tree was a hub for the connected Realms.

The Void had direct access to their home between realms!

And if the enemy was especially vicious...

The tree itself could be uprooted and destroyed.

"W-what do we do!?"

"Sh*t! C-calm down! W-we need to report this!"

"Report?! We’re going to get executed if we report this! F*ck!"

Chaos unfolded as panic spread like wildfire.

They sent Alice out to protect the Void and the World Tree after all.

Yet based on their words, Alice had chosen to give up the Void in favour of Feris.

Even if she could gain access to the surface, so what?

That didn’t stop the guillotine hanging above their heads!

The Void was compromised and cutting it away from the Tree would cause significant damage.

In the first place, the surface was already stable. Simply trapping Ciel’s soul and using it as an anchor for stability would’ve been fine. Why did she choose the most risky and dangerous route?

One glare, two glares.

The elves slowly turned to Alice with indignation in their hearts as grievances piled up.

If this was the result, Feris should’ve just died and took half of the Void Authority with her! Even if it’s just remnants, it would’ve spiralled into another battle for authority. It would’ve worked to delay the spread of corruption rather than handing it over to the enemy!

*RUMBLE!!!

A thick wave of killing intent erupted with no effort to conceal it as the elves paled and shivered. It felt as though a beast had just opened its jaw over their throats, threatening to clamp down with full force.

The source?

Who else but the girl without filter in this moment.

She could clearly sense their gazes, the hidden thoughts spiralling in their mind.

It didn’t take a genius to realise what they would’ve preferred.

If they wanted to kill Feris...

They’ll have to get through her first!

Though her form was being restrained, there was still a connection between the two of them.

As Alice’s face darkened with killing intent, Alyss’s shadow extended beyond her control.

Little by little, eyes started to form.

Allura realised the girl wasn’t joking around.

If these people pushed a little harder, she would no doubt kill them all without remorse!

Quickly covering Alice’s eyes with her hand, Allura shot a glare towards the elves.

"Don’t bother with them. Scared people say the wrong crap all the time. Let’s focus on what we can do okay? Believe me, if these guys do something stupid, I won’t stop you when the time comes." ℯℯ𝑙.

That was enough to pacify Alice as she retracted her killing intent and shrank herself to the size of a palm and sat on Allura’s shoulder.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Allura glared at the elves once more.

They probably didn’t even know how close things were to becoming a bloody slaughter...