Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 904: Mara

Looking at the card in her hands, Alice wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

On one end, it was great since it’ll allow her to travel between her checkpoints with ease. However, that also meant becoming more attuned to the Nightmare Realm.

Sure it may be a drop in the bucket for them in the grand scheme of things, but for her as an individual, this was something she should avoid if possible.

Shaking her head, she stored the card away for now. Attuning to the realm was unavoidable so long as they stay in this city. Reducing it when they can should be a priority.

But if this card was useful, it would be a waste to not use it. Even if it comes with a few risks.

Plus, they don’t know the exact ’size’ of the Nightmare. How far do they need to travel in order to not get dragged into it? They know that escaping to the Abyss worked. But what if they continued to travel on the surface? Was it limited to cities?

What about the memory manipulation?

They couldn’t just flee to the Abyss every two days otherwise it’ll be impossible to make any progress on the surface.

While Alice was thinking about this, Elias stared at Alice’s back.

Lady Zenia...

Previously, when Alice had spoke about the ’specimen’ under the Zenia control, she simply waved off her involvement as a researcher.

But just being a researcher wouldn’t get you the name of ’Lady Zenia’.

And even if she was a researcher, she must’ve been deeply involved in order to warrant such an attention from the information broker.

Feeling Elias’s doubts, Alice understood that some answers had to be given, even if they’re not the full details.

So instead, she’ll delay it a little. He wanted a method to resolve side effects. That was his dream. She’ll give him a hint.

The Library of Contracts hidden within the fabrics of space that the Will can access.

If he was able to access or manipulate the connection between that library and the victim, Elias would be able modify the side effects or even make it disappear in its entirety.

Though doing so required the power of manipulating souls.

Something he can only get if he was to become a Lord for his seventh Sigil. And with everything going on right now, getting that seventh seemed far more difficult than ever.

She wouldn’t be able to give him a hand for that.

Tapping her fingers for a bit, Alice let out a sigh and glanced back.

"You’re curious aren’t you? But let’s not dive into things right now okay? In exchange, I’ll give you something to research okay?" She pretended to reach into her pouch.

Grabbing an empty vial, she injected some of her own blood into it before sealing it up.

"This is a sample of the blood gained from the specimen. Apply it onto Abyssal Abilities and it’ll negate the properties with ease. Use it on a person and it’ll act as a super charged abyssal poison that triggers side effects. Cure wise... I don’t believe there is one outside of very niche situations where the stars align."

Blinking his eyes, Elias paused in surprise. He stared at the blood shimmering inside the vial and activated one of his abilities. Briefly analysing the composition of the blood, cold sweat dripped down his back.

"What the hell is that..." He mumbled, clearly disturbed by the information he has just gained from analysing the vial.

"Blood. A scary one at that. If you can figure out the secrets that the Zenia struggled with, you might be able to use the power to properly eliminate side effects. Applying the power of nullification on a specific part of the contract might render it to zero." Alice answered, handing over the vial of blood.

Holding the glass vial with his trembling fingers, Elias took a deep breath to calm himself.

"You can ask Suyin for some equipment to help you do your job. I’ll wander around a bit more and see if I can find anything."

Nodding his head, the two of them split up for now.

###

"Which Old Lord are we targeting?" Ria asked with a bored sigh.

While the break was a welcomed rest, travelling for this long was still rather boring for her. Especially since Astrelya stopped talking after their... previous conversation.

One where Ria was starting to feel conscious of.

After all, the woman in front of her is still a Lord! One that kicked her ass and didn’t seem to have gone all out.

If she got pissed and tried to kill her, there’s nothing Ria could do about it.

"The Lord we’re travelling towards is a weird one. Their title isn’t grandiose or anything like that, if anything it seems simple. But their master of power is the scary part. Figured you could learn something from their application." Astrelya replied bluntly.

"Mara, the Old Lord of Ink. He’s someone who uses his own body to paint the world in his colours. The Authority is Ink is... Well, you can imagine what it’s like through the title. But by mixing his authority with his other powers, he’s managed to transform it into something that transcends the confines of Ink.

"Like your magnetism that’s an extension of electricity, his merges ink into his own body and uses himself as the paint to modify the world. Be careful not to get hit too often. If you do, you’ll become the canvas in which he does whatever he pleases."

Furrowing her brows, Ria closed her eyes.

It was both vague yet informative. She figured it probably worked similarly to her charges previously. By stacking enough charges onto her target, she’ll be able to land a powerful attack that couldn’t be dodged.

In which case for Mara, it would be the power to modify her body once enough stacks are accumulated.

An ability that ends the fight the moment the limit is reached.

"We’ll be there soon. The only advice I have for you is... Good luck. The interactions between your powers don’t conflict. This battle is a simple one. The stronger one will win." Astrelya informed before snapping her finger.

Her body transformed into starlight and disappeared while the cloud continued to travel forward.

"!!!" Widening her eyes, Ria wanted to say something when the world around her began to change.

Mountains blurred, edges smeared like wet ink. The ground faded into nothingness, as though an invisible hand came down from above to erase its existence.

The skies disappeared, replaced by a canvas of pure white. Clouds painted above shifted ever so slightly with each second, mimicking the movement of real clouds.

In this strange world of art, only Ria found herself unaffected. Her body didn’t lose colour not did the cloud beneath her.

But everything else was converted to a painting done by Mara’s hand.

And in the distance, an in an unassuming abode painted atop a mountain, a man sat while painting a waterfall to decorate his garden.

"A guest? In these areas?" He spoke without turning around.

With a flick of his wrist, a streak of ink rushed towards Ria who quickly jumped out of the way in fear of being caught.

The cloud that came into contact was instantly converted into a painting, joining the other clouds in the sky.

Hovering in this ’empty space’ Ria struggled to find a foothold yet she didn’t fall.

"Did Tiamat send you? I already told her I’m not joining, even if she freed me from my bindings." The man sighed. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"But you don’t have her traces. She would never send a human to greet the old Lords. Instead, you have traces of something far worse."

Ria opened her mouth, wanting to talk but a streak of ink was already in front of her face.

"!!!"

Electricity crackled across her body as her form disappeared, dodging the strike.

"Fast one. I don’t know why you’ve come, but having a fresh canvas is always welcomed." He stood up and turned towards her.

Mara, the Old Lord of Ink was man with deep bags under his eyes. Black and grey hair that reached his lower back. He wore a white robe with black straps and nothing else.

Ria furrowed her brows. Even though he didn’t know why she was here, he was already showing killing intent and the desire to turn her into a canvas.

It was clear the Old Lord wasn’t friendly at all!

Undoing the upper half of his robe and freeing his arms, Mara revealed his muscular body filled with tattoos. Not Sigils, tattoos of his own creation.

Reaching towards his back, his fingers touched upon a spear that he drew on his own back.

The ink twitched before energy burst forth. From the tattoo, the weapon was slowly pulled out.

Then, with his spare hand, he conjured a brush and aimed at Ria.

With a diagonal swipe, the space between them was shortened in an instant!

"!!!"

*BANG!!!

Ria unleashed a torrent of lightning before forcing herself to jump back.

However, her back slammed against the edge of the ’canvas’.

"Don’t make me use more effort than a I need to. I wouldn’t want to ruin the canvas that is your skin." Mara narrowed his eyes.

Astrelya lied.

While their powers don’t directly impact one another, Ria was at a significant disadvantage against Mara. After all, with his power of ink, he’s able to draw an invisible boundary within the world.

And in this world, it doesn’t matter how fast Ria was. There’s not enough ’space’ for her to move around freely.

In order to break free, she’ll have to evolve her offensive power using magnetism to forcefully break through the barrier.

Of course, there was an easier course of action. To use the Eclipse to override this zone in its entirely.

Astrelya wanted to see if she would stay on her path even as death approaches.