Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 946: To Be Treated As A Weapon

"Argh!!!" Miki let out a shout as she bolted upright. Breath ragged, hair stuck against her face.

Cold sweat covered her back as her eyes darted around in confusion.

Her hands pressing her chest to check for wounds and her waist for a weapon that wasn’t there.

She spotted Alice sitting by the window with a surprised look on her face, not expecting Miki to shout immediately after waking up.

Realising that she was in the hospital, Miki let out a sigh before collapsing back into the bed.

"Well that’s certainly a way to wake up." Alice shrugged, sipping away at a flask.

"Can you not drink in the presence of a patient?" Miki sighed.

Alice stuck out her tongue in rebellion.

"Bleh~ It’s not like I’m drunk anyways. If you can blame me for playing hero, I can make a call on where I drink." Alice huffed.

Staring out of the window, she glanced out at the city that was recovering from the siege. The defences were struggling and the initial barrier was cracked. Had she not deployed the blood veil, the city would be barrierless right now.

"So, what’s the deal between you and that guy earlier? He seemed to be the one controlling how the Nightmare moves against the city. But... It also seems like he used to be part of the city." She asked curiously.

Miki froze at the question.

It was not Alice’s intention to overhear some of the conversation between them, but it was hard not to notice.

Plus, during that exchange, Miki was fighting for personal reasons rather than for the defence of the city.

After a brief pause, Miki finally let out a sigh.

"He was my father’s disciple. Someone I looked towards as family. He was also the city’s hero when the Nightmare siege’s first occurred. But that’s all in the past now. He’s an enemy I must kill." She clenched her fist.

Alice took another sip from her flask.

"Because he killed your dad?"

Miki nodded.

She didn’t say much else but Alice could already figure out most of the history between them.

The reason why she hates heroes, the examples she gave during their reunion and the questions she asked.

They were all worries stemmed from the fact that this guy turned his back on the city when it needed him.

"What happened at the end of the siege? Did you kill them all?" Miki asked.

"Nope. Honestly I didn’t even do that much since you guys seemed to have it handled. I only made a barrier so the fog couldn’t creep into the city. After you were defeated, he ordered their retreat.

"Mentioned something about cultivating more fear or what not. But since I appeared, a variable he didn’t account for, he decided to go back." Alice explained.

Hearing this, Miki furrowed her brows.

"Fear..." She mumbled quietly. "That fits. The Nightmare has never tried to completely wipe us out, even when our defences are broken. They’re treating us like cattle."

Crawling out of bed, Miki ignored the pain she was feeling inside her body.

"You sure you’re supposed to start walking around already? Shouldn’t you rest for a bit longer?" Alice asked, following behind her leisurely.

"The Nightmare doesn’t wait for me to recover before hitting the city again."

"Oh I’m aware. But you’re going to break your body apart like this if you don’t stop." Alice nodded.

Her wounds were rather ghastly after all. Even with Elias’s help, it wasn’t a full recovery.

"They need someone at the helm. Someone the upper layer can blame. Without me being there, they-"

"And you lecture me about being a hero." Alice smirked.

The comment irked Miki as she turned around with a glare.

"Taking on all this burden by yourself, making decisions thinking you’re at the core. And when it matters, you dump it all to chase a personal vendetta. What happened to your earlier philosophy? Where did it go?"

Miki tightened her jaw.

She looked ready to bite back for a moment but soon, her anger simmered and faded.

"It didn’t go anywhere. I’m no hero, just a captain. Nothing more. And I don’t make decisions thinking I’m at the core, I make decisions thinking I’m another pawn, disposable in the grand scheme of things.

"How many leaders do you think needed to die for the call of command to fall onto my lap?"

Miki turned around.

"Probably a few. What do I know? I just came here after all. But this kind of defence can’t last. And you know that far better than I do. When the Nightmare stops farming for fear, what then? I won’t say you need a hero. But you need a spearhead to pierce the core of this issue, no?" Alice tried to convince Miki but she shook her head.

"This kind of thought was what made... Erwen turn his back on the city. Even heroes are people. If all of the burden is placed onto one person, they break."

Miki lowered her gaze.

"And yet you’re still gunning after him with the intent to kill huh?"

"Understanding something doesn’t mean you agree with it. I can understand why he ended up the way he is, but it doesn’t mean I agree with his methods. That’s the same as saying I agree with him killing my father." Miki clenched her fist.

"Fair point. Now let’s resolve another issue shall we?" Alice chuckled.

"Another issue? What happened?" Miki frowned. Did something else happen while she was out cold?

Alice pointed at herself.

"Me."

"You?"

"Yes me. Let’s be honest, I’m going to be helping out while I’m here no matter what you say. So wouldn’t it be better to put me to good use? Just treat me as a good weapon you picked up for now."

Miki turned around and stared at Alice, searching for a catch.

Alice just smiled and sipped her flask.

"What kind of weapon drinks during the day?" Miki asked with a sigh.

"How long are you planning on staying here?"

Alice thought about it for a moment.

"Not sure, depends on if my goals are met. The main one is thwarting the Zenia family. As you know, I used to come from that family and in the 10 years I didn’t make an appearance, it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows." Alice narrowed her eyes, a bit of her killing intent seeping out.

"And since they’re gunning after the Nightingale family along with Varyn and Serathei, I figured I’d come here first since it’s connected to you." She admitted.

"So a rebellion against the strongest family in Extalia right now. One that even the Royal family is worried about but can’t do anything against them at this moment." Miki clarified as Alice nodded her head.

"Bingo~ With the Nightmare being a product of the family, learning and dismantling it will help with my goals so that’s another thing I want to do."

Where she stays will be dependant on the kind of information she finds. If the core of the Nightmare is discovered, she’ll naturally adjust her journey elsewhere.

Of course, that didn’t mean she was going to abandon this place either. There were always things she could do, triggered casts she could leave behind should anything happen while she was away.

Miki folded her arms, contemplating the various factors before nodding her head.

"Fine. I’ll treat you as a weapon for now. But there are certain things I need to make sure of." Miki relented.

"That being?"

"Orders. Can you follow them?" Miki knew what kind of person Alice is.

She’s the kind to do whatever she feels like in the moment. So if there is an order, the main issue isn’t whether or not she could complete it but if she would follow it.

Even if it meant retreating from a foe she can kill.

Alice blinked her eyes.

"Orders you say? Hmm..." She paced back and forth for a moment.

"I can follow orders." Alice nodded.

"But?" Miki pushed, knowing that there was issues with that statement.

Being caught, Alice stuck out her tongue.

"But~ they need to make sense for me in the moment. I’m a weapon that you throw in their general direction and watch things explode. I might come back in time, I might not. I can’t make guarantees since weird stuff happen around me all the time."

Miki furrowed her brows. A little unreliable...

But if she was going to treat Alice as ammunition to throw towards a zone then...

"Alright. I can deal with that."

Alice grinned, gesturing for Miki to raise her hand before giving it a high five.

"There we go. Now loosen up a bit, being serious all the time must be exhausting."

"I am relaxed already." Miki shook her head.

"Now follow me. I’ll give you a run down of what we’ve found about the Nightmare thus far and what we’ve been doing to map it out. Since you’re also investigating, am I correct to assume you know the basic structure?" She asked as Alice nodded her head.

"To some extent. It’s mimicking a little bit of what the Abyss is like. Only thing different is that the layers are accessed by death than standard traversal."

"Yes but also no. While death is the easiest thing to use when it comes to moving across layers and finding others, it’s not the only way. The ’depth’ of the Nightmare is another method of sinking deeper without dying."

Alice raised her eyebrow.

"We’re essentially using the rules of the Nightmare against it." Miki dumbed it down.

"If our speculations are correct, there is a ’core’ for the different zones within the Nightmare, including one for this city.

"If we play our cards right, we might be able to dismantle the dream hanging over our heads."