Abyssal Awakening

"Cardinal, what kind of fighter are you? We need to assign some roles for maximum efficiency." Darrow asked while commanding his phantom fleet to help Minerva and the others escape while they still could.

However, his barrage was being absorbed by the water leviathan coiling around the monster's body.

"Frontline fighter with some support skills. Namely healing, dispelling and some enhancements to your attacks." Tristan replied truthfully while giving Alice a glance.

She had recovered enough of her stamina to stand up straight.

"I know I look cute but you don't need to stare that hard." Alice rolled her eyes.

*COUGH!!!

"I- I erm… I didn't mean it that way." Tristan panicked but Darrow only slapped him on the back with a laugh.

"So Calista, what about you?" Darrow turned his attention to Alice.

"Just call me Alice, the disguise is out of the window anyway. If you give me a bit of time, I can focus entirely on offence but I wouldn't rely on it. The beast is… a strange one and unless it's an attack that targets the soul, it'll be hard to inflict lasting damage.

"There's also the issue of his connection to the sea. I can see… quite a few strands extending from his body and linking him to the water beneath us. Suffice to say, he's part of the ocean right now." Alice analysed the situation while trying to find a weak spot.

"Figures. Seems like the offence is reliant on you Cardinal." Darrow shrugged but Tristan shook his head.

"Don't you have… access to the power of Duality? It's a power that stems from the Church. Logically, you should also have the ability to target the soul."

"Look, it's complicated okay?" Alice sighed.

"The only thing I can do right now is inversion. I can flip the functionality of Sigils as well as certain aspects of control. Motor functions, energy control. I can't change it to target the soul when I never had experience in doing so." She explained.

Moreover, even though she saw the process of Tristan harming the soul, she still needed some time to comprehend it. Even now, Alice couldn't understand how one would interact with the soul.

Her only option before was through her flames but that was clearly not going to work. Her flames have zero effect on these beasts tied to the Outer Gods.

Plus, she herself didn't fully understand why she's able to consume a small portion of someone's soul and put it to use.

"But the power of Duality should cover more than just inversion."

"Now now, Alice did say you'll talk later. Let's focus on the task at hand shall we?" Darrow steered the conversation back on track.

Letting out a sigh, Tristan nodded his head.

"Then aside from attacking, do you think you are able to provide support for me and Tristan?" Darrow asked curiously.

"Naturally."

Helping them defend against the attacks wouldn't be hard, especially if she doesn't need to care about attacking.

"Just trust your back to me and no matter what attack comes towards you, I'll sort it out." Alice reassured with absolute confidence.

Darrow was a little taken aback but nodded his head while Tristan did the same.

Navigating the boat to one of his ships, Darrow had Alice step off the boat so that she could observe the full battle.

He gave instructions to Virn and had him circle the ship around the beast so that Alice could assist them when it's needed.

Watching both Tristan and Darrow make their way towards the beast while Minerva's crew backed off, Alice couldn't help but fold her arms and stand at the front of the ship.

'If I want to support the two of them and protect them from attacks, I'll need a different kind of grid. A much bigger one when compared to what I created against Egil.' Alice thought to herself as she reached into her pouch and grabbed every vial of blood she had prepared.

Originally, she thought these vials would be helpful against Darrow but the truth was far from it. Even with these, she'll probably lose to Darrow if they were to go for each other's throats.

She thought herself invincible with her regeneration and abilities but the world was far bigger than she expected. People with a myriad abilities and monsters she didn't know anything about.

Alice thought that she was already being cautious but it was clear that it wasn't cautious enough. Her arrogance blinded her.

Alyss was the same.

But this was no time to wallow and digest everything she had learnt during the spar. This was the time to kill a giant beast!

Opening all of the vials, Alice summoned the Shard and separated it into countless tiny pieces, each holding a trace of her blood and sent it out to surround the beast.

The grid she needed to lay out had to be big enough to allow Tristan and Darrow freedom of movement along with defences.

'The flames won't work and the beast will probably ignore it. The best option would be… Void.'

It was a shame that she had switched out her fourth Sigil otherwise this job would've been much easier. However, it was good that she could still use her personal artifact to compensate.

Using her blood as a marker, she'll open portals for projectile based attacks and spells. For physical, she'll use the shard and her own energy.

But after her stunt that ultimately failed, exhausting her energy this way would be a terrible choice. Instead, there's another method of her absorbing energy.

Duality + Tiamat + First Sigil!

Using the first form of Tiamat, Alice will be able to siphon energy from her surroundings as well as attacks.

She'll use this to act as the battery for her shards, allowing her to utilize them to their full capabilities!

[We don't know if you can convert the energy used by the minions of the Outer God yet. We still have plenty of crewmates for you to use instead.] Cayla reminded. It was better to be cautious against the Outer Gods as the rules are different for them.

Nodding her head, Alice walked over to Virn.

"Can you do me a favour?" Alice asked as Virn nodded with a smile.

"Of course, how may I help."

"Give a piece of this to any crew member that still has the energy to fight or stamina to spare, I'm going to siphon it so I can protect your captain from the beast." Alice handed him a sheet of crystalised blood.

Blossoming from the blood were red spider lilies.

"Each of these will act as a node for me to siphon their energy and stamina from. Careful not to give it to those who can't fight otherwise it might drain them of their life instead of energy and stamina." Alice warned.

Leaving the sheet of blood to Virn, Alice glanced back at the beast who was trying to lash out against the Phantom Fleet but an unrelenting wave of attacks kept it from leaving.

'What an absurd ability.' Alice couldn't help but chuckle.

With this kind of skill, Darrow was essentially a one man army who didn't need the support of others.

Flashes of red arcs would also rush towards the beast at times but it shrugged off the attacks like nothing.

Any wound inflicted onto its body would be regenerated in an instant using sea water.

Above, a torrent of lunar light crashed down but tentacles burst out from the sea, blocking the strike.

Right when one of the tentacles was about to crash into Tristan, Alice sprung into action.

Slamming her palm down, shards converged in an instant through the use of Void Steps and formed into a shield, blocking the strike!

Cracks formed across the barrier but it held on!

Flicking her wrist, Alice created a platform for Tristan to jump off from.

While the beast was focused on the shield and Tristan, Darrow appeared behind the beast with two ships and launched two cannon shots against its back.

"ARGGG!!!" Letting out a cry of annoyance, the beast swung its arm back but Darrow was too fast.

His Phantom Fleet phased through the battlefield using this strange mist as they would disappear and reappear elsewhere.

Hit and run!

That was their plan for now but all they were doing was annoying the beast. It didn't look like it was getting any weaker!

'Indeed, it seems like the b*stard won't die unless the sea dries up.' Alice frowned.

Thankfully, it seemed like he wasn't used to his power either as he's merely flailing his limbs around.

In order to cut off his connection to the sea… there was only one method.

Taking a deep breath, Alice focused her mind.

She needed to allocate a portion of her focus in protecting Tristan and Darrow. Just keeping them alive would be enough. As long as they brace themselves, it shouldn't be an issue.

What she needed to do was to act fast!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Artificial Resonance!

The three forms of her artifact linked up with one another as Alice gritted her teeth and began to thread wires of energy between each of the shard pieces.

Since she had already created a grid, what she needed to do was link everything up!

But doing so meant that her shields will slowly disappear overtime until there were no spare shards left!

Darrow and Tristan noticed this as Alice's energy surged from the boat and so did the beast.

Turning its head towards her, the beast cracked open its jaw as ocean waves surged towards his mouth.

A torrent of water shot towards the ship but Tristan was faster.

Twisting his body, a sanctuary of Lunar light crashed down, blocking the torrent of water!

Darrow released two Sea Splitters against its legs, causing it to stumble over.

Tentacles crashed down in an attempt to swat Darrow away but his mist protected him once more.

As more threads linked up between the shards, a cage was slowly being created!

The beast began to frantically attack using the power of the sea but as the Pirate King, Darrow had already mastered the waves!

These futile struggles did not slow down his assault and soon, the cage wrapped around the beast.

Alice only had one goal when it came to making this cage.

In order to cut off his connection to the sea and limit his regneration, she was going to throw him into the Void!