Abyssal Awakening

Leaving the store with several new outfits for herself to use and some accessories, there was a wide smile on Alice's face that she couldn't supress.

She tied a portion of her hair into a high ponytail held up by a silver needle while the rest of her hair draped on her back.

Naturally, she moved a portion of her bangs over her right eye.

In total, the outfits costed her 40 Platina, which was 2 Platina per set. Very expensive when considering the other outfits she bought before but the quality of the material and the designs were satisfactory so Alice wasn't bothered.

Plus, money could always be earned again, she just needed to look for a poor- no, rich fella to rob again.

Making her way down the street, Alice held in her hands a skewer of candied fruits that she had bought on her way out.

'I can't believe you already spent almost half of our money in one store.' Alyss's smile twitched. She knew her twin's spending habits on clothing was a little absurd but even this was getting out of hand.

'What do you mean? This is for our time in the east ya know? It's not like I'll be buying more.' Alice smiled while eating the candied fruits.

'Bullsh*t. You'll see another store in the next city over and buy more outfits again.' Alyss retorted.

Alice wanted to defend herself but with a mouthful of candied fruits, she couldn't say anything.

[Alyss's isn't wrong though. In terms clothing, you've spent well over 100 Platina on it since we started this journey. That kind of money can last people a lifetime.] Cayla interrupted, leaving Alice speechless and feeling wronged.

'Why are you two ganging up and bullying me now?! You can't expect me to say no to some nice outfits can you? We're going to a new nation after all.' Alice pouted.

'We can!' Alyss rolled her eyes.

Retreating back to reality to avoid the bullying, Alice let out a sigh and ate another piece of her candied fruit.

With her being new to this city, there were so many things she wanted to check out, so many things that she wanted to learn.

One of the highest on her list of priorities is to see this 'Martial Art'. The demonstration in Caethis left her disappointed and Alice could only hope that it was a one time thing.

Chewing her stick, Alice did a quick tour around the city.

Despite its verticality, most of the stores and businesses were on the ground floor. The higher up you go, the fewer stores there were.

And even if there were stores, it was mostly private stores that required prior arrangements and so on. Instead, the taller buildings were used as residential areas.

Standing in the centre of the busy market place, Alice her eye practically glued to the flying objects that people were standing on.

Once she focused on the strands of energy around them, Alice started to realise that there was a network of invisible paths that they follow.

Just like how carriages have routes, these flying objects also have roads that they have to follow.

The objects were similar to hooks that latch onto the strands of energy that was in their world. As they hook onto the strands of energy, they begin to glide across that 'layer' allowing them to fly.

If they wish to increase or decrease the height, they simply need to increase the intensity of the hook or loosen its grip on the strands.

The rest is reliant on their own balance.

"Hmm… Doesn't seem too difficult." Alice muttered.

"Young miss, you must've come from overseas if you think riding one of these is easy." An old man laughed, overhearing Alice's murmurings.

"I am from overseas. But it doesn't seem that hard, just keep your balance and make sure your energy is correctly hooked against the strands." Alice shrugged.

Her eye was still focused on the flying swords, trying to figure out their secret.

"Hahaha, everyone from overseas says the same thing but few have proven their words. Would you like to give it a try? A friend of mine has a store open for kids to experience how it feels to ride a flying sword. Since it should be your first time, it would be a good chance for you to prove yourself right?" The old man grinned.

Giving him a glance, Alice finished her candied fruit and nodded her head.
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"Alright old timer, show me where to find this store."

###

"Name."

"Alice Agnelia."

"Age."

"20."

"Can you explain to me what happened?"

"It was an accident sir."

"You caused 4 injuries, 6 counts of property damage, destroyed a ship and 1 count of terrorist action. How do you defend yourself?" The enforcer asked as he spread out the documents in front of Alice.

Sitting opposite the table, Alice coughed awkwardly.

Truly she didn't thing it would end up like this.

A few moments earlier…

"Do you understand the instructions Young Miss?" The vendor asked as Alice nodded her head.

Standing on the sword, it wasn't that hard to maintain her balance.

Plus, it was made easier since all she needed to do was connect herself to the sword by wrapping her feet with energy.

"Now raise yourself slightly." He instructed.

All Alice needed to do was to funnel a bit of her power into the sword…

*BANG!!!

"Eh?"

Seeing the violet flames burst out from the sword, both Alice and the vendor stared at the flaming blade with a growing worry in their hearts.

"Erm… Is this normal bosSSSS!!!!"

Mid sentence, the sword suddenly shot forward, dragging Alice away. Alice didn't know why but the blade was now sucking in energy at an alarming rate!

"Get out of the wayyy!!!" She cried out, trying her best to control the sword but it wasn't listening to her commands!

"Huh? What's going ARGGG!!!"

An unsuspecting young man turned the corner and had the guard of the blade slam into his face, sending him crashing towards the ground.

"I'm sorry!"

*CRASH!!!

Crashing into a building, Alice came face to face with a family of four eating their food before blasting through their living room and into the next building over.

She tried to remove herself from the blade but the connection was too secure! She couldn't move her feet!

"This is the police! Pull over now!!!" A furious roar could be heard from behind as Alice wanted to cry.

'I also want to pull over!'

All of a sudden, the blade tilted back as it sent her crashing through the floors of a building before exiting out the roof.

Once it flew past the highest point of the city, it then dropped down and dragged Alice with it.

The police tried to set up a net to catch Alice but this was a flying sword enhanced by her violet flames!

Upon contact, the flames immediately burned away the net and rushed towards the port.

Seeing the bowsprit about to pierce her chest, Alice's smile twitched and pulled her arm back.

Even though she can regenerate, she'd rather not be torn in half!

Void Flux! Blasting a hole through the ship, Alice flew through it with the sword as she could finally feel the connection between her and the sword wavering.

Quickly detaching herself from the sword, Alice kicked it away before realising it was probably a bad choice.

Just as she opened a portal to send the blade away, the instability caused the energy within the blade to turn volatile and blew up!

*BANG!!!

Present time.

"Do you have any idea on why the sword would suddenly malfunction? We recovered some remains of the sword used for the bombing and it's clear that it's energy overload. Even if it's an old model used to let children play, even an adult would struggle with overloading the sword." The enforcer asked as Alice shook her head.

"I don't know, you can ask the boss. I just stood on the sword, linked myself to it and then it set on fire. I couldn't remove my feet from it at the time." Alice explained. It was truly an accident that she had no control over.

She didn't think it would turn out like this.

Scratching his head, the enforcer sighed as he stood up.

He called someone in to watch over Alice while he asks his higher ups what to do with her.

'Wanna break out?' Alyss asked.

'Won't that just make things worse???' Alice's smile twitched.

'Unless you want them to imprison you, I don't think there's a different choice. It's not my fault that you got yourself arrested before a day has even passed.'

Unable to retort, Alice let out a sigh.

She didn't want to fight against law enforcement if possible since that'll make the rest of her journey annoying.

'What do you suggest other than fighting them?' Alice asked.

Originally, she wanted to hide her identity but the damn officer brought in a lie detector. If there was hesitation and falsehood on her end, it would clearly let them know. It's also why they were deciding on what to do with her.

It being an accident didn't come up as a lie.

[Maybe you could try brainwashing them?] Cayla threw out a random suggestion but Alice shook her head.

After all, even if they brainwash them, it wont erase the damaged buildings.

Just as she was thinking about what to do, the enforcer entered once more with a strange orb in his hand.

He had a complicated expression and set it against the table.

"Hallo hallo~ Can you hear me? Is my voice clear? Is my beauty on display? Perfect. So you're the girl who overloaded my flying sword."