Abyssal Awakening

Gwen felt a disturbance.

She couldn't sleep properly.

The gate was relatively uneventful after the last run in and she only had to give them a quick scan before sitting in her chair.

But something felt off. Like an itch she couldn't reach, something was nagging at the corner of her mind, stopping her from resting.

Was it the old man? She didn't know. When she scanned the group, he was. . . painfully ordinary with only around three Sigils worth of power.

Nothing more nothing less.

Probably a retired hunter who couldn't make a living.

But at the same time, there was something about his. . . gaze that threw her off.

What was it?

Furrowing her brows, Gwen clicked her tongue and stood up.

"Whatever. You two! I'm taking a break for a bit."

Unable to calm this doubt in her mind, she decided to ditch work and jump away before they could even stop her.

Her father and aunty are busy keeping the seas clean so they entrusted this location to her.

To begin with, she didn't understand why Solaris even chose this option.

Was there really a need to surround a country like this? And while this might see like they're dealing with Outer God flesh and fallen Divinity to outsiders, the real reason why they were doing this was to track down the one that killed Kazira.

An Apostle like her father.

However, this only annoyed Gwen.

If they can kill an Apostle like her father, why were they deployed? Even for her, she was still just a Six Sigil Hunter with more blessings than others. In terms of power, she was still lacking to go against Lords never mind trying to hold off someone that can kill an Apostle.

"If dad heard what I was thinking I'll probably be punished again." Gwen grumbled while landing on a roof.

She recalled how he acted when he caught her questioning what Solaris was doing and shivered.

But one couldn't blame her. After all, Solaris was too busy looking good on his lofty throne to be bothered with anything else.

Not how his subjects were doing, not how the Eclipse were causing havoc nor did he care about the shipments being sent across the world.

But now that an Apostle died and he's facing a bit of danger and uncertainty, that's when he decides to act like a righteous god.

"I suppose these kinds of thoughts make me a heretic as well." Gwen chuckled.

However, at the end of the day, she is still the Cardinal of the Sun.

The daughter of an Apostle.

Regardless of her complaints towards the Sun, she will do as she is tasked and purge the unclean.

And naturally, it helps that she enjoys the job.

Standing up, she hoisted the spear onto her shoulders.

Since she can't settle this uncertainty in her heart, she'll find a way to clear this doubt.

'Aunty, I'll be borrowing your move~'

Twirling the spear, she tapped the pommel against the ground.

At that moment, the boundaries of her 'zone' expanded out in an instant! A dome of observation that stretched to the edge of the pier. Every movement, every conversation, all rushing into her mind.

Discard the unneeded. Filter everything out that doesn't involve the keywords.

Capture suspicious movement outside of a crowd.

Gwen's eyes began to glow a radiant gold as red spots began to appear across the city.

"So many rats on the move today, what an occasion." She muttered.

On top of their suspicious movements, each of the gangs were also carrying an abnormally large batch of contraband.

'Traces of Outer Gods. . . Eldritch Energy. But it's different to the normal supplies that's been shipped out. A new batch?' Gwen tilted her head.

Suspicious.

She knew the three gangs wouldn't dabble in things like this, not after last time.

'Are they sabotaging each other? No. . . How would they even get the shipment into Yuhai? The seas are sealed off and I'm holding down the gates. If there's movement in the Void dad would make sure nothing is up.'

Once again, the old man's face by the gate repeatedly appeared in Gwen's mind.

After the battle was over, he was nowhere to be seen.

Based on the facts, Gwen was sure of two things.

Someone was sabotaging the three gangs.

Someone was manually creating these shipments inside of Yuhai.

Regardless, she had to diffuse the situation. Rather than letting the three groups fight one another, it's better if she forced them to calm down so that they can find the true culprit.

She may like giving heretics a brutal death but what she likes more than that is dragging cowards out from the shadows and seeing their fearful expressions in clear sunlight.

###

'Holy f*cking sh*t!' Alice panicked for a moment as she had almost instinctively fought back with her own zone.

She knew that the range of the Zone was entirely dependent on the capabilities of the user, their perception and range of their attacks.

The wider the range, the weaker the attack.

But this. . .

Even from this range, Alice could tell that Gwen can unleash her full power.

As expected of the daughter of an Apostle, she must've gotten personal training from Shiera.

Even in the Inverted World, Shiera's Zone was one that encompassed an entire arena and beyond. A range that she could control at will.

She wanted to check out the situation but doing so was risky. Any suspicious movement while this Zone was active would only draw attention to her current location. And if that was to happen, escape might be annoying unless she's willing to charge through two Apostles.

But at the same time. . . Alice had an idea.

A little risk but life is always about taking risks.

A risk and reward situation where the potential reward heavily outweighs the risk.

[Yes but the risk has a 98% chance of failure. Even if the reward is a payout of 1000%, is that really worth it? Especially considering the consequences of failure.] Cayla folded her arms.

'I mean-'

[And before you try to push the blame onto me for staying an extra day, remember who's fault it was for sealing me in the first place. I agreed on not mentioning it anymore but if you dare bring up my actions in pursuit of knowledge, then I'll remind you of why I have to do so.] Cayla clapped back before Alice could even form a sentence, causing her to choke on her own words.

Alyss only smirked off to the side.

'Alright fine. Maybe it's a little riskier than normal but the payout isn't just 1000% ya know? And let's say we fail and the plan falls through, it's not like we can't get out alive.'

[True, but it also means the entirety of the Sun Church knows where you are, what you look like and maybe even leave a marker on you to constantly chase you down. Not to mention two Apostles.]

'Yes, that's a fair point. But, hear me out now, we get information directly from their side.' Alice winked.

Cayla stared at the girl in front of her.

That expectant smile.

That glimmer in her eyes.

If they were able to get information from their side, they'll be able to keep a close eye on the movements of the Sun Church.

Hell, they might even get information on Famine if they play their cards right.

[Absolutely not.] Cayla shook her head.

It didn't matter how tempting the rewards may be, the risk was simply too high.

'Ehhhhh, but why?'

[I'm not going to argue about why you shouldn't but rather how suspicious it f*cking looks if some random chick whom the Cardinal doesn't even know about tries to be buddy buddy. If it was me, I would avoid them like a plague or worse yet, kill them depending on the danger.

[And don't forget the fact that she's the DAUGHTER of Ajax. You know damn well that no matter how well we hide our Divinity right now along with the Eldritch energy, it's one f*ck up away from revealing itself and causing the entire Church to hunt us down like animals.] Cayla was firm on this matter.

Today was the day she stands her ground. Today, she won't let Alice's stubbornness defeat her since the risks were simply too high and unlikely to succeed.

'She's got a point. Even I think it's way too reckless of a plan this time.' Alyss added.

If her two voices of reason were going this far to convince her then there's nothing Alice could do.

'Fine, I guess I'll behave myself.' Alice sighed while scratching her hair. 'But staying at the port is also pretty bad. We don't know what kind of information she's getting from the gangs. I think it's best we go and observe the situation from afar.'

Seeing that Alice was compromising with this, Cayla nodded her head.

[As long as you're just watching from afar, I have no complaints. But I can't stress this enough. Watching is one thing but Do. Not. Get. Involved. Okay?] She emphasized each word as Alice nodded her head.

'I get it I get it~'

Stepping away from the port, Alice made her way towards the gates where most of the gangs were gathering.

All three of them trying to shift the contraband to the enemy gang while Gwen was getting herself involved in order to calm the situation.

###

"Ajax, what is your daughter planning now? Is she thinking of skimping out on work again?" A woman asked with a helpless smile.

Meanwhile, a man in heavy armour let out an awkward cough.

"She's in her rebellious stages."

He didn't give her a tough job by Yuhai port so nothing major should happen. At most it should just be a small conflict with the local gangs so he has no reason to worry. . .