Abyssal Awakening

"Urg... Hn..." Rine bit her lips until blood started to roll down the sides.

Her hands clutched at her arms as she held in a cry of pain. Her shoulders trembled, cracks forming across her body.

In her own room, deep in the night, Rine found herself unable to sleep.

She couldn’t wake up Nyer. Doing so would be announcing her weakness.

Announcing that she couldn’t hold on.

’Just a little more. A little more, then the pain will pass.’ She thought to herself.

Her tiny form trembled in the darkness, and after what felt like an eternity, she finally felt the pain subside.

Letting out a breath of relief, she relaxed her body.

Holding up her arm towards the moonlight, a bitter smile formed on her face.

She could see the cracks in her vessel slowly fading away.

’I’m reaching my limit...’ She knew her own body better than anyone else. She could sense the changes inside.

Even though she made sure to balance the energy out carefully, the constant clash was putting a strain on her.

And the more Authorities she stole, the worse it’d get.

It’s one of the reasons why the Abyss only lets you take a small portion of a beast’s power. If nine different Authorities started fighting within one body, the host wouldn’t survive.

"I need a different method..." Rine mumbled to herself.

Nyer had left her to decide things by herself. The fact that she was even able to absorb and utilise the Authorities to this level was mostly a product of her own innovation after all.

So in his mind, letting her do her own thing without direct intervention was the best way to go.

A show of trust.

Rine calmed her mind.

First things first, she needed a way to control the Authorities. To make sure their battle wouldn’t affect her own vessel.

"I don’t necessarily have to use the full Authority. Certain aspects of their power aren’t needed." She mumbled.

The more complete an Authority was inside her own body, the stronger its ego. They’d believe that this vessel actually belonged to them and try to reclaim it.

It’s futile, but the struggle still injured Rine.

So for her to control them, she’d have to cut them down to the point where she could use them without fear.

Of course, their souls needed to be trapped in order to act as a bypass key. Otherwise, the moment she tried to use their power, the world itself would reject her.

A prison was what she needed.

But cutting them down at this moment in time was no different from injuring herself.

In other words, it was like ripping out her own organs.

"Pain now is the foundation for the future. Don’t get scared now..." Rine mumbled with a trembling smile.

She was scared.

It was 75% confidence, 20% hope, and that last 5% was raw uncertainty.

Yet 5% was all it took to instil fear into her mind.

What if she failed? If this didn’t work, she would’ve essentially crippled herself...

"No, I have to do it..." Rine gritted her teeth.

If she didn’t do it now, the damage could reach a point where she couldn’t regenerate anymore.

She didn’t want that. She wanted to live, she wanted to prove that she was special.

She wanted to be loved.

Taking rapid, shallow breaths, Rine bit down on the blanket next to her and plunged her own hand into her heart.

"!!!"

Her own eyes turned bloodshot as her vision distorted.

She looked towards the battle happening inside her own body.

It was over, and the different combatants had calmed. Each of them claimed a section of her soul, with certain ones being pushed out. Authorities on the verge of disappearing.

Narrowing her eyes, Rine stomped her foot down as flames erupted from her body. From her shadow, strange black serpents burst out as the different Authorities glared at her.

A battle to determine who this vessel truly belonged to!

The first to act was a strange shark. It dove through the world as though the ground was water. With a single snap of its jaw, the space around Rine disappeared.

However, she managed to jump out of the way at the last moment.

Taking aim with her hand, her eyes shifted as a spear of flames shot out, piercing the body of the shark. As it squirmed under her attack, the others realised that a new battle had just broken out.

One where they would be slaughtered if they did nothing!

"Yeah, yeah. Why don’t you shut your mouth? Always so noisy, never respecting my identity as the host. Now that I’ve come to clean house, all of you start yapping again." Rine clicked her tongue and created two flaming spears.

Resting one on her shoulder, her hair flared outwards as eyes blinked in the gaps.

"Need I remind you that I already killed you once? So why don’t you lot calm the f*ck down before I cripple you?"

Thick killing intent surged out as the projection of a fierce crimson dragon burst out behind her.

The pressure released caused some of the Authorities to immediately submit, but those holding territories inside her own body refused to bow.

However, Rine had expected as much. It was her mistake in the first place to leave them so intact. This time she’ll correct things!

Unleashing a cross slash towards the body of one of the beasts, she dove in while shredding anything and everything in sight.

As the guts spilled out, Rine even used her teeth to rip out the intestines while a bird-like beast stabbed its beak towards her.

With her vision being blocked by the flesh, one would assume she wouldn’t have been able to react.

But the eyes behind her snapped towards the attack, and she quickly guarded with her spear.

Pushed out of the beast’s body, she was tossed into the air where several abilities rained down towards her.

Letting out a battle cry, flames burst out from her body, forming a defensive shield that quickly blocked the attacks.

Adjusting herself, her eyes snapped towards each beast and she lunged.

Slamming into the ground, flaming spikes burst out like giant sets of teeth before the maw slammed shut.

Another beast condensed energy into its mouth before unleashing a torrent of energy towards Rine.

"!!!"

Right as she wanted to parry, a worm-like creature burst out from the ground, holding her in place as its knife-like legs cut into her body.

Clenching her teeth, she grabbed its head and dug her nails through its armour.

*KRK!!!

Breaking through, she crushed its brain and ripped the segments off her body, but it had achieved its purpose.

Unable to block in time, Rine braced herself and took the full brunt of the attack!

"ARGH!!!"

Running through the energy despite her flesh being destroyed by the attack, she stabbed a spear through its mouth and pierced the back of its head.

Spinning her body, she twisted the beast’s head off before tossing it into the sky.

Her regeneration was slow. The wounds struggled to heal. Even so, her eyes were fierce, refusing to back down without a fight.

"Who’s next!?"

###

Standing in the middle of her inner world, surrounded by the butchered corpses of the Authorities that she had absorbed into her own body, Rine used her spear as a staff to support herself.

Without it, she would’ve collapsed onto the ground by now.

However, her goal had been achieved.

She had succeeded in cutting down all of the Authorities that she had absorbed. With this, there should be no more internal conflict that would cause her body to break down.

What remained of their souls had been chained down in a makeshift prison for the time being. Something akin to the bindings placed upon the Old Lords that she had seen Nyer research before.

It wasn’t a perfect copy, but it was the best she could do in the little time she had.

Taking a deep breath, she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Since the Authorities had been linked to her own soul, each kill sent untold amounts of pain through her body. Yet she persisted.

And her persistence had been rewarded.

"Their souls still work as a key... I can borrow only one Sigil’s worth of power, but since I have data on what their full power is, I can choose what aspect is brought forth." She mumbled with a proud smile.

Hope ignited in her heart as she couldn’t help but let out a laugh of relief.

She did it.

When the going got tough, she was tougher. With this, her method of using Authorities should be close to perfection.

A system inspired by the seals placed on Old Lords as well as the bounty and Sigil system employed by the Abyss. Suffice it to say, she had created a new set of rules inside her own body.

Unable to calm herself down, she left her inner world and returned to reality.

Nyer should be proud, right? The very thing he’d been chasing after, she completed. She managed to protect her vessel at the last moment!

She’s different from the other experiments. Unique, even!

Her adaptation, her genius! She’ll prove that it can’t be replicated! She’s an anomaly that occurred in his trials. It’s the reason why he gave her a name after all!

Even he acknowledged that she was different!

Looking towards the door, Rine couldn’t wait to declare her achievement.

She couldn’t wait for Nyer to praise her. She couldn’t wait to see the moment he decided that she was irreplaceable—

*Stumble...

Rine fell forward and crashed heavily against the ground.

Pushing herself up, confusion filled her mind.

What just happened?

Maybe she was just fatigued from making adjustments. To think that someone like her would struggle with running towards a door...

A nervous laugh escaped her lips as she reached for the door one more time...

But her legs wouldn’t move.

Regeneration didn’t kick in.

There were no wounds...

Yet she couldn’t move her legs at all.

No pain... there was no sensation whatsoever...

"Move... come on! Move!" Rine clenched her teeth, dragging herself against the bed.

She forced herself to stand on both feet like a puppet only to fall forward once more, unable to keep her balance.

"MOVE! Why!? Why!???" She glanced down, her legs no longer listening to her commands.

Her fists pounded against her thighs.

"Why!?" She shouted, almost begging.

She couldn’t even feel the pain. Even as her fist broke through the skin and her regeneration fixed the wounds, her legs remained still.

"Just move... please..." She sobbed, hoping things would change.

But she knew her body better than anyone else...