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Why did she feel this hunger? Why she had lost control after so many years of it being dormant? And finally, what really happened at the birthday banquet?

She had her own hypothesis but it wasn't a pleasant one.

The screams in her mind resonated so vividly when she remembered back to that time. Alice understood that they must've been her victims. Even though she was resistant against the Abyss, that first contact had indeed transformed her.

'Now that I think about it… How did I even turn back to human after being a beast? Even when the scholars pushed my body to its limit, only parts of me were transformed from the side effects. Never fully. On that day I went past the line and fully became a beast…' Alice frowned as she looked at her hand.

Perhaps that side of her was simply the instincts left over from when she became a beast. Perhaps it was something more.

'Or was it a reaction based on my resistance to the Abyss?'

Alice knew that there was an invisible power 'operating' the Abyss itself. The contracts that it makes with people are what allows them Sigils and it slowly transforms them into a beast.

Pressing her hand against her chest, above her heart, Alice wondered once more about the connection of the heart to the Abyss.

'Actually, now that I think about it… Thane is Allura's old friend. Maybe he knows about the importance of the heart.'

Sitting up, Alice didn't hesitate to make her way out of the room as she noticed Thane leaning against the wall silently while slight traces of sadness could be seen in his eyes.

"Need something?" Thane asked as the sadness disappeared as though it was never there.

"I have a question. Since you're Allura's old friend, you should know a lot about the Abyss right?"

"Depends on what you want to know. And if you ask some boring sh*t I'm just going to get you to go to the library instead." Thane shrugged.

"The heart. Why is it important?"

"Are you serious? Maybe because it keeps you alive?" Thane rolled his eyes but Alice shook her head.

"That's not what I meant. I… Learnt that the heart is important to the Abyss. Why? Why is the heart so important that the purest blood that you can get from a beast is from the heart? And… Do you know what kind of contract the realm gives in exchange for Sigils?"

Hearing this, Thane's expression faltered for a moment, expressing surprise upon Alice mentioning these questions before returning to normal.

'Seems like she's adapting well to the Eye if it told her this much. Hmm…'

Narrowing his eyes at Alice, he thought to himself for a moment before standing up properly.

"How much are you prepared to learn?" Thane asked seriously.

Tilting her head in confusion, Alice wasn't sure what he meant by that.

"Let me rephrase it. How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to learn the truth? Is the truth about the heart blood so important that you are willing to give up something important to you?"

Biting her lip, Alice hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

"What would I need to give up in order to learn about the Abyss?"

"You don't know until you accept the risks. Maybe it's something useless to you. Maybe it's the most important aspect of your life. It's up to you if you want to exchange something in pursuit of knowledge. However, I will tell you this." Thane held up one finger.

"One Sigil is all it takes for a Hunter to step onto the path of no return. This contract of the Abyss will only end in suffering unless you sacrifice a part of yourself at the end of all roads. There are no exceptions. Whether that is for me or Allura, no one is an exception." Thane warned.

'Especially not you, the holder of the Eye.'

"Knowledge and power come at a price. Should you ever gamble with the Abyss, know that you will always take the short end of the deal. But I can tell you one thing. When you accept the contract of the Abyss and receive your first Sigil, your heart is no longer yours.

"It becomes the Abyss's property. What you think and gather from this information is up to you. Maybe you might stumble on the right answer without giving up anything. Maybe you won't. Either way, it's none of my business now." Thane shrugged while opening the door back into the VIP room.

"But it seems like you have a guest so I'll take my leave." He pointed at the woman making her way towards them.

Glancing over at the new arrival, Alice was about to ask what she was here for when she silently handed Alice a rolled up sheet of parchment. The parchment was tied up with a ribbon embroidered with the symbol of the Underground.

Understanding that this was the information she had purchased earlier, Alice thanked the woman as she gave a bow and left.

Placing the parchment in her pocket, Alice looked over to Thane who was now sitting on the sofa, clearly bored out of his mind.

She thought back to his earlier words.

'Was my resistance to the Abyss something I traded for? He said one Sigil is all it takes for a Hunter to go on a path of no return… What does he mean by that? He also mentioned that Allura gave up something at the end of all roads.'

Sighing out heavily, Alice scratched her hair in confusion as there were simply too many unknowns right now.

She doubted Allura would be able to tell her much either at this point with the way Thane worded things. It seems like if she wanted to know more at this point in time, she'll have to give up something potentially important to her. And that was not a risk she wanted to take right now.

'Let's just get my third Sigil first. I can think about this later when Allura contacts me.'

###

*BANG!!!

A black of darkness cleaved through a beast as Gin landed heavily against the ground. His chest heaving from exhaustion while glancing back at Allura who had spaced out a few times during the battle.

"What's wrong with you? Getting distracted so much."

"Sorry… Just… Thinking of stuff." Allura scratched her hair while smiling bitterly. There was a sad glow in her eyes as she had clearly sensed what had happened near Alice.

The power of shadows that surrounded her for a moment.

A familiar feeling that tugged against her chest.

He was back in the Abyss and yet he didn't want to face her.

"Well you can think of stuff once we're out of this mess!" Gin shouted as he forcefully activated his resonance one more. An avatar of death cleaved the skies apart and descended upon the battlefield as a baleful aura exploded forth.

However, tentacles erupted from the ground, latching onto his avatar and tearing it apart, scattering its bones across the battlefield while Gin cried out in pain.

"Allura!" Gin shouted out in annoyance.

"Alright aright, I got it. Sorry, I'll focus up now." Allura sighed before disappearing from her location.

Appearing in front of the source of tentacles, she pulled back her arm as flames erupted around her.

The sparks and crackles of the air exploded around her arm as the flames started to expand before condensing into a blinding white flame.

In a single instance, her fist jolted forward and not even Gin could see the motion of her punch.

All he could see was the large body of the beast disappearing into the distance while the land was torn apart by the impact.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly as this was the gap between them. A beast that forced him to use his resonance was dealt with easily by Allura who simply used her third Sigil.

Even to this day, he hadn't seen Allura use more than 4 Sigils.

"Let's find a place to catch a break since you're in no shape to keep fighting for now." Allura suggested while pulling out a cigarette.

Lighting it on fire, she took a deep breath before sighing out a cloud of smoke. Surrounding them were the corpses of countless beasts that could be harvested for blood that would shock the market but she didn't care for their value.

"Alright. Now care to explain why you kept spacing out at the end?" Gin nodded, limping over to her while taking a drink of some healing blood.

"Alice disappeared for a moment. Seems to have been taken into a strange realm. But an… old friend bailed them out. They're under his care right now and surprisingly, he's taking responsibility for them." Allura smiled.

"Isn't that a good thing then? Why did you space out and look sad?"

"Because he said he wasn't going to return to the Abyss centuries ago." She shrugged, not wanting to expand on the topic.

Understanding this, Gin didn't ask for more details as Allura clearly had a lot going on her mind right now.

As the two were making their way back to their base, Allura couldn't help but look at the sunless sky above and sigh.

'If you're back… At least send a raven dumbass. You haven't even talked to me face to face in centuries now, always sending your familiars. Master would be upset if she saw you like this…' Allura thought to herself before shaking her head.

If he didn't want to speak to her face to face then there's nothing she could do. She needed to focus on her own task as being distracted, no matter how powerful she is, is dangerous on this battlefield.