Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 1088: Experiment Known As Rine

Sitting with her head down, Rine clenched her dress and bit her lip.It didn’t take long for Nyer to find out as he entered the room to see Rine punching her legs over and over, begging for them to work.

The tears that had long run dry, and yet they refused to respond.

"Hmm..."

He had already examined her body. The vessel was irreparably damaged. And it wasn’t even something her regeneration recognised as a ’wound’.

If it was just simple soul damage, certain actions could be taken to supplement the missing parts.

But it wasn’t simple.

Far from it.

Due to the unique construction of Rine, damage like this was exceedingly hard to repair. Whatever they tried to supplement her soul with would only cause it to be absorbed without repairing the damage.

The vessel was stuck in this form and her link between soul and body was fractured.

Rine would never walk again.

"Why did you have to do that?" Nyer sighed. He hadn’t expected her to do something akin to self-mutilation in order to change the nature of her ability.

And because of her reckless actions...

"I... I-" Rine held back a cry as her throat tightened.

She felt scared. Fear dominated her mind as sound seemed to be drowned out from the world.

"I’m sorry..." She apologised.

But that wasn’t Nyer’s question.

"You should’ve told me if you were going to do something like this. I could’ve helped." Nyer shook his head.

Rine opened her mouth to reply before stopping herself.

She knew what he had done with the other experiments.

If she had shown such weakness, could she still claim herself to be better than the others?

It was her own greed, her desire to be recognised as unique.

To be praised by him.

Seeing her silence, Nyer reached out towards Rine’s head as she flinched.

But to her surprise, he simply patted her head and gave her a deep hug.

"It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I’m sorry you felt scared because of me." Nyer comforted her.

His voice was gentle and Rine felt her body relax.

She thought she had run out of tears, but that wasn’t the case.

They flowed without stop and her painful cries echoed out throughout the house.

Nyer continued to pat her back, but his face was neutral.

When examining her body, he noticed something else of concern.

Her ego had taken root much deeper than what he had expected.

And with her self-mutilation to better control the powers within her, she had essentially neutralised the ’seed’ planted in her core...

###

"Feeling better?" Nyer smiled as Rine nodded, wiping away her tears.

"Sorry..." She apologised again, but Nyer simply shook his head.

"It’s okay. Let’s find a new way for you to walk, shall we? I’m sure there are some Abyssal Engineers we can talk to for some tools. Either supports for your legs or a different way for you to move around."

Rine nodded her head as she tried to stand out of habit, only to almost fall forward.

Nyer quickly caught her and carried her on his back.

"Can you tell me a little more about what you tried to modify?" He asked.

Naturally, now that she felt safe in his presence, Rine talked about her own research.

Her idea was simple.

Replication of a Sigil system inside her own body, using her own laws and rules.

By ’crippling’ the souls and authorities that she absorbed, she could retain usage of them as long as she’s preserving the souls in her prison.

The key aspect came from the fact that her own soul was so adaptive.

She could emulate the ’shape’ of their authority, then bypass the checks using their soul shape.

Meaning, now that they’ve been secured and cut down, she had permanent access to their ability.

The only issue is...

To do so, she had to cause such damage to her own body. The problem appeared at a fundamental level since her soul was designed to assimilate everything rather than just fragments.

If he had to make the adjustments...

Nyer put the thoughts away for now.

"How many of those Authorities can you access at once?" Nyer asked curiously.

"Erm... I think I can handle around four of them if I push myself? Any more than that and issues are bound to appear." Rine pursed her lips.

Rine’s physical power and her other abilities allowed her to contend against Lords.

But when it comes to using the usurped abilities, her max was only four.

"So it’s the limit of what people can do without having their body modified by Abyssal Contracts." Nyer mumbled.

It was roughly equivalent to Three Sigils, with the fourth pushing the limit.

Of course, since all of these were Lord-level authorities, only someone like Rine could handle having all four activate at once.

However, if he could increase her limit, it could be possible for her body to go beyond the power of Nine Sigils.

"Do you think we can modify my body for it to accept Abyssal Contracts like a normal Sigil system? I think if we try to have my new system work with the currently established system, I could bypass it under a disguise." Rine suggested.

"Possibly. Though we might run into a few issues."

Rine tightened her fingers.

"I know I can’t walk, but none of the Hunts should pose a problem for me. I still have access to the other Authorities."

Nyer gave her head a light pat.

"I know, don’t worry. My concern is not whether or not you can succeed on the Hunts. That I’m confident you can achieve. My worry lies in the fact that we’re not sure if the Abyss is willing to give you an opportunity.

"As you know, there are times where humans can’t get a single bounty. Beings that are essentially denied of any power in this world.

"Due to the way you were created, and this applies to your other sisters, it’s been hard for you to be properly registered by the Abyss. But as you are made differently, I think this might change." A smile hung on his lips.

Hearing this, Rine’s eyes shimmered.

"An exception..."

"Exactly. An exception."

This was her chance...

Even without her legs, she can make herself irreplaceable.

Perhaps if she managed to hunt a Beast with puppetry, she could force her legs to move like before.

"Seems like you’re quite excited about it." Nyer chuckled as Rine nodded.

"Let’s take it slowly. We have plenty of time on our hands." He reassured.

###

It took a few weeks for new legs to be created for Rine.

Rine’s case was unique as others wouldn’t face the same struggle she did. They would be able to regain use of their legs easily with various healing abilities, but her damage was permanent.

So finding a way for her to use her legs was... difficult, to say the least.

However, prosthetics were achieved, and Rine regained the use of her legs.

They took the form of golden harnesses placed around her legs and reacted to her energy and intent.

Quick adjustments couldn’t be done mid-battle. But as long as she planned out her movement ahead of time, she should be able to fight as per usual.

Good news kept coming in as Nyer managed to find a shaman to see what Bounties Rine could get.

Much to their surprise, the ’catalogue’ she was given was very expansive. A myriad of choices stretched beyond the horizon as her excitement reached the heavens.

"Nyer! Nyer! I can choose anything! Hundreds! Thousands! There are so many choices!" She smiled.

The burden in her heart finally disappeared.

Unlike her sisters, she could choose a bounty! She was classified as an individual!

She was unique.

Her lips trembled as tears started to fall.

"I’m real... Haha... I’m a real person..." She sobbed, clutching Nyer’s jacket.

Comforting her, Nyer pulled out a small sheet as they had already researched the best beast she should hunt for her first Sigil. A beast that’ll grant them the most use as a point for research.

Wiping away her tears, Rine happily memorised all of the candidates.

With a smile she couldn’t hold back, she sat in front of the Shaman and was transported into the strange realm for a second time.

Sorting through the bounties, she found the first candidate and reached out with her hand-

"Mn?"

Her smile faltered as she watched the projection of the beast fade away. A connection that refused to establish.

Her heart skipped a beat as she quickly looked for the next candidate.

Once again, the projection faded away.

Her stomach sank, the smile was wiped away from her expression.

Third, fourth, fifth...

She continued to try candidate after candidate, but each one gave her the same reaction.

The projection would fade with a link refusing to establish.

Panic filled her heart.

Why?

Why?? Why? Why? Why? WHY?! WHY?! WHY!!!

Rine’s hand trembled as she looked at the final candidate on the list that Nyer had given her.

This was her last chance...

"Please... You can’t do this to me..." Rine clenched her teeth and reached out.

"!!!"

The projection...

Faded away.

As though seeing the same sight she saw, a hand was placed on her shoulder.

Rine slowly turned around, her face pale and her eyes full of fear.

"Nye-"

"You can’t establish a bounty, can you?" Nyer interrupted her.

He wasn’t smiling. There was not even pity in his eyes.

"I was worried. Even though the option for Bounties are open to you, your soul simply cannot accept anything else, it seems.

"And after self-mutilating your soul to control the other authorities, you’ve cut off your own development path. Not that you could’ve gone further, I suppose." He sighed.

There was no warmth in his voice. As though everything that came before was merely an illusion.

’Ah...’ Rine realised what’s about to happen.

The joy that came from realising she as classified as an individual was shattered by the reality of the situation.

"I won’t forget you, Rine. Everything you have achieved will become the foundation of something greater."

Screw that. That’s not what she wanted!

She- She wanted only one thing!

Rine found herself unable to muster even a single smile. With tears in her eyes, she opened her mouth.

"I just wanted to liv-"

Without letting her finish her sentence, Nyer destroyed the space located at the base of her skull.

All he needed was the data that she represented. Nothing else mattered.

Unable to speak nor move her body, Rine was dragged away as tears rolled down her cheek.

Thus concluded the experiment known as Rine.