CHAPTER 793: GWEN’S CONCERNS

Accepting Syrion’s offer, Alice made her way to the second floor where she promptly made herself comfortable in a medium sized room with one window.

The house was comprised of a main bedroom, two guest rooms and a room for his son. Then there were the bathrooms, living room and kitchen.

A standard family house that was a little bigger than average.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Alice sat on the bed and glanced out the window towards Syrion.

After today’s training session, it was clear that it would be difficult to decide on a winner.

Her regeneration was integral to her fighting style, even if there is the risk that her opponent can hinder it.

Of course, trusting in an unknown source was concerning as Alice didn’t know what made her body function this way.

In order for her to confidently put more trust into her body, she needed the answers to her regeneration.

{I don’t think it’s something we can work out quickly. Instead, I’ll work on a theory for now. A theory on how to balance exile and harmonisation.} Cayla spoke up, surprising Alice.

[Don’t look at me that way, I could already tell that you were planning something earlier, it’s obvious you know?] She sighed.

’Thanks.’

Nodding her head, Cayla buried herself deep in her research while Alyss sat in deep contemplation.

She would occasionally glance down at her own hand before letting out a sigh.

Alice wanted to ask her twin what was bothering her but it was clear that Alyss didn’t want to talk.

At least not right now, she needed a bit of time to mull over her questions on her own.

*Knock knock

Opening her eyes, Alice shifted her attention back to reality.

"Come in."

Opening the door slowly, Gwen stepped in. She was hugging a pillow while in her pyjamas.

"You got changed pretty quickly. What’s up?" Alice asked, offering Gwen a seat on her bed.

"I’ll be more concerned if changing outfits took longer." Gwen retorted before trying to focus back on what she wanted to do. The reason why she even came here despite needing to rest.

"The corruption by the port, it was your doing right?" Gwen asked after a pause.

Alice understood that Gwen would’ve found this out in due time anyway.

Therefore, it was probably better for her to say It with her own mouth instead of Gwen finding out.

"Partially. But what I created was never truly alive per say, they were just bundles of energy that were going to die out after a while. Big enough to pose an issue to you guys but not big enough to actually wipe out the port.

"I was also keeping an eye on what they were doing. I’ll be honest, the original goal was to use them as distractions so I could sneak away. But who knew I would find you using Vision and that changed all my plans." Alice fell backwards, resting on the bed while staring at the ceiling.

"So you were just responsible for the few I saw at the end?" Gwen double checked as Alice nodded her head.

"I’m glad." Gwen smiled softly, hugging her knee.

"Glad? Aren’t you supposed to be annoyed or trying to burn me with purifying flames? Ya know, for the whole corruptive energy thing." Alice raised an eyebrow while Gwen shook her head.

"I know I’m someone who likes cleansing the sinful but even I can tell differences between you and them. How do I put it... Compared to them, your energy feels... Cleaner? It’s still ominous but it doesn’t give me a bad gut feeling." Gwen tried her best to explain her feeling but struggled.

As someone who’s deal with, killed, those with corrupted powers, she was familiar with its sensation and their wielders.

Alice, as always, felt like an anomaly to these rules.

"You really letting me go with just a gut feeling?"

Alice couldn’t believe a Cardinal was taking things so easily.

"Would you rather me try to burn you then?" Gwen asked, wrapping her hand in purifying flames as Alice quickly shook her head.

"I’d rather not. Every time you put healing fire on my body I felt like crying ya know? It f*cking stings I’ll tell you that now."

Gwen sat in silence.

So many questions yet she wasn’t sure where to begin.

Did she want the answers? Or did she want this friendship to continue.

Setting aside the issue of power, Gwen imagined herself facing Alice in combat.

Her finger twitched.

Hesitation.

Dangerous for a Cardinal that’s supposed to hunt down the sinful.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

At least, if what she knew of Alice was true anyways. Her personality, the way she approached life, her experiences.

Gwen wanted to know if any of it was true or was it all a lie?

Was she lying now?

Was this all an act to make her drop her guard?

"Between Alice Agnelia and Kaia, how much of it was the real you?" Gwen bit the bullet and asked the main question bothering her.

She always prided herself to be a good judge of people but now she was struggling.

"More than 90% of it. There may be parts I’ve adjusted to try and shift away the suspicious parts but what you see is what you get. I’m just someone who likes drinking mead and fighting." Alice stuck out her tongue, causing Gwen to let out a relieved laugh.

"Is that so... Well I suppose being a little careless, clumsy and bad in the mornings are traits you can’t exactly hide. That and being surprisingly innocent when it comes to teasing."

Falling backwards, Gwen also rested on the bed while looking up at the wooden ceiling.

"Mornings are just different okay? Just give me like a good hour and I can get up properly. And I don’t think I’m that careless or clumsy."

"My shirts?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"I’m very clumsy and careless at times." Alice corrected herself.

She’ll admit that she was being a little clumsy during the... poison incident.

"I’m guessing your poison resistance is tied to your regeneration. What is up with that anyways? I can’t even keep up despite having healing flames."

"No clue." Alice shrugged.

Gwen sat up in confusion.

"Huh? No clue???"

How does one have no clue on how their body functions? Was it not a Sigil power? A technique?

"Yep, I don’t got a clue. Here, you can take a look for yourself. Nothing is hidden." Alice nodded.

"Wait no don-"

Before Gwen could even finish her words, Alice raised her hand and detonated a small orb inside.

Blood froze in the air and converged around her wound.

While this was happening, Gwen observed with a slowly deepening frown.

She could sense the flow of energy but... As for its nature, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

"My body is a mystery even to myself. I told you I didn’t like my original family right? Well let’s just say they tried to find out about this power in less than friendly ways. It’s been modified but I don’t know to what extent."

It was a simplified version since Alice didn’t want to tell her everything just yet. Especially when it comes to the details of her body, Zenia family and Nyer.

She still held a position in the Sun Church after all.

"Huh..." Gwen was speechless.

For Alice to be so... nonchalant, what did she even go through for this to be negligible?

"Jeez... You are probably the furthest thing from normal that I’ve ever seen."

"First of all, rude. But yes, if I was even remotely normal, my corpse would’ve been found long ago." Alice chuckled.

"So what are you planning after learning Vision? I... I doubt you’d want to stay in the order." Gwen asked curiously.

"After learning Vision... Well we need to sort out your Sigil first. We can’t deny the fact that we do have to fight Syrion to the death after all of our training. But after helping you with Syrion, I think I’ll go look for my other friends. There’s also things I need to sort out in the north.

"There are... lots of things we need to prepare and sort out. They’re all a bunch of crazies like myself so you can probably imagine the things we’ll be getting up to. However... I’ll try avoid becoming enemies with your father and Shiera." Alice folded her arms.

At the end of the day, her issue lies with the God and not the Apostles.

"Is that why you looked worried when you saw the news?" Gwen recalled how Alice was restless after seeing the news about the north disappearing.

"Yea... What about you? I don’t suppose I could convince you to join me on this journey." Alice turned her gaze over but Gwen shook her head without hesitation.

"Unfortunately, there’s a bunch of things I can only do if I’m in the order. So I’m stuck with Solaris for a bit longer than I hope. Though... there’s probably a chance in the future. If anything, this is good for the two of us don’t you agree?" Gwen grinned, confusing Alice.

"If I’m in the order, I can give you some information you might need while you can do the same for me since my movements will be limited. You help me, I help you. A win win in my books."

Smiling helplessly, Alice relaxed her mind.

If Gwen puts things like this, it meant that they were going to keep being friends even after dealing with Syrion.

A situation that she would prefer over fighting each other to the death.

"What do you say?"

No response. Gwen tilted her head, looking over.

A helpless smile appeared on her face as she saw Alice sleeping peacefully.

"What a trusting girl..." Gwen chuckled, pulling the blanket over Alice.

Not that she could say anything since she was the same.

Making herself comfortable, Gwen slept next to Alice.