Abyssal Awakening
Chapter 753: Stray Cat

Chapter 753: Stray Cat

"Ah! Cardinal you’re ba-" One of the sentinels went out to greet Gwen after noticing that she was back but paused seeing the disgruntled Kaia behind her.

"Erm. . . Who’s this?" He pointed behind Gwen.

Gwen glanced back and chuckled lightly.

"Just a stray cat that I picked up."

"Wha! Your mother’s a stray cat!" Kaia cursed as the Sentinel paled.

"But am I wrong though? You have no home, no family, no where to go. What are you if not a stray cat?" Gwen gave her a taunting smirk.

A vein bulged on Kaia’s neck as she leaned down for a moment before whipping up with a strike that Gwen caught easily.

Twisting herself over Gwen’s head, Kaia wrapped her legs around Gwen’s neck and tried to throw her away but she wouldn’t budge.

"Hm? Ohya? Perhaps I won’t have you work as my sparring partner but instead as a pillow. These aren’t too bad." Gwen joked, running her fingers along Kaia’s thighs.

"Hii!!!" Letting out a cry of shock, Kaia quickly jumped off as goosebumps could be felt all over her arms.

"You should get yourself changed so you look more like one of us." Gwen suggested, calling over another Sentinel to help her get things sorted out.

"Are you sure this is okay?" The Sentinel frowned in worry as he snuck a few more glances at Kaia.

"What are you looking at? Do you want your eyes plucked or something? I can be of service if you do." She flashed her middle finger.

"Oh don’t worry about it. She’s all bark and no bite, in fact don’t you think it’s rather cute?" Gwen folded her arms while looking at the feral Kaia who wanted to lash out.

Unfortunately for Kaia, Gwen’s Vision was now trained on her, never letting her out of her sight.

No matter how Kaia tried to diminish her presence, Gwen was focused entirely on her.

Grumbling while making her way to the changing rooms, Kaia’s smile twitched seeing the clothing that was prepared. It wasn’t the design that had her concerned but more so. . .

Everything was exactly her size! Even the underwear!

"Are you dissatisfied? I’m pretty confident that I judged your sizes accurately." Gwen smiled from outside the room.

"Yes I am! Can you not use your damn Vision to scan my body?!?!" Kaia shouted out from inside the room.

"No can do. That’s simply how it works. I know exactly what muscle you use when you do a flip, throw a punch or even adjust your step in preparation to run."

"Tch!" Clicking her tongue, Kaia began to change her outfit.

And unfortunately for her, Gwen didn’t let up on her Vision at all.

"Setting aside from the fact that you can evade my Vision, that space locking technique of yours. It’s not a Sigil ability is it?" Gwen asked curiously.

"Well aren’t you a smart princess. How did you notice?"

"Because rather than Abyssal Energy being the fuel to project the ability, it’s more so a result of direct energy manipulation."

Plus, if her sensitivity to what kind of energy being used wasn’t good enough, she wouldn’t be crowned as a Cardinal. Even if her father is the Apostle.

Even if the church accepted it, her dad wouldn’t.

"So care to share the secret?"

"Do I have choice in the matter?" Kaia asked with a sigh as she stepped out.

"Woah~ Would you look at that? Don’t you just suit white and gold?" Gwen clapped her hands.

Since Kaia was a dexterity fighter, the armour Gwen provided wasn’t heavy on the plates. Only a few light ones covering vital areas.

Shoulders, waist, arms and chest.

White plated armour with gold accents were layered on top of a white black and gold sleeveless dress that only reached around mid thigh.

White was the dominant colour with faint gold accents around the edges of the skirt and through the gaps were black fabric.

Naturally, the outfit came with a pair of shorts, not long enough to reveal through the skirt but enough so that even if she was to do a backflip, she won’t be exposing herself.

The outfit came with a short white and gold cape with the icon of Solaris sewn onto the back.

"White and gold doesn’t exactly scream stealth. And isn’t there a bit too many loose parts? I’m pretty sure this dress will get caught on my armour or someone might tug my cape." Kaia complained spinning around briefly and seeing the cape flutter.

Even though it’s short, it’s still something for someone to grab.

"Then that just means you’re not good enough to look fashionable and fight." Gwen laughed.

"Now then, care to share the secret?"

"Tch, you’re still hung up on that." Kaia pulled a face of annoyance.

Scratching her hair, Kaia sighed out in reluctance and snapped her finger.

"Think of this ice as the energy around us. What I do is basically weaved the energy with each other, forming a net of sorts. This net latches onto you and stops your body from moving." Waving her other hand, Gwen found herself stuck in place again.

"But as you showed, with enough power, this net is easily breakable." Kaia shrugged.

Flexing her arm, Gwen released herself from the binding.

"Hmm. . ." Thinking about it for a moment, Gwen tried to replicate it on Kaia.

However, she couldn’t form a complete net. If one side was done, the other would come loose and vice versa.

"Are you seriously trying to steal one of my trademarks right in front of me? Do you know how long it took for me to create this technique?" Kaia’s smile twitched.

"No harm in trying. Plus aren’t you here to steal the secrets of my Vision? With a talent like yours that can grasp the Absolute Zone, I’m sure there’s already a seed of greed implanted into that brain of yours."

Hearing this, Kaia coughed awkwardly.

Gwen was spot on.

"But I dragged you here despite knowing that so try your best~ I’m not giving you any hints." She stuck out her tongue and turned around.

"Now follow me, I’m sure the others are concerned as to why I brought out a stray cat so you’ll have to prove yourself. Though if you could defend yourself to some extent against me, I’m sure you can do just fine against them."

Folding her arms, Kaia rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Following behind Gwen, they soon arrived at the clearing where the Sentinels were waiting.

The one standing in the middle seems like a new recruit as Kaia could feel a burning gaze locking onto her.

Naturally, she didn’t shy away and yawned lazily, provoking him further.

While Kaia and the new recruit were staring each other down, Gwen made her way off to the side as the current commander sighed.

"Must you really pick up a stray cat like her? I’m sure we have plenty of recruits that you can use if you need someone to help you." He asked while Gwen threw herself onto the chair next to him.

"She’s better than most of the people we got here. You’ll see~" She didn’t explain much, surprising the commander.

Guinevere. Daughter of Arax and cardinal of the sun church.

Infamously lazy within the order yet her sense of responsibility burns strong. If innocents are involved and no one else is capable of protecting them, she’ll step forward.

Of course, not everything is sunshine and rainbows as within that laziness and sense of responsibility, there’s also her twisted obsessions with giving the sinful a painful ’purification’ while remembering every second of their agony.

So if she was bringing someone in and even speaking up for how good Kaia is, then that must mean her capabilities are real.

But even so, he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

Right as he was about to begin the battle, Kaia held up her arm.

"Say, do you have anything in place to prevent death or do I have to hold back?" She asked lazily, causing Gwen to smile while the recruit felt as though a vein was about to burst.

"Don’t worry, a barrier is in place so that if the injury becomes too severe, they’ll be ejected from the arena." The commander replied as Kaia curved her mouth up into a lazy smile.

"Hou~ Didja hear that? You don’t get to die today, congrats." She turned to the recruit.

*PUCHI!!!

With both fighters being ready to brawl, the commander raised his hand before signalling the start of the fight.

*BANG!!!

The recruit burst into action with radiant flames wrapping around his sword.

And just as Kaia was about to take a step back to dodge, a boundary was expanded!

"Ohya! Not quite an absolute one but an offensive one." Kaia blinked in surprise before flipping into the air, balancing herself on the recruit’s head with an upside down handstand.

"But am I supposed to be impressed by a half baked zone?" She taunted.

Just as the recruit tried to activate his Sigils, he found himself outside of the arena.

"HUH!?!?!" Looking around in confusion, he turned to Kaia who was still inside the arena while holding a bow.

The moment he tried to fight back, she immediately fired an ice arrow through him, ’killing’ him and ending the duel.

The Sentinels were rather surprised since the recruit was not weak by any means. The fact that he was able to use the Offensive Zone already meant that he was better than most.

Yet she was able to evade him and counter, killing him before he can even use more of his skills.

"I see what you mean now. Even so, she’ll still need to go through the prope-" Before the commander could finish his sentence, Gwen shot him a glare.

"Stray cat she may be, but she’s mine. If anyone lays their unworthy hands on her, I’ll cut it off personally."

Hearing this warning, the commander let out a sigh.

With Gwen being so protective of this stray cat, there’s no doubt that a bunch of problems will appear.