"Well it was worth a try." Alice smiled, heading out while Ria followed. Looking at them from behind, Miki could only sigh before thinking about the theory that Alice put forth.
No matter how she approached the idea, it seemed too far-fetched for it to work and dismissed the thought.
After escorting the two out of the premises, Miki made her way back to Xinbei's house and saw that he was leaning on his sofa while enjoying a drink.
"I've completed your assignment. The two have been safely escorted out." Miki reported.
"That's good. Miki, did they do anything interesting while sparring? Manage to learn anything?" Xinbei asked, curious as to whether or not Miki benefitted from watching them spar.
"Aside from understanding that the two are clearly abnormal when it comes to raw power, not much. I cannot replicate what they do in a fight." Miki shrugged with a sigh.
Most of their techniques were entirely based on intuition and was not something she could easily replicate to a usable degree.
"What a shame. The split-haired girl's flames were pretty interesting. If you were able to replicate it, it could've served as another potential research topic. The fact that it could burn through my summons already made it worthy of attention." Xinbei chuckled.
"Unfortunately it's not possible sir. I've already tried and as I mentioned, it's simply out of my reach."
"It's fine, I'm not faulting you." Xinbei waved his hand dismissively as Miki handed back the keys.
"Ah there is another thing to report though. After just experiencing the teleportation once and a brief summary of the inner workings, Alice seemed to have understood how the teleportation worked and even tried to come up with a working theory based on her own ideas.
Hearing this, Xinbei raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Oh? So she tried to come up with her own theory? Interesting. What did she suggest?"
"It's an outlandish idea. Instead of creating a tunnel between two locations, she proposed to have the second location act as a target. Using this, she would then hurl herself towards the target using the unstable method like a bola." Miki explained.
"What? What do you mean by 'like a bola'?" Xinbei tilted his head in confusion.
Drawing out a diagram to show Xinbei, Miki recounted everything that Alice had talked about.
Crossing his legs, Xinbei analysed the diagram silently. Something was nagging at his mind, a connection that could be formed, but he wasn't able to figure out anything.
'She wouldn't have formed this theory if she didn't have anything to base it on. With just lightning gal's and my own teleportation, it's not enough for her to figure out this kind of method. In theory, if you are able to keep yourself intact, this method should be achievable. In theory. Surviving it is another matter entirely.' Xinbei thought to himself.
In the end, he chose to give up for now since he still had to sort out their registration for the Special Exams.
It was one that required the presence of all the Department Heads and the principal.
"Thank you for your hard work as always. Take tomorrow off since I'll be busy with notifying the other Department Heads." Xinbei smiled as Miki nodded her head and left the house.
###
"So you're telling me you had 5 different theories and only settled on the two that seemed most likely. One was what you told Miki and the other you haven't said anything yet. How the f*ck did you get five theories from just a brief explanation???" Ria asked as the two were walking to a restaurant where Ria could eat as much meat as she wanted.
"It just kind of appeared in my head. It's like seeing one plus one is two and so on. It just made sense." Alice shrugged.
"I've had Kaden teleport me, I've tried out teleporting myself through blood, I've seen you use your lightning teleportation and I've just experienced Xinbei's teleportation using the training rooms. After this many interactions, it'll be weirder if I didn't have a few ideas."
"I see… So what's the second idea then? If you didn't say anything about it, I assume it's because it's linked to Cayla or your body." Ria asked curiously.
"You're on the right track. It's actually because of Cayla. If you want, I can explain it in great detail or I can simplify it." Alice offered as Ria didn't hesitate to pick the simplified version.
"You see, the Abyss is filled with this kind of strange energy that is always on the move. An invisible flow that lets me see when you're preparing to activate a Sigil for example. When I was doing my simulations, I realized that this energy wasn't only just there for looks.
"Think of the Abyss as the beach and this energy as the sea. I can see it, I can touch it, but I can't exactly manipulate it to a great extent considering the sheer magnitude. But, if I was to fulfil certain requirements, I'd be able to surf this wave of energy to my destination.
"When Kaden sent me to the Abyss, he had wrapped me with a protective cover. I can only imagine that this is one of the requirements and once this is fulfilled, I'll become a raft in the sea, waiting for my destination." Alice explained while Ria stared at her blankly.
"To simplify it even further, my current theory is that the Abyss is like the sea. Depending on my control, I can either travel the sea via raft which I have very little control over to get a ship and sail to my destination, no matter how chaotic it becomes.
I can only assume that Kaden's mastery and understanding of the Abyss allows him to teleport people with ease along with the help of his Sigils."
"Ah… Alright, I get it now." Ria nodded.
"You sure about that?"
"Not really. But, if your requirements are met, you can teleport wherever you want. In theory right?" Ria shrugged.
"Ehh close enough. But yeah that's the basic idea." Alice chuckled.
Making their way to the restaurant, the two enjoyed a hearty meal and tried their best to forget about how much this cost. They were going to take some commissions to replenish their funds after this.
###
Sitting on a building with his raven cloak billowing in the wind, Kaden had a strange expression on his face while looking over the city in the distance.
He had already left the Abyss yet there was a deep sense of yearning once more. A feeling he had forgotten after so many years.
But all it took was one trip back to revive this long-dead emotion.
*sigh…
Sighing out softly, Kaden leaned back.
"The brat's thinking of some interesting theories with teleportation…" Kaden muttered with a small smile on his face.
He had noticed that she had disappeared into another dimension again and decided to check out what was happening. He saw their spar, he saw Alice's initial theory and he heard her second theory.
Overall, he was satisfied with the spar as Ria had performed better than he anticipated while Alice wasn't far off either. But what caught his attention was her second theory.
"Seems like Cayla is close to waking up if she could see the flow of the Abyss. Once she wakes up, everyone will realize. Lua is… Buying time for Alice in the Abyss. Keeping the other Lords distracted in the frontlines. I suppose my job is to keep the ones on the surface busy." He mused to himself.
She was on the right track as he did indeed manipulate this flow to transport her. That was the foundation of his teleportation as someone who can exert a degree of authority over the Abyss.
But what she described was a crude variant, similar to her initial mimicry of Allura's skill.
'I suppose she should be able to make something better or at least usable for her in the near future. Kids grow up so fast these days, it's only been a week or so since we parted ways.' Kaden thought to himself as he stood up.
"Now… how should I distract the Lords on the surface." Sёarch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Playing around with a feather in his hands, a smile slowly crept up on his face.
Naturally, the best way was to piss off the church of the Sun, Moon and Eclipse. With the connections they've made, going after them is basically stirring the hornet's nest. Not that Kaden was afraid, brats like them could only wish they were able to touch a feather on his cloak.
"Kill three birds with one stone. Or is it piss off three religions with one… Hmm. Well whatever, I'll just stir some sh*t then leave." Kaden laughed, taking a step off the edge of the building.
The best way to piss off all three of the religions quickly was simple. All he had to do was 'borrow' some of their strongest relics.
For the Church of the Moon, he was going to 'borrow' the Twilight Moonblade. A weapon blessed by the Goddess of the Moon herself.
For the Church of the Sun, he was aiming for the Eternal Solstice. The Eternal Solstice was a bow that could be transformed into a spear. Both forms of the weapon harboured the might of the Sun God.
And last but not least, for the Cult of the Eclipse, he was going to steal- no 'borrow' two items instead of just one. The first was the Tablet of Judgement and the second was the Blade of Dusk. Both were heavily involved in their rituals and depriving them of both would definitely send the Eclipse into a frenzy.
'Plus, if I manage to borrow all of this, they'll pull back the forces they sent to the frontlines. It should give Lua a bit of breathing room too.' Kaden thought with a soft chuckle.
Falling in a standing position, he flicked his finger and his entire body was wrapped in raven feathers before disappearing.