Abyssal Awakening

"Do you still need a vial of your blood?" Chloe asked, understanding that Alice\'s weapon required blood to be effective.

"No, it\'s fine." Alice shook her head with a small smile on her face.

Taking a deep breath, she locked her eyes on Chloe.

She understood the state she needed to be in when she fights. Her lust for battle, killing intent and eagerness were good weapons but had drawbacks of their own. She needed to go for the kill without showing intent, be eager with caution and observe carefully for a gap in Chloe\'s defence before striking.

She needed to force Chloe to show all of her cards! That\'s the essence of a fight between Hunters.

Making a cut on her forearm, Alice attached some of her blood to the ends of her threads before sealing up her wound.

"I\'m ready whenever."

"Same here." Chloe nodded her head as she took a breath and cold mist started to form around her.

Seeing that the two were ready, Nixia raised her hand.

"Begin!" She shouted, dropping her hand as three Sigils immediately flared across Chloe\'s body.

Ice manifested around her body, covering her in a set of crystalline robes while her skin changed into a pale blue. Without hesitating, she slammed her hand down, covering the entire arena with frost.

Letting out a breath of cold mist, Chloe furrowed her brows noticing that Alice was gone.

"Huh?!" Widening her eyes, she scanned the battlefield but couldn\'t find Alice.

\'Above!\'

Snapping her gaze upwards, she could see Alice charging down with a blade in hand.

Gritting her teeth, Chloe created a shield from ice, parrying Alice\'s attack before trying to counter with spears.

However, without waiting for the counter, Alice activated her first Sigil and dashed at full speed.

With the sudden increase in speed, Chloe lost track of Alice momentarily as she became flustered, trying to track her opponent.

Since the floor was covered with ice, Alice created spikes with her blood and attached it to the soles of her boots, giving her traction and allowing her to sprint at full speed while circling Chloe, looking for a chance to attack.

\'She has already activated her resonance. I know that she is able to release a burst of cold energy that can freeze me, and her control becomes stronger the closer the ice is to her.

Keeping distance is honestly the best shout right now since I can\'t fully react to some of the ice just yet.\' Alice thought to herself as she created a dagger with her bracelet and sent it flying towards Chloe who blocked with ease as she expected.

But compared to last time, Alice has a trump card up her sleeve.

Activating her second Sigil, markings appeared on her eye, surprising Chloe and the others who had seen Alice fight before.

Flicking her wrist, several strands of her thread broke out of the ice as Alice had allowed them to be frozen. Commanding the blood using the Maiden\'s power was simple and didn\'t require her to manifest her Sigil as it was similar to her passive poison ability.

However, using the abilities of the flames and having it burn through the ice required the activation.

She had lined her threads with a minimal amount of blood so that the flames only appeared momentarily and very difficult to see unless you were looking closely at the threads.

To the ordinary Hunter, it would look as though her threads were slashing through the ice with ease but in reality, they were cancelling out the Abyss\'s power making the ice disappear.

At the start of this fight, she had already started to set down her traps! She was merely waiting to see if Chloe had any more cards to play before activating this trap.

Watching the threads slash through her ice with ease, Chloe\'s eyes widened in shock as it was almost as though the ice wasn\'t even there.

Unable to defend herself even with the ice, she could only watch as the threads wrapped around her, restricting her movements as Alice pulled her off her feet, falling to the ground.

Biting her lip, Chloe refused to admit her loss and activated her Sigil.

However, there was no reaction on the threads as her ice was unable to form on the surface.

Confusion filled her mind but she was unable to react as Alice threw her dagger next to Chloe\'s head, piercing the ice and missing Chloe entirely.

". . . *sigh* It\'s my loss this time." Chloe shook her head, understanding that she had been surpassed. Even without a resonance, Alice had nullified her abilities, restricting her and even dealing the \'killing blow\'.

With her victory declared, Alice flicked her wrist, retrieving the dagger and threads before adjusting her glove.

Taking a deep breath, she calmed her mind and deactivated her Sigils before drinking a small vial of healing blood. With the activation of her flames, she had burned away some of her blood and it couldn\'t be retrieved.

She wanted to challenge another student, but it was Ria\'s time to shine.

Bowing slightly to Chloe, Alice thanked her for the spar and made her way to Ria who raised her hand, waiting for a response.

However, Alice merely stared at her in confusion.

"Ever heard of a high five?" Ria asked but Alice shook her head.

"I don\'t believe I have."

"It\'s very simple. Here, just raise your hand like me." Ria chuckled while Alice followed her instructions.

Jogging forward, Ria completed the high five before laughing.

"Now sit back and relax. It\'s mine turn to shine. You don\'t mind if I challenge Wess right?" Ria asked.

"I don\'t mind. Go ahead."

Receiving Alice\'s confirmation, Ria could feel her excitement bursting through her chest as she jumped to the centre of the room. The ice had already been melted by Chloe and the room was returned to normal.

Wess had already heard Ria\'s challenge and made his way to the centre while massaging his neck.

"I have four Sigils, would you rather me use three just like you or all four?" Wess asked as Ria held up four fingers without hesitation.

"Very well. I shall respect your choice." Wess nodded as he activated all four of his Sigils immediately. All of them synergised well with one another as his outfit was changed. Instead of the standard school uniform, a set of silver armour adorned his body with a set of white robes with a broken crown floating above his head.

In his right hand, a long silver spear manifested itself while in his left, a golden sword could be seen. Behind him, three swords appeared and hovered in the air.

The moment all four Sigils activated, their air changed as Ria understood that Wess was much stronger compared Freida.

"Would you like any prep time?" Wess asked but Ria shook her head.

"I doubt beasts would give me time to prepare myself so this is fine." Ria smiled, activated her Sigils as lightning started to course through her body.

Nodding at Nixia, Ria took a deep breath and stared at Wess while Nixia signalled the start of this spar.

The moment Nixia\'s hand dropped, Wess shot forth like a bullet as his spear launched towards Ria, surprising her with the speed momentarily before ducking down to avoid the stab.

\'This guy\'s speed is no joke!\' Ria thought to herself in shock.

Going into a handstand, she kicked towards Wess\' head as one of the blades protected him while he cleaved down with his sword.

Two of the blades behind him followed suit, cutting off Ria\'s escape.

Curling her lips into a smile, Ria narrowed her eyes as lightning struck all around her, forcing Wess to jumped back to avoid getting hit.

Getting back on her feet, Ria stretched her body before opening her mouth.

"You know, when the fighting broke out and my teacher threw me into a pit of tens of Abyss Beasts, I had to figure something out with my Sigils. So far, I\'ve only been a close quarters fighter while firing off a few bolts as ranged support.

I\'ve learnt how to gather my power and fire it off in one blast but that\'s not how I want to fight." She chuckled as Wess was confused by this sudden declaration.

Just as he was about to approach, lightning struck near his feet, stopping his advance.

"Allow me to finish first, thank you. You see, there is only so much lightning my own body can handle before I overwork it and collapse. Same goes for the orbs that I can create which houses my lightning charges that you\'ve seen before. But I discovered something during my fight, a more efficient way of using my lightning." Ria smiled as 3 orbs appeared around her.

Absorbing them into her body, a violent storm of lightning erupted around her as she shot towards Wess, throwing a punch towards his chest as he hastily parried with his spear.

*BANG!!!!

Slamming into the walls of the arena, Wess kneeled down in pain as he could feel the force behind Ria\'s vibrating through his body while also leaving traces of lightning that paralysed him to a certain degree.

"Let\'s just say I can fight at 100% without wasting anything." Ria grinned as this state allowed her to overcharge her body without any drawbacks. She used one orb to propel herself forward at maximum possible speed, one to launch the strongest punch she could and one to blast Wess at the point of impact.

It was not the same as overburdening her body but rather keeping her body perfectly at 100% strength during the whole motion. Too much power at one point and she\'ll feel the backlash while too little would result in a decrease in power.

Her old control was akin to a tap that kept turning on and off while in this state, the tap was always on at full blast.

"Well then, I hope you\'ll at least show your resonance unless you want to receive a loss without gaining anything."

Hearing this, Wess couldn\'t help but chuckle as he stood up and adjusted his stance.

"Very well. . . Then I will fight as though my life is on the line."