Abyssal Awakening

"Are you curious on what it does?" He grinned, seeing the interest in Alice\'s eyes.

"Mnm. I do." Nodding her head, Alice wanted to hear more about this as it was a Sigil that made an impression on an Abyss Lord. Surely it must be something good.

"Not telling you. I already done plenty by verifying this rumor and telling you about the beast. Everything else is now up to you." Thane laughed causing Alice to pout slightly in annoyance.

"You\'re a Hunter. You should be the one seeking out your prey, learning everything there is about them and then striking when they\'re at their weakest. You can\'t expect someone else to do the heavy lifting for you.

"All right then. Keep your secrets." Alice huffed as she asked Ria if she wanted to go down to the library with her.

However, much to her surprise, Ria shook her head as there was something else she needed to do in the meantime.

Shrugging her shoulders, Alice made her way to the train station. She needed to take a train up to the surface if she wanted to access the library in the Hunter\'s Guild.

Seeing Alice leaving, Thane tilted his head back and looked at Ria who was staring at him nonstop.

"Same as what I said to that brat, feel free to not stare at me so much." Thane sighed.

"Well you said you\'ll get me later to do some training. Now is later so what are we doing?"

". . . I mean you\'re not wrong but I also said I\'LL get you later. Not the other way around. *sigh* Well may as well get the annoying part over and done with.

That brat will be busy researching about the Amphiptere." Thane scratched his hair in annoyance as they had many similarities to Allura in the way they act.

Their impatience was certainly one of them.

He could still remember when he and Allura were still working together in Ayr. How anxious and hasty she would be whenever he brought up a new beast suitable to act as her Sigil.

She would burst into his office with a bestiary in her hand, her eyes sparkled with excitement while shouting about how they should make a move quickly.

Just remembering the scene caused Thane to chuckle softly.

Standing up, he stretched his body before gesturing for Ria to follow him.

"First and foremost, do you understand why I\'m asking you to try using ranged attacks rather than physical attacks?" He asked in a rare case of seriousness.

"Hm… Because my Sigils suit it? I think." Ria furrowed her brows, unsure as to what he wanted her to answer with.

"Not quite but yes, it\'s part of the reason. The main reason is because Lightning, while a great source of physical reinforcement, is even faster when used in a ranged attack. It\'s hard to miss something when it practically reaches its target instantly." Thane explained while mimicking a bolt of lightning with his shadows.

"By channeling it within your body however, you give up much of its speed. Whether that be subconsciously or consciously, you make sure your body is not broken by the burden of your power. What I\'m suggesting is not for you to give up your physical fighting style but add the option of range into your arsenal." He explained as he flicked his finger.

The bolt of lightning shot past Ria\'s face before she could even react, causing her to widen her eyes in surprise by the speed.

"You can also say it\'s wasted potential for you to limit yourself to just physical combat when your powers can be so much more."

Ria was unable to respond as she hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

"Then will it help me fight against someone that harms the soul?"

"The soul?" Thane furrowed his brows.

"Yes. Earlier, me and Alice ran into someone strange. He brought us to a realm with just our souls apparently. The powers given to us by the Abyss didn\'t work well there and all I could do was watch." Ria sighed, looking down in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Thane was silent as this changes things if it was true.

\'If that man was indeed messing with their souls then I shouldn\'t have let him leave so easily… People that tamper with souls or even know how to access it can be counted on one hand but he didn\'t match anyone I knew.\' Thane thought to himself with a frown.

\'But if he did indeed try to tamper with their soul, how did the brats escape before I arrived? Neither of them should have a defensive measure for their souls so it shouldn\'t be possible.\'

Scratching his head in annoyance, Thane couldn\'t help but feel as though he\'s been scammed. There were so many issues cropping up that shouldn\'t happen so soon yet here they are.

\'Sh*t… What kind of brat did I even save from the Zenia\'s.\'

Sighing out, he looked at Ria before considering how he should answer her.

"The soul… is something that you would usually interact with or rather come to a small understanding of once you reach six Sigils. But more accurately, once you reach your second Resonance. It\'s not something Hunter\'s can touch upon early so you don\'t have to worry about it.

Just know that it\'s something comes naturally and you and Alice simply met an anomaly." He explained as Ria reluctantly accepted his reply.

Even she knew what they met was an anomaly but the issue was the fact that Alice kept attracting these kinds of people!

If they don\'t become anomalies themselves, they\'ll never be able to survive against them.

\'That guy said my soul was touched by the Cult. Even though the Ritual didn\'t finish, it still left a mark on me… Maybe I need to see if there are any information available on these rituals. If I know more, I might be able to find out how I could deal with the soul.\' Ria thought to herself while Thane started his next lecture.

What he wanted to teach Ria was how overwhelm her opponents with the sheer speed of her lightning from afar. And once they approach her, she\'ll blitz them with her physical prowess.

###

Taking the train up to the surface, Alice could feel the passengers staring at her in wariness.

Understanding that they must\'ve seen how she was fighting in the arena, Alice pulled up her hood and stood by the doors, waiting for her stop.

In her mind, she recalled the sensation she felt in arena and how she used to control it before.

\'I just need to designate the time for a \'Hunt\' and the time outside of one. The main thing is being able to turn off this state otherwise I\'ll keep going until I brutalize their corpse like I did with the Demonette. If Ria didn\'t appear, I doubt I would\'ve been able to stop.\'

Just like her violet flames, she wanted to see what made the other side of her go out of control. If she could figure out this condition, she would be able to fully control one of her strongest weapons.

\'In the Hunting state, I react to things more instinctively. I can dodge much easier and counter without thinking much but at the same time, I don\'t care about the damage done to my body. Even if I have healing blood, continuously taking damage like that is dangerous.\' Alice sighed.

Granted, she was able to mitigate some of the damage she took by stopping her bleeding thanks to her second Sigil but that doesn\'t account for heavy damage.

There was still a limit to what she could do and from the sound of the Sigil name, Lifeblood Link might be able to help her solve this issue.

Arriving at the surface, Alice made her way to the Guild Library and sought out the books related to the Blood Coil Amphiptere.

After 30 minutes of looking around, Alice found three books that seemed to contain what she was looking for.

A bestiary for dragon like creatures including Drakes, Wyrms and so on.

A book on blood based beasts and the recorded Sigils that have obtained from them.

And finally, a book on how to counter blood type beast abilities using Abyss Blood or tools.

Pulling out her almost empty flask, Alice savored a sip of her mead before opening the first book.

Finding the right page, she skimmed over the information regarding the beast.

\'The Blood Coil Amphiptere is a beast of mesmerizing motion. A swirl of blood and metal yet seemed to have no flesh beneath the armour. Its serpentine body is covered with razor sharp pieces of metal and along with its fearsome speed, possesses unrelenting tenacity.

\'Two large wings that can block out the sky are not just there for flight. These wings are sharp and allows it to drill through the ground like it\'s nothing. Despite having wings, these beasts tend to hide beneath ground, waiting for their prey to walk over them and lash out. The Blood Coil Amphptere is primarily an ambush predator.\'

Narrowing her eyes, Alice traced her finger across the image of the beast.

There was a single warning next to the image for Hunters who wish to kill this beast.

\'Under no circumstances should you allow a piece of the metal to enter your body. If it happens, remove that section immediately if you wish to live!\'