Abyssal Awakening

"I wish to request some time off sir."

"Oh? I\'m guessing you\'re going to hunt down your fourth Sigil then?" Xinbei raised an eyebrow as Luke had been researching his fourth Sigil for a while now but didn\'t make a move.

"Mnm. I may have bluffed and said that I also had four Sigils to my friend. But it\'s about time I hunt the beast since I\'ve been tracking it for two weeks now." Luke sighed as he felt a little embarrassed by his actions but it had already happened.

He didn\'t think that Ria was able to grow at such an astonishing rate. He knew that Allura and Gin wouldn\'t let her take something weak, so the fact that she had gotten her fourth Sigil meant that her strength had reached a satisfactory standard for the two!

Luke couldn\'t let himself fall behind so he bluffed.

"Oh? It\'s not like you to bluff like this. I\'m guessing you got caught off guard then ahahaha. Would a week be enough time? I can tell them I sent you on a separate mission in the same area." Xinbei offered.

"A week should be plenty."

"Should I get Miki to join you? Hunting down a Vermilion Quartzscale on your own might pose a bit of a challenge. Having Miki join you should make it easier." He asked as Luke shivered for a moment before shaking his head.

"I\'ll have to decline."

"Why? Miki\'s pretty fond of you though Lulu." Xinbei tilted his head as Luke sighed.

"That\'s exactly the issue sir. She\'s a little too fond if anything. It\'ll distract me from the Hunt."

"Mnm… Alright. Since you\'re going alone get some backup blood from my room. They\'re pretty high in purity so you shouldn\'t worry about the side effects but don\'t use them unless you\'re about to die. You already know what they are so just pick the ones that suits you the most okay?" Xinbei waved his hand as he turned his gaze onto the orb in front of him.

Nodding his head, Luke retrieved a bottle of blood before leaving the house. He had no doubts that Alice and Ria will be able to pass this little trial easily.

\'They\'re trained by Gin and Allura after all.\'

###

As Xinbei turned to the orb, bewilderment filled his mind at the sight before him.

"Eh?" He saw all of his summons breaking apart and disintegrating!

And from within the realm, Alice opened her mouth.

"Is the trial over? I hope our performance hasn\'t disappointed you."

\'It\'s over already? Nono, I can\'t let it end like this. I haven\'t even seen them in action yet!\' Xinbei cried out in his mind as he regained his composure.

"Ahem. Not bad. But I need to see a little more than that. Shall we increase the challenge a little?" Xinbei smiled as he snapped his finger.

Countless strokes of ink splattered across the sky of the realm as from this inky darkness, claws started to emerge before converging into one point.

Creating an egg of sorts, it began to beat to the rhythm of a heart as a crack appeared on the surface and a new beast was born.

A humanoid figure completely wrapped by the ink as uneven butterfly wings sprouted from its back. Countless eyes filled the surface as they locked their gaze on Alice and Ria.

From its shadow, a mixture of hands and tentacles emerged.

"Careful. This one is a bit stronger than the previous beasts." Alice warned as her senses were warning her of the power this creation possessed.

"I know. I\'m getting goosebumps just looking at this damn thing. But that\'s about it. Same plan as before or shall we adjust?" Ria asked as she gave her body a good stretch.

"Maybe he wasn\'t happy with how fast we cleared the last one. Let\'s go with the instant kill." Alice narrowed her eyes as Sigils flared across her body.

"Hou hou~ Alright~." Ria grinned as she stomped her foot down.

*RUMBLE!!!!

Lightning crashed down on her as she activated her Resonance!

With Ria activating her Resonance, Alice charged forward with her blade in hand. Flicking her wrist, a storm of blood and metal erupted around her and surged towards the beast as Alice used the metal as footholds to launch herself into the air.

Twisting her body, violet flames erupted around her and converged towards her blade. Slashing towards the beast, Alice released a wave of flames that was blocked by a wall of tentacles.

Much to Xinbei\'s surprise, the flames tore away at the wall with ease!

\'What the… How is she burning through the wall so easily? Is it her weapon? No… her weapon shouldn\'t give her this kind of power.\' Xinbei furrowed his brows as he sat up and watched carefully.

With the wall being unable to hold back the flames for long, the beast jumped back and sent a swarm of hands towards Alice but she wasn\'t phased.

Without changing her pathing, she charged towards the swarm.

*BANG!!!

At that moment, five orbs of lightning manifested around the swarm of hands, blasting them to smithereens and clearing a path for Alice.

With a clear path now laid out before her, Alice enhanced her physical attributes using her first Sigil, increasing her speed in an instant and rushed towards the beast.

Cleaving up with her blade, Alice forced the beast to jump into the air in order to dodge her slash in fear of being burned.

"Gotcha."

Snapping her finger, her third Sigil burned bright as blood rushed towards the beast, forming blood chains and metal swords that stabbed into the beast\'s body, suspending them in mid-air.

Without delay, 3 orbs of lightning manifested above the beast as Ria teleported into the air. In her hand, lightning roared violently as it lashed out and tried its best to escape her grasp but Ria was unaffected.

Narrowing her eyes, she pulled her arm back and turned it into an arrow before firing it at the orbs.

*BANG!!!!

A chain reaction flashed through the orbs and a pillar of lightning struck the beast, exploding it apart in an instant while Xinbei was speechless.

\'No wonder I didn\'t catch the fight earlier!!! What the hell is with their offensive power?!?!\' He shouted in his mind as both Ria and Alice were far more powerful than what he had expected.

Alice had her strange flames while Ria had her unbelievably high attack power using her lightning.

While he had held back slightly with his summon, it was still not something that could be dealt with easily.

\'My connection with the summon faltered a little and the blood seemed to eat away at its defences when Alice suspended it. Is she focusing on weakening the target while the Ria girl is fully focused on attack?\' Xinbei analysed but he had seen more than enough.

These two clearly proved that they couldn\'t be judged through normal standards.

"And here I thought Lulu was the only abnormal one around here with his Sigils. Birds of a feather flock together I suppose… They seem to be more troublesome than Lulu too..." Xinbei groaned as he tapped the orb.

*Crack!

Breaking apart, both Alice and Ria were teleported back to the sofa as Xinebi scratched his hair.

"You two pass with flying colours. I\'m sure none of the department heads will have any complaints since I\'m vouching for you. But who did you even train under? Or rather what kind of noble family do you belong to? I haven\'t seen anyone with this kind of power since Lulu." He sighed, gesturing for the two to sit down.

"I\'m an orphan, my grandfather took me in when he found me and we\'ve been travelling together. I don\'t belong to any noble family." Ria replied, omitting the fact that Gin was the Abyss Lord of Death.

"I used to be a slave then my… Adoptive mother and master took me in and trained me. She\'s a little harsh and strict but her training is effective." Alice followed up.

"You don\'t say…" Xinbei\'s smile twitched as what Alice demonstrated wasn\'t just \'effective\' it was too damn strange!

"But setting that aside, what do you mean by you haven\'t seen this kind of power since Luke? He only bullies me or talks about his engineering stuff so I actually don\'t know much about his Sigils." Ria asked curiously.

"He hasn\'t told you? Then I guess it\'s not surprising since he doesn\'t care much about Sigils. But yes, his power is rather… unique since he can work both as a supportive Hunter and an offensive one." Xinbei chuckled as Alice\'s interest was piqued.

"His Sigils are those that empower the people around him rather than himself. Increased strength, speed durability even Sigil output. He\'s the best support this Academy can offer if a large group decides to do an expedition into the Inverted World. The only issue is that these buffs do not apply to himself.

"But that changes once he activates his Resonance. With how much he uses his gadgets, you\'d think he\'s weak in close quarters combat but a lot of the seniors learned the truth the hard way." Xinbei chuckled remembering how many fights Luke had gotten into when he first enrolled.

Not only was he an orphan with no backing but his Sigils were all supportive and many questioned his qualifications on passing the special exam.

Several rumours saying he somehow cheated his way through.

"Why didn\'t he mention anything before!? Urg… I should\'ve asked if he wanted to spar before we came here. Is he still around?" Ria asked curiously as she glanced around the house but Luke was nowhere in sight.

"I\'ve dispatched him on a little mission of mine. It\'s a little… urgent so he couldn\'t say goodbye. But he\'ll be back by the end of the week." Xinbei waved his hand as Alice raised an eyebrow at this.

\'Is he going on a Hunt? He said he has four Sigils even though he only has three… I guess he doesn\'t want to lose to Ria.\' Alice mused to herself as they began discussing the main topic.

The Special Exams!