Abyssal Awakening

Without holding anything back, Ria activated her resonance.

The crackle and rumble of lightning roared out as a set of armour materialised around her. The Sigils engraved upon her body lit up with radiance as dark clouds gathered above her.

Within this cloud, countless orbs of lightning descended as the examinees were confused by the set up.

Some reacted quickly and aimed their attacks at Ria but she simply teleported around while static electricity started to build up around the area.

An overwhelming dread filled their hearts as restrictive abilities targeted Ria.

Watching the chains rush towards her, Ria flicked her finger as streaks of lightning crashed into the attacks, shattering them.

"Your fate was sealed the moment I stepped into this arena. Survive if you can." Ria grinned.

Suddenly, a man appeared beside her as he pulled back with his greatsword and cleaved towards her.

But Ria expected this as she had essentially made herself the biggest target in the arena.

Remembering Kaden\'s words, she couldn\'t help but laugh.

"When they find joy in closing the gap after thinking you\'re a ranged fighter, hit them with everything you got. Don\'t hold anything back as their reaction will be dulled by their misconception of you."

Side-stepping his slash, Ria grabbed his arm with her left hand before pulling back her right.

Three marks appeared on her arm as lightning crackled around her fist.

Three coils of lightning formed above them as Ria held her breath and punched him as hard as she could.

*BANG!!!!

A giant bolt of lightning crashed down at the same time as her punch, forming a cross on her location as the man was sent out of the arena!

He died in one punch!

Floating in the air with lightning crackling around her along with a mad smile, Ria looked like the manifestation of a lightning god.

Looking up at the clouds, Ria laughed as she raised her hand and manifested a lightning bow before aiming it at the arena.

Drawing back the bowstring, the air hummed with electricity before gathering into a single arrow.

Once again, coils of lightning manifested but this time in front of her bow.

It took 3 to kill the man from earlier but this time she had six in total!

Narrowing her eyes, Ria released the arrow.

A bolt of lightning shot towards the arena as the ground trembled from its might. With the departure of the arrow, the clouds above parted with a deafening roar, revealing an array of countless lightning bolts that descended beside the arrow.

Each bolt crackled and sizzled with lightning energy, ready to obliterate anyone who got in the way of its path!

As the fury of countless lightning bolts descended into the arena a mass of examinees found themselves teleported outside of the arena before they could react!

"Well, would you look at that? A few survived while some got lucky." Ria chuckled as she landed on the ground.

Narrowing her eyes, she created a thunderstorm of lightning bolts as her figure flashed across the arena.

Appearing in front of a girl holding a staff while a protective dome was around her, Ria pressed her left hand against the barrier and pulled back her right arm.

"You wouldn\'t…" The girl forced a smile out of fear.

"I would." Ria grinned.

Stomping down with her foot, she twisted her body and punched the barrier.

*BANG!!! SHATTER!

Breaking the barrier in an instant, lightning rushed forth and crashed into the girl, teleporting her out of the arena in an instant.

Another death by one punch!

Massaging her neck, Ria jumped on the spot a few times before disappearing from her location.

"S-SH*T! This one\'s another abnormal one!"

"F*ck! Everyone! Focus on eliminating her!"

Cries of panic rang out as Ria teleported around the arena, focusing on \'killing\' those who were able to defend against her initial barrage of attacks.

No matter what kind of defensive measure they used, she would simply stack up the number of marks on her arm to increase her power.

With each punch, a lightning cross would manifest as the clouds above struck down on her target. Each cross signified a death as the numbers began to dwindle.

Seeing Ria appear in front of him, one of the examinees paled as he gritted his teeth and decided to face her head on!

He wasn\'t going to let himself be eliminated without even fighting back.

Golden energy wrapped around his arms as he formed four golden lances around him. Lunging forward, he stabbed towards Ria\'s punch with a lance as the others followed.

*CRACK!!!

Just as his lance collided with Ria\'s fists, it was shattered apart from the impact.

Watching the fist get closer and closer to his face, he felt as though he was seeing his life flash before his eyes.

Closing his eyes, he braced for the punch that was about to \'kill\' him when he noticed the pain never arrived.

Opening one of his eyes barely, he saw that she had stopped her punch while looking back at Garret who declared the end of the test.

One of the other groups had eliminated a few people beside them. Their idea was that if they couldn\'t fight Ria, they may as well eliminate the weaker ones to the test ended faster!

Flicking her wrist, Ria disabled her resonance as the clouds above disappeared.

She stretched her body and looked at the destruction around her before smiling in satisfaction. It was safe to say that she had proven herself quite spectacularly just like Alice did.

Watching all of this happen, Garret scratched his chin.

Even though he should be happy that there were strong candidates for his Combat Department, he couldn\'t help but feel as though a headache was on its way towards him.

\'What\'s wrong with this generation? Why are there two abnormal monsters suddenly?!\' He sighed inwardly.

The power behind her punches were something that far exceeded what could be achieved by her peers.

After declaring the conclusion of the enrolment Exams, the next step would be the Student Exams.

First, there was going to be a lunch break while they sort out the list of those who passed and those who failed. The results will be announced once the break was over.

Concluding his announcement, Garret clapped his hand and dismissed the arena around them.

Finding themselves back at the courtyard, all of the contestants stood far away from both Alice and Ria.

"Look at what you\'ve done. You\'ve scared them." Alice laughed as she glanced around them.

"Says you! Who was it that decided to cut one of those wyverns in half?!" Ria rolled her eyes.

She was basically the pot calling the kettle black!

"I mean~ My target is a beast. Look at those poor Hunters, your punch practically traumatized them." Alice shrugged while pointing at the Hunters who looked at Ria in fear having experienced death at her hand.

"It\'s not like they died since they got teleported out. Either way, let\'s get some food. I\'m starving." Ria smiled while Alice followed behind her.

"Do you think they\'ll have mead?"

"At an Academy? Hell no."

While the two were joking around with one another, they didn\'t realise that their infamy were now well known amongst the student body with a few even giving them nicknames.

Most of the nicknames were variations of \'Crazy B*tch\' for Alice and for Ria, it was \'One Punch Woman\'.

As for Luke… He simply smiled silently after seeing Ria\'s performance.

The way she punched the examinees to death in one go sent a chill down his spine as he wondered if he should tone down his teasing of her. But it was a risk he was willing to take or else he wouldn\'t have kept doing it for years.

###

"How are the results?" The principal asked as she teleported to the Heads of Department along with the Special class Students.

Listening to the run down of the situation, she couldn\'t help but raise an eyebrow at the mention of Ria\'s attack and how she performed.

\'This strategy and logic… Don\'t tell me…\'

"Xinbei, can you show me a replay?"

"Sure thing boss." Xinbei replied while scratching his hair.

Gathering ink into his palm, an orb slowly materialised itself as a recording of the fight was placed in front of the principal.

Watching the playback silently, she took a deep breath and sighed.

\'So… Allura and someone else is teaching Alice while Kaden is teaching Ria. What are they even planning? Or have they broke neutrality and began to make a move?\' She thought silently as her fingers tapped against the arm rest.

The Heads of Department waited as they didn\'t want to break the silence.

"Alright. We\'ll make some further adjustments. Garret, I want you to find a suitable location in the Inverted World and set up a beacon. Here are a list of locations that might suit the test. Xinbei, I want you to lead the Student grading exams. Elara, come with me.

I need you to make some vials of blood." She smiled as Xinbei and Garret nodded.

"Ehhh… Do I have to go? Can\'t I get Runi to do it?" Elara groaned as she wanted to keep watching Alice do the exams.

"Didn\'t you want to make something from my blood for a while now? I\'m giving you a chance." She smirked as Elara paused and a grin appeared on her face.

"Well of course~ Why didn\'t you say so earlier? It\'s a shame that I can\'t see the exams but I can have Xinbei record it for me. Isn\'t that right?" Elara smiled, turning to Xinbei who only sighed and nodded his head.

He was essentially recording p*rn for her right now. But he owed her and couldn\'t exactly say no.

With the tasks handed out, they split up as Xinbei made his way to the courtyard to announce the results and the next stage of the exams.