Abyssal Awakening

"He did. He was also teaching me how to better use my third Sigil in combat."

With Alice backing him up, Kaden sighed in relief as Allura let go of his shoulder.

"Is that so? Well alright. I\'ve finished transporting the new Turned to the city, Maria and the others will be helping them get used to their new life." Allura reported as Kaden nodded his head.

"Can you take over helping Alice for a little bit? I need to ask Nalem some questions and have him check out Alice\'s condition."

"Sure. What do you need me to do? Standard training or show her around the place?" Allura replied while glancing over to Alice who paused after hearing a familiar name.

\'Nalem? Isn\'t that the owner of the bookstore? If it\'s the same person then he knows Kaden and Allura… I suppose if he\'s also old like these two then it\'ll explain the knowledge he possesses.\' Alice thought to herself.

"Do some standard training. She needs to improve the uses of her Sigils along with outside the box thinking. Ah, you can also help her with two techniques of hers." Kaden smiled before putting his hands back into his pockets.

"Don\'t hold anything back okay? You need to cooperate if you want to get the most out of Lua\'s training. She isn\'t great at explaining but her combat senses are top-notch. Just watching her will benefit you." He turned back to Alice who nodded in response.

Taking a step forward, shadows jumped up and teleported Kaden away and now it was just Allura and Alice.

"So… What do you want to do first? I dunno how to teach so don\'t expect much okay?" Allura raised her hands in surrender.

"Kaden was doing this thing where he would let me ask a question and he would answer. Then he would ask and I answer." Alice shrugged while watching Allura take out a blanket and several containers with cake inside.

"Ahh yeah, he does that pretty often. In that case, would you like to talk first? I\'ll try to answer anything I can. Of course, there are things I can\'t talk about but I won\'t be stingy. Want some cake?" Allura offered while sitting down.

Nodding her head, Alice joined Allura on the blanket and got a container for herself.

There were several things she wanted to Allura, especially about her old master, the Ruler of Ayr. The one who gave her the crown and the previous owner of Cayla.

What exactly did they expect from her and what Kaden wished to accomplish when he found her in the Zenia prison.

But she couldn\'t just ask that straight up.

"Well… What is Kaden like? You seem to be close to him and you both look to be important people in Ayr." Alice asked while taking a bite from her cake.

"Hmm… Do you mean what he\'s like as a person or what he\'s like as someone important in the city?"

"Both."

Leaning back, Allura thought to herself for a bit before opening his mouth.

"He takes his job seriously. He doesn\'t mind helping people out and even takes care of my workload too hehe~ Gives me more time to relax. He\'s very diligent and even when he looks like he\'s joking around, his mind is always working.

"Oh and his expectations for himself are higher than anyone can imagine. He always takes the most dangerous missions and makes sure others don\'t get injured." She explained with a smile.

Listening silently, Alice could see Allura\'s joy when talking about Kaden and a small smile crept onto her face.

"Even though he\'s serious at work, he\'s still very gentle. I mean, he even bakes me cake. When we first met, I thought he was the uptight type who doesn\'t know fun. And well… You saw him in his apron. He\'s wearing it because I bought it." Allura laughed.

The way her cheeks blushed while talking about their interactions, the way she smiled and her gaze. To Alice, Allura looked like the happiest woman in the world right now.

A stark contrast to the Allura she knows in the future.

The Allura she knows felt… exhausted.

Shaking her head, Alice thought about her next question before a grin appeared on her face.

"Say… Are you and Kaden together?" Alice smirked while biting her spoon.

"PFFTTTT!!!" Spitting out her cake, Allura started to cough while her eyes darted back and forth.

"Ahem! I mean… Well… It\'s kinda but… I guess…" Her words were all over the place as Alice simply stared at her with a smug smile.

"You\'re living together aren\'t you? He even wears a pink apron and bakes you cake. Don\'t tell me you\'re not together." Alice teased, finding enjoyment in Allura\'s reaction.

The future Allura wouldn\'t react like this and thus, this was her only chance to tease them.

\'Allura and Kaden don\'t seem to have a bad relationship in the future either. They seem to be avoiding each other for unknown reasons. If I try hard enough, I can probably facilitate a meet up again.\' She schemed in her mind as Allura huffed and stood up.

"Alright you brat! Enough talking about my love life hmph. I don\'t know much about your normal Sigils but show me what you can do with your techniques. Since I\'m the original, I can give you some pointers.

"And before you say it was your mother who taught you it, it clearly contains similar concepts to my attacks." Allura crossed her arms as Alice finished her cake and stood up.

Letting Allura pack up the blanket and containers, Alice drew her blade and took a deep breath.

She\'ll manifest the lessons that Kaden had taught her just now in this next spar. She needed to use her own Sigils to create weak points in Allura\'s defence.

\'First Sigil can let me make hallucinations before my attack lands so they\'re thrown off guard. Not sure how well this\'ll work on her but I don\'t have anything to lose. Kaden already showed me what I can do with my third Sigil through knocking my opponents off balance.\' Alice thought to herself.

Closing her eyes, she tried her best to visualise the best possible attacks that she could create.

But no matter what, all she could see was Allura being able to counter them all through sheer brute force.

Alice couldn\'t visualise herself beating Allura.

"Don\'t think too hard about it. The higher your target, the harder it\'ll be to complete it in one go. Focus on what you can accomplish right now whether that be just one step or one slash. Little by little, these small accomplishments will build your path to your goal." Allura called out, noticing that Alice was struggling with how she should approach this fight.

Hearing this, Alice paused before smiling and nodded her head.

Narrowing her eyes, she allowed her inner hunger to seep out as a smile formed on her face.

Sensing danger, Allura couldn\'t help but raise her eyebrow in surprise. Last time she had launched a sneak attack against Alice to knock her out in one go. Now that they were face to face, she was surprised by the sheer thickness of the killing intent oozing from Alice\'s body.

It was a killing intent so thick with hatred it felt as though Alice was treating her like her mortal enemy. But Allura knew that wasn\'t the face.

\'Her aura shifted a whole 180 just now. Is it a mental state she uses for fights?\'

Snapping her finger to signify the beginning of this battle, Allura watched as Alice immediately activated Void Flux – Cleave, sending a slash towards her while countless strands of blood jumped out from the ground.

"So eager." Allura chuckled as she pivoted on her left foot and took a step forward.

Flames roared out around her as she stared at the slash and brought her fist back.

*BANG!!!

Shattering the space slashing cleave in one go, she twisted her body and kicked the strands of blood away with ease.

\'I can see why Kaden wanted me to help her focus on the techniques. It\'s rough but that slash held similarities to my Authority. Where did this kid even pop out from.\'

Before she could bring her foot down, a pillar of metal jumped up, locking her ankle in some cuffs.

At the same time, needles of blood stabbed towards Allura\'s face. Just as she was about to break them using her fists, they exploded into blood mist.

A second slash appeared above Allura.

"What\'s that mist supposed to do kid?" Allura taunted. Using the cuffs as a pivot point and threw a kick using her other leg towards the slash, shattering it once more.

Landing on one foot, Allura simply flexed her leg as flames erupted and melted the metal.

\'Hallucinations aren\'t working on her. Tsk, but she\'s letting me do whatever I want with my blood.\' Alice thought to herself as she made a cut on her arm and sent several strands of blood towards Allura.

These strands burst into violet flames while Allura kept a smile on her face.

"Your slash, do you know the true meaning behind it?"

"Hm?"

Making a cut in the space around her, Allura reached in and pulled out a single pristine blade.

"The Executioner Blade. A technique I made with Kaden to ignore all forms of defence in the world. The true meaning behind this slash is not to be the strongest attack in the world.

"The true meaning is to ignore all defence. This slash completely bypasses the \'space\' used for defence and inflicts wounds directly onto the opponent. Of course, brute forcing it like the way you\'re doing is hard to defend against as well. But those who specialise in defence later on will shrug off your attack." Allura explained as she raised her hand and slashed downwards.

Executioner Blade!

At that moment, Alice felt something wrong with her body.

The connection between her, her Sigil, the Abyss and her blood was completely severed. Her attacks and flames disappeared.

"For those whose defence and even offence relies on their Sigil, this is the best attack, no? It\'s not the strongest but it\'s the most effective." Allura grinned.

Alice finally saw the true slash.

The Executioner Blade, an attack that ignores all forms of defence and even cuts the energy provided by the Abyss.