Abyssal Awakening

"Aww~ Don\'t be so nervous little one. I\'m not going to eat you… Or will I? It\'s not often I partake in eating humans but the last time I tried one it tasted rancid. Maybe a cutie pie like you would change that." Enris narrowed her eyes as she revealed a set of sharp teeth and a long tongue that licked her lips.

"Nah who am I kidding. If I did Velouria would go ape sh*t and attack me. I\'m not ready for that… Yet." She laughed, taking a few steps away.

"But I am here to take a look at you for myself. Why did Velouria decide to dump so many resources into you."

At that moment, a malevolent aura burst forth from Enris as Alice was speechless. Her third tutor was the God herself!

"So try your best and impress me okay? If I get too bored I might take things a little overboard and kill you." Enris laughed as she conjured a sword in front of her.

Grabbing the handle, she swung it towards the ground and the blade broke itself into countless segments, transforming into a bladed whip.

As for Alice, she nervously brought out her obsidian blade as she could tell Enris was serious! Each of her words was laced with killing intent. If she didn\'t amuse the God, she would die.

Just as she was wondering if she could leave through the door, Enris waved her hand and enveloped this entire area in a seal.

\'Well there goes my escape route.\' Alice smiled bitterly as she took a deep breath.

She could try to talk her way out of this but considering that her opponent is the God of the Eclipse, it was unlikely that she\'ll let her go with a talk.

In that case…

She\'ll take the offence and end this quick!

At that moment, Alice deployed her full boundary. The size of which encompassed the entire arena and charged towards Enris.

*Whistle~

"I knew it. You were bluffing to the Sun b*stard\'s Apostles." Enris grinned. Flicking her wrist, the whip cracked towards Alice like a serpent but before it could reach her, its path of attack was interrupted by a Void Flux!

*BANG!!!

Activating her Partial Bloodline Release, an aura of violet flames manifested around her, boosting her physical strength to the limit.

The instant Enris entered her optimal range for melee, Alice gritted her teeth and swung her blade.

Void Flux – Cleave!

Seeing Alice appear beside her, Enris was uninterested since the speed wasn\'t impressive. However, the changes that occurred to Alice\'s blade surprised her!

"Wow~ Did the Executioner teach you that? I didn\'t think this could be achieved without Velouria\'s blessing. Though it lacks a little compared to the real Executioner\'s Blade." Enris smiled, blocking Alice\'s strike with the guard of her whip.

But Alice wasn\'t done. With her Void Flux – Cleave blocked, she adjusted her posture and sent a kick towards Enris\' head.

Engaging in hand to hand combat, Alice frowned after seeing the God dodge everything she could throw at her.

She was like a fallen leaf, avoiding every attack.

\'Don\'t use the violet flames. What I need to do is to impress her with my other attacks. If I use my violet flame directly more trouble will arise.\'

Stepping back to make some distance between them, Alice quickly jumped up into the air as she narrowly dodged the whip aiming for her ankles.

"And here I thought they said you only knew the basics of Zone Stance." Enris grinned.

Flicking her wrist, the whip transformed into a spear as she breached Alice\'s Zone.

*BANG!!!

Slamming the shaft against Alice\'s blade, Enris launched Alice to the opposite side of the arena.

"Common~ Do your best~ Put some effort behind your attacks. You might fool the Sun b*stard\'s Apostles but you can\'t fool me. I can tell if someone is serious or not. After seeing countless die to my blade, it\'s pretty easy to see if they\'re truly desperate." She laughed, jumping up into the air.

Twisting her body, she launched the spear at Alice who glared back and transformed the obsidian blade into a gauntlet!

Grabbing the spear just as it passed her, Alice pivoted on her foot to dispel the moment and seized the weapon from Enris.

"That\'s quite the weapon you got there. Did Velouria get it made for you?" Enris clapped her hand.

Taking a single step forward, she flickered next to Alice.

"But don\'t you know you shouldn\'t take from a God? You might piss them off."

Grabbing the spear, she threw Alice into the air without any issue.

Just as she was about to kick Alice on her way down, Alice managed to twist her body in mid air and landed on Enris\' leg.

Blinking her eyes in surprise, Enris watched Alice\'s blade travel closer to her face.

"Nice reactions." She praised while leaning back but that was exactly what Alice hoped she would do!

Behind her, a cluster of Void Fluxes manifested without any casting action from Alice!

Widening her eyes in surprise, Enris didn\'t think Alice reached the stage of casting without actions. After all, the speed and power of this cast was nothing to joke at.

\'Kaden huh?\' Enris thought with a grin.

Tapping her finger in the air, a baleful red aura exploded from her back, erasing the attack with ease!

Jumping back with a frown on her face, Alice transformed her gauntlet back to a blade before entering a defensive stance, reestablishing the boundary of her Zone.

"What a sneaky b*tch. Hiding a monster like you without any of us knowing." Enris sighed while massaging her neck.

"You\'ve mimicked the Executioner\'s attack, reached Kaden\'s level of casting, understood how to establish a zone. Then there\'s the potency of your attacks… It\'s not something a sh*tty three Sigil brat should have. You must\'ve reaped quite the rewards from the Moon Apostles right?"

Sensing Enris\' gaze, Alice bit her lip before sighing and letting out a cry of annoyance.

"F*ck!" She cursed while clicking her tongue.

"Yea I did. Why the hell does it have to be you who\'s my third tutor." Alice scratched her hair.

"Pft! What a tone~ Well I couldn\'t help it. I got curious. So far you\'re a little interesting. Just a little. But it\'s not quite enough to let Velouria go out of her way like this.

Either you have a bigger identity or you\'re still hiding powers…"

Pausing for a moment, Enris curled her lips into a grin.

"I think it\'s both. What do you say girlie?"

"Who knows, you\'re not gonna take my word for it anyways." Alice shrugged.

Killing intent exploded from her body as she activated her Resonance!

"Bingo~ I\'m liking you more and more now. Alright, show me what you can do, if you surprise me enough, I\'ll even reward you." Enris winked.

*BANG!!!!

Transforming her sword into a spear, Alice launched it with all her might!

*CLANG!!!

Parrying the spear and throwing it aside, Enris raised an eyebrow after noticing that Alice was no longer in her position. Instead, she appeared in the air and caught the spear that was parried!

Twisting her body, she transformed the spear into a blade and slashed towards Enris.

Just before her blade could be blocked by Enris, it shrunk into a dagger!

Wanting to tilt her head in order to dodge the strike, Enris widened her eyes in surprise.

Space Lock!

A trademark of Nyer.

Watching the blade approach closer and closer to her face, Enris let out a crafty smile.

Taking a page from Alice\'s book, her form began to shift and she shrunk down to the size of a child!

"What the f*ck???" Alice blurted out as Enris slammed her leg into Alice\'s stomach.

*BANG!!!!

Crashing into the wall of the arena, Alice coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed onto her knees.

"Even the ability of Nyer huh? Aren\'t a gift that keeps on giving." Enris praised as her form returned to normal.

Gathering the blood back into her body, Alice took a deep breath and glared at Enris.

Even though she couldn\'t hear her Core, she could practically imagine what she was going to say.

\'What a pathetic sight. So scared to use your own power against her? If you keep this up she\'ll kill you~ Show some backbone coward.\'

Her annoying tone couldn\'t be forgotten as Alice revealed a bitter smile.

"A gift that keeps on giving huh? You\'re not wrong. Say, God of the Eclipse, do you mind answering a question for me?" Alice asked as she forced herself to stand up.

Reaching into her pouch, she drank some healing blood.

"I am a benevolent God. Go for it." Enris nodded.

"Why do you sow so much chaos? All of your followers perform rituals in your name and sacrifice to earn your blessing. But what goal do you lead your people?"

"Ohya? Quite the serious question you\'re asking there. Hmm… For funsies. Honestly, it\'s too boring sitting around doing nothing so I let them do whatever they want. Sometimes they surprise me with their cruelty, sometimes I get bored. Either way, as long as it\'s interesting, I\'ll give them a few rewards." Enris laughed with a nonchalant shrug.

"For funsies huh?" Alice closed her eyes.

All of the suffering that Ria had to go through was simply for \'funsies\'. The hatred in Ria\'s heart was as deep as her own for the Zenia family. Yet her target for this hatred did everything on a whim.

If Ria found out about this, how would she react?

Alice didn\'t know the answer but she knew one thing. She needed to get a good hit in for Ria!

"Now let me return that question to you girlie. For what reason do you wake up in the morning? For what reason do you struggle and train?" Enris asked, readying her spear by her side.

"I just don\'t want to be restrained anymore."

Reaching into her pouch once more, Alice pulled out a flask and drank its contents. Letting out a satisfied shout, she threw the flask back into her pouch.

"That\'s the sh*t! Alright God of the Eclipse, are you f*cking ready?" Alice laughed as violet flames burst out from her.

Since Enris wanted to see something interesting, Alice will show her just that!

Patterns stretched across her body as she spoke a single familiar line.

[Feast o\' flames of mine.]