Abyssal Awakening

Seeing that Alice was back, Ria felt warmth in her heart yet she was also scared.

"Why did you come back?!" Ria shouted, but Alice ignored her.

She had grabbed a random chunk of debris to act as a weapon for now since she couldn't touch the fire directly.

Pushing against the debris, she swung her head back and drank all of the blood in an instant.

"!!!"

Feeling the swell of power within her body, Alice gritted her teeth and spat the vial towards his face. Jumping back, she grabbed Ria and started to run into the forest.

"Why did y-"

"Shut up! Just promise me one thing. Whatever you see from now on, you better keep it a secret." Alice squeezed out through gritted teeth. It was a little different than what she had expected. It was as though her body was changing from the inside out to suit the power she had borrowed with the blood.

Each second that passed she could feel something moving within her body, something that shredded her from the inside out.

Feeling the heat starting to approach from a distance, Alice knew that he had launched another attack.

Immediately placing Ria on the ground, Alice took a deep breath.

There was a reason she took them into the forest. Each of the trees had their own shadow!

Slamming her hands down, the shadows surrounding them started to vibrate. A wall of darkness erupted from the ground, forming a dome protecting the two of them. Twisting her body, the dome started to rotate, dispersing the flames as tears started to appear across Alice's skin.

Meanwhile, Ria was speechless. She knew that Alice's Sigil was that of the Spectral Hunter. There were no Spectral Hunters that had the ability to control shadows. Not only that, a foreign Sigil could be seen across Alice's arms.

Once the flames dissipated, Alice dismissed the dome and took several deep breaths to suppress the pain she was feeling in her body.

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The longer Alice connected with these shadows, the more she felt like they were trying to tear her apart.

Standing up, she narrowed her eyes at the Cultist in the distance who seemed surprised that she was able to survive that attack.

The flaming serpent on his back seemed to be on the verge of extinguishing. Alice took it as a sign that he was running dry on stamina.

'I don't know how long this borrowed power will last. It's better that I try to finish this up as soon as possible. The guy said that he only needs to touch a shadow in order to activate his powers. Using the forest as a conduit right now is too dangerous since he can dodge with ease.

The best options would be to use the shadows under him.' Alice thought to herself as she took a deep breath and grabbed a vial of healing blood. She was tempted to use the berserk blood but decided not to. For now.

With more Cultists being handled by the other person, she didn't know if it would prove useful later or not.

Crouching, she pulled out her final dagger and dashed towards the Cultist. At this stage, all she had left were her wires, a dagger, and Sigil powers that he doesn't know about.

'I need to force him to use his flames more!'

With a plan in mind, Alice flicked her wrist and sent out three threads towards his eyes while channelling as much power as she could through her legs.

Thankfully, the use of her own Sigil was not restricted at the moment, allowing her to improve her physical stats further.

Furrowing his brows at the annoyance of these two, the Cultist swung his sword down, creating a wall of flames that threatened to burn the threads away.

However, just as he was about to rush forward, the threads pierced through the flames without being harmed.

"!!!" Widening his eyes in surprise, he was barely able to dodge when the threads hooked against the skin of his neck.

'What the hell are these threads made of?!' The Cultist thought to himself as he attempted to remove the hooks. But it was too late.

Sensing that her hooks found its target, Alice stomped down and pulled back with her hand. Once she was sure of the connection, she tugged even harder and threw herself towards him while he grabbed the threads with a hand before cleaving his sword towards her.

Naturally, Alice was prepared for this outcome. In fact, she preferred this outcome since it opened him up to her next attack.

Shooting out from the ground beneath him, bestial jaws clamped against his arm, threatening to tear it apart while another shot out behind him and bit down into his neck.

"What the hell!? This… this is Ryder's Sigil!" He shouted in surprise. Gritting his teeth, he gave up on his attack against Alice and released a wave of flames around him.

Pulling back with her threads, Alice created some distance to avoid the flames. The more the cultist used his flames, the better it was for her.

"What the hell did you do to Ryder?! Why do you have his Sigils!?" The Cultist shouted out with a mix of anger and confusion.

Ryder's abilities were a combination of two Sigils that people rarely take back-to-back. The cultist was familiar with the power, hence he immediately understood that Alice had done something.

"Who knows. He's missing a few vital organs now, so he might not be able to answer your questions." Alice taunted while preparing her next attack.

"Enough is enough. You two may run like cockroaches but I'll make sure you cannot survive after this." The Cultist frowned as more flames erupted from his body. The serpent around him seemed to have been reinvigorated.

Alice's eyes widened in surprise.

Immediately activating the Sigils, she sent two bestial jaws towards him that were instantly dispelled by a pulse of fire.

"Now that I know you've done something to Ryder to steal his power, I also know how to deal with it. This will be your downfall." He spoke coldly.

All the flames around him seemed to disappear in an instant as they gathered towards his blade. A single, blazing edge appeared on the cultist's sword as he rushed towards Alice.

Just being close to the blade caused the forest to combust into flames. Alice hastily raised a wall of shadows, but it was cut down in an instant.

Looking on in shock, there was nothing else left for Alice to do other than watch the blade come down slowly.

*BANG!!!*

Before the cultist's blade could hurt Alice, a spear of lightning pierced into his shoulder, pushing him away from her. Alice crashed against the ground and rolled back to create some distance.

Glancing back, she could see Ria barely stand up with the help of a tree.

"I should be able to help a bit more now. Had a power nap, you see." Ria forced a smile. She couldn't keep watching Alice fight alone.

Even with the power Alice was demonstrating, the might of a four Sigil bearer was not something they could breach single-handedly as of this moment.

There was no shame in running but they didn't think they could run in their current state.

"Shall we find the other guy that left with 4 of the Cultists?" Alice asked as he seemed to be quite powerful in order to handle four of them alone.

"Maybe, but we might want to wait a little. If we bring this guy over, it might put us in a bigger mess." Ria frowned. They didn't know if the others had four Sigils as well. If they did, it would simply make the situation worse.

Dodging eruption after eruption, the two couldn't do anything about the fire spreading through the forest. Thankfully, it seemed that the trees were resistant to some extent, as the fire didn't spread as much as they expected.

The only issue was that tens of trees would still combust into flames as the Cultist approached the two. If a fire did spread, it was not something they could deal with right now.

"What. Can. You. Do. With. Your.

Power?" Ria asked while dodging attacks and launching a barrage of lightning bolts towards the Cultist. They were weak in power but served to annoy him further. Despite his power, his speed had been drastically reduced, allowing Alice and Ria to keep a bit of distance between them.

"Shadows. That's about all I know."

"Hah? Shadows? Care to expand or is that it?" Ria raised an eyebrow while Alice shrugged.

She didn't collect these Sigils herself, what she knew was what the Cultist showed. As much as she was experimenting with this vial of blood, she had her doubts if the Cultist would give her enough time to find out what she could do before losing the ability.

However, remembering that, Alice had another idea in her mind. It was a little risky due to the nature of their healing blood, but if it went well, it may allow them to turn the battle around.

"Are you able to hold back his flames for a bit?" Alice asked while grabbing something from her bag.

"Only for a short bit. I barely have any lightning charged up. What are you planning?" Ria asked as they temporarily hid to catch their breaths.

"I'm going to try something a bit stupid, but also effective. Maybe?"

"Hah??? You're not even sure it's going to work?! And please, explain it to me, dammit." Ria grunted as she felt like she wanted to cry on the inside. It was akin to dealing with a second Allura, someone who said they have a plan but doesn't say what it was!

"It's a risk but if it works, I'll be able to borrow his flames for a little bit." Alice whispered briefly while dragging her down to avoid a horizontal slash that set the trees around them ablaze.

Hearing this, Ria sighed deeply before nodding her head.

"Dammit! This better work okay?!" Ria shouted out as she jumped up and dashed towards the Cultist with lightning flickering around her.

Behind her, Alice prepared her dagger and extraction kit. Once the timing reveals itself, she was going to steal his blood and borrow his powers.