Abyssal Awakening

Coating her arms with lightning, Ria avoided a streak of fire before punching the ground in front of the cultist, causing dirt to fly towards his face while twisting her body in order to launch a kick against his chest.

She knew that her stamina was limited as she pushed herself beyond what she could handle. Even now, her body was screaming at her to rest, of which she barely had any.

But for the sake of survival and creating an opening for Alice, she had to do this!

Kicking the Cultist back, she ducked and dodged another attack before launching her shoe at his face.

"Damn you!" Annoyed by her fighting style, the Cultist felt insulted as Ria tossed her shoe at him. He never faced that kind of disrespect from any opponent till then.

"What are you gonna do about it? Kill me?" Ria taunted while grabbing a handful of dirt. Stepping to the side, she slapped some dirt into his hand, forcing his grip on the sword to slip a little before kicking him in the elbow.

With the threat of death just around the corner, Ria entered a state of concentration she had never experienced before. Any move the cultist made, she felt as though a counter for it immediately appeared in her mind. All she had to do was execute the actions and follow her instincts.

Feeling his rage build up once more, the Cultist stomped his foot on the ground and created a bed of spikes around him. Instantly, Ria dodged upwards while shooting two bolts of lightning into his shoulders.

Her palms were burned by the flames but she ignored the pain and continued to fight. Grabbing him by his hair, she pulled him back in an attempt to slam him against his own spikes.

Unfortunately, that didn't work as the metal wrapped around the cultist's legs, preventing him from falling over.

Feeling danger, Ria glanced up and saw the serpent around him prepare to release a fire breath.

'Sh*t!'

Letting go of the Cultist, she bent her body out of the way and watched as a wave of flames shot out above her.

Gritting her teeth, she suppressed the pain. Ria was extra sensitive to flames due to her intake of the healing blood.

Taking a deep breath, she felt embarrassed at what she was about to do. But she had to try!

Anything goes!

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Reaching down, she grabbed the edge of the cultist's pants and pulled down as hard as she could, threatening to expose his everything from the waist down.

Seeing this, the Cultist panicked out of shame and grabbed his belt.

"UNHAND ME, YOU WENCH!!! WHAT KIND OF HUNTER FIGHTS LIKE THIS!?!?" He screamed.

'A chance!'

Stomping as hard as she could, Alice rushed towards the Cultist who was still preoccupied with Ria, trying to tear his pants off. With only his sword hand free right now, he swung down towards Ria while trying to dodge Alice.

Letting go, Ria fired one more bolt of lightning into the man, paralyzing him momentarily from the shock, which allowed Alice to reach him without being harmed.

Stabbing the needle into his neck, Alice swung herself around and jammed her dagger against his collarbone to use as a handle while extracting as much blood as she could.

Watching the blood flow into the vial, Alice could see the serpent slowly disappear as the cultist's stamina ran out.

"ARGGGG!!!"

Letting out a cry, the Cultist stabbed his sword down, causing the earth around him to erupt. Alice and Ria jumped away, forced to cease their assault. Immediately, he pulled out a vial of blood from his clothes.

"Berserk blood! Stop him!" Ria shouted in panic. If the Cultist got any stronger, everything they did thus far would become a waste.

Knowing that they were trying to stop him, the Cultist summoned what little strength he had left and funneled it into the serpent, bringing it back to life as it roared out and surrounded the man, protecting him from external harm.

Just when he thought he was safe, a pair of hands ripped through the flames.

"What the-?!"

Eyes wide in shock, he watched as Alice forcefully pushed through his barrier of flames. This time, her form was similar to his as her skin turned black like charred wood with a crimson glow seeping out through the gaps.

Opening her mouth, fire seemed to erupt from within her, with lava dripping from her lips.

Slamming her hand down, flames erupted from the earth with countless sharp needles piercing them.

"GAH!" Feeling the metal stab into his body, he widened his eyes in shock as Alice willingly let herself get dragged into the area of attack.

Grabbing one of the large needles from the ground, Alice stabbed it towards the vial of blood in his hands, forcing him to try drink it as quick as possible.

"Gotcha." Alice grinned.

The shadow cast by the vial of blood and his hand connected with the shadow cast by the needle in her hands.

Erupting from his body, a bestial maw ripped off the man's lower jaw before smacking the vial of blood aside, causing it to evaporate in the flames surrounding them.

Without giving him a moment of rest, Alice fired three hooks at the back of his throat, dragging his head towards her before stabbing a dagger through his eye.

"ARGGGGG!!"

Letting out a blood-curdling scream, the man's bloodshot eyes glared at Alice as he discarded his weapon and grabbed her head.

"Let go of my friend!" Ria roared as she threw one of the giant needles towards the man's arm, piercing it and forcing him to let go of Alice.

With his options now limited, the Cultist released a large pulse of flames in the hopes of taking both Alice and Ria with him. But Alice wasn't going to allow that.

Using the threads to help her jump up, she cut a large wound on her arm before activating her own Sigil. A large amount of blood started to pour into the man's open mouth as she stabilised herself.

Little by little, the flames died out as he started to lose his strength.

Meanwhile, Alice's skin had turned back to normal as she was only able to use his powers momentarily due to the small dosage.

Stumbling back, she tried her best to avoid the needles as she collapsed on the ground. The world around her started to turn dark as a wave of cold slowly spread through her body from the tip of her limbs.

Forcing herself to stand up, Ria stumbled towards the Cultist as she grabbed his sword and slammed down towards his neck, separating the head from the body.

Taking a deep breath of relief, she walked next to Alice and rummaged through her bag.

Seeing that there were no healing vials left, she widened her eyes and grabbed Alice's bag.

With one last healing vial, Ria sighed out in relief and fed Alice the vial. Watching her wounds close, she smiled and collapsed on the ground.

Neither of them could move anymore. Yet, they did it.

A three-sigil bearer and a one-sigil bearer managed to take down someone with four Sigils.

While she was unsure of how Alice was able to 'borrow' the Cultist's powers, there was neither time to ask nor did she plan to. She could still remember Alice's hesitation.

'This probably has ties to why her family locked her away…' Ria thought to herself as she glanced to the side and saw that Alice's condition had stabilised.

With this burden now off her mind, she could feel her own fatigue settling in. Even if she wanted to take Alice and run, she was unable to.

'There are still four Cultists around… we… need… to run…'

Unable to keep herself awake, Ria sunk into the darkness of her consciousness.

Unbeknownst to the duo, the Kata Charger slowly emerged from the forest while coated in a thick layer of blood.

After its controller died in the fight against the spy, it rebelled and attacked everyone around it. With the Cultists tired and preoccupied with the Spy, its sudden change of allegiance took them by surprise, allowing it to easily finish them off.

Smelling the thick scent of blood coming from this area, it followed the scent to discover an unconscious Alice and Ria along with the corpse of the Cultist.

Standing still, the head shot out and grabbed the corpse of the Cultist with its insectoid legs and dragged it back to the body in an instant, crunching the bones to pieces within its torso.

Unsatisfied with its meal, the Charger slowly turned to Alice.

But before it could launch its attack, Alice's right eye snapped open and stared at the Charger.

Feeling the glare, the Kata Charger froze up. Its body shook in fear. The deep purple glow of the eye seemed to consume the world around it as it slowly took a step back but not before making sure to bow to show its submission.

Seemingly satisfied with the response, the eye stopped glaring, giving the Charger permission to leave.

Without daring to turn around, the Charger dashed into the forest, unwilling to turn back.

Once it was sure the Charger had left, the eye glanced down at Alice's body before looking over to Ria.

Rolling itself in a strange mix of annoyance and disbelief, the eye slowly closed itself out of fatigue.

Meanwhile, the old driver approached the area out of concern from seeing the flames spewing in the distance. It was only when everything settled down did he dare to check out the situation.

Seeing the large dried up pile of blood along with Alice and Ria's unconscious body, the driver blinked in bewilderment.

"What in the f*ck???"