Abyssal Awakening

As they approached the training room, the occupants inside turned their attention towards the group of five.

"Huh? I thought we still had another hour in here, is the time up already?" A girl asked as she twirled her spear and rested it beside her.

"It shouldn't be. Excuse me may I ask who you are? Perhaps you have gotten the wrong room." A young man asked with a furrowed brow.

There were five people within the training room with three resting on the side. They all seemed like students as they wore the same uniform with some variations based on their fighting styles, one of them included a girl who seemed to focus on her legs as weapons.

Their uniform consisted of a black jacket with silver embroidery and red lining, a black shirt and a pair of pants.

Looking at the mark on their jacket, Allura understood that they were what the Academy called the talented students.

Narrowing her eyes, an idea started to form in her head.

Before she could say anything, Neal burst into the room from behind.

"I was going to say it's occupied before you ran off." Neal sighed heavily.

"I can get another-"

"Yo~ I see that y'all been training hard. Do you mind a quick spar with two students of mine? I would love to see what the famous Grade A students of the Academy are capable of. Of course, it's not very fair for you to spar with people you've just met but what if I put something on the line?" Allura called out as Gin only shook his head and leaned against the walls.

While Allura usually took a neutral stance when it came to the different factions that existed in the Abyss, no one can stop her when it comes to ideas she wants to do. In fact, Allura was quite unreasonable when it came to this.

Hearing this, the students seemed a little troubled and turned towards the one who seemed to be their leader.

It was a young man who was sitting on the spectator seats. He had short silver blue hair and a pair of white eyes that almost made it seem as though he was blind. When compared to Alice's white hair, his hair seemed darker with the addition of the blue hue.

Staying silent, he closed his eyes for a moment before looking at Allura.

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"If Sir Neal is showing you respect, and with the way you address him, you are clearly not just any random Hunter who has intruded on our training session. However, I still don't see much need for us to spar or fight considering we have just met." He shook his head, causing Allura to raise an eyebrow.

'He's not wrong… But having Alice and Ria fight someone who seemed to be around their age will be good for their development. If they fight people who are somewhat inexperienced then fight me, they'll be able to compare the difference later.'

With her mind made up, Allura smiled.

"Then what if I offer something that warrants this exchange?"

"Oh?" The young man sat up slightly in curiosity.

Reaching into her jacket, Allura rummaged around for a slight moment before pulling out a special vial. It was covered with a silver metal that was protecting the glass vial from shattering should it be hit.

"Void Shadow Heart Blood. Would this be good enough?"

Hearing this, the youth stood up in shock as he turned to Neal to verify if this was true or not. Void Shadow was a beast prized for its ability to get stronger within darkness and shade. Considering the environment of the Abyss, this was a valuable Abyss Blood. Not to mention the fact that it was the Heart Blood so there were little to no side effects at all!

"Allura would not lie about such a thing. If she says it's Void Shadow Heart Blood then that is exactly what she's holding right now." Neal reassured as the youth nodded his head.

"For something this valuable… All you want is for us to spar?" The youth asked as this seemed too good to be real.

"Yep. I want you to have a spar with my students so they can get some experience. Ah, just so you know, one has three Sigils and the other only has one Sigil. There's no gimmicks to this. Just spar and the blood is yours. You don't even have to win if you're worried about that." Allura shrugged as this vial was cheap compared to the experience and foundation Ria and Alice can gain from this fight.

Furrowing his brows, the youth called his classmates around him and started to whisper amongst themselves.

"Are there any restrictions?" One of them asked since they wanted to make sure of the rules before they commit to this.

"A few basic ones. No Abyss Blood, no healing blood, don't go for the kill, injuries are fine but if it gets too dangerous one of us will interfere."

Discussing with one another for a little longer, the youth nodded his head and approached Allura.

"Alright. My name is Wess, Wess Froid. I have to warn you though… the weakest of us here still has three Sigils. I'm not sure if you want us to spar with your student with one Sigil."

"If they can do with two Sigils I'll appreciate it. Naturally, they can go up to three in the fight if they feel the need to." Allura waved her hand as he nodded his head.

While Allura and Wess were discussing the arrangement, Alice couldn't help but peak above their heads.

As he had stated, 3 of them had three Sigils while him and one other owned four.

'They're also four Sigil users like the Cultist me and Ria faced off at the ruins… Considering they're supposedly Academy students, does that mean they're stronger than the Cultist? If they are, I don't think I can win without using some dirty tricks.' Alice thought to herself.

Her tactics will depend on how much she wanted to win.

Seeing the uncertainty in Alice's eyes, Ria mistook that for anxiousness and whispered over to her.

"Don't worry, I think Allura just wants you to try your best."

"Oh no, I was thinking if I want to throw dirt in their eyes or not." Alice shook her head and clarified.

Hearing this, Ria was bewildered for a moment before laughing.

"Focus up Ria. While me and Allura may disapprove of the Academy's methods of raising Hunters, they are still pretty decent I suppose. So you'll need to put your mind to it if you want to get as much as you can from this spar. After all, Allura is spending a pretty expensive vial of blood for this." Gin patted Ria on the shoulders as she nodded her head.

Once the arrangements were finished, both Alice and Ria received their opponents.

Ria was up first and her opponent was the girl with the spear. She had long red hair tied up into a pony tail and a pair of orange eyes.

Taking off her jacket, she revealed her lean yet sturdy physique.

"Freida, pleasure to meet you. You can take the first move." Frieda smiled confidently as Ria cracked her neck and stepped up to the arena.

The arena was a simple platform with sturdy material acting as the arena floor that didn't break easily.

Alice, Allura, Gin and Neal sat on one side while Wess and his group sat on the other.

"Ria. Pleasure to meet you too." Taking a deep breath, Ria activated two of her Sigils as lightning flared around her body.

Feeling the energy coursing through her body, Ria narrowed her eyes and exploded out with frightening speed that surprised Freida momentarily but remained composed.

Twirling her spear, she guarded against Ria's first attack and countered with the pommel, forcing Ria to step back.

With some distance now created between them, Freida activated her first Sigil and markings appeared around her body. Her aura turned aggressive as she charged towards Ria with superior speed.

"!!!" Widening her eyes, Ria didn't expect to get out paced so soon and bent her body back, dodging the first pierce before going into a handstand and kicking the spear away before Frieda could slash down with the weapon.

'First Sigil seems to be a physical boost. Since she's using a spear as her main source of attack, she could be someone who focuses on her weapon and has her Sigils augment her talent.' Ria thought to herself as she crouched down and started to dash around the arena while making sure her centre of gravity was as low as possible.

"Ohya? Seems like Ria is up to something interesting. I didn't think she would go for this approach considering her usual fighting style." Allura raised an eyebrow in amusement while pulling out a cigarette.

"An encounter with someone stronger like the Cultist will give her ideas on how she should approach fights she's unfamiliar with." Gin nodded his head as he approved of Ria's methods.

Circling around Freida, Ria speed remained constant while trying her best to dodge as many of Freida's attacks as possible.

As soon as her charge reached a satisfactory level, she stomped down as hard as she could and shot towards Freida like a flash of light.

Shocked by Ria's sudden burst of speed that was far superior to what she demonstrated earlier, Freida was forced to activate all three of her Sigils simultaneously and stabbed her spear into the ground, launching her body up to avoid Ria's attack.

Unfortunately for Freida, Ria was prepared and kicked the spear as hard as she could in an attempt to disarm Freida. To her surprise, the spear collapsed on itself and transformed into a three section staff.

Without giving Ria a chance to adapt, Freida twisted her body and whipped the staff towards Ria's back, causing her to grunt in pain while Freida flipped through the air and landed on the ground.

*BANG!!!!

Lightning exploded out of the ground as Ria curled her mouth up into a grin.

"I see how it is." Freida's voice rang out as she was able to protect herself from the bomb with her Sigil ability.

Golden energy curled around her body as it slowly dissolved and disappeared.

With all three Sigils activated, a wave of volatile energy coated Freida's body before condensing around her spear.

"Round 2!" Freida called out with a grin as she didn't expect Ria to give her this much entertainment.

Charging forward once more with the three section staff transformed back into a spear, she was ready to fight with all her might.