Abyssal Awakening

Releasing a myriad of slashes, Freida watched as Ria dodged everything by the skin of her teeth. Little by little, her speed started to increase as the lightning charge flowed through her body.

Jumping back by a single step, Ria narrowed her eyes and stomped down.

A pillar of lightning interrupted Freida's assault as she raised her spear and blocked a kick from the side.

But Ria wasn't done.

Grabbing the lightning pillar, she transformed it into a lightning bolt and threw it towards Freida's chest while closing the gap between them.

'I need to enter close ranged combat with her so its harder for her to use her spear.' Ria thought to herself as the biggest weakness for a spear user is when the opponent closes the gap.

Breaking through her guard, Ria narrowed her eyes and slammed her elbow against Freida's chest before following up with an upper cut.

Grabbing her collar, Ria didn't stop her assault. Right hook, duck down followed by a counter on the ribs. Step on the shoes then a palm attack on the chest.

Taking this chance to grab hold of Freida's spear, Ria slammed a punch into Freida's wrist, forcing her to let go and struck Freida with the pommel of her own spear.

Unable to counter at all during that flurry of blows, Freida took a deep breath and focused her eyes.

"I'm not so helpless without my weapon!" She shouted out as golden energy connected Freida to her weapon.

Before Ria could react, Freida appeared in front of her as there was an invisible force pulling Freida and her weapon towards one another.

Letting go of the weapon, Ria wanted to follow up with a counter but her instincts told her otherwise.

*RUMBLE!!!!

The ground shook as the golden energy formed an avatar like visage around Freida, covering her in golden radiance with a large golden spear in its hands.

Slamming down with the spear, the impact threatened the arena to crack but it held on strong while Ria was able to jumped back just in time.

"Alice, you should focus on Freida for now. With this, I know she is an Anti Monster type hunter since that is her Anti Monster resonance." Allura called out as Alice nodded her head.

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In addition to the Sigils expanding and connecting to one another across her body, Alice could see chains connecting the Sigils above Freida's head while each Sigil changed colours and resonated with one another.

"Is there a way to tell Anti Hunter and Anti Monster Hunters from one another?"

"Yes there is. You see the patterns connecting the Sigils to one another on her body? If the resonance is Anti Monster, they are usually extensions of the original Sigil. However, if the resonance is for Anti Hunter, the patterns will become similar to briar thorns.

Gin can show you later since his first three Sigils are Anti Hunter based." Allura smiled and glanced towards Gin who only nodded his head.

"Either way, Ria might struggle a little since she doesn't have a resonance of her own." Allura shrugged.

"I don't think so. Ria doesn't look panicked. In fact she looks like she's expecting something like this." Gin pointed out as Ria had a confident smile on her face. It was not a brave front nor an act, she was truly confident at this moment.

Activating her third Sigil, Ria's aura flared out as she charged towards Freida, breaking past her previous top speed.

"Futile!" Freida shouted out as she slashed with her avatar, releasing a wave of light that Ria was able to dodge with ease. Seeing that she was not going to hit Ria while she was in this state, Freida gave up the attack and bolstered her defence.

Breaking apart her golden spear, shields appeared around her avatar, protecting her from Ria's onslaught.

Jumping up, Ria gathered all of her lightning into a bolt before twisting her body and throwing it as hard as she could.

*BANG!!!!!

The impact of the bolt forced Freida to slide back as one of her shields was cracked from the impact.

Just as Allura thought it was over since Ria had used up her trump card, she widened her eyes seeing Ria immediately re-enter her maximum charged state.

Her hair flared back once more as she gathered another bolt.

*BANG!!!!!!

The force from the second bolt was much stronger than the first yet Ria still wasn't done.

Circling around the avatar, Ria continued to throw maximum charged bolts one after another as lightning storm seemed to have erupted out from within the area.

Even Allura was surprised by this outcome as Freida no choice but to sit there and try to hold out as long as possible.

"Well I'll be damned. You have to give it to your granddaughter Gin, I didn't think she could manage something like this." Allura laughed as she realised what Ria had accomplished.

Even thought Gin didn't say anything, there was a sense of pride and happiness in his eyes as Ria chipped away at Freida's shield.

*BANG!!!! CRACK!!!!!

Shattering Freida's avatar, Ria was about to throw another bolt when Freida raised her hands in defeat.

"It's my loss. I should've taken care of you before giving you a chance to charge. Well played." Freida smiled. By taking it easy early on, she set up the foundation of her defeat.

Thanking one another to the spar, Ria sat next to Alice before deflating from exhaustion.

"Urg… This method is way too draining f*ck…" Ria complained.

"What did you do? I thought you could only use your charge once before having to recharge." Alice asked in confusion.

"Did you see when I placed those traps? Well they have two usages. First, they can act as bombs I detonate whenever I want. Its useful but not for me. And during the fight, I figured something out. As long as I stay connected to these bombs, I can continue to charge them similar to how I would charge my body.

But this would stop the moment I jumped and loss contact.

"So whenever I was jumping or loss contact with the Arena that I was using as the connection, I would have them loop to one another and keep each other from dispersing. Then when I fully charged myself and launched my first attack, they were able to absorb the dispersed lightning charge that I thrown out, allowing me to essentially 'consume' one of my bombs to get full charge again.

Though this charge stresses my body out and hurts like sh*t!" Ria explained with an excited glint in her eyes.

The ideas she gained during this fight helped solve one of her issues that she was planning to solve using her next Sigil. However, with this option now open to her, the Storm Spirit Sigil was even more desirable since this meant she could have an unlimited amount of fully charged lightning bolts at her disposal so long as her body can withstand the stress.

"Congratulations on taking your first proper step into becoming a good Hunter. As I said, mentality is key. Thinking outside the box opens a myriad of possibilities you never thought of before." Allura nodded her head in approval before patting Ria on the shoulder.

"Good job. We'll train more later to see how we can improve this new technique of yours. Who knows, you might even be able to ask Luke to make you something with Abyss Engineering to help out with this." Allura suggested as Ria nodded her head.

Next up to fight was Alice but she was still hesitant. After all, she could only go all out when she aims to take the opponents life. But this was a spar, such an option was not available.

Seeing Alice's hesitation, Allura was about to say something when Alice took a deep breath and turned to her.

"You said you'll interfere if things get out of hand right?" Alice asked as Allura nodded her head.

"Okay, as long as that's the case."

She trusted Allura's strength, strength that will let her interfere if things go south.

Approaching the arena, Alice pulled out a vial of blood.

"Can I use this? Not for myself but for my weapon." She asked.

Her opponent was a dark skinned girl with light blue hair and a pair of azure eyes. She had a small stature similar to Alice but was slightly taller.

"That is fine. You may use any weapon at your disposal." She nodded her head with a smile.

"Then can I use these as well? They're my own blood." Alice asked, pointing to three other vials she had in her pouch.

"Naturally, though I assume you're not consuming them if they're your own blood."

"Don't worry, I'm not drinking anything this fight. They're just my tools." Alice reassured.

"Then all is well. Chloe, pleased to meet you." Chloe bowed slightly as Alice awkwardly did the same.

"Alice. Pleased to meet you too."

"You can take the first move." Chloe gestured as Alice glanced back at Allura before looking at Ria who was cheering her on.

Taking a deep breath, she opened one of her vials and poured it onto her bracelet, transforming it into a dagger.

Closing her eyes, she envisioned the feeling of the hunt. The woman in front of her was no longer a person for the duration of this 'hunt'. She was merely her prey, someone she needed to kill to advance.

A beast.

No more no less.

Sensing a change in Alice's aura, Allura was taken aback for a moment before turning to Ria, seeking an explanation.

"Alice… found out that she goes a little… How do I put it... Blood thirsty when she fights?" Ria scratched her cheek.

Suddenly, a wave of killing intent enveloped the arena as Gin furrowed his brows.

Feeling a chill down her spine, Chloe shivered and blinked her eyes.

This proved to be a mistake as the moment she opened her eyes, a dagger was right in front of her face.

"!!!"

A ring of ice immediately activated around her, blocking the dagger as she came face to face with Alice who seemed completely different from her previous self. The glare in her eyes, that cruel grin, it felt as though she was fighting someone completely different.