Abyssal Awakening

Dusting her hands, Allura was rather happy with herself. Alice laid on the floor, unable to move. The restraints had gotten to the point where she couldn't even bend a knee.

As for Ria, she was in a similar state as she had been struck too many times by the mirror reflections.

"How are you feeling now?" Allura asked with a slight smirk on her face.

Forcing herself to look up, Alice groaned in pain.

"Terrible."

"Then the training did just fine. You should feel quite a bit of muscle pain tomorrow. Meanwhile, let's have a look at this list for you. It's a list of all the potential beasts I think would be suitable for your second Sigil."

Reaching into her pocket, Allura pulled out a sheet of paper and placed it in front of Alice.

"After going through all the beasts I know of and what's available nearby, I could only think of 4 targets. 3 rather simple hunts and 1 difficult hunt. Naturally, the rewards are worth the risks since they're some of the best second level Sigils you can get." Allura explained, causing Alice to raise an eyebrow.

"Does that mean I can try for a third level Sigil?"

"You can, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're not prepared enough. Here's the thing; if you go for a third level Sigil and you can't contribute enough, you'll forever be stuck at first level with each subsequent hunt becoming harder and harder. Which is not a very optimal scenario.

I'm not saying it's impossible but very difficult, even by my standards." Hearing this, Alice nodded in agreement as that would cut her journey short.

Looking down at the list, Alice contemplated her options.

[Grim Watcher]

Difficulty – 2

An unholy beast that wears layers upon layers of ragged cloth, its limbs bound to its body through chains. Toxic blood flows through its body and it can manifest a shade of itself through blood.

Potential Sigil Abilities: [Blood Shade Manifestation] [Corrosive Blood] [Grim Armaments]

Beneath each Sigil ability was a small note on what they could do.

'Blood Shade Manifestation is like the name suggests. I can manifest a clone of myself using mine or someone else's blood. The clone doesn't deal much damage but I can use it to carry out dangerous tasks for me. Corrosive blood makes my poisonous blood even more dangerous with it corroding my target's insides.

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As for Grim Armaments, it simply allows me to make weapons on my arms which isn't too helpful.' Alice thought to herself as she immediately rejected this beast.

The most useful thing she could see out of the three potential Sigils was the Corrosive Blood in terms of combat ability. She didn't need to worry about weapons just yet, since she had the weapon gifted by Nalem, not to mention threads that won't break easily.

[Crimson Archer]

Difficulty – 2

A faceless archer with a white, expressionless mask. It wears a simple Hunter's attire and wields a bow that's fused to its right hand.

Potential Sigil Abilities:

[Blood Arrows]

A simple Sigil that can allow you to make arrows from blood. However, once these arrows have struck their target or a targeted area, you are able to remotely control what the blood does. At this stage, there are two options, Cage and Thorns. Cage creates a restraint around the area while Thorns creates numerous blood spikes within the target's body.

[Hunter's Gaze]

Focus on a target, making it so that all attacks launched towards them automatically home in on their location.

[Shade Step]

Jump through shadows and relocate your position.

'Blood Arrows is versatile, but I don't use bows much… Assuming it can be done without firing an arrow, I could plant traps manually, which will be helpful. Or I could have my weapon act as the arrow and make the blood on the weapon transform.'

Hunter's Gaze and Shade Step were useful, but didn't suit Alice's needs. For now, she kept the Blood Arrows as a potential option.

[Dark Crusader]

A dark justicar wearing black armour and black robes with red markings. A sword crafted from red energy and chains that can bind the target are some of its unique features.

Difficulty – 2.5

Potential Sigils Abilities:

[Left Hand of Binding]

Fire nodes from your left hand. These nodes can explode into a chain that you can control to bind your target. Difficult to break.

[Right Hand of Judgement]

Crimson energy erupts from your right hand, transforming itself into a tool for the Crusader. Whether that be a weapon or something else, all heretics shall be struck down by the hand of judgement. High damage.

[Dark Vigor]

So long as the Crusader does not die through injuries, blood loss will empower them further. They will never die from blood loss. While the crusader is losing blood, they slowly enter a frenzied state.

Out of these three options, the most desirable was the Dark Vigor Sigil. With this, Alice would be able to keep fighting while ignoring her blood loss. However, it did not solve her issue of not having a way to break through most defenses, which is where the Right Hand of Judgement began to look good for her second Sigil.

'I shouldn't be hasty to pick. Allura chose four for a reason. The next one is much harder, but the benefits it should give must be worthy if she has added it to the list.' Alice thought to herself.

[Blood Widow]

Difficulty – 3

A beast in the form of a woman wearing a black wedding dress. A garden of blood spider lilies follows her wherever she walks, mourning her deceased husband on the day of their wedding.

Potential Sigil Abilities:

[Crimson Wedding]

Designate a place to be the location of your 'wedding'. In this location, red spider lilies will 'bloom'. They can be transformed into tendrils of blood that can be sharp as needles, if needed.

[Widow's True Face]

Blood wings sprout from your back while a black dress wraps around your body. In this state, all of your blood-related abilities gain a boost. Poison blood becomes more potent and Abyss Blood consumption increases its effectiveness without an increase of side effects. You can control all the blood that is removed from your body in order to form the wings.

[Succubus Song]

A hypnotic ability that poisons a target's mind. Once broken through, they fall into a state of hallucination, allowing you to command them to a certain extent.

Reading those options, Alice couldn't help but swallow her saliva. All of the options available were desirable. Crimson Wedding allowed her to create an area of blood without impacting herself. Furthermore, it allowed her the versatility of controlling blood.

Window's True Face was a double-edged blade. It was powerful, but created a wound on her back and siphoned her blood away in order to power the ability.

As for Succubus Song, it depended on how potent the ability was. But considering the fact that it was on the list, Alice assumed it was more potent than the Spectral Hunter blood.

Noticing that Alice was focusing on the Blood Widow for the time being, Allura opened her mouth.

"A difficulty of 3 means she's strong enough to be what a Hunter chooses to be their third Sigil. But there are ways you can get around this. It is risky but possible." Allura warned as Alice nodded slowly, taking the difficulty into account.

Out of all the Sigil abilities she'd seen, [Blood Arrows], [Right Hand of Judgement], [Dark Vigor], and [Crimson Wedding] were the ones that grabbed her attention.

All of them solved the issues she had. [Blood Arrows] gave her more trapping options for ambush. [Right Hand of Judgement] gifted her a strong attack option that she lacked. [Dark Vigor] gave her survivability while [Crimson Wedding] was a coin flip worth the risk. It depended on how the ability worked.

"Allura."

"Hm?"

"[Crimson Wedding]… The Blood Spider Lilies are made from blood, right?" Alice asked.

Allura nodded.

"And I can control them however I want, yes?"

"Yes, you can. The Blood Widow's main strength lies in the fact that it can manipulate its blood at will." Allura confirmed.

"Then, can I use it to heal myself, if needed? This blood is made by me, right? Will it inherit my poisoned blood abilities?" Alice asked as her choice hinged on the answer.

If the [Crimson Wedding] synergized with what she already had, the possibilities were endless. If she could control the blood and if it could even harden into weapons, she could potentially 'heal' herself with the blood and seal the wound.

If it could synergize with her poison, the entire area would become covered by the fumes of her blood poison.

Staying silent for a moment, Allura contemplated before slowly nodding.

"Yes. Yes, it would. The [Crimson Wedding] Sigil will naturally inherit the properties of your first Sigil, making it so that the Blood Spider Lilies will all be created from Spectral Hunter poison. As for healing yourself with the blood, it'll be a bit difficult, but not entirely impossible." Allura confirmed as Alice could feel her heart rate increasing.

Seeing the excitement and nervousness in Alice's eyes, Allura chuckled and patted her head.

"Alright, seems like you've made your choice. Honestly, the Blood Widow is one of the more difficult level 3 fights even for people with three Sigils. But do you want to know why I chose this to be one of your targets?" Allura grinned.

"Why?"

"Because it's completely possible with your skillset. If you are prepared for the battle to come, your second Sigil can be one that borders on the power of a fourth Sigil. Naturally, as your guardian, I will make sure you are fully prepared for this hunt." Allura patted Alice's head.

She was glad that Alice picked the fourth option despite the warnings. It was also a test that she had prepared for Alice, one where she'd be able to judge Alice's mentality from that point onwards.

Her desire for improvement and her will to fight… She had it all.

'She's shaping up to be a fine successor of the Eye.' Allura thought with a small smile after seeing the excitement in Alice's eyes.