Abyssal Awakening

'Eye, can you tell me about the powers that her blood gave me?' Alice asked as she focused her gaze on the Maiden down below.

[This Maiden of the Blood Moon is a unique case. Her abilities are adaptive, especially when you drink her blood. Usually, when someone drinks her blood, they will be able to gather surrounding blood to heal themself. However, you already demonstrated something different.]

[Right now, her blood is mixed with something strange, and when paired with your own strange body, it has formed a reaction outside of the knowledge I have gathered.]

'I see… It feels similar to when I borrowed the Cultist's power. Abyss Blood should only give me one ability, but this is different.' Alice thought with a slight frown.

However, Alice didn't know how long she had left before that state wore off, so she had to finish it early!

'I must keep my mind sharp! Indulge in the frenzy, but don't lose to it! I need to test, refine, and compile my understanding of this power and use it to kill her!'

Jumping down, Alice dove into the blood and appeared beneath the Maiden.

Hooking her fingers against the blood, she transformed her bracelet into a claw that started to merge with the blood around her and cleaved upward.

*CRACK!!!*

The Maiden was able to react just in time as a blood wall blocked the claw from tearing off her head, but Alice wasn't done.

Diving back down into the blood, she reappeared behind the Maiden's wall, surprising the beast before grabbing her by the hair.

Without saying anything, Alice slammed her head down, headbutting the beast and forcing her to step back. Kicking off the blood wall, Alice launched herself towards the Maiden and took a bite out of her neck.

Swallowing the blood, Alice had to supress a laugh from coming out. The blood around her started to spike up in excitement. Flicking her fingers, she created a wave of needles that shot towards the Maiden.

'All the blood is connected. I can move myself through this blood, but only if it's a big enough pool. But will it work with weapons?' Alice thought to herself as she created a dagger and threw it through a pool of blood.

In that instant, Alice could feel a flood of information appear in her mind, telling her about all the possible gateways she could have the dagger exit from.

A large grin appeared on her face as she conjured more blood needles and threw them towards the Maiden.

Remembering the training Ria had to undergo, she flicked her finger and made the dagger shoot out from one of the needles, slashing the Maiden before hitting another needle and repositioning. Not only that, the thread remained connected!

A plan immediately formed in her mind as she retrieved her dagger and dived back into the blood, dodging a counter-attack from the Maiden.

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'I can control the needles to some extent, meaning, I can have the threads tighten around her. But I'm also fighting the Maiden for control of the blood. She's surprised by my abilities right now, making it easier, but she should be wrestling back for control soon.'

Throwing a blood spear into the air, Alice appeared in its position and created a greatsword using her bracelet.

Twisting her body, she threw the blade down towards the Maiden who stepped to the side and dodged. The blade sailed past her, into the blood.

However, that was part of Alice's plan from the beginning.

Behind the Maiden, a spear erupted from the ground, acting as the exit portal for her greatsword!

"ARG!!!" Letting out a cry of pain, the greatsword pierced through the Maiden's chest as Alice tugged against her thread and pulled herself through the portals, appearing behind her prey.

'I don't think my blood would work on her.' She thought to herself. She needed to find a way to kill the Maiden.

Even though she'd gained the Maiden's abilities, her issue of not having a finishing move still persisted.

Grabbing the Maiden's neck, Alice swung herself around her before stomping down on the greatsword handle, causing the blade to swing up and cut the beast in half.

Transforming it back into a bracelet, she kicked against the Maiden and jumped back.

Flicking her finger, four pillars appeared around the Maiden as chains of blood shot out of them and wrapped around her body.

"RIA!" Alice shouted out as loud as she could while pressing her palm against the blood on the floor.

*RUMBLE!!!!*

Above their location, dark clouds gathered.

Ria had been waiting for that moment!

She was currently aiming two fingers at the Maiden from her hiding spot. During the time she was hiding, Ria had been gathering numerous lightning nodes on the tip of her fingers, ready for the moment Alice required her help.

With Alice shouting her name, a grin appeared on her face as she fired the nodes worth 7 full charges!

*BANG!!!!*

Seven lightning bolts pierced the Maiden's body before exploding upwards, forming a pillar of light that breached the thunder clouds above the area.

Resonating with the blast, a larger bolt of lightning crashed down from above!

The impact caused the blood to explode, forming a wave that swept Alice away.

Adjusting herself in the pool of blood, Alice looked towards the Maiden. She was still alive, but barely.

Blood was surging towards her and repairing her wounds.

'I need to finish her off now!'

There was only one way Alice could see herself killing the Maiden, and that was depriving her of the blood she was using to heal!

Flicking her finger, she forcefully wrestled the blood away from the Maiden and formed a dome around her, preventing any blood from reaching her.

Jumping through, she appeared above the Maiden and dropped a scarlet bomb at her, causing the former Blood Widow to lose her ability to gather blood momentarily.

Jumping down and stabbing a dagger into her back, Alice commanded her weapon to start drinking as much blood as it could! However, with the dagger embedded into the Maiden's back, Alice had to keep her occupied.

Swinging around, Alice punched the Maiden on the side of the head before following up with a kick to the back of the knee, forcing her to kneel down. Grabbing the dagger, she reached forward and stabbed it into the Maiden's chest before dragging it back, causing her to fall onto the ground.

Before the Maiden could control the blood to protect her, Alice gritted her teeth and stabbed the dagger into her shoulder before stomping on it as hard as she could, separating the limb from the body.

She could not use any of her blood powers near the Maiden right now, or else everything would be for naught!

Stabbing the blade into the neck, she extended the guard before kicking it.

*CRACK!!*

Breaking the Maiden's neck, Alice continued to inflict as many wounds as she could to force her into trying to heal. Meanwhile, her dagger continued to feast off the Maiden's blood.

Little by little, she could feel the resistance of the blood under her control fade. The Maiden was unable to fight back whatsoever.

While the Maiden of the Blood Moon had strong control over blood, her body was as weak as the average Hunter who hadn't refined their body.

[A Bounty has been claimed.]

Hearing this, Alice paused and panted heavily. Catching her breath, she could feel her heart pounding against her ear.

She looked down at her victim.

Compared to the youthful visage she presented herself with, the Maiden was now a skinny husk of her former self. Her skin was practically sticking to her bones. Countless carvings could be seen across her body. She looked practically mummified.

"Sss!" Taking a sharp breath of air, Alice could feel a knife carving against her skin as the Sigil was being etched onto her body.

[This… is strange… You didn't kill a beast? No… she was a beast. Then, why…] Confusion could be heard in her mind as Alice's vision was becoming hazy.

Forcing herself to stand up, she could feel something eating away at her body as the skies had turned back to normal while the blood slowly dried up.

Her sense of hearing seemed to dull as she was forced to kneel against the ground.

A hand pressed against her chest and forced her to lay down. She could see Allura with a frown on her face. Gin seemed annoyed, while Ria was in disbelief.

Unable to understand what was happening, Alice could only grit her teeth while the pain continued to grow.

###

"What the hell is this, Allura? That's not a normal Sigil." Gin frowned while observing Alice's body.

There were several swirls of blood travelling across Alice's body while leaving deep scars. The patterns across the Maiden's body were being redrawn on Alice's skin. The strange manifestation of blood that had acted as Alice's extension was now turning against her, forming teeth and eating away at her body. That was not the normal phenomenon of a Bounty being claimed.

"I… don't know." Allura frowned, unable to give Gin an answer.

She had expected many situations, but not one like that.

Behind them, a corpse rotted on the ground. The corpse of a Hunter, a woman who looked to be in her late 20s. She had been changed into a Blood Widow, who then advanced into a Maiden of the Blood Moon.

Pouring healing blood into Alice's mouth, Allura's worries only continued to grow. The blood seemed to have no effect while Ria recognised parts of the markings being formed on Alice's body.

It was a ritual that belonged to the Cult, and one that wasn't finished. Alice was being dragged into it, despite being a third party.

Memories of her past flooded into Ria's mind as she couldn't help but shiver at the thought of the ritua. But, a hug calmed her down.

Looking up, she could see the worry in Gin's eyes.

"Everything will be fine. Don't worry." He reassured her. Ria nodded before turning to Allura, who was trying her best to stop the strange transformation occurring across Alice's body.

Rummaging through her pockets, Allura pulled out an expensive-looking vial with silver blood contained in it. Hesitating for a moment, she bit her lip and prepared to feed Alice the blood when the markings suddenly halted.

"Hm?"

Little by little, the markings retreated and faded away while the blood trying to eat Alice dried up and disappeared.

Confusion and questions filled Allura's mind, but right now, she wanted to take the young hunter back.

She needed to contact Kaden.