Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 102: Knight of Thorns

Her target was a figure who was covered from head to toe in silver armour and wielded a large greatsword but that wasn't the main defining trait. Through the gaps of the armour and around them, a myriad of black and red spikes continuously stabbed out without care for its surroundings.

[Knight of Thorns - ???]

'Seems like it's able to mark anything it touches and have the thorns home in onto the target. Not only that, it's able to manipulate the thorns to act as a shield. Only two of its abilities are known to me while a third is still unknown.' Alice thought to herself but that didn't matter since the nature of this experiment, if successful, will allow her to render the beast powerless.

Reaching into her pouch, Alice pulled out a vial of healing blood while keeping her eye on the Knight.

The Knight was doing the same as it had been looking for the source of the purple flames. Allowing Alice to drink the contents of her vial, it entered a combat stance and waited for her to do the same.

"For a beast aren't you honourable." Alice couldn't help but remark as her wounds closed up one after another.

With her blood now replenished, she made several cuts on her left arm before sealing the wounds so that she didn't die of blood loss.

Taking a deep breath, Alice calmed her mind and raised her dagger to guard against the Knight.

Silence dawned between the two as the roars of war screamed out around them.

They were waiting for the perfect chance to begin this fight as the explosion of a cannonball nearby served as their starting sign.

*BANG!!!

Both fighters charged toward one another as Alice activated the abilities of her first Sigil, boosting her physical power to its max.

*CLANG!!!

Parrying the first cleave down using her dagger, Alice could feel the weight behind the slash as it had almost caused her to fall to her knees, but she wouldn't be defeated so easily.

Not only was this a battle for her to experiment with her idea, but it was also a battle to test her close quarters combat!

Stepping to the side, Alice adjusted her grip on her dagger into a reverse grip and stabbed it into the gaps of the Knight's armour but a bundle of thorns shot out, forcing her to pull her arm back before splashing some blood towards the Knight.

Her second Sigil manifested on her eye as the thorns seemed to shrink momentarily.

Slashing up with its sword, the Knight released a trail of thorns from the ground, threatening to pierce Alice as she transformed her dagger into a shield, protecting her as she landed on the ground.

'The fumes didn't seem to do much other than reduce the size of the thorns momentarily. Hmm… Perhaps I'm doing it wrong.' Alice frowned as she had another idea in mind.

Transforming the shield back into a dagger, she threw it towards the Knight while it was attached with her threads.

Purposely missing the Knight, Alice pulled back on the threads while charging towards the beast. Three needles of blood hovered above her arm while the Knight parried the dagger behind it.

Twisting its body, it followed up the parry with a horizontal swing but Alice had long seen it coming thanks to the powers of Cayla.

Sliding across the ground to dodge the blade, Alice launched a kick towards the Knight's head but a wall of thorns blocked her path.

Flicking her finger, one of the blood needles shot out, bursting into flames and burning the wall of thorns away before extinguishing.

There was not enough fuel for it to sustain itself but just enough to burn away at the defence!

With the amount of blood needed for this needle memorised in her mind for future fights, Alice managed to kick the Knight's helmet, forcing it to stumble back while Alice swung the dagger behind its knees and pulled the threads, causing it to fall onto its back.

Taking the two needles, Alice stabbed it into the eyehole and controlled the blood to invade its body.

At that moment, Alice gained a brief view of the Knight's body and jumped back, allowing the knight to stand back up.

'That wasn't enough blood to burn it from the inside out since the most I can do is activate a small spark. However, if my theories are correct, I should be seeing the effects soon.' Alice narrowed her eyes as she prepared to defend.

Growling in anger, the Knight slammed its hand down, expecting a field of thorns to burst forth yet nothing happened, causing it to look down in confusion as a wide grin formed on Alice's face.

With her blood circulating within the Knight's body, so long as she retains control and it doesn't get consumed by the target's blood, she can stop their abilities from activating!

While her flames may have reduced the potency of her poison, it has traded it with something much better. The ability to cancel out beast and Sigil powers!

However, this was not permanent as the Knight was able to conjure more thorns after his first attempt failed.

'Seems like it'll only work for a short period. If I turn my blood into a dry powder of a different form, I'll be able to create a poison type ability that shuts out Sigil power. I can also try the same with my dagger and have it inject my blood every time I land a hit.' Alice chuckled as ideas continuously flooded her mind.

Unable to contain herself, Alice felt euphoric. She wanted to find more, experience more, know more. All of these are tools for her vengeance. The day where she kills her father after he is unable to fight back with his powers sent shivers of joy down her back.

"Ah~ Ahahahaha! I have to thank you Mr Knight. Allow me to finish you off without pain." Alice smiled as her cheeks were flushed with excitement.

Flicking her hand, her dagger was changed into a sword as she ran the blade along her arm.

Blood was siphoned from her body as a crimson edge appeared on the blade.

Adjusting her grip, she dashed towards the Knight as her Sigil manifested on her eye.

The edge of her blade lit up with a violet flame as she twisted her body and dodged a wave of thorns.

Cleaving her blade horizontally, the thorns burst forth with the same violet flame and was reduced to nothingness.

*BANG!!!

Stomping down, she charged forward once more like a speeding train.

Panicking from the sudden burst of power, the Knight jumped back and sent a wave of thorns towards Alice to halt her advance.

However, Alice was prepared.

Snapping her finger, she siphoned more blood from her body before launching forward in an arc. The arc of blood burst into flames just before hitting the thorns and erased them with ease.

But the flames didn't stop there. After piercing through the wall of thorns, it rushed towards the Knight, wanting to reduce it to ashes.

Letting out a roar of defiance, the Knight twisted its body and cleaved down with his blade, wanting to split the flames in half but it disappeared before the sword could come into contact.

Alice had cancelled her second Sigil in order to stun the Knight momentarily. This gap in reaction was all she needed as she was already in front of the beast, her sword pulled back for a large swing.

Gathering as much power as she could from her small body, Alice cleaved her with the flaming sword.

Wanting to parry the blade, the Knight watched as the fire ate away at his sword without any resistance and carved deep into its body.

*BANG!!!!

A wall of purple fire erupted from the slash, burning the Knight to oblivion as Alice had an idea on how to control these flames.

After all, they were created from her blood and used her blood as a source of fuel.

Thus, all she needed to do was to have her blade consume the blood, erasing the fuel needed for the flames.

Adjusting her grip on the blade, she watched as the blood was absorbed and the fire slowly disappeared.

'I can kill three star beasts with relative ease now. But I need to be careful since some beasts are stronger than the others. This Knight was a good matchup for me since it seemed like it can only use thorns.' Alice thought to herself, understanding that anomalies can always happen. Just because she can kill one three star beast doesn't mean she could kill others.

Shaking her head, Alice could already feel dizziness from having used so much blood. Even with her resistance to Abyss Blood, she didn't want to keep drinking healing vials if she could help it.

Looking towards the other side of the battlefield, she could see countless bolts of lightning striking down from above and understood that Ria was also experimenting with her powers. In a battle like this where anything can happen, it was the best place to train.

The threat of death that invokes their will to live, the situations that forces their mind to find a way out. It was a perfect training environment.

'Seems like I'll have to ask Allura to give us more training like this one. I also need to improve on my close quarters combat since I didn't choose the ranged option with my second Sigil.' Alice thought to herself before making her way back to the city.

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"And so the long forgotten Abyss Lord of Death has revealed himself once more. I had expected the old goat to have died by now but he still lives even after the wounds we gave him." A shadowed figure narrowed his gaze at the pool of water that reflected the battle between the White Death and Gin.

"So be it, we will finish him off in due time. The loss of the White Death is unfortunate but it's nothing we can't recreate. But the essence of war we have collected this time is delectable indeed." He smiled as he conjured a bird made from ice.

"Sent a message to Mahri, have her make plans for two of the Lords that reside nearby. First, the Lord sealed under the domain of the Crimson Princess. The second, the Lord under the Slaughter Docks." The man ordered as the ice bird melted into a pool of water and disappeared.