Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 193: Alice's Mastery Of Her Skill

"Hah~ So boring… She's been in there for, 30 minutes now?" Ria muttered, waiting by the mountain peak.

She was keeping her eye on the entrance that Alice made while also taking a note of the condition of the blood orb that was handed to her.

However, with nothing going on, Ria couldn't help but wonder if Alice had gone further than expected in the tunnels.

Thane didn't reappear either so she was left on her own to spend this time as she pleased.

Playing around with an orb of lightning, Ria's mind wandered to what Thane had shown earlier. How she should use her powers if the opponent is too annoying to hit.

'Cut off their path of retreat and fire my attack where it would cause them the most annoyance huh?' She thought to herself while pointing her finger out to the mountain range.

"Bang~" Ria muttered jokingly.

*Rumble

"Hm?" Furrowing her brows, she felt something was wrong as the ground shook for a split moment.

Just as she was about to investigate further, the entire mountain range started to shake uncontrollably as Ria jumped up into the sky to avoid the tremors.

Looking down from above, Ria could see the earth trembling and with a deafening crack, the ground was torn apart and a pillar of flames erupted into the sky!

The entire abyss was dyed in a violet glow as even from this distance, Ria could feel the power behind the blast. Just seeing this caused her to wonder what would've happened to her if it was directed at her.

There was only one answer and that was she'd die!

"Alice!" Ria shouted out once she got over her surprise.

From within the pillar, two figures rushed out as one was heavily wounded with the metal around its body glowing with a bright yellow glow.

Cracking its jaws open, the Blood Coil Amphiptere let out a malevolent roar now that its form was fully visible in the light of Alice's attack.

The beast was shrouded in a vortex of blood and metal. Its wings unfurled but what was once a formidable weapon now bore the scars of Alice's attack. Riddled with gaping holes that were still burning from the violet flames, the blood struggled to mend itself and could only burn away helplessly.

Its body is a grotesque fusion of blood and metal beneath the vortex, a blend of the organic and inorganic. Blood weaved into strands of muscle and skin that pulsed and writhed with each movement.

Through the gaps of its wounds, one could see the metal that acted as the skeletal structure while also serving as armour.

Soaring into the sky, the beast glared at Alice with raw anger as its eyes radiated a predatory hunger and malice.

On the other hand, Alice quickly drank a vial of Frostshroud Willow Blood, replenishing her blood along with the wounds she sustained within the blast.

Even though it was her own power and attack, she still received some of the feedback due to using her own body as the catalyst. The risk was great but the reward was greater!

Seeing the damage caused to the Amphiptere caused a flood of ecstasy through her body as she laughed out in satisfaction.

She hadn't designated the beast just yet in fear of it running away after taking the surprise attack. But considering it was showing the intent to fight, it was worthy of being her prey!

At that moment, a tether was formed between the two as the beast was now designated as her target.

Having drank the full vial of Willow's blood, Alice could already feel a coldness extinguishing the flames within her body as the side effects of the blood had already begun to manifest itself.

'I'll have to be careful. If I drink another vial in quick succession, I risk slowing my movements down and dulling my reactions.' Alice thought to herself before adjusting her grip on her sword.

While the flames were still cancelling out the beast's abilities to heal itself, she needed to act fast!

Ria was nearby if things were to go wrong so she didn't need to worry too much.

Taking a deep breath, Alice made a cut on her arm and exerted control over her blood. She needed a way to reach the beast that was flying in the air while she herself, could not fly.

There was only one way in her mind and that was to create platforms!

'My blood is brittle. It won't be able to sustain my full weight so in the moment I come into contact with the platform, I need to exert all of my strength in one moment to launch myself up.' Alice thought to herself. Should she hesitate and mistime her jump, it would only result in her falling.

Activating Cayla, Alice needed to time the application of her strength precisely!

However, the Blood Coil wasn't about to allow that to happen.

Just because its regeneration was being hindered by the strange flames doesn't mean it had nothing it could do.

Pushing out its chest, the beast let out a roar as shards of metal started to excavate themselves from its body, hovering in the air around him.

With a single flap of its wings, a storm of blood and metal rushed towards Alice!

Seeing this, Alice narrowed her eyes and prepared to swing at the attack.

*BANG!!!!!

A bolt of lightning interrupted her attack as it struck the large pieces of metal within the storm, causing the attack to go awry and allowing Alice an easy path towards the beast!

Turning her gaze towards the mountains, Alice could see ria preparing a second bolt of lightning as though it was an arrow notched on an invisible bow.

The moment she released the lightning, it had already struck the next piece of metal in an instant!

Seeing this, Alice grinned as she created more platforms using her blood and rushed towards the beast while Ria sighed in relief seeing that she was accurate with her attacks.

As Thane had explained in her private training, she didn't need to worry about accuracy when her attacks and reach her target almost instantly. All she needed to do was aim and fire the compressed bolt of lightning!

Her attacks were lacking the power but that was fine, she was responsible for supporting Alice right now. She didn't need to deal damage to the beast.

Seeing that all of its attacks were being knocked aside, the beast howled in frustration and rushed towards Alice with blinding speed.

Widening her eyes, Alice jumped to the side, barely dodging the wing strike before attaching her threads to one of the metal pieces around its body!

Immediately getting dragged away by the beast, Alice could hear the mechanism crying out on the verge of breaking as she immediately created a blood needle and shot it towards the beast's head.

Detonating it into a surge of violet flames, she watched as the flame wrapped around the beast, burning away the blood that coated its body!

'Its speed is decreasing!' Narrowing her eyes, Alice wanted to finish this fight before the initial effects wore off.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Alice took a deep breath and ignited herself once more!

She knew the process needed for her new and improved Nova Core and this time she'll hold nothing back! Everything will be done for this one strike to finish off the beast.

Pulling two vials from her pouch, Alice threw the Luminous Gryphon Blood towards the beast before drinking the Warden of Frost Blood!

Cold mist radiated from Alice's body as she could feel her body temperature dropping further but this didn't bother her.

What she needed right now was to stun the beast and render its regeneration null!

As the Gryphon Blood spilled over the beast, its eyes constricted in primal fear. This was the chance that Alice was looking for. A moment when its guard was completely down.

Using her left hand to control the cold mist surrounding her body due to the Warden's blood, Alice enveloped the beast in a blizzard, freezing its blood and tearing its 'flesh' apart, revealing the metal underneath.

Gathering the flames using her right hand, it collapsed into a single spark of light!

###

This speed, this technique!

Thane widened his eyes in shock as he didn't think she was able to improve her mimicry of Allura's technique to such an extent! Had it not been for the clear lack of power and control of the explosion at the end, it was practically indistinguishable from the original skill!

'She's using her entire body as the conduit for this power! Reckless girl!'

For a normal person, doing so was akin to turning yourself into a bomb! Yet not only has she succeeded in doing this once, she was about to do it again!

This was a feat that not even Allura would be able to accomplish if he took into account the power that Allura wielded.

However, when paired with her flames and strange regeneration, it was clear that this was a feat that only Alice could pull off successfully. A skill that only she could use!

This is no longer the skill that Allura had created but rather something that reached the same heights.

Watching Alice press the shard of light into the beast, he hesitated on whether or not he should drag her away but this was a choice that she had made. If things go bad, it's not too late for him to step in.

###

Slamming the shard of light into the beast, Alice watched as a singularity manifest at the point of contact.

The air itself seemed to warp from the power as she immediately jumped away.

At that moment, the silent collapse of the spark began. Without a sound nor cry, a part of the beast disappeared into the spark while the surroundings realm looked as though it had been twisted, sucked into the singularity.

The spark flickered in desperation, seemingly trying to keep itself in existence when the last of its embers disappeared.

'Did it fai-'

Before Alice could even finish her thought, an expansion of power erupted out. A nexus of pure destruction manifested in the center of this phenomenon while a disk of violet flames lashed outwards, warding the core.

Each burst of fire would send out a shockwave while pieces of the Amphiptere was torn to oblivion upon contact with the core.

Not even Alice had anticipated this kind of reaction.

Had she not jumped away in time, she may have shared the same fate as the Amphiptere!