Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 212: Crescent Crown Arena

After waiting a while, Miki came back with a set of keys and waved to the two.

"I've gotten permission to use the training facility. We'll have to take a bit of a detour since he specifically mentioned that I should take you two to the high end Training Facility."

"Hou~ High End? Better than we expected right?" Ria whistled in surprise as she was fine with just using a standard facility.

But if they were going out of their way to give them the High End one then she wasn't one to complain.

"Perhaps he's worried that we might cause some damages after what he saw in the trial." Alice chuckled.

Of course, she wasn't going to tell Xinbei that they actually held back a lot. Neither Alice nor Ria used their full power as doing so would cause too much unwanted attention.

Especially Alice's Void Flux skill.

While Alice and Ria were joking to one another, Miki couldn't help but doubt their claims. After all, Xinbei told her how many Sigils they had.

One had three while the other had four.

Quite the standard amount for students of the Academy. But their confidence, especially Ria's confidence against Senior Luke irked her somewhat.

'Department Head told me to observe their sparring and see if I can learn anything from them. But…' Furrowing her brows, Miki could only sigh and play her part as a guide.

She wasn't going to question Xinbei's decision as despite his actions and demeanour, he was still a Hunter who became the Department Head of Handiwork.

"Please follow me." Miki smiled as she led the way.

'Only actions can prove what the Department Head claims. And since they're Senior Luke's friends too, I doubt they'll stoop as low as to brag to one another.'

As the three navigated through the Academy, Alice was in awe of the sheer scale of this institution. Even though she had seen parts of the Academy from outside, most of it was hidden by the mountain around them.

A maze of buildings and corridors that twisted and turned. Spacious atriums adorned with carvings of important figures or historical moments.

Occasionally, there would be gaps in the mountain where the light of the Inverted World would peak through, casting a dreadful red glow upon the stone floors below.

With Miki guiding them through the Academy, Alice and Ria noticed that all of them were wearing a similar jacket with different emblems and slight variations in design.

'That must be the uniform they're supposed to wear. Each one represents a different department or level of the student.' Alice mused to herself as her eyes wandered through the array of buildings.

Entering an inconspicuous building, Miki showed them to the elevator as they descended into the depths of the mountain.

"The High End training facility is made using the combined power of Abyss Engineering and Sigils. If you have any specific requests for the environment please let me know and I can make some changes." Miki informed with a smile.

"We don't need anything fancy. Just a large open area will do." Ria shrugged.

"Understood. There are certain presets but I believe the Crescent Crown Arena matches your description the best."

Arriving at the bottom of the elevator, a corridor with countless doors revealed itself as Miki brought them over to what seemed to be an empty room.

Inserting her key into a strange contraption on the wall, a strange interface appeared and she inputted a set of instructions before walking over to the two.

"Since this is your first time, you may feel a sense of dizziness or the urge to throw up. Please hold it in as cleaning up is a little annoying." Miki warned.

Before the two could reply, an array lit up beneath them as energy flooded into the room. A wave of weightlessness overwhelmed the two and caused them to collapse onto the floor.

Shielding their eyes from the wave of light that obscured their vision, they soon felt a cool wind blowing over them as their location had changed.

The Crescent Crown Arena, a magnificent platform that hovered in mid air by unseen forces. Pillars rise from the edges of the platform, adorned with carvings and statues that radiated ethereal energy.

Above, the vast expanse of the stellar sky unveiled itself. Countless jewels of space flickered with starlight as a large crescent moon hung on the celestial canvas. Its soft glow casting a soft radiance upon the arena below.

Seeing this, Alice was silent as she didn't think this kind of place existed.

"Feel free to fight to your heart's content. Please do not be worried about falling into the abyss as there are invisible walls around the edge as most of this is scenic rather than reality.

I believe you have experienced Department Head's Sigil power that transported you to his dimension, this is something similar." Miki explained, noticing Ria who seemed to be trying to peak over the edge of the arena.

Finishing her explanation, Miki stood over to the side where there was a protected room for observers.

"Seems like we're getting spoiled if they let us use a room like this." Ria chuckled, walking towards the centre of the arena as Alice nodded her head in agreement.

"Any rules for this spar?"

"Nope. Same rules as usual but we'll need to hold back a little since Allura isn't here to heal us with expensive Healing Blood." Ria shook her head.

Around her, lightning started to crackle as Alice could feel her hairs stand on end.

Now that they were properly beginning the spar, she could feel the dangerous aura around Ria that was solely directed towards her.

'I've seen Ria fight. Her overwhelming speed and power are not to be taken lightly.' Alice thought to herself as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Calming her mind, she surrendered part of her mind to the hunger within, enough to hone her instincts and sharpen her senses but not enough to lose her mind and go berserk.

Reaching to her waist, Alice unsheathed the bloodflame blade and held it in a one handed aggressive stance.

"Ready when you are." Ria smiled as she too entered a stance while orbs of lightning hovered around her body.

With Ria allowing her to take the first move, Alice curled her lips into a smile and stomped down. Twisting her body, she did not hold back and immediately conjured her violet flames and sent a crescent slash towards Ria.

Seeing this vertical cleave, Ria understood that trying to contest against this flame was futile. Knowing its properties, the most efficient solution for her was to dodge and counter!

Snapping her fingers, four orbs flashed out as Ria teleported to the top and looked down at the arena.

She wanted to get a good overview before planning her next moon but Alice was prepared!

Having fought side by side for so long, Alice knew the way Ria would fight and her habits.

Creating footholds for herself, Alice rushed towards Ria as a swirl of blood circled around her, preventing Ria from conjuring orbs of lightning around her body.

*BANG!!!

A bolt of lightning shot out as Ria immediately appeared next to Alice, her fist pulled back and ready to punch forward while being charged with electricity.

Immediately entering a defensive stance with her blade, Alice managed to capture everything that happened thanks to Cayla and reacted accordingly!

'Coat the blade with my flames to reduce the impact. With my other hand, I should aim to manipulate my blood and metal!'

Slamming her hand down, two blades manifested near Ria and stabbed towards her.

"Tch!" Clicking her tongue, Ria exchanged places with a lightning orb before snapping her finger, allowing the orb to detonate in front of Alice!

Thankfully, the storm of blood was there to protect her otherwise she might've been taken out in one go.

Landing on the ground, Alice looked up at Ria who was floating in the air as the two of them began to laugh.

"Alright, enough of a warm up. I'll be cranking it up a notch, make sure you keep up okay?" Ria warned.

"Right back at you."

Just as Alice finished saying this, a bolt of lightning appeared in front of her as she immediately twisted her body and cleaved up using her blade. With the properties of her violet flames, the lightning was torn apart in an instant but the barrage wasn't over!

After the first bolt, two more appeared, each flanking her side.

Taking a note on their location, Alice narrowed her eyes and swiped up with her finger. Two spears coated in her blood intercepted the lightning before erupting with flames to cancel out the attack.

Following that up with snap of her finger, Alice controlled the blood she had scattered around the arena and shot several threads towards Ria who teleported out of the way in fear of having her powers sealed.

However, what awaited her at her destination was Alice as she had used the threads to catapult herself towards Ria!

Teleporting out of the way once more while firing back at Alice, Ria watched as she used the threads to swing herself away from danger.

Landing on another thread that she had set up, Alice had now created the best environment for her to fight in!

Watching all of this happen, Miki was speechless. This speed, this power, the way they reacted to one another and their abilities. Just watching the spar as a bystander caused a chill down her spine.

But what made it worse was that they weren't even giving it their all!

'They're holding back because it's a spar but what kind of power would they exhibit if they were fighting for real?' Miki asked herself.

A part of her wondered if she would be able to hold out against the barrage that Ria had sent out. While she may survive, she would definitely be hit by at least one of those lightning bolts!

But Alice was untouched! Even the lightning orb that detonated in her face failed to do any damage due to the barrier of blood that she had conjured.

'What kind of beasts did they even hunt to have this kind of power at three and four stars?'

Watching the fight slowly unfold, all Miki could do was watch on in silence as their strength was engraved into her mind.