Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 275: Mimicry

In the pits of Hell Gate, the constant sound of weapons clashing and abilities firing could be heard as two figures continuously charged towards one another.

"Wrong! Observe the body! Don't make hazard guesses!" Nyer shouted, parrying Alice's slash. Leaning down, he punched against her elbow, almost breaking it but Alice managed to twist her arm just in time to avoid this.

But he didn't stop there as he followed up with a throw over his shoulders into a stomp that Alice managed to roll away from.

"Making a guess like that I'll leave you open! If you want to die then feel free to make those guesses!" Nyer lectured as he adjusted his grip on his blade and charged forth once more.

Gritting her teeth, Alice was forced to defend against his onslaught.

As she was being pushed back with no more room for defence, she was forced to activate her partial Bloodline Release just for a chance to extend this fight.

"Weak! It's clear you've been waiting for something through your body language! Anyone with half a brain will realise!" Nyer reprimanded as he twisted his body and slammed his heel against Alice's head.

*BANG!!!!

Crashing through a boulder, blood poured from her wounds as she found herself lacking the strength to get up.

"You have to be mindful of your own actions and not just your opponent's. The way you shift your centre of gravity to look for a counter, your own habits and even eye contact can tell a lot about a person.

"Here's what I've noticed so far just to name a few things. First, you always take a step back when you're preparing a kick. You have an unconscious action of holding your breath in order to activate your abilities and furrow your brows when you're trying to focus on aiming the ability.

"Not only that, but your eyes betray your thoughts rather easily. I can tell when you're simulating a counterattack in your mind as your eyes would wander across my body, thinking if it's possible to attack from there." Nyer explained while pouring some healing blood into her mouth.

"With this information, it's easy to position myself to make you think it's possible for you to create some breathing space."

Nodding her head with a sigh, Alice reached out with her hand as Nyer helped her up from the rubble.

"I don't know how to change the part with my eyes though." Alice sighed.

Even Allura had mentioned this to her in the future as her eyes expressed everything about her. A habit that's become permanent due to her experiences with the Zenia's.

Thinking about this for a moment, Nyer opened his mouth and offered a suggestion.

"I want you to imagine this. Visualise something that annoys you, disinterests you or something you hate. Visualise that over your opponent. Do not let external factors affect your thoughts and block it out. Use that to your advantage."

Taking a deep breath, Alice closed her eyes and thought about someone who matched those criterias.

What annoys her?

The people who forcefully make others drink Abyss Blood. The people who discriminate against those who show clear signs of side effects and treat them less than human.

What disinterests her?

Not much. There was little she knew about the world but if she had to pick one, it would be the noble families aside from the Zenia's.

Something she hated? Too many.

After she gained her freedom, she hated a lot of things. However, what she hated from the bottom of her heart with no equal was her father, brothers and the head scholar who experimented on her.

These four were the target of her revenge.

'If I had one path to my revenge and all others serve as distractions… I should kick them aside. They're nothing in the face of my ultimate goal.'

Opening her eyes, Alice stared at Nyer with an aura of disinterest and disdain. As though she was looking at a piece of trash on the side of the road. Something that should not even get her attention as she walked the path of vengeance.

Feeling a chill down his back, Nyer forced a smile as Alice was far more talented than his original expectation. For her to reveal this kind of expression that he would rarely see even in soldiers was remarkable.

"Let's begin another spar-"

Just as he was about to finish the sentence, Alice's blade brushed against his face as he had managed to tilt his head to the side in time.

Realising that she was in a state of trance right now, Nyer decided to see what she was capable of.

Taking a step back, he wanted to give her some space but she rejected!

Widening his eyes, Nyer watched as Alice jumped forward, coming face to face with him.

"!!!"

Snapping her fingers, a Void Flux could be seen manifesting in front of his eyes. But as his attention was taken by the attack, Alice twisted her body and roundhouse kicked Nyer in the ribs. Without hesitation, blood and metal manifested around them as a blade slashed down from above while blood stabbed up from below.

Just as Nyer was about to block this using spacial distortion, violet flames erupted from the blood as Alice activated partial Bloodline Release!

The illusion of the beast behind her cried out in jubilation as a sea of flames was manifested thanks to the blood.

Noticing that his connection with the Abyss has waned thanks to these flames, his Sigil power was too slow in its activation and he had to tank these attacks head on.

Stumbling back and out of the flames, Nyer immediately looked around for Alice but couldn't see her.

'Above!'

Glancing up, he could see Alice already mid swing and ready to release Void Flux – Cleave!

*BANG!!!!!

Jumping to the side at the last moment, a deep crevice was created from the impact as Alice pushed against her hands and sent a kick towards Nyer's chest, forcing him back.

Feeling a blood thread behind him, he realised he had stepped into a tripwire and two instances of Void Fluxes detonated around him.

As the smoke cleared, he could see an array of threads, traps and pillars around him while Alice couldn't be seen.

'What a troublesome brat.' He thought with a smile.

He noticed that Alice had two sides in battle. First, the mindset of a berserker. Someone who can fight without regard for any injuries they sustained so long as their enemies took damage.

Second, the mindset of a puppeteer, setting traps and forcing her opponents to walk into disadvantageous positions.

'Though on second thought… Seems like she'll always be the berserker even when acting like a puppeteer.' Nyer thought as he turned around and parried Alice's attack.

Without hesitation, she created a metal dagger thanks to her third Sigil and activated Void Flux – Cleave!

The power of which shattered the dagger apart but the slash was still released without issues.

Tilting his head back, part of his hair was cut by her attack as Nyer let out a laugh.

"Perhaps you should take up a job as a hairdresser. What do you think?" He asked but noticed that she wasn't taking any of this in.

Her eyes were fully focused on taking his life as though he was simply an annoyance on the side of the road. An obstacle to her goal.

Shaking his head with a smile, he pulled his hand back and slashed down towards her.

The space around her began to freeze.

While this was happening, Cayla was watching from a cliff not far from the battle. Even though Velouria had sent her here to help Alice, she didn't get a chance to show up yet.

She wasn't sure how she should even help Alice in this situation. The most she could do for immediate benefit would be to enhance her vision but she already had that covered.

Just as she thought of this, Cayla couldn't help but pause noticing something changing inside Alice.

She felt a resonance to something foreign yet similar. The other Cayla!

'Is she waking up?'

Furrowing her brows, Cayla observed the situation quietly.

###

Watching the blade descend upon her, Alice could only think of one thing in her mind.

'Slow.'

She could see the twisting of energy, how Nyer swung the blade and how the space around her would lock into place.

For Allura's Nova Core which she then later repurposed into Void Flux, it was a matter of condensing and detonating.

But Nyer was the opposite. Instead of condensing the energy, he releases it to form a structure, preventing the movement of space and instead locking it in place.

Alice didn't know what was going on but it felt as though a door in her mind had just opened up. Information flowed into her mind, theories and simulations manifested as she instinctively made a cut on her arm.

If Nyer's ability was to lock the space by outputting energy then if she was to counteract by using Void Flux…

*BANG!!!!

Watching his blade collide with Alice's Void Flux, Nyer stumbled back in surprise.

'She managed to regain movement? No... She countered it by collapsing the space.'

Looking at Alice who was standing in a trance-like state, he couldn't help but wonder if she had gained an enlightenment of some kind.

Once she opened her eyes, there was a new light inside her gaze.

Adjusting the size of her obsidian blade, Alice transformed it into a greatsword and mimicked Nyer's movements.

"Oi oi oi, this isn't a joke. Are you trying to copy my movements now? I'm flattered but it might be beyond you." Nyer laughed while brushing his hair back using his hand. To his surprise and confusion, Alice was doing the same.

It felt as though he was looking into a mirror that was reflecting his every move but at a slight delay.

"Hou~ Let's see where you can take this mimicry then." Nyer narrowed his eyes. There was a bad feeling in his heart but he dismissed it for now.

Right now, he had to see how far she could go by copying his movements.