Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 97: Demonstration Of The Second Sigil

After listening to Ria's explanation of what had transpired over the course of the last few days, Alice realised that most of the residents had been evacuated. It explained the lack of people in the Inn, with the exception of one of two Hunters.

Not only that, Abyss Beasts were sighted in the area surrounding the city. They seemed to be waiting for something. The few Hunters they sent to check the situation were most likely killed, as none of them made it back.

"Do you think they're waiting for that White Death thing to get stronger? If I remember correctly, it was only recently born from an Old Lord. Right? So, going by the assumption that it's just a super powerful beast baby, I'm guessing they want to wait for it to consolidate its strength a bit," Ria estimated.

"If your definition of a super powerful beast baby is something that can probably destroy this city with ease, then by all means call it a baby," Allura interrupted before Alice could reply.

"When the fight occurs, I want you and Alice to help out with defeating some of the beasts. Since they gathered beasts from the surrounding area, even if they are from the next layer, handling them should be pretty easy for you two. Anything that's too difficult, you can leave to the other Hunters. Just take this time to study your own power.

Find new ways to control your Sigil." She instructed as both Ria and Alice nodded.

"And while we're on the topic of Sigils… Alice, how do you feel about giving that second Sigil a test drive right now? We can ask Neal for a training room since I doubt any of the students or Hunters are using them," Allura suggested.

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice agreed. She too wanted to see what her second Sigil could achieve. The young hunter wanted to see the degree of control she could accomplish with the power gained from the Maiden of the Blood Moon, and the kind of potential it unlocked within her body.

Arriving at the location, the group didn't waste any time. Alice made herself comfortable in the middle of the arena before taking a deep breath.

Right now, she could feel two pathways of power stemming from her second Sigil.

The first was the ability of the Maiden, which allowed her to control her own blood.

Rolling up her sleeve, Alice bit her flesh until it bled, conjuring two blood needles around her before looking at Allura, who had a relaxed stance. The Sigil had formed on Alice's face, but seemed smaller compared to what was demonstrated before.

"The powers of the Maiden are weak… compared to what I could've chosen. But this allows me to control my blood at will." Alice explained, firing the needles towards Allura, who flicked them aside with ease.

However, that was not what Alice wanted to show.

The shattered pieces of the needles stopped midair and pooled into an orb of blood that flew back to Alice and hovered just above her wound.

Focusing her mind, Alice had a small frown on her face as the blood slowly fused with her wound before creating a solidified surface, acting as the new skin for the time being.

"It's not a perfect patch but it'll stop any blood loss I incur from receiving wounds. I can also have my blood invade someone's body and control them. The success rate apparently depends on how strong they are," She explained.

"So, similar to the Sigil skill puppeteering, but with more restrictions. Alright. You can probably give this skill a try while fighting the weaker beasts when the fight breaks out. Now, let's have a look at the main attraction." Allura grinned, knowing that most of the power of the Sigil was focusing on enhancing Alice's strange ability of rejecting the Abyss's influence.

'Now, let me see what potential it has.' Allura thought to herself, curious to see what that anomaly would bring. After all, it was the first time since the inception of the Abyss that anyone was resistant to its effects.

Taking a deep breath, Alice nodded and closed her eyes. The second ability required her to dig deeper.

Her mind seemed to be transported into a pool of mire and darkness. As her body continued to sink, she could feel her connection to the power growing stronger, until finally, she sensed a burst of flames erupting from her chest.

In that instance, the darkness was illuminated by a purple light. Bright violet flames enveloped the space.

Opening her eyes, the same violet flames erupted from Alice's body, forming what seemed to be a ring behind her back that hovered around her. If she willed it, the flames could wrap around her body without burning her.

The edges of her hair were slowly being transformed into the same flames that hovered around her.

Right now, she seemed to be the incarnation of fire.

Witnessing the purple flames, Allura couldn't help but furrow her brow in confusion. She wasn't unfamiliar with purple flames, but those seemed… different. Unnatural, even.

The very same powers of the Abyss that dwelled within her body seemed to reject that flame… and either seek to extinguish or hide from it.

'Strange…'

"Alice, can you control these flames?" Allura asked.

Alice seemed to struggle with reigning in those flames without them exploding everywhere.

"I… think I can." She squeezed out, through gritted teeth. It felt as thought she was constantly in a tug of war with the flames. They wanted to break out and burn freely.

Even now, she could feel the flames coursing through the insides of her body. If it wasn't for the fact that she had some measure of control over them, Alice would've been consumed by the flames long ago.

"Hmm… See if you can direct all of it towards me." Allura asked, wanting to confirm her suspicions.

"Huh?"

"You didn't hear me wrong. Send all of it towards me. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Allura smiled confidently, despite the unease in her heart.

Hearing that, Alice trusted Allura and gritted her teeth.

Wrangling the flames as much as she could, Alice channelled all of her power towards Allura. In that instance, she could feel all strength leaving her body.

As the flames rushed towards Allura, it transformed into the shape of a strange beast, with what seems to be four wings exploding from its back.

A pair of eyes glared at Allura before letting out a roar, charging towards her with no mercy.

Stomping the floor with her leg, three Sigils immediately flared to life around Allura as a towering inferno erupted around her. Flicking her wrists, Allura gathered her flames into a wall in order to block Alice's attack.

However, the unease in her heart manifested itself as the violet flames immediately engulfed her fire and extinguished it in an instant.

'It negated my Sigil?! No… rather than negate it, the beast ate it and cut off my power.' Allura thought to herself in complete surprise. She didn't expect something like that to happen.

Furrowing her brow, she took a step back for the first time and snapped her fingers. Flames erupted from around her once more, but this time, she condensed it into a single spot of white light before narrowing her eyes.

"I didn't think you'd actually force me to use it at this stage. Congrats." Allura remarked as she flicked her finger, sending the spark forward.

Silence dawned in that instance as the arena was enveloped in a blinding light.

Shielding her eyes from the light, Alice looked back at the arena in shock. There was now a large crater in the center where the violet flames and the white spark had collided. It didn't seem like the crater was created from an explosion, but almost as though that piece of the world was erased from existence. The edge of the crater was completely smoothed out.

Allura took a deep breath and sighed.

"Alright, well. I think we should definitely work on your control. That flame… If you let it run rampant, I doubt anyone under four Sigils can survive, if I'm being honest. How to describe it, hmm… Let's just say the powers granted by Sigils are essentially food for the violet flame. Which is pretty ironic considering it manifested due to a Sigil." She shrugged.

However, deep down, she was shocked.

Despite using the white spark, she didn't think she had to expend so much energy in order to deal with the flame. Just using the initial spark wasn't enough, she had to give it extra power to completely eradicate the flame.

'How strong would this flame be if Alice reached my level…' Allura couldn't help but wonder. All she could imagine was the world of the Abyss engulfed in a violet flame that consumed everything in its path.

"However, despite its strong power, the lack of control is very worrying. We'll work on extracting small amounts of the flame for use without losing control. I don't know if my methods would work properly, but since we're both flame users, some of my training methods may prove to be useful for you," She explained.

Giving Allura a nod, Alice felt light on her feet collapsed on one knee. She felt extremely lightheaded and couldn't even muster a single word. Her skin was pale and her temperature was dropping rapidly.

Rushing over, Allura examined her body and realised that Alice had lost a lot of blood internally.

'Did the fire use her blood as fuel?' Allura frowned while feeding Alice a vial of healing blood.

Making sure she was feeling better, Allura started to piece together a training plan for Alice with the information they have gathered.

As it stands, the violet flames could potentially rival the powers of the Old Abyss Lords if used properly at a higher level.

At just a measly two Sigils, Alice had the potential to consume Abyss Lords.