Abyssal Awakening

Activating her resonance, a pillar of lightning covered Ria's body as Allura whistled in surprise since the phenomenon created the activation was far greater than usual.

Stepping out of the lightning, Ria revealed her form in its full glory.

A set of white and blue armour wrapped around her chest, arms, waist and boots while a flowing white dress could be seen beneath the metal along with a pair of white stockings.

Iridescent blue crystals with gold lining decorated her armour.

Behind her, a golden halo made from lightning could be seen as Ria's eyes flickered with a violent blue.

Her hair was now the same colour as her lightning and fluttered behind her.

Adjusting her gauntlets, Ria snapped her finger and created a golden spear with blue and purple lightning.

Holding her spear with her right arm, Ria narrowed her eyes and aimed the spear with her left.

"Getting right into it I see. Alright, you can start whenever you feel like it." Allura chuckled and pulled her hands from her pockets.

Hearing this, Ria nodded her head and stabbed forward with her spear.

In that instance, her figure disappeared with a roar of thunder.

*BANG!!!!!

Stepping to the side, Allura was able to dodge with ease and kicked out with her leg but failed to hit Ria.

"I see… So that's how it feels. I was wondering how this ability works but now I get it." Ria muttered as she dismissed her spear.

The spear was not her ability, merely what she chose to manifest as a result. Now that she understands how it feels and functions, she could truly begin to experiment and demonstrate her power.

When choosing a Sigil, one must consider what it can grant you. The Hunter must understand the benefits of their current Sigils, what they can and can't do. Understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Once they understand this, their next Sigil should seek to improve upon their power or cover for their weaknesses.

For Ria, she chose the latter!

Her speed was already impressive but it was slow for beings of higher power. Her fight against the Champion showed her this. By choosing Lightning Ascent, not only has it increased her speed, but it has also indirectly increased her power as a result!

Taking a deep breath, Ria let out a shout as the skies changed and lightning descended upon her once more.

*BANG!!!!

Striking down on her location, Ria's armour was chipped away until azure plating revealed themselves through the cracks.

Stomping down, Ria shot forward like a bullet as Allura widened her eyes in surprise before raising her arm to defend herself.

Feeling the force behind Ria's punch, Allura could feel the lightning trying to tear a hole through her body but it wasn't enough to breach her defences just yet.

Sliding back from the punch, Allura glanced up and noticed that Ria wasn't done.

There was now a mark on Allura's arm as Ria breathed out slowly.

Her Resonance was one that made up for her weakness of not having a decisive attack!

Dark clouds swirled above as blue and purple energy gathered towards the eye of the storm. Around them, rocks started to float up as Allura could feel her hair started to stand on its end from the static flowing through the space.

"My resonance allows me to grow my power exponentially and unleash it into an attack. It merely takes a moment to gather." Ria called out as Allura raised an eyebrow.

"Meaning, the more marks I apply, the stronger it becomes!" Ria shouted, appearing in front of Allura and launching an uppercut that was blocked easily.

Even though it was blocked easily, Allura could still feel the force behind the punch and it was not something an average four star Hunter could withstand!

'It's just the initial steps yet her power has already grown to this level?' Allura mused to herself, impressed by Ria's demonstration so far but it wasn't over.

Seeing a second mark appear on her hand, Allure decided to dodge the next attack by bending her body back.

Yet despite her dodging, a third mark appeared on her body.

"I don't believe I mentioned I had to hit you to apply a mark!"

Twisting her body, Ria launched a kick towards Allura's side before creating a spear in her spare hand and launching at her head.

Watching Allura dodge them both despite the speed, two more marks appeared on her body, bringing the total up to five.

With five marks now on Allura's body, Ria grew in power as her armour continued to break while cracks appeared on her body. A violent surging current of electricity flowed within her flesh as she appeared behind Allura and did a roundhouse kick that was blocked by Allura's leg.

A sixth mark appeared.

Quickly jumping back, Ria narrowed her eyes and slammed her hand into the ground.

Lightning chains jumped from the ground and latched onto Allura's limbs, preventing her from moving as Allura activated her Sigils in an attempt to break the chains.

However, despite activating three of her Sigils, the chains held firm, surprising Allura.

Looking up at the sky, she could see six coils of lightning forming above her followed by a flash of light.

*BANG!!!!!

A swirl of pure electricity crashed down, shaking the grounds beneath before collapsing in on itself, forming an orb of destruction that erased everything within its area.

Looking up in shock, Alice couldn't believe that Ria wielded this much power. If it wasn't for Gin protecting her, she would've been caught within the radius of the attack!

From within the orb, it detonated for the third and final time, gathering all of the lightning from around them and exploding up into the skies, mimicking the effects of the Thunder Caller arrows that Ria had used to kill the Leviathan!

Jumping back, Ria panted heavily as she deactivated her resonance. As this was her first use, she wasn't able to adapt to the stamina drain just yet and all of her power had been exhausted.

Looking at the pillar of lightning, Ria noticed something from within and a swirl of fire erupted out, dispelling the lightning instantly. Black and red flames pushed out, shattering the lightning and revealing Allura standing calmly in the centre.

"While it wasn't a full activation, you still made me manifest a partial activation of my resonance. Not bad." Allura praised as the flames flickered around her body.

As it was just a partial activation, they did not solidify into armour and instead stayed as flames that protected her.

Dispelling her fire, Allura pulled out a cigarette before appearing in front of Ria.

"Urg… I thought I would've been able to force your resonance out but you didn't even activate the full thing." Ria sighed as Allura chuckled.

"Do you know how hard it is to make me use my resonance? The fact that you partially activated it means you reached the level where killing five star Hunters should be within your reach."

"Fair…" Ria pouted.

"So what did your resonance give you other than that final attack?" Allura asked curiously.

"My resonance's effects are interchangeable. If I decide to have it buff my body, it raises the cap of how many charges I can activate within me by decreasing the stress I apply to my body. If I decide to use it as an attack, I can create a field where lightning attacks are more potent with each mark I apply. When I decide to buff my body I kind of go into debt I guess?

Once the period is over I'll be exhausted to the point I can barely move." Ria explained while using her hands to convey what she was trying to say.

"I see… Seems like you'll be using the attack function of your resonance more often as it carries significantly less risk." Allura nodded as she turned to Gin.

"Well? What's your verdict on Ria's performance? I'd say she's pretty much ready to journey without us having to watch over her. Thankfully, Alice will be there to deal with her directional issues." Ria chuckled as Gin was silent before sighing out.

"Yes, she is indeed strong enough to protect herself." Gin scratched his hair and walked over to Ria.

Looking at her, he couldn't help but feel a swirl of emotions in his chest as she had grown up so quickly. It was already time for her to journey on without his protection.

"Don't worry grandfather, I'll be fine. It's not like we go around picking fights all the time and it'll just be a simple journey to the mainland. We'll probably go say hi to Luke on the way there." Ria grinned as Luke was the friend that she had mentioned to Alice before.

He was someone who valued his studies and was currently studying Abyss Engineering at one of the academies closer to the mainland.

"Hmm… He should be close to graduating from his studies no? Maybe ask him if he wants to join you two to the mainland." Allura suggested as he was the one that she had in mind.

Ria was a front-line fighter while Alice was a backline fighter and controller with her flames. As for Luke, his Sigils are a little different compared to the usual ones chosen by Hunters but he'll work perfectly in a supportive role for these two.

"Oh! In that case, then let's go there first then. We can also see what kind of gadgets he's been making since he's quite smart." Ria smiled excitedly as she couldn't wait to see an old friend.

"Alright, but before you go anywhere I want you to take this." Gin interrupted as he snapped his finger. A small bone snake appeared in his palms before transforming into a bracelet.

"It contains a bit of my power so if anything dangerous was to happen, it'll be able to protect you." Gin explained as Allura walked over to Alice so that she could do the same.

Creating a small flame above her fingers, she condensed it into an amulet and handed it to Alice.

"Same usage as what Gin made for Ria. Though it's a one time use so keep that in mind. Also don't even think about eating it since I don't think your body can handle my power." Allura warned seriously.

Seeing that Allura was giving her the hard no, Alice understood the dangers this could bring and made a mental note in her mind not to drink the blood of people who are far above her level.