Abyssal Awakening

Standing in the arena, Alice twirled the greatsword in hand as though it was nothing.

Since she was hiding her identity, she wanted to make sure her fighting style was different to her usual habits to avoid suspicion. Therefore, she decided to use a greatsword bigger than herself.

Using Tiamat's Sigil, she was able to supplement her lack of physical prowess through using the ambient energy to empower her own physical body. In theory, it worked exactly like using Tiamat's power in an attack.

Only this time, her body was the weapon. Of course, the greatsword wasn't her only weapon. Along with the spear, she had also used a scythe.

During all of her fights, she had asked permission to plant several weapons around the arena in and in exchange, she is not allowed to use Resonance or more than three Sigils.

Naturally, her opponents agreed not realising that using her Resonance would expose who she is and that having more weapons is beneficial for her.

These second rate weapons couldn't withstand the power of Abyss Lord level Sigils so their best use was to act as explosive devices that burst upon contact.

*BANG!!!

Stabbing the greatsword into the ground, Alice leaned against the handle with a smug smile on her face.

"Are you ready gorilla? I hope you don't make this too boring for me~ I'm just a wittle three Sigil Hunter, the bwig stwong tuff guy with six Sigils won't go all out right? Alice teased as each word only served to annoy the guard further.

"You f*cking brat." He gritted his teeth before taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

'Would you look at that, seems like he's not going to be an easy opponent after all. I suppose a guard hired by one of the most influential families from the surface won't be a joke.' Alice narrowed her eyes as she waited for the referee to announce the start of the battle.

###

While Alice and the guard were eyeing each other up, trying to gauge what kind of opponent they had, the Zenia Researchers and Erick were observing from the VIP suit.

Erick sat on a cushioned seat while the waiter brought him a tray of snacks and wines.

The guards stood by the door with the exception of the five Sigil guard who stood right next to him, guarding him from danger.

"Selen, how do you think Kale would fair against Jyn?" Erick asked curiously while swirling his glass.

"Not enough information. But based on what I could gather from the crowd, it seems like she'll be a worthy match up even if she only has three Sigils. However, there is still a gap between the power of a three Sigil user and a six. I believe if nothing abnormal occurs, Jyn should win with relative ease." Selen replied seriously without taking her eyes off the arena.

Her gaze was locked onto Alice as there was a strange sense of unease emanating from her.

"Hou~ Sounds like you expect her to turn things around." Erick chuckled.

"Shall we have a bet?" He offered, gesturing for Melissa and Michael to come over.

"Who do you think will win this battle?"

Contemplating for a moment, even with the exception of her being stronger, Jyn is still a guard hand-picked by the Zenia family.

He couldn't be compared to the Hunters that fight in the arena who lost to someone with only three Sigils.

In the end, both Michael and Melissa placed their bets on Jyn while Erick said the same.

"You've yet to give your opinion Selen."

"As I said, if nothing abnormal happens, I believe Jyn should win. However… that girl is not simple. Even without the rumours coming from the crowd… She feels dangerous." Selen replied seriously.

One shouldn't judge a person based on how many Sigils they possess, no matter how wide the difference in strength may seem.

Sometimes, even the first Sigil could be potent enough to kill a seasoned veteran.

She was a good example of this, she was made the captain of this squad when she had four Sigils despite it being a squad of six Sigil users. Simply because she had the strength!

"Captain! Really? You think Jyn will lose?" One of the guards spoke up in surprise as Selen shook her head.

"I'm not saying Jyn would lose but rather he shouldn't look down on that Girl. If he does, he'll suffer for it." Refusing to comment further, Selen simply observed and allowed the two Hunters to prove their worth.

###

Pulling out the greatsword, Alice balanced the black on her shoulder and allowed it to rest against the ground. She crouched down and entered an offensive stance as she licked her lips in anticipation.

Jyn stood in front of her, silent and focused. Despite all of her provocation, he remained steadfast.

The blade in his hand had a rather strange design as instead of a guard, there was a circular ring with a hole in the middle, big enough to fit the width of an arm. The handle was attached on one end while the emerald blade was on the other.

"Begin!"

With the shout of the referee, Alice immediately burst into action with speed surpassing that of an ordinary three Sigil user!

Those who weren't prepared for this explosiveness could only gasp in shock as Alice was soon in front of Jyn.

Holding her breath, she twisted her body and launched an upwards cleave with her greatsword!

*BANG!!!

Parrying her attack to the side with relative ease, Jyn narrowed his eyes and the blade in his hand began to spin!

Grabbing it by the ring, he twisted his body and swung the blade towards Alice who bent her body back.

The blade grazed her hair as she revealed an interested smile.

Flipping back and standing on her hands, she released a couple of kicks towards Jyn's head who took a step back while parrying her attack with his blade.

Grabbing the greatsword on her way down, she landed on her feet and threw the weapon towards him!

Seeing Alice immediately discard her weapon, Jyn frowned and slammed his blade into the face of the greatsword, shattering it in an instant but Alice was behind the blade.

The colours of the world drained into a single orb as Alice slammed the attack against his chest.

*BANG!!!

As the orb detonated, a cloud of dust erupted between them but Alice didn't feel the contact of the attack.

She had missed in point blank!

Without hesitation, she slammed her hand down and created a field of corrosion as pink strands of energy began to weave into a field around her.

Jyn who wanted to use this opportunity, noticed the properties of this field and immediately backed off. All of his senses were warning him of regarding the potency of this attack as he began to reevaluate the opponent in front of him.

He had planned on beating her without the use of his Sigils to showcase the strength of a Zenia guard but continuing to do so would be looking down on his opponent too much. It could even lead to his defeat!

Breathing out, a hiss of air could be heard as his teeth began to change. From the normal human teeth, they turned sharp like a beast while sparks of fire could be seen from his breath. Spinning the emerald blade in his hand, the signature green colour started to shift into a bright crimson.

His immediate shift in focus sent a chill down Alice's spine as it felt as though she had finally become the prey that was being hunted down by a dragon.

But compared to Tiamat, this was nothing!

Dashing towards Jyn, she grabbed a scythe that was stuck into the ground and jumped up into the air. Twisting her body, pink energy overlapped the blade as she activated Allura's Sigil!

Instant Slashes!

*CRACK!

The scythe shattered into countless pieces as it couldn't withstand the power of Allura's Sigil but it's achieved the effect that Alice had desired.

The shards of metal that shot towards Jyn were all infused by the power of corrosion and the speed behind Instant Slashes!

Seeing this, Jyn twisted his body as he spun his blade around him, blocked the shards and deflecting them to the side. He made sure to minimalize the contact his weapon had to this strange energy as prolonged contact would cause damage to his beloved weapon.

Taking a deep breath, he breathed out a torrent of flames that overlapped his blade before slamming it against the ground.

*BANG!!!

The arena split apart, disrupting Alice's footwork as pillars of flames lunged out from the cracks, surprising her momentarily as she narrowed her eyes.

Activating Tiamat's power, she focused it around her fingers before overlaying Allura's Sigil.

Slashing down with her finger, a vacuum began to form within the flames as Tiamat's power began absorbing the energy around them while Allura's Sigil reshaped the attack into a slash.

From these pillars of flames, several invisible slashes shot towards Jyn who had to quickly lean to the side as these blades bore into the pillars, creating deep crevices.

"Alright, I'll take that back gorilla. You're not half bad, I'll upgrade you from gorilla to lizard." Alice smiled, grabbing the nearest greatsword to her and hoisted it onto her back. She stood with one foot on a raised rock while she gathered energy using Tiamat's Sigil with her left hand.

However, her praise was unneeded as Jyn didn't care about what she called him.

What annoyed him the most was that he's actually unable to find a way to win despite beginning to use his Sigils! After countless battles as the guard of the Zenia family, he could instinctively tell when things begin to turn sour.

And the winds weren't turning in his favour at all!

Without hesitation, he activated his third Sigil into his fourth then fifth, overlaying them to enhance his first Resonance.

A spiral of flames erupted around his body, hiding his form from Alice as she simply watched with a smile.

"Seems like we're pulling out the big guns for this fight." Alice let out a low laugh.

Focusing her mind, she dragged the entire arena into her Absolute Zone!