Abyssal Awakening

From within this torrent of flames, red thorns pierced out once more as Alice tried to parry it to the side only for the thorn to stab into her arm.

"Tsk!" Clicking her tongue, Alice slashes the thorn using her sword before jumping back.

She could feel it pulsing within her flesh as the Arachne glanced towards her and flicked her finger.

*CRACK!!!

Widening her eyes, Alice glanced down and saw the thorn piercing out of her arm and growing at a rapid pace.

Without any hesitation, she conjured a blade and stabbed it into her shoulder before cutting off her arm.

Activating her second Sigil, red spider lilies blossomed from her flesh as bones began to reconstruct itself followed by tendons, veins, flesh then skin.

Clenching her fist, Alice ducked under another strike as red thorns threatened to pierce her eye.

Leaning her head to the side, the thorn scratched her cheek as she gathered her energy and fired a Void Flux at point blank.

*BANG!!!

Crashing against the Arachne's chest, Alice watched as she stumbled back a few steps but was mostly unharmed.

'How tough is this b*tch?!' She cursed inwardly while creating a blood blade.

Taking a deep breath, she released a horizontal slash.

Void Flux – Cleave!

*KRRR!!!!

Colliding against the Arachne's scythe like leg, the slash struggled to maintain form before dispersing in a firework of sparks.

Seeing this, Alice's smile twitched as she felt a chill down her back and rolled to the side.

*BANG!!!

A pillar of thorns erupted where she stood as she immediately got to her feet and circled around the beast.

Thorns continuously stabbed up from the ground as she couldn't afford to get hit in a bad spot. After all, doing so means the thorns would explode from the wound! Even with her regeneration, there was a limit to how much damage she could take before she straight up dies and Alice wasn't willing to f*ck around and find out.

Jumping into the air, she narrowed her gaze and threw two daggers towards the beast.

Both were knocked aside as she created a blood mirror behind her.

Seeing this pattern before, she swung towards the daggers only for Alice to grin.

What was teleported wasn't herself but rather two condensed orbs of Void Flux!

*BANG!!!

Watching the beast engulfed in an explosion of violet flames, Alice felt excited for a moment before that feeling was quenched by disbelief.

Even with her violet flames that burned against the flesh of beasts and used it as fuel, the Arachne walked through the flames as though it was nothing. Flames latched onto its flesh yet it showed no reaction and soon, pieces of her body began to fall off, taking the flames with them.

'She's regenerating all the wounds caused by the flames.' Alyss frowned, seeing how potent the regeneration was.

'Ya don't say.'

She was forcefully expelling pieces of her flesh and letting it take the fire with them. Making it very difficult for her flames to hinder this healing.

Narrowing her gaze, Alice wondered if using her first Resonance would help solve the issue.

Dispelling her blade, she gathered energy into her finger before firing a blast at the beast's head.

Swatting it to the side, the beast expected Alice to follow up the attack when she noticed Alice running away at top speed.

'Wait we're just running?!' Alyss widened her eyes as Cayla let out a laugh.

'Of course I am. Take a step back so I can take 2 steps forward. I need to figure out a way to get past that defence and regeneration otherwise how the hell am I supposed to kill this b*tch?' Alice rolled her eyes, jumping over a log while creating a small bundle of flames to hover around her.

These flames helped illuminate the threads as she navigated back to the main road.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like the Arachne was following her as Alice sighed out in relief.

But her relief was short lived as she noticed a single thread attached to her clothing.

"You've got to be shitting me…" Alice muttered as she was suddenly tugged with an overwhelming force that sent her into the air.

Gritting her teeth from dislocating her shoulder, Alice glanced down and saw the Arachne holding the thread with a menacing grin.

'F*ck it, we're killing this b*tch here and now! Cayla anything I need to be careful of?' Alice shouted out in her mind as she created a blade coated with violet flames and slashed the thread apart.

[Watch out for her berserk state. All of her attacks will shoot out with increased intensity but her defences SHOULD drop. Don't count on it though since it's an abnormal Arachne with a surprisingly high toughness. Once the berserk ends, she'll be back to normal.] Cayla warned as Alice nodded her head.

Closing her eye, she opened it to reveal the pattern of a Red Spider Lily!

First Resonance!

Her form shifted as she swiped with her hand, creating a cascade of red spider lilies that rained down on upon the beast.

The roots of the flower dug into the gaps of the beast as it recognised the danger and tried to pull the flowers out but Alice intervened.

Landing in front of the beast, she created a dagger and stabbed towards the abdomen.

*BANG!!!

Blocking it with its limbs, the Arachne growled at Alice who stuck out her tongue before jumping back, exploding the dagger into blood mist.

Snapping her finger, red spider lilies began to blossom from the mist.

Little by little, cracks began to form across the beast's body. From these cracks, red spider lilies took root and began to blossom!

"You inhaled the mist didn't you~" Alice grinned as she created another sword in her hand.

Realising the implications, the beast wanted to purge the mist but it was too late. From its back, flowers began to blossom as Alice rushed into its range.

Taking over, Alyss released several swipes against the back of the legs, making shallow cuts that allowed more lilies to take root before swapping back to Alice.

Creating a blood mirror, Alice used it as a shield to block the Arachne's strike, creating a gateway away from her.

Wanting to forcefully close the gateway, Alice clicked her tongue as the corners of the portal stopped around the legs, unable to sever it cleanly.

Jumping back, she expelled the leg from the gateway before dismissing the mirror then created a Void Flux above her finger in one movement.

It was the variant that she had used in the training room while she was practising with Kaden, one that focused on penetration power!

*BANG!!!

Firing the Void Flux into the abdominal area of the spider half, Alice watched as the spiralling strike clashed against the hard exterior, digging away at the chitinous armour but soon lost its momentum.

Creating a portal behind her, Alice leaned back and teleported away to safety as the beast tried to crush her with its weight.

'Seems like we can only go for the limbs. The shell is too hard for us to bypass.' Alice furrowed her brows, creating two daggers and letting Alyss take over.

Revealing a wide grin, Alyss let out a laugh as she dashed towards the beast who was recovering from the earlier attack.

Seeing Alice rush towards it, it released a scream before thorns erupted around it in a frenzy.

Weaving through the forest of thorns, Alyss stabbed the dagger into the back of the leg before using it as a foothold to jump up.

Creating a hook, she jammed it inside the beast's mouth before throwing her body over the shoulder and forcing the head back.

Creating a wire thread using blood and metal, Alyss wrapped it around the hook before switching with Alice who snapped her finger.

From the wire, red spider lilies began to blossom as the beast widened her eyes, biting the hook in half to prevent it from reaching her body.

But in doing so, Alice achieved her goal.

*CRACK!!!

From her neck, briar roots tore through the flesh as it intertwined with the beast's flesh. No matter how it tried to discard her flesh, the roots would take hold.

Now that she was in her Resonance form, Alice was glad that her control over her abilities had recovered to a certain extent, allowing her to achieve feats that would be in her standard form.

Narrowing her gaze, Alice knew this wasn't enough thus she prepared the next strike.

A standard blood weapon wouldn't be able to withstand her full power in a slash.

Therefore, Alice decided to draw blood directly from her body to create the weapon. A blade that held the full power of her blood.

Creating a cut on her palm, Alice rushed towards the beast while blood swirled into a single orb before extending into a guardless blade and handle.

Executioner's Blade!

Twisting her body, Alice released a horizontal slash aimed towards the limbs as the space began to collapse in on itself from the vacuum caused by the slash.

Collapsing under her own weight, the beast glanced down in shock as all of its legs were separated from the body!

Turning towards Alice, it wanted to release a final desperate attack but it was already too late.

*BANG!!!

A single violent downwards cleave at full speed cracked through the Arachne's collarbone, digging into her flesh and tearing her upper body in half.

Flickers of violet flame and red spider lilies began to grow from the wound, taking root and preventing the flesh from joining together.

Rolling onto the ground, the beast coughed up a mouthful of blood as she crawled away from Alice desperately with one arm. Unintelligible mutters could be heard as she dug her fingers against the dirt, reaching towards the orphanage.

Looking down with pity in her eyes, Alice took a deep breath before releasing one more slash, ending the life of the mutated Arachne who reached towards the building with her final breath.