Abyssal Awakening

'Ah… How long has it been…' Alice thought to herself, unable to muster any strength in her body.

She could see the blurred figure of Jyn approaching her while both Alyss and Cayla shouted in her ears but she couldn't hear them properly.

Their shouts simply acted as noise as Alice felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her. As if she could just close her eyes and let go of everything.

###

"Papa!" A familiar voice sounded out as Alice slowly opened her eyes.

She noticed a familiar hallway, familiar butlers and maids. A familiar landscape and a familiar figure in front of her with a soft smile.

"Alice." He called out gently as a young Alice ran into his arms with a happy smile.

"Did you listen to Mama's instructions today?" He asked, patting her head while lifting her up with his arms.

"Mnm! I did! I left my picture with Mama, let me show you." Young Alice revealed a wide smile while the patriarch of the Zenia family showed the same warmth back. A sincere smile.

Alice watched in disgust.

She glared at her father, the patriarch and the one who ordered her torture. To think he could show this kind of face disgusted Alice as she wanted nothing but to sever his head here and now.

To think the very same man who ordered such a cruel fate to his daughter would be able to show this kind of smile.

Her vision flickered once more as she was shown a scene after her birthday.

The haggard sight of her father approaching her hesitantly as she sat in her own room, playing with her toys.

". . . A-Alice." Her father called out as young Alice turned around happily.

"Papa!" She cried out, running towards him but this time, he didn't open his arms.

He simply allowed her to hug his leg while staring at her with conflicted emotions in his eyes.

"Do you remember Mama?" He asked, clenching his fist as young Alice tilted her head.

"Mama? Of course I remember Mama. She gave me something super tasty for my birthday right? Mnm… I wish Mama would give me that food more often." Young Alice revealed a smile as her father trembled at the reply.

"Alright. I'll tell Mama, you play with yourself for now okay?" He forced a smile, leaving her in the room before locking the door.

Slumping against the wall, he covered his face with his hands before taking deep breaths to compose himself.

Revealing a set of hostile eyes behind those fingers, he opened his mouth.

"Begin the experiments. I don't care anymore, just get as much value from her as you can." He ordered while Alice stood face to face with him, observing the expression on her father's face.

Within the fatigue in his eyes burned the flames of hatred as Alice simply stared at him.

###

"Ya know… I'm glad."

Approaching Alice's body, Jyn froze up upon hearing her voice. He was sure he landed a rather heavy blow against her during the surprise attack. One that would've killed most Hunters, but she was able to talk?

"I'd glad that you Zenia's is the same. That you're irredeemable trash. If it had been otherwise, I might've hesitated a little. But now that I know you're not uninvolved…" Alice trailed off as she pulled herself from the rubble and limped to her feet.

Blood dripped from her head, covering a part of her vision and rolling down the side of her cheek.

She understood that Alyss and Cayla were talking into her ear right now but she couldn't understand their words. Rather, it felt as though she was subconsciously filtering them out.

Her only focus was the man in front of her!

"!!!" Taking a step back and raising his blade in front of him, Jyn began to sweat as for a moment, he felt as though he was standing in front of something truly abnormal.

Every cell within his body screamed at him to run while her glare rooted him in place.

Even though he should have the upper hand, even though she was injured with her body desperately trying its best to piece itself together, Jyn didn't think he could win.

'Me? Think that I can't win? Bullsh*t!'

Without hesitation, he activated his first Resonance but Alice was already prepared as she's seen this many times by now.

Red spider lilies blossomed by her blood as she rushed towards Jyn who was surprised that she was taking the initiative. Just as he was about to parry her haphazard strike, he noticed the insane glimmer in her eyes as she twisted her body and threw her left arm at him!

She forcefully tore off the piece of her that was struggling to regenerate and threw it towards him as a weapon.

Smacking the arm aside with the face of his blade, he glanced up in shock as Alice had already regenerated her wounds. In her hand, she held a single blood dagger and stabbed towards his eyes.

*BANG!!!

Releasing a torrent of flames around him to ward her off, Jyn's composure was shattered when he noticed blood threads connecting to his armour.

From the flames, Alice crawled out while spider lilies and violet flames flickered across her body, fighting against the torrent of fire released by Jyn.

Revealing a maniacal grin, flames began to gather between them.

"Sh*t!" Cursing out loud, Jyn separated the thread connected to him and wanted to jump away but Alice had already detonated the Void Flux, causing a spiral of violet flames to erupt into the sky, startling Rita as she paused her work.

Furrowing her brows, she could see both Jyn and Alice being swept up by the flames.

Just when she thought it was going to be okay, a blood mirror appeared in front of Jyn's eyes as Alice reached through and gouged them out!

Plating two Void Flux's into his skull through the eye sockets, Alice grinned and leaned back.

*BANG!!!

The upper half of Jyn's head exploded as pieces of it rained down from above, covered by a layer of lilies and flames.

Widening her eyes, Rita didn't think Jyn would be done in so quickly as Alice revealed her body that was burnt and charred in the flame.

Yet by manually removing parts of her body that were damaged like the Arachne, she began to regenerate.

"One down~ One to go." Alice grinned, grabbing Jyn's body by the collar and lifting it in front of her.

Opening her mouth, she bit down on his neck!!!

Temporary six Sigils!

"Ah~ That's the sh*t. Come on! You're next!" Alice let out a laugh, rushing towards Rita who activated her first Resonance and revealed a set of draconic features much like Jyn.

However, compared to him, her speed was far greater!

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Alice's voice rang out as she created a blood mirror and jammed her hand inside.

Confused by this, Rita was about to counter when she slammed against Alice's hand choking her heck.

Without hesitation, Alice threw it into the ground before plunging down from above.

From the mist, a large wing spear pierced out, stabbing Alice in the abdominal area before tossing her away.

Rolling across the ground while spreading her blood everywhere, Alice stood up and healed the wound within moments.

Looking at Rita who glared at her from the dust, Alice revealed a grin and prepared a second attack.

However, now that she knew escaping was going to be difficult, Rita decided to go on the offensive.

Her speed didn't apply just to her movement but also to her attacks!

Feeling a chill down her spine, Alice wanted to duck down when another spear pierced her through.

Before it could try to tear her head off, Alice gritted her teeth and punched the side of the spear, gathering Tiamat's power as her fifth Sigil, Alice broke the spear in half and pulled it out, healing the wound on her neck.

However, Rita's onslaught didn't end there as more spears shot towards her. Creating a blade from metal and blood, Alice tried her best to expand her Zone but the edge was unstable. Parrying two spears, the third jabbed into her shoulder while the fourth severed her right arm.

The fifth pinned her foot against the ground and finally, the sixth was inches away from piercing her in the centre of the face when she barely managed to tilt her head to the side, letting it take her ear rather than her entire head.

Taking several deep breaths, Alice could feel the flesh on her body twist and pulse, stitching itself back together but it was already slower than what it was originally and Rita didn't fail to catch that either.

Without wasting any more words on Alice, she fired off spears while activating her sixth Sigil.

Each of the spears that she had fired began to tremble as Alice felt a chill in her heart.

*BANG!!!

Trusting this chill, Alice teleported herself away just in time to see the spears around her burst in a manner similar to how her spider lilies took root inside the Arachne's body. If she allowed that to hit her, her regeneration would be hindered.

"That teleportation ability. You rely on it too much. I just need to see the mirror to know where you are." Rita's voice rang out behind Alice.

Turning back just in time, Alice watched as she clasped her hands together.

Second Resonance – Dragon Slayer Mausoleum!

At that moment, Alice found herself surrounded by countless tombs with an assortment of weapons stabbed in front of each tombstone.

But the tombstones weren't the only things here. Large stone statues similar to the statues she saw in the Hall of Champions. Hung down from the ceiling was a chandelier housing 12 flickering flames.

One for each statue.

Unable to sense where Rita was, Alice wanted to use her blood to map out the area when two weapons lit up the moment she activated her Sigil.

Jumping out from the ground, the weapons stabbed towards their respective statue and it began to move!

Furrowing her brows, Alice noticed her control of blood had been reduced to the bare minimum as the statues began to run towards her. A hypothesis began to form as Alice widened her eye, and decided to take a gamble.

Activating her third Sigil, metal began to form. Once again, two weapons lit up, flying to their owners and Alice's control was reduced to the bare minimum.

She was right. Every time she used a Sigil power, the statues that awaken will act as a limiter!