Abyssal Awakening

Taking a step back, Alice began to sweat as she tried her best to parry the attacks sent by the statues.

Each slash and stab of their weapon would send her tumbling back.

What's more, was that they were able to use her powers to some extent!

The first two statues would enhance their attacks using the same blood power that Alice had manifested while the second tried to limit her movements using metal cages.

Now that she was facing opponents who were using her powers, Alice couldn't help but click her tongue in anger!

'I can't use any of my other abilities without the risk of them being 'stolen' too. There are other statues who are dormant for now and Rita is nowhere to be seen.' Alice narrowed her eyes, creating a blood shield to parry the sword strike to the side.

However, her shield wasn't able to hold up as the blade tore off a chunk of her arm.

Jumping back, the flesh began to pulse and heal itself as Alice decided to run towards the statues in hopes of using them as cover.

But before she could, a spear shot out from the darkness, forcing her to bend her body back just in time to avoid a fatal blow.

Going into a handstand, Alice twisted her body and kicked the spear away while Rita disappeared back into the darkness.

'Annoying b*tch!' Alice thought to herself while she rolled to the side, avoiding the statue's attack.

Most of the second Resonances that she's seen thus far had all been personal realms that bolster the individual power. However, for Rita, her realm was one that siphoned her opponent's strength into these statues.

Narrowing her gaze at the statues, Alice decided that she had to deal with them first if she wanted to survive. And if that didn't work then her final option would be to forcefully expel herself using her fourth Sigil. But doing so was risky.

After all, if she's not fast enough, her strongest Sigil in terms of survivability would be stolen from her!

'ALICE!!!'

Flinching at the shout, Alice glanced at Alyss in a mix of surprise and confusion.

'F*cking hell you've finally calmed down enough to hear me.' Alyss clicked her tongue in annoyance.

This gap in concentration was enough for the statues to rush towards her but Alyss stole control from Alice and dodged the strike.

'I'm still fighting!' Alice frowned but Alyss ignored her.

Furrowing her brows, Alice wanted to say something when Cayla grabbed her arm.

[O' master mine, this is how Alyss had felt when you ignored all of our shouts earlier. We wanted to tell you information regarding these statues but you didn't listen.] Cayla shook her head as Alice paused.

She knew that they were trying to say something but as they said, she kept ignoring it.

Seeing as how Alyss was holding her own against these statues despite them stealing their power, Alice nodded her head and turned to Cayla.

[The Dragon Slayer statues aren't something unique to Rita as she's based it on the remanent of an old clan that used to fight dragons on a daily basis within the Abyss. After the fall of Ayr, the civilians belonging to the city split apart and formed clans, villages and cities by themselves.

[One of the oldest of which focused on holding back dragons and thus creating the Dragon Slayer Statues. Statues that could siphon the power of dragons from the beasts and use it against them.

But even with them stealing the power, they couldn't hold up against the strength granted to them by the bloodline awakening that was gifted to all dragons from Tiamat.] Cayla explained as Alyss gritted her teeth and activated her Partial Bloodline Awakening.

*BANG!!!

Slamming her fist against the statue's weapon, she was forced back but managed to hold her own, even if it was brief.

[However, if you manage to damage them, the power will begin leaking back to you.] Cayla smiled as Alyss slammed her hand against the ground.

Flames roared out around her as more statues awakened to siphon the ability but Alyss began to grin.

Since her flames are considered a countermeasure against the Abyss, if they don't have a body that can handle these flames, they can dream on if they wanted it!

*CRACK!!!

The newly awakened statues began to crack apart as flames burst out from their chest.

"That's what I'm f*cking talking about!!!" Alyss let out a laugh as power returned to her.

Cracking her neck, she coated her hand with the flame as she flickered in front of the statue.

Pulling her arm back, she created a Void Flux behind her but it was less skillful compared to Alice. But that was fine since she achieved her goal!

*BANG!!!

Slamming her fist into the statue's head, she detonated a spark at the contact point, destroying the head in one go as the newly awoken statue slumped onto its knee.

Looking at the five statues that were beginning to surround her, Alyss cracked her knuckle while Rita watched from the shadow in shock.

'She's actually able to destroy these statues with her power?! What Sigil even is that???'

Sweat dripped from her head but it wasn't over yet. There was still a chance at victory even if she was to destroy all of these statues!

Meanwhile, now that Alyss could use her flames, she began to fight back.

The main thing was to unlock her flames fully by destroying the fifth statue but the other four were blocking her way with a mix of blood and metal.

"Annoying!"

Converging the flames between her palms, Alyss slammed her hand down, releasing a pulse of purple flames that latched onto the statues but struggled to damage them.

Unlike the sixth statue that died from having her power burst out from the inside, the fifth statue was trying its best to hold onto this power.

'Let me take over now, I know what to do.' Alice smiled as Alyss clicked her tongue.

'Fine, but if we're talking to you don't ignore it next time.' She pouted as Alice apologised with a smile.

Giving control back to Alice, the chains faded away as Alice revealed a confident smile.

Closing her eye, she began to dodge the strikes while gathering power.

Upon opening her eye, the pattern of the spider lily could be seen.

First Resonance!

The pattern of the red spider lily appeared on her face stretching down her body as her outfit transformed as well. Two more weapons hummed in an attempt to siphon her ability but before they could even reach the statue, they cracked apart to reveal the roots of the spider lily spreading through the stone!

Seeing the weapons beginning to blossom while she maintained full control over her first resonance, Alice smiled and created a blade with blood and metal.

While the weapon was of low quality due to the statues still being undamaged, she reinforced its structure with the briar thorns of her spider lily.

Breathing out heavily, she focused her gaze and twisted her body.

Void Flux – Cleave!

Much like how the statues focused on siphoning abilities, this variant of the Void Flux harnessed the properties of her spider lilies and siphoned the durability/lifeforce of the target!

The phantom slash phased through the statues without leaving a single mark. But where a mark should be left lilies began to bloom.

Raising her hand towards the statues, Alice snapped her finger.

*BANG!!! CRACK!!!

Bursting out with violet flames, the lilies forcefully pulled the statues apart as all of them crumbled in front of her.

Feeling her power return to her body, Alice massaged her shoulder with a smile on her face while Rita could only tremble at this sight.

To her, this was an impossible situation. A Sigil so potent that her statues broke upon trying to absorb it and then subsequently, she was able to destroy all of the statues at once with that same power?

"Impossible!" Letting out a shout, Rita stabbed towards Alice from the darkness as she had lost her composure upon seeing this demonstration of power.

"Gotcha." Alice grinned, ducking under the strike as she grabbed Rita's arm and slammed her into the ground.

Coughing out a mouthful of blood from the impact, Rita fired another spear at Alice who dodged at the last moment before sending a punch towards Rita's face, breaking her nose.

Gnashing her teeth in anger, Rita unleashed a circle of spears around her, ignoring the damage done to her own body as Alice was forced to jump away from the sheer volume of spears.

Pulling herself back onto her feet while blood poured from her wounds, Rita glared at Alice before pulling out a vial from her pouch and poured the contents into her mouth.

Swallowing the blood, purple veins bulged around her body as the statues began to tremble.

Shattering into dust, the dust began to converge around Rita as it formed a layer of stone around her.

Breaking out of the stone, Rita revealed her new form.

Second Resonance Stage Two – The Last Dragon Slayer.

Black obsidian armour surrounded Rita's body as she wore a helmet with a set of draconic horns and crimson scars that resembled the eyes. Spiked plating covered her entire body, leaving nothing exposed while draconic wings unfurled behind her along with a spiked tail that slammed against the ground.

In her hand, she held a single spear that sent a chill down Alice's spine while Cayla furrowed her brows.

[I… Have no information about this form nor can I search for information now that I'm sealed. My apologies o'master mine.]

'Don't worry about it.' Alice reassured as she took a deep breath and created a blade in her hand. Taking an offensive stance against Rita, she prepared for the worst.