Abyssal Awakening

Looking at the spire of flames and smoke in the distance, Egil was speechless. He has seen many warriors in his short lifetime but this was the first time he's seen such an oppressive firepower. From someone with fewer Sigils at that!

But with this kind of power, she'll have to wait a little before attacking again, right? RIGHT?

*Whistle~

"A little off target since it's harder to make adjustments for warp points, not that too bad if I had to say so myself." Alice smiled.

If she had been using Allura's Sigil, it would've been a guaranteed hit without her needing to manipulate the warp points. But she couldn't keep relying on Allura's Sigil especially since her own Sigils have additional effects that help her out.

The more Sigils she gets, the riskier it'll be to replace them with unfamiliar ones. Example being her second Sigil. She cannot replace that unless absolutely necessary since all her attacks focus on utilising the passive benefits.

She had some leeway previously since she didn't possess a four, fifth or sixth Sigil. But now, she only had the leisure to replace one unless she wanted to get rid of her current Sigils. And if that were the case, only the first could be consistently replaced since the hallucinatory effects have a niche use.

Granted, the passive effect synergised well with her blood as it'll make it addicting and poisonous.

Regardless, there may be a time when this ability becomes sealed similar to what happened during the Inverted World so Alice needed to master her own Sigils.

"There's another watchtower along the defence line. Though it is being protected so let's see how sturdy their barrier is." Alice grinned, aiming her finger pistol towards the enemy as Egil froze up.

"Wait you can fire again?"

"Huh? Well duh, of course I can. It's my most basic attack after all." Alice tilted her head in confusion.

If she was using Allura's original Nova Core then maybe not. But Void Flux was adjusted with her in mind. With her current power, she could fire off her Void Flux's and even her Void Flux – Cleaves without much difficulty.

As for Egil, the words kept repeating in his ear.

"It's my most basic attack after all~"

This spark of raw destruction that obliterated a watchtower and anyone that might've been inside was her most basic attack???

Not only that, but if he recalled correctly, it seemed like her previous counterattack in the sky was made up of countless sparks.

If she was to shoot all of this towards the enemy then…

*Crack

Egil felt something breaking in his mind but he wasn't sure what it was.

All he knew was that he should begin reevaluating what he considered as powerful. After all, he had no confidence defending against a single spark never mind a full wave of them.

*BOOM!!!

While he was spacing out, Alice fired the second strike as the collision against the barrier exploded out. Flames and smoke climbed up the barrier but struggled to pierce through it much to Alice's surprise.

Rather than a constant barrier, it was one where the outer layer would constantly be replaced and dissipate, making it hard for her flames to latch on and eat through it.

Since that was the case, Alice needed something that could penetrate rather than damage over time.

Unlucky for the enemy, she had already thought of such possibilities in the past. Her training with Kaden produced a variant of Void Flux that could even destroy the training room that he was so proud of.

The Void Flux variant focused on penetration power thanks to absorbing the ambient energy and the energy of her target while using a spiralling motion. With this, it'll dig through the defences and detonate from within.

Just as Alice was about to resume her attack, she felt something lock onto her as she snapped her finger and created a shield with her shards.

*BANG!!!

In front of her, an arrow detonated into an explosion of lightning and flames yet the shard stood firm.

Previously, her Shard lacked the proper defensive capabilities due to her injuries. But now that she could circulate her energy once more? The Shard of Kara has restored its true defensive properties!

Dismissing the lightning and flames with a wave of her hand, Alice sent out a blood eye and spotted the archer from the other side.

A Sigil burned on the archer's eye as Alice understood it must be a ranged skill that lets her hit her target accurately.

If she didn't block with her Shard, that arrow would've hit her head.

"Not bad." Alice mouthed, knowing that the archer could see her.

Her taunt clearly worked as she could see the archer showing anger and annoyance before preparing a second glowing arrow.

"I'll go for a walk." Alice turned to Egil before walking towards no man's land.

"Huh?" Blinking his eyes, Egil was about to run after her but Alice shook her head and waved for him to just wait for now.

She wanted to see what kind of firepower the enemy could bring if she was to give them the chance to demonstrate their power.

###

"What the f*ck is wrong with this chick???" My commanding officer muttered as he watched my arrow get blocked by her attack.

This split haired girl that came out of nowhere took out a watchtower in one shot! Despite its defences, even if it wasn't within the barrier, it should've been able to block against strong external attacks.

Yet it was destroyed in one hit. If the officer hadn't ordered the barrier to be put on full power, that second attack would've breached the barrier and taken out the watchtower we were in!

Just thinking about it gave me a chill down my spine but that wasn't all. In response to my arrow, the girl had actually told me that it wasn't bad.

Could she have a Sigil like I do?

It wouldn't be surprising considering her accuracy but this power…

"Tsk, she must be a hidden weapon made by those barbarians in the north. Someone who focuses on taking out barriers. Otherwise, that wouldn't explain her firepower." The officer beside me theorised but I didn't think that was the case.

Her confidence and willingness to fire a second shot so quickly after the first meant that this wasn't strenuous for her. She isn't someone who focuses on taking out barriers. She's just simply strong.

"Prepare the second shot. I authorise the use of the thunder roaring arrow."

Nodding my head, I followed the orders I was given.

The thunder roaring arrow, an arrow that can even breach the defences of the strongest beasts. It's an arrow that gets stronger depending on the defences of the enemy.

Since she was able to block my first strike with a shield, the officer must've came to the conclusion that she wouldn't dodge.

Once again, I doubted his conclusion but I couldn't say anything. I'm just an archer that could be replaced at any time.

Pulling back on my bow, energy spiralled towards the tip of the arrow. I wasn't afraid of missing, I was simply afraid of what this woman would do.

*BANG!!!!

Firing the arrow, I watched as it began to speed up before disappearing.

Surely, she can't react to this kind of speed and power.

But my expectations fell flat as a screen leading to the infinite unknown appeared in front of her, swallowing the arrow before closing.

"You're kidding me…" I couldn't help but mutter.

Not only does she have the offensive power to destroy a watchtower easily and even threaten the barrier, but she also possesses a shield and the power to open up a gateway in order to swallow attacks.

How are we supposed to kill someone like this?

Snapping her fingers, I noticed her mouthing more words.

"Bye bye?"

Feeling a chill down my spine, I instinctively glanced up and saw a gateway open up for a second time.

"Ah…"

I finally understood. I was watching the approach of my death.

Scenes of my life flashed before my eyes as I recalled my happiest memory. The memory of drinking the soup cooked by my brother.

How nice… If only I could just drink it one more time…

###

*BOOM!!!!!

Watching the explosion in the distance, Alice couldn't help but whistle as her plan had worked.

Rather than having a Void flux that penetrated before detonating, she wanted to see if she could breach the barrier to leave a node behind. To mark down that coordinate before reopening the portal and allowing that attack to be returned to them.

Seeing as how it was a success, her knowledge of how the Void works improved once more as ideas flooded Alice's mind.

Of course, having her waltz out in the open attracted quite a lot of attention from both sides but she didn't care about that right now. This was the time for limit testing and a perfect place for her to go wild.

Countless attacks rained towards her but Alice simply raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

Portals leading to the Void opened up and swallowed the attacks.

She wanted to send them back but even for her, tracking where all of them came from was a little difficult and thus she simply let them fly around in the Void.

While Alice was preparing the perfect battlefield to test out her fifth Sigil, she didn't notice a pair of eyes locking onto her since there was a lot of attention placed on her.

"That rat…" Keria muttered as veins bulged on her neck.