Abyssal Awakening

Watching the flames dance from one corpse to another, Alice knew she had to stop this and soon. She could not let the flames grow any bigger or else she would not be able to control it anymore until it has destroyed everything around it.

Gritting her teeth, she exerted her control over the flames as an imaginary shackle locked around its neck, forcing it to halt in place.

Alice could feel a hateful glare directed towards her but she already knew her flame had its own temper.

Ignoring its glare, Alice started to gather the flames back towards herself. Lashing out wildly, the flames cried out in rebellion, seeking to fuel itself so that it could break out of Alice's control.

It felt as though she was wrangling a large untamed dragon with a simple rope and her tiny body was dragged away by its strength.

Gritting her teeth, Alice glared back at the flames before remembering what Allura had done during their training.

She recalled the way she controlled the flames and how she felt when her objective synced up with what the flame desired.

"Fine, if you want to show your power then so be it." Alice scoffed as released her control.

Seeing this, the flame was confused momentarily before happiness overtook it. Wanting to destroy the closest thing to it, it charged towards the fleeing figure of a beast.

However, its happiness was short as it could feel the direction of the charge being changed.

'!!!'

Behind it, Alice was channelling all of the flames towards the space between her hands.

She wasn't dragging the fire against its will. Instead, she allowed it to burn freely. All she did was turn the direction of its charge ever so slightly and worked with the flow.

'Envision the control that Allura demonstrated. How she gathered all the power into a single focused point.' Alice recited to herself as violet flames seemed to be sucked away by an invisible hole in the space between her palms.

In the distance, Allura stood up in a panic while Gin was shocked by her sudden movements.

"What the hell!? Did a rock get in your boots? What's going on?" Gin asked as she had almost pushed him off the roof.

"Alice is trying something stupid." Allura frowned.

"So just like you most of the time? Didn't you see what she was like during the fight with the Maiden? Like Master like student." Gin shrugged.

Smacking Gin on the head out of annoyance, Allura could see the movement of the flames.

The method was different but she understood what Alice was doing.

She was trying to replicate the skill she had developed after obtaining mastery over her own Sigils.

"So what's going on?" Gin asked, understanding that Allura was worried.

"She's trying to replicate my skill, Nova Core-"

"PFFF!!! WHAT ARE YOU STILL STANDING AROUND HERE FOR YOU MAD WOMAN!? GO STOP HER!!" Gin shouted in a panic after spitting out his drink.

The skill Nova Core was one that gathered all of the power from the user's surroundings, whether that be flames or something else, and condensed it into a single point. Without precise control, the process will collapse in on itself and despite looking correct, it will explode at the last moment, harming the user.

Usually, the user would not be harmed by their Sigil power but this was different. This was one that gathered power from all around them, including foreign powers.

When he was young and had reached the threshold of Abyss Lord, Gin had felt overconfident about his control and tried to replicate the Nova Core using his Death Mist. The result of which left him on the verge of death and changing the map of the Abyss. In the aftermath, a giant crater was created where almost no beast could survive.

Those that did mutated into something much stronger than their usual counterpart thus named the Hell's Basin.

"…" Staying silent, Allura didn't reply to Gin and only observed the situation.

"Talk to me dammit! We have to stop her unless you want her to blow herself up!" Gin shouted in frustration.

Even though he was used to Allura's antics, it had only gotten worse after they met Alice. The amount of danger he had seen them get into while Allura only watched was far too many!

"I… I think she's actually doing it." Allura muttered, blinking her eyes in disbelief.

"Huh?????" Questioning what he had just heard, Gin blinked his eyes before looking towards Alice's direction. He could see the flow of power gathering between her hands and despite the potency of the flames that surrounded her along with numerous powers belonging to the beasts, she was not struggling.

'Is it because the flames cancel out the powers of the Abyss? The two sources of power are neutralising each other right now in a delicate balance.' Allura thought with a frown.

While the end result will be the same, Alice had essentially created a new process to invoke the skill Nova Core.

'Sh*t! She can't handle anymore!' Widening her eyes, Allura could see the struggle appearing on Alice's face.

Even if the powers are balancing each other out, it didn't mean her body could withstand such pressure!

Rushing out, Allura transformed into a burst of flames and appeared by Alice's side.

"That's enough. Focus your aim, fire the Nova Core and funnel the rest of the power into propelling the blast." Allura instructed, wanting Alice to use this chance to improve her control.

Surprised by Allura's sudden appearance, Alice focused her mind and nodded her head.

Her target was going to be the sky above them!

Gritting her teeth, she leaned back slightly and aimed the unstable orb of fluctuating light above her and relinquished her control, firing the spark that was propelled by a trail of violet flames.

The spark dyed the entire battlefield in a white radiance as every Hunter and beast halted their movements momentarily, distracted by the appearance of the spark.

Within that silence, the spark detonated 300 meters above the ground.

*BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A stellar flare containing a myriad of colours burst forth as sparks of light scattered around the battlefield as though it was tiny stars in the sky. A swirl of vibrant purple and bright crimson webbed out before collapsing in on itself once more, sending out waves upon waves of violet shockwaves that knocked man and beast alike off their feet.

Staring at this phenomenon, Allura could already tell that it was no longer the same skill as her Nova Core.

Turning her attention away from the explosion, Allura looked at Alice and sighed in relief seeing that she didn't harm herself with that attack.

"You're gonna feel a little sore tomorrow since your body can't handle this much power. It seems like you somewhat understand how you should control these flames but remember to be careful." Allura warned as Alice nodded her head.

"But overall, it wasn't bad kid. I'm surprised you actually managed to recreate my skill." Allura chuckled while patting Alice on the head.

"It was the only way I could've stopped the fire from spreading. But I found out that if I use small amounts and target it at beasts, it's more likely to listen to my commands." Alice smiled, feeling happy about the praise she got from Allura.

"Try to limit it and see what it can do with your first Sigil. And remember, think outside the box. If nothing happens don't worry since you're still making plenty of progress." Allura smiled as she gave Alice one last pat on the head before disappearing.

Taking a deep breath, Alice looked up at the lingering effects of the skill before retrieving the remnants of the violet flame.

Tiny sparks of purple danced into her palms as she could tell the flame had been weakened. Unless she activates her skill, it will fizzle out and disappear.

'Without beasts or humans with Sigils to fuel itself, the fire disappears. But if it can latch onto a source of power, it'll produce a power far greater than what I can accomplish.' Alice thought to herself, remembering the power brought forth by the Nova Core.

She glanced at the army of beasts still advancing towards the city.

Despite the large number, a large portion of the beasts had been dispatched already as Neal had his Hunters fire off a barrage of long-range skills.

In such a large battle, individual prowess no longer mattered unless you had the power to change the flow of battle in one fell swoop.

Everyone was fodder that could be killed by a stray blast.

Shaking her head, Alice activated her first Sigil. There was one last skill she wanted to test out. If this succeeds, it'll confirm her thoughts regarding the nature of her second Sigil.

Reopening her wounds, she scattered her blood into the air before using the power of the Maiden to spread the blood as far as she could.

Ignoring the headache, Alice knew that she couldn't keep burning her blood with her violet flames. If she did, she'd run low and suffer the consequences of blood loss.

Watching the fumes spread out, she could sense a faint connection that allowed her to spread the fumes out.

Snapping her finger, small sparks could be seen in the air but after doing so, the effects of her blood disappeared.

'I can set the fumes on fire but if I do, the effects disappear. I don't know how much damage I can actually do with them but I doubt this is how I want to use my power…' Alice frowned.

However, just as she was about to dismiss the synergy between her first and second Sigil, a thought appeared in her mind.

'If I can set my blood on fire whenever I want to cancel Abyss powers, does that mean my blood can passively reduce the influence of the Abyss?'

Similar to her first Sigil, she imagined it as a passive and active effect. The active would be to burn away power while the passive may be reducing the effectiveness.

With this thought in mind, she narrowed her eyes towards one of the beasts that was approaching her.

"A perfect target." Alice smiled as her first Sigil manifested on her arm.

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