Abyssal Awakening

Panting heavily, Ria was no longer smiling as she and Wess have been at a standstill. No matter how she approached him, he would always have attacks ready to ward her off.

On the other hand, Wess couldn't end the fight either as Ria was able to parry everything he threw at her.

They were in a stalemate with no cards left to play.

'I've already used up every trick I have up my sleeve. I don't know if he has any more tricks but I have to end it now.' Ria thought to herself as she was already running out of stamina. The fatigue of having lightning constantly surging through her body was now pilling up and even if her new technique allowed her to fight without issue, her own stamina was a limiting factor.

Taking a deep breath, Ria charged forth once more but this time she reduced the orbs she absorbed. Instead, planting them across the arena while parrying Wess's blade attacks.

"I can see what you're planning!" Wess shouted out while sending slashes to where she had planted the orbs, exploding them in the process.

"Tsk!" Clicking her tongue, Ria jumped back and gathered 3 orbs and aimed her finger towards Wess.

This was the same skill she had used against the Maiden of the Blood Moon when she was helping Alice.

Only this time, the power she was infusing into this shot was far weaker as she didn't have enough time to charge it as much as she wanted.

Narrowing her eyes, she fired a bolt of lightning towards Wess who managed to guard against it using his sword and parry it off to the side.

But Ria had planned for this.

With the shot having less power than intended, it made it easier for her to control the trajectory! Flicking her finger, the lightning arched up and crashed down on Wess who let out a cry of pain.

Feeling the lightning strip away his armour little by little, he understood that the durability of his resonance was running out and if he didn't do anything it was going to be his loss!

Twisting his body, he gritted his teeth and threw his sword towards Ria as the last of his resonance broke apart.

*BANG!!!

"Oh sh*!!!"

Unable to dodge the blade due to exhaustion and with her attention focused on the lightning, the blade slammed into her chest as blood was drawn.

Her body rolled across the ground as Alice jumped up in shock and ran into the arena with healing blood in hand.

Nivia was doing the same with Wess as both of them were out of commission from that last attack.

"I declare this spar is a tie!" Nivia shouted out while Alice was focused on feeding Ria the healing blood.

*COUGH!!

Choking on the blood momentarily, Ria's wounds started to heal up as she looked up and saw Alice's worried expression.

"Ah thank you. I'm guessing I lost then." Ria sighed but Alice shook her head.

"It was a draw. Wess is out of commission as well. If he didn't throw the sword at the last moment, you would've won this spar."

"The moment I let my guard down at the end means it's my loss. A win should be something I can walk away from." Ria smiled bitterly as she sat up.

"I don't think I can challenge anyone else ahaha. My own skills are lacking. Are you thinking of challenging some others?" Ria asked curiously since she knows that Alice didn't go all out.

However, to her surprise, Alice shook her head.

"I've learned plenty this time round. And even if I was to fight some others, I'm not sure if I can win without relying on the violet flames."

Hearing this, Ria understood that Alice wanted to keep her flames a secret if she could and doing more spars would only bring her trouble down the line.

"Alright. I'm pretty sure we finished Allura's assignment anyways. Well… You did. I got a loss." Ria laughed.

"I mean… It makes it one for one. Last time you won and I lost." Alice smiled, helping Ria to her feet while Ria agreed with her thoughts.

"Yeah, it makes us one for one now."

Explaining the situation to Neal, the three of them excused themselves from the training room as their goal for this visit had been achieved.

"I suppose you're satisfied now." Neal asked as Alice nodded her head.

"I'm sure you're disappointed with your tie but I would like to inform you that Wess was actually supposed to be an S grade student rather than an A grade. The only reason why he remains an A grade yet commands respect from the S grades is the fact that he remained behind to stay with his friends.

In terms of power, he is within the top 5 of the class." Neal explained, wanting to comfort Ria as he could tell that she was disappointed.

"I believe you are registered as a three Sigil user right?" Neal asked as Ria nodded her head.

"The power you showed already surpasses most three star Hunters. I'm not sure how Allura and Gin judges when you should get your fourth Sigil but personally, I think you should be ready for that step forward. That's just my thoughts though." Neal shrugged.

Compared to Allura and Gin, he was nothing but an ant in terms of power. But even he knows that Ria was touching the boundary between three and four Sigils.

If she had gotten a fourth and activated a resonance, that fight would've been over.

"Thank you. I'm waiting for Allura to give me the green light since she's been saying I'm not ready yet." Ria chuckled.

"Well from what I'm hearing seems like you did pretty well. I remember that Wess kid, he's pretty talented for his age." Allura's voice cut in as she appeared behind Neal with Gin in tow.

"GAH!!! What the f*ck!?" Ria shouted out as she jumped up in shock, not expecting Allura to appear the moment they mention her name.

"Seems like Alice won her fight and you drew with yours. If your opponent was Wess then Neal's right. You can start looking for your fourth Sigil now." Allura smiled while lighting up her cigarette.

"Alice, I'm assuming you went for a rematch with Chloe. How was it?" Allura asked, turning her gaze to Alice.

"It was… Well. I wouldn't say it was easy but I see what you mean now. I was too hasty before. If I stayed back and observed I would've seen the gaps in her defences."

"Good. Then you've learned from this fight. Let's go celebrate a little while I tell you about our next plans." Allura smiled, patting Alice's head while Gin did a second check up on Ria to make sure there weren't any injuries left over.

With Allura taking over and escorting the two away with Gin, Neal was left alone and feeling awkward as he shed an invisible tear.

'I'm still here.'

Shaking his head, he made his way back to his office to deal with the rest of his work.

###

While they were having food, Allura discussed the possibility of Ria's next Sigil.

"Have you reconsidered your choices for the fourth Sigil? Or are you going with your old choice?" Allura asked, curious as to what Ria wanted to choose.

Thinking to herself, Ria tapped her finger before opening her mouth.

"How possible. . . Would it be for me to challenge a 5 star hunt for my fourth Sigil?" Ria asked, surprising Gin as he dropped his fork out of shock.

"You realise what you are asking right?" Allura raised an eyebrow as Ria nodded her head.

"I do. I saw how Alice challenged the Maiden of the Blood Moon. I know it may be related to her. . . unusual abilities but I want to know if its possible for me to bridge the gap of two Sigils." Ria asked with determination in her eyes.

Staying silent for a moment, Allura tapped her finger against the table as the seconds flew by.

After what seemed like a century of silence, Allura opened her mouth.

"It's possible. But I don't think you understand. Difficulty does not mean better rewards. Some four star hunts will give you better Sigils than five star hunts. Your rewards for the struggles will not outweigh the risks, I promise you this.

I know that you can clear a five star hunt if the conditions line up which is why I'm recommending you carefully consider your options for four star hunts and go from there." Allura replied as Ria sighed softly before nodding her head.

"But if you really want to prove yourself, I have a hunt that I think will be suitable for you. It's classified as a four star beast but when a lightning user fights it, the difficulty spikes up to 5 stars and possibly more. As for the rewards… It's one of the best lightning based Sigils you can get within the second set of Sigils."

Hearing this, Ria's eyes lit up with an excited glint as she eagerly waited for the name of this beast.

"The beast I want you to Hunt down is one called the Storm Leviathan. A four star beast that can jump through lightning similar to what Alice demonstrated when she jumped through blood like it is a portal. Once you kill the Storm Leviathan, I want you to get the Sigil ability known as Lightning Ascent. With this, you'll be able to manifest yourself through your lightning and swap places.

You can turn parts of your body into lightning to dodge." Allura smiled as Alice couldn't hold back her curiosity and entered the realm of her mind.

Borrowing Cayla's power, she filtered through the beasts until the Storm Leviathan appeared before her.

A gargantuan beast towered over her with four metallic claws protruding from its body. Countless spikes that flickered with lighting decorated its back while several tentacles covered its lower half. Each with spikes and scales that pulsed with electricity.

Looking towards its head, six beady eyes glared down at Alice as she could feel a chill down her spine.

This behemoth of lightning, scales and pure wrath was Ria's target for her fourth Sigil.

A beast of terror.

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