Abyssal Awakening

After two more days, Gin finally returned from his shopping trip as he seemed annoyed by the difficulties of procuring such tools for this fight.

As he arrived at the training arena, he couldn't help but stare blankly at what he was seeing. Both Alice and Ria were paralysed on the floor unmoving while Allura was squatting over them.

". . ."

"Oh welcome back Gin. Did you get what I need?" Allura asked with a smile after noticing Gin's presence.

"Yes, I have them with me. Care to tell me what kind of training requires you to squat over the two of them?" Gin sighed, feeling a headache already from their shenanigans before she even started to explain.

"Well… For you see… I'll be honest I got nothing. We're pretty much just relaxing right now and I couldn't be bothered to stand up. I've been beatin- training them for 6 days now. They're more or less ready for the Blood Widow." Allura shrugged as she had a cigarette in her mouth.

Standing up, she burned the cigarette away with her flames before looking through the bag that Gin had brought.

Checking through the items, Allura nodded in satisfaction.

"I'm guessing you had to pull a few strings to get these. They're rather high quality." Allura remarked, giving Gin a small thumbs up.

"You don't say. When are you planning on starting this hunt? I'd like to remind you that things are looking like they can erupt at any moment now. On the way back it seems like the Neal evacuated most of the civilians to the underground shelters and ready to leave whenever in caravans." Gin asked as the timing was rather unfortunate.

"It's fine, we got enough time. Plus, I've already tracked down the location of the Blood Widow. It's actually pretty close to one of the entrances of the Howling Depths. We might even catch a glimpse of them coming to attack the city." Allura joked while closing the bag.

Shaking his head at her nonchalant behaviour, Gin could only sigh and follow behind. After all, her attitude came from the fact that she had enough power to single handedly stop everything.

"Alice! Your tools for this hunt has arrived. I'll give you 10 hours to familiarise yourself with them while we make our way to the hunting spot. In these 10 hours you are to get rested up as well and prepare yourself for the fight ahead." Allura called out while placing the bag next to Alice.

"Urg… What's in this bag?" Alice asked with a groan, forcing herself to sit up while wincing at the muscle pain all over her body.

"It's what I asked Gin to buy almost a week ago. Even I know asking you to kill the Blood Widow is a tall task, especially with just one Sigil. These should make the job easier but you needed the skills and reaction to use them first, hence the training that we did. The first item is a cape made from Crimson Silk." Allura explained while pulling out the first item.

It was a black and red cape with a hood and was large enough to cover Alice's entire body.

"Crimson Silk has a rather funny reaction when coming in contact with blood. Especially hardened blood. If a hardened spear of blood collides with this cape, it'll get turned back to liquid form and dispersed around you. However, the only downside is that this cape gets worn out quickly.

So if you just sit there and take everything that's thrown at you, you won't even be able to approach her before the cape is destroyed."

Hearing this, Alice nodded her head and understood that this Cape was for the attacks that she absolutely could not dodge as well as to protect her from a sudden attack she was not prepared for. A life line in other words.

"Second Item is Lunar Siren Abyss Blood. You remember the note I gave you yes? How she had three potential Sigils you could choose from. Well her third ability, [Succubus Song] is pretty much always activated. It's an ability that can be activated in a handful of different ways and it's going to be annoying to memorise all of them.

Hence the easiest option is for you to drink Lunar Siren Blood before you start the fight. It's a relatively high quality Abyss Blood with the effects of making you immune to hypnotic abilities that will result in you being charmed."

"And the downside?" Alice asked, understanding that every type of Abyss Blood has its side effects.

"Side effects are… rather negligible if you give it some time. It essentially makes you very outgoing, flirty with a side of killing whoever you flirt with. That's the mental side effects. Physical side effects are a constant thirst for water and feeling as though your insides are being dried up. A single vial should last you the whole fight but there's two in here so keep the last one as backup.

Side effects should go away in a few hours." Allura explained before turning to the last item.

"Final item is the most important. Scarlet Powder. Answer me this, what is the Blood Widow's most powerful asset?" Allura asked with a smile.

"Her blood?"

"Bingo. Scalet powder makes it so that blood is forced to coagulate into this weird slim that becomes very hard to control. If things get too overwhelming, throw one of these bombs near where most of the blood flowers are gathered and you'll notice a needles and spears losing their velocity and range.

The main use of these bombs are for the walls and shields she puts around herself when she's in danger. Use this to give yourself an opening during the fight."

Looking at these three tools that Allura had prepared for her, Alice couldn't help but admire her preparation for this Hunt.

All of these tools are prepared in order to shut off the Blood Widow's most powerful weapons and make her more manageable even for a one Sigil bearer like herself.

"How much did all of this cost?" Alice couldn't help but ask as Allura turned to Gin.

"A lot. That's all you need to know. Scarlet powder is a rather important commodity for Hunters who specialise in bounty hunting. Since spreading it through the air will make the blood vials exposed to the dust lose their effectiveness.

If Hunters can inject this powder into their prey's body, their blood will forcefully clog up their system and if not dealt with immediately, they'll die." Gin shrugged while taking a drink from his flask.

"Wha…" Blinking her eyes, Alice couldn't help but look down at everything she's received thus far. The outfit, the gloves, weapon and now these three tools.

"Don't think too much about it. It's to set up a good foundation for you. As long as you remember not to rely on tools in the future then all is good. The start of a Hunter's career is the hardest. Once you have your Sigils set up, life will become easier for you." Allura patted Alice's head before standing up.

"Don't drop your guard because you have these items. They're here so that you actually have a fighting chance against the Blood Widow. Even with these items, you can still be killed in a blink of an eye." Gin warned as Alice nodded her head nervously.

Meanwhile, Ria refrained from correcting Gin despite knowing that her grandfather was exaggerating. It was just so that Alice would be more careful in this fight due to the dangers.

With all of these items, Alice's chance of survival had been boosted by a large margin.

"I already have a driver arranged for our trip. It's going to take us half a day to get there so use this time wisely." Allura smiled as she helped both Alice and Ria back on their feet.

Taking this time to stock up on some healing blood that Alice would need along with her own blood vials, they found the driver that Allura had hired and left the city.

Their destination was a place called the Marble Forest. As its name suggest, the forest looks as though it was created from marble due to the fact that every single tree was pure white. Their leaves were a deep red, contracting the colourless nature of the land.

"Most of the beasts there are flying types with a few exceptions. The Blood Widow being one of them. Folk tales suggest that the Blood Widows go there to relive their wedding day before they lost their husband." Allura explained as Ria remembered something.

"Wasn't there a story about what you should do?" Ria asked as she remembered hearing some tales during her walks through the different cities.

"Yes. The story goes roughly like this. If you happen to meet a widow dressed in black amidst a world of red, sing your praises and celebrate life. For when the wedding bells toll, death will arrive." Allura chuckled.

"Why are all these stories so grim? Wasn't the story about the Spectral Maiden the same?" Alice asked with a slight frown.

"Don't ask me, I wasn't the one who made them." Allura shrugged.

"Though then again, where there's smoke there's fire. These stories aren't just the ramblings of old folk you know, some contain truth of the matter." Allura chuckled cryptically, not wanting to go into detail regarding what she said while Gin simply drank from his flask while keeping an eye out.

He had long gotten used to Allura's shenanigans and learned to not worry himself over everything she says.

Unsure of what to make of this, Ria and Alice looked at one another and shrugged before getting as much rest as they could. When they wake up, they would've arrived at their location and the hunt will begin.

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