Abyssal Awakening

The sounds of swords clashing against 'metal' could be heard as the Swordsman struggled to close the gap between him and Alice.

Each of the briars was reinforced by a layer of metal, preventing them from being cut easily.

The Shield vanguard was occupied with keeping the healer safe since there were far more attacks targeting her than the others.

Above the trees, the archer tried to land some sneak attacks but with Alice already locking down on his location, it was hard for any of his attacks to breach the gap between the thorns.

The Scout was constantly trying to find a time to jump in but Alice didn't drop her guard. There was always a briar thorn pointed at where he was, making it impossible for him to just attack recklessly.

'The Healer doesn't seem to have any useful offensive skills at this moment, all she can do is sit back and watch everything happen. The vanguard is busy protecting her while the Swordsman doesn't have any buffs or useful skills to get past the briar thorns. The archer can't land a hit and the scout is too slow and can't hide his presence.' Alice thought to herself as the results of this fight were clear as day for anyone to see.

With their confidence and determination, Alice had at least expected them to give her a little surprise. The bar for her expectations wasn't set high yet they still failed to match it.

And she was looking forward to potentially learning something from them as well. After all, they broke down the strong points of the Ebonfrost Warden one by one until the six star beast fell to their attacks.

With that kind of teamwork, Alice wanted to see how they would identify her weaknesses.

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Alice stood up and dismissed the throne.

Seeing this, they all went on guard as it was clear that Alice was about to make a move.

Raising her hand, Alice snapped her fingers as a blood mirror appeared beneath all of them, causing them to lose their footing.

Falling through the Void and then being spat back out into the real world, they saw that they were now on the floor in front of Alice.

She aimed her finger at them with a small spark dancing above her finger.

"Bang~ and you're dead." Alice spoke in a bored tone before flicking her hand, causing the Void Flux to disappear.

The briar thorns and spider lilies withered away and disappeared as though they were never there.

"Being able to judge whether or not something or someone is too strong for your current level is a skill in itself. After that comes retreating. Growing stronger is good but having a way to escape means you get to live another day. By living another day, you'll be able to get stronger." That was the best tip that Alice could give them.

This was also the mistake she made during the fight against the Doctor. She misjudged his power and exhausted herself trying in futility to kill him. If she had focused on escaping, she wouldn't need to owe Eryn the debt of saving her.

Plus, if she really wanted to run, there were a lot of methods available to her. Including the option of going into the Void and cashing in her favour with Feris to either kill the Doctor or escape.

Though she wanted to kill the Doctor herself with her own hands if possible.

Without waiting for their reply, Alice made her way back to the camp and sat down, enjoying a bit of mead.

###

After the fight, the guards didn't bother her anymore as they seemed to be contemplating what else they could've done against Alice.

However, it was simply the raw difference in strength that prevented the use of strategies.

With their current skill set, no matter how much they strategized, Alice would break it apart with power. That was a variable that they had to take account of.

The same applied to her.

The difference in power between her and the Doctor was simply too wide right now. She didn't have a method that would allow her to reach him and kill him.

'Let's think about something more useful for my sixth Sigil. My fifth Sigil is good but I can't get much practice with it without just risking being exiled. Honestly, I'm beginning to think it's a bit of a mistake.' Alice sighed.

'Even if it is, we'll have to just live with it. The exile part is annoying to work around but you can't deny the benefits this Sigil gives. Not only does it slowly strip away your opponent's ability to use their energy, but it also gives you extra energy to use. Just that alone allows you to spam your heavy hitting hits like it's nothing.' Alyss reminded as Alice agreed.

The benefits of her Sigils were simply too good for her to give up.

For now, it was her trump card. An ability she'll only use once things get out of hand.

Therefore, for her sixth Sigil, she wanted to get something that'll synergise better with the rest of her things without risk of exiling her or something similar.

'I should probably think about a scenario where I can't swap Sigils.' Alice mused.

Her first Sigil was probably her most 'useless'.

The physical boost was now negligible and the main benefit was turning her blood into a hallucinogenic. But at this level, most of them had a basic resistance to effects like this.

On top of that, because she didn't focus on the poison side of her development, this hallucinogenic effect has stagnated.

Useful against weak enemies but useless against strong ones.

It didn't suit her at all.

[Now that I think about it… have you ever thought about how your First Sigil even works? Like down to the details?] Cayla asked as Alice was about to reply when she paused.

Blinking her eyes, she tilted her head.

'Well I did experiments with the poison side of it.'

[And what about the physical boost?]

'That… I don't believe I looked into it much. I just… kinda took it for granted.' Alice scratched her cheek and activated her first Sigil.

Clenching her fist, she felt a small negligible increase in strength but that was it.

[You have to remember that Sigils are created based on the capabilities of the beast and how their body functions. When grafted onto a human through a contract, the Sigil is adjusted and adapted to the individual.

[This is the case for all of your Sigils. When you copy the Jester's Sigil, you don't have a mirror like body like it does yet you can still disguise yourself. I've been noticing this but with you focusing on the wide variety of Sigils, you've been slacking on fully understanding the powers you've been given master.

[Right now, you're simply using Sigils you think are powerful and synergise well without fully understanding the 'why'. Perhaps it's time for you to reflect.] Cayla took this time to give Alice a quick lesson as this was one of the fundamentals that Allura focused on.

To make use of everything and anything.

For normal Hunters, their selection has always been limited. Thus when a choice is made, they do their best to understand everything there is to know about their power.

But Alice was different. She had a selection of every Sigil she'd taken from others. She could switch things out whenever she wanted so she didn't need to think about the consequences of choosing a Sigil like the others.

However, this also created one of her biggest weaknesses and that was not fully understanding what she could do with a Sigil before simply switching out.

A surface level understanding.

Closing her eyes, Alice began to observe her own body.

With the first Sigil still activated, she wanted to find the source of this physical reinforcement.

She could feel her blood pumping faster, the circulation of energy around her body. But most importantly, this blood that was circulating was 'dormant'!

Furrowing her brows, Alice activated her second and Third Sigil.

She created a swirl of blood before compressing it into a Void Flux.

She could clearly sense that the blood she used here was filled with energy, packed to the brim and forming a connection with her Spiritual Heart.

Yet when she used her first Sigil, this wasn't the case.

The blood was empty, it was simply flowing a little faster and reinforcing her muscles to accommodate the slight increase in strength.

However…

What if she was to 'activate' this blood of hers? What if she were to fill it with power from her other Sigils? Her artificial resonance?

Allura's words rang out in her mind once more. Words regarding a Hunter's growth being tied to their mind. How they need to think outside the box and how she should fully understand how each of her Sigils work before getting a new one.

Standing up, Alice closed her eyes.

She wanted to think about what would be useful right now.

The power of her fourth Sigil allowed her control over the Void. What kind of effect would that have if she were to pulse it through her body?

And what about her second Sigil? Her innate resistance to the Abyss? Of course, the passive effect of her blood already helped with this but what if it becomes the focus?

What if she were to actively surge it through her body?

Could she dispel abilities that manipulate perception and the mind? Could she make it so that she couldn't be targeted by Personal Realms?

If Alice's skills was a tree, new branches were now being opened up. New combinations and new ideas.

Her most neglected Sigil was about to evolve in a way that she never thought was possible!