Abyssal Awakening

"So what do you think we need to do to create our own advantages?" He grinned and launched an attack!

In an instant, both of his hands entered Alice\'s vision as they were mere inches away from hitting her.

But Alice was able to tilt her head to the side, thanks to Cayla, and counter with a kick while flipping backwards.

"Hou~ So you can deal with this speed huh? Not bad. Now, once again, what do you think we need to do in order to create our own advantages?" Nyer asked once more, rushing towards Alice.

Just as she was able to take a step back, Nyer stomped down on her foot and crashed his shoulder into her chest.

*BANG!!!

Feeling the shock reverberate through her body, Alice gritted her teeth and wanted to counter but Nyer was ready. Despite his size, he managed to duck under her swing and grab her arm.

Throwing her over his shoulder, he slammed her against the ground.

"No answer?" He taunted, causing Alice to frown and get back up.

"I\'ll give you a chance to think this time."

Narrowing her eyes, Alice thought about the possible answers.

When fighting someone stronger than her, she wants to avoid their attacks by any means necessary. That means she needs a good understanding of how they move and habits.

In the situation where she doesn\'t know their habits, she\'ll need to scout out their movements and test the waters.

"Is it to observe their habits?" Alice answered as Nyer nodded his head.

"The most important thing to remember when fighting someone stronger than you is to understand their goals in the fight. The weaker you can make yourself seem, the better since they\'re more prone to underestimating you.

"Of course, this can\'t be said for every fight since even those stronger than you will be looking for chances to understand your movements. You simply need to read their habits faster. But this is just the basics.

"Later, they may add feints and mix-ups in their techniques to throw you off once they make you think you have them read." Nyer grinned as he rushed towards Alice once more.

Noticing that he was going to aim for her foot again, Alice pre-emptively took a step back earlier than usual.

However, this left her open above as Nyer jabbed his finger against her throat, causing her to stumble back before following up with a hook on her rib into a roundhouse kick.

Crashing across the ground, Alice held her body in pain.

"As you can see, I made you think that I was aiming for the foot again since it worked the first time. But once you stepped into my trap, I followed up with fast attacks that disorientate you to decrease the chances of you recovering. This is what you need to learn."

Taking deep breaths, Alice nodded her head and cleared her mind. She needed to be in a blank state if she wanted to understand the goal of the opponent.

\'Right now, Nyer wants to teach me so he\'ll add one or two moves at most to his string of attacks. I need to understand the goal of these moves and what he wants to teach.\'

\'The first move was to test my reaction speed. The second move was to test how I reacted to having my movements restricted. The third was to test how well I could adapt to feints. What goal does he want to achieve for the fourth move?\'

Narrowing her eyes towards Nyer, Alice decided the best way to understand what he wanted to achieve was to mimic his movements and understand the moves fundamentally.

Meaning, she had to go on the offensive!

Activating her first Sigil, Alice rushed forward.

Seeing this, Nyer was surprised that she decided to take the initiative but still reacted in time by stepping to the side.

Twisting her body, Alice followed up the charge with a roundhouse kick that was blocked by his arm. Spinning twice in the air, she kicked towards his chest which was blocked with his other hand.

Without giving him time to rest, she dashed forward once more and stomped against his foot.

Knowing that she didn\'t have the strength to push him back like he did with his shoulder charge, Alice adapted and activated her third Sigil.

Fastest cast time and efficiency!

*BANG!!!

A pillar of metal shot out from the ground, slamming against Nyer\'s guard while Alice swung herself to the side and threw another kick towards his head.

Realizing that his movements were overlapping Alice\'s, Nyer had a smile on his face since she was trying to understand the meaning behind each movement.

For fighters, there comes a stage where they transition from throwing out an attack since it worked before, to throwing out attacks because you understand them and know that they\'re the perfect fit for the situation.

For Alice, she\'s experiencing this stage.

"Copying me to try and understand my movement is good. But don\'t bite off more than you can chew. You don\'t know the goal behind your own movements never mind mine. Comprehending mine may cause your proficiency with your own attacks to fall if you\'re not careful." Nyer warned since his movements were made with his own habits in mind.

Stomping his foot down, the ground cracked apart, causing Alice to stumble as her foothold became unstable.

Using this chance, Nyer threw a straight jab at Alice, forcing her to block with her arms.

*BANG!!!

This proved to me a mistake as Alice widened her eyes in shock. She could feel her body giving out under the punch as a crack could be heard before she was sent crashing back.

"ARGG!!" Crashing against some boulders, Alice found herself barely hanging on to consciousness as a burning sensation could be felt on her arms.

Even without looking under her sleeves, Alice could tell her arms weren\'t doing great. Fighting in this state was going to be hard.

But hard doesn\'t mean impossible.

Taking a deep breath, Alice closed her eyes and visualised her arm. She could feel the impact point, where her blood was rushing and the fractures and breakage on her arm. Controlling her blood, she temporarily halted the bleeding while creating metal frames around the bones to support them for now.

"You shouldn\'t do that since we\'re in training. Have some healing blood instead, the purity is high so there will be no side effects." Nyer shook his head while placing a vial in front of her.

"But it\'s a good move to do if you\'re in combat. Not bad."

Nodding her head, Alice took a drink of the healing vial and watched her wounds disappear.

"Now, shall we go again? This time try to think about the meaning behind your own moves rather than mine. In order words, give me everything you\'ve got, go for the kill. This\'ll give me a better understanding of where you\'re currently at." Nyer suggested as Alice nodded her head.

Positioning themselves away from each other, Alice flicked her wrist and transformed her bracelet into a blade.

Focusing her mind on Nyer\'s stance, Alice thought about the meaning behind her own moves. Void Flux, while powerful, was aimed at redirecting attacks or cutting off escape routes. Void Flux – Cleave was her finishing move.

Partial Bloodline Release was to help her keep up with strong opponents since her physique was lacking.

First Sigil augments this.

Her second is used to counter Sigil abilities which wouldn\'t be helpful against Nyer right now. And her third Sigil was to give her adaptability in a fight through movement.

\'Resonance will let me unleash everything at its max potential and gives me increased healing. If I\'m going for the kill knowing that my opponent is stronger, I have to go bait them into thinking I\'ve given everything I\'ve got.\'

Nyer already knew most of what Alice could do but he was in the dark regarding Bloodline Release. That was going to be her chance to turn the tides of this battle!

Adjusting her stance, Alice took a deep breath and activated her first Sigil.

Boosting her physical traits, she pulled her arm back and…

Threw her sword!

*BANG!!!!

Parrying the blade in surprise, Nyer didn\'t think Alice would give up her weapon immediately.

However, there was a strand of blood connecting the pommel of the blade to Alice\'s hand.

Pulling back the blade, Alice appeared in front of Nyer and cleaved down.

Just as Nyer was about to block, sparks erupted from the blade edge.

Void Flux – Cleave!

Seeing this, Nyer smirked and prepared to take a step back when a bar of metal appeared behind him, interrupting his movements.

Kaden\'s lesson of using her Sigil to interrupt!

Unable to dodge, Nyer threw his palm against Alice\'s wrist in an attempt to knock the blade out of her hand.

Without any casting movements, a spark appeared in front of Nyer\'s shoulder, detonating into a small Void Flux to halt his movements at the last moment!

Nyer found himself in a spot where he could only take this move head on!

\'Not bad.\' He thought to himself.

*BANG!!!

Seeing her attack land, Alice felt a tinge of excitement when cold water was poured over her joy.

"I\'ve seen Lua use her attack many times. While yours is similar, it lacks the penetration given to the true Executioner Blade."

Her blade was held behind Nyer\'s fingers!

"Let\'s turn things up a notch."

With Alice proving that she could force him in the state where he couldn\'t dodge, Nyer decided that it was time to use some of his Sigils.