Abyssal Awakening

Second Resonance, the personal realm in which a Hunter is in their most optimal environment.

An ability that allows them to turn the tides of the fight in their favour.

Usually, one would only get a realm skill at six Sigils due to this resonance.

But if a Hunter get's a realm skill ahead of time, this Resonance would then enhance that realm skill further while optimizing it for the Hunter!

Lightning Sovereignty, the Realm skill that Ria got from Nyzel was one that enhanced her power with lightning.

Not only did it boost her speed and power, but every strike she unleashed would apply a charge to her enemy and after a certain point, she'll be able to unleash the attack Raijin.

With this as the foundation, her second Resonance began to change her realm!

Second Resonance - Crowned Tempest, Heaven's Rift

Above them, the clouds parted to reveal a lightning halo suspended in the air. Rings that crackled with raw destructive energy, filling this realm with a lightning energy.

Reaching out with her hand, her blade shattered into countless fragments that transformed into bolts of lightning.

Converging together, it formed a lightning blade with an ever changing shape.

Ria's hair turned to a neon blue, fading off into crackles of lightning on the tips. Her eyes gained a new purple glow while glowing markings appeared on her shoulders.

This was her best chance to defeat Alice!

An attack that takes her by surprise. The culmination of everything she's worked towards.

An unceasing onslaught of attacks like that of a never ending storm!

"GO FOR IT RIA!!!" Luke shouted, clasping his hands together.

The board beneath him expanded to encompass Alice as the chess pieces unfolded to become chains that wrapped around her body.

Throughout this entire fight, both him and Ria have been adhering to the movement of chess pieces!

This was the strategy he told her at the start! As long as you follow the movement, the buffs will remain. But if you don't, once he triggers this move, an inversion will occur and the buffs become debuffs!

Decrease all base stats!

Attack down!

Spell power down!

Speed down!

Defence down!

All stats down!

Increase debuff potency by 30%!

Resonance debuff!

Feeling all the chains injecting their debuffs into her, Alice could feel her triple resonance fading with parts of it already peeling away.

"Damn. . . I got played like a fiddle." Alice chuckled while shaking her head.

She could see that Luke couldn't fight anymore, especially with that arm of his.

Since he was out of the fight, it's only Alice and Ria left.

'With the debuffs on your body right now, I doubt you can activate your Second Resonance in time before Ria blows half your body away.' Alyss laughed, folding her arms.

'Yep, that's quite the storm of energy around her. To be fair, I have been cheating a little. If we count the moment I took 'fatal' damage, I would've lost a while ago.' Alice scratched her cheek.

She had already 'lost' an arm to Ria's attack with Luke's En Passant.

However, at this point she simply wanted to see how far Ria and Luke can go.

There was no guarantee that the future enemies they face won't have a regeneration as monstrous as her's. Especially if they consider the fact that the Zenia family will definitely be involved.

Looking up at Ria, Alice transformed a portion of her body to blood mist and defended herself with Void energy!

*RUMBLE!!!

Stomping down, Ria appeared in front of Alice looking like a wrathful thunder god. The lightning blade in her hands split into two, turning into a pair of gauntlets for her!

*BANG!!!

Two rapid jabs towards Alice's chest, both enhanced by two fold lightning!

Alice's form was immediately torn apart but since she was prepared using blood mist, no harm was done.

But Ria was far from done.

*KSH!!!!

Lightning crackled and Alice was tossed into the air from behind.

Markings appeared around her body with each successive hit. The blood mist around her body was being vapourised with each strike of lightning. Too fast for the Void to catch up unless Alice was to try and predict where it'll land!

But once Ria notices the Void unfolding, she was able to change the direction of her strike.

*CLANG!!!

Alyss took over as she noticed Ria using martial arts! Seeing Alyss parry one of her strikes, Ria held her breath and followed up with an uppercut that Alyss caught.

Neck! Ribs, back of knee!

Each strike would be blocked, dampening the blow!

"So it's Alyss this time." Ria smiled.

"Of course. If the chains are there, that means I'm in control." Alyss chuckled, whipping her body around for a roundhouse kick that Ria dodged.

Jumping back, Ria hovered in the air as lightning coated her arm. Taking aim, she pointed her finger towards Alyss who felt a sudden sense of danger.

Along her arm, lightning formed a pattern as energy began to flow towards the fingertip.

*BANG!!!!

Quickly shifting her body to the side out of instinct, Alyss widened her eyes seeing her right arm vapourised from the shoulder down.

Her smile twitched as she took a defensive stance.

*BANG!!!

Destruction point!!!

Slamming her fist into the lightning bullet, the two attacks neutralised each other as Alyss's body was flung back.

Having fired the second shot, Ria's arm was now beginning to show signs of damage. Her flesh hissed with clouds of steam emanating from her arm.

Taking her knowledge of two fold lightning, Ria condensed lightning into a single node and used her arm as a firing platform.

By reinforcing her arm with as much energy as she could, she formed an acceleration path. And by allowing the node and the after images to collide right before firing, it created a bullet enhanced by both two fold lightning and her natural powers granted by Resoannce.

The destructive potential is great as it boast the strongest armour piercing capability.

As for accuracy, that wasn't an issue as long as Ria 'charged' her opponent with enough marks.

Aiming without the marks is also possible but last minute adjustments were impossible.

Alyss may have dodged to the side but the bullet curved to ensure a hit connected.

'Right arm can handle one more shot at most, left can handle three more. Though it probably won't work anymore.' Ria's breathed out as she noticed Alyss recovering from the collision.

While Alyss may be in control, that didn't mean Alice stopped working.

Therefore, the likelihood of a triggered cast countering her bullet was very high.

But that's fine, her preparations were done.

She's charged Alyss's body with enough charges, made sure her lightning was guaranteed to hit along with its offensive capabilities.

Now it was time for the true face of her attack.

This entire time, she has shown herself to be only capable of two fold lightning.

Normally, three fold would be outside of her capabilities as she hasn't been able to stabilise the output.

Normally.

But this wasn't a normal scenario.

All the requirements have now been met and she was confident that she could bring out the full potential of her attack- no! She'll go beyond her current limits!

Raising her hand above her head, lightning converged into a single orb before shooting upwards!

In an instant, a light of raw energy pierced the clouds and linked up with the halo of lightning that had been gathering power since its deployment!

As the link was formed, the entire realm was flooded by a wave of lightning energy, causing Alyss's hairs to stand on its end.

Taking over, Alice turned her gaze towards the sky and cold sweat filled her back.

This amount of energy that she was gathering. . . Yeah there was no doubt about it.

After seeing so many Hunters and beasts alike, Alice noticed a certain. . . sensation whenever she laid eyes on them. A gut feeling. . .

And right now, that gut feeling was stronger than ever.

Ria had the makings of a Lord!

"Removing restraints." Ria spoke each word with calm authority.

*CRACK!!!

Above her, the ring shattered! The fragments of energy spiralled towards Ria in countless strands, forming coils of power above her palm.

And hovering in the centre was a single spear.

"One fold. . ."

The spear began to tremble as a single afterimage began to split from the main body.

"Two fold. . ."

A second after image manifested, the coils around the spear expanded as Ria adjusted her grip.

She pulled her arm back, lightning crackling along her arm and searing her flesh but she took aim.

The coils around the spear positioned themselves in front of it, turning into acceleration coils.

"Three fold. . ."

Gritting her teeth, a blood vessel popped in Ria's eye as it became bloodshot.

She could feel the calamitous storm of energy raging in her hands. It threatened to burst apart but she clenched her fist, wrangling the power under her control.

Arching her body back, she held her breath... Then snapped forward!

Three Fold Lightning Tribulation!

*RUMBLE!!! BANG!!!

The instant the spear left Ria's hand, all three after images snapped forward, combining with the main body of the spear as it burst forward!

Each ring that it passed enhanced the attack further! Boosting its speed and power to the point it encompassed the entire area!

An attack that destabilised the entire space just from the raw turbulent energy being kicked up by its approach.

Seeing this kind of attack, Alice felt excitement welling up in her heart.

And since Ria has shown her such a magnificent sight, Alice wanted to do the same.

Clasping her hands in front of her chest, Alice condensed a single droplet of blood swirling with a strange darkness confined within. A darkness that seemed alive.

"Second Resonance."

As the droplet of blood fell towards the ground beneath her, Alice's smile widened as it reached from one ear to the other.

The edges of the droplet burst apart and darkness encroached on Ria's domain of lightning.