Abyssal Awakening

Despite her smile, Ria was trying to conceal the nervousness inside. Without her charge of energy now boosting her speed along with her fatigue, it was going to be much harder dodging his attacks.

"I had saved this considering I didn't want to harm my own ally. Even if I didn't like him much." The Cultist spoke slowly as he pulled down his hood and de-robed his upper body until the waist. Allowing the robe to act as a waist skirt, he revealed his toned torso with two Sigils already glowing.

The ground around him started to shift as more blades appeared but then a third Sigil lit up on his back.

His entire skin as turned black as crimson cuts appeared around his body. His eyes lit up in a fiery glow as Ria felt the threat of death emanating from this man.

The air around him started to warp as the heat being emitted by him started to boil the surroundings.

Each of his swords started to melt, revealing an obsidian core with red glows through the cracks.

"Had I used this Sigil while my ally was around, they would die without question. So I reserve this for when I'm alone."

Taking a deep breath, his fourth Sigil lit up as flames erupted from his back, turning into a serpent that coiled around his arm.

Reaching for one of the swords near him, the serpent exhaled a wave of flames that coated the blade with fire.

Adjusting himself into a stance, he shot forth with explosive speed that outpaced everything Ria had shown thus far.

Widening her eyes, Ria twisted her body to the side as fast as she could yet the blade still dug deep into her stomach, tearing out a large chunk of her body while she crashed against the floor.

The Cultist looked at her with surprise as she had actually managed to move in time to avoid a fatal blow.

His goal was to cut her in half but he was only able to shred a third of her abdominal area.

Quickly grabbing two vials to healing blood, Ria did not hesitate to drink them both at the same time as lava seemed to spill out from her wound, mending itself while she jumped back to create more distance between them.

Not giving her the chance to run, he adjusted his blade into a reverse grip before stabbing it into the ground. Slashing upwards, a wave of flames spewed out towards Ria as she dodged out of the way with a roll. The flames caught one of her sleeves as she quickly tossed it aside to avoid the rest of her being burnt.

'Just when I told Alice not to use these types of healing blood against fire. Of course, he just so happens to f*cking use fire Sigils!' Ria cursed out in her mind.

If she takes a direct hit from his flames, she'll start burning from the insane out, a fate she wishes to avoid.

"What's wrong? I don't see that previous bravado you had." The Cultist taunted while aiming his sword at her.

Erupting from the ground, 4 more swords appeared as the serpent coated them all in flames before sending them out toward her.

Gritting her teeth, she slammed her hand into the ground, cracking it with her lightning before kicking the debris towards the blades.

While the blades managed to melt the rocks like it was nothing, it gave her enough time to dodge.

Rolling against the floor, Ria narrowed her eyes and gathered lightning into her legs.

Just as the Cultist thought she was going to charge at him, she spun around and dashed into the forest towards where the Spy and Alice had left.

". . ." Furrowing his brows, he chased after her.

He had thought that with how she had charged into the fray, she would face him head on even if things seemed bad. But this was not what he had expected.

Just as he ran past one of the trees, he noticed a small orb hidden in one of the groves.

Widening his eyes, he wanted to raise his guard but was unable to block in time.

*BANG!!!!

Lightning exploded from the tree as Ria had set down a remote explosion with what little Lightning energy she had gathered within her body.

With the Cultist distracted by the explosion, Ria jumped above him with killing intent in her eyes and coated her leg with lightning energy.

"HAAA!!!"

Swimming her leg down, she tried to slammed it against the top of his head, forcing him to slam against the ground, cracking it in the process.

Flinching slightly from the flames, she jumped away in annoyance.

Every hit she did while being near him threatened to set her ablaze while her attacks were weak right now as she didn't have enough time to stockpile the amount of lightning energy within her body.

'If I had enough time to stockpile my lightning, I'll be able to erase this bastard.' She thought to herself in anger as she could see a faint shadow in the distance.

Guessing that it was Alice, she sped up so that they could regroup.

Jumping through the forest, she reached Alice and widened her eyes at the scene.

Alice was currently sitting on the Cultist's corpse with a hole in his chest and Alice being covered with his blood.

"Ria! Did you kill your opponents too?" Alice asked with a gruesome smile, still feeling the high from having discovered a new use of her constitution as well as the adrenaline of battle.

Seeing Alice smile and the tone in her voice, Ria felt a shiver down her spine as it felt uncanny and unnatural. While they haven't known each other for long, she had gotten used to how Alice carried herself. How she rarely smiled and kept a rather neutral tone of voice.

"Not yet. There's one bastard left, uses fire and launches flaming blades. If you get hit, it'll counter our healing blood and set us on fire from within. Very dangerous, keep your distance and if you have some spare blood we can maybe try incapacitate him that way." Ria formulated a plan quickly as Alice nodded her head.

"I see I see… Alright, I got an idea. Follow me." Alice narrowed her eyes as she stood up and dashed further into the forest while Ria followed behind.

Pulling some wire from her gloves, she hooked it against some trees before grabbing a vial of her own blood.

Wrapping it in the wires, she made sure it wasn't pulled tightly before gesturing for Ria to wait next to her.

"What's the plan?" Ria asked with a frown as she wasn't sure if this was going to work.

"Flick the vial into his face and hope he loses strength with my blood." Alice shrugged. There wasn't much else she could do as this was her last vial of her own blood. The only blood she had left was a few healing vials and one berserk vial.

But unlike what they expected, the Cultist never ran into the forest.

Noticing something was wrong, they could see the edge of the forest being set aflame as a large axe appeared in their vision.

Widening their eyes, Alice immediately destroyed her trap to retrieve the wires and dashed to the side with Ria.

However, before they could escape, a wall of fire erupted into the forest as Ria gritted her teeth and grabbed Alice by the ankles.

Gathering most of the energy in her body, she twisted her body and threw Alice as far as she could.

Widening her eyes, Alice was unable to call out for Ria as flames enveloped the area.

"RIA!" Alice shouted out while crashing against the ground. The flames having torn apart the forest with parts will flickering with embers.

Within the mass of flames, Ria's shadow could be seen as she with blood boiling out of her body. She had covered herself with electricity at the last possible moment as a form of defence but it was barely enough. Rushing out of the forest, she gritted her teeth and plunged her hand into her left arm socket.

Tearing out the arm that was on fire along with rest of her body parts, she drank the remaining healing vials while collapsed on the floor.

Seeing this, Alice panicked and reached into her bag for healing vials as she could feel the enemy approaching.

"Just run. I messed up… Sorry for bringing you into this." Ria apologised as she forced herself to sit up.

As she had drank several healing vials in quick succession, she could feel the side effects stacking onto of one another. Even now, her body was threatening to combust.

She knew that if she hadn't charged into the Cultists, they wouldn't be in this position. But she simply couldn't leave knowing that they were nearby and that she had ran away.

Unable to say a word, Alice bit her lip before taking a deep breath.

"Why did you throw me away instead of saving yourself?"

"Hm? That's a dumb question. Why wouldn't I help a friend?" Ria laughed softly before sighing out.

"But I don't want the Cult to take more from me. So run, run while you still can. I'll stall him as long as possible." Ria ordered as she tried to sit up.

Gritting her teeth, Alice hesitated on what to do. Does she expose her biggest secret? Risk herself to go back to a life of captivity where she was exploited for her benefits.

Just the thought caused her body to shiver and her breathing to hasten. If she was to run, she could easily get away.

'Should I expose myself or should I not?' Alice asked herself as she was rooted in place.

Deep in her heart, she wanted to stay and help. But she didn't want to risk all of her newfound freedom. 10 winters it took for her to be freed from the Zenia prison. How many more would it take if she exposes herself here?

Clenching her fist, she toiled on the choice before gritting her teeth and dashing the opposite direction.

Seeing this, Ria smiled in satisfaction before laying back down, devoid of the strength to stand up.

"I don't think I can stall for long…" Ria chuckled as she laid on her back.

Feeling the Cultist approach, she prepared herself for the final blow.

*BANG!!

Opening her eyes in confusion, Ria was surprised to see that Alice had returned this time with a vial of blood in her mouth.