Abyssal Awakening

Gritting her teeth, Alice tried her best to ignore the splitting headache she was receiving due to blood loss.

Adrenaline constantly pumped through her body as she couldn't afford to slow down right now. The moment she did, she'll die to the behemoth tree that was chasing after her.

Glancing back, she could see the excited figure of the small tree that she had spared.

"I WILL MOUNT YOUR HEAD ON STICK AND BURN IT TO ASH!" Alice shouted out in anger as she was reaching her limit. She truly regretted not killing the beast when she had the chance. She had spared him out of concern that she couldn't fight anymore yet doing so only made matters worse.

Had she known this outcome, she would've killed him if it was the last thing she did before passing out! At least then she would be relatively safe.

It got to the point she was constantly hurling insults towards the duo that was constantly on her tail even though she usually didn't speak much.

Flipping over a branch, Alice was tempted to use her blood but any more blood loss and she can forget about moving. Even though, her bleeding was reduced thanks to the cloak, her movement would reopen the wound.

The only saving grace was that she spotted previous signs of battle meaning she was getting close to her original trail. All that was left to do was to figure out how close or how far she was from the lake. If she was to lead the tree to the lake, there was a good chance that the two may fight.

Either that or both of them would try to kill her. However, it was a risk she was willing to take since she wasn't going to outrun this behemoth any time soon. She could tell that they were just playing around with her, waiting for the moment she became tired and could not run anymore.

The mere thought only caused her anger to increase as the small beast was annoying the hell out of her with its motives.

Landing on the floor, she crouched down and grabbed a rock before twisting her body clockwise.

Throwing the rock towards the small tree, she watched as it collided with the tree's head, causing it to stumble.

Satisfaction emerged in her heart as she felt content before resuming her escape.

Naturally, her action only served to aggravate the small beast. Commanding the large tree to increase its speed, the tree glared at Alice, waiting for the moment he captured her. The moment she could no longer move, it'll make sure she suffers all kinds of torture at its hands.

With the beast now increasing its speed, Alice had to force herself to run faster as her lungs burned with each breath. She could barely control her body as each step she took was one taken with great difficulty.

Jumping through the bushes, Alice could see a stream of water leading further forward and estimated that she was getting close to the lake.

'Almost there…' She thought to herself, mustering up as much strength as possible.

*BANG!!!

A tangle of roots crashed down behind her, barely missing her legs as it forced her to increase her speed once more.

She was not allowed to slow down as the moment she did, the beast would threaten her with death.

'Just you f*cking wait!' Alice cursed out inwardly.

Approaching the clearing, she could almost feel her burden's lifting. The chase was almost over.

As long as she she is able to cause the two to fight then hide, she'll be allowed to leave.

However, the moment she saw the lake, her heart dropped as the lake was completely empty. There was no sign of the singing beast nor was there any sign of the other Abyss Beasts that had chased her earlier.

"You got to be kidding me…" Alice muttered, feeling defeated.

Just as she was about to dive into the lake to seek some cover, she noticed something strange on the edge. It was a pure white pile of flesh that started to bulge and twist with a multitude of hands poking out from the folds of its flesh.

Recognising it to be the body of the strange singing beast, Alice couldn't help but wonder what had happened.

Was it like the spider that moulted its skin? Or did something happen to come along and kill the beast.

Whatever it was, Alice had to gamble. It was her final chance at escaping.

Dashing towards the corpse, she heard the rumble of lightning as she glanced up at the sky. Dark clouds seemed to gather as a pillar of lightning struck down towards the corpse. The resulting shockwave caused her to be launched into the forest as she slammed against the trees.

"Gods dammit! Disgusting f*cking thing ate me!?" A feminine voice shouted out in anger as a pair of hands pierced through the layer of flesh and tore it to shreds.

Widening her eyes, Alice could see a female figure excavate herself from the flesh as flickers of lightning burned away the blood covering her body.

She had long sky blue hair with purple glows on the underside. A pair of radiant purple eyes that flickered with energy while lightning coursed through her body.

The woman wore a sleeveless midnight blue jacket adorned with silver metal. An assortment of silver buttons and jewelry lined her jacket while the faint pattern of a flower could be seen on the material. Gloves that reached from her hands to her biceps, a pair of black shorts and long thigh boots that showed off some skin between the boots and shorts.

Stomping down against the corpse of the beast, lightning covered her body like a suit of armour as it was concentrated around her arms, shoulder and legs.

On her shoulder, a Sigil could be seen pulsing with purple energy.

"Hm?" Noticing Alice, the woman was about to say something when the giant behemoth tree burst through the foliage, letting out a giant scream that caught her attention.

"Another one??? How many abnormalities is in this forest!? It shouldn't even be this bad, dammit!" She shouted out in annoyance.

Cracking her neck, she crouched down as lightning surged through her body.

*BANG!!!

The sound of thunder rang out as she launched herself towards the beast with a crazed glow in her eyes. Lightning arced from her body and struck the beast as she slammed down with her hands, tearing apart the wood while pieces would be charred from the lightning.

"URAHHHHH!!!" Roaring out in anger, the behemoth raised its other hand and slammed it towards the woman who only laughed.

Twisting her body, she kicked up with her legs, causing a blade of lightning to split the arm in half.

'Two Sigils!' Alice thought to herself, noticing a Sigil appear on her thigh.

However, the behemoth wasn't done. Green energy rushed towards its body from the surroundings as the wounds were starting to repair themselves.

"Oh? A recovery type ability hmm…" The woman muttered as she jumped back momentarily to create some distance between the two of them.

"That's fine. Let's test out my new ability."

Stomping down, another bolt of lightning descended from above as the woman's hair flared up from the power coursing through her body. Electricity wrapped around her body fully, making it seem as though she was entirely created from lightning.

A monstrous growl seemed to echo out from her body as she crouched down and transformed into a streak of lightning that rushed towards the beast.

*BANG!!!

Each hit sounded like a lightning strike as Alice was speechless.

This power… It was far superior to what she had seen in the coliseum. Lars, the assassin and even the bodyguard couldn't compare to what she was seeing.

The blue haired woman was simply unstoppable with her ability as she jumped above the beast. Gathering all of her lightning into her hands, she grinned and pulled back her arm.

"HAHH!!!!!" Letting out a loud shout, she threw the lightning down.

*KSHHH!!!!!

A streak of lightning cleaved the beast in half but it was far from done. From above, countless bolts of lightning continued to fall in the same spot, erasing any remnants the beast including the small tree beast that was on its shoulder.

Crashing down, the woman dismissed her lightning as she returned back to normal. The purple glow no longer being seen in her hair as she massaged her shoulders with a frown on her face.

"Tsk, the third ability is too hard to use dammit. Takes too long to charge and drains so much from me. All the lightning I charge up is basically gone with one strike." She complained while turning her attention to Alice.

"Yo! What did you do to annoy the tree? Not that it should be this far out in the forest to begin with." The woman asked curiously while walking over to Alice.

"Spared small tree. It ran away and big tree came running." Alice replied bitterly.

"Hah??? You spared it? Yeah no wonder it got the big one to come kill you goodness. Never spare an Abyss Beast, they always, ALWAYS go for the kill." The woman shrugged while crouching down next to Alice.

"Need some help to get out? I'm on my way to find someone so I don't mind giving you a helping hand." She offered with a smile.

"Thank you. Your name?" Alice asked curiously.

"My name? It's Ria, nice to meet you."