Abyssal Awakening

"The rules of battle within this arena are pretty simple. Basically, the first person to knock out their opponent wins or until the opponent cannot fight further. Obviously, there would be issues if the fight becomes lethal which is why they have guards around the place." Ria explained as she rubbed her hands together excitedly.

The price for entering as a contestant is pretty cheap so long as you have a Hunters Guild ID so they can check how strong you are. It only costs 50 silver to enter with the chance to earn back 10 times the amount. Naturally, you can raise your own price to earn more back but there is a limit.

"Which is why I want you to bet on my victory with some of the Gold I give you. That way I only need to fight once and we\'ll be pretty much set." Ria winked as she handed Alice some Gold before making her way to the reception.

While Ria was registering herself as a contestant, Alice glanced down at the arena curiously as two people were fighting already.

One had 3 Sigils while the other had 4 yet the three Sigil user was winning.

\'Is the four star Hunter holding back? He\'s not even using his third Sigil.\' Alice thought to herself as it seemed unnatural.

It didn\'t take long for the three star Hunter to win as he was able to land a good blow against the other, sending him crashing into the walls.

Hearing the lamenting cries of the audience across the stands, Alice understood that they must\'ve betted on the four star Hunter and lost their gold.

"Hmm… Is it rigged?" Alice muttered while leaning against the railings.

She was currently resting her chin on her palms while watching the next match.

Over the course of 5 fights, she noticed that a few of them involved one of the contestants holding back without using their full power.

"I\'m back. I got myself a fight though the odds aren\'t very high so even if I win I won\'t get much. They don\'t have many four star Hunters fighting tonight so I\'m not going to earn a lot." Ria sighed as she stood next to Alice.

"Whatcha doin\'?" Ria asked, glancing down at the arena.

"Just watching. Seems like some of the fights are rigged. I\'ve noticed several that aren\'t using their full power."

"Well of course. Though they usually don\'t make it obvious. After all, the house needs to earn some money too." Ria shrugged since this was standard practice. For regulars, they would notice the general strength of some of the contestants and understand when they might lose while newcomers would get scammed by the information they learn.

In their eyes, a four star Hunter should win against a three star. But the reality is the two contestants are both hired by the house to \'perform\' for the night which is why contestants like Ria were usually unwelcomed or forced to fight someone much stronger to guarantee a loss.

"So who\'s your opponent?"

"Another four star Hunter. They have wind type abilities and can set up bombs. He\'s going to be fast, but I doubt he\'s faster than me." Ria reassured while patting her chest.

"Should I keep betting on you or just let things play out?"

"Don\'t bet for now. The odds are too low. If we bet too much and win a lot we\'ll have to fight our way out." Ria shrugged since that was the case last time.

She had continuously betted on herself throughout the night and the audience during that day did the same, forcing the house to lose a lot of coin hence why they wanted to force her to lose the next match.

But this time, she was going to be careful by \'barely\' winning her fights. That is why the audience wouldn\'t know that she was a guaranteed victory and the house wouldn\'t lose too much money while she earned their travel funds.

"Alright. I\'ll find a place to sit down for now then, it\'s not like I have anything else to do." Alice nodded as there were plenty of seats available as tonight seemed to be a rather quiet night. If she knew that this was the case, she would\'ve brought along her books while she waited.

"Why don\'t you fight a round or two? I doubt anyone without a resonance can beat you in a fight."

"Flames are too weird. Might attract too much attention." Alice waved her hand dismissively since fighting in the middle of this large crowd while displaying the strange attributes of her power would raise many questions.

What kind of beast did Alice kill for these flames?

Why can she stop Sigil powers?

If they begin to ask these questions, rumours will begin to spread and that was not something that Alice wanted.

"That\'s true." Ria nodded since Alice wasn\'t wrong.

With Alice finding a spot to sit down, Ria made her way to the contestant\'s area and waited for her turn patiently.

Now it was simply a matter of passing time and Alice decided to use this moment to eavesdrop on the conversations around her.

Most of the conversations around her were about the fights happening in the arena and how some of the fighters were clearly \'under the weather\' and fighting worse than usual.

However, there was one conversation that caught her attention and it was a discussion regarding the slums of this city.

"Oi did you hear? There are more guards around the slums now. Do you think the half beasts did something to piss off the city lord?"

"Of course they did. Have you not seen them? It\'s no wonder they\'ll try something shady to get revenge on us even though it\'s their fault for abusing the blood. They can only blame themselves."

"Some of the guards were wearing masks and stuff, I wonder what\'s that about."

"Don\'t think about it too much. I\'m sure the city lord has it covered."

Raising her eyebrow, Alice frowned slightly as this was news to her.

\'Guards are wearing masks? I don\'t think I saw many guards today, were they busy with the slums?\' Alice thought to herself as she couldn\'t help but wonder what happened to the old man and his two children that she had run into earlier today.

\'There will probably be some news tomorrow.\'

Shaking her head, Alice glanced down at the arena and saw that it was now Ria\'s turn.

Her opponent, like her, is a four star Hunter. With him being a wind type user that focuses on speed, he made sure to wear very little armour so that it won\'t hinder him. As for Ria, she seemed rather relaxed.

"Would you like the first move or shall I?" Ria taunted with a confident smile.

Hearing this, the man frowned as he took a deep breath to maintain his composure.

In the time it took for this round to begin, they had done as much research as possible. She was simply a new four star Hunter that used lightning to make ranged attacks. She had barely defeated the instructor to get her licence earlier today.

\'Seems like she\'s still on a high after getting promoted to four stars. The fact that she came here right after getting her license means she\'s clearly overconfident in her abilities.\' The man thought to himself crouched down and activated his Sigils. Three markings appeared on his body as he waited for the bell to toll, signaling the start of their battle.

*DING!

Hearing the bell, light turquoise energy erupted from his body as he rushed forward. The energy manifested into swords that hovered around him as he sent them towards Ria, hoping to grab her attention.

Seeing this, Ria simply chuckled as she leaned back lightly and aimed her finger before flicking.

*BANG!!!!

A bolt of lightning shot out, jumping from one sword to another before aiming towards the man\'s back but he managed to dodge at the last second.

"Ohya? You dodged that. Congrats." Ria laughed. She knew it was customary for the betting house to do some research hence why her battle at the Guild took longer than usual.

She was hiding her strength as it had always been her goal to do a little gambling at a city. Without Allura watching over her, she\'ll be allowed to gamble to her hearts content.

While she was primarily a physical fighter, using lightning was still part of her skill set!

Curling her lips into a grin, Ria raised her right hand before snapping her fingers, conjuring a wave of lightning bolts to descend upon the area.

The noise of rumbling thunder crashed through the arena as the bystanders who weren\'t interested in this fight started to pay attention.

"ARG!!! Dammit!" The man\'s voice rang out as a gust of wind pushed aside the dust, revealing that he had been forced into using his resonance.

Black and green plated armour appeared around his arms, legs and chest while a tattered cape fluttered behind him. In his hands were two daggers that radiated green energy as he glared at Ria.

He didn\'t expect her firepower to be so strong that he was forced into using his resonance so soon.

If he didn\'t, he wouldn\'t been struck by one of the bolts and taken heavy damage.

"Resonance so soon? If you use your resonance against my warm up how do you expect to dodge this?" Ria asked as she pointed to the spark of lightning hovering above her finger.

Widening his eyes, he was about to move when Ria flicked her finger and the spark transformed into a spear.

*BANG!!!

Shielding his face, the man could feel cold sweat dripping down his back as the spear stopped just before colliding against his arm. Even though he wasn\'t hit, he knew that he wasn\'t fast enough to dodge such an attack and the power it radiated… One hit would be enough to knock him out!

With the referee quickly declaring Ria\'s victory, Ria turned to Alice and gave her a victory sign with her fingers and a wide grin.

Seeing this, Alice couldn\'t help but chuckle since it was clear that Ria was going to scam as much gold as she could, considering the fact that she didn\'t even move from her initial spot.