Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 605: Alyss’s Test

After blocking that last arrow, Jin didn’t hesitate to raise his hands in surrender.

Any further and it risked his disguise breaking while he was already satisfied with what he experienced. All that was left for him to do was to fully digest this feeling that he got and unlock his Zone fully.

It wasn’t quite the ’state of Unity’ that Alice could do, namely the Absolute Zone, but it was already far better than a weapon domain.

With him raising his hand in surrender, the examiner snapped out of it as Jin performed far better than the other contestants and noted down his score.

Unfortunately, since his range decreased at the end, he was marked down for time rather than distance covered.

’How the hell did the top three get more than 10 meters??’ Jin couldn’t help but wonder as this was far harder than what he initially expected. Not that he felt like it was easy but more so what was required of him to accomplish it.

Since his body was reset back to its ’default’, every move of his exhausted a lot of stamina.

It felt impossible for him to maintain the frequency of his attacks beyond a four meter range without the help of Abyss Blood or his Sigils reinforcing his physique.

As he stepped out of the circular arena, he noticed quite a few stares focused on him. One in particular was trying to figure out his secrets as she walked up and stared at him silently.

There was a sheathed blade by her waist as Jin wasn’t sure how to respond.

The two simply stared at each other before she frowned and walked away.

’Weird.’ Jin thought to himself, stepping away from the location.

With his examination now complete, he wanted to find Alice again.

###

He didn’t have the energy of the cult nor did he use the marital arts of the cult.

However, the philosophies of his attacks held some resemblance.

Was I being paranoid? Perhaps the meeting with the demoness has set my nerves on high alert. I can still remember the foul sight of the countless souls latching onto her, screaming, crying, begging for liberation.

As I took a deep breath to try and calm my nerves, I couldn’t help but tighten my grip around the handle of my blade.

What was I lacking? There’s no doubt that the man just now had achieved something I couldn’t.

A realm beyond a simple weapon domain. A realm close to the state of Unity.

Was it discipline? Perhaps he was more focused, trained harder than I ever did.

Or was I simply using the wrong methods? Master has mentioned it as well but his words are cryptic.

No matter what he said, I simply couldn’t understand what was required of me to enter this state of Unity. To tap into the power of the Deva realm.

I couldn’t understand yet I managed to tap into the power last time.

One time was enough to feel the difference between having the state and not having it.

Each of my movements felt cumbersome, disjointed, inefficient. It lacked the refinement I had during that final strike.

During the moment I used Instant Draw – Transcendent Samsara, an attack that can only be unleashed when the conditions align.

Even if I were to redo the movements, without the Deva Realm, Desire of Form and the state of Unity, it would be no different from a normal slash.

Lacking in the speed and power that managed to beat the demoness even for just a moment.

. . . No! I refuse to believe I can’t accomplish the same. If that man can do it then so can I!

###

’Aiyo~ Seems like Jin managed to get a pretty decent record. He’s the new fourth place.’ Alice grinned, feeling a little proud of her disciple.

However, Alyss was stone faced as usual.

’He should’ve been able to set a record using distance rather than just time. Seems like I’ll have to increase the difficulty of his training some more when we get the time.’ Alyss narrowed her eye.

’Twinnie, I know our standards are high but we need to praise the lad every now and then don’t you think? Give him a bit of motivation rather than kicking him down at every turn.’

’That’s because you’re soft on him. It’s enough that you’re giving him rest when he’s training with you, I don’t need to go easy on him.’ Alyss shook her head as she observed the movements within the chamber.

Parrying the arrows didn’t seem that difficult, even when they added power to it. The issue lies in the physical body and the ability to keep up.

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Alyss had to be honest.

Their physical strength was not the greatest on its own. They never trained in their body either as they had Sigils to compensate.

With this in mind, even if she could use the Zone and martial arts to try and compensate for the loss of power, swinging the weapon constantly was still a concern. Therefore, she had to go with a different approach rather than using a sword to parry.

’Needles? No, that doesn’t have enough power to parry the arrows. Threads? That requires blood after Sigurd’s modification, they won’t allow it.’ Alyss was stuck.

In the end, there was only one option left.

Her fists.

She’ll have to parry the arrows by punching and potentially redirecting them by throwing it back. There wasn’t any other option for her.

However, this runs the risk of injuring her hand and causing her disguise to dispel.

’I’ll need to use soft force.’

Martial arts like the Skybound Swallow would be suitable for this.

’They probably had great physical strength combined with marital arts and Zone to reach that state don’t you think? Since their supposed state of Unity won’t be enough if the body can’t keep up.’ Alice spoke as she was resting on Alyss’s bed.

She could see why her twin rested on this often before since the softness could be modified. This was her mental scape after all.

Recalling a few memories, a smile appeared on her face as she modified it to match the tail of the Governor in the North.

’Ahhh~’ Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, Alice closed her eye.

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Seeing her twin laze around like this, Alyss couldn’t help but roll her eye before focusing on the chamber.

As the fighter inside stepped out, she was called up next.

Alyss made sure to carefully step inside in fear of having her disguise dispelled. However, seeing that nothing changed, she smiled and closed her eye.

Immediately, she expanded an Absolute Zone and estimated her optimal range using her fists and redirection.

’8 meters…’ She frowned as this was a lot smaller than she expected.

As the first arrow was fired, Alyss caught it without even looking and dropped it onto the ground.

She glanced down at her hand which was trembling somewhat and let out an annoyed sigh.

Indeed, her physical strength couldn’t keep up.

If she were to force herself to catch all of the arrows, she’d run out of stamina before they breach her defence.

Two more arrows were fired as Alyss decided to change up her tactics.

Soft guard!

Striking the shaft of the arrow with a palm strike, she curved it out of the way as it clashed with the second arrow.

Compared to catching it directly, this was far better in terms of stamina consumption.

’Three more.’

The moment the arrows fired, Alyss could sense them.

Right now, her Absolute Zone covered the entire chamber!

Twisting her body, she redirected an arrow to crash into another before kicking the third into the ground.

Seeing that she was able to handle herself, the arrows began to pick up in speed while Alyss refined her guarding tactics.

She knew that things would get out of hand soon with her lacking stamina so she needed a better way to guard.

A three layer defensive movement. The second layer focuses on redirecting while the first layer are the targets that she’ll hit with the redirection.

The third layer is using her own body to dodge or parry.

However, soon the main issue appeared.

Every time she redirected an arrow, it would only hit one at most. Having it hit another was near impossible without it just breaking.

’I’ll add a fourth layer. Once it gets beyond what I can handle, I’ll use the Vermillion clan’s martial arts to push the arrows back.’

Despite the waves upon waves of arrows being fired towards her, Alyss didn’t move from her spot.

It looked as though a dome was being formed around her, preventing the arrows from approaching.

Watching the composed Alyss parry these arrows, the instructor overseeing the test couldn’t help but wonder if she’d achieved the state of Unity.

###

I failed.

I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed.

I… Failed.

I couldn’t match up to what the young man performed before me. My current domain was able to prevent the arrows from approaching near the start. But even with the domain and the instant draw, I still wasn’t able to block the waves of arrows near the end.

The power behind each shot became too much for me to parry and I saw them too late.

How did he single out those arrows? How did he pick it out through the waves of weak arrows?

I could feel the anger and frustration rising in my chest.

Master was right, there were indeed surprises to be found here. But I couldn’t understand it.

What was the difference between us? How was he able to tap into that state?

With his performance, he should be allowed into the main tournament. I’ll be able to figure out his secrets if I draw his name for the fight.

No matter what, I’ll learn the secrets to this new domain.