Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 971: Training Tutorial

Training Miki wasn’t exactly the hardest thing to do.

After all, she has already achieved the basic foundation needed for Zone.

Her body control and awareness was already spectacular. The only thing she needed to improve on was composure in battle.

Not the kind where you’re calm and nonchalant in battle. But rather the kind where even if you are angry, you can see the battle objectively.

To see yourself as a pawn.

What must you do, how must you achieve your goals.

Battle is similar to chess.

You have to think ahead and corner your opponent.

So for Miki, especially when fighting against Erwen, she has to be able to think ahead.

And there’s only one method to achieve this.

Exposure.

Using a mix of her Sigils, Alice traced Miki’s memories of Erwen, his appearance and way of speaking.

She didn’t need to trace his habits or fighting style, that wasn’t the point of this exercise.

The point was having Miki ’fight’ Erwen while mastering Absolute Zone.

"You!-"

"ARGH!-"

"F*C-"

"ALI-"

"CAN WE ST-"

Miki’s cries continued to be drowned out by the barrage of attacks being sent her way.

Each one was fitted with healing energy so that even if the contact was painful, the wound is healed immediately.

Miki glared at the projection of Erwen smirking in front of her and swung her spear.

A projectile threw her spear off course, causing her to miss while Erwen mocked her with a pitying gaze.

Before she can follow up with a new attack, another projectile lands on the back of her knee, breaking her stance while two more crashed into her shoulders.

This kept repeating.

So long as Erwen was in front of her, Miki found it difficult to focus.

Her thoughts kept going back to the moment when she saw her father kneeling in front of Erwen.

A ghastly wound across his chest as life faded from his eyes.

"ARGHHHH!!!"

Miki let out a cry of frustration only to be silenced by a projectile slamming into her chest, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

"Screaming won’t change things. If screaming at my opponent can kill them I would be training my lungs rather than my body. Now get up." Alice glared.

Miki bit her lip and got back up.

###

Alice folded her arms.

It wasn’t working.

Miki was too focused on her fixation on Erwen for her to properly focus.

Even after telling her this, she was struggling to adjust.

They needed something far greater than her anger of Erwen.

She needed to experience death.

Alice clapped her hands, pausing the fight.

Miki collapsed on her knees. Not from the physical exhaustion but rather the mental one.

Alice walked past her.

With a flick on her fingers, the projection of Erwen disappeared.

Instead, Alice turned around and snapped her fingers. Her appearance started to shift, transforming into Erwen.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Alice traced Erwen’s habits.

"You still can’t give it up can you? Stuck in the past even though you’re telling people to walk to the future."

Miki froze.

Her gaze slowly lifted as Alice or rather, Erwen kneeled down and lifted her chin.

"Even when the one who killed teacher stands in front of you, you still can’t cross that gap."

Miki gritted her teeth, lunging forward with her spear while Alice created the same spear and parried with the exact same movements.

Pinning Miki’s weapon to the ground, she grinned.

*RUMBLE!!!

A wave of killing intent erupted as the world turned red. Miki felt a chill down her spine.

"Focus Miki. Otherwise you’ll die." Alice warned.

Copying Miki’s moves, Alice broke Miki’s stance and threw her into the air.

Miki tried to adjust herself but it was already too late. The moment she was thrown into the air, this fight was over.

Alice appeared above her.

*KRK!!!

With a single thrust, the spear pierced Miki’s throat.

"!!!"

Without saying anything else, Alice twisted her wrist and Miki’s head was severed.

###

"ARGH!!!" Miki blinked, her hand pressing against her throat in a panic.

But nothing changed.

She was still alive and Erwen stood in front of her.

"Distracted? On a battlefield?"

Erwen crossed the gap in an instant.

With a single jab, Miki was blinded and torn apart.

###

Miki blinked her eyes and gritted her teeth. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

She raised her spear and blocked the first strike.

"Better. Now focus." Erwen smiled.

That tone, that arrogance.

It felt as though she was seeing the real Erwen.

Breaking the clash, Miki lunged forward for a spear strike but Erwen simply smiled.

A simple flick of the spear pommel to break the spear trajectory before flowing into a upwards slash and stab.

Miki died once again.

###

Tendon’s slashed, then stabbed through the chest.

###

Severing of the shoulder into a stab through the guts.

###

Spear stab through the foot to stop her from moving into a kick to the jaw.

Spear stolen then stabbed through the head with the same weapon.

###

A flurry of slashes across the body, left to bleed out.

###

Death by slashing through the spine.

###

Death by...

###

Death by...

###

How many times has to died how? How long has passed.

Miki stood before Erwen.

In this world dyed with crimson, she realised how exposed she is. It felt as though invisible crimson paths were leading the spear head towards her weak points.

They clashed their weapons. Options were eliminated but new ones opened up.

Erwen tried to disrupt her stance, Miki took a step back.

Spear thrust to cross the distance, Miki parried.

Counter with a spear spin into slash.

Erwen parried.

Every time an option is eliminated, new ones appear.

If Erwen traced one path, Miki countered. If she traced a path, Erwen would counter in kind.

A stalemate of sorts.

A state of absolute focus.

Erwen grinned.

"You can finally start calling yourself teacher’s daughter."

"!!!"

Her focus was broken and two stabs instantly pierced her chest, causing her to cough up blood.

###

Alice frowned.

She continued to press Miki and force her to commit a mistake.

The progression was going smoothly except one minor issue.

A single word from Erwen would shatter that focus. She was on the cusp of Absolute Zone but her focus was too fragile.

She needed to separate her emotions from battle. At least for this one.

’Any tips?’ Alice asked internally.

Alyss was the better one when it comes to things like this.

’Hmm... Perhaps you should give her a trigger.’

’A trigger?’

’Yeah. A state she uses in battle then a state outside of it. Block out emotions, focus on fighting. Then, when the fight is over, allow the emotions to spill out. It’s like building pressure in a chamber before allowing it to explode.’ Alyss explained.

’There’s an issue isn’t there.’

’A slight one. This isn’t good for the long run. Not only that, but the capacity for how much they can handle varies based on people. If we don’t do this properly... we could give her some very bad habits.’ Alyss warned.

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice decided against it.

Miki wanted to lead the people. If someone was unfeeling, how would people follow?

Alice clapped her hand, dispelling the illusion as Miki snapped out of it.

Looking around her, she saw the sun slowly setting.

"No good huh?" Miki smiled bitterly.

Throughout the entire session, she didn’t manage to land a single hit on Alice.

Her focus kept breaking.

"I wouldn’t say it’s without benefit." Alice shook her head.

Tapping her heel, she appeared in front of Miki and allowed a bit of her killing intent to leak out.

"!!!" Miki blinked her eyes. Her spear was already blocking Alice’s hand.

Instinctively, she knew where Alice was targeting.

"We managed to refine your basic instincts already. You need focus to enter Absolute Zone but even without it, you shouldn’t have an issue with most people." Alice smiled, turning around.

But Miki understood the underlying warning.

"Most people except Erwen right?"

"Right. We have options to forcefully supress the emotions for you. But I don’t think that’s good. Instead, it’s better for you to work out this issue yourself." Alice nodded.

Miki wanted to say something but paused.

This rage, this anger in her chest. She had to figure out how to control it.

"How do you deal with it?" She asked, causing Alice to stop in her tracks.

"I don’t. Even now, the moment I see the Zenia family, rage overtakes me. Though... if I see them again, I think I should be able to keep my composure to some extent." Alice exhaled slowly through her nose.

"It’s not that I’ve forgiven or forgotten everything they’ve done. In fact, it’s the opposite. I still think about the 10 years they’ve taken from me. Difference is... I suppose I’m looking forward to my future." Alice turned around with a grin.

She’d much rather spend every day lounging around than kill.

The simple life that she wished for.

The Zenia family must fall. There’s no rejecting that notion. But Alice won’t let that rage consume her.

"We’ll work on your foundations. Give you as many tools as possible so you can overcome this danger. But emotions wise, I can’t help you."

Miki glanced at the ground before nodding.

The training today was tough and scary. Especially at the end.

But the improvements she made are vast. If they keep going at this pace...

"Ah before I forget. You should clear out your schedule tomorrow. Today was just a test to see your level. I think I’ve got a good grasp now so tomorrow will be pushing past your limit."

She needed to ’calibrate’ the training after all.

In other words...

Miki paled.

That was just the tutorial.