Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 972: Captain Miki’s Training

The Captain has been strange recently.

Not the kind of strange that comes from exhaustion. If you wanted to see that, you merely needed to walk out into the streets.

There were countless civilians acting strange from exhaustion.

It wasn’t the kind of strange from stress either.

It was something else.

At first, no one noticed.

Captain Miki had always been intense. You felt like you had to be absolutely serious and focused in front of her, that one mistake would cause her to start scolding you.

But now...

Captain Miki was flinching.

Not often, not dramatically. Just occasionally.

When doors open behind her, footsteps of those in a rush approaching too quickly.

Someone calling her name outside her line of sight.

Each time, her body would react before her mind could.

Once, she nearly struck a messenger who appeared from her blind side.

She had almost summoned her spear but managed to stop herself.

Captain Miki apologised. Embarrassed, unsettled.

People waved it off as stress from not seeing a siege that they had all expected.

But I felt like it was something else.

She seemed...

Unsettled.

I started watching the Captain more carefully after that.

It became impossible to ignore once you knew the hints to look for.

She checked corners, always.

Even inside headquarters.

Never stood with her back exposed.

When she sat down, she positioned herself facing the entrances.

If someone walked behind her, she would focus hard.

Like a prey listening for a predator’s footsteps.

She was on guard, afraid even.

It wasn’t just vigilance either. Sometimes there would be these... pauses.

Stopping mid-movement. Mid-conversation.

Mid-sentence.

Her eyes would dart around as if she could see an enemy they couldn’t.

Something faint, something approaching.

Something that posed her a danger.

During a tactical briefing, she froze while reaching for a map marker.

Her hand froze in the air, completely still before ducking down and preparing a counter for nearly ten seconds.

Everyone waited, no one spoke. They stared at her in confusion.

She then continued the briefing as though nothing had just happened.

After the meeting, I continued to follow the Captain.

She kept looking for something.

Waiting, calculating.

Angle, timing.

Captain Miki was acting like a bow string pulled tight. A single disturbance would set her off.

###

Miki was stressed.

Unbelievably so.

Alice’s training was ’simple’ in concept.

But when applied, it became her worst nightmare.

The requirements was for her to keep this state of focus on for as long as possible.

Throughout the entire day.

That wasn’t all however. While the state was active, Miki could instinctively ’see’ her weaknesses. If she doesn’t adjust them properly, Alice would strike.

Killing intent followed her wherever she went.

Other’s couldn’t feel like but Miki definitely could.

It felt as though a beast had its jaws around her neck.

One misstep, one lapse in focus and the fangs will pierce her throat.

And when Alice struck, a needle would pierce her body following that exact path. From the needle, a ’poison’ would be injected. A fleeting, intense pain that burned hotter than the sun.

It didn’t harm her body directly as the needle would disappear soon after.

But the pain was very real.

She tried to have some lunch, a needle struck her tongue.

"F*CK!!!" Miki cursed, surprising the people around her as she quickly apologised.

Another needle stabbed into the back of her neck.

The pain caused her knee to shoot up, hitting the table corner at an odd angle.

Clenching her teeth, Miki focused hard, eliminating as many options as possible so that Alice wouldn’t attack.

Naturally, Alice didn’t make this easy.

The rhythm of attacks were random. Thrown out whenever she felt like it, when Miki least expected it.

There could be minutes between attacks. Long breaks that made it hard for her to focus. There was also ones where needles came one after another, making her do a dance of pain where others couldn’t see her.

She couldn’t track Alice either.

Her presence was perfectly concealed.

Miki couldn’t even find her if she tried her best.

Letting out a sigh... Miki went to the toilet.

*BANG!!!

"ALICE!!! I SWEAR TO THE GODS IF YOU ATTACK ME IN THE TOILET AGAIN!!!"

That was the source of Miki’s strange actions.

The fact that she wasn’t even safe in the toilet.

If there was a piece of good news, she found herself being more perceptive of her surroundings.

Keeping up this state of absolute focus was difficult sure. But she started to gain proficiency with this technique due to Alice’s training.

It felt like a switch she could turn on or off.

Keeping it on all the time would be too risky. She had to space things out properly.

The moment an attack enters her range, she’ll activate the ability to parry.

Eliminating options was unnecessarily draining her stamina. Luring opponents in and defending herself should be what she seeks to achieve.

Watching Miki make the adjustments to the Absolute Zone, Alice had a smile on her face while tossing several needles into the air.

However, this wasn’t enough. There needed to be more.

If Miki wanted to reach the level she desired, they had to crank up the difficulty every time Miki starts to adapt.

’Guess it’s my turn now.’ Alyss massaged her neck.

’Yep, have fun twinnie.’ Alice handed over the controls.

The moment Alyss took over, she activated her footwork and appeared before Miki.

For a second, the world seemed to stop.

Miki stared at the split haired girl in front of her, already with her arm pulled back.

Her eyes slowly widening.

The people around her slowly turning around to see the new arrival.

Energy gathered in Alyss’s arm, Miki knew what was coming.

There was a single line connecting Alyss to her weak point right now.

She couldn’t adjust in time.

Ah. I’m dead.

That’s the conclusion Miki arrived at as Alyss launched her fist.

Miki tried her best to guard but Alyss’s knuckles dug into her stomach.

*BANG!!!

Miki’s body slammed into the ceiling, causing cracks to form. The only reason why she didn’t fly through was because Alyss had reinforced the ceiling to avoid major structural damage.

For a moment, Miki almost passed out a she peeled off the ceiling and crashed into the floor.

The staff around her cried out in shock and went to check if she was okay. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Alyss had already disappeared.

"It... It’s fine. D-don’t worry about it. J-just some training." Miki forced herself to smile.

She thought it would just be needles.

She hadn’t expected Alyss to appear out of nowhere and punch her.

Not only that, but the fist was also coated in healing energy. It only hurt but no wounds were left.

Just as Miki was about to stand up, a needle pierced her butt cheek.

"!!!"

Biting her lip, she held back a string of curses that would leave the people around her stunned.

Forcing a smile, she focused once more.

She had the others return back to their work stations. There was no need for them to bother with what’s happening to her since they had jobs of their own.

As she was about to reach the door, a foot exited the void and kicked her on the back of the knee.

Miki slammed her foot down, shocking the others as she stopped herself from falling.

"Hey, Alice? How is this training? Isn’t this just petty acts?" Miki’s smile twitched furiously.

"Just try your best~" Alice’s voice whispered next to Miki’s ear. She turned around to try and catch Alice.

A table floated in the air and she slammed her elbow into the corner.

Miki almost drew blood from how hard she was biting her lip.

There was now three things she had to be careful about.

Needles, Alyss punching her, and Alice’s pranks.

A strange sight appeared in the office that day.

Captain Miki was walking around when a hanging bar would appear in front of her.

She would bend back at the last moment to dodge while a split haired girl would appear above.

*BANG!!!

The floors would crack, she would disappear and Captain Miki would barely dodge the strikes.

She waved it off as ’training’ but... was that truly the case?

Some couldn’t help but wonder if this was Miki’s version of stress relief. She seemed to have a smile while dodging these strikes after all.

A portal opened under Miki as she started to fall.

She quickly summoned her spear to vault herself back up but another portal sucked away the spear.

Miki’s smile froze.

From the side, Alyss came in with a flying kick.

"BLERGH!!!"

Miki was thrown through a portal and into a wall.

Every time she started to get used to it, the training would ’intensify.’

After a certain point, people stopped getting surprised and continued with their work.

###

Erwen sat on a mountain peak overlooking Grand Cathia.

Originally, he was preparing a siege greater than last time but changed his mind afterwards.

He noticed Miki and Alice scouting out the location.

It seemed like Miki wasn’t rejecting help anymore.

If that was the case, farming fear wasn’t going to be easy.

Instead, he opted for a new solution.

Possession.

Rather than have the Nightmare manifest outside the city, he’ll start invading their Nightmares and have the pigs at the top become their downfall.

Corrupt their mind, amplify their worst traits.

And as turmoil wraps the city, they’ll have to make a choice.

Taking a deep breath, Erwen let out a light sigh.

Fog enveloped his body and he disappeared from his location.