Allura called out to Gin while helping Alice loosen the restraints.
"Gin! Can you help me with something?"
"What is it?" Gin raised an eyebrow in confusion. It was unlike Allura to ask a favour like that. Usually, she would just demand his help.
"Can you help me grab a few things? I need to prepare Alice for her second Sigil. There's a lot to do and I'll be having my hands full," Allura shrugged.
Hearing this, he raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
'If Allura needs me to gather some materials while she trains the kid, then this hunt isn't going to be an easy one. What kind of target did she choose for her?'
"Sure. What do you need?"
"I need a cape made from Crimson Silk, Lunar Siren Abyss Blood and a pretty hefty supply of Scarlet powder. Though if you can make them into bombs, it'll be easier for me," Allura listed out as Gin furrowed his brows.
"What the hell are you hunting? These items aren't usually prepared for a 2 star hunt." Gin asked while scratching his beard.
"Nothing crazy. Just a Blood Wid-"
"A BLOOD WIDOW?!?! Are you nuts?!" Gin's eyes widened in shock. That was not something a 1 Sigil bearer should be hunting.
"Tsk, no need to shout. We got a plan~" Allura waved her hand dismissively.
"You of all people should know how risky this is! Even if you got a plan, there's no guarantee that it won't go south, and you'll have to intervene! When that happens, the hunt could fail and her next hunt becomes much harder!"
"That is why we need these items. Trust me on this. If we prepare properly, Alice will be able to do this," Allura smiled confidently.
She trusted Alice's potential. All she needed was the right amount of preparation and training to kill a Blood Widow.
Gritting his teeth, Gin knew that Allura wasn't going to be dissuaded. He sighed in annoyance.
"Fine. It's not my place to lecture you on how you should train her. But you should be well aware of the risks that come with this."
"Don't worry about it~" Allura laughed as Gin sighed once more and prepared to leave. If he wanted to get those items quickly, he'd have to set off right then or else he wouldn't be back any time soon. Saying goodbye to Ria, he left the training room.
Meanwhile, Ria was slightly confused as she didn't hear the full conversation.
"Oh, your grandfather is just going out to gather some stuff for Alice's next hunt. She's planning to hunt a 3 star beast for her second Sigil so we need to prepare it properly. We'll also need you to help us, Ria," Allura chuckled.
Blinking, Ria pointed at herself.
Allura smiled. "We'll be combining our attacks together to mimic the attack pattern of the Blood Widow Alice plans to hunt. She needs to get a general idea of the power level of this beast or else she will die. I'll be using my flames to emulate how the Blood Widow will fight while Ria, I want you to launch as many bolts of lightning as you can towards Alice when I signal you to."
Making some preparations, Allura cleared out the training room so that none of the equipment was laying around.
"I want you to take it seriously from the start. When you reach me, go for the kill. Because trust me, you won't be able to. The training will finish when I'm satisfied," Allura warned.
Taking a deep breath, she breathed out slowly, entering her mental state for the hunt. Pouring a vial of blood on her weapon, she narrowed her eyes and prepared to charge forward.
Seeing that, Allura snapped her fingers and conjured numerous motes of fire that covered the entire training room floor. Waving her finger, they blossomed into spider lilies, mimicking the effects of [Crimson Wedding].
Killing intent flooded through the arena as Alice could feel her world darken around her. The threat of death emanating from Allura made her body sluggish as cold sweat dripped down her back.
"What's wrong, Alice? Didn't you say you wanted to hunt the Blood Widow? This is the killing intent of all three star hunts. If you cannot get used to this, then you can forget about killing her." Allura called out as the fire spider lilies started to transform.
Snapping her fingers again, hundreds of flaming needles shot towards Alice. Gritting her teeth, Alice stomped down and activated the Eye's ability, increasing her kinetic vision. She could now see the countless needles threatening to pierce her body.
'Find the closest ones! Prepare for the second wave and don't stand in one place. Don't let excitement overwhelm your thoughts. Stay composed and figure out her power,' She thought to herself. Those were the tips Allura gave her after seeing her performance.
Activating her first Sigil, Alice rushed forward and dodged the first wave of flaming needles before twisting and sending out her dagger.
Flicking her finger, Allura casually knocked the dagger aside with her flames before gesturing to Ria.
Four lightning bolts dropped down from the sky as Alice panicked and threw her dagger to the side before dragging herself away.
Unable to adjust herself in time, Alice tried to fight back some more, but several flaming needles pinned her down against the ground.
"You died. You didn't even get within arm's reach, how do you expect yourself to kill a 3 star beast if this is the best that you can do? Try again," Allura said coldly.
Alice gritted her teeth and walked back to her original spot. Focusing up, she rushed towards Allura once more.
"You died. Try again."
"You died. Worse than before."
"You died. You really thought the beast would care about such a distraction? Try again."
On the 50th death, Allura decided to take a break so that they could get some food. Allowing Alice to rest for now, she left the training area to get some food for the girls.
Meanwhile, Ria walked over to Alice, wanting to see how she was feeling. She hoped that Alice wasn't feeling too down by the results. After all, she was trying to kill a three star difficulty beast as her second Sigil.
"ARGGGGGG!!! THIS IS SO ANNOYING!" Alice cried out in frustration, shocking Ria. She never expected Alice could be that loud.
Forcing herself to sit up straight, Alice took several deep breaths to calm herself down. She began to scratch her neck while considering the possible options of attack.
'I can neither rush forward nor run to the sides. She'll overwhelm me with the number of spider lilies followed by the lightning attacks. I'm not sure what the lightning attacks replace but this first wave is too annoying to deal with. I need a way to survive the onslaught or else I'll never reach her.
I don't even know how tough it'll be to kill this b*tch either since I haven't been able to touch her.' Alice thought to herself while sitting with her legs crossed.
Seeing that Alice was lost in her own thoughts, Ria couldn't help but chuckle as she gained a new understanding of her after today. She wasn't someone that would give up easily, even while under the pressure of a near-impossible situation.
'It'll be bad manners to ask her to give up when she's put this much thought into it. The best thing I can do is help her in the training,' Ria mused. As much as she would like to give Alice some tips, Ria was not sure how she would survive such an onslaught.
"Ria, if you had to kill this beast, how would you fight it? I know our fighting styles don't match, but I need some ideas. As it stands, I don't know how to approach her without getting shredded to smithereens." Alice sighed and turned her attention to Ria as it seemed like she had some ideas on her mind.
"Oh, me? Hmm… Honestly, even with my speed, I don't see how I'm going to get through that barrage. Assuming she has a limit to her range and it's shorter than mine, I'll stay afar and use my lightning bolts. Because, let me be honest, even with my speed, dodging through all of that is insane," Ria replied honestly.
Nodding at Ria's response, Alice started to think about some plans of her own.
'The closer I get to Allura, the faster the spikes become. Not to mention the fact that they'll also start appearing from behind me since I'm getting closer to the center of her area.
I need a way to make her go on the defensive…' Alice thought to herself as she formulated a new plan of attack, one that doesn't require her to dodge everything that Allura threw at her, since her physical strength was simply not enough. She could see the attacks and their trajectory, but having the necessary power to run through and dodge everything was out of her reach at the moment.
However, just as she was thinking about that, an idea appeared in her mind, causing her to sit up straight.
"No way… if this works…" She muttered. Jumping to her feet, she started to experiment with the idea before an excited smile appeared on her face.
As Allura returned to the arena, she was surprised to see a spark of excitement in Alice's gaze.
"Seems like you had an idea while I was gone. Would you like food first or have another go at it?" Allura asked.
"I'll take another go. This time, I won't die so easily."
Hearing this, Allura chuckled.
Placing the food down by the side, she approached her starting position.
"Then, show me what this new plan of yours is."