Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

* Jim Yosef - Firefly [NCS Release] *

Stretching her body with a soft yawn, Raven was about to start heading towards the city.

However, before she could move a foot, a tremendous pressure suddenly washed over her, pushing her towards the ground.

\'What the f*CK?\' she thought while infusing her body with mana in order to protect and prevent her bones from cracking.

Taking a moment to adjust, she shifted her gaze towards Keith to make sure he was doing alright. 

"Are you alright, my mistress?" He asked after taking a heavy breath. Other than the strained look on his face, he was unharmed.

"Uhm," Raven nodded in relief. Focusing on the source of the heavy pressure, she found herself staring at three titans, similar to the one Red had just killed a few minutes ago.

"Tch," she clicked her tongue. "This is going to be troublesome." Part of her wished for him to come back for a second or two so he can reduce them to ashes...

The three titans were floating up in the sky, above the abnormal gate. Their features seemed to be that of anger and hatred.

"Filthy humans and traitor demons," the largest of them, and seemingly their leader, spoke with a thundering voice. "You dare not only disobey a direct order from her highness, the Cardinal Sin of Lust, Asmodeus, but also kill one of her own loyal subjects? You shall suffer a fate worse than death!" 

Raven\'s mind was working at full speed, trying to think of techniques she could utilize to stop the three from doing so much damage to the environment and hurting other people. 

\'Their ranks are at least ranging between A and A+, Keith might be able to take one or two down, but if I don\'t help, we\'ll both end up dead.

\'I need to use my mana then, a large portion of it too… but at the same time, should I refrain from killing? Maybe I can just restrain them for Keith? But they\'re too powerful, we can\'t fight them half-heartedly.\' Raven could already feel her head hurting, not just from the situation they were in right now, but also, from the feeling of her urges rising back up again.

"Prepare for punishment!" The leader said as dark energy flared out of his body, covering the sun and dimming the previously bright morning.

However, just as the giant monster was about to attack, time seemed to slow down, until it came to a complete stop.

A floating passage of text appeared in Raven\'s vision. A second after, a robotic voice followed.

[The Ex System has been successfully updated, thank you for your patience.]

Raven widened her eyes in surprise as she hadn\'t expected this to happen right now of all times. 

Finding her mouth subconsciously curving into a smile, she couldn\'t help but feel her stresses and urges all go away for a moment.

[Unit Kayla has successfully acquired and integrated a part of her source code.

[Unit Kayla has evolved into a separate entity. 

[Unit Kayla has successfully evolved into a Young Cyber Valkyrie.]

[Unit Kayla is requesting permission from the main body to fully integrate the Ex System into her own source code. 

[Please note that this may be harmful for unit Kayla or may simply not work as intended. 

[This request is not supported by the system and it-]

"I grant her my permission!" Raven interrupted the robotic voice hurriedly. \'If she asked for my permission, then I must trust her.\' Raven thought with a determined look on her face.

[Permission granted from main body...

[Proceedings as ordered…

[...

[...

[Error in the system!]

At that, Raven gritted her teeth. \'I trust you Kayla, please, be well!\'

[Unit Kayla\'s source code is too fragile for the full integration.

[Proper actions are in order…

[Solution: the system will be partially integrated, granting unit Kayla partial control over the system. 

[The remaining data will be functionally separate in order to ensure the safety of the main body and unit Kayla.

[Unit Kayla may fully integrate the system once her source code is able to support it, if she still wishes to, at that time.

[Final synchronization is in progress…

[End of evolution.]

"!!!!" Worried and happy as she was, Raven was startled as a gentle pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.

"I missed you!" Kayla whispered and Raven couldn\'t help but feel her eyes water up a little bit. "I missed you too!" She said while hugging her back. 

All the while, time was frozen still.

"How are you doing?" Raven asked. She was worried since not only did she take way longer than expected, but she also couldn\'t integrate the system as she wanted to.

"I\'m alright I guess," Kayla said with a soft sigh. "I will tell you everything later, but for now, you only need to know that we\'ve both received some buffs, I guess." She said looking down as her plan has failed, but then she smirked since she didn\'t care much in the first place.

\'When I\'m with Raven, everything is always fine!\' her smirk got Raven to match her expression, which gave both of them a deep feeling of nostalgia and happiness.

"I will keep the system messages functional, temporarily, since it might be easier for you to read them rather than me talking about them," Kayla said, "but for now, ultimately, all you need to know is that I\'ve got your back." 

"Wanna kick some a*s?" She said as her smirk widened.

"Oi, you\'re not supposed to say such words!" Raven scolded as in her eyes, Kayla was still very young. "But for sure, let\'s get them!" She said with a chuckle.

"Hehe, let\'s get them!" At that, purple mana enveloped Kayla\'s figure as her eyes shone brighter.

A foggy screen of mana filled the area as time seemed to move forward again.

Disappearing into Raven\'s body, Kayla greeted Tu with a wave and a toothy grin before focusing back on Raven and her imminent fight.

Feeling Kayla back in her mind again made Raven happier than ever. Everything suddenly seemed so bright and vivid.

In front of the titans\' confused eyes, a field of dark purple mist covered the area that was previously clear.

Furthermore, the girl that seemed defenceless just a second ago was now clad in a dark purple armour with golden runes itched into its surface.

Mana radiated from her body menacingly as the three titans found themselves almost cowering on the ground instead of floating in the air.

\'How could this be?\' the leader wondered.

"Alright," Raven said while passing her hand in front of her face in a graceful manner. 

With her swift motion, a bright crimson-golden mask materialised on her face, covering her eyes and part of her nose, while leaving her smirk visible to the onlookers.

The two horns and two fangs one the mask made her resemble a young humanoid dragon, yet her powers weren\'t to be underestimated.

"Disgusting humans!" The leader of the titans yelled. "Do you think that some cosmetics will help you one bit against us? You were already dead the moment we set our eyes upon you!"

Only replying with her smirk, Raven adopted a pose as crimson-golden energy materialised in both of her hands.

Materialising into two shiny short daggers, they were instantly dyed in a dark purple hue around the edges, giving them a frightening look.

Since they were already on the ground, the titans applied pressure to their feet and sprang up quickly, forming a small wind current that almost pushed some trees away.

Advancing with their mana flaring behind, the three titans were aiming at Raven\'s figure.

"Take this!!" One of them yelled while extending his hand forward. Instantly, an enormous boulder was formed above the forest and was suddenly falling down on Raven\'s head.

The other one slammed his fist against the ground, without much of a word. Lava exploded from beneath and shot upwards like the wave of a deadly tsunami.

"Suffer!" The leader yelled while jumping upwards. Flickering up in the sky, energy exploded between his hands forming a large golden lance of violent lightning that was making loud crackling sounds.

As the three titans attacked with all of their might, Raven just stood at the center of it all, as if waiting for all to fall down.

Before the three forces of nature could hit, she mouthed three words with a grin: "Dusky Phoenix; Blackout!"

At that, a large shadow seemed to be born out of the present light. Noticing how the morning light was all vanishing into darkness, the titans thought that they\'d lost their vision.

\'But it doesn\'t matter, there\'s no way she\'d survive our attacks combined!\' the leader thought.

Flickering from her spot, Raven watched as the masses of energy and matter were all devoured by her black phoenix. It all happened so fast and quietly.

\'No… why can\'t I hear the resulting explosion? Or even feel the energy? WHAT HAPPENED?\' The leader was panicking.

Suddenly, the mass of black disappeared, giving a chance for the light to take its natural spot again.

Before the titans could adjust their sight to the brightness that washed over them, they noticed a small figure floating in the air.

With the two short daggers tightly gripped in her hands, Raven flickered between the titans and reappeared behind them.

Various massive cuts were instantly generated across their tough armour and were able to even penetrate deeper than their skin level.

"Hahaha!" The leader suddenly started laughing. "It was surprising and painful, but do you really think that would be enough to stop us from destroying-"

"You know, for a dead idiot, you sure talk a lot," Raven smirked, sending cold chills down their spines.

Suddenly, realising that they can\'t heal themselves, the titans gulped loudly, in fear.

"Oh by the way, this was just the opening act," she said, "Our main act starts now!"

With that, runes of bright blood started glowing on their skin.

\'When did she manage to write on my own skin using my own blood?\' one of the titans muttered in his mind before agonizing pain assaulted his very soul.

Little did he know, it was Keith\'s doing. "Bloodbath: Chains of the underworld, I order thee, take the sinners with you!"

Chains of bright blood extended out of their skin and started pulling them underneath the ground.

Not being able to stand the pain, the three monsters started activating random skills that ended up all being absorbed by the chains.

Screaming and yelling for help contributed in nothing but making their trip to the underworld more painful.