Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

"I am aware that this may have seemed a little bit too harsh, so I do apologize in advance," Scott said with a sheeplike smile. "But this has all been staged…"

Gritting her teeth, Raven wasn't surprised at this point. Not after witnessing the horrified look on Amir's face after she had kicked the blue haired boy, apparently called Shin.

She hadn't even meant to harm him as much as she did, but at the sudden thought of blood splattering out of little Amira's throat, she infused her foot with her golden aura the moment she kicked.

She was able to feel the boy's lungs being squished against his broken ribs the moment her foot connected to his chest, yet she didn't feel an ounce of pity at the time.

Now however, her consciousness was adding more pressure on her already full plate.

'Since when have I become this tunnel visioned? Why can I no longer see the bigger picture?' Raven asked herself, feeling the guilt tormenting her. Not because she had physically harmed the kid, but rather because of what that implies.

She was ready to kill anything and anyone that would try to harm someone she had deemed relevant to her.

'Do you not mean -deem your own-?' Raven suddenly muttered to herself, unaware of what she had just said.

'Is it that I'm just obsessive? Do I just want to protect what is mine, rather than what or who I love?'

Shaking her head, she cupped her face within her warm palms to force herself back to reality. She knew those words weren't something she should even think about.

She loves Maria, Maya, Axane, and all of her family and friends. 'Uhm, I am just disoriented now… that's all,' she tried to convince herself.

Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly towards Shin to check up on him.

Seeing that, Amira's small frame instantly jumped and opened her arms in order to protect the boy who's still in slight pain.

"Please, Raven, Shin was joking! He'd never harm me!" She shouted in fear. "Please forgive him, it was that man's idea!" She said while pointing towards Scott.

*Sigh*

Crouching down, Raven patted her head with a soft smile. "I- I know now… I'm sorry, I'm just trying to check up on him. That's all."

"Do you promise?" She asked. Only after Raven had nodded did she move aside.

Raven noted that she hasn't cried even once during this time, but rather was so focused on healing Shin if anything. 

She appreciated how competent and focused she was, that would be a blessing in the battlefield.

"Are you alright?" Raven asked Shin who looked away with a frown. 

"I could have beaten your a*s, you know," he said, his cheeks warm red. "I just wasn't expecting something like that. The Deputy General told us to expect that you would protect Amira, but he didn't say anything about you attacking me… 

"I guess I should have expected that, maybe that's the lesson he wanted to teach us." He finished with a sigh.

Taking a moment to digest all of that, Raven burst out laughing.

"Oi, what are you laughing at?" He stood up and flared his mana. Flexing his hands, the two familiar water blades materialised in his grasp, yet this time Raven could tell they were indeed dangerous as his blue aura radiated out of them menacingly.

"How about a rematch?" Shin asked seriously. "I bet I'll give you a run for your money this time now that I'm ready for you!"

Wiping away the tears from her eyes and trying not to laugh any harder, Raven stood up again.

"Uhm, I'll take your bet, but not now, I'm not feeling good at the moment," she said calmly.

"Excuses! You just realized how deep the rabbit hole you were that's all!" He said, his cheeks still warm. Raven started to feel that it was more than just embarrassment from being defeated.

'Well of course it's not just because he'd lost against you,' Kayla muttered with a chuckle in her mind. 'I bet you'd have warm cheeks if a gorgeous girl was this close to you!'

'Are you calling me gorgeous?' Raven raised her eyebrows. 'Or are you trying to compliment yourself since we both look alike, more or less?'

'Hehe, maybe both?' Kayla's avatar smiled while whispering in Raven's ear. 

Thinking about it for a moment, Raven decided to make some space between her and Shin since she didn't want to set any weird flags to the poor kid.

"But anyway," he said, dismissing his blades. "I don't want to hurt a cute girl like you," he said while scratching his cheek in embarrassment. "I'll give you a chance to recuperate before our rematch!"

'Oh here it is,' Kayla teased with a chuckle but Raven frowned in her mind.

"Ah, that's so kind of you, Shin," she said while waving a quick goodbye. "Thank you for the second chance. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to Scott over there. See ya!" 

"Wait," he called out but Raven ignored him before dashing towards Scott. Grabbing him by the arm, she dragged him outside the room.

Everyone in the room was left speechless at how the Deputy General didn't argue with her, but none dared comment on that in front of him.

"What is it?" Scott asked once they were outside the class.

"Kayla, you said you're done with most of the portals, correct?" She asked, partially ignoring Scott.

"Aye, the avatars were able to destroy about two hundred of them, but many are being created with each passing minute," Kayla said and Scott frowned.

"Ok, I'll give you some time to recover before we start the production of the devices." She said. While Kayla nodded in understanding, Scott was left confused.

"Are we talking about the teleportation bracelets?" He asked.

"Uhm, that and some devices that will allow the EDA rankers to find the demonic portals."

"Here's a quick sample," Kayla said as a wave of cyber matter was formed in front of her tiny avatar's hands.

Twisting the cyber matter in the air as circuits of silver and purple were fused with it, two devices were created in an instant.

"Here," Kayla said with a smile. "The new generation of the teleportation bracelets can produce their own anchor point. In addition, they are now reusable. All you need to know will be given as instructions in the holographic display." 

Touching the small screen on the bracelet, Scott was surprised as a holographic screen was displayed, showing all the steps to activate the anchor and then how to use the bracelet itself and actually teleport.

"Hm, in comparison to the previous version, this is indeed more efficient." Scott said in appreciation. "We were preparing a large team to help you, but apparently you only needed some time to be able to produce this. Last I heard was that our technology team was dying to meet you.

"Anyhow, from my understanding, you only need to take this piece and throw it somewhere," he said, holding what seemed like a small attachable panel he removed from the bracelet, "and it would then act like an anchor? Finally, injecting mana would be enough to activate it?"

"Yep, it's that simple," Kayla said with a smile. "Also, here's the demonic energy detector," she said, handing him the other device.

"This will simply function as a radar for the demonic energy, since not everyone might know how to distinguish them from normal energy, plus, it has a large range," she said as she sat back on Raven's shoulder.

"Alright, thank you," Scott said. "They seem good and all, but I'm assuming you'll be able to produce some more soon?" 

"Aye she will, just give her some time to recover," Raven said, slightly annoyed. Kayla scratched her cheek in embarrassment at her behaviour.

"Oh, here they come," Scott suddenly said as Raven felt the presence of a couple of familiar mama signatures.

Looking at the hallway behind Scott, she was able to see Camilla and Kuru, Jaimie, Adam, Axth, and two other rankers that she wasn't able to recognise as she hadn't seen before.

"Alright, please wait inside with the rest, we'll start the official introductions soon" Scott said to Raven who stole a wave at Kuru and Camilla before doing as told.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen," Scott greeted. "Are we all ready to get this show rolling?"

"Oh, we are, Deputy General," one of the unknown rankers said as her short blonde hair fluttered with each move she took.

"Aye, aye," said the other new ranker excitedly. She was wearing some cute nursing outfit as if she was dragged straight out of her job from the hospital.

"Just a question, Deputy General," the blonde said. "Was that girl the troublemaker Adam was afraid of?"

"Oi, I didn't say I'm afraid of her," Adam glared at her. "I'm just saying that she doesn't belong here, she could easily stand among us as an equal, in my opinion that is." He shrugged since they were all in for a shock.

"Oho~ as an equal to you lot, maybe, but to me?" She asked with a fiendish smile. "I'd be rather surprised and even impressed if someone her age was a triple S ranker. But hey, that would be a lot of fun now would it not?

"After all, I can't remember the last time I was able to enjoy a good fight.." She said, licking her lips as if she was about to enjoy a tasty meal.