Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

* Jim Yosef & Anna Yvette - Linked [NCS Release] *

Reaching the edge of the forest with Kayla holding her hand, and Keith following behind her, Raven was now able to observe the clearing near the beach where the festival was supposed to be celebrated.

In front of her, she could see the broken wooden stages and destroyed stalls that were once decorated golden yellow. 'They once gave off a happy aura...'

Joey, Calcer, Noah, and some other people were fighting the present monsters while Raven could see many that have already died on the ground.

However, approaching the group was a giant monster. Unlike the titans she fought, this one seemed smaller in size but more vicious and less intelligent.

"It is probably weaker than what we've fought, but it'll still be sad news for the rest, we should go and- ah what the..."

All of a sudden, Raven found herself shielding her eyes from a bright light in the sky.

Before her vision could even focus back, the source of the light suddenly plunged down with frightening speed.

On impact, countless spears of cyan light sprouted out of the ground at light speed and penetrated the surrounding monsters, including the wild giant, eliminating them on the spot.

Raising her eyebrows, Raven saw a figure of a young boy slowly standing up with glowing cyan eyes and an edgy expression.

Instead of an armour, the mysterious boy had a weird set of clothes that had the same glow to it.

"He's strong…". Raven said while narrowing her eyes.

"Uhm," Kayla nodded. "He's an S ranker."

"Pfft wait for real?" Raven was surprised since she wouldn't have guessed. He didn't fully release his aura yet so she had no way of knowing yet.

"Yeah, he's a pretty interesting fella…" Kayla muttered while sharing a system notification with Raven.

[Race: Soul Weaver

[Rank: S

[Energy Capacity: Estimated 6-7M EP

[Abilities:

What is known so far: target uses aura control in order to manipulate the spiritual benevolent power of the world and shape it into spears of celestial energy that is able to penetrate the soul directly, cleanse evil, and conquer demons.

More observations are needed in order to make more accurate estimations.

No other information is visible at the moment.]

"He is a soul weaver?? And what sort of ability is that?" Raven widened her eyes as she hadn't expected that. 

Watching in silence, she observed as the boy approached an incoming group of giants, similar to the one he's just killed.

He seemed to mouth something that made him look even angrier than he already was.

Dark cyan aura flared out of his small frame as his eyes seemed to glow even brighter.

Pushing his hand forward, a giant spear if the same aura materialised in the sky above the giants.

"Insignificant, die!" He yelled loud enough for Raven to hear. Swiping his hand down, the massive spear was sent crashing down against the monsters' heads.

What was really unique was the fact that not a single drop of blood was left after the hit.

In fact, all Raven could see at the moment of impact was countless similar spears penetrating out of the ground and embedding themselves into the giants.

After that, only the bright glow of the cyan aura was left behind. No monsters, no blood, and no spears.

'Is it just me or is this boy… he's using something very similar to my powers,' Raven bit her lower lip remembering her time as Wraith.

A slash if her sword that was mixed with her aura was enough to shatter the soul, together with the body, leaving nothing behind but a pile of clothes.

Letting go of his benevolent aura, the boy seemed in pain as his hand subconsciously clutched the side of his head.

Shaking his head a couple of times, he looked at Joey, Calcer, and the rest. Seeing that they were holding their ground, he didn't bother to say a word.

Instead, he looked towards Raven for a second before turning around and dashing away, disappearing from his spot.

"What the hell was that?" Raven's mouth moved in it's own.

"I don't know…" Kayla answered.

Shaking her head Raven focused back on her friends. 'I will deal with him later.' she thought.

"Keith, the group is taking care of the stragglers, can you help them and then clean up please?" Raven asked with a smile, "the festival was supposed to take place here so we might as well clean up the area…"

"Yes, my mistress." He said and started his work quickly. For a demon who controlled blood, cleaning up some bodies was nothing more than an easy walk in the part 

***

It didn't take long for everything to get back to normal. The field was clean again, ready for the festival stalls and preparations to be set up again.

No monsters were left alive and no other traces of the fight were left behind.

"Raven?" Rachel asked, concerned. Having no monsters around had made the area clear for the public and powerless people to come back again.

No one was injured thanks to the group's efforts and synergy, including Naoh and Calcer.

With all of them back to greet Raven, she could already tell they were concerned since she had disappeared without much of a word.

"Err, hi!" She said while fidgeting with her fingers. "I'm sorry…?" She raised her eyebrows with a silly smile.

After what had happened in the forest, she was certainly happy that no one had followed her there. Otherwise, things would have gotten messy.

"We were worried, you know," Erika said while face-palming. "Especially her by the way," she said pointing at Rachel, "she would keep looking out of the window searching for you. 

"Whenever she sees a monster being cut and half and its blood spraying everywhere, she'd pale and sit still for a second, but then rinse and repeat…"

Seeing how nervous Rache was Raven approached her with a smile and patted her head.

Since Raven was shorter, the scene was rather cuter than one would expect.

"It's ok, I'm fine and unharmed." Raven reassured and Rachel seemed to calm down for a second before realising that Raven was patting her head which then made her cheeks turn bright red. "I appreciate your concern, but you have to trust me, ok? I am strong enough to take care of myself" She said with a charming smile that left Rachel lightheaded.

'liar…' both Tu and Kayla thought in unison. They didn't bother hiding the thought, so hearing that, Raven's smile twitched.

"Ah-uhm, yes!" Rachel stuttered as she found it rather hard to focus with Raven so close to her.

Grinning at her, the latter stopped patting her and returned to Kayla's side. The group was obviously eyeing the tiny girl with admiration and curiosity.

Needless to say, Kayla felt very uncomfortable since she started having flashbacks to Camilla's behaviour.

The second Raven was close to her, she used her as a shield to cover herself from the others.

"Oh my gosh she's so adorable!!!" Ainsley seemed to almost run towards little Kayla to give her a hug or a head rub.

"Hehe, yes she is!" Raven said while partially hugging Kayla, getting her closer to herself, which of course was appreciated by the latter.

"She looks so cute and squishy and I want to pinch her cheeks so bad!!" Erika said while cupping her face in excitement.

"Me too!" Dan yelled, then followed by Danny. 

Being a team and all, the group started dividing themselves into subgroups of two where every subgroup gets a few minutes of "Kayla patting".

"No, nope, sorry," Raven shook her head. "No touches. Not even stares like this," she said while pointing at all of them.

While the group didn't seem to mind much, Dan and Danny instantly looked away when she mentioned "no stares". After all, they had both experienced Raven's displeasure.

"Kayla is cute and all, but she is rather shy," Raven said. "I'm sorry but I can't have you make her feel uncomfortable." 

Seeing that she was serious, Kayla felt much appreciation but guilt at the same time. She didn't want to create a barrier between Raven and the group. Yet, she stayed even closer to her.

"Her name is Kayla by the way," she introduced her. "And she's my best buddy!" Raven's smile eased Kayla's racing heart. 

"I know we look identical..." Raven said in response to some looks that were switching between her and Kayla as if trying to figure out the difference. "I guess you could say we're related, in a way. So don't you dare bother her, ok?" She 'smiled'.

"Hi," Kayla said while everyone seemed to melt at how cute she sounded and looked. "Nice to meet you all."

After some introductions, the group gave Kayla her space. It wasn't that she didn't trust other people, no. Raven was with her anyway and she feared nothing whenever by her side.

But she reacts the way she does because she doesn't want anyone else patting her. It was rather embarrassing for her.

'Uhm,' she nodded to herself. 'Only Raven can ever pat me or rub my head.'

Seeing her nod to herself, Raven smiled and patted her subconsciously which made Kayla's face turn red. 

'Not now, please…' hearing Kayla in her mind, Raven smiled and stopped.

Turning her attention towards Calcer and Keith, she wondered if the two needed to go back to the Demon Plane, but the two shook their heads as they hadn't been summoned for long yet. Meaning they could stay for some more time.

The contract for this summon was that they needed to protect Raven. Technically, that could be for whenever she needed protection.

But it was a matter of fact that their bodies were not strong enough to support that.

Raven obviously didn't mind them staying by her side, but she couldn't help but think about Red and whether he needed help or not. 'I also need to warn Scott about this…' she thought to herself. 

If the world was going to suffer from another war, the EDA needed to know. 'Especially if it was against some insanely strong demon lords such as the Seven Cardinal Sins.

It didn't take long for the mayor and other people to approach the group and thank them for what they've done.

"Hi, Mr. Mayor, I have a question," Raven said while approaching the mayor. "I saw this boy earlier, fighting the monsters with spears of dark cyan energy.

"Is there any chance you're familiar with his identity? Being a small city, I'd have to assume he's either on a vacation like us or he's a local. Correct?"

"Ah… where do I start?" The mayor said with a sad expression.