Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

"No, no," Kayla quickly shook her head in reply. "Raven tried to explain the situation to Maya, but Maya simply said that she didn't care at all. 

"After all, she didn't truly die, but rather, a fake version of her did. Err, you can even think of what has been done as helping Raven meet the real Maya…"

Hearing that, Liz could only sigh and shake her head. She knew that it wasn't that easy, especially that she had done far worse things than what she could bring herself to actively recall.

Not only did she kill baby Rituxi, but she almost annihilated an entire city and killed countless people… even if someone like Maya had forgiven her, how could she forgive herself.

Seeming to see through her, Kayla quickly patted her on the shoulders with a comforting smile. "Don't blame yourself for something that you've never done. It was whoever gave you this power that caused what happened. You're fine, okay?"

".... Uhm," Liz finally nodded after some hesitation.

"In any case," Kayla continued, trying to change the subject. "Right now the situation is not all that bad, and our forces are doing good in terms of strength.

"Raven had instructed me before and said that you're not allowed to take part of the fight unless desperately needed."

"... I understand, if that's the case…" Liz said after some hesitation. "What a kind girl she is... 

"Although it has not been that long since I last saw her, I can't help but miss her already…"

Liz obviously knew that Raven didn't want her to experience the act of murder if not necessary. That's why she prevented her from joining the battle. Raven knew that if she did take part in it, Liz's heart may not be able to withstand the gruesome scenes that would remind her of what had happened before...

"What am I saying?" Liz suddenly slapped herself on the face. "I can't just watch from a distance!"

"Liz, but Raven said-" 

"It's okay!" Liz quickly interrupted Kayla. "She does want me to kill, so I will not. With my current level of strength, I should be able to affect the enemies without killing them. Someone else will do the finishing touches!"

"Hm, are you sure?" Kayla asked, as if wanting her to change her mind.

"I am!" She replied with a smile. In her heart, she still wanted to help others, not for them but rather for her self relief. "Check my power if you don't believe me, you should be able to, here!" She said while releasing a trace of her energy.

"Ah…" Kayla who apprised Liz didn't change her outer expression. But in her heart, she was extremely surprised, and pleasantly so. "You… you should be at rank Star Sixty Eight! 

"But how? Gaia is merely ranked at Star Nine- wait… I remember that Haruki had the same phenomenon after the Cyber Transformation… oh..." Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. 

'Back then, after the fight between her and Liz, Raven told me that the latter had a power that was similar to her own,' Kayla's thoughts didn't leave her mouth. 'While she has the power of Primordial Light once she uses her skill Apprentice of the Primordial Light, Liz has the power of Primordial Darkness, well at least a fragment of it…

'Well, this would explain her ability to increase her strength beyond the limits of the planet: something inside of her body is acting as another source of energy.

'And… this sounds oddly similar to Haruki's case. Does he also have something similar? Wait, his strength is manipulating vectors…

'Could it be that he has a fragment of the Primordial Space? But how could that be? What is his origin and how did he get something similar? 

'But now that I think about it… Ian is also part of this equation; he himself holds a fragment of the Primordial Time… Damn it this is getting complicated and it's not the right time for this!'

"Um, Kayla- Kay, are you alright?" Liz asked after seeing Kayla's neutral expression that never changed. If she wasn't a clone, there was no possibility of hiding her expression this well. 

"Ahem, yes I'm alright, I wasn't just thinking about something," Kayla said, trying to sound normal, which wasn't an issue for her. "Well, with your current strength, you should be able to help us against the big targets. 

"We are not planning on killing them anyway, only capturing, so this should not be an issue for you. Additionally, you should not be having any hard time against them, err, they're rather weak and fragile in comparison to you…"

"Hehe, then I'll go give them our friends a hand!" Liz replied with a smile as she was ready to launch herself towards the Gate to the Human Plane.

"Wait, I'll guide you towards Joey first. He was fighting an opponent that's slightly stronger than himself," Kayla said as she jumped onto Liz's back. "Here, I'm ready, go!"

"Hehe, we've got some cleaning up to do, let's go!" Grinning happily, Liz disappeared from her spot. Raykun, her subordinate, followed closely.

'Hm, this should be good,' Kayla thought. 'Now that she's on the move, she can help Joey take care of the Star Twenty angel. 

'After that, we can help with the first of the Star Fifteen angels before moving onto the second. This way, with the Star Ten angels being dead, we'd only have the lowest ranks of angels alive and finishing them off should not be a problem… this would be our win! We can finish everything very quickly!

'But, why do I have this bad feeling? It's as though something really unexpected is going to happen… I don't like this. But, I don't think that I've overlooked anything so there should not be anything of that sort, right? 

'Well, whatever, we'll deal with it when the time comes. Hm, on another note, I can't stop myself from thinking back to Haruki's situation…

'I understand that he was able to go beyond Star Nine because of his Primordial power of Space, but why is he so weak in comparison to Liz?

'Why is he only a Star Thirteen whereas Liz is a Star Sixty Eight? What am I missing…'

…

While this clone was deep in thought, another one was busy with helping Jericho with her personal matter.

Jericho, before getting to know Kayla and before undergoing her Cyber Transformation, had a skill that involved cyber attacks, hacking systems, and gathering information. 

This type of skill was the most compatible with Kayla's Cyber Particles and her entire nature as a system. That's why she had decided to help her and just see how far she could get.

Inside the dark purple cocoon, Jericho's Mana Core was being fully merged with Kayla's Cyber Core. If this works out, she should be able to gain more benefits than the other Cyber Elites. And at the same time, Kayla would have gained some valuable insights into something that she's been busy thinking about...

...

While everyone on planet Earth was busy fighting against their target angels, they started noticing a rather obvious shift in the balance of battle.

At some point, a terrifying dark aura spread throughout the battlefield, almost covering the entire planet. This aura caused literally everyone to freeze in their spots. 

Luckily however, this only lasted a few breaths before the dark aura disappeared as though nothing had happened.

No one understood what was happening at first, but the Terran Army quickly received a message indicating that this dark aura is on their side which caused their morale to soar even higher than before.

Above the clouds, away from Earth, the unconscious Star Twenty angel was being held from the base of its white wings, as though it was a chicken that's being prepared for slaughter.

Joey, who was watching this scene, could not help but scratch his head with an inexplicable expression. 

"Something wrong?" Liz asked while handing him the angel. A proud smile was plastered across her face involuntarily.

*Sigh* 

"No, not at all…" Joey could only take the angel from her hand with a sigh, and descend towards the surface. "Let's go look for Calcer."

"Okay!" Liz replied and quickly followed.

A few minutes later, her dark aura surrounded the planet yet once again. Following that, the Star Fifteen angel that was fighting against Kayla's Cyber Elites was being tossed into Erin's hands.

Looking at the angel in his hands, Erin could not help but alternate gazes between it and Liz. "This fast, how strong are you?"

"Hehe," Liz only chuckled, trying to appear mysterious. "It's not time for questions, let's go catch the rest!"

"Err, do you even need our help?" Shin asked with raised eyebrows. 

"Well, I- I want you to be there with me…" Liz's proud attitude suddenly changed as she appeared rather embarrassed.

"Do as she says," Kayla's clone that was with her said. "Liz can't bring herself to kill, and I'd rather prevent her from witnessing Calcer's sea of blood."