Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

* Feint - My Sunset *

[The Ex System is now rebooting...

[An update is in progress, please hold.

[Unit Kayla is undergoing an evolution...

[Synchronization of the Ex System with unit Kayla may take minutes to hours, please be patient...]

Inside her mind space, Raven could see Kayla\'s figure being enveloped in a purple cocoon of dense light.

"It\'s only natural," Tu reassured while looking at Raven\'s tense expression. He couldn\'t see the messages the system had sent, but he could see the purple cocoon of light since he was also connected to Raven. "Cyber Valkyries are a species that\'s always improving while seeking the most optimal version of themselves.

"With how she was able to obtain a body after your little upgrade in power level, it\'s only obvious that she has gained some extra merits as well." he finished with a smile.

"Uhm," Raven nodded even though she seemed a little bit down. She didn\'t like the fact that Kayla wasn\'t responsive, but Raven didn\'t mind as it was better for Kayla.

\'He doesn\'t seem that bad after all...\' Raven muttered to herself while looking at Tu. Previously, she had thought he only sought destruction, but now she views him in a different light.

Feeling tired herself after what she\'d been through, Raven wanted to take a nap badly, but then she remembered that some EDA rankers are ought to show up soon at her front door.

Thinking about it for a moment made Raven cringe at her own stupidity, \'Since Scott now sees me as a threat, they\'ll probably send reinforcement, and with Tu out of juice... what the f*CK did I do to deserve this?\'

Feeling a wave of dread wash over her made her panick as she realised she was basically giving the EDA a chance to attack her family.

"Mom, I need to go for a bit, see you!" Raven yelled as she was already outside the mansion.

"Alright, I guess I\'ll see you soon," Tu smiled as his body dispersed into thin air while he focused back on his real self inside Raven\'s mind.

"Tu, I\'m assuming you can\'t help at all right now? In case we get attacked again, I mean." Raven asked with a worried voice.

"I\'m afraid that\'s the case." He answered as it was the truth.

Three years ago, when he thought he\'d escaped Raven\'s body, he had only transferred the seal into the environment while maintaining the connection they had with eachother. Overall, it only made it harder for him to communicate with her but he was still trapped.

While his power combined with the seal had created the rune arena the EDA used as part of their headquarters up until recently, he wasn\'t able to accumulate any powers for an extended period of time.

Even after binding back with Raven, Tu found out that his energy regeneration is now way slower than before. \'Maybe it\'s because of the kid\'s poor abilities? Or maybe it\'s just because I haven\'t found that item yet. *sigh* It\'s probably both...\'

"It\'s ok," Raven said with a sigh herself. If Tu couldn\'t help her now, she had to do it herself. She had to make sure to avoid conflict as much as possible. But considering the fact that she\'d knocked out the Deputy General, also known as vice president of the Canadian EDA division... that was ought to be hard.

***

Flying at high velocity, Scott was worried about what the girl might be doing. With the amount of power she has demonstrated, it was obvious she could pose a serious problem, if not a crisis, for the EDA.

Sure Scott had some other tricks hidden up his sleeve, but he wanted to avoid causing an incident that could expose civilians to imminent dangers. After all, the planet had just recently recovered from one.

"I have to avoid conflict as much as possible," Scott thought to himself with a sigh, "After all, I don\'t want to get the General involved in this if I don\'t have to."

Just thinking about the General of the Canadian EDA division made Scott shiver mid flight. "Yep, avoid conflict at all costs..."

Deep in his mind, Scott knew that if the General wasn\'t in a deployment outside of the solar system, she would have been able to pick up the spike in energy levels during their recent fight quite easily.

All of a sudden, a bright flash of light seemed to pass right next to Scott\'s face as it was going the opposite direction. He instantly recognised it to be the girl, Raven.

"Deputy General!" Hearing Raven\'s voice and seeing her standing midair, defying gravity, was enough to knock Scott out of his trance and back to the real world.

"Ms. O\'Bannon?" Scott was not only caught off guard, but was rather confused as to what was the girl hoping to accomplish by going back to the headquarters.

Raven was solidifying her mana into invisible plates under her feet and controlling them to stay afloat midair which made her look as though she was standing on thin air. Scott was floating just a little bit higher than her.

Both looked uneasily at eachother as they didn\'t know how to proceed from that point onwards.

"Ahem, Ms. O\'Bannon," Scott said with a little bow, "where\'s the Crimson Dragon?"

"Hayo~" Tu materialised next to Raven midair and greeted with a smile. "Nice to meet you again, Cosmic Inclination wielder."

"Eh?" Scott muttered in confusion. "It can\'t be... You\'re not- no, you can\'t be!" Scott couldn\'t believe, or rather didn\'t want to believe that the person in front of him was indeed his feared nemesis.

\'Stupid Tu!\' Raven yelled at Tu in her mind space, \'we could have used you as a leverage to prevent a fight! But now he knows you\'re weak and I can\'t do anything to stop him if he decides to fight me!\'

Hearing Raven scolding him made Tu scratch his cheek in embarrassment. \'Apologies, I\'ve never had to bluff my way out of a fight before... but with that being said, for all he knows, I could be just hiding my powers, right?\'

Thinking about it for a moment made Raven nod her head slightly. \'I doubt it will work but I\'m willing to try since I don\'t have another choice...\'

"Deputy General," Raven said, knocking Scott out of his trance once again. "I came seeking you in order to offer a truce. I realize that you can\'t share any information regarding Tu\'s presence with anyone, as per the established contract, but that doesn\'t prevent you or the EDA from viewing me as an enemy. And I\'d like to avoid that if possible..."

"Tu?" Scott asked while tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"Cosmetic Inclination wielder?" Tu said while mirroring the same gesture.

"Oh so that\'s what they call you..." Scott found it rather hard to believe such a silly name was the name of his planet\'s destroyer. The very same person that could destroy Earth with one half-hearted attack. *sigh*

"Ms. O\'Bannon," Scott called to Raven while massaging his nose bridge. "I second that call of yours, I\'d like a truce as well. But how can I guarantee that the Crimson Dragon won\'t attack us again when he gets bored?"

Raven was surprised Scott didn\'t mind the truce, but if she was in his shoes, she would have probably done the same in order to avoid harming people.

"Err, don\'t worry about that aspect," Raven reassured, "I\'ll take care of Tu and make sure he behaves himself."

"Haha she\'s rather bossy you see," Tu laughed, "I can\'t go against her."

\'What the f...?\' Scott didn\'t know if the two were just played games on him since there was no way this Tu person was actually the same Crimson Dragon. But he wasn\'t willing to challenge them.

*sigh*

"Well, it\'s not like I can do anything to stop him if he tries to revolt... yet." he said the last word while eyeing Tu menacingly. While he didn\'t flare his killing intent, the fact that he opened his eyes was enough to send a shiver down Raven\'s spine.

"Enough of this," Raven said between gritted teeth, while shaking her head to get rid of the feeling of cold sweat running down her back.

"Ms. O\'Bannon," Scott called while closing his eyes, "There are a few things I\'d like to share with you, just so we\'re on the same page. Firstly, I want you to know that you have miserably failed the second ranker test."

"What test? The one where you put me up against an S ranker? The same test where you kidnapped me and had me fight in an unfavourable environment?" Raven snorted as she was still furious.

She wanted nothing more than to teach him a lesson, but she knew she couldn\'t achieve that now so she needed to turn it a notch down and hold her aura down.

"Indeed," Scott said calmly, "the objective of that test, however, wasn\'t to win against Mr. Holland, not at all. In fact, you were only supposed to hold onto your will to protect yourself and not break down under the pressure of his aura. Yet, not only did you fail, but you also exposed the city to a dangerous creature." he said which made Tu smile. teasingly.

"I\'m not sure how you both ended up in the same body, but I\'ll make sure to investigate that later." Scott continued. "Anyhow, concerning my second point, I\'d like to offer you a place in a new Elite Ranker Class we\'re creating.

"The class will have a group of talented rankers that are worthy of becoming a special force in the EDA."

"What made you think I\'d want to join the EDA?" Raven retorted, "I\'d like nothing more than to stay as far away as possible from all of your EDA nonsense."

"I realize that you may not have the most interest in the EDA, but I can guarantee that you\'ll find the class most helpful and... informative." Scott said.

"N-O-T I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-E-D!" Raven said slowly and clearly to emphasize her point.

*sigh*

"Maybe not yet," Scott said with a sigh, "but trust me you will be...."