Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

Gritting her teeth, Raven looked at the girl while making sure not to lash at her instantly. "Tell me, why did you attack my family? Why did you destroy the city? And why… Why did you kill my Maya?"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" The girl suddenly started laughing maniacally, tears of dark leaking down her eyes.

"Why did I attack your family, you say? Why did I destroy the city, you ask?

"Then here\'s a question: WHY THE F*CK DID YOU KILL LIAM?" She yelled. "Why did you have to destroy my last attempt at life?"

Raven could see hints of light pink in her otherwise dark eyes, but that simply disappeared too quickly.

"Why is life so cruel? What did I ever do…?" She looked down, tears still running down. 

"What do you mean?" Raven asked now, confused. "Who are you? Who is Liam?"

"Ah…" Lizzy said, her eyes darker than ever before. "True… who am I to begin with? Who am I to complain about the cruelty of life or to seek revenge? I am just a nobody without a family or a friend after all…

"But you know what? That\'s what you made me… I was never like this… You, and everyone else, made me what I am now... and I am here to pay you back!" With that, her aura suddenly condensed around her, almost suffocating Raven who was lost in thoughts.

Unable to react to her sudden strike, she felt some warm liquid splash across her chin and face.

Looking down, she realised that a tentacle of dark slimy liquid was embedded into her chest.

She could hear screams and yells faintly in the distance, but she wasn\'t sure who was screaming or what they were trying to say.

However, a part of her was conscious of the fact that Tu had exactly warned her about this.

She was supposed to fight the unknown girl as an equal, not strike a conversation with her.

\'But she seemed to be in pain too…\' Raven though as her vision started getting blurry by the second. \'She looked like I did when I realised that Maya was…\'

Within a heartbeat, the tentacle sent a faint shockwave that sent dark matter into Raven\'s veins, knocking her out of her trance. The latter felt rather dizzy as the world started spinning around her.

Trying to stand was suddenly a costly task that she wasn\'t able to accomplish.

"Send Liam and Sammy my regards," the girl muttered. "Tell them I\'m sending them one more b*star after you…"

Breathing heavily, Raven was suddenly filled with regret. \'I can\'t… I can\'t fail them again…\' she was now aware that she was alone again, stranded in the dark area of her mind.

\'Please, stand up, focus on the fight…" she encouraged herself. \'I can\'t let them down... never again… I\'m sorry Maya, as much as I would love to meet you and wrap my arms around you, I\'ll have to decline for now…

\'I have to get back to Maria, Axane, Kayla, Tu, Camilla, Kuru and everyone else… I have to get back!\' Opening her eyes slowly, bright white radiance shone from her body, blinding everyone and cleansing the darkness away from her.

Engulfing the area in a blinding radiant light, she slowly stood up and walked towards the girl who was staring at her with suffocating murderous intent.

Two auras of blinding white radiance and suffocating darkness seemed to crash against each other, fighting for dominance.

"You\'re just like her, a cockroach that won\'t die until I step on you intently then burn your body whole!" She yelled angrily.

\'I am sorry if you\'ve suffered in this life…\' Raven closed her eyes, white radiance still shining brightly around her. \'I feel sympathy towards you and whoever you\'ve lost. 

\'However, killing Maya and baby Rituxi was utterly monstrous-\' tears ran down her eyes, unable to hold back her emotions. \'Not only did you kill an innocent person that had suffered more than anyone else, but you also killed a baby that hasn\'t experienced but a small portion of her life…

\'I may be selfish, but I simply can\'t let that slide easily.\' Closing her eyes and summoning the Crimson Claymore to her hands, she could feel the dark aura released by the girl get slightly dimmer.

Opening her eyes back with determination, she flickered in space and reappeared in front of the girl who was ready for her.

Both girls had put their full power into one single strike that was meant to end it all.

However, before the two even were aware of the sudden change in the surroundings, a figure stopped both of their attacks with their bare hands as if they were nothing but mere child\'s play.

*Sigh*

"Apologies, I can not let you two go through with that attack..." The figure said in a young masculine voice, blinding white aura radiated out of his body. 

"And who the f*CK are you?" Lizzy yelled while stepping away. She felt inferior to the man in front of her in every aspect, but a part of her could not resist the urge to kill him. \'Why is he emitting the same aura as that girl?\'

"That is not particularly important right now," the young man said calmly. "However, I need you to understand that you both can\'t go at it like this." Snapping his fingers, many screens filled their vision.

Every screen showed almost the same pictures: broken buildings, destroyed cities, bloody streets, and nothing but endless suffering.

"You must understand that the power you both wield now is just simply too much for this planet to withstand at the moment.

"Young girl," the man turned and looked towards Raven who was biting her lower lip, confused and feeling guilty. "I understand that you want revenge, but are you willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the sake of mindless revenge?"

Shaking her head slightly, Raven clenched her fists. "I should have been more careful… Tu did warn me about this after all, but am I supposed to just let her destroy the planet herself?

"Isn\'t that what she\'s doing? And even though I\'m not one to kill people for fun, I can\'t ignore the fact that she\'s killed Maya!" At that, rage seemed to take over her senses again.

"You killed LIAM! You b*tch how dare you act all innocent when you destroyed my life? Do you know the despair I had to live through? I-"

"Please calm down…" the man tapped both of their shoulders, interrupting their outrage, as they suddenly felt calm and better than ever before.

"I simply can not let you fight." He said simply. "But if I were to predict who would win in an all out fight, then it would be you," he turned towards Raven.

"You possess a fragment of my own power, as well as some of \'his\'..." He said with a smile. "You on the other hand, you only have a smaller immature fragment of a friend of mine… 

*Sigh*

"However, if you\'re not willing to follow the rules, I\'ll have to take action myself." He said as sudden brightness covered the area around him.

"From now on, you, Elizabeth Lavendon, will have your abilities sealed," he said while tapping her forehead firmly.

Suddenly, the girl in the dark dress felt her body trembling as it got weaker and weaker.

Eventually, she fell on the ground, trying to cover her almost naked body as the dark dress started to turn into white light particles, disappearing from sight.

Her eyes gained a hint of light pink, making her resemble her old self some more, but her hair was left as short locks of blinding darkness.

In the middle of her chest, between her two collar bones, a small black tattoo of a sun surrounded by eight small torches appeared. It seemed to emit the same dark aura she possessed before.

"With this power sealed, you should be able to get your old consciousness back. After all, the power of the darkness can indeed be hard to control." He sighed again. \'I should deal with that person who gave her this power…\'

"You on the other hand, Raven O\'Bannon, I can manually control your usage of my power, however, I will let you decide the level of power she gets." He said while Raven looked at him confused.

"The seal I placed on her is one that is called the Seal of the Eight Fires. And I have chosen you as the owner of the seal," he said while pointing towards her own chest.

Looking at herself, she found a similar tattoo that only had the sun in it, without the eight torches. 

"You can determine how much of her overall powers she\'s able to use by taking away her torches. All you have to do is will it, and one at a time, her torches will be transferred to you.

"While they may not affect you, they will remove a portion of the seal dimming her powers, thus she regains them back." He finished with a smile.

"And why would I ever give her her powers back?" Raven asked, gritting her teeth. "After all she\'s done… Why don\'t I just kill her with minimum losses? While she can\'t fight back, I still have my powers…"

"Hm, that will be up to you to decide…" the man said, somehow he managed to sound disappointed.

With a snap of his fingers, the brightness disappeared as the girl\'s were transferred back to their own world.