Chapter 150 - Judgement And Redemption Part 1
* NEFFEX - Be Somebody feat. ROZES *
Blinking twice, Raven realized that she was now drowning in an azure sea of light that started to slowly turn brilliant white.
However, the feeling was rather refreshing than suffocating.
Opening her eyes in surprise, she found herself back to the battlefield, with Maria, Kayla, Axane, and the rest near her.
Taking a deep breath and looking around her, she was happy to see that everyone was still doing well, or at least alive.
A smile painted her face while looking at Maria who instantly dashed towards her and hugged her tightly.
However, she couldn\'t help but feel some tears sparkling in her eyes, obstructing her vision.
\'Maya, I wish you could share this hug with us…\' she thought while swallowing quietly and clenching her fists.
Suddenly, feeling two mana spikes approaching her quickly, she let go of Maria and focused on the appearing threats.
In the distance, she could see two dark sinister swords flying her way, aiming for her head.
Taking a deep breath, she flickered from her position and reappeared away from her loved ones, in front of the swords, as she wanted to avoid exposing them to more dangers.
Catching the two swords in her hands, she relaxed her muscles as white brilliant radiance began to surround her.
Even against the might of the dark swords, her aura seemed calmer than ever as she took a deep sigh to calm herself down.
Looking back at Maria and the rest, she found that Axane had her eyes open now, even though her condition seemed critical still.
Smiling softly, she focused her mana in her hands while slowly disintegrating the swords into nothingness.
The girl in the black dress flared her aura in rage as Raven only ignored her presence, while at the same time, producing a brilliant white barrier to protect everyone against the incoming shockwave.
Walking slowly towards her family, she saw that most of them were extremely tired and barely standing.
However, she also noticed that Zeru and Aella were still standing guard, trying to buy time for her, even though they were both barely holding themselves together, with so many wounds all over their bodies.
What she didn\'t know was that the moment she had woken up was the first chance they got to fill their lungs with air as the girl had been bombarding them with an attack after the other in quick succession.
And needles to say, whatever followed was stronger than the previous one. Even though the fight only lasted a few minutes, it was enough to make their bodies almost collapse, even with their might.
Smiling softly, Raven snapped her fingers.
At that, the two siblings were teleported in front of her and next to everyone else.
Extending her hands forward and activating her skills, she not only healed everyone, but she also made sure to replenish their energy supplies.
Looking at their bodies in surprise, and then back at Raven who was now smiling, the group could not believe their eyes.
Everyone had so much to say, yet for some reason, no one could utter a word. A lot has happened in a very short time that it was more of a shock that anything.
Some still didn\'t know if this was a dream or reality, especially poor Maria.
Sitting up slowly, Axane approached Raven in the intent of giving her a hug and crying on her shoulder as she needed to share her burden with her.
But before she could go through with it, she remembered they were still in a battlefield, so she retreated slightly.
However, just as she did, Raven flickered next to her and hugged her herself. Instantly, Axane\'s eyes turned a shade of white as mana calmly radiated from under her eyelids.
"Raven- " she tried to say, but couldn\'t stop herself from stuttering.
"I know…" Raven said quietly.
"Rituxi and Maya… they, they\'re-"
"I know," said Raven again, while squeezing her tighter.
"And that girl, sh- she-"
"Uhm, I understand. I\'m sor-" stopping herself from apologizing as it won\'t do anyone any good, she clenched her fists.
"I\'ll make sure she pays for what she did," she said instead.
"Uhm," Axane nodded, her body trembling like a leaf in winter time.
They both knew that whoever was lost was lost for good. Maya and baby Rituxi… will always love on in their memories, but that will never change the fact that they\'re gone now...
Gritting her teeth, the girl in the dark dress was furious. Even though the siblings had proven quite challenging at first, they were no real march for her when she had gotten serious.
After a few moments of the start of the fight, they were so close to death that she felt like toying with them.
But then out of nowhere, comes this little br*t and takes her prey away from her? Who was she to ignore someone of her status?
Releasing her aura, two dark daggers materialised in her hand as she threw them towards the girl\'s back.
\'Never turn your back on me!\' she yelled in her mind.
However, as the daggers got closer, they slowly stopped accelerating until they touched the bright barrier and instantly disappeared.
Turning away from Axane and looking at her with her white iresis, Raven\'s expression turned from friendly and loving into cold and unforgiving.
"Wait for your turn." She simply said, her tone as sharp as a knife that could cut air itself.
Seeing her expression together with her aura, the girl\'s legs almost gave up. Shaking in her place she suddenly wanted to run away.
Returning to her senses, she tried to focus back and put her head in the fight. However, a deep part of her knew that this white aura was something she couldn\'t take out easily.
\'Doesn\'t matter… I have to avenge Liam, Sammy, and Lizzy…\' she muttered to herself. \'This girl must pay!\'
And with that, she flared her aura again, this time stronger than before. Yet, the barrier was left unscathed and so was the group.
Taking a deep breath, Raven focused on controlling her aura. She didn\'t want to hurt her family after all.
Releasing Axane from her embrace, the latter felt a piece of her soul instantly becoming bitter cold, yet she chose to stay quiet for now as she knew she\'ll get another chance to warm her soul next to Raven\'s.
It wasn\'t an overstatement to say that Raven, in Axane\'s eyes, was what Maya was to her.
Approaching Maria who was crying silently, Raven wrapped her arms around her slowly and gently.
She wasn\'t good at comforting others, especially now that she needed more comfort herself than she\'s ever needed in her entire life, but a hug was a start.
Seeing that Maria was quiet and didn\'t utter a word, Raven could only guess what was going through her mind and broken heart.
"I am here now," was all that Raven could really say.
However, feeling the embrace getting tighter around her, she knew that Maria was at least responsive which made the harshness of the situation just a little bit more bearable.
Moments passed as the duo kept their hug. During that time, the battlefield seemed more peaceful than a deserted island in the middle of a bright ocean.
Slowly releasing Raven, Maria smiled. "Go," she simply said while wrapping her arms around herself instead, tears still fresh in her eyes.
"Uhm," nodding. Raven turned towards the rest: Zeru, Aella, Jakol, and Axth.
"Thank you," she muttered before walking towards the girl with the sinister aura.
\'Thank you too,\' Raven said in her mind to Kayla and Tu. While Kayla was taking care of Axane, and then of Raven\'s unconscious body.
Tu was doing his best to reinforce the earlier barrier they created in order to keep everyone safe.
After all, without the power of a monarch, even a barrier that was created by Kayla and Jakol was not going to last more than a few shockwaves. Which meant that without him, almost everyone would have died by now.
Moreover, Tu was making sure to gather as much energy as possible since he knew that Raven was ought to wake up sooner than later.
In addition, he knew that a fight was ought to break between her and the girl in the dark dress, and now was this time...
Taking a deep breath, Raven blinked once as her expression turned from passionate into ice cold, making the girl pale while looking at her.
"Enough playing around!" She yelled. "You have been awake for two seconds and now you think you can last against me in a fight? Let me teach you your last lesson!"
"Hm, good point." Raven muttered, surprising the girl. "If it was my power alone then I might have already given up to be honest… but unfortunately for you, I am not alone, nor am I ready to forgive you for what you\'ve done."
Suddenly, her golden aura flared as her shadow took shape around her, creating the familiar dark and golden light armour.
Shortly after, a white radiance wrapped around her body calming her senses and brightening the atmosphere around her.
\'I can help too,\' Kayla said as a mix of purple and silver circuits of cyber matter were suddenly spread across the armour, giving it a futuristic, yet threatening look.
\'This should make it easier to use my skills to aid you whenever needed, plus we can share the energy use as well as the burden of this power...\'
\'I have a small surprise for you as well,\' Tu muttered in her mind as he had been preparing for this for a while now.
Not a moment after, a crimson great sword materialised in front of Raven\'s hands, chains of dark were wrapped around it.
The sword looked as if it was made out of solid lava that was constantly burning, evaporating the air around it, yet it didn\'t seem to bother or hurt Raven in any way.
Slowly, crimson and white aura seemed to infuse themselves with the dark chains, dissolving them and releasing the power of the great sword.
\'Thank you, both…\' she said in appreciation as she was extremely thankful for everything they\'ve done for her.
"Alright, shall we begin?" She asked in a rhetorical manner as she disappeared from her spot.