Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

*ILLENIUM - Nightlight *

"Sir, I can't let you in," the guard on the entrance said before holding his breath as he felt an overwhelming pressure emitted by the person standing in front of him. "EDA personnel are not allowed into the hospital without a valid excuse, and absolutely no one is allowed into the seventh floor without the mayor's permission."

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" The man said tiredly, his eyes closed and his long white hair fluttering in the air.

"Sir, please contact the mayor if you'd like to-" the guard tried to say, but he suddenly fell onto the ground a tremendous aura rested upon his shoulders.

"I said, I'm going in, and I need no permission," he said, walking in through the doors.

"Oi, he was trying to get his job done," a voice called out as a crimson-purple haired girl seemingly landed from the sky, even though she only jumped down from the seventh floor.

"Ms. O'Bannon," 

"Scott, or rather, Mr. Deputy General… what do you want?" She asked, gritting her teeth.

"I'm obviously here to ask you for information about the incident," he said, his eyes closed still. "Also, there are some important news that you need to hear."

"Of course you'd be this bold, coming here to ask for information after everything is over. Protecting your a*s is your priority after all!" Raven was angry since Scott has not shown up to fight against the danger even though he's one of the strongest in the country.

"I was busy, I was not here when-"

"Cut the crap!" She yelled as she launched herself forward.

BOOOMM!!

A sonic explosion thundered as her fist connected to his jaw that was instantly broken, producing loud cracks.

Seeing as though he hadn't guarded against her strike, she clenched her fists even harder.

"What's the matter now? Are you trying to come up with an excuse to say you can't fight?" She asked.

Silently however and without a response, Scott healed his jaw and opened his eyes, instantly freezing Raven's body as if she's become a statue.

Taking a hold of her wrist, he watched as a foreign white radiance dancing around her clenched fists.

He was fascinated that the girl, even though a low ranker in comparison to him, had this much power without the crimson dragon's help.

Suddenly, breaking out of his spell, Raven freed her hands and delivered another powerful punch to his stomach that sent a shockwave, instantly breaking the glass doors behind Scott.

Spitting some blood, Scott was surprised as a smile painted his face. Closing his eyes, he raised his hands in surrender.

"I'd like to avoid a fight next to a hospital, would you please allow me to explain?" He asked politely. 

Taking a deep breath, Raven lowered her arms and retracted her aura. But the frown didn't leave her face.

"I haven't even read the report yet," Scott admitted. "I was in an important meeting in the USA and wasn't even aware of what was happening. 

"The moment I got out of the secured room, I was bombarded with messages… and here I am." He finished.

"Do you know what I just heard?" A voice called out coldly from behind Raven. "Just a bunch of bullsh*t!" The mayor strode near Raven and rested her hand on her shoulder.

Strangely enough, even though she was surprised by her presence, Raven felt calmer and more confident that her mother was backing her up.

"Mrs. O'Bannon," Scott smiled, confused.

"You're saying you were in a meeting? How does that affect your ability to protect the city?" She asked, almost enraged.

"Your responsibility is to find people to protect the city, you don't have to do it yourself. All you had to f*cking do was to hire some good rankers. It's that f*cking simple!

"Does the city end the moment you leave? Where are the rankers that helped in the portal incident, a few weeks ago?

"Are they scared of dying so they let the citizens die? Do you know how many bodies were found? Do you know how many collective funerals I have to set up now?

"Why did my sixteen year old daughter have to endanger herself and protect everyone?! A sixteen year old is protecting the whole city and surrounding areas!! And she's not even a f*cking EDA ranker!"

Pulling on her sleeve, Raven shook her head as she was now aware of how many people were watching and filming the heated argument.

"Let them film!" She looked at the journalists in the area. "You wanted a story?" She asked loudly. 

"Here's your story: EDA Scared Sh*tless, Can't Protect City, Sixteen Year-old Saves Attempts To Save Everyone And Almost Die!" The mayor shouted.

As if her sentence was giving the crowd the permission, instant chatter filled the place as the white flashes of countless cameras illuminated the area.

Most of the journalists focused on Raven who was now their saviour in their minds.

After all, she was the rumoured SS ranker who had also protected the city recently, during the portal incident. 

Not many people were able to observe her fight, but a lot of videos of her were taken during the time the area was being repaired by Ian.

Of course, many focused on Ian himself too. But as of now, Ian, Zeru, Aella, and the rest were still unknown.

"Raven, honey," the mayor tapped Raven's shoulder and spoke gently. "Please go to your room and rest, don't bother with anything else. I'll take the trash out," she said, looking at Scott intently.

"Apologies," Scott said in a neutral tone, "but this is important, and you have no right to prevent me from talking to the kid." 

"This 'kid' has a name. You either call her Raven or you shut up. In addition, she is my child" the Mayor said in a disrespectful tone. 

"Are you trying to say that I don't have the right to protect my own daughter from useless trash like you?"

In the back, some people were shocked their mayor would speak like that to an EDA official, let alone the Deputy General.

Others were cheering her on, and some were urging her to punch him in the face.

"No, I am trying to say that the EDA recognise her as a powerful individual and I am here to share with her some important information," he said, redirecting his attention towards Raven. "Would you please come with me to discuss the matter?"

Raven knew that she would probably want to hear what he had to say, but she didn't want to go against her mother after what she's done.

*Sigh*

"No, please leave," she simply said with a sigh and walked through the hospital doors.

***

Walking away while massaging his eyes, Scott wondered what would the General think of him now. 

He has not only disgraced the EDA, but made a joke of himself in public.

"The strongest we have after myself and Adam are all S rankers, excluding some special cases like Jaimie and a few others," Scott contemplated. 

"From my understanding, the danger was beyond what an S ranker could handle, how am I supposed to explain that rankers aren't gods but rather just normal people with some powers?

"Just like anyone else, they cry, they bleed, and they die…"

Noticing someone following him, Scott flickered and reappeared behind his target.

"Oh, it's you… what happened to you?" He asked, looking at a small version of the crimson-purple haired girl, yet the colours didn't quite match.

"Doesn't matter," Kayla's voice called out. Currently, she was remote controlling a small cyber avatar of her while maintaining contact with Raven. 

Obviously, Raven could be the one speaking if she wanted to, but she was already tired so she let Kayla take over that aspect while she listened quietly.

"What do you want?" She asked, floating next to his face. "You said it's important right?"

"To keep it short, I have some tasks for you," Scott spoke quickly as he wanted her to listen. "Firstly, I'd like you to explain what happened since we don't know much. All we know is that the danger was beyond what most of our rankers could handle.

"Secondly, I'd like you to come take a look and observe the new recruits for the Elite Class we talked about earlier. You will be just another student like them, but I'd like to see what you have to say about them.

"Lastly and most importantly, we are suspecting a large influx of monsters as many new portals have been created recently.

"What makes the matter urgent is that some monsters are beyond A+ which make them challenging for most of our forces.

"As you might already know, we don't have a lot of S rankers, and most of them have already been tasked to take care of the strongest portals." He finished.

'So that's where Camilla has been?' Kayla asked in her mind as Raven only hugged her knees, sitting on the roof of the hospital, while listening intently.

"How many portals are there, roughly?" Kayla asked. "And what type of monsters are coming out of them?"

"A lot," he sighed. "The portals are opening in random locations and at random times, and they're different from what we've encountered before.

"They're more like a magic circle or a better description may be a magic vortex that releases monsters."

Hearing that, Raven was almost certain of what to expect for the second part of the question.

"And most of the monsters seemed rather strange looking and weird," Scott said, "but if anything, they resembled demons as they emitted a similar aura."