Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

* Dwin - LaLaLaLaLa (Gaullin Remix) *

Since many streets were still damaged and to avoid traffic, Adam, Scott, and Raven had to rush through the city.

Raven had transparent mana plates under her feet while she was gliding midair, above the city.

The deputy General, Scott, had his hand resting on his assistant's shoulder as the two soared the skies.

One of Adams abilities was to generate a stable bubble of sorts which lets him fly at high velocities while shielding him from air resistance among other obstacles.

This ability had an advantage over Raven's mana control in that it required less attention as Raven had to manually create everything, including a mana screen to shield her eyes and body from things that might hit her while flying, such as insects.

As the three were going pretty fast, the trip to the testing place didn't take long even though it was located outside of the city.

"Alright," Adam said as he landed near a huge building that was miraculously unscathed, as if the recent war was beneath it. "This is the newest EDA branch, and here's where you'll be taking your Rank Test".

Raven wasn't worried nor stressed about the test, yet, she could now feel her heart racing.

Even though she's decided to ignore it and think of it as side effect of her flying over a long distance, Kayla couldn't stay quiet about it.

[Raven... are you alright?]

'Ah, don't worry about it,' taking a deep breath to calm herself, Raven smiled slightly but still could feel her heart in her ears. 'I don't know what it is, but I should be fine.'

[Please be careful, ok? We don't owe them anything, nor do you have to take any tests, you can just-]

'Kay, please don't worry about it, ok? It's a minor discomfort, nothing more.'

[Ok, but please be careful...]

'Always,' Raven thought to Kayla as her smile spread just a little bit wider across her face.

Entering the facility and staring through a second thick glass set of doors, Raven thought she was in a sci-fi movie shot as the interior of the building was rather futuristic.

What surprised her the most was that from the outside, the glass exterior seemed to project a normal picture of a boring business building, which wasn't obviously the case.

Neon white-blue lights spread across the white ceiling and walls. Androids and touch screens could be seen everywhere.

On top of that, she could even spot some aliens in a white and black uniform that she could tell was the receptionists'.

Adam pressed his hand across the touch screen behind the first glass door, which prompted the second set of doors to open, leading them inside.

Just as they did, an android approached them. Looking at it, Raven saw that the lower half was basically a shiny white hovering platform, while the top was that of a humanoid robot wearing a black suit jacket.

"Hello sir, Mr. Deputy General, and Ms. O'Bannon," a robotic voice came from the android even though its 'mouth' didn't move, "please follow me to the test room."

Following the android, the group found themselves in a big hall of sorts where many people were standing in line, waiting for their turn to take the test. Only a handful lucky bunch had seats to ease their wait.

Not a second after they entered, the people in there took a note of them, and just a strong smell in a warm breeze, whispers started to spread across the hall.

"Is that the SS girl that killed the monster?"

"Hey I'm a big fan of her!"

"Shut up! That's the Deputy General!!"

"Why is the General accompanying a little girl?"

"OMG who's that handsome black haired guy with the sword!"

"Shut up! Goddamn it, can't a man sleep in peace?"

...

"Quiet." He wasn't loud, but a single word from Adam's lips made the hall quiet again.

"Oh, Adam, Deputy General, and Ms. O'Bannon, we were expecting you." A man's calm voice rang as the group turned their heads towards him.

"Mr. Hobbs, it's been a while," Scott greeted with a quick nod, and so did Adam.

"SixRay Thousand, you may leave now," Mr. Hobbs instructed the android.

"Thank you sir!" beamed the robotic voice of the android as it proceeded to leave the hall.

"Alright, Ms. O'Bannon, shall we get this started?" Mr. Hobbs said as Raven nodded.

Leading them towards the center of the room where a huge device was stationed, he started to speak, "So, I'm assuming you're not familiar with the EnergyMeter correct?"

"Uhm," nodding slightly while trying to shake off the deafening sound of her heartbeat, Raven looked at the giant machine that somehow managed to look like a kneeling metal titan with both of its arms extended forward.

Wires covered most of it, but the majority of them were centered where the hand-like things were connected together, forming some sort of a platform that looked alien to Raven.

'There's no way this thing is or was a living being, right?' Raven wondered to herself.

"Ok, so this device is simple. All you have to do is insert both of you arms at the center of the opening on the elevated platform, and the device will do the rest, is that clear?"

But before Raven could answer, a voice called out towards the group: "Excuse me."

Looking at the source, a teen boy could be seen standing with his hands in his pocket.

"I believe we've been waiting here for way longer that yourselves, don't you think?" he said to the group of three.

His dark black hair contrasted with his white skin and made his blue eyes shine brighter. He wasn't yelling, but his anger and disgust were rather apparent.

"Please return back to your seat, Mr. Hans," said Mr. Hobbs calmly, yet his eyes were anything but.

"Why should I? Am I wrong here? Why does she get a better treatment, whoever she is!" his eyes seemed to spark for a second, but he still didn't take any actions just yet.

Needless to say, murmurs and whispers were already so loud that it added to Raven's headache.

"It's ok, we can do this later I don't want any trouble," Raven said to the group in order to avoid more headaches, literally.

However, it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Please don't move Ms. O'Bannon," Mr. Hobbs narrowed his eyes and said the moment Raven started to walk away, "Mr. Hans here should know his place and retreat when a high ranker order him to do so."

"No, don't worry about it, I'm-"

"Don't try to play nice in front of people now," the boy cut Raven as his eyes seemed full of contempt, "EDA and high rankers... I'm sick of this stupid system, you claim that your cause is to protect humanity when you can't even provide fairness and equality. How do you expect to save sh*t like this?"

"I'm sorry, I'll let you have-" Raven tried to say but she was cut off short again.

"You shut up! Weren't you caught stealing some alien technology to help empower yourself?"

At that, whispers seemed to echo through Ravens head like a hammer striking a helpless nail.

"Please, stop-" she pleaded as the pain was now intolerable.

"S rankers, huh? Such a disgrace to humanity you all are," the boy continued which made Raven hold her head between her hands.

Mr. Hobbs was quickly running out of patience especially that he was in the presence of the Deputy General and his assistant.

Adam seemed bored but bothered, if anything. While Scott was mostly entertained.

Scott, the Deputy General, wasn't a fan of the norm nor did he like people who follow the rules blindly without thinking and evaluating what's right or wrong, that's why he found the boy rather interesting.

[Raven, are you ok?!]

Noticing how fast she was breathing right now, and adding her off the charts fast heartrate made Kayla worry to no end.

[Please, Raven, we can just go home right?]

Even though Kayla was talking, all Raven could hear was noise.

NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

'Please... I can't...' Raven thought she muttered, but in reality the words had never left her mind.

"Mr. Hans, this is your last warning," this time it was Adam who spoke, sending a shiver down those who were present.

He had heard of the arrival of a new estimated A++ ranked recruit. Normally that would be all good and well, but it so happens that he was a troublesome fella.

"What are you going to do, sir?" the boy called out with a disgusted tone, emphasising the last word especially, "will you kick me out? I sure f*cking wish you do! I've been-"

Out of the blue, a sudden aura flare blinded everyone as the ground seemed to shake under their feet.

Only a handful realized what was happening.