A far distance away from him, in the direction he was headed to, Maya was soaring through space at her top speed.

‘Welp, if you can’t beat it, you run away…’ Maya shrugged mentally as she thought about her actions just now. ‘That is what Raven has taught me.’

Just before she left, she had felt a strange feeling emanating from Michael. And that strange feeling was giving her a deep sense of danger that she could not simply ignore. 

That was why she had decided to give up on attempting to kill him at this time, and instead, she just ran away.

‘With that being the case, I have to think of a way to run with Raven somewhere far, outside of this Solar System, otherwise that b*stard will find us…’ she thought, trying to come up with a plan.

Suddenly as she was lost in her own thoughts, she came to a full stop. Her eyes opened wide in surprise. 

.

“No… what are they doing? Why are they going in this direction?” Moments after she asked her question, three figures appeared in her field of vision. 

“Raven, Kayla, I’m here!” Maya called out to the rushing girls. ‘Who the hell is that, is it Uriel?’ 

Hearing her voice, Raven and Kayla stopped abruptly and looked into her direction. Between Kayla’s arms, the small Uriel was held tightly, appearing to be unconscious.

Maya spared the unconscious girl a quick glance that was filled with confusion before looking at her most precious one. A smile subconsciously spread across her face.

“Maya!” Raven practically yelled in panic as she quickly approached her and wrapped her arms around her. Tears left her golden eye in a river. “I was worried sick, you have no idea…”

“What’s the matter? Why are you crying? What are you worried about? What happened? Why did you come this way?” Maya asked a series of questions, uncontrollably, as she returned Raven’s warm hug. 

Her heart was a mix of anger at whoever caused this reaction from Raven, worry about her, love towards her, and lastly, warmth in her own heart.

*Sigh*

“Never mind,” Raven shook her head with a sigh of relief. “We, err, we searched Uriel’s memories in search for a method to destroy Michael.

“But instead of finding that, we found out a huge secret of his; he’s far more dangerous than we had expected.

“That’s why I was worried about your safety. But it seems that I only had to have more faith in you since you’ve managed to defeat him. I’m sorry for doubting you-“

“Wait up, hold on a moment,” Maya suddenly said in a serious expression as she broke the hug and patted Raven on her two shoulders, looking her straight in the eye. “What’s the secret that you found out? Why is he more dangerous? I need to know.”

“Huh? Um, well, you know how the Supreme Deity was killed?” Raven asked Maya in a rhetorical manner. “Apparently, it was a group of Monarchs who killed her, which means that they were as powerful as Tu.

“It seems that Uriel, before taking her position in the Four Seraphim of the End, had actually witnessed an event by accident. During that event, one of the Monarchs had given a special ‘thing’ for Michael.

“Once he reaches a certain rank, he can consume that ‘thing’ in order to become a Supreme Deity. 

“The good news is that he’s probably still below the required rank and he can’t evolve into a Supreme Deity. Otherwise, he would have done it a long time ago.

“With that being said, we feared that he might consume it prematurely and cause you trouble since it may give him a power boost or something of the sort.

“Anyhow, you don’t really need to bother yourself with such details now that you’ve already defeated him.”Raven said with a soft smile.

“No, no, no…” Maya could only stutter with an embarrassed expression. “I- I should bother myself with this… um, in short, let’s get the hell out of here, now!”

Saying that, four pairs of beautiful pure white wings suddenly fluttered behind her as she wrapped everyone within her aura and started dashing at top speed yet once again.

“Maya, what’s going on?” Raven asked, doubt and confusion visible in her face.

“Actually, I didn’t defeat Michael,” Maya said while avoiding Raven’s gaze. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, I- I really am. But I did notice that something was wrong with him.

“He mentioned how he had consumed something before we even started the real fight, and ah- well, he’s getting plenty stronger now… I’m afraid I can’t beat him.”

Hearing that, Raven bit her lower lip in worry. However, before being given a chance to speak, a hysterical laugh suddenly erupted from somewhere behind her.

“Ahahahaha! Finally caught up!” Michael laughed before saying in an equally crazy grin. “You’ve gotten a lot slower, Raphael. That will cost you!”

Gritting her teeth, Maya suddenly felt Michael’s pressure crushing down on her. Luckily, she had wrapped everyone in her aura. Otherwise, they would have been crushed to death by the thick aura.

Noticing Maya’s expression change, Raven felt her heart ache; just when it mattered the most, she could not lend her a helping hand… 

Suddenly, and without a warning, Maya’s body shook violently. Without a change in her expression, she spat out a puff of white bloody mist.

Seeing that, Raven subconsciously looked back at Michael, only to find his white bloodied face grinning at her as if he had just achieved something to be proud of.

At first, she didn’t realize. But a few moments later when Maya could not help but grimace in pain, Raven looked at her back.

There, in the base of one of her wings, close to her heart, a large white feather was embedded.

“Feather Essence? Sacrificing one of your wings to merely injure me? I’d say that’s a pretty stupid mistake…” Maya said casually while ignoring the pain in her back.

Hearing her words, Raven looked back at Michael, only to see that he had lost two of the wings he appeared with initially, and now he only retained two wings on his back. 

Raven quickly realized something was wrong. ‘He came with two pairs of wings, yet he only has one pair left. He shot one wing, but what happened to the other?’

Looking closer, Raven’s eyes widened in horror. “Maya watch out, he still has one similarly large feather in his hand!”

However, before being given a chance to heed by Raven’s warning, Maya’s body shook violently yet once more. Another puff of white blood escaped her mouth.

If I was a normal attack, blood would have never rushed out of her mouth. However, with it being a Feather Essence, the large feather that got embedded into her chest has the ability to release a small internal mana explosion.

This mana explosion shakes one’s core and sends the blood tumbling, hence why Maya spat out blood.

With that being said, it indicated just how severe her situation was. Her Mana Core and internal organs have been damaged, which also caused her speed to drop even more rapidly.

Raven could not help but look at the new feather that penetrated Maya’s back and spurted out of her chest. 

Her eyes were dull and her face was pale. Her only golden eye was glowing with a dangerous glint.

While Maya was struggling to keep going, trying to ignore the pain and think if every moment she’ll get to spend with Raven after, Raven herself was looking back at Michael.

Staring straight into his golden eyes with her own dull one, Raven’s body was shaking and her mind was lost in its own world.

Michael who was on the receiving end, however, could not help but get a dreadful feeling while being stared down with that golden eye. It was as though the door to his soul was left open for this girl to see everything she wished to see.

Shaking his head and breaking eye contact after a bit of a struggle that helped Maya get some distance between them, Michael grinned hysterically. “You know, girl, Raphael got to this point because of you.

“If you’re going to get angry and blame this on anyone, you can start with yourself.

“Oh, you know what too, previously, she even played the role of the strongest and thought that she didn’t need to fear me.

“Just when I thought that she herself has become the most courageous in this Solar System, she disappointed me by saying that she wasn’t afraid because she had you to help her, ahahahahah!!

“Do you believe this sh*t? She was confident and unfazed because of you! Ahahahaha!!”

“Raven, don’t listen to his bullsh*t!” Maya interrupted his aggressive laughter after realizing that Raven had a dull look on her face. “Never blame yourself. If you want to blame someone, then blame me for not running faster.”