* xxxtentacion – Changes (Xienn Cover) *

With that being said, Maya didn’t dare blame her. A part of her even admired Raven’s confidence in pulling such a scheme. After all, if Raven did this, it means that it was the best solution she could think of. 

“Hm, I guess this is where the saying ‘all is fair in love and war’ comes into play, huh?” Maya asked herself.

Watching closely, even though she was protected against Raven’s seemingly boundless mana, she could faintly see the void cracking all around Michael as he coughed up blood, dyeing the space around him in a pure white hue.

Looking at his miserable look, Maya found it rather hard to believe that this is the same person who was previously the head of the Four Seraphim of the End. And not only that, but he is also a person who has reached the rank of a Supreme Deity!

“Lament!” Raven muttered with a tone that sent shivers down those who heard her. 

With her words, the mana all around her seemed to have become even more domineering, something which Maya and Kayla didn’t think was possible.

.

Under her command, her mana attack became more fierce as it penetrated Michael’s body like a useless piece of soft cloth.

Within a few breaths worth of time -that were filled with Michael’s heart wrenching screams- Maya started hearing the sounds of terrifying skin-crawling cracks being formed. It sounded like a fragile sphere of glass that was being slowly shattered into tiny slivers…

Although she couldn’t physically see it, she could almost imagine this ‘glass sphere’ breaking in front of her. This, without a doubt in her mind, was Michael’s Mana Core…

All of a sudden, the terrifying sounds of the spreading cracks stopped, and with them, so did Michael’s cries. 

Quickly, his golden eyes became dull and his beautiful halo -that he barely spent a few minutes with- lost its luster and beautiful glow. 

Similarly, his radiant wings that gained a mysterious mystic colour were left colourless.

Just like that, Michael died…

Maya was left shaken after looking into his lifeless face that was still indicating just how much pain he had gone through.

There were many ways to torture a person, but breaking their Mana Core was without a doubt the most cruel of all. And in most cases, the destroyed Mana Core would blow up as the internal mana would have no place to stay. 

Thus, with massive amounts of mana suddenly leaving the body at the same time, a mana pressure bomb is created!

For this reason and for the lack of any mana explosions, Raven could not help but narrow her eyes in suspicion. “Something is not right here, this should not be-“

“Raven!” Suddenly, a cry knocked Raven out of her trance. Before she could even look at the source of the voice, Kayla’s face appeared in front of her, full of worry and anxiety.

“Kay, why are you- *cough!*” Without getting a chance to finish her sentence, a puff of red blood mist escaped her mouth in a violent cough. 

‘Huh?’ she was confused as she felt the strange metallic taste in her mouth.

All of a sudden, pain assaulted her body and mind. Blood dripped down her nose as her vision suddenly darkened. Without even realizing, she started having trouble maintaining her awareness.

[Blessing: Avavia’s Affection has been activated by the Admin of the System.

[Blessing: Infinity’s Will has been deactivated by the Admin of the System.

[Emergency!

[Pilot has received severe backlash from using the blessing: Infinity’s Will.

[Pilot is suffering from severe Soul Corruption…

[Emergency!

[Pilot’s body has suffered severe backlash from the excessive use of external mana.

[Emergency!

[Pilot’s Mind Space has-]

Quickly, Kayla deactivated the sudden stream of notifications that assaulted Raven’s mind. Meanwhile, she was also being aggressively yelled at by Avavia, Raven’s mother. Aether didn’t escape the scolding either. This time, she was truly upset!

Maya, who suddenly noticed Raven’s paper pale face and red blood escaping it, could not keep her cool and quickly rushed to her side.

However, Raven -who was fighting to keep her consciousness from fading away- widened her eyes all of a sudden. Her expression quickly turned from dead tiredness into terrified panic.

With fast reflexes and without even blinking, she held Kayla’s hand as she threw her at Maya with whatever little strength she had left, meaning to distance the two away from herself.

Maya subconsciously caught Kayla who was left speechless, just as much as she was.

The two girls looked at Raven with worried and inquiring gazes. For a moment, they didn’t even realize what was wrong, however, after a split second or two, their vision adjusted and they could finally watch Raven cough up blood yet once more.

With terrified expressions, the two could make out a red blood-covered hand that was sticking out of Raven’s abdomen.

Behind her, Michael stood silently without showing any prominent expressions; no joy, no happiness, no regret… nothing.

Under Kayla and Maya’s shocked gazes, Raven’s blood left her body like a stream of red. Only now did they realize that she hadn’t even cried in pain, nor did she let out any sound to indicate her injury…

Maya’s body went numb all over as her brain tried tirelessly to explain what was happening in front of her wide shaking eyes.

‘Michael? He attacked Raven? Is that his hand that has penetrated her abdomen through her back? Wasn’t he dead? 

‘Why is Raven not screaming? Why isn’t she asking for help? Is she not feeling pain? Is she not aware of her injury? But… that’s her blood…’

Looking at Kayla who was standing like a statue next to her, she could see tears of dark silver leaving her eyes. She had her mouth open in a desperate, yet silent, cry.

Needless to say, Maya didn’t understand why she wasn’t saying anything. For those few moments, it felt as though the void itself was silent. Nothing was making any noise. 

Everything was left static; nothing was moving, except for the red river leaving Raven’s wound…

It was as though time had frozen for everyone but Raven…

With an inexplicable expression, Maya looked at Raven’s face, only to see her blood stained teeth smiling at her innocently, as if she was trying to say that everything was going to be alright…

At that moment, she felt her soul shiver deep inside…

Tears involuntarily left her eyes…

‘Huh? Why am I crying?’ she asked herself. ‘I am with Raven, nothing bad can ever happen. She always fixes everything… 

‘Right, Raven? You always fix everything, so, please start now. Fix that wound of yours… please… Kill Michael once again, please…’

Only when a few seconds passed did she realize that something was wrong with her. ‘Wait, why am I not hurrying to help her? I should kick Michael away, right? I should help her with her wound…

‘But… Why can’t I feel her aura anymore? Why can’t I feel her breath anymore? Why can’t… why can’t I feel her heart beating anymore…?’

Suddenly, as if time had started flowing again, Michael retracted his red bloodied hand out of Raven’s massive wound, which accelerated the rate at which her blood left her body.

Although his eyes appeared as dull as when his Mana Core had been first broken, they had a life-like glint in them; they looked cruel yet expressionless, as if everything in front of them was just an empty dream…

Nothing was real, nothing required to be worked up about. Everything was so meaningless…

Without a change in his expression, and in front of the watching eyes of Maya and Kayla, he held Raven’s body by the neck, and threw her to the side…

“”RAVEN!!!!!!”” Both girls suddenly yelled from the bottom of their hearts as tears streamed down their eyes.

Suddenly, out of Raven’s wound, dark purple substance exploded, covering her in a tight cocoon. Silver circuit-like structures were dancing on its surface.

“You’re not dead! No!” Kayla yelled before rushing to her side. “I am still alive; you must be too!”

Without thinking, her clone pumped into the cocoon. However, instead of pushing the cocoon away, the clone turned back into Cyber Particles and integrated itself into it.

“Tch!” Watching that, Michael’s lifeless eyes finally looked annoyed. Clicking his tongue, he was about to destroy this cocoon. However, without realizing at first, his body was involuntarily launched away into space.

“DON’T YOU DARE!!” Maya yelled at the top of her lungs as the mana all around her roared, indicating her inextinguishable anger.

“You sure can yell loud,” Michael said calmly. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave any of you alive. You’ve given us a lot of trouble for mere Star Accumulation idiots.

“If it weren’t for me being overcautious and inserting a wisp of my soul in this body, then what you’ve done would have gone unpunished.”

Although Maya didn’t understand what he was talking about, she knew enough to suspect that whoever talked was not Michael anymore. After all, whoever was controlling this body now was giving her a dangerous feeling that topped the one Michael gave off.