The entire ground shook violently. Northern stood through the force of the shockwave, undeterred. While Rughsbourgh was shielded by space itself, the debris and dust separated—fled from him.
Slowly the dust began to settle, and Northern could pierce it with his eyes—in fact, the moment the person landed, a dark frown settled on his forehead.
At the same time... his heart was leaping?
Black lustrous hair fluttered in the wind, sinister black armor that seemed to embrace smoky darkness as a cloak, and a pale, expressionless stare with crimson eyes that was utterly unreadable. The most unreadable of them all.
And two long, macabre swords in her hands.
Northern's eyes were radiating an eerie coldness—evil and dangerous!
"Raven..."
She turned to look at Northern, then she... smiled.
Northern felt his heartbeat quicken. He frowned at both the racing heartbeat and the smile.
'What? Why is she smiling? That evil being.'
The darkness that served as her cloak solidified, extending into one enormously long black wing towards her right side, before it completely vanished in a spray of feathers.
She slowly walked closer to Northern, her sinister and sleek armor perfectly emphasizing her gorgeous curves. She stopped before him and looked up at his face.
"You've changed."
'Most certainly, bitch...!'
Northern's voice was calm.
"So have you..."
Raven winced slightly, looking at herself.
"Have I?"
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Northern furrowed his brows.
"Why are you here? In the Central Plains? I thought you were imprisoned."
Raven chuckled lightly.
"It is a long story. But as for why I am here—I came here for you... Terence... is missing."
Northern looked at her indifferently, then averted his gaze, shifting toward the direction where Rughsbourgh stood.
"I am sure you are more than capable of finding her, instead of wasting your time finding me."
Raven shook her head.
"You don't understand."
He glanced at her with a dark frown as she continued.
"The only reason why she is missing is because Ul took her."
At that moment, Northern's expression changed.
"What?"
"Not just that... but the entire Central Plains, both here and Stelia, is about to brace for an impact of destruction that would reshape the continent for decades. That was the last vision she saw before Ul took her away."
Raven looked down and trembled slightly.
Northern's eyes widened a little. He had never seen her so shaken.
She lowered her head, trembling more, not saying anything for a while.
Then her voice crawled out... shakily.
"I... I don't know... I don't know what to do... I'm helpless... I have no one to rely on. Terence is gone, and... I don't even have the right to seek your help. This feels helpless, shameless, and selfish of me... but please, I need to find Terence."
Northern did not know how to feel anymore. The way her voice trembled, and how she was sounding—she was definitely crying.
Raven is crying...?
'...almost.'
He almost felt like pointing his sword to her neck and asking, "Who are you? The Raven I know will never cry."
Yet, this sounded and felt very much like the Raven he knew. Of course, her tears didn't mean she received a pardon, but Northern could very much understand one little thing from her despair.
She's human. And she cares about her friends. Terence, at least.
So he didn't need to be a bastard to her. At least not now.
He exhaled and touched her shoulder gently.
"We will find Terence. I can't make any promises, but I do have a thing or two to settle with Ul."
Rughsbourgh's chuckle entered his ears as he ended his statement.
The man was already standing in front of him. Raven raised her head and scowled, while Rughsbourgh looked at her with an intrigued smile on his face.
"I remember you. One of the exceptional students I had high hopes for. The Kageyama girl! You survived too!"
Her frown darkened, and she glanced at Northern.
He nodded.
"Yup. Rughsbourgh."
Raven clenched her fists tightly on her swords and, with sudden ferocity, pushed one leg forward, unleashing tides of darkness strikes that whirled and rolled forward with intense fury.
Rughsbourgh, though, had vanished from the space, standing behind her and gently tapping her shoulder.
"You are aiming at the wrong place, young Paragon."
Northern was not surprised when Rughsbourgh said it. He could see it as clearly as he could. Raven had become a Paragon—which was incredibly outstanding.
What more did he expect from Raven? She was always exceptionally gifted.
But from her movement just now, she was miles away from landing a hit on Rughsbourgh, which wasn't too difficult for him.
He raised a hand, and suddenly Rughsbourgh scowled and vanished away from both of them.
Raven looked around first, then looked at Northern with a subtle and slightly tense frown.
Northern responded indifferently.
"Don't worry about it. He simply received soul damage and fled. He always runs—that is what he's good at, really. That is why he is so adept at space manipulation."
Raven was frozen for a second. She gulped and forced out a pale chuckle.
"You've become... really different..."
She turned away from him, hiding her reddened cheek as she muttered.
"...and cool."
Northern raised a brow.
'What the fuck?'
Seeing Raven act girlish suddenly felt so... uncool and cringe.
"Anyway, what do we do? If you need my help, you'd have to wait till I am done with this guy here."
Raven's expression hardened.
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Yeah. Take notes and learn."
He disintegrated into fragments of light, leaving Raven frozen with wide eyes.
She gently summoned a small leather notebook from her soul and a quill ink pen, then stared forward with intense focus.
Raven did not have as much animosity to settle with Rughsbourgh as Northern did. She still blamed him for the cruel fate he thrust them into, but she swung her sword not for herself but for the sake of others.
Maybe that was why it lacked the resolve of Northern's strikes.
After all, she truly began to enjoy life after she got sent to the Dark Continent.