Don't know how many chapters there will be before the last one in this book (don't worry, the overall story isn't over at all) but oh well...
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         "Ara, that's a risky plan. Raven is out for blood so if you miss..." Add was saying. "I'll be fine. You're the one that should be worried," Ara said. "Ara, his whole goal idls to kill you. I don't care how much danger I'll be put in, he needs me alive so you're going to be-" Add said but was cut off by Ara silencing him. "If we keep talking about the plan instead of taking action, we'll miss our opportunity now let's go," Ara said. She erupted into Eun's power right afterwards and immediately sprang into action.

        Add was left to catch up and follow their discussed plan although it was rather risky. Ara was going after one of the left over nasods spears that Proto had summoned and left behind. She wasn't taking killing Seris lightly and Ara found that to be a bit scary. Proto had never come off as the aggressive type to Ara until then. Add was to help her by attacking Raven whenever Proto missed or knocked back. It was up to Ara to trigger the final attack that would kill Seris. Seris herself was trying to defend herself as well but with Add helping attack Proto's advances were relentless.

        By now, Ara had used Eun's extra power to scratch right throigh the discarded spearhead and weilded it like a large knife. It was then that she used the special skill that Eun had first taught her while they were in the underground city. "Remeber, you need to release your mana at the last second. I'll help you control your movements down to the very angle so don't worry about that. If we miss, we risk everything," Eun reminded as Ara rushed to the fight. Seris was behind Raven who was defending her with his life and for a split second, Ara felt bad about having to kill Seris until she remembered how unphased she and Raven had been when Barton stabbed Owen.

         She stayed behind Seris and waited for the signal. Raven managed to push both Add and Proto back, an action Ara's plan had been counting on. "Ara, now!" Add said. Ara sprang into action and released her mana as she leapt towards Seris with her blade ready to attack. Raven was quick to act and threw himself in front of Seris, not having enough time to counter with his blade. Just as Eun promised, she helped guide Ara's aim down to the angle and it was mission accomplished from there.

        Ara's goal all along had been to attack Raven, putting all of the force she had behind her strike as she pinned his nasod arm to the ground. Seris had moved by then but she hadn't realized that Raven had intended to take the full blow. "My chance is now!" Proto said. Without Raven to stop the oncoming nasod spears from protruding from the ground, Seris was doomed. Ara lept away from Raven, putting some space between them. Ara forced her gaze away from Seris' fate only hearing her cry of pain and Raven's cry of angish.

        Ara didn't dare look as she heard the crying, as she hear Seris apologizing repetitively. "Ara...it had to be done," Add muttered as he tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. He refused to look as well, probably also feeling some guilt as well. "You bastards...why? Why the hell did she have to die?!" Raven said rather distraughtly. "I didn't know of another way. If it weren't for Paradox coming here to this world though...all of this might have been prevented," Add said as Raven wept over the loss of the love he once shared with Seris.

        Ara felt even guiltier as she thought on this but then she realized that the same thing had already happened to Add over and over again. "No...I don't accept this. I won't....I refuse," Raven seethed. "You have no choice but to move on. I have no intention to repeat my days once more. Besides, you had this coming having killed Ara so many times," Proto said. Ara winced at her insensitivity. "Is that so?" Raven quietly said. "Yes, it i-" Proto said but Ara was shocked into fright by the sight she saw.

        In an instant, Raven had attacked Proto in a quick blur of movement, his sword driven right through her nasod core. Proto had a look of surprise as well as she tried to find words, any words but her systems had already began to fail her. She fell unmoving to the ground when Raven pulled his sword free. He turned his gaze to them and Ara found herself even more petrified by fear. Raven's gaze held no anger nor hatred, not even sadness. His eyes were completely void of emotion.

        "...Ara," Add managed to say. It was almost as though it were a plea or maybe just the only thing he could bring himself to say as he took hold of Ara's wrist. If Add wanted to run, then things were not going to turn out well. "You won't get away," Raven said with a voice just as devoid of emotion as his eyes. Ara wasn't the one to act though. She knew it was Eun that had her perform the handsigns that concealed her presence and since Add was still holding on to her, he vanished from sight as well.

        His dynamos deactivated in that instand and Eun pulled them both to the side just as Raven's sword came slashing across the air. Raven swung his sword again but Ara could move in time for his speed was unnatural. Lucky for her, she wasn't harmed but she nearly yelped in surprise and would have if it weren't for Add putting his hand over her mouth and pulling her close. He wrapped his other free hand around her waist and tightened his hold on her as Raven looked in their direction but not actually seeing them. It took all Ara had not to whimper and give away their location.

        "I know you're both still here. I know for a fact that Add wouldn't leave without his dynamos," Raven said as he looked a different way. Ara could feel herself shaking a bit but she realized that it wasn't just her. "Don't worry, Add. I'm not going to kill you. I need you alive so I can reset the timeline. Paradox only answers to you," Raven said as he still searched for them. Ara's time limit was running out and they needed to escape. "You two need to leave. Your lives are not more important than that weapon. You could always come back for it or build a new set," Eun's voice said in both Add and Ara's heads.

        Ara glanced back at Add who had his gaze on Raven. "I suggest you two try making it to the back entrance and run the moment Ara's skill runs out. Whatever you two do, do not release your mana," Eun said. Add nodded just a little and slowly began to step towards the exit with Ara clinging tightly to his arm as she followed. Raven looked right at them as if he could see them and Ara panicked as he rushed over to them ready to attack. Ara was suddenly pulled away from Raven's blade but she and Add both fell to the ground in the process.

        Raven's blade struck the ground not far from their location and again Ara faught her urge to whimper. She could practically feel Add's heart pounding uncontrollably within him. He stroked her hair a bit before gesturing for her to stand up. She did but when Add stood as well, he pushed her far away from him and faced Raven who took a few stepes back when he did. It was clear that Add could now be seen for he had released his mana against Eun's instruction.

        "So you decided to show yourself huh. Where's Ara?" Raven said. "That doesn't matter. Just let her go. I'll have the timeline reset as soon as Paradox gets here, just please let Ara go," Add said without showing just how terrified Ara knew he was. "Why should I do that? Seris is dead and the only way to reset the timeline is to kill Ara. Besides, you only want Ara to live because you love her. It's you versus me, Add. I lost Seris so it's time you lose Ara," Raven growled, his sword pointed at Add.

        "I'm tired of seeing Ara die. How could you kill someone like that without feeling any renorse. Ara is innocent. None of the blood shed here is on her hands," Add said. It was at this moment that Ara's time limit ran out and Raven snapped his attention to her almost immediately. Both of them acted quickly, Add calling his dynamos to him amd Raven speeding towards Ara. Eun was faster though, taking control of Ara and forcing her mana through Ara so that she was able to use Shadow Walk again.

        Even with Eun's speed, Ara was barely able to dodge Raven's attack and remain soundless as she landed having had to leap out of the way. Raven turned his gaze to Add and smirked. Add was soon locked into a head on battle with Raven with Add's dynamos doing well to defend but not even coming close to being able to attack. With Raven's speed being so high, the battle was one sided. "Ara, you've got to help him," Eun snapped. "If I do, Raven will jist switch targets and Add will put himself in danger just like when I fake attacked Seris and Raven jumped in the way!" Ara said. Eun didn't deny this for she knew it to be true.

        "You're wasting my time!" Raven said as he put a great amount of force behind his attack, cutting right through one of Add's six dynamos. Raven didn't leave Add with any recovery time and put him into a headlock. "Ara, you've got five seconds to reveal yourself or I'll kill him and come after you next. And if you don't believe me, how about I show you a little proof," Raven said. He began to choke Add who clawed at Raven's arm. By now Ara was sure Add was tired of being choked. Seriously, was that the first thing people resorted to when they attacked him.

        "Let him go!" Ara said as she released her mana and revealed her location. Raven stopped choking Add but he kept him in the headlock. "Didn't think you'd give up so quickly," Raven muttered. Ara glanced at Add who practically begged for her to run with his look butbshe ignored it, deciding that abandoning Add would be equivalent to killing him and she wasn't going to do that. "Let him go," Ara repeated as she took a risky step forward.

         "It would be nice for him to watch me kill you but I'd rather him be out of the way," Raven said. He proceeded to stab Add with his sword and Ara cired out in rage and sadness. "Calm down. He shouldn't die. I didn't stab him anywhere fatal but he shouldn't be able to get up any time soon," Raven said as he dropped Add to the ground. "Ara...run," Add pleaded as he looked in her direction. Raven knocked Add unconscious causing more rage to seep into Ara's system.

        "Ara, I'm sensing something within you. It's similar to my own power but it's not safe. You should let me handle this one," Eun said. Ara didn't answer, well she didn't have time to answer. Raben had already come at her and she was about to counter his attack until the unexpected happened. He disappeared only to reappear behind her. Ara felt a vast amount of enery leave her as Eun's hairpin was snatched from her hair. "Not so tough without it are you," Raven said as he threw it aside. Ara was grateful that he hadn't thought to break the hairpin but now Ara felt she had no chance at beating Raven. Even so, she was angry.

         Ara jumped back to put some space between her and Raven but he threw circular object down that she knew weren't smoke bombs. She had to jump forward to dodge the small explosions. It wasn't long before she waa surrounded by flames with Raven standing just outside of them, the hatred that was once missing now present in his eyes. "Everything...this is all your fault, you know. If you hadn't been so unpredictable, if you'd just followed along as if you believe our every word, none of this would have happened," Raven snapped as he walked paat the flames unphased.

          Ara went on edge, realizing that the events going on seemed all too familiar to her. "You couldn't just let us try figuring out how to stop everything. You just had to go and do things your own way and ruin our lives didn't you! Foolish...don't you realize that you can't have a happy ending!" Raven said. Ara had already had enough of his comments. She'd had enough of Add getting hurt for her sake and people taking advantage of her by stealing Eun's hairpin. She'd had enough of this stupid journey that was only bringing her more and more pain amd suffering. She hated it, her fate, Add's fate, all of it. Why were they doomed to be treated this way?

        "Shut up!!" Ara shouted. Even with none of Eun's power or guidance, she would fight. That's what she decided. There was no other option left for her anyway so she had no choice. Ara would fight until she couldn't move anymore. It was then that her hair went white and fox ears found their way to her head as well as nine fluffy white tails. Her nails sharpened into claws and she growled with rage. The only problem was that raven laughed at her. "You expect to scare me with that incomplete pathetic excuse of a power up?" Raven said.

        Ara didn't say anything though. She launched at him, scratching wildly at him making it easy for him to dodge but Ara wasn't really in conteol of her actions. Yes, it was her anger that fueled ger quick and wild attacks. Raven wasn't able to dodge for long and began to get hit by the scratches that were powerful enough to be seen slicing through the air. "You really are a demon aren't you," Raven spat as he threw more bombs down. Ara dodge the explosion but they only served as a distraction and got Raven a successful slash across Ara's arm. It wasn't too deep but it still stung.

        Another inhuman growl came from Ara as she lashed out again, this time darting from one place to another with succesive attacks. Raven blocked some, dodged some, and took damage from some of them and he seemed to realize that he couldn't keep the fight drawn out for very long. Ara wasn't losing any energy at all as far as she knew but it was clear that Raven wasn't as fast as he had been when he'd been an emotionless husk of revenge. "To think I'd resort to this," Raven muttered as he jumped back and threw several bombs down at his feet.

         Ara had to jump back but Raven headed for Add and Ara knew very well what he inteneded to do. Even so, Ara couldn't ignore her desire to keep Add out of harms way. She jumped in the way, hitting as many bombs away from Add as she could before they exploded. Ara was inevitably caught in a few of the explosions and was thrown back by their force landing not very far from Add. Raven didn't waste any time in stabbing one of Ara's hands to pin her to the ground. She cried out in pain but Raven was unphased.

         "How dies it feel to know you tried your best to win only to fail in the end," Raven said as he stabbed Ara's unharmed arm. This time she simply wreathed in agony as Raven stood over her. She kept her wild rage filled glare on him all the while. "It's about time you died," Raven said as he raised his sword to strike Ara but a very unexpected even happened. Raven was stabbed right though the heart by a late arrival. Ara's rage disappeared instantly and was replaced by shock as Raven dropped near her.

         Standing in his place was none other than Owen who Ara was even surprised to see alive. He seemed to be barely hanging on to life himself. "Good...now I can die...in peace," he said as he fell backward. "...Owen?" Ara muttered as she tried to get up. She was able to make it to his side but by then, he was already dead. All of Ara's distress and bottled up emotions came crashing down on her and she let them all go in a violent fit of sobbing. "You two really messed things up this time around, didn't you," a familiar voice said but Ara ignored it knowing all too well who it was.
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Almost hit 3000 words this time. Took a lot more words than I expected but oh well. Hopefully it was worth it. Until next time you miraculous readers!