Dark Taker

Well this was quicker then even I expected. I did manage to get things sorted out in my life, but that said, I wouldn't expect quicker uploads from me. I'm notoriously slow at uploading anything, and this was done in one sitting. The reason for this was because I wanted to try something a little different. I'll explain at the end of the chapter, so for now, feel free to read at your own time.

To them, the night passed far to quickly, but they found solace that it gave them another goal, another reason to come out of the battle alive. However, it was not to be, as demons do not answer to the will of fate, and it is forced to accommodate for their actions. And this pair was no exception...

They had reached Velder at last. The Elsearch group had fought their way through Feita, liberating much of it and pushing routing the demons out of the province and then went to Velder refugee camp. In the camp, the Lord Knight had gathered information on the situation while the others stocked up on equipment. Raven, in the meantime, had questioned the locals about if the Red Knights had passed through, and was delighted to know that they had in fact.

As the group met up and departed to the demon held city, Raven had felt his delight at knowing that Elesis and her Knights were alive slowly turning into an inexplicable dread. He tried to keep it from affecting his fighting, and from he could tell he was successful, though he could constantly feel Eve's suspicious stare locked onto him.

Fighting their way into the ruins, Elsword quickly called for the group to break off and search for any survivors left behind and to stay in close enough range of each other to assist if needed. He and Aisha went off to the center, the Void Princess uncertain about her own powers against the demons, Rena and Chung went to the outskirts, the Deadly Chaser actually sprinting ahead of the Grand Archer to act as scout, leaving himself and Eve.

Eve, with her own weaponry and codes, took off on her own, Moby and Remy following the Nemesis Queen as Raven stayed outside of the city gates. He wasn't entirely comfortable with even going into the city that he used to protect, then attacked after his betrayal, even if it wasn't him consciously doing it, so he went to the land surrounding the once great city. He met very little resistance in his trek, though the occasional demon swiftly met it's end at his own saber, but he met no survivors, something that distressed him. What even distressed him more was the appearance of corpses wearing...red scarfs?

Raven quickly ran towards them, looking over them only to find that there were no survivors and that these corpses had been dead for several days. Raven took the time to close their eyes before quickly moving on, hearing the sound of battle caught his attention. The Blade Master drew his sword and sprinted towards it, coming around the crumbling ruins to see a woman wearing black and red leather tearing through demons without mercy or hesitation. Raven's eyes widened before running to join the fray, quickly eviscerating the closest demon that was coming up behind the warrior woman.

The entire conflict only took a few short minutes, and Raven turned towards her, his joy at finding who was no doubt Elesis quickly turned to surprise when he saw her desecrating a demon's corpse. "Elesis?" Raven's voice was hesitant, and recoiled in surprise when the woman turned around, her body covered in blood, her once vibrant emerald eyes now a sickened gold that burned with a raging fury.

"Stay out of my way fool!" She hissed at him, her voice no longer the firm and compassionate tone it once was, now a dark and deranged echo of itself. She pulled her claymore from the corpse and turned towards him, clearly itching to see if he was worth fighting.

"Elesis it's Raven! What happened to you?!" He asked, desperate that the young woman hadn't been corrupted by demonic magic as had happened so much before. He noticed her claymore had changed from it's once slim and beautiful weapon into a twisted tool that looked more suited to torture then combat.

"What happened?! Everything I poured my life into died before my very eyes! Everything I've ever cared about, dead! Because of demons!" She shrieked, gripping her claymore with a single hand while she swung the other across the field, gesturing to all of her dead allies that Raven just now noticed were present, along with a fair number of demon corpses. "Frederick, my quartermaster, speared through the gut and his throat torn out!" She gestured pointedly to one whose status very much matched her story. "Gerald, his wife in Elder with a baby due in nary three months! Everyone, dead! Do you hear me you criminal?!" She roared at him, swinging her claymore wildly once before burying it's end into a demon's skull.

Raven cringed slightly at her calling him a criminal. 'This is no longer Elesis.' He thought grimly, feeling more then a simple stab in his heart at the thought of the young, beautiful woman having changed in such a way. "Elesis stop! They are not all that you loved! Elsword, your own brother yet lives!"

"Elsword is a selfish brat who cares for nothing but his own success!" She immediately snapped.

"Me." His words froze her, her sickly yellow eyes widening as they remained fixated on him. She was unstable, and this could very well have sent her over the edge...

And cliffhanger? I hate them just as much as others honestly, but remember when I said I wanted to try something new out? Originally I was planning for this to be the last chapter and have one thing occur as the ending, but then I thought that it wouldn't feel right, but I didn't feel like I could go back and rewrite what I've already posted (as it wasn't grammar or anything of that sort). So I decided to have two different endings, and you guys can decide which one you want to be the canon ending. Naturally, this will take a little bit of time, and I might post them at the same time so you guys won't have to wait, but I might not. I don't know yet. Let me know what you guys think about this, and I'm really sorry it's shorter then the others.

Read and review guys, I love getting feedback.

Umbreonwriter