Hey everyone, I'm writing this immediately after an Independence Day party, and I'm... "kinda" drunk. So if I fuck up some of the stuff in here, I'll go over the chapter after I upload it. Anyway, happy Independence Day to all my American readers. I hope you enjoy.

Ravel - Bael Manor Great Hall, 7:30 P.M.

This is NOT happening, what did Yuri do to piss off Sairaorg? I struggled to make sense of the situation that presently in front me. I ran over to Yuri, taking his arm in my hands. "What in the hell are you doing?" I nearly screamed. He and Sairaorg both looked at me with a bit of confusion. "Fighting?" Yuri posed his response questioningly, this annoyed me. "I can SEE that... why... are you fighting?" I asked, shaking with anger. "Because I think your fiance is hiding incredible power, and I want to fight him." Sairaorg explained. I felt my face heat up after realizing exactly what that meant. I looked up to Yuri, and gave him an apologetic smile. He smiled back, realizing after a moment why I had previously been upset. "Sorry love, perhaps I should have cleared this with you first." He said. I shook my head. "I didn't realize you were just having fun... I thought that you pissed off Sairaorg, and I panicked." I told him. He laughed and pulled me against him. "How about this. Let me fight Sairaorg, then I'm all yours for the rest of the night." He offered. I had to admit, it was tempting, so much so that I accepted. "Alright, I don't see why not... as long as you don't destroy the Manor." I sighed. He had seemed so nervous beforehand, at least he looked comfortable in this situation.

Yuri smiled, as did Sairaorg. They seemed eager to begin, so I backed away. Yuki had materialized and was standing in the front crowd. I took a place next to her. The crowd had formed in a circle around the two of them. "Yuki, could you give us a barrier, I'd hate for any of the guests to catch some stray energy from the fight." He asked. She nodded and lifted her hands to the pair. After a moment, she mumbled some incoherent words and a clear, transparent barrier formed around the two of them. Yuri took a few steps back, as did Sairaorg. They continued to do so until they were inches away from the barrier on their respective sides. Yuri had already ignited his Flame. Sairaorg turned and whistled, prompting a large lion to make its way to the grand hall. I was rather surprised at it's size, it was enormous, at least four meters tall. The lion touched Sairaorg and morphed into a golden suit of armor and an enormous double headed axe.

Yuri looked at his armor-clad opponent with a beaming smile. "Is that your strongest form?" He asked. Sairaorg sported a grin that was almost equal in size to Yuri's. "Well, it wouldn't be much fun if we didn't go all out from the start." He said. "I suppose I agree with you on that point. Yuki, my sword, please." He requested. Yuki touched the barrier, which split to allow her to enter. She stood next to him and clutched her hands together tightly. After an instant, a glowing blue light formed in her hands. She toyed with it, and its shaped seemed to give with each tiny pull she gave it. After a few seconds, the light faded and a medium sized katana was all that remained. She handed Yuri the blade. "Yours too, darling." He added afterwards. She repeated the process and handed him a second blade. The weapons were strikingly opposed, color wise. The one he referred to as "his" was purple, with tiny yellow diamond patterns interweaving across it. The other blade had the same pattern, but with a light blue main color and black diamonds.

I stared at the blades for a moment, then Yuri took a stance that I found strange. Rather than holding his swords traditionally, he held them in a way that faced them away from his opponent. Yuki had already taken her place next to me once again. "Yuki, why does he take that stance?" I asked. She looked at me for a moment, seemingly not understanding my question, but she turned and placed her fingers on my temples. She whispered something, but I was too confused to hear her. "Watch him, you'll see in a moment." She said. I looked to Yuri and as if on cue, he attacked. He disappeared... no, he jumped and landed upside down on... the air? Yes, his feet made physical contact with the air, as though it was bending and supporting him. He sprung towards Sairaorg twisting the swords in his hands. He landed to Sairaorg's immediate back and slammed his swords into his shoulder. Bael staggered and lurched resulting in him falling to the ground.

Bael had a look of shock plain on his face. He stared at Yuri with confusion, then broke out into a grin. "Fuck, you hit hard." He said. Yuri paused for a moment and smiled weakly. "Sorry, I meant to end it in that first hit, but I held back a bit too much it seems." He said sadly. Sairaorg looked a bit surprised at Yuri's admission. Yuri got back into his stance and disappeared again. Bael was ready for it this time however, and swung around to intercept Yuri's strike. The sound of their weapons clashing left a metallic ringing in my ears. Bael gave a heave and slashed outwards horizontally, but Yuri easily ducked underneath the axe. Yuri slammed the hilts of his blades into Sairaorg's chestplate. Bael gave a heavy groan upon the impact, and Yuri used the momentum to dash backwards, sliding across the ground and stopping inches from the barrier's edge.

Yuri's eyes had closed and he seemed intently focused on something that was surprisingly not Bael. He opened his eyes. "Yuki, is your healing magic ready?" He asked. Yuki smiled. "Certainly, just give me the command whenever you need it." She said. Yuri smiled, and swung his arms forward, launching his blades at Bael. Bael readied his axe to defend, but Yuri made a move that I didn't expect. He ducked under the axe for a second time and wrapped his arms around Sairaorg's chest. The blades slammed into Yuri's back, piercing into him and Bael. I watched in horror as blood spilled from the fresh wounds in Yuri's back. He grinned and with a cough that made my heart drop, spoke. "Balance Breaker: Burning Martyr."

Boom. A flash of light filled the room and Yuri's body burst into flame. I nearly screamed in terror. Oh no, what are you doing? Yuki noticed my distress and gave me a grin. "Didn't he ask you to trust him?" She asked. But he just exploded! She pointed to Yuri. He was standing, and smiling, and no longer on fire, which made me happy. He turned to me and sighed. "I'm fine, just... a bit of internal damage." He said, wrenching the blades from his back and Bael's chest. The blades shifted back into the lights they had started as and danced across the room to Yuki, who clasped her hands around them. Bael, who had been still until this point, dropped to his hands and knees, coughing up a modicum of blood. "Yuki, heal up our friend here." Yuri said. Yuki leapt across the room and landed next to Bael. She encased the young man in ice, and after a few moments, shattered the shell.

Bael coughed up a bit more blood and stood back up on his feet. His hands made his way to his wounds and he felt them with a wince of pain. "The internal damage is healed, but the surface wounds will take time." Yuri said. Sairaorg offered Yuri his hand, which Yuri took. They shook hands for a moment and Bael spoke. "That ability, I've never seen anything like that before. How did you practice that?" He asked. Yuri burst into laughter. "I didn't train that at all, the ability itself was only a theory. If I could pass a conduit into my opponents body, then there's no reason why I couldn't pass the energy from damage to them as well. That Balance Breaker that I used... that was the first time I ever tried it." Yuri said. Bael howled with laughter. "Wow, you still weren't taking me seriously, were you?" He asked. Yuri looked down in shame. "Well, I was missing two of my other spirits, so there was no way to truly give you my best." He said apologetically. Sairaorg roared with another fit of laughter. "Oh well, you've taught me not to be content with how I am now. I need to get stronger to achieve my goals." He said confidently. They broke away from me and began talking amongst themselves for a moment. I gave a sigh, happy that Yuri didn't destroy the Manor more than anything.

Yuri and Bael spoke for what seemed to be ten to fifteen minutes before Yuri walked back over to me. I had taken a seat on the staircase to calm down, and the majority of the guests went back to talking as they had before the dust-up. Yuri reached out and took my hands. "I'm sorry." He said. I looked at him for a moment, then wrapped my arms around him. "For what, love?" I said. "I may have ruined your time here." He said quite apologetically, leading me to think he really believed that. I leaned up and pressed my cheek to his. "Yuri, the only reason I decided to go was because you were going." I allayed him, putting my hand on his cheek. He was warm, and the stubble on his face was rough against my skin. He smiled and took my hand from his face, and pressed his lips to my cheek. "We've had quite a day haven't we?" He asked. I giggled. "Quite an understatement in my opinion. Undoubtedly worth it though." I said. He lifted me onto my feet. "Bael said that the ballroom is open. Let's go dance. I'm eager to work off the stress." He said.

We made our way to the large doors opposite us and I had an epiphany. "Yuri, can you dance?" I asked. I didn't want to sound rude by asking, but I was unsure. "I'm a swordsman by nature, darling. Footwork is incredibly important in swordplay... so when I was younger I was given ballroom dancing lessons from my mother." He said. Well... that's rather surprising, I thought that Yuri was the first to leave the village... unless. I turned to face him. "Yuri, was your mother..." I started. "No, my mother was not human, she's a pure-blooded Devil." He said. He turned to me. "Simply put, my mother has an ability that allowed her to learn it on her own." He told me. "You'll learn more when the two of you meet." He said. The thought of meeting his family made me nervous. Oh well, that's not something I need to be concerned with later. I reached out and grabbed his hand. I might as well enjoy tonight.

Yuri - Bael Manor Ballroom, 9:30 P.M.

We had been dancing for nearly two hours, and I was enjoying the rhythm of the my and Ravel's motions. We went back and forth on the floor for a few more minutes, then I pulled her off to the side. "Okay, I think I've had enough for now." I said with a grin. She feigned a pout. "Are you not having fun?" She asked, obviously joking, but I decided to tease her a bit. "Where do I start? You obviously have no idea what you're doing." I said. She reeled back in mock offense. "How dare you!" She exploded. The people around us began to stare. I pulled her against me. "Have something to say about it?" I asked. People began to murmur, but only because they couldn't figure out why we were "arguing". Ravel reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down to her, our faces hovering mere centimeters away from the others. I pushed forward and our lips met. She was a little unwilling to break our ruse, but she relented after a moment.

After we broke away, the crowd caught on that we were simply playing with one another, and went back to either dancing or socializing. Ravel leaned against me, and gave a loud yawn. "Someone's tired." I said with a laugh. "And here you didn't want to stop dancing." I grinned. She ceded my point and sighed. "Yeah, I probably would have passed out." She said with a smile. "Thanks for stopping me." She added. I shook my head. "What do you say we head home?" I offered. She nodded. "I think it's absolutely time we did that." I looked around the room, seeing Bael in a corner speaking with some guests. "I'll be back in a moment, I'd like to speak with Sairaorg." I said. She nodded and gestured towards the door. "I'll be waiting for you at the front door." She said. I nodded and made my way over to the group of people.

I waited patiently for Sairaorg's crowd to diminish, then walked up to him. "Ah, Yuri, have you given any thought to what we discussed earlier?" He asked. I tilted my head. "I was rather enraptured by my partner during that time, but I did do some thinking, and it sounds interesting enough." I told him. "Great! I'll stop by the Manor some time in the next few weeks to give you the paperwork for it." He said excitedly. "Alright, I'll clear it with Ravel." I said. Simple enough. We said our farewells and I made my way out of the Manor. Ravel was as she had said she would be, at the front door. The short walk to the portal station was silent and close, our hands tight together. We stepped onto the sigils and moments later, we were on the sigils of the Phenex Manor.

We made our way through the house quietly, as Ravel's family had returned by this point. The house was deathly quiet as we stepped upstairs. Once the door to our room was closed, we both breathed soft sighs of relief. Upon inspection of my bed, Eden and an obviously female Baphomet had taken refuge underneath it's warm sheets together. Ravel almost had a chance to scream before I remembered that she didn't know about Baphomet. I pushed my hand over her mouth. "I forgot to tell you that Baphomet's a girl. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow." I promised her. She nodded slowly as she processed my words. "You don't have a problem with me sleeping in bed with you, do you?" I asked cautiously. She blushed but shook her head. I let go of her mouth. "Alright." I said, before changing into my silk clothes. Ravel did the same and we were soon sitting underneath the sheets on the bed. She heaved a sigh. "The day's over, it's been quite hectic." She stated. "Well, the most important part in my eyes is that we were honest with each other." I said. She nodded. After a few silent seconds we embraced. It would have likely been longer, but her and I were both tired and eager to sleep. We laid down sideways next to one another and my arms wrapped around her waist. Tiredness apparently claimed Ravel at this point, as I could hear her speaking softly in her slumber. I felt the warm temptation of sleep haze my mind, but before it too claimed me, I had a thought. I'm really glad I decided to take her offer. Sleep came for me not moments later.

I know, I'm a lazy shit, but I have a good excuse, well I will eventually when I come up with one. Basically the last 4 days I spent partying incredibly hard with friends who were either busy July 4th, or just wanted to party after all the craziness calmed down. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, I'll try to make the next chapter a little longer.

Cheers!