Regardless if it's been a while or recently, and as a welcome to anyone whose new to my stories, let me say hello to you all! I apologize that this isn't a new chapter, but this is important and I hope you take the time to read this update notice.

Also, to remove any worries to those familiar with the few I've made when my writing slump began? Know this update ONLY has good news this time.

Notice: This update will be deleted on 10/10 - READING IS ADVISED

To start things off, the primary part of this announcement is, as not everyone may have seen it on my profile... that I am officially out of my writing slump! Thanks to everyone whose been so supportive and understanding these last two years. However, while I am getting back to regularly updating, there are a few things that have changed since then that will affect my update rate.

First off, and this is only temporary, but my family and I will be making up for lost time with our extended family. The pandemic caused a lot of our family events (both annual and non-annual) to be canned. However, now that vaccines are able to cover nearly all ages, we're making up for it since we have our yearly Halloween Party on the way, alongside Thanksgiving and Christmas, which we all had to spend on our own since 2020 due to new family members.

I'll still try updating for the rest of 2022, but it might not be that much.

Second, which some may have noticed via the potential stories listed on my profile, I've become quite the fan of Genshin Impact and now play it regularly. On one hand this has cut into some of my writing time, but on the other, it's also helped give me new ideas because of the gorgeous landscapes and some lore I've found. The same is true with other Hoyoverse games that I don't play since their stories are all so interesting, and has helped my spark recover.

My only regret is that too much of Genshin Impact's story has yet to be released, making it too risky for me to start my fanfic idea for it because I want to avoid retconning anything if contradicted by the still unreleased content. That being said... if anyone can show me the Mondstat region story is too early in for too many retcons, then I might at least consider releasing that part.

Lastly, but most importantly, I've started restructuring how I organize my stories a little. This one's a little more complex, so I have story specific details I'll be sharing below to explain it. Though if it goes well? You can expect my updates rates to increase while also getting more to my stories than you did prior!

With all of that said, here's the story specific details:

Specific Details for Dark, but Not Evil

Since this story isn't going to be too long, due to it being much shorter than its original, I'll be updating this more sparingly. The entire outline has been made, so it's a matter of when I'll finish it more than anything else.

I really can't say much more without repeating myself, so... I'll instead talk about the likelihood of any other stories getting a reboot as of now. Right now, there's one story that might, with that being "When Dawn meets Dusk", though like Dark, but Not Evil will do so in a much smaller form at a much bigger scope of change. As I've made a lot of stories that have gone for a complex storyline? I think this one will instead be a Slice of Life story, as it has the right setup for it due to the things I revealed in its first chapter, so it'll just be a normal Boy meets Girl story if the story gets revived at all For the likelihood of it being revived? I'd say it's... 50/50.

And with that, here's a preview scene to thank you all for taking time to read this.

Tohka let out a ear splitting scream in response, and Westcott smirked as he waited for the swirl.

Except... it didn't come.

Instead of that, an explosion of Reiryoku burst from her form, as if she had just set off a nuclear bomb. The approaching power made his eyes widen, with Ellen stopping her attempt to kill Shido as she saw it threatening to consume him.

"Ike!"

She immediately threw up a Territory to shield him, and successfully saved his life just in time. The rampaging Reiryoku continued to spread, until finally...

*"SHATTER!"*

It completely shattered the walls of Tohka's containment area shattered like glass. Miku let out a sonic scream to deflect the incoming shards, and Shido's body was too low for it to put him at risk, especially as the Reiryoku's presence caused his healing flames to regain their full strength.

Ellen wasn't as luckily, feeling her eyes widen as a shard cut through Pendragon and a majority of her entire torso.

"What... what is this?" She asked.

Westcott didn't know what to say, having never experienced something like this before. He wasn't afraid, but it would be wrong to say he was happy or glad, just... uncertain.

"Huh?"

Shido finally felt the wound Ellen inflicted across his back heal fully, letting him lift his head to see what was going on.

"What is this?" He questioned.

As he slowly pushed himself back up and onto his feet, he looked at Miku, who was staring at the flood of rampaging Reiryoku as her body shook in fear. The sight of it feeling many times more terrifying than when she saw Kurumi's reaction to Sawa's death.

Whatever was causing Tohka to admit this power? It was nothing like that instance.

"I... I don't know?" She replied.

Right after she said that, the Reiryoku released a pressurized wind, hitting them as they were nearly knocked onto their knees. It had the side effect of shattering the copy of Sandalphon in Shido's hand and making Miku release a hoarse cough.

*"SNAP!"*

The other Spirits suddenly froze in midair as Miku's voice lost its hold, feeling a cold chill from the presence Shido saw.

"What the?" Rinne said.

"Where are we, exactly? I remember Shido and the others managed to win his contest with Miku, and then... everything after that is a blank." Mukuro asked.

Nia cleared her throat, and everyone saw her shakily point at the DEM building.

"I think that might be a bigger concern to us at the moment?" She emphasized.

Everyone followed her finger, and then gasped.

The sight of dark-colored Reiryoku filled the main DEM building, heavily damaging it as if it was a black hole trying to devour all, yet only had the strength of a small storm to achieve it.

"What is that?" Mayuri asked, unable to stop shaking as she looked at it.

"Hold on, this is... that's Tohka's Reiryoku we're seeing!" Rinne realized.

"That's Tohka!?" Natsumi panicked.

"Yeah, but something's wrong. It feels like her power just reversed. No, I think inverted is the right word." She confirmed.

A huge explosion went off as a energy blade shot in their direction, with all of them just barely dodging the attack in time.

"This just went from bad to worse..." Nia stated.

Everyone stared at the huge gash she had just made in the city, one that just barely tread above where the Spacequake shelters were. Though if another attack like that were to strike the same general area, the people inside wouldn't be as lucky next time.

"Come on, we gotta find Shido, or Kotori, or whoever, and fast!" Kaguya shouted.

"Agreement. It's too dangerous to be in the dark both figurately and literally, especially if what Rinne says means Tohka is not as we normally know her." Yuzuru agreed.

With those words, all of them flew towards the main DEM building.

Right as they started their flight, however, was the moment the main storm of dark-colored Reiryoku came to an end. Everyone looked up, and then... they saw the horror within.