Chapter 6: Dark Lord Cinder-Shadow Aura

"And here we have the library. We mostly use this room to give the kids in our care some education," Aerith explains.

"What happened to the schools?" Cinder asked.

"The so-called king thinks schools are a waste of time," Aerith growled, "Greedy bastard!" Cinder is stunned that a nun just swore. Aerith noticed Cinder's reaction and smiled, "Father Hope is relaxed with the rules,"

"Interesting," Cinder said and let out a yawn.

"Oh, my, traveling your way here and fighting the king's goons took a lot from you," Aerith holds Cinder's hand, "There's a soft sofa nearby. Let me take you there," Aerith takes Cinder to a dark wood sofa with royal blue cushions. Cinder does not expect Aerith to let Cinder use her lap as a pillow, "Now rest up. They are people who need you at full strength," Aerith said softly and gently petted Cinder's head.

Feeling her eyelids getting heavy, Cinder lets sleep take hold of her.

A red portal opens in front of Aerith. Raven walks out and spots the sleeping Cinder. "Hello Master Raven, it's been a while. Do you still remember me?" Aerith smiles.

"I will never forget a member of the tribe," Raven smiles.

"You still count me as a member?" Aerith asked with a sad smile on her face.

"I do," Raven smiles, "Unlike my brother. You asked to leave. So that's why still count you as a member of our tribe,"

"Thank you," Aerith smiles. "Thank you for giving me a home where no one else would,"

"You're welcome," Raven smiles.

Raven gets closer to Cinder and kneels. She puts a gentle hand on Cinder's head. Cinder slightly opens her eyes, "Hey mom," Cinder said sheepishly and puts a hand on Raven's hand.

"What did I say about being reckless?" Raven smiles.

"In my defence, I'm still under the influence of Shadow Aura," Cinder said and fell back asleep.

"Shadow Aura?" Aerith asked.

"It's the SDC's latest project," Raven sighs "I don't know how but they manage to create artificial darkness and use that to make a person stronger. People are lazy and want a shortcut for everything,"

"Why does Cinder have this Shadow Aura? She doesn't seem to be a person to take a shortcut," Aerith asked.

"She wouldn't," Raven said "It wasn't her choice. The SDC forced it on her!" Reven lets out a sigh, "There was a traitor within our ranks,"

"What?!" Aerith gasped.

"First, let's get Cinder in a proper bed," Raven said and picked up Cinder in her arms. Cinder instinctively rests her head under Raven's chin. An act that makes both Aerith and Raven smile.

Aerith leads Raven to the bedrooms. One of them was meant for Cinder because they knew she would be staying with them for a while. On the way, Raven explains how the SDC kidnapped Cinder and forced her to undergo the Shadow Aura procedure.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER!" Raven shouts and punches a traitorous member of the tribe.

"I-I sold to the SDC! They promised they will make her stronger!" the traitor stammered.

"You sold her?!" Raven growled. Her eyes are burning with rage and her maiden powers.

"W-We need the money!" the traitor said with fear.

"No…you needed the money," Raven said coldly and gave the traitor the most painful death. She made sure their screams were loud enough to give the other members of the tribe an idea what happens to traitors. Raven made sure to use Cinder's Yamato to end the traitor's life. Raven found out what happened to her daughter because Cinder left behind a secret recording of her kidnapping on her scroll.

Raven wastes no time putting on her mask and uses her Semblance and travels to Cinder's location.

As expected, Raven finds herself in an SDC lap but its part is big and looks like a fighting arena. Looking around she spots a 12-year-old Cinder laying on the ground, "Cinder!" Raven shouts. She runs to her daughter and puts her up in her arms.

Cinder weakly opens her eyes, "M-Mom?"

"Mommy's here!" Raven said softly. She's trying her best to hide the panic in her voice.

"Mom!" Cinder said happily but she suddenly held her head in pain and her eyes became blank. She lets out a primal roar and swings the sword the SDC gave her at Raven.

Raven quickly blocks Cinder's surprise attack with the Yamato. "Cinder! What are you doing?" Raven asked.

Her answers came from a dirty-looking scientist wearing small glasses. She knows who that is. Hojo. A man who will do anything for science.

"Finally, hyper mode has been activated. Can a mother's love overpower this? I doubt it," Hojo laughs. His smug looks quickly fade when Cinder is staring at Yamato with a blank look on her face. The Yamato starts pulsing with a blue light.

Raven notices this and smiles under her mask, "You recognized it, don't you Cinder?"

"Y-Yamato," Cinder said. Her eyes stay locked on the glowing katana.

"That's right," Raven nods, "That's right. This weapon has been in your family for generations. Yamato is your pride and soul,"

Light returns to Cinder's eyes. She drops the sword in her hand and Raven gives Cinder the Yamato back.

Hojo slams his hands on the keyboard "Impossible! Hyper Mode can not be deactivated!" he gasped when Raven shot a large fireball at him. Safe to say a normal person like him cannot survive a blast like that.

Raven creates a red portal, "Let's get you home,"

"Sure! I'm tired of this place," Cinder smiles.

Raven and Cinder enter a portal and return to camp. The portal didn't close because Raven is not done with the SDC lab Cinder was in. "It's time for a raid," Raven said coldly and pointed at the still-open portal.

The SDC lab stood no chance against Raven and her tribe. Hojo did hire some huntsmen to act as guards. However, he made the grave mistake of hiring cheap huntsmen because he wanted to spend his money more on his research than on capable warriors. So Raven and her tribe had little trouble tearing them and the lab apart.

Raven didn't have all the scientists killed, because she needs them to fix the damage Hojo did to her daughter. Many are willing to help, a few are not because it will ruin Hojo's work. Seeing that Hojo still had some loyalists, they were killed.

She had the ones who were willing to help Raven, take all the research and equipment needed to cure Cinder of Shadow Aura. "On paper, Shadow Aura gives a boost to a person's fighting capabilities but that's not all. It makes them more aggressive and sometimes arrogant. Hyper Mode is when a person goes berserk and attacks everyone. Hojo's goal was to make an army of people with Shadow Aura and sell them off to the highest bidder." a scientist explained.

"Why am I getting a feeling that he already sold a few?" Raven growled.

"Unfortunately," one of the scientists said, "The Atlas Military even bought a few,"

"James is going to get his hand full," Raven sighs.

"Excuse me?" the scientist asked.

"Let's just say, Atlas is going to get a new general," Raven said then turns around, "If that's everything you need, we need to head back to camp,"

The scientist nods, "Yes! Lead the way!"

"Since that day, Cinder has been given treatment for her Shadow Aura," Raven said. She just finished tucking in Cinder.

"So Cinder is still not cured? Even after all this time?" Aerith asked.

Raven nods, "Yeah, Hojo made it extremely difficult in making a cure," she then looks at the sleeping Cinder, "Heavy exhaustion is also one of the side effects of Shadow Aura,"

"No Vernal, you can't have my cookie," Cinder said in her sleep and turned to her side.

Raven smiles then look back at Aerith, "I got some intel that the enemy you guys are fighting has some people with Shadow Aura. Even Amber has it. Whether she took the treatment willing or not is unknown right now,"

"Great," Aerith sighs, "Barret should know about this,"

Raven nods, "Take me to him,"

"Follow me," Aerith said and led Raven to the war room.

Right next to Cinder's bed is a mannequin wearing royal-looking attire. It's a blue leotard with golden accents and a large boob window, silver gauntlets, greaves and tassels. A blue small waist cape with golden accents. Thigh-high blue stockings and a red cape with a white fur collar. On the head is a golden crown.

This outfit is meant for Cinder to wear. The reason is that the king of Menagerie has a great fear of other kings. He knows people think of him as a poor ruler and will turn on him if another compliant king shows up. They are those who are forever loyal to him, but he fears they will turn on him too.

That paranoia will spell his downfall, though he's still dangerous. He just ordered for a powerful bomb to be launched at where the Holy Resistance is. The bomb is powerful, as it can destroy the whole city, but he did care because a castle is all the needs. The reason why didn't have the bomb launched the right way because it will take 3 days to prepare and launch it.

The Branwen tribe is not the only one helping but General Ironwood as well.

His ship just arrived at the port. "Are you sure about this General?" an Atlas soldier asked.

"Yes, the man is dangerous and is using our stolen equipment. If he's not dealt with, his ambition will grow and will become a great threat to Atlas," Ironwood explains. "Also the people of this city have suffered under his rule long enough,"