Chapter. 23

The sun rose high in the sky as Eve carried Raven, Soma and Nifa though the ruined city to the church. When they arrived the Soma and Raven climbed off while Nifa changed her god arc to gun mode to begin searching for a dreadnought aragami.

As they walked around Snow appeared out of Raven's arc. "So what do you think?"

"Of what?" Raven Tilted her head.

"Soma of course! Your future man."

"Snow please! We have a mission to do."

"You can at least talk to him while you got time now." Snow smiled as she pressed her body on Raven's arm. "Go on, you need more friends." Snow stepped away from Raven and walked behind her.

Raven rolled her eyes and kept walking. After a few minutes of looking everyone stopped to wait for the aragami to come to them. As they took their break Raven noticed Nifa was keeping Eve busy and turned to Soma who was staring at his phone.

Raven took a breath and went to him. "Hello Soma."

"Hey." Soma sighed and put away his phone. "You need something?"

"Oh, nothing. Just, wanted to talk, get to know you is all."

Silence hung in the air which made Raven start to feel uneasy. "Alright."

Soma's answer quickly eased Raven's worry. "Thank you! Ah, let's see... I'd like to know a bit about you."

"Something about me, let's see." Soma looked to the sky then back to Raven. "Well I was the basis for all God Eaters."

"Really?"

"I was the first human to be injected with Bias Factor."

"So you're like, the father of Gods Eater. That incredible."

"The test was a success and a failure, for even though I was given superhuman abilities at an early age, my birth caused the death of his mother, something that made me blame myself for her death."

"You still do, don't you?" Soma looked away. Raven smiled lightly and reached out to rub Soma's arm. "I'm a monster too." Raven began to tell her story as Soma just listened.

Eve purred to make Nifa turn and see Raven and Soma talking. Nifa smiled uneasily. "I hope I don't mess this up." Eve rubbed its head on Nifa. "Thank you." As Nifa watched the two talk she heard some growling that made her tail stand up.

Eve heard the same thing and stood up.

The Gods Eaters stopped talking when they saw Eve stand up and a dyaus pita jumped out of the church window. The aragami stood before the group and roared. Eve stood against it and roared as well. The dyaus swung is front paw as Eve slammed its paw down.

"What's going on?" Asked Soma.

"The two are fighting." Answered Raven. "The dyaus pita thinks Eve should bow down but Eve is having none of it. They're about to fight, we should help-"

"Stop!" Nifa leaped off of Eve and stood in front of the dyaus pita. "Why do you have to fight? Please just leave us be!"

"Nifa!" Raven ran to the dual wielder.

"Stay back!" Nifa shouted with more force in her voice. Raven stopped running out of surprise. Nifa held her scythe back for her tail to hold and slowly walked to the dyaus pita with her free hand out.

The dyaus pita growled lowly at Nifa. Nifa didn't stop and rested her hand on the aragmi's nose. "There, there." Nifa patted the beast's nose. The aragami calmed down and lowered its body. "See, we can be friends."

"How is she doing that?" Soma lowered his god arc.

Raven stood by Eve who calmed down as well. "Looks like she made a friend."

Nifa and the aragami tensed up as they heard footsteps. A hera ran out into the open and stood in a fighting stance, wave its hands as to invite them to fight.

"That's our target." Soma stood ready to fight.

"We got this!" Raven jumped onto Eve's back who charged at the hera.

Nifa patted the dyaus pita's nose and climbed onto its back, taking her scythe arc back in her hand.

Soma dashed at hera to meet its challenge. The hera flapped its arms to back away and hurl a sphere of fire. Soma stopped to raise his shield. Eve and the dyuas pita charged after the hera. The dyuas pita pounced on the hera and bit into its arm. Eve slid along side of the hera and shot an ice spear into the hera's other arm.

Nifa stood up on her mount and struke the hera in the arm with her buster sword and in its head with her scythe.

The hera kicked the dyuas pita in the face to make it let go and dashed to Eve to punched it. Raven jumped off of Eve and blocked the punch with her shield. The force of the punch sent Raven flying, Eve swiped at the hera with her paw to knock it down.

As the aragami fell Soma slammed his god arc on it. The hera shoved Soma away and Nifa slammed her own buster arc on the hera. The beast backhanded her and the dyuas pita roared to launched electric orbs at the hera.

The orbs crashed into the hera and stunned it. Soma swung his god arc to hit the back of its legs. The hera fell to it's knees and Nifa impaled her scythe into its hand and stuke it in the chest with her buster sword.

The hera screamed and flames rose from around it body its body, the hera stood up and hurled a sphere of fire at Eve, burning the aragami greatly.

Nifa's buster arc shined white. She dashed to the hera and struke the beast as it raised its arms to defend. The light moved from the god arc to the aragami's arms then covered its body. "Stand down!" The hera dropped its arms and stepped back.

Eve and the dyaus pita charged at the hera and tackled it. "Get the core and bring it here!" Eve took a bite out the hera's chest to uncover the core. The dyaus pita took the core and hurled it to Nifa.

"Nifa, how did you do that?" Asked Raven.

"Do what?" Nifa passed her buster arc to her tail to pick up the dreadnought core.

"That! What you did to the hera and taming that dyaus pita!"

"I, uh, hmm..." Nifa stiffened.

"Sorry to pressure you."

"No it's okay mommy! I, I know you just want to know."

"Mommy?" Asked Soma.

Nifa tried to hide her face with her hair. Raven smiled nervously. "Well, it's true. Nifa is my daughter."

"I'm sorry! I messed up again! I always do this!"

"Stop it!" Soma grabbed Nifa's shoulder and gave her a light shake to make her stop. "Stop thinking everything is your fault! Was it so impotent that it be kept a secret?"

"...No."

"Then stop worrying."

"Yes da, sir."

Soma rested his god arc on his shoulder as he walked away. "It's Soma."

As some distance was make Raven checked on her daughter. "You okay?"

"Yes mommy." Nifa watched Soma leave and let out a long sigh. "He can't learn that he's my daddy. He needs a clear head if he's to face the nova." Nifa turned to Raven and hung her head. "I'm really sorry. I slipped and told you that you're my mommy. I've become a distraction for you."

Raven dropped her god arc and threw her arms around Nifa. "You could never be a distraction. I'll fight for you just as hard for anyone else. Damn what Leo says, you're strong. You have strength that we need to take out the nova and save the future."

Tears rolled down Nifa's face as she hugged Raven back. "I love you mommy."

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