Sorry for the lateness! Graduation came up and I've been spending most of my time with family. w' Enough of me though, let's get into the fanfic!

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iTricksterz - Oh, you'll get to see plenty of his skills in due time~

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Chapter Three: Collecting Demon Souls

My eyes watch as Elsword and Raven have a small sparring session. Rena, who is like the mother of this group, told everyone that today it was time for some fine tuning, or sparring in this case. It was strictly one on one which meant Lu and Ciel, the duo, couldn't fight as one.

I yawn as I stand up and stretch. While these guys are interesting, watching them fight is rather boring, especially when they aren't going all out. "I'm going for a walk around town" I say as I turn my attention to the door. Going through it, I end up in the main part of the mansion and then to the front door. As I reach for the door, I feel a hand touch my shoulder. I turn and see its Aisha with a smile on her face. "Can I help you with something?"

"You're going for a walk right?" she asks. I slowly nod. Please don't ask… "Mind if I join you?" I mentally sigh as I shrug. I'd much rather go alone, but getting closer to these guys is something that needs to be done. I open the door and she walks out with me following after.

We begin walking through the new capital. It's been rebuilt after the glitter soldiers' invasion. Unfortunately, they lost in the end and Velder made it to this. "Velder really has outdone themselves" I say, bringing up conversation. Might as well try to act friendly...

"Yup, the reconstruction went great!" she says with obvious excitement in her voice. We continue walking down the main road till we get to the road that leads to the suburbs. She notices me taking that path. "Don't you want to see more of the capital?" I shake my head no.

"There was a force I felt yesterday when we were leaving Feita. Seemed like it was coming from Bethma, though I'm not entirely sure." I then turn and look at her. "Didn't you feel it?"

"I didn't feel anything…" Great. For a mage, her sensing ability sure is terrible. I walk over to her which makes her look at me with a confused face. I then put my hand on her shoulder. "What're you…" She stops as a bit of my power goes inside her.

"How about now?" She stays still at first but then slowly nods. I let go before turning to the direction of the mansion. "We should tell the others and pay a visit to Bethma. A good guess is that there's some type of demon there." She nods and we head back.

After speaking with the others, we all made our way to Bethma village. Upon reaching the village, the force I felt earlier is even greater. There's definitely a high ranking demon here… Once we reach the end where the village separates from, we see some lizardmen running out of the village. There's some demon energy in them! "I'll follow those guys while y'all figure out what happened" I say as I begin chasing after the lizardmen. They try speeding up, but I keep right on their tail. Where are you leading me...?

I stop once I come across a rocky hill they go up. Some type of path that only they know of? One would think I'd know these things, being a Lieutenant, but this is something I ignored since battling is way more entertaining.

"Vincent!" Ara yells from afar. I turn and see her, Aisha and Elesis.

"Don't run off on your own, it's an easy way for the enemy to take you down" Elesis lectures me. Even though I can take on these low ranks with ease? Sure, I'll listen to your 'advice.' I nod before turning back to the hill and seeing some lizardmen walking toward us.

"They seem to be trying to stop us from finding something. This is more than enough of a reason to continue on" I say before I start walking forward, my two swords appearing in my hand. "Go ahead and wait for the others. Small fry like this is nothing." I then feel a hand grab my arm, only to find out its Elesis' hand. "Trying to stop me?"

"I'm going to assist you. You don't have to fight alone when you have comrades." She has no idea who she's talking to right now.

"Suit yourself. Be sure not to let any of them get a hold of you though." My walk turns into a sprint as I make my way to the lizardmen, Elesis right behind me.

"Jump!" she shouts which kinda throws me off, but I do as told. I jump into the air and watch as she charges in, literally head first. Some type of aura surrounds her while she charges with her sword ripping through the ground. She then swings upward which causes most of the lizardmen to fall. Not bad at all. I dive toward the first one that was knocked onto the ground and dig both my swords into his body, killing him. These are definitely minor, or low class, demon souls.

Ripping my blades out, I rush to the next target in my path, swiftly cutting him down and stopping as Elesis passes by me. She cuts up a few of the lizardmen with quick and elegant swings before sidestepping for me to finish up. Not bad teamwork, if I may add.

"Ruin" I say as I dash through all the remaining lizardmen. I stop and look back once I reach the last one. "Burn." Flames and slashes erupt from the lizardmen as they fall down, lifeless. "I'll be moving on now." I then turn back to the straight path ahead of me.

"Wait for the others." I turn back to Elesis who's now walking toward me with the other two girls. "It'll be easier waiting for them." I don't see why I should, considering the fact that those lizardmen that were taken down were just a joke. But fine, I'll play by their rules for now.

"Fine" I say before leaning against the rocky wall. Elesis smiles as she looks down the hill, eagerly waiting for the others.

"They're here!" I hear Aisha say. I open my eyes and look at the group walking toward us. They sure took their time.

"Sorry for the wait, but we had to make sure everyone was safe" Chung tells us as him and the others stop in front of us.

"Turns out the lizardmen just suddenly attacked the village. Chacha Buch says it's the work of Kayak using the hypnotizing orbs again, though it may be something deeper than that" Raven explains.

"It's more than just hypnotizing orbs. When you end them, you can feel evil energy releasing, similar to most demons" I tell them.

"So like… demons possessing them?" Luciela, or Lu, asks. I reply with a nod. "But how?"

"That, I'm not sure of. Maybe Kayak made a pact with the demons with part of the deal being him giving the lizardmen up as vessels for the demons. I could be wrong on this assumption though."

"It's not a bad thought to go off. We'll stick with it till we find the one in question" Raven says. We all nod as we begin going up the path. Ahead of us lies nothing but two lizardmen at the top of one of the mountain. What're they planning…?

Using a very thin and flexible rock, the darker lizarnmen launches the other, now attached to the rock, down from their spot and at us. All of us take a step to the side, watching it pass by us. "…That was anticlimactic" Add says as we continue moving. We get to the top which seems to have no path to continue on, just a long drop.

"Looks like our destination is below us" I say as I see some lizardmen walking along the bridges. "Shall we make our way down?" They all look down and I can already tell they think this is crazy. I walk off the edge, slowing my momentum as I get close to ground, making it a successful landing.

Elsword and Elesis plant their swords into the side and slide down as Raven uses his Nasod claw for the same purpose, Rena on his back. Aisha glides down as Eve and Add fly down. Ara somehow walks down on the air as though it's a set of descending stairs while Chung jumps but uses his cannon to propel himself up before hitting the ground, killing the momentum. Last, Ciel holds onto Lu and slides down with his gun blade in the wall. Once all down, we make our way across the bridges, engaging with the lizardmen there.

Aisha is the first to make contact with them, running up and jumping into the air. "Meteor Shower!" she shouts as meteors begin falling from the sky, taking down a group of lizardmen. Nice coverage and high power. Impressive move. Following after is Eve's servants, cleaning up the remaining three.

Upon making it to the next area of the lake, I see one lizardman emulating darkness all around, making him stick out like a sore thumb. This isn't a high ranking demon soul, but it is decent. "Elsword, Elesis, Vincent and I will target the one surrounded by darkness. Eve, Chung, Add, Ara, Lu and Ciel will target the surrounding enemies. Aisha and Rena, provide support for both teams" Raven explains to all of us as we approach the lizards. We all nod and rush toward our respective enemy. I jump over the irreverent lizards and make it to the one with darkness. He puts his hand forward and I strafe right to dodge the incoming thunder bolt.

Raven passes by the lizardman, cutting him up in the process and taking advantage of the opening to leave him staggered. Elsword and Elesis get on opposite sides of him and shout "Spiral Blast!" in unison. Both red waves knock him into the air. Looks like it's my turn now.

I throw my swords into the air and they disappear, reappearing as my scythe. I jump and grab it while quickly focusing my swing. Once I get it, I swing and reap the soul. The body turns into dust and flows away. Once I Iand, I turn and notice all the other lizards in one group. "Genocide Ripper" Eve says. The butler Nasod rushes all around the lizards, slicing them to pieces before ending with a downward slash from above them.

"Looks like that was the last of them. Let's keep moving" Raven tells us. My scythe disappears with my twin swords reappearing in my hands. We then proceed to the next part, a cave.

We continue fighting through more and more lizards until we make it to what looks to be the final area of this cave. The one who comes into my view is none other than Kayak, a lizardman containing a high ranking demon soul. The demon who's now inside Kayak was once a lieutenant. That is, before I decided to rise in the rankings for the better benefits. He thought this was the next best thing to do besides being a member in a team. I'm actually surprised I didn't recognize his soul sooner. Bad choice since I'm taking more than your position in the Demon Army. Now, it's your own soul! "This should be interesting" I say as I grip my swords. Kayak waves his wand, summoning another version of himself with a darker shade.

"We need to split the two teams up and have our main force on the real one" Chung says as he reloads his cannon.

"I'll take on the real one to make things quicker." As I begin walking toward Kayak, Ara and Aisha walk up by my side. "Assisting me?" They both nod and I shrug. "Fine by me." My walk quickly becomes a dash as I rush to Kayak and his clone. I grab the clone's right arm and toss him toward the others while turning my focus to Kayak. "Hello, Kayak" I think. His expression changes to a surprised one.

"Y-you again..!" Kayak thinks back. Yeah, demon telepathy. So stupid.

"This time I've come for something far precious to you than your position in the army. This time… I've come to claim your soul!" He tries to run but runs right into Aisha in the process. "Don't be a coward. You have no place to go, so stand your ground."

"Water Cannon!" Aisha shouts, pushing Kayak away with multiple water balls. He staggers back before seeing Ara above him with her spear pulled back. Before he can react further, she slams the spear down on him with such force that it forces him to the ground.

I stab the ground next to him with my scythe. "Any last thoughts before your soul is mine~?"

"You disgust me, Vincent. Always using others to do your bidding. Always taking things without others' consent! ALWAYS GETTING IN THE WAY!" The tip of his wand glows blue and he begins waving it around. "Go to hell!" I finish him off with a simple slash. His body disappears and I feel my scythe feed on the soul.

Such thoughts should be kept to one's self. When heard by the wrong person, thou shall be slayed. The ground begins shaking as the rest of the group comes over to us. We all then turn our attention to the one responsible for the shaking ground and now roaring at us, the ancient bone dragon of the Abyss.

Second soul detected!

And thus, more action was brought into TRDG (To Revive the Demon General). What do ya think? Like it? Hate it? Don't care for it? Review anyway!