Gifted

As the sun rose on the Castle once again, on a certain tall building stood a man, clad in black. The man is the perfect depiction of what a gentleman would look like. Sleek tuxedo and dress pants, leather glimmering shoes, Necktie, and fedora for good measure.

The hauntingly handsome face of the man would make anybody around him stop what their doing, just to stare in awe of him. With skin so fare, one could say that time has really blessed this handsome man. He carried himself with extreme grace and poise, that his every movements would enchant anyone who bears witness to it.

"How are things proceeding?" The man asked. The man's voice was haunting and almost hypnotic, that it would bring chills to one's body if heard.

"Things are proceeding just as you said it would be" Another man answered with great dramatics in his voice.

"Very good" The man in black said in a pleased manner. "How are your... 'pets'?" The man then asked. The man didn't really cared much about such trivial matters, but he let it pass just this once, since he is in a slightly better mood than usual.

"Oohhhhhhh! I'm so delighted you asked Milord!" The other man said with great exuberance and excitement. "One egg is about to hatch"

"Ho? Then I shall watch this show that you have prepared" The man in black said with a slight smile on his face.

Hearing what the man in black said almost made the other man combust with great happiness.

"Milord! This is such a great honor!" The flamboyant man said animatedly, as he teared up in happiness.

"I expect a great show" The man in black said before his body vanished into thin air. It was like the man wasn't even there in the first place.

"A great show, it shall be, Milord!" The flamboyant man said as he took a deep and extravagant bow.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I believe you are not supposed to be here" The flamboyant man heard a cold voice said from behind him.

"Oh my, this isn't in the script" The flamboyant man said with a sinister but excited smile, as he slowly straighten his body before dramatically turning around.

In front of him is a handsome young man with cold features. Clad in a champagne colored coat with a stained glass-like tie.

"Who are you?" The man asked with his signature cold voice, that would easily make anyone intimidated.

"Oh, apologies. Where are my manners." The flamboyant man said in an apologetic manner, before introducing himself with great buoyancy. "I'm the first commander of the 'Sin of Pride', I am known as The Raven, at your humble service."

"So you are the one behind all this mess" The man said as his voice dropped to a very freezing temperature.

"Yes! These are all my doings and master piece!" The Raven admitted, not even bothering to hide it.

"If that is so, then I, the Grand Master's first general, Ashe Rael Laetus, shall erase you from existence!" Ashe said as powerful brilliant aura started oozing out of his body.

"If you really insist, then I shall humor you" The Raven said with a sinister manic smile that would immediately send any person who sees it, running the opposite direction.

The Raven's black misty aura heavily contrasts that of Ashe's, as the latter's is like a shimmering diamond.

"Well then, shall we get started?" The Raven said, as he shoots up to the sky with his pitch black raven wings.

Ashe wasn't about to be left behind, as stained glass wings appeared on his back. As the sun's light passed through his wings, it created a beautiful kaleidoscopic refraction, that would make everyone who sees it, stare at its ethereal beauty.

Ashe, flew up into the sky, hot on The Raven's trails, while The Raven looked like he was enjoying the chase.

"Now, eldest son of Samuel and Esther Laetus, show me what you are made off" The Raven said with great manic excitement, as his whole eyes turned marble black.

The Raven summoned shadowy ravens around him and sent them towards Ashe's direction. The shadowy ravens let out an unholy screech, before flying towards Ashe at great speed.

As the ravens took their unrelenting charge towards Ashe, Ashe swung his arms to both sides, doing a parting motion, summoning a beautiful circular stained glass in front of him. Once the ravens passed through the stained glass, it absorbed them and made it a part of it. The plain stained glass, has now multiple black ravens decorating it.

"Impressive!" The Raven applauded, "You really are 'their' son after all"

"I suggest that you stop mentioning the names of those traitorous people. I will never be related to such people who would betray their own kind" Ashe said with a voice, as cold as a blizzard, as the stained glass in front of him shattered into tiny pieces, making them look like colorful stars, twinkling as the sun's rays hit them.

"Ho?! So you never knew of the sacrifices that they made for your so call 'kind'. Now, I'm really curious as to what that old man has done to your memories" The Raven said with a smile full of unknown secrets.

"I will never listen to such slandering words" Ashe stated, as he raised his hand in front of him and summon sharp pointed stain glass around him. With a slight flick of his finger, the stained glass zipped through the air and headed straight for The Raven's head and body.

With a dramatic wave of his hands, The Raven's entirety, exploded into thousands of black feathers, as the stained glass passed through his body.

"I wonder, if your memories of your twin siblings were also altered or erase as well" The Raven said as his body slowly materialized behind Ashe.

"You are spouting non-sense!" Ashe said as he turned to face The Raven, who's currently scanning his fingernails.

"Really now? Because if my memory serves me correct, it's telling me a completely different story" The Raven said while lifting an eye brow.

"I will no longer listen to your lies! Prepare to die!" Ashe said as he reached his limit with listening to The Raven's non-sense.

Ashe raised his hand forward once again, but this time a beautifully stunning circular stained glass appeared behind him. The stained glass has a radius of 37 foot, while the designs on it are abstract and artistic.

As the sun's rays penetrates through the stained glass, its colorful refraction overwhelmed The Raven.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" The Raven shouted in panic as his body slowly turned to stained glass. Whenever he touches the parts that turned glass, it would shatter into tiny little pieces.

"Stop, whatever you are doing, you are making a big mistake!" The Raven shouted, once half of his body has turned to stained glass.

"Die for your crimes, Chaos!" Ashe said with a voice of someone who's carrying out judgment.

"Ack!"

"Ooo!"

"Eeek!"

Slowly The Raven vanished from existence, as his whole body shattered into tiny beautiful pieces.

With an clam sigh, Ashe snapped his finger and the gigantic stained glass behind him shattered. As the shattered pieces started swirling around him, Ashe's body slowly disappeared, until there's no longer a trace of him.

Once Ashe completely vanished, a pitch black mist appeared out in thin air and began swirling, creating an outline of a human being. As the mist slowly dispersed, there stood an unscathed and unharmed The Raven.

"Since you entertained me, here's a little present just for you" The Raven with grin, before snapping his fingers.

As black mist enveloped the chuckling man, a pitch black feather appeared inside of Ashe's coat, tucked in his coat pocket.

"I hope you like my little gift, young Rael" The Raven said before completely vanishing once again.

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As morning has passed by peacefully, once everyone is awake in the afternoon, Maria and Scott has called everyone to the training hall, when they made sure that it's safe to do so. Since, Alex and Pearl are continually monitoring any Shadow activity, it gave Maria the comfort that they could easily defend the guild mansion, if there were to be any Shadow attacks.

Once everyone is assembled into the training facility, the glaring contrast between the numbers from Scott's guild members and Maria's was so obvious. All of the benches around the mini arena were now occupied, mostly by Scott's guild members, while Maria's guild members stayed close to each other.

"Good Afternoon everyone, we gathered you all here because of a very important announcement" Scott said, who is currently standing at middle of the mini arena, looking more healthier than when he was first brought to the mansion. Beside him, Maria stood, looking very dignified and elegant, as always.

"With our current dire situation, Lady Maria and I spent a long time talking and made a decision that the best course of action to take is to merge our two guild together"

Once Scott dropped the bomb, everybody from his guild were in deep shock. Even some from Maria's guild were startled by the announcement.

"I know that this is very sudden, but we have to stick together, now, more than ever, for the best chance at survivability" Scott said with a stern voice.

"But who would lead us? Who are we going to follow, now that we have two guild masters?" Arthur asked as if the world is ending. Just the thought of merging with Maria's guild made Arthur really burst out in uncontrollable anger.

"I have given Lady Maria my full rights to lead the merged guild" Scott said

"WHAT?! ARE YOU F***ING CRAZY? YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING MUSCLE BRAIN!" Arthur ranged and just let it all out, not minding the unfiltered words that came out of his mouth.

Arthur's outburst really shocked everyone, especially Scott and Jae. Their eyes widen as they stare at Arthur. They have both known Arthur for a very long time and it was like the Arthur in front of them is a completely different person from the Arthur that they knew.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, I'VE HAD IT!" Arthur said as his eyes turned marble black.

The aura that he's emitting was so bile and toxic, that everyone around him started wheezing out and coughing uncontrollably. The miasma that started contaminating the air entered everyone of his guildmate's body, infecting their system and corrupting them from the inside out.

Nadet was fast enough and was able to create a barrier made out of light, protecting all of his guildmates. Charlie fortified the barrier by adding in another layer of defense outside of the barrier, in the form of multiple shields made out of gold, orbiting around the light barrier. Maria stood calmly, while Scott protected both of them with a barrier made out of nature energy.

Isabelle, Alex and Pearl were thankfully inside what everyone called the "Glass box", protecting them from the harmful miasma.

Nobody expected Arthur's sudden outburst, which was why Scott was only able to create a barrier big enough for him and Maria. Considering his still weak body, the barrier that he made was already pretty impressive. As for Nadet, he wasn't accustomed to creating light barriers, till one week ago; he didn't even know that he could manipulate light, until he joined Maria's guild - So the fact that he was able to conjure a barrier of this large size was impressive enough. Charlie is still understanding how his gift works, having him fortify the barrier was also impressive enough.

"I knew you were trouble when you walked in! I just didn't expect that you would be this big of a trouble." Fleur said as she looked like she was ready to claw Arthur's face off.

Everyone of Scott's guild members that were infected, started dropping to the ground one by one. Some were having seizures, while others were already coughing out so much blood.

"Arthur stop this!" Jae shouted at his closest friend with a mixture of anger and pleading. "Please Arthur, this is not you!"

"How would you know the real me? Huh? You think the Arthur that you've know for so long is actually who I really am? Don't make my f***ing laugh!" Arthur's voice was full of contempt as he faced the person that considered him as his very close friend.

"My acting skills must've been pretty impressive, for you people to actually not see through my bulls***." Arthur said with a smug smirk on his face, which completely broke Jae's heart.

He couldn't believe that what's in front of him is really happening. It was definitely a nightmare come to life.

"So you finally show your true colors" June said with a hard voice and expression, as his eyes blazed with golden flames.