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*Far Out - Rise *

"I see," Raven said. Stroking her chin subconsciously, she was already deep in thought.

'He would be of the utmost help, and I could use someone as powerful as him…' she thought with a sigh. 'But do I really want to be served by someone who can kill me with ease?' In a real fight, she didn't think she would win against him easily, if ever, especially after the little demonstration of power he showed.

'Aside from that, he's not actually expecting much from me right now, but rather wants to see me grow…' she thought, 'it is really nice that he's aiming for a better version of me, but at the same time…'

*Sigh*

"Apologies, but I'm afraid I will have to decline." She said after a pause, with a serious expression that surprised both Red and Keith.

"I am sorry, but I can't accept your offer right now," Raven said while shaking her head. "I appreciate your good intentions and all, but I simply can't accept that due to the fact that you're basing your hopes on someone that is not here yet, or might not even be real…

"I am aware that you probably have high hopes for me, however, me being me is different from me working to become a person that someone else wants me to be. 

"On top of that, I'm pretty sure I can't name you at the moment, for countless reasons, so you won't really benefit from this." She shook her head. "If you'd like to keep the offer an open ended one, I'd be happy to accept it when I'm confident enough that we can both help each other out.

"I hope this makes some sense…" she finished with a sad smile.

*Sigh*

"That's alright," he sighed in relief which surprised Raven. "At first I thought you rejected me unconditionally which would have shattered my heart if I had one… but as long as you will be accepting me when you're ready, I don't have any complaints, O' Great-"

"Oh and please stop that," Raven cut him off. "I understand that it might be respectful between demons to call people with such honourifics, but in the Human Plane that's just embarrassing."

"Oh, I wasn't aware, apologies," he said sincerely which made Raven force a smile. "Erm, what would you like me to call you?"

"Um, since I call you Red, you can call me Raven," she said with a smile.

"Hm, may I call you Lady Raven then?" He asked with a cute curious face.

"Err, sure," she said as she's already given up on trying to convince them otherwise. 'As long as it's not super edgy I should be fine, right?' she questioned herself.

"Alright, Lady Raven, with that solved, I'd like to warn you, or rather give you a general idea of what's going on in the Demon World." He said as his face turned serious all of a sudden. Raven nodded for him to continue.

"First, you need to understand that for the longest time, the Demon Plane was ruled by seven strong demons.

"During the centuries, these demons started growing in power and wealth. Naturally, younger demons viewed them as deities of sorts, or leaders to say the least. As such, people started following them and some even worshipped them.

"With time, they came to be known in many names, the most famous being the Seven Cardinal Demons of the Seven Deadly Sins. The Seven Cardinal Sins for short. 

"They were called that since they each had one specific demeanor and power that marked them from the others. 

"With time, the seven demons developed many friends and foes in the Demon Plane. But even then, peace was a common theme at their time.

"However, just like everything else in this world, it didn't last for long. For some unknown reasons, a war broke out between the seven." At that, Red seemed to take a deep breath before continuing.

"Eventually, that came to be called the Great Demon War, in which after, the seven went missing without a trace, let alone a clue.

"Demons that were previously under their rule fought for supremacy amongst themselves. And after years of bloodshed, almost all of the strong or high ranked demons either died or went missing.

"Only lately did a high ranked demon successfully locate one of the Seven Cardinal Sins and managed to bring her back to life. As you might have guessed, it's Blue, the Cardinal Sin of Lust, Asmodeus.

"However, even though she is alive now as we speak, little is known about her actual condition. From what we know so far, her body's condition isn't at its best."

While Red was talking, countless questions flashed in Raven's eyes as many aspects of the story have probably been hidden from her.

Whether that was because of the lack of information, the lack of relevance, or some other unknown reasons, she didn't know. But what she knew for sure is that there are a lot of secrets behind the seven demons. 'Heck even Red is full of secrets. I haven't met the dude for more than a few minutes and I already have a ton of questions for him…'

Why did the seven start a war? How did they go missing, or rather, who killed them? Was it a plan they had in order to leave their roles as rulers, or did someone actually kill them? Who reported the whole ordeal? What parts were lost from the story or purposefully left out?

Needless to say, Raven still didn't know the answer to any of these questions.

"Anyhow, what you need to know is to always keep your guard up. "If Blue is making her move, then more gates will start connecting the two planes pretty soon.

"I suspect that she has a plan in her mind, she wouldn't just tell her subordinates to open the gate randomly. And if I had to guess, I'd say she probably has a cure that would return her to her prime. Otherwise, it would not make any sense for her to send forces into the Human Plane.

"However, all of those assumptions collapse if we take into consideration the fact that this all might be a facade.

"Maybe someone is trying to take control over the Demon Plane by spreading rumours and lies…" At that, Red seemed to be thinking about the matter even further.

"There's a lot that we don't know, as such, I'll do my best to investigate further," he said. "I'll also keep an eye on you, Lady Raven, so we're able to give you a hand whenever needed."

Seeing her glare, he quickly corrected: "if you wish, of course!" He said with a gentle bow.

*Sigh*

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll call for your assistance if needed, well not you personally, but rather Keith and Calcer," she said as Red seemed heartbroken for a second, before Raven continued. "I would love to have your assistance too, but your role in the Demon Plane is just too essential to be delayed.

"If this whole ordeal is real, then you might be able to stop, or rather delay, whatever they're planning to do." She said and he seemed to catch his breath in relief.

'He is so weird…' Raven thought to herself. The way he was looking at her was that of passion and affection.

It wasn't that of young love or sexually oriented, it was pure… admiration. 'What did I do to ever deserve that?' she muttered in her mind.

'I think it's more of a what will you do, or what he thinks you will do…' Tu commented.

'Hm, it's all so weird…' *sigh*

"Thank you, Lady Raven," Red said with a smile, "knowing that I'm playing a great role in your plan makes me extremely happy," he said while almost hugging himself, which creeped Raven out, especially when combined with the look on his face.

It was cute, threatening, capturing, sensitive, and almost suffocating, all at the same time.

"Anyway, I don't wish to take more of your time," he straightened up and followed with a polite bow, "please take care of yourself, Lady Raven. Get stronger and grow up to become the best version of yourself. I'll be waiting for you to accept my offer then. 

"Other than that, I do believe that's all I wanted to share with you for now. I am overjoyed to have been in your presence for this long, but regrettably, I must go… Farewell, Lady Raven." With one last nod and a sad expression, he disappeared from his spot.

'What a weird guy…' she thought to herself.

'I do believe I heard Maya present that as… a weirdo behaviour, if I'm not mistaken,' Tu said with a smug smile.

'Pretty much,' Raven smiled.

"Ok, Keith, i just have to ask, is he always like that?" She asked with a curious expression on her face.

"Erm, my mistress… I do not believe so," he sighed in embarrassment. "He's always bright, smart, collected, wise, calm, and almost has everything that would make a good king… but now he was different, to say the least. I apologize on his behalf-"

"Oh, no don't apologize," Raven smiled tiredly, "he didn't do but good, it's alright. I'm sorry you had to endure this by the way, I can only imagine your feelings right now," even though she was sincere at first, she couldn't help but laugh at the end.

"On a side note, however," she said as a serious expression surfaced across her face. "We need to prepare for war…"