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It had started to rain.

It was an odd occurence. The people of Lanox had said multiple times that it almost never rained in the region, yet it was pouring down with no signs of letting up.

A little girl, sat with her legs crossed on the bed, raised an eyebrow as she began to hear the rain coming from outside the tent. It intrigued her, but not to the extent where she would get up and check. Getting her clothes wet was the last thing she'd ever want to do.

Footsteps started to echo. The little girl could hear shoes trample through soaked dirt, coming closer and closer.

A woman stepped into the tent.

"Hi, Lu!" the woman yelped as she swept her wet hair out of her face.

"Um, hello." Lu frowned, still not bothering to get up. "What're you doing in my tent?"

"It just suddenly started raining! I rushed over to the closest tent, sorry."

"It's fine, I guess."

The Elf frowned. "Hold on...where's Ciel?"

"Hm?"

"He isn't with you?"

Lu shook her head. "No, Raven called for him. It looked like he wanted to talk."

"How long ago was that?"

"It-"

Lu paused.

She thought for a moment.

The realization hit her rather hard. It had been at least an hour since that had happened, far longer than she anticipated something like that to take, even longer considering how swiftly Ciel would get things done.

Lu hadn't thought about it until Rena mentioned it, and worry swept over her immediately. She couldn't sense his energy anywhere either, meaning he had to be an extremely long distance away, or possibly worse.

"L-Lu...?" Rena became concerned.

A terrifying thought hit her.

Did Ciel actually leave?

She had explained to him that they couldn't be too far apart from one another, or they would both gradually die. Even though he showed no interest in staying around her anymore, surely he would've understood what she had told him.

But what if he didn't listen? What if he left anyway?

Lu jumped out of her bed and landed on her two feet, concentrating desperately in an attempt to feel Ciel's energy somewhere in the area. Even if it was faint, as long as she could feel him, her worries could be eased.

But there was nothing. Not even a trace of his presence could be found.

"Oh no..."

Rena moved closer to Lu and held her hand. "What's wrong?"

"Ciel, he's gone. I-I can't feel him."

"Can't...feel him?"

"He's not here. He's gone."

Rena's expression suddenly turned stern. "Calm down, I'm sure he just went on a long walk with Raven and put a lot of distance between them and us."

"Maybe, but I still-!" Lu began to protest while clenching her fist.

The ground shook.

Both the Elf and the little Demon went silent.

They felt some kind of tremor, but it only lasted for half of a second, startling them both. It didn't feel natural, either.

The ground shook again, more violently this time.

Now the two of them were certain that this wasn't normal.

The wary Elf held up her guard as she slowly opened up the entrance to the tent and stepped out, with Lu following from behind. As magic users, both of them could sense something powerful in the air, like an eruption of immense energy happening all at once. Neither of them could pinpoint the source, however.

Just a few metres away from them, Aisha left her tent and saw the two of them.

She looked just as concerned.

"Rena, Lu." she whispered, frowning. "You guys feel that too, right?"

"Yes, what do you think it is?" Rena asked worriedly.

"I don't know, but it's interrupting my own flow of magic." Aisha felt a cold sweat loom over her. "It has to be the cause of this shaking."

"We should gather everyone, find shelter and-"

"There's no shelter for a magical explosion, Rena, and there's no way we could exacuate the entire population of Lanox in time either!"

"Then what do we do?"

Lu listened to the two women go back and forth for a while.

The magic, explosive as it was, didn't seem to be too mysterious to her. She had felt something like this before, she thought, though she couldn't remember when and where. It wasn't normal magic, but wasn't exactly demonic magic either.

"It's..." Lu butted in. "It's some kind of...ancient magic."

"Ancient?" Aisha raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Back when I was only a child, Demons used magic that feels similar to this, but it's hard to recall what for. I think..."

Lu trailed off, not finishing her sentence.

The shaking grew stronger, almost to the point where it was difficult for them to keep their balance.

One-by-one, the others started to leave their tents, looking just as confused. They asked questions, or looked around curiously.

But Lu was no longer focused on any of them.

She stared in horror at what lied in the distance. Thick bursts of black smoke shot up into the air, making faint sounds of implosions, but it was too far away to see what the source of it was. Not even with her heightened senses could Lu make out what the smoke was coming from.

But her instincts knew immediately what was happening. It had to be Ciel.

As the rest of the team noticed the smoke, Lu was already running.

"I'm going." she muttered as she darted off.

She could hear her friends call out to her, probably asking her to wait, but she simply couldn't. Her feet carried her by their on volition, and she couldn't help but rush towards all the smoke and eruptions. Not until she knew what it was about.

She only prayed that Ciel was safe.

But the atmosphere thickened in the aura of death and ruin, ripened by it.

And Lu knew that her prayers meant nothing.

Raven fell backwards, startled by what he was witnessing.

The man he had been talking to had disappeared in a puff of darkness, veiled by it. Raven had tried to approach the darkness multiple times to pull Ciel out of it, but only got flung back like a feather every time. It was clear that he couldn't get close.

"Ciel..." he whispered, then raised his voice. "Ciel!"

There was no answer.

Raven didn't know what foul magic had swept over the assassin, but he worried for his ally's safety. He had to find a way to get him out of whatever was occurring.

The smoke began to circle itself, materializing what looked like a storm of sorts, gradually sucking in various objects that were nearby. His grip on the earth started to wane as Raven felt himself being drawn towards the darkness himself, seemingly being consumed just like Ciel had been.

The man grabbed hold of the ground and tried to maintain his position. He didn't know what happened to people who fell into that smoke and he certainly didn't want to find out, at least not until he had a proper plan.

Rocks, metal, and other debris were absorbed by the darkness over time, and it didn't show any signs of halting its continuous vacuum. It didn't seem like Raven would be able to hold his own for much longer.

"Ciel!"

A scream echoed, causing Raven's attention to turn to his right.

He saw Lu running directly towards the storm, tears forming up in the corners of her eyes. She wasn't afraid of heading straight into the darkness like Raven was, and had her small arm outstretched as she rushed inside.

"Lu, don't!" Raven growled as he grimaced. "It's too dangerous-!"

But he didn't even manage to finish his sentence before disappearing into the smoke.

A short pause of silence followed.

All before Lu was seen being thrown right back out, sliding across the ground and scrapping her skin. She yelped as the smoke lingered along her before fading. Someone or something had forced her aside.

The smoke in its entirety began to conform back into a singular location, no longer expanding. It came together until it formed what looked like a humanoid appearance, like a warped and distorted shadow.

"What is that?" Raven gasped.

Lu didn't hesitate. The familiarity of the energy became apparent to her immediately.

"Ciel..."

The shadow's head twitched sporadically, seemingly out of control, but it was calmer than the storm that it once was.

Two glowing pits took place for the shadow's eyes, along with long white hair gradually appearing from all the mist. It was certainly a person, just not human, and it slowly took steps towards Lu and Raven without uttering a word.

"That can't be Ciel." Raven argued, looking at what had to be a Demon.

"It is." Lu whispered, looking terrified. "Somehow, he's learnt how to accelerate the demonic energy inside him to push his body even further..."

His head turned to the little girl. "Accelerate...?"

The shadow took another step forward. Raven set his attention to what was more urgent.

He stood in front of Lu protectively, watching the shadow move mindlessly. Despite knowing that the shadow had to be Ciel, he still had a hard time believing it, feeling something emanating off of it that was simply unnatural. It wasn't any different from the thousands of beasts that he had slain in his travels.

Though, this beast still had some resemblance of consciousness.

It tilted its head to the side. Its burning blue eyes were focused on Lu the entire time, never looking away.

Raven expected Lu to step forward and try to calm down the shadow, but she didn't move from her spot.

He looked down at her, saw her skin drained of all colour. She was afraid.

Raven groaned and advanced to the shadow, holding his weapon down but at the ready. The shadow did not show any protest, allowing Raven to get closer and closer. Once the man was right in front of the shadow, he held out his arm carefully.

"Ciel. I think your power has gotten a little out of control. Come with me and-"

A fist flew into Raven's stomach.

The man growled, his eyes wide open, and he faltered. Falling to his knees, he looked up at the shadowy figure that had attacked. Raven tried to stand back up, but the pain in his guts was more than enough to keep him where he was.

"W-Why...you...!"

The shadow didn't speak. With most of its face concealed in the black mist, there was no sign of remorse or regret to be seen. It only ever stared.

Raven grimaced, then shook his head. He wouldn't let one cheap shot keep him down.

The shadow ducked as Raven swung his blade forward, causing it to move backwards hesitantly. Raven had managed to get back to his feet but was still hugging his stomach with his free hand.

He stumbled as the shadow grabbed his right arm and tossed him aside, with Raven just barely managing to retain his balance. The shadow held out its two blades and slashed at nothing, swinging wildly at the air.

Raven watched, perplexed.

But he understood what was happening as the blades materialized multiple shockwaves, formed from the shadow's swinging. Raven focused on their trajectory and attempted to block them all with his own blade, slicing away at the immense energy. He managed to negate the first two carefully, but only more began to follow and Raven knew that they were too dense to keep defending against.

He sidestepped out of the closest one, then hurried closer to the shadow and tried to silence it, only for their blades to meet in the middle.

Raven scoffed, then pushed forcefully, expecting to break the shadow's guard.

And yet, despite his incredible proficiency in the blade, the shadow's raw physical strength was on another level.

With one quick shove, the shadow forced Raven to the ground, opening up a crevasse from the impact. It was not holding anything back, completely disregarding the fact that it was fighting a friend. It raised its right fist up and fired it down, only missing Raven by a hair as the man moved his head to the side.

Raven kicked up, throwing the shadow away, then stabbed his blade directly into its arm. The blade master waited and expected to see the shadow show signs of pain, but the shadow acted as though nothing happened, shrugging off the injury as nothing.

"This is getting nowhere." Raven whispered, observing the shadow cautiously.

They clashed again and again, trading blows furiously, but every time Raven would come up short, struggling against the clearly superior foe. He had no problem battling Ciel in his normal state, but this odd transformation was placing him on a seemingly different level altogether. It didn't help that the shadow's movements were extremely erratic to boot.

Raven groaned and began to back off. He panted, feeling his entire body grow heavier and heavier. He was feeling fatigue, something he hadn't felt in an incredibly long time. He was unsure how to handle such a situation.

And the shadow did not let its opponent rest. It came running forward, arm extending outward and going for Raven's neck. The man watched the demonic shadow approach and clicked his teeth, his fatigue preventing him from getting out of the way.

"Grem no lan. Resk fru lard terran."

The shadow collapsed on the spot. It fumbled on its knees before lying down on its back, falling unconscious.

Raven was startled. He gazed at the shadow for the longest time, expecting it to get back up. Confusion struck him as nothing happened. Turning his head, he saw Lu standing right above him, her left hand held out.

The man frowned. "What did you do?"

Lu stared at the fallen shadow, then closed her eyes. Her body was illuminated by a faint blue glow, one that soon dissipated the moment that Raven noticed it.

The little girl looked almost as weak as the shadow, stumbling and struggling to stay stood. Her energy had been drained in an instant. She grimaced and leaned beside a nearby rock, lowering her head.

"No time to explain..." she mumbled. "Grab...Ciel. We have to go back to the camp..."

What had transpired irritated Raven, as he was left with more questions and even less answers. He had brought Ciel down here in the first place, wanting to beat some sense into the man and draw some emotion out of the lifeless demon, and instead there was nothing but chaos and failure.

The urge to press Lu for answers was strong, but Raven managed to hold himself back. The conditions of both Lu and Ciel were concerning and Raven knew that he would have to let up. For now.

He shifted over to Ciel, of whom the mist and darkness had separated from, and supported the unconscious assassin with his right shoulder. His own injuries caused Raven to have some trouble, but he closed his eyes and endured.

"Fine then." he muttered, looking over to Lu.

The little girl looked like she was about to faint. Raven motioned her to move forward.

"Back to the camp."

Ara, Elsword, Aisha, and Rena surrounded the bed.

They all stared down at the resting man. All of them were worried for Ciel, with Rena even clasping one of his hands as she watched him.

Raven stood quietly in one corner, facing the other way. Lu was near the entrance, looking at nothing but the floor.

"So, the massive spike of energy was from Ciel..." Rena noted, frowning. "It died out the second that Ciel collapsed."

Aisha folded her arms. "It was crazy strong. I can't believe he was able to exert something like that."

"It shook the earth, even disrupted my sense of the El's presence from its intensity. Could it have been Dark El energy?"

"Nope," the purple-haired mage paced around the room while clutching her staff. "My sense in the types of magic are stronger than yours, Rena. I didn't feel any hint of the Dark El while Ciel was in his...phase."

"Then...what kind of magic was it?"

"I have no idea."

Elsword stood there, clueless as ever. He heard the Elf and the mage have a back and forth, and though he listened to every word, nothing was making sense to him. He never really understood all of the magic nonsense that other people did.

"Uh," he chimed. "So like, anyone wanna fill me in here?"

Aisha sighed. "You dolt. We want to be filled in too, but we're out of our field."

"You said Ciel had some bad magic coming outta him?" he tilted his head sideways.

"That's right."

"But...it's not Dark El stuff."

"Yeah."

"Isn't there any other kind of negative magic you know about besides the Dark El?"

"Well," the girl gazed upwards. "There's corrupted magic too, but that wasn't what I sensed either."

"Well, shouldn't we just ask Lu?"

"Huh?"

Elsword looked over at the little girl, the one that had been silent for a long while.

"If anyone can tell us what was up with Ciel, it's her, right?"

Lu did not react nor did she bother to turn around and look at everyone. She acted as though she hadn't heard anything, or perhaps she was too spaced out to realize.

Rena slowly moved towards the girl and knelt down next to her, bringing her down to Lu's height, and smiled softly. She could tell that something was terribly wrong with Lu, with her stance and expression being especially welcoming as she spoke to the demon, almost the way a concerned adult would talk to their child.

"Hey, Lu?"

The girl gradually turned her head. "What?"

"You know what's going on, don't you?"

Lu sighed. "It's a long story."

"We have time."

The little girl paced to the centre of the room, her eyes locked on Ciel the entire time. She didn't seem all that comfortable with talking. It didn't look like she was full of energy either, with her frail body slightly slumped as she stood before her allies.

Lu folded her arms.

"There's an ancient kind of magic, one that only Demons can access." she explained. "Apparently, my race used this magic several centuries ago. It was forgotten to us since then, with even its original name being a mystery."

Aisha looked the most intrigued. "What does it do?"

"It allows Demons to accelerate the growth process of their physical body and exert all of their inner energy at once."

"Uh...what?" Elsword responded, as clueless as ever.

"Basically, it draws out a Demon's true form."

"T-That's nuts..."

Lu shook her head. "Don't be mislead though, it's not perfect. The transformation is only temporary. There hasn't been a single Demon that's figured out how to maintain that magic for more than a few minutes at a time."

"And that's what Ciel used?" Rena chimed back in.

"I think so. We were lucky that I know the Elven words to disrupt the magic, otherwise Ciel would've gone on a complete rampage until it wore off naturally."

"Wait..." the Elf looked baffled. "Elven words?"

"Yeah. Elven rites carry the power of El in them, so they're the only countermeasure to Demon magic."

"So, you speak my language?"

"Yes."

Rena looked presently surprised. "All these years we've known each other, yet I never knew that."

"Anyway," Elsword interrupted. "What do we do now? Just talk Elven to Ciel whenever he loses control of his energy?"

"I suppose so, even if it's unconventional." Rena sighed.

Lu looked away, directing her attention back to the sleeping Ciel.

He seemed so peaceful when he was asleep, nothing like the person he was when he was awake. Lu enjoyed staring at him, even brushing a small strand of his long white hair with her tiny palm.

The man had been through so much for her. Despite everything, even him losing his memories, he was indescribably precious to him. She had been worried about his health ever since he first started showing signs of transforming, all of which she knew was her fault.

And now, Lu could hardly keep it together.

She gazed back at the team, who were talking amongst themselves now. She knew that all of their lives were in danger now.

Because if Ciel had unlocked the ancient power of embracing his true form.

It meant...

It meant that Lu was next.