"(Y/N)! Wake up!"

My eyes snapped open, and I shot upward. I was panting heavily, looking at my surroundings frantically. It took me a moment to calm down and realize that I was no longer in the middle of a fight, and to dismiss the weird dream I had.

'I love you, (y/n)...'

Ban's voice echoed in my head, causing me to grow increasingly pink. I chuckled quietly, pinching my cheeks so that the embarrassment disappeared and was replaced with a stinging feeling. Of course I dreamt of something stupid like one of our Christmas parties... and of... that... happening.

"You're awake! Good!" Hawk's voice snapped me out of my trance, and I looked over at him. He had the shirts of both Ban and Meli in his mouth, with a miniature princess sitting on his snout, and was looking over at me. When did him and Ellie get here? "King took out those two bastards!"

I looked over, seeing King hovering over Guila and Jericho's bodies, which were laying on the floor, immobilized. How long was out for? Geez... it couldn't have been more than five- maybe ten- minutes.

I chuckled, recalling my previous fight. Boy, am I a dumbass. "That's what I get for trying to go easy on them."

King floated down, and landed next me. He helped me up, then shooed Hawk and Ellie away. Ellie waved, "Be careful Sir King, and La- uh, (y/n)!"

I waved to them with a grin, then began to brush off my clothes as he spoke, "You know, you can't show mercy to everyone. Especially if they're trying to kill you."

I laughed, "They weren't exactly strong. I thought I could take 'em out using only a fraction of my powers, but I guess I underestimated them. It was buying time for Ban and Meli- but clearly it wasn't useful." I glared in the direction of where Hawk ran, carrying the two Sins, subconsciously cursing them for not taking advantage of my stalling. King chuckled and I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly.

"You were always the nicest one of us," he smiled, then turned to the two girls with a frown.

"Says you," I snorted, following him as he floated over to the Holy Knights. I cocked my head to the side. "You didn't kill them?" Then I smirked, "You can't show mercy to everyone. Especially if they're trying to kill you."

"Ha. Ha. They could have some useful information. It's not mercy," he clarified, landing on the ground and putting his Chastiefol in its spear form. Guila groaned, shakily raising her torso as he clutched her head. King's voice hardened, "What were you really after? This attack was an attempt to divert our attention from your real goal, wasn't it?"

He sighed, not hearing a response from the Explodey-Knight. I crouched down, poking Jericho's cheek, as King continued to speak. She was still unconscious. "You should've seen this coming- you didn't really think you could win, did you? You Holy Knights could never defeat us..."

"Your friend's fight disproves that," she spoke, tilting her head in my direction. I looked at her with a monotone stare, not giving her the satisfaction of one of my usual reactions.

"I wasn't trying very hard to defeat you two. The only reason I fought you at all is because I was stalling so that Meli...odas and Ban could escape," I said, causing her to grow lowly. "I could've easily defeated you two had I payed attention to them and realized they weren't getting up any time soon. Especially your friend, here," I poked Jericho again, "Is she new?"

"Shut up! You Sins will fall to us," she grinned, "The Holy Knights will utterly annihilate you."

"Yeah, yeah," My voice rang with sarcasm and nonchalance, since I wasn't really paying attention. Jericho was getting up, so I stopped poking her cheek. She glared at me, I smiled back. "We've gotten threats for our demise plenty of times from the Holy Knights. They've been trying to track us for the last ten years. Emphasis on trying."

I froze- there was a sudden absence in magical power. It seemed almost empty without the radiation of power. Furrowing my brows, I stood up, looking toward the rock where Diane's magical power most recently was. Maybe she went of to get Gideon when her and Meli split up. Both hers and the captain's... they just disappeared out of thin air. Ban's was growing increasingly weaker, as well.

"King..." I muttered, causing him to look at me. He had begun hovering again, and was looking in the direction of the Byzel Rock as well. "They're not there anymore. And Ban..."

He nodded, shifting his gaze back to the rock.

"What's wrong, Sins? You don't look well," Guila purred- I could practically hear her smirk. I looked behind me with a raised eyebrow, and she and Jericho had now stood up.

"Like she said, we'll be victorious!" Jericho added, smirking as well.

"Tell me something," King spoke, turning to the Knights again. "What did you do to the captain and Diane?"

"And Ban," I added, causing King to roll his eyes. They were both silent.

"Fine," The Grizzly Sin sighed, "Don't tell me. We'll just go after the ourselves. Oh, and one last thing. You get in either of our ways and I'll-"

They both moved in a flash, cutting off his warning. Jericho jumped up, readying and attack, and Guila poised her sword upward, creating several small bombs. I rolled my eyes, securing my whip to my side. I glanced down, and checked the inner pocket of my Cloak. Ha, no cookie...

"Purgatory Containment," I spoke as they both activated their attacks, grumbling at the annoyance their persistence was becoming. I jumped up so that it encased both King and I. The aforementioned Sin looked at me.

"You know I could've blocked them, right?" He asked as a large explosion sounded from outside the flames of our encasement. I grinned.

"I need to help a little bit," I laughed, "You did save my inattentive ass after all."

He chuckled, and the Knights' attack ceased. I waited a few seconds, then stopped the spell. The flames disappeared, and thus, so did the floor beneath me. I fell, outstretching my dominant foot so that I landed lightly on it. A crater still appeared below where I landed, making me grumble to myself about how I wasn't that heavy. I looked over at the Holy Knights who had attacked us- Jericho was gaping, and Guila's face was contorted in frustration.

"Interrupting people is rude, you know," King commented.

"How did you cast the spell so quickly?!" Jericho growled, and I smiled.

"You're just slow," I retorted, sticking my tongue out playfully.

King muttered to himself, and his Chastiefol changed form, becoming a ridiculously huge sunflower. The two girls stared up at it in shock, unsure of what they were seeing.

"Is this another form of your spear?" Guila asked incredulously. I smiled, and King nodded. She sure is a know-it-all.

"You're very observant," King stated, "Spirit Spear Chastiefol Fourth Configuration- Sunflower."

The giant sunflower opened, revealing its large petals. It glowed an almost ethereal yellow, small particles of light surrounding its stamen and bright golden petals.

"You two certainly were strong," King said, positioning the flower so that it faced the two Holy Knights. I noted his use of past-tense. "Maybe if you had trained for another hundred years, you'd have amounted to something."

"That was harsh," I muttered, blowing a strand of hair out of my face as the sunflower began its assault. However, it's beams of light didn't become the all-out assault that we were expecting, for the weapon had been sliced in half.

My eyes widened as I stared at the attacker, an indistinguishable form hovering in between the two halves of the sacred treasure with a sword. I whipped my head in the direction of Guila and Jericho, where the few beams that escaped the sunflower crashed into the ground. They had disappeared.

"(Y/N)," King's voice was dangerously low. Obviously he thought the new threat posed some sort of danger to us, which was surprising and slightly unsettling. "Go help Ban and the captain. I'll deal with whoever this is."

"I can help you, ya know," I muttered, puffing out my cheeks. Clearly he was not being cocky- he was being cautious. There was something in his voice that told me he was protecting me.

"They need more help then I do- the captain's magical signature is gone and Ban's is getting weaker by the second," he spoke sternly, a strong sense alarm in us voice. "So go. Now."

"Fine," I huffed, "But if you die because I wasn't here, that's on you."

I began to run in the direction of Ban's fleeting power, propelling myself a decent distance with each of my steps. I was feeling much more energized than I was before- the fatigue from my injuries and the booze I drank at the festival must have worn off.

I bounced from broken house to broken house, skidding to a halt once I reached the scene before me. And my, was it an interesting scene.

Griamore and an the girl from before- the one who had kidnapped Ellie- were standing in a backyard of a crumpled house. Ban was holding the girl- Vicky... no, Veronica? Yeah, I think that's it- with his middle finger against her neck, clearly getting ready to kill her. I couldn't see Meli anywhere, but Hawk and furiously kicking a purple orb, which Ellie was floating within. She was clutching the captain's sword and her purple amulet like her life depended on it.

"You... you bastard! Get your filthy hands off of Princess Veronica!" Griamore shouted, glaring at Ban through his mask. Yep, it's Veronica.

"Listen, fatass," Ban started, and I smiled. I decided it would be best if I didn't interfere, so I took a breather and leaned against the wall of the decrepit house hiding me from your view, which barely held against my weight, but held nonetheless. "All you have to do is two things. Return the captain back to the way he was before, and release the princess from the bubble. See? Easy. Then you can have your woman back, no problem."

There was a flash from next to me, and I darted behind Ban, following it. None other than Jericho was holding her sword against my whip, clashing it against mine. Ban turned around, surprised.

"Hey, Ban-ee-boo," I grinned, looking back at him. I kicked the girl in the stomach, sending her flying onto the ground. I snapped my whip back into its hypnotic circle form, securing it back to my side. "How ya doing?"

"Well, I'm alive, that's a plus," he stated, cocking his head to the side to look at Jericho's shaking form. She struggled to get up from her position on the ground. "And 'Ban-ee-boo'? Really?"

"You're immortal," I snorted. "And yes, really. I practically have a book of nicknames for you."

"Oh, joy," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Jericho stood up fully, panting as she halted in my direction. I looked at her, stone faced. "I will not be going easy on you this time. I have people to protect now."

"You went easy on us?" You could practically what the smirk in Guila's voice, "I sincerely doubt that."

"Ban," I said, "You're injured. Protect the princesses, Griamore, and Hawk and make sure they don't get hurt."

"Why do you get to have all the fun?" He pouted, even though he retreated back to the aforementioned people.

"Because you're half dead," I laughed, "More-so than usual."

"I apologize, Raven Sin, but you are not our objective," said Guila. "Please, allow us to retrieve Princess Elizabeth and the sword she possesses, and there will be no more harm done to you or the rest of your team."

"Ellie is part of our team," I growled, "And if you so much as lay a hand on her I will-"

I was cut off by Guila and Jericho being contained in a purple sphere like the one Ellie was being held in. I also heard a loud shriek from behind me. I whirled around, finding Ellie laying on the ground, sprawled out. Griamore had his sword pointed in the direction of the other two Holy Knights.

"I must obey Princess Veronica's wishes over yours," he spoke, "Therefor she will be coming with us."

"Wow," I said, releasing myself from my attack position. "That made this a helluva lot easier."

Guila sent out a small bomb, so there was a loud explosion coming from the small orb. Griamore assured us that there was no way any of their attacks would break through his magical ability.

"Let's go, Ellie," Veronica spoke, and my face contorted into one of disgust. That's my nickname for her, jackass. Before the girl could grab onto her sister, she began running. I was going to follow suit, but Ban collapsed, very conveniently, at that moment.

I rushed over to his side, crouching down next to him. The cut in his chest was still open and oozing, and blood was leaking from a cut on his head.

"You dumbass," I muttered, lightly tracing my fingers over the wound on his chest. Sighing, I activated my demonic abilities, focusing the purple markings onto my hand. My fingers and palm glowed a faint purple, a lavender that differentiated itself from the usual, evil color. "Now I have to heal you..."

I pressed my hand onto his chest, my face flushing slightly at the contact. The purple markings weighed onto my hand, which glowed brighter at the contact with his wound. There was a hushed hissing sounds coming from his chest as the blood began to sizzle away, rising in a pink steam and vanishing. His wound slowly began to close, and once it was entirely closed, I moved my hand and pressed it onto his forehead. I repeated the action, then examined his body for any other major/life-threatening wounds. I closed those, and most of the smaller ones, before deactivating the demonic abilities.

"You're really stupid," I muttered, wiping the excess blood from his face with my glove- which was my usual one, not the awesome ones Ellie gave me from my dream. He was out cold, completely knocked out. I don't know what caused it, most likely blood loss or pain-receptive overload. "Really, really stupid. You should've just let me handle it..."

I leaned down, and lightly pressed my lips against his forehead. I let myself linger there for a few seconds before pulling away, looking down at him with a small smile and a raging blush. "I guess saving your life will have to take the place of a new weapon for now," I smiled to myself, wider than before, then chuckled. "Merry Christmas."

A loud explosion rocked the earth, causing my gaze to shoot in the direction of the sound, eyes wide and alert. It had snapped me out of the small, blissful quiet, that surrounded me.

"LADY VERONICA!!" Griamore's voice was filled with pain as he screamed, running in the direction of the explosion.

A few moments later, I heard him cry out again, followed Ellie sobbing. So much was happening at once, I don't think my brain even processed that Jericho and Guila's prison had been broken, and they were now free.

They walked over to the scene to the right of me and Ban, and a loud explosion sounded. I looked down at Ban's body, then up at them. I growled in frustration, then dropped his head off of its place on my knees and sprinted over. I skidded to a halt, finding Veronica, laying bloodied on Ellie, Hawk burnt to a crisp, and Griamore immobilized on the floor. Guila and Jericho were looking over Ellie, who was sobbing hysterically over her magenta-haired sister. I only heard one thing, which came out of Guila's mouth.

"The resurrection of the Demon Clan."

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