Under a dark sky with hardly any stars, Raia stands on a gabled roof of one of the half-timbered houses lining the street. She's garbed in a black hooded cloak. Her pale grey eyes glow silver in the darkness, and she holds a half-eaten apple in one hand.

She's no more than a silhouette in the pale moonlight except for the silver necklace glinting around her neck. Her eyes are fixated on two young men running along a quiet street. One of them is wearing a long black coat, a sword clenched in one hand. The other man has a muscular figure clad in a dirty brown trench coat, speeding away from the swordsman.

Raia takes a bite of the apple without looking away from them. The wind blows cold, her black cloak thrashing and flapping behind her, but she remains still.

The burly man spins around on the street below, releasing a spherical light. As the swordsman swings his sword, the light disintegrates into particles. He launches himself forward in an arcing leap and lands ahead of his opponent on the ground.

Before the swordsman can react, his opponent delivers a powerful kick, sending him sprawling across the ground. The muscular man raises his hand and releases another ball of light.

The swordsman jumps forward from his feet, sword raised in both hands. Before delivering a critical blow to the burly man, Raia loses interest and turns around. A female voice echoes from a distance as she takes the last bite of her apple.

Her brows furrow together and she murmurs to herself, "What the hell is she doing outside this late at night?"

Raia leaps up, hopping from roof to roof until she reaches the second street and settles on the ridge of a roof, a surly expression on her face. She darts her gaze around, trying to find the source of that voice. That's when she notices her, a lone girl strolling down the street.

The girl wears a casual green dress and looks about the same age as Raia. She keeps turning her head, indicating that she is looking for something . . . or someone.

Then something catches Raia's eyes.

In a narrow alleyway between two houses, a man's silhouette can be seen hiding. Half of his head is visible, staring at the lone girl. Raia knows he's probably waiting for her to get closer, which can only mean one thing.

An Outcast.

Raia frowns and bends her knees, her fist closed around the silver cross pendant dangling from the ends of the chain around her neck.

"Answer my call, Raphael," she whispers, and the silver necklace transmogrifies into a longsword with fiery glory that lights up the night surrounding her.

At the same time, the man emerges from his hiding place. The girl freezes on the spot and yelps in surprise.

Raia leaps from the roof, her cloak fluttering around her as she lands on the ground.

"No one deserves to be happy. If I am in misery, you must join me," the man says, his voice is as cold and dark as the night.

"Run!" Raia yells as she advances, but the girl only gives her a puzzled look while remaining rooted to the ground.

"W-what? But, papa . . ." When she sees the hooded girl's flaming longsword, the girl's eyes dilate with horror.

Raia swings her sword vertically at the man, but he leaps backward before the flaming blade touches his skin.

"I said run!"

Still flustered, the girl scampers back in the direction she came from like a frightened puppy, not knowing that she will encounter an injured swordsman.

Raia launches a thrust attack, causing her opponent to back up.

"A blessed soul," the man says dryly, his gaze fixed on Raia- on the flaming soul flickering inside her chest.

As an Elysian, Raia's soul is blessed and it has the appearance of a flame, which is only visible to an Outcast's eyes.

The man hurls himself upward and lands on a house with a pitched roof.

Raia's frown deepens. He has fast reflexes and he seems to be aware of what I am. This one must only be possessed. As she looks up at him, her eyes narrow to a slit.

A light flickers out of the man's palm as he stretches his hand below. It expands into a round shape before he releases it, shooting toward Raia like a bullet.

Raia wields her flaming sword, slicing the spherical light into particles. Light specks float through the air before dissipating. She bends slightly forward and leaps into the air, her cloak flapping like a pair of wings in the cold wind. She swings her sword down as soon as she lands on the slanted roof. The man jumps.

Frustration washes over her as the man flees, roof hopping away from her in the direction the girl had gone. She lowers herself into a crouch, sword clenched in one hand, and leaps forward.

Raia slows her momentum as she lands on a roof behind the man, not wanting to make any noise for the sake of anyone sleeping beneath her feet. She tightens the grip around the hilt of her sword in both hands as she lifts it over her head and swings it hard downward.

The flaming blade passes through the man's body like a ghost object. Even though there's no damage to the physical body, he still screams in excruciating pain and falls from the roof. But before his body hits the hard surface, thick vines sprout from the ground, ensuring the body with a safe landing.

Raia saunters to the edge of the roof and stares. Vines?

Something dark, resembling a flame, escapes the man's body and floats in the air.

A lost spirit.

Raia closes her eyes and holds the blade in front of her face.

"Raphael, pour thyself with Absideon and destroy the darkness thy blade touches. Purify the tainted soul and deliver it to Elysium," she whispers in a form of a prayer, and the bright orange flame around the blade of her sword turns purple.

Her eyes flash open, and she leaps from the roof, heading down to the lost spirit. The hood falls off her head, revealing long wavy dark purple hair that flutters in the breeze. She raises her sword and thrusts the blade into the lost spirit.

"Raphael, now! Flame of purification!" she bellows, her deep voice reverberating throughout the space.

The purple flame that surrounds her sword spreads out and swallows the lost spirit, cleansing it of the darkness that has enshrouded it.

Raia lands on her feet gently, cloak rustling, and stares at the soul oozing with brilliant light like a white flame-a purified soul.

"You may now rest in peace," she whispers, and the white soul disappears into thin air.