Darkness and Raven are now fighting within Raven's domain. It was more akin to the domain of a demon. Several minions were roaming around while pterodactyls were rotating around the edges of the domain. Almost ghostly and eerie, his domain was filled to the brim with dead swaths of land floating within the void. Trees have withered or turned into gray stumps. Rivers have dried up. Toxic snowfall is raining onto them harming both. The only thing that illuminated this dark space were a couple of purple lanterns.

"Usually I would depend on my ability to see dark magic but this place is filled to the brim with it! How is he even alive at this point?", wondered Don. Though the dark magic was mixed in with natural power, he still couldn't spot anything that suggests that Raven is anywhere within this domain.

"I have perfect control over this domain for exactly ten hours. After that you'll be fully capable of killing me as I'll likely be uncapable of moving after that timeframe. The abundance of dark magic should give you an adventage, so there's nothing to worry about... at least for you that is." His voice echoed through the space and seemed to have no origin.

The lantern right next to him was shot at. The light source exploded and violently burned Don's skin.

"However," Raven added. "This space is one I have perfect oversight over. You better be prepared because my ammunition is bullets filled with pure light magic. Getting decapitated by that should definitely take you out, right?"

Don took to the air and blocked his head with the cloak of dark magic. The cloak disintegrated and left him defenseless, but he now knows where the bullet came from. Firing a cloud of dark magic, he thought he could definitely hit his target. However, it was absorbed by the surrounding dark magic and natural power.

Another shot from behind that hit his left leg fully disintegrating it... Naturally to get behind someone that quickly, you'd have to be close or much faster than the person you want to approach from behind. Don heard no noise indicating that someone is jumping from island to island or that someone just circled around him by flight. It was strange. Bullets faster than sound make it impossible to hear. Vast amounts of dark magic block light magic making these bullets nearly invisible until they are quite close.

It was then that a glowing blade approached his neck. Before he could be decapitated, he jumped forward and turned around. The flames on that blade went out.

Infusing his neck with spiritual power, Don wanted to test a theory of his. Perhaps Raven only approaches from behind and may struggle with decapitating Don. Raven struck once again but the blade was stuck within Don's neck. An explosion pushed it further in but not enough to deal the finishing blow. Don retaliated by sticking one of the crosses into Raven and throwing him into another island. That illusion dissipated as soon as his first attempt went down.

"No burns, no lost limbs, and no blade lodged into your neck... Incredible, isn't it? I used the same thing on one of my comrades to make her more aggressive and fight battles she can “win with ease”. Making her believe that power means leadership... Brilliant, right?", Raven said almost delirious. Getting drunk off power, he deceived others for his very own personal gain.

"Now... when this mission fails... she'll be the one taking all the blame while I retire. Isn't that great?"

Don, though disgusted by his behavior, still had no intent to kill.

Raven was starting to struggle already. With a body that can't handle a lot of magic being handed to a man that has excellent control in light and dark magic is cruel. Constantly tasked with threats that are damaging to his body, his body detiorates as does his mind. Even if he retires now, he likely has just a couple of years left to live. Framing others for things he did while also presenting himself as the weakest Dream Cathcer out there, will allow him to retire before he can pass.

"You're quite unlucky. Ten hours before I can kick the bucket!", he yelled in anger and frustration as he reminiscined to a time long gone. Within he could find frustration and why he became a Dream Catcher to begin with. Knowing that he'll likely turn into one of the most vile and violent demons out there with the dark magic already within him, he wonders when he may executed for doing no wrong.

"When you truly want to change anything,"

It was over a decade ago. Back then he didn't know what his parents were signing him off to. Though he grew up in a loving family that would dote on him whenever they can and spoil him to the point that he started turning into a bratty child, they decided to have him sold off. One day, mysterious agents with the government promised them wealth in exchange for their son. Without even considering whether or not he wants to be taken away, they allowed him to be taken.

"Spending time away from us will you do some good!", said his mother before they parted ways.

"Think about the family! We promise that you'll also live a life as lavish as us as soon as you grow up!", said his father as he was pushed away.

They slammed the door shut before he could say goodbye. They didn't consider what could happen to him and didn't care that they may never see their son again. They were cruel.

"you will discover just how pitiable your own strength is."

Raven who was once called Alexander by family and friends had to undergo cruel training the day he was taken away. Taken to a facility somewhere in the pacific ocean between Papua New Guinea and Ecuador, he had to fight for his life as every day of training was as gruesome as the last. The only thing more cruel than the training were the “Seasonal Games” at the end of each season and “Rankings”.

“Rankings” were used as a means to describe how strong and efficient kids can be. Those that consistently score low are killed at the end of the season. Those that do well get to move up in the ranks. With the first of the seven being the G-Center, children are most likely to die here. With A-Center being the top ranking children and G-Center being the lowest ranking, there was an apparent hierarchy within these facilities.

Sitting in the middle of all centers, the GC (G-Center) is the most cruel one out of all the others. Offering the least amount of "priviliges" in here, kids drop like flies. Having to fight for basic necessities like water, food, shelter, clothing, and hygiene products, most don't make it further than a year. Constant outbreaks of Demons and extremely cruel guards only added to the fuel that burned away at the childrens' wills. Raven however... He was rather lucky compared to many other kids.

"Hey!", said a young man as he kicked Raven in the stomach. Pissing himself, Raven made more of a mess. Being punished for dropping a tray of minimal amounts of junk food after another kid had pushed him, he tried to keep everything he had already eaten within him. Struggling to do so, he held back tears. Disappointed and angered, the guard dragged him away.

Believing that the punishment is about to be a lot more severe than he had anticipated, Raven cried and begged for him to be spared. The toilets always were soiled by all kinds of bodily fluids. They were also soundproof as no one wanted to hear of what happened in there. However, it wasn't as Raven had suspected. Instead of receiving even harsher punishment, he was offered food the guard had stuffed into his pockets. Taking off the helmet, the guard revealed himself to be a rather young but also bald man.

"Eat. Otherwise you won't make it for this years seasonal games."

Sitting right next to Raven, he put a hand on his head to comfort him. Raven was baffled by the guard's ability to show a shred of kindness.

"I saw how that kid pushed you. Had you tackled him right after, he too would have been punished. Why did you hold back?"

Raven couldn't answer that question as he started stuffing himself with the relatively good food offered by the guard. Afraid and not trusting of the guard, he cried as he shoved everything he can down his throat. The guard let him go as breakfast was over and he had to rush over to his next day of gruelling training.

From then on, the guard would keep his eyes on Raven. Whenever Raven was too slow at his reps, the guard would drag him away, try to get him to talk, and then offer him water. Whenever Raven did bad on a test that went on for half a day, the guard would make up an excuse and demand that he be reprimanded only to drag him away and care for him once again. It was strange. No matter what Raven does, the guard would always try to give him a break and make his life better. The older kids around him were terrified of the guard that would follow Raven around but Raven dismissed those worries and started trusting the only person that was nice to him.

"You seem to have no friends. Why is that?", the guard wondered as he patted Raven once again.

"I don't know." For the first time, Raven responded to the guard. It caught the guard by surprise almost making him fall over. The quiet kid that wouldn't talk to anyone suddenly opened up even if it's just a little bit.

But this conversation was short-lived as Raven didn't utter another word for the rest of it.

As time went on, he would talk more and more. Revealing everything from what his homelife was like all the way to the things he disliked about living here, him and the guard grew closer. Becoming more comfortable with being called over and spending their time together, he even revealed his real name.

"Well since your parents have abandoned you, maybe I can become your family!", said the guard with enthusiasm. Overjoyed and happy to have any form of bond within this hellish world, he hugged the guard as he desperately clung onto anything that could be called a bond. However, he was pushed away and pinned to the ground right after.

"From now on you're Raven. And we'll have to spend a lot of time bonding together."

Raven cried out for help but was told that no help would come. The toilets are entirely soundproof. What happens in here, stays in here. Soiling himself out of fear, he felt a hand around his neck as the other sensually pulled up his shirt.

"Don't worry. You'll feel good too," whispered the guard into Raven's ear. Sensually kissing him up and down, he finally ripped open the flimsy shirt Raven was wearing.

"Stop!", Raven yelled over and over to no avail.

Remembering how it was unfair that he has to go through all that just to live another day, he hated the world for everything it did to him. As his consciousness faded away, his anger and frustration grew to even greater heights. He passed out with the guard on top of him.

Upon waking up, he could see the guard bleeding out as he crawled away. Raven had blood all over him and a machete in his hand that was drenched in blood. Completely numb to all emotions... Detached from the world, he went ahead and followed his captor. The once nice guard with tears running down his face, wailing about the wounds he had received, and crawling as best as he can, was spotted by everyone else in the canteen. In shock and in panic, several children fled the scene. Raven followed and delivered the final blow.

"Those that do good onto others,"

Grown numb and detached from everything that had been going on around him, he faced the seasonal games. Within a massive arena, all the kids would be forced to simply fight each other to the death. Those that killed rose within the ranks. Those that didn't moved down the rankings. Surviving wasn't enough. You had to participate in some shape or form. Those that survived but refused to at least assist in killing another child were left to rot within the arena even long after the end of the battle royale. Those that survived and assisted in killing but couldn't deal the finishing blow to their target risked falling all the way to the bottom of the ranks. Those at the bottom of the ranks were shot at the end of the season.

As this seasonal game was shortly after Raven had killed the guard he wanted as a family member, he still was apathetic to everything going on around him. At the time he thought that he simply didn't care and stood there as he waited for the other kids to gang up on him. However, he felt frustration once again. This time far more intense as he would always be one of the first to be targetted by the other children.

"Why?", he would ask himself after every Battle Royale.

"What did I do to deserve this?!", was a reocurring thought of his. Hating everything around him, he wished for everyone around him to just die. Unbeknownst to him, that wish could be granted. Capable of manipulating dark magic within the people around him, many dropped like flies.

As soon as they started dying in masses, he ran away as he was unsure whether or not that was him or something else. Running around only caused even more deaths. At the time he only wanted to leave this place but realized that this only was possible through killing people. Raven was willing to do so and finally took on the name he was given by the guard.

"are wronged in return."

Though a lot more forgiving than the rest of his childhood, his teen years still were a cruel ordeal that he alone had to deal with. Though he wasn't restricted to living within a hellish prison, he still was under the mercy of those that made him the person he is today.

"Your target is a girl your age that took down one of our top dogs. I believe that you can deal with her, right?"

ADL, Anti-Defection-Legion, was known as a task force that would dispose of Dream Catcher's that have abandoned their duties as Dream Catchers. Known for stalking their targets and violently killing them to send a message, no one ever messes with the ADL. Those that do are killed. The few that are powerful enough to survive end up being ostracized for opposing the ADL.

"Apparently she can turn water into blood and manipulate blood to do as she wills. She had once been a part of the Purifying Force but now wanders the earth causing trouble wherever she goes. A hefty bounty sits on her head and I expect you to not involve the commoners."

Speaking lowly of those that are unaware of the world of magic, he ordered Raven to go after one girl. Before every mission, he would think back to his first mission.

"It is neither fair,"

His first target was a senior of his at the ADL. Once they were comrades that even went as far as calling the two of them friends. However, orders are orders. Defecting isn't acceptable. There was nothing else they could do.

"Why do we have to fight like this?!", asked the person that once was his senior. Tadano was his name.

"Because we're ordered to do so. You should know, right? Don't question orders. Don't hesitate on carrying them out. Don't involve outsiders. That's all there is to it, right?"

Raven was cold and unforgiving. After living through the horrors of GC, F2 and E2, the facilities surrounding GC, D-Outer (DO), CO, BO, and AO, the facilities surrounding the other three, he's grown detached from his emotions whenever he's faced with authority. On his own, he's still quite reserved and keeps his emotions repressed and his head empty.

"How can you just follow such orders? Doesn't it feel wrong to do so?! There must be-"

"521... You've killed 521 people and believe you have the right to appeal to one's consience?" Raven was furious and knew just how defenseless his target was at the moment.

With purple patterns all over his arms indicating that Tadano was near the end of his lifespan, Raven knew that stressing him could lead to him turning into a Demon. Indifferent to his condition, Raven polished his rifle and took the shot.

In the middle of a moonlit night, a senior of the ADL was killed by his junior. Though he wished to be a normal person, Tadano had to deal with the duty of being a soldier. Taking care of his pregnant girlfriend while dealing with a drug addiction, he proved to be loving but troubled. Instead, he was killed with a shot to the heart shortly after his girlfriend supposedly was killed in a car crash.

His first kill... Three people were killed when he was fourteen... by his very own hands. Hundreds would follow.

"nor sensible."

Once she was a part of the lowest of the low of the Purifying Force. It was a rather small group of people that would feast on Demons in battle to adopt the traits of those that they devoured. She was notorious for not getting rid of Demons and simply keeping them weak enough to barely sustain their form.

"Oh? So you believe you can best me in battle? I've heard of your track record. Cold, heartless, cunning, and calculating... And so young too. How lovely."

Raven was unbothered by her attempt to taunt him. Instead he just readied his rifle and was about to open fire on his target.

"You call yourself Raven... death, transformation and rebirth, afterlife, foresight, confidentiality, intellect, wisdom, and trustworthiness... Death of childhood innocence, transformation into a cold soldier and... the rest will come with time."

Smiling, her fingertips turned red emitted a red mist. Raven couldn't read her as well as he could with others. As all the others he's faced so far cowering in fear before their death, she just sat there incredibly spiteful within a beautiful flower field.

A drop of water...

The scenery changed. Now standing on top of a flowerfield flooded by a waters painted red by the red hue of the skies and the spider lilies in them. The domain was rather bland with no hiding spots meaning that he had to face her head on. A strange scent... It was the smell of an earthy rainshower in April. Raven polished his rifle and gave up on trying to beat her.

Long black hair, red eyes, tall, a young woman... Fall was her name.

"Let's call it a day. Constantly scoring draws is a waste of time, is it not?", Raven said. His voice was a little more relaxed.

This target of his was rather peculiar but also something he could use to his advantage. He's been looking for a way out without defecting for a while. Just settling down and having his own lackeys was something he was looking forward to.

"We're both strange people that can't stand the positions we're in. Follow me and we can waste our time doing nothing. Is that all right with you?"

She was taken by surprise and went along with his proposal. Soon after they would form a group of twelve, “The Eleven Plagues”, in pursuit of that rest.

"It wrongs those that are selfless,"

The third member was one he had picked himself. A homeless eight-year-old he found within an abandoned home. He was living with whatever was left within his home. His purple eyes and pale skin were what got him into this mess. had he been normal, he wouldn't have had to worry about surviving on his own.

"Get up and get dressed. You can either die here or come with me."

Still having no name of his own, he would later become a useful asset that would bring Raven a lot of money. Though he was sympathetic because it wasn't far off from what he had gone through, Raven still had to think of his own future.

"and breeds selfishness."

At the age of seventeen, Raven stumbled upon a girl just a year older than him that was caught up in a prostitution ring. Buying her freedom only to sell it to the highest bidder, he made a huge profit that would get him a step closer to his goal.

"There is no beauty as there is only ugliness."

Force feeding a teenager at the age of eighteen, Raven hoped to get the fifth member of his little group. Spoiled food from lifestook infested with disease as a means to make disease an ability of number five, he forced his plain enhancement magic to adapt and turn into the ability to bring disease onto others.

"This time..."

By the age of twenty he had assembled a full team of fighters modelled after the ten plagues, cloning, and ravens. They were bounty hunters, mercenaries, traffickers... whatever was necessary for Raven to buy his freedom. Though they grew to like each other, he still kept his distance to repress any guilt that may follow.

"I'll take what is rightfully mine..."

He's grown cold and selfish even though he could have grown up to be perfectly selfless. However, whenever faced with people that have gone through the things he did refusing to become like him, he misdirects his anger and frustrations in unimaginable cruelty. Disliking Elena for still holding onto her moral values, he intends to hurt her as well if it means he'll be one step closer to salvation.

"and be selfish!"