Y/N, THE 14TH MEMBER OF THE FLAMECHASERS: An [Honkai Impact 3rd] Mini-Story

48. MEI/RAVEN: ABOUT RAVEN

==========================
==========================
BACK TO THE WAR ROOM...
==========================
==========================

Mei: "I've heard about you from more than one Flame-Chaser."

Raven: "Huh?"
Raven: "Excluding Y/n, someone else spoke of me besides Eden and Sakura?"

Mei: "Yeah."
Mei: "What you did left them a strong impression on them."

Raven: "Hey, what's the big deal about it?"
Raven: "I don't believe I'm the only one who's done this."

Mei: "From their reactions, you're perhaps the only one who's passed the trial but rejected the bounty at the final moment."

Raven: "..."

Mei: "I know you've been very cautious, but I don't suppose anything ordinary would make you run away instantly."

Raven: ""Run away"?"
Raven: "Can you find something more appropriate?"
Raven: "Like "retreat"?"

Mei: "If you wish."
Mei: "So before you retreated, what did you see?"

Raven: "Hmm..."
Raven: "To be honest, I didn't see anything."
Raven:  "The best time to fall back is when your gut feeling tells you to."
Raven:  "It's too late when it actually does happen."

Mei:  "But there must be something that triggered your instinct, right?"
Mei:  "After all, you're not a real bird."

Raven:  "Who knows."
Raven:  "Have you read Grimm's Fairy Tales?"
Raven:  "Maybe I'm a raven that can foresee the future."

Mei:  "..."

Raven:  "Alright, I was joking."
Raven:  "The reason why was probably that I felt something was amiss."

Mei:  "Something was amiss?"

Raven:  "Hm, it was Mobius handing me the bounty."
Raven:  "And she's someone you'd better steer clear of, even for a chat."
Raven:  "Not to mention in that particular situation."

Mei:  "Particular situation?"

Raven:  "Yeah, she showed up out of nowhere and congratulated me on passing the trial of infinity."
Raven:  "Then she took me to an area I'd never seen before..."
Raven:  "It was green and made me uncomfortable."
Raven:  "She said she was going to baptize me for the last time,  it something felt off when I entered that area."

Mei: "Which was?"

Raven: "For instance..."
Raven: "A battle obviously occurred there."
Raven: "Call it a professional hunch..."
Raven: "I'm sensitive to those matters."
Raven: "This is peculiar."
Raven: "Removing the restraints..."
Raven: "Why on the battlefield, of all places?"

Mei: "You've known the true meaning of the Elysian Realm since then?"

Raven: "No, I found it out from Mobius on my way there."
Raven: "You know my stance on lifting the restraints..."
Raven: "I was already planning a safe retreat at the time."

Mei: "It's not that simple, right?"

Raven: "Yeah, I assumed someone like her had gotten used to being rejected a long time ago."
Raven: "Who knew she'd flipped without warning."
Raven: "She sensed something before I even spoke."
Raven: "I have to say..."
Raven: "She's dangerous."
Raven: "I swear, all I did was blink, but she..."
Raven: "Was gone."

Mei: "...Gone?"

Raven: "Yes, in a split second, she was replaced by..."
Raven: "Uh..."

Mei: "?"
Mei: "What?"

Raven: "Uh..."
Raven: "Nothing, it's just that I couldn't find a word to describe that thing."
Raven: "It's too solid to be called a shadow, and too sharp to be called a black liquid."
Raven: "And it was squirming like a living being..."
Raven: "Uh..."
Raven: "This sounds impossible, but..."
Raven: "This was what happened."

Mei:  "Like a living shadow..."
Mei:  "And?"
Mei:  "Have you figured it out?"

Raven:  "Of course not."
Raven:  "The only thing I know is that I must get as far away from that thing as possible, and never look back."
Raven:  "What a battle..."
Raven:  "Anyway, I'm glad I got lucky, or..."
Raven:  "You could well be seeing a different person."

Mei:  "If I were you, I might have stayed behind and observed."

Raven:  "Hah..."
Raven deeply sighs, morally dumbfounded....

...
...
...

Raven:  "This is why you're always in danger, Miss Raiden."