Present time...

"Cous! It suits you!" Claude shouted, breaking the serious atmosphere around.

"Yeah, thanks!" Lesley responded, not taking her eyes off from Emperor Scorpion.

"Lesley! We miss you!" Fanny shouted.

"Come back to the castle with us, okay?" Kimmy added.

That made Lesley chuckled and at the same time, she was still shy to them after she left them. She wasn't still sure if she would go back with them right after.

"Fancy meeting you, Miss Sniper." Emperor Scorpion said while smirking.

Lesley almost blushed with that. It's been a while since I saw his signature smirk.

She internally composed herself. She shouldn't be distracted. But she couldn't help it especially when her eyes landed on Nephila or Hanabi or whatever her name was.

Jealousy was kicking in her again.

I just hope they aren't developing any feelings towards each other! She screamed mentally.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nephila asked sharply.

"Nothing. Just plotting my plan on how I will blow off your skull if I learn that you are doing something with my man." Lesley answered with an innocent smile, but her eyes were deadly.

"Your man?" Nephila answered in confusion.

Lesley just shrugged and since she was too focus on throwing a death glare towards Nephila, she didn't notice that someone in them let out a lopsided grin.

"Too noisy." Selena blurted, "And who are you? Why are you pointing your gun to that handsome guy?"

Lesley's ears rang; she could sense her green monster once again and squinted her eyes to Selena, "Mind your own business."

Annoyed, Selena threw an Abyssal arrow towards Lesley and before Lesley could dodged, someone grabbed her to save her, teleporting her to a perfect spot for sniping.

To see that it was Emperor Scorpion.

"Why did you—"

Emperor Scorpion shushed her by placing his forefinger on her lips. He smirked at her and winked before he went back to the battlefield.

What was that?

Lesley just shook her head and get herself on her sniping position as she took down the demons one by one, without missing a target.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, it seemed that the light team was having a hard time since the demons kept on coming— as if there was no ending on it.

Most of the Moniyan warriors were already wounded and exhausted.

"Princess, we will not be defeated because they are strong but they are too many." Granger told Silvanna while shooting demons.

"This is the reason why we need more alliance." Silvanna huffed after slashing a demon using her lance, "We need to fall back for now."

Out of nowhere, Alice appeared in front of them. "Are you backing out now, Your Highness? Then what about your little brother?"

Silvanna gritted her teeth but she still managed to look calm.

"You showed your presence in hope that we will appear with your brother." Alice taunted, "But unfortunately, we saw that coming so we told him to stay in the Abyss Castle."

"I wonder if you saw this coming too." Silvanna smirked.

That made Alice confused until she was shoot in the head by a black bullet— not once, not twice— but thrice.

"W-what..." Alice blurted as she saw that faint red line but then it already disappeared.

"The sniper." Thamuz groaned in anger before he threw away his scythe towards Alucard so he could move faster. Fortunately, the latter dodged the scythe.

Many demons went to the direction where they saw the faint red line but they saw no one.

They didn't know that Lesley just used her camouflage so she shoot the demons in surprise.

She was busy shooting the demons that she didn't notice Moskov on her back.

He managed to hit her with his spear and pinned on a tree, making her dizzy for seconds and wounding her.

Moskov was about to hit her again with his spear but he was silenced— as if someone disabled him from attacking.

A smoke bomb appeared out of nowhere and took the opportunity to grab her, removing her from the tree.

They hid in a bush and Lesley gasped when she saw who saved her.

"Nat!" She exclaimed, shouting in a form of whisper— if that could make any sense.

Natalia smiled to her, "Welcome back, Lesley."

Lesley hugged her before Natalia disappeared again. Yes, she became invisible again.

"Be careful Lesley." Natalia said and went to another bush before she could say the same thing to her.

"Retreat everyone!" Thamuz roared and ordered Moskov to carry the bleeding Demon Queen.

"Not so fast, Wildsand." Silvanna smirked, making Moskov halt in his movement.

Triggered, he turned to her in anger, "I am not a Wildsand." He firmly said, emphasizing every word he uttered.

"I thought that fallen creatures in the Abyss will forget their past lives. How come you are triggered by your last name?" Silvanna said in an innocent way— like no one would notice she meant it in a sarcastic way.

If that was true, then maybe my little brother will still remember us in the back of his mind. Silvanna thought. But he was still an infant when Alice took him. 

Her statement made Moskov even angrier that he passed the unconscious Demon Queen to an abyssal demon and got his spear. He blinked towards her but her reflexes were fast enough as she stunned him using her weapon and dashed towards him.
(A/N: It was awkward for me to use the name of Sil's weapon which is lance. HAHAHAHA.)

He knocked her back making her dizzy for a jiffy but was fast enough to use Imperial Justice to him.

Moskov panicked as he couldn't escape since he was inside the Circle of Light. Silvanna smirked as she used the Spiral Strangling to him, pulling him towards her weapon. When the Circle of Light disappeared, Moskov used a blink skill to escape but Silvanna managed to hit him with Cometic Lance, stunning him. She dashed towards him right after, slashing him.

The Moniyan warriors were expecting for the Dark Abyss to retaliate but they didn't. Instead, they abandoned Moskov and the other demons while they were retreating. They were more concern about the unconscious Demon Queen. Helcurt used even the Dark Night Falls just for them to retreat.

That saddened the Moniyan warriors, the Abyss didn't even bother to at least gave their comrades a proper interment.

After the Dark Abyss retreated, Claude turned to Irithel. He knew he messed up since he exposed her to violence in a short span of time.

"Are you okay, Iri? I'm sorry to expose you in violence and made you even fight—"

"I'm fine, Claude. It's actually an honor to fight against the Dark Abyss." Irithel assured him, giving him a light smile.

Claude released a sigh of relief and returned the smile.

All of Moniyan warriors were covered with wounds and huffing due to tiredness. Harith even fell to the ground where Alucard immediately went to his side to check him.

"What a weak creature." Someone blurted and turned out that it was Octopus, who was sitting on Monitor Lizard's shoulder.

"You don't know what he has been through." Another Leonin named Nana told him while supporting Harith.

Octopus raised one of his eyebrows, "Oh? Another Leonin? I thought your race was already wiped out by Helcurt?"

That hit a nerve on Nana and Harith and glared at the brain of VENOM Squad.

"That's enough." Lesley said as she landed where Silvanna was standing. As soon as Lesley landed on the ground, she deactivated her Stellaris Ghost's suit.

"And who are you to stop me?" Octopus said.

If Lesley was still her self four months ago, she would breakdown with that question. She was still emotionally unstable yes, but she could manage it now unlike before.

"I'm your sister that you forgot." Lesley smiled sadly at Octopus.

She noticed something to Octopus which made her frowned but she shrugged it off. maybe she was just seeing things.

Lesley felt Silvanna's hand on her arm, giving her a sad look but she just smiled at her, as if she was telling her that she was fine.

"Yo my unripe cousin, stop hurting your sister anymore." Claude butt in the conversation.

All of them looked at Claude with confusion.

"What the hell is unripe cousin?" Fanny asked, irritated and confused. Tigreal quickly reprimanded his sister for cursing.

Claude shrugged, "Lesley is my biological cousin then she was adopted by the Vances, so technically, that kid is my cousin by the law— unripe cousin."
(A/N: Pinsang hilaw in Tagalog. HAHAHAHAHA. Idk how to translate that term in English.)

"What kind of brain cells do you have?" Kimmy asked offensively but Claude just laughed it off.

"Careful Miss, I'm a walking information. I know everything about your background." Claude said while smirking.

Kimmy just rolled her eyes and didn't say a thing.

"What is really your goal, VENOM?" Silvanna said in a calm way.

Emperor Scorpion shrugged, "Get rid of anyone getting in our way?" He said in general, not giving the specific answer to the question.

"If you just want to get the Magic Cube then I'm sorry but we can't let you have it." Saber said firmly.

Emperor Scorpion smirked, "How sure are you?"

"A hundred percent sure, just like how sure we are that Lesley will find another man." Claude butt in the conversation once again, "A man named Gusset Paxley, perhaps?"

That made Lesley whipped her head to her cousin's direction, "Why am I still shock that you knew my whereabouts?"

Emperor Scorpion had a grim expression, "And what is it about me?"

Claude smirked, "Do you mean those words, Scorpion? Because if you do, then I won't let you see my cousin anymore. I've seen her in her lowest state and I won't let that happen again because of you."

Claude was a goofy person, but he was overprotective to his loved ones. He might not with his cousin for a long time but he was hurting too to see his cousin's breakdown.

Emperor Scorpion stayed silent. He was just giving the King of Thieves an emotionless look. He was annoyed, yes— but he couldn't put himself to fight him.

"The eldest of Paxley family is already betrothed." Emperor Scorpion answered shortly.

Claude was silent for a while before he laughed, confusing everyone with his reaction.

A silence wrapped them, Lesley noticed that her cousin and Gusion— or Emperor Scorpion was exchanging unspoken words through looks but maybe she was just imagining that.

"Ah, I'm bored with all of these talks! Let's just leave, stupid Scorpion." Octopus complaint while still sitting on Monitor Lizard's shoulder.

"Shut up, Wolfi—"

"Hey! Don't be too harsh on my little brother." Lesley said to Emperor Scorpion while frowning. She knew that Wolfi, since Harley was Octopus, wolfi was the smallest specie of octopus.

She noticed that Octopus almost laughed at Emperor Scorpion but he quickly composed himself— maybe because he felt that she was looking at him.

"I don't like it when someone interrupts me." Emperor Scorpion narrowed his eyes to her.

Lesley smirked, "Still impatient huh."

"Oh no, you just didn't—" Emperor Scorpion said before he disappeared for a jiffy.

And before everyone realized it, he went back to where he was standing but now with Lesley in his arms.

That made them shocked, including Lesley. Before she got her rifle, he stung her using that scorpion tail to make her sleep.

The Moniyan warriors held their weapons and were ready to attack but they were stunned by the Higanbana of Nephila and strings of Vespid.

Emperor Scorpion smirked at them before hopping to their Scorpion vehicle, leaving the astonished Moniyan warriors.

"Another impulsive action, Emperor." Nephila commented.

Emperor ignored her and just carefully laid down the sleeping sniper without taking his eyes off of her.

~~~~~

Ayo GusLey!

Sorry for waiting for two months just to read a shitty update. HAHAHAHAHA.

And to clear things in case you are confused— yes, from chapter one up to chapter six were flashbacks of four months ago.