Room 329

[Dani?!]

What the hell?!

My left eye... why can I see my own name? I could barely move after the hits I just took... and now I can see my name? Don't tell me, something bad is about to happen.

[You're Close! Go, Further!] It said.

Go further? Who is speaking to me right now...

Hey, System... can you understand me?

[Dani, she won't take that defeat as an answer. Go Back, Kill Her! She's Here! She's Fine!]

What the hell...

"You want me to kill her... what are you talking about she's there. She's fine? She doesn't look too good." I said out loud.

[Eo is in the first trial. Kill Her. Kill that body of hers.]

Again with that... so... she wants me to kill Eo?

I walked over to her body as I could slowly see it twisting back into its proper place, and I summoned a saber with all of my open wounds still leaking blood.

If I did this... would I blow my chances at survival?

It doesn't matter. Eo has proven to be my enemy instead of a comrade. I don't treat that lightly.

I slammed my saber into her neck but was met with another message from my System.

[ERROR: IMMORTAL OBJECT FOUND. CAN NOT PROCEED]

What the?! Immortal?!

I backed up and made some distance to process a way to defeat Eo.

Her body was getting close to its normal formation...

Shit, she's up!

"That was good, Dani. You awakened your abilities, which come as a surprise to me, but I'm thoroughly pleased." She told me, wiping dust off of her and walking back over to me.

"I figured that was a test for me to awaken something. I'm at Level Two Corruption now, so we're getting closer. But, my System told me that I should try to kill you." I told Eo.

"I know. Faith did that." Eo told me. She then realized I had no idea who Faith was, so she explained further.

"Faith is a part of the System... in a way. It's technically Illya and Sky's child." Eo said. Again I felt myself snap in rage.

"How long were they in there?!" I asked Eo with hatred.

Eo had an absent look as she started counting on her fingers.

"Fourteen years by now. He started his life over, and his current age probably lines up with his actual age." She said while turning back to the hospital.

What did she mean they had a kid then?!

Calm down, Dani... it's probably another of those weird things that don't get explained until later.

"What's next? After that pointless fight, what do we do?" I caught up to Eo in her stride and she turned to look back at me while we walking through the field and onto the main dirt road by the hospital. The people weren't even questioning why two random people just walked out of a tall field of grass... they're weird...

"Pushing your System further, but we'll need Umbra to do that. We just have to wait for her arrival now." Eo told me.

"Umbra? Who's that?" I asked her as we turned to the main doors of the hospital.

"She's a leader of a city down here, but most importantly, she knows about the System and how to Corrupt, or so I've been led to believe. It'll be alright, don't worry, just make sure you're not pushing your body too hard." Eo told me with a light smile.

"I don't think that's a very consistent thing to say to somebody who wanted to beat me up a few minutes ago..." I muttered while following her up the stairs.

"Dani! You're alright!" Carl shouted out to me as we both entered the room.

"Of course I am, Eo wouldn't hurt me without a purpose. Right?" I turned to Eo and she nodded.

I just met her, sure, but she seemed fairly confident in my ability... which helped out with our pact for trusting each other a lot. Moving forth would be so much easier because of that.

"Of course she is Carl! Come on..." Lia said while sighing in defeat. He got a laugh out of everybody and Eo began to explain some more stuff to us.

"Once Dani gets to Deity level, there's a strong chance that due to her lack of strand control, she won't be able to limit herself. You all will have the abilities of strands, so I'll try to explain it in the most simple way I can. When you're using strands, think of it like your heartbeat." Eo told us.

"You can't really focus on your heartbeat without concentrating, but at the same time, when you do focus on it, it doesn't go away. Strands are like that heartbeat but in a bubble around you. Summoning the strand saber is the easiest thing for a beginner to do because you guys have been holding swords for longer than I can imagine. You know what a sword feels like. On top of that, you know what your body feels like as well." Eo said, running her hands up and down her body, over her chest, her stomach, and even down her legs.

"If I cut myself, right on my chest, I can heal it with strands, because I can focus on the state of my body as it is right now. Go ahead, Dani, cut me." She told me. I was hesitant at first, but I coincided. I summoned the saber and barely cut her right under her neck.

Eo made eye contact with me, held it, and replenished her body in front of everybody.

"That was kind of slow... Sky was able to do it a lot faster." I said to her.

"I'm unfortunately not of your family name. In fact, take a look at your own wounds, Dani." Eo said to me.

I looked at my body, completely forgetting that I was bleeding... and she was right. I was completely healed. Woah...

"So, people who aren't Asterios can't heal as fast?" Carl asked Eo, to which she nodded.

"Asterios have the best strand control." Eo finished her sentence, but Carl asked another question before she could continue her main point.

"Those four last names... what are their traits? Do we have anything special?" Carl asked her.

"Asterios can use strands to the highest degree. Danafalls can use them the most effective when boosting stamina, Achamos can use them to boost speed, and Eternias can use them to boost the mind's capabilities." Eo told us.

"That's why you were so fast! Were you using strands?" I turned to Moon and she lightly smiled.

"I didn't know about them yet. I guess it's just in my blood." Moon told me.

"Attention visitors in room 329, you have another member joining your party." I shot up and was ready to defend as I heard a loud voice come from the corner of the room. Who was it? Where's the danger?!

"Dani, calm down. It's a loudspeaker... haven't you heard of one before?" Alatus asked me.

"A loudspeaker? Yeah, I can tell! Is somebody coming?!" I asked her in return while getting ready to summon a saber.

"No, relax. It's just the voice of the building... I guess you could say." Alatus said while scratching her head.

"There you are, Eo." Another girl's voice appeared.

"I could feel that terrifying presence from a mile away. It's good to see you again, Umbra Asterio." Eo said.