A New Goal

"That's it?!" I asked him, breaking out into a burst of deep laughter.

He looked confused, and Fico looked angry at me because I was laughing. I swept my hair out of my eyes and smiled at Eirikr.

"My dream, ever since I woke up on the Isle, was to become powerful enough to defend my friends. I thought that after I defeated Illya, my goal would be easier, but here you are! You're making me laugh too hard!" I exclaimed.

"What does that have to do with your laughter?" Fico asked me in a rude tone.

"What does that have to do with my laughter? Think about what I just said, Fico. I want to be powerful enough to protect my friends... I thought I beat the most powerful being known to man when I defeated Illya... your Master, he's stronger, which means that I have a new goal." I said.

Illya and Faith both smiled as I summoned a saber in my right hand and pointed it at Eirikr.

"I'm in no position to fight you now, and I'll run your errands as long as you hold up your end of the deal... but there will come a day, Eirikr Asterio, that I will be the strongest person known to man. Your name will not even remain in legends, as I plan to wipe you off the face of every document and memory on Earth."

Fico got angry and Eirikr held out his hand to block her stride toward me.

"That's right! There he is... there's my old friend that I used to know. Always so adamant about getting what he wanted. So be it! You run my errands for me, and I will grant you a fight to the death. But I must warn you..." Eirikr said.

With a snap of his fingers, a saber appeared in his hands that had an iridescent coloring, coated in black strands, which were also layered in golden strands. It was a triple-layered saber with colors mixing into each other in the middle. It was a blinding light, but I could easily tell it was too powerful for me to even hold.

"I'm not known as The God of Fear for no reason," Eirikr told me again.

"Maiya, are you ready to go?" He asked the girl in the flannel. Maiya nodded and pat Fico on her shoulder.

"You should watch yourself, Sky Asterio. Master might not try to kill you, but that doesn't mean I won't try." She said.

"You don't scare me, birdie," I told her.

I must've set off a fuse in her head as she enlarged the talons on her foot and tried to attack me with them.

I didn't fight back, I only dodged backward and let Eirikr do the work.

He grabbed onto her hair, and slammed her into the ground, causing the ground around us to shake.

"Do that on your own time, not mine. Maiya, let's go." He said.

Fico transformed into her bird form and both Eirikr and Maiya jumped on her back. Just as simply as they came in, they flew off into the atmosphere and disappeared under the last of the sunlight.

"Now that's settled... why did you guys sit there so quietly?" I asked around, specifically looking at Carl.

"I'm amazed you could even talk to him... I felt intense pressure from him, I feel like I couldn't even open my mouth." Carl explained.

"That's Fear Gaze. An ability exclusive to Eirikr. I'm impressed you stood against it so well, Faith." Illya said.

"I couldn't handle it for too long..." Faith muttered.

"So... that man, Eirikr, he talked like he used to know me. Want to explain that?" I asked Illya.

"Of course, you two were best friends four hundred years ago. Now, he carries on alone." Illya explained to me. I nodded.

"Sorry if that scared you, Shike. I wouldn't let him kill you, no matter what." I told him, but he smiled and laughed it off.

"Uh, I don't think we could've beaten him if we all teamed up on him! He seemed... scarily strong..." Shike said.

"He is," Illya added again, sitting down on the floor.

"Well, sounds like we have another problem to deal with. Sky, What should we do?" Carl asked me.

"I think that's obvious. To protect Shike, Belle, and Alexia, I'm going to listen to him. Illya, I'm going to turn your brother into Eirikr. Do you have any objections to that?" I asked her.

"Of course not, I hate both of my brothers almost the same. Genesis is a liar and an evil manipulator. The world would be a better place without him." Illya said.

"Well, that could also be said about you before I stopped you. Do you think I can fight him as I am right now?" I asked her.

"No. He has a secret he's keeping that not even I have been able to figure out. All in all, he's far too smart, and he's completely immune to all strands." Illya told me.

"Sounds like an issue... for later. How do we get back to Earth? Do we wait for them? Do we signal?" I asked everybody, but they didn't know.

"And... let's keep what happened here a secret. If they know about another enemy, it'll rile them up. My friends deserve a break." I said to everybody behind me again.

"You're going to deal with that alone? There's no way! We'll help you out. We won't let you do this alone." Shike told me.

"On Earth, things are going to be different. I hadn't thought about it for a while, but they probably have a society, as Shike and Boo did. I'm not sure if I can adjust to that. I don't want to live in someplace civilized. I can't kill my enemies if need be. I don't want to deal with it, and based on my reputation with Fudo and Alatus, it sounds like I won't be wanted there either. I think this is probably where I split off from you guys for good." I told everybody.

Illya slapped me in the face after I said it and looked mad when I finally recovered from that surprise.

"You selfish prick! You defeated me, told me to raise Faith, and you're going to leave now?! Your friends almost died for you, and you're going to leave?! You're the worst... that's a stupid decision, and I don't care if your brain can't process that. I'll be here to remind you every day that you're an idiot for even thinking that. We'll change society if they don't accept you. They don't realize that you're the only reason society hasn't been completely erased anyway." Illya exploded with words onto me, and it seemed like Carl was pleased because of it.

"Fine! I didn't want to cause you guys any more trouble... but if that's how you feel, I'll stay. I don't want to change society, I just want to live how I always have. I want to punish people who threaten me, and I want to protect my friends." I told Illya.