Fudo and Alexia's Rescue

--Alexia's Perspective--

As I finished healing Illya, she dropped the atomic bomb of information that Cynthia was slowly becoming more and more powerful.

Perhaps I never considered it before, but Sky isn't the only Asterio worth worrying over. Dani was really dangerous at this point, Shike, Belle, and I were pretty strong too... but directly related to Sky, with her own subset of abilities, in an organization meant to kill him, or whatever they wanted to do with Sky? That was more dangerous than anything.

Sky had his own impeccable abilities. The ability to house Avie, the ability to deflect, recall, and use all of the abilities from The First Trial, there was so much loaded onto him... yet, Cynthia had the Eye of Providence, which came from Providence Achamo.

She's mixing DNA, and surely becoming a severely large problem. Carl was able to best her in combat, but Carl used Essence Strands, which could be a huge problem for Sky if Cynthia was somehow able to wield them... it seemed that all of Cynthia's progression was dependent on how Sky proceeded. She had things to counter him, and it was more than obvious that she was growing as a fighter to take on her brother specifically... but why?

She explained that I was providing a place for a strange person to reawaken in this world... through the abilities of the Seven White Stones. Sky had actively used all seven abilities before, developed strength that was insurmountable to the normal person... and is now going against Cynthia, who somehow knew this information.

"An entity nobody will be able to stop," I slightly said under my breath. Illya opened her eyes and looked at me, tilting her head.

"That's what Cynthia said. She said that through the Seven White Stones, the distortion is a gateway into summoning an entity nobody will be able to stop. I was the final gateway to open that gateway. That's exactly what she said," I clarified for her.

"Entity? Could you mean the same one that adds levels to my System Corruption?" Dani asked. Illya shot up at a ninety-degree angle and looked at Dani.

"What do you mean, adds levels? Explain that to me," Illya demanded from Dani.

"It will tell me I've reached Maximum Corruption, and then it adds a plus sign and a number. It reached Plus Four just a second ago. Why, is that a bad thing?" Dani asked.

"Dani... when you were losing yourself either... did you see something- no, someone?" Illya asked yet again. Fudo and I were just observers of the conversation at this point, but the two continued on.

"Yeah, I saw somebody. They had horns, sharp teeth, wings, and claws, like you and I both did. Who were they...?" Dani slightly asked, as if she was grabbing onto the answer.

Without another word coming out of Illya's mouth, she picked her body up, and ran, sliding down the bridge, and heading straight for the dome.

"What is she doing?!" Fudo yelled out. He started to run after her and I helped Dani up to follow.

"What did she come up with?!" I asked Dani. She didn't know the answer, so I wrapped her arm over my shoulder and began to take a careful path off of the bridge to follow Illya.

We moved down slanted parts of the bridge until we hit the ground floor, and then began our stride forward with Fudo in between Illya, Dani, and I.

"Dani... that Entity... what did it look like? I mean, did it resemble anybody?" I asked her. She seemed like she was too focused on the fight going on in the orb to give me any attention.

"Horns... claws... teeth... wings... it looked humanoid... why is Cynthia trying to bring it back...? How are you connected?" Dani asked, peering into my White Stone.

"White Stone...? Did the Entity have a White Stone?" I asked her again, and she shook her head.

"Alexia... I feel sick... put me down..." Dani muttered. She collapsed onto the pavement before I could catch her, and she puked on the floor.

"Are you okay?! We need to get you to medical, right now. Why didn't my strands heal you?!" I asked her, watching her tattooed left arm start to shine from deep within.

"What is that... where did you get that...?" I asked Dani. When I watched those tattoos shine, I started to remember the ones that appeared on my face in that same pattern. I mentioned it to her, and she shook her head while puking again.

"Dammit... probably too much exertion, I would assume. Alexia, forget Illya and Fudo, can you help me, please?" Dani asked me. I, of course, agreed and brought her in another direction to get her medical help.

"Austin and Amy are down... Kire is finished... Zeka is done... all that's left is Cole, Fico, and Cynthia. Can Sky take them all out on his own? Is it possible?" I muttered to myself, running into the entrance of the bunker by the cliffside.

When I got to the entrance, I carried Dani inside and pushed past the rubble to see Hiyochi crouched by a table with somebody on it. She had her hands placed on her face and was hardly moving, only to breathe.

"Hiyochi, are you alright?!" I yelled out to her. So many people were being injured, I never even considered how stressful it might've been for her.

"Huh...? Yeah... I'm resting... I had to perform surgery on Faith... she's okay, she's safe," Hiyochi said. She seemed to have been sleeping next to her, which was hard to process at first glance.

"You've been doing a great job in here, do you need any help with Dani? She fought off Austin and Amy with Illya and puked right after. I just want you to see if she's okay," I told Hiyochi.

She turned toward Dani with her tools on a small table. As she looked at Dani, her eyes seemed to squint... and then go blank while staring.

"What..." She mumbled.