The Final Conference

"That's out of the question," I sharply said.

"Let's finish this talk up before we go to train our asses off. Group D will be composed of Carl and Alexia exclusively. These two individuals are the best at ranged combat that we have, and are good at shutting down anything necessary at a range. Alexia can shrink things just by looking at them, and Carl hasn't missed a ranged shot in his training since you guys have been down here. With that, that concludes our Groups. You each are equally important, but please don't inflate your ego with that importance. You are still mortal, whether you like it or not," Ruby finished off and took a deep breath.

"Now... for our last topic, Sky, I've seen your battles... your Wrath... that uncontrollable thing that almost got your friends killed, whether it was in your hands or not... how do we shut it down?" She asked me.

She put me on the spot, and I didn't know how to answer.

"I've never been possessed to that degree. It was Dani who suffered that possession," I replied to her. Ruby shot a glance at Dani and waited for her answer.

"Well... to me, it was kind of like losing consciousness. I couldn't remember what happened when I woke up but living the memory after a while feels like a nightmare. It took me over and I couldn't control my actions. I hurt my friends... it was too scary for me... Illya slightly broke me out just by damaging me a lot, she punched me in the face and my sharp teeth broke, and my horns followed with more attacks. It seems like destroying the features I gained slowly broke it away, and Sky freed me at the end," Dani explained.

"Do you know what possessed you?" Ruby asked. Dani shook her head, and through the corner of my eye, I could see Illya dodging the question completely by avoiding eye contact.

Should I put her on the spot? What is she hiding...

"That's unfortunate. As I was saying, I want to tell you that you don't need to feel pressure from outside sources blocking your rage. These people might hate you, but they'll learn to respect you if they're alive. Use your Wrath, use anything you can. Put all cards on the table, because if Zealous falls, your well-being will follow right behind. For any reason, do not let Quake seize this city and destroy what we've built," Ruby told me.

I always saw Ruby as a frugal woman who sometimes makes bad decisions. In the ambush with Cole and Fico, I had to heavily depend on moving her around to keep us both alive. She was a dependent person in my eyes who slowed me down when I needed to speed up. She really became a good leader in such a short period of time.

It's easy to forget that outside of my group, people have things that they want to protect too. Perhaps that's my closed-mindedness.

"Understood," I replied.

"When I say all cards... your tattoos on the Isle, you can use those. You can use Avie. You can deflect, you can recall, you can use abilities you've been given, you can use your strength, you can use your speed, you can use your ability to deflect an entire Isle barreling down at you at inhumane speeds. Anything and I mean anything you have... it is to be used this fight. This isn't something simple, this is life or death for people you know and don't know. This will be a genocide if we fall the day Quake arrives," Ruby told me.

"Yeah, I get that... why are you telling me that over and over again? I've used everything I'm capable of," I told her with my arms crossed.

"Everything?" She asked.

It was ominous; I felt a chill shoot up my spine.

No... not everything...

"Everything I can, yes," I lied to her and she redirected the conversation to dismissing us.

Carl, Dani, Faith, Illya, Rin, Ren, Ellios, Mandi, Lia, and Alexia all bunched up around me to talk about our groups after the fight.

"So, we have a ton of training to do... is anybody getting nervous? I am..." Mandi suggested in a bouncy tone. She was extremely anxious about the fighting but would fare more than well against Quake.

We all would.

"So, Carl! We're on the same team... I never thought I would get to work with one of the Beach Arkians... can you heal super fast?!" Alexia asked in an excited tone.

"Uh, no. But, I can use Essence Strands. Since you're an Asterio, we're a pretty crazy combo I'd say," Carl said.

"It seems we're all really motivated," Dani asked me. She could sense I was lying earlier, I can feel a question coming.

"Is there another ability you have? I want to know... in case I can help you," Dani said, her face turning beet red.

"I can't lie to you, Dani. I want you to keep it a secret... but there is an ability I have left. It's an absolute last-case scenario though, so if I use it, I would probably die," I told her.

"What is it?" She asked.

I got close to her ear, noticing she swept away her golden hair to hear me as perfectly as possible.

And I muttered it to her.

Her eyes widened when I backed away, remembering something from my past that has been overlooked a ton since it happened.