A Large Portion

"You aren't very smart, are you? I expected more from a girl with my genetics within her. You lack intelligence where it is most necessary," Oberon told me. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, barely containing a smile underneath the plans I uncovered.

"A Strand-Entity holding onto a Strand-Entity... something Cynthia must've learned about after Cole's defeat. Do you know about that? I assume you do if you make baseless accusations of my intelligence,"

"Of course I do,"

"Then you'd also know that Sky is completely aware of your plan right?" I gulped before I could say it. I was secretly dreading the talk I was about to have with Oberon but ready to acknowledge it.

"You're waiting to absorb Sky into your body so he can't escape and you get those Strands that make you powerful. Iridescent Strands. You can't use them, I presume," I told Oberon. At long last, he smiled in anticipation of compliments that brimmed on his lips.

"That's more like it. You aren't so stupid after all. I would be a liar if I told you that you got it right on the dot. You see, now that you know my motive, you'll also be ready to learn that..." Oberon paused before he continued.

[Dani. You're next. Do not let him touch you.]

Hikari spouted the hint over to me and came out of my body all in one movement as I severed Oberon's hand reaching out to me. I read his movements with the Eye of Providence and successfully stopped him.

Hikari slid on the ground with her golden hair fluttering in the wind, coming to a calm standstill as she looked at Oberon with disgust.

"Was it something I said? Don't tell me both of you hate me! What I'm doing would benefit you... what's your name?" Oberon pointed to Hikari, learning her name as soon as she said it.

"Dani, Oberon's plan isn't to just absorb Sky but to corrode his power so somebody can take hold of him. However, you're not telling us who you plan to give Sky to. Is it Arthur? Cynthia? Eirikr, maybe?" Hikari tried to suggest various people, but Oberon smiled and pointed at his chest.

"It's me," Oberon stated.

I was lost as the floating mass of land I took out of the ground stopped once and for all. Nobody could get to us by natural means, which meant that we were clear of any intruders in our talk or fight. Oberon was cornered, but he wasn't nervous. Was he even alive?

"Everybody is always talking about getting Sky's powers and stopping him, but why? Do you know what the power dynamic would look like if the top of the pyramid collapsed? I'll tell you... there would be no planet left. You see, all of the bad people left on Earth want Sky specifically because each and every one of those people knows that, if they're caught, it's immediate death," Oberon explained.

Although it was an idea I acknowledged, hearing somebody else say it made me smile. Sky became so powerful...

"If Sky was stopped in his tracks, as he is now, and word got out about him, they wouldn't care about taking out the Asterios anymore. It's never been our goal as Humans to finish the Asterios off. It was to kill the Vegas off so the Asterios could bring us to peace. If you want to talk about deleted history, consider that. Even the part I play is so the Vegas can attain power, but I guess you must be a wolf in sheep's clothing to really send the bill home," Oberon said.

Then... he was an ally?

"Why are you even trying to kill me if I'm not your real foe? All you do is spout lies about the Asterios and then acknowledge yourself that they're bullshit?" I asked him.

From right in front of me, Oberon faded into nothing, sinking into the ground as a mysterious ball of strands. I watched him and the strands as they dispersed into the ground, flowing in multiple directions.

Then, I felt all of my ribs crack and hit my spine from the front of my chest as a hand materialized, holding an orb.

"It's quite the shame that you fall so easily for lies. Your weakness, Dani Slicious, is Sky Asterio." Oberon told me.

I smiled, grabbing ahold of his forearm that was stuck in my chest as my consciousness started to flicker.

"It's... Dani... Asterio... Oberon..." I muttered.

I enhanced the power of my gravity as far as it would go, launching us straight into the ground and causing Oberon's arm to break from the pressure. Even if it was broken and severed after I slashed at it, it was locked into my chest, and I quickly accepted my fate.

I wouldn't be dead, but I would be sealed as well.

I felt myself sink into a deep lake, staring up at the shining sky from above. Strands covered my body and the last thing I remembered in my physical body was looking back at a surprised Hikari.

I can't believe I fought Illya Asterio, Austin and Amy, and Zeka, beings of more and more powerful abilities, only to be bested by a man who countered my Eye of Providence with some strange ability.

How lame...

***

"Oh, you're here Dani!" Sky shouted out. I smiled lightly, happy to see him again.

"The level of your concern is alarming. You're not scared at all in here, are you?" I asked him. I walked over to his arms and wrapped them around myself while I buried my face in his shoulder.

"Nah, he's been trying to pick me away with those small strands on the floor. Luckily for him, I'm keeping it pretty lowkey," Sky admitted. I was confused, tilting my head with a slight smile, then opening my eyes wide as I remembered the information Mizu revealed.

"Sky... whatever you're about to say, you have to hear this first. Red is alive, and her name is Cecelia," I told him.