An Itch

Finlis attacked Sky with a rhythmn now, moving to the beat of Maestro's instruments as he kept his distance. Sky was experienced with opponents who kept their distance, so as Finlis threw his attacks, Sky fixated his vision onto Maestro's legs.

Finlis had no method to his madness, unleashing years of unrelenting fear disguised as hatred onto Sky. He scathed his body few times, but with all of the wounds currently on Sky's body, Finlis should've already had the upper hand. 

Sky was at a mechanical disadvantage. He couldn't move the way he could before because of the damage dealt to his left arm... or, that's how it should've been. Finlis had been whittling away at Sky's defenses, looking for the correct opportunity that would allow Finlis to steal Asterio Strands.

As Finlis landed a large cut on Sky's stomach, he began to realize how dire the situation was. Normally, all opponents Sky had ever fought had some sort of limit to their stamina. Even Cole, who could regenerate infinitely, had some sort of limit to his stamina, but Finlis didn't. He was unrelenting in every sense of the word, seeking to destroy Sky using any force necessary. 

Sky disarmed Finlis with a carefully placed strike, watching time slow down around him as a blade floated right above both of his eyes. As he watched the sharp edge to the blade leave his peripherals, Sky wrapped his legs around Finlis's arm, brought him to the ground by enforcing his strength with his Mom's ability, and tackled him with several daggers all around the battlefield.

They obviously bounced off of Finlis, as Sky already predicted would happen when he attacked, causing Finlis to smile.

"It's over!" Finlis shouted out, plunging a knife into Sky's throat with the strength of both of his arms.

As the knife settled into Sky's esophagus, tearing the lining of his throat, he smiled, fading into nothing but an illusion.

"Huh?" Finlis muttered. As he muttered the sentence, Finlis was able to perceive the tip of a blade pointing toward his line of sight. Sky had plunged a blade into the back of his skull, pushing it all the way through his brain, and through his right eye. 

"Aw! Look at you! You have something on your face!" Sky shouted out. He still had his calm demeanor, but was now getting comfortable enough with Finlis's skill to begin trash-talking.

He kicked Finlis in his back, pushing him forward and looked back over to Maestro now.

"You poor soul," Sky's voice echoed throughout the icy ocean, and Maestro immediately stopped playing his instruments and clutched his ears, cowering underneath the weight of Sky's voice.

While Seano was distracted with Sky's voice, Sky struck him in the chest as well, knocking him over and allowing the sash of weapons he wore to clatter against the ice.

"You're very... motivated, I have to give it to you," Sky said. He kicked a blade into the ice, allowing the sharp part to be dulled against the ice it cut leading over to Finlis. He had taken the blade out of his head and repaired his wounds quickly, watching as Sky took out four people in a few quick moves.

"To come and stop my journey and waste my time with people defeated so easily? I almost think you aren't working alone. Well, you were, Finlis, that's for sure. Your lackeys here get to keep their lives because they haven't really damaged me yet, but striking with the intent to kill is a one-way ticket to murder. I haven't killed in so long," Sky said. He crouched down to the slash marks in the ice.

"I've had to mature a lot in these past nine months. Nobody talks about how hard that is. I'll save you my life story for a moment here and just directly admit to you that I don't enjoy my way of life. You want my Strands, I have every reason to steamroll you with them. It's okay to hop back into the version of myself that was more productive, isn't it? You want my Strands? Great, come rip them out of my corpse, Finlis," Sky said. He stood back up, holding a dagger at his hip with a smile.

With Finlis being fully healed and ready for more action, he ran at Sky, trying to assimilate the meaning of Zero in his mind as he jumped up, ready to attack.

Finlis flipped his body by kicking off the air, disrupting Sky's natural flow of movement and landing behind him with the dagger primed for an attack.

Sky dropped his body, dodging the attack, kicking Finlis's chin with his heel, and causing his head to lean backward. He fell right into Sky's trap.

Sky kicked the ocean and smashed the ice from underneath him, causing Finlis to drop in the freezing water beneath. As Sky did, he covered the ice with Belle's ability, his first use of Strands.

Finlis rejoiced, catching the Strands through the gaps in the ice and allowing them to prosper within his body. He smashed straight back through the ice and landed on his feet, even when dripping wet, and smiled with his sharp teeth.

"Ah, you ignorant idiot. Giving me those Strands was exactly what I asked for! What, you thought I couldn't get them through the ice?" Finlis bragged, combining the Strands in his body. However, upon combining them, his chest expanded, exploding and throwing his guts all over the ground. Finlis was stunned by what had happened to him, looking up for answers.

"What? Do you think I would use Asterio Strands again now that I know your goal? Those aren't Asterio Strands," Sky said.

In Faith's mind, she thought to herself that since it came from Belle's ability, it had to have been an Asterio type of Strand. However, Faith came to the conclusion herself earlier that Belle wasn't born as an Asterio, and therefore, not what Finlis needed.

Her eyes grew wide as she realized her father had come to the same conclusion as her, but even sooner than she did. Just how powerful was he?