Formidable Opponent

"Another Asterio? Tsk, you multiply like rabbits," Ultima sneered. She studied me as if she wanted to hurt me, but I knew in every regard that I could beat her before she could even touch me.

"Sky wasn't sure of his surname until after he got off The Pinnacle. It was a mystery to him and everybody around us. He's not acting out this mysterious Asterio Will you think is planted into our bodies. It's survival, that's what we wanted ever since we first became conscious on The pinnacle," I began. Ultima was actually listening to me now, showing off her attention span by tilting her head up with a straight face.

"Sky was hunted by everybody for being an Asterio, but we never even knew. It's not like we embraced the fact he was an Asterio, we just did what we had to in order to stay alive. People like you come around and assume he's the worst person on Earth, but I find it so hard to believe when you look at me with those eyes," I shot off to Ultima, waiting for her cocky response.

"His past actions cannot be--" I cut Ultima off, summoning a golden saber and increasing the gravity around her specifically. The saber rode against her neck, slightly skimming a visibly open wound as she grew more and more nervous.

"You're worried too much about the past. I can make you worried about something in the future, if you'd like," I told her. I pushed the saber against her neck tighter before Novi finally chipped in.

"With all due respect, I don't think you're in a position to be throwing threats around. This isn't the topic we're here to discuss, it's much more important than power-tripping. I guess the very world is at stake right now," Novi added. She had a calm, defusing tone. All I had to do was pull the saber back to kill Ultima and avenge Ellie.

I hadn't forgotten... and I was much worse than Sky was.

I pulled the saber back, attempting to cut Ultima's throat before I was stopped by some intervention from Novi.

Ultima jumped back and wielded a large staff toward me while Novi smiled. Her hand was raised... I wonder what she could've done...

"I thought I said you weren't in a position for threats? Do you think that means you can enact an act of murder?" Novi asked me. I was puzzled by her demeanor. It sounded like she was trying to play the judge of this situation.

"Ultima murdered my friend, Ellie Danafall. She got away free from her crimes and then went even further to ruin my life more and more. If you want to pick my acts, why not pick hers?" I asked Novi. She seemed puzzled, then turned to Ultima.

"Then by the Eternia Law, you've been accused of quite the great crime. You know what's left to do," Novi mysteriously straightened her legs and walked away with Mizu in her opposite hand. Khalil was left standing with confusion as well, as Ultima primed her body for a fight.

"I have no problem killing you too," She muttered.

Something inside me shifted, as if she struck a nerve, and I stopped playing around, immediately heading for her throat with my saber.

The golden saber was deflected with the wooden staff in her hands, cascading through the wind and heading toward my head next.

I caught the staff with my off-hand, seemingly surprising Ultima with my strength enhanced by the force of gravity.

"Sky Asterio is a kind man, capable of seemingly unlimited patience... but me? Oh, I am not anywhere near as patient as him. There is no moral high ground, there is no morally grey people. There are bad people who hurt my family, or good people who don't. You are a bad person," I told Ultima.

I squeezed my hand together tightly cracking and smashing the bottom end of Ultima's staff into nothing but slight chips of wood that scattered along the opening in the forest.

As the chips of wood flew past my face, my Eye of Providence activated just in case. If Ultima were to utilize the woodchips flying through the air, I would be able to see it.

When I first heard about the red-haired sister to Red, I knew that there weren't many people who could actually land a hit on her. It was further expanded upon when I tried to cut her throat and somehow ended up missing, but in this fight, I didn't plan to just hit her once.

I planned to kill her.

The outreach from Ellie the day we met her was what kept us alive. There's something so spiraling about the fury and rage that comes from somebody killing an ally that saved your life. It's as if their purpose was unnecessarily fulfilled for the wrong reasons. Ellie was supposed to live with us and grow old with us as adults working for the same cause. Yet, Ultima was able to take that away so simply, and didn't care at all.

I pulled the remainder of the staff into my body and forced my gravity upon her. She sank to her knees far too easily for me to believe the rumor that she couldn't be hit. However, when I swung downward, Ultima rotated her body against the gravity, pushing herself further on the curve of her hip.

She slickly rotated away from the saber and began to swing the staff for my head once more.

The Eye of Providence was able to seamlessly spot the bluff of her attack. I let the staff get close to my face and turned completely around with my fist cocked back to my shoulder, slamming a punch into the bottom of her jaw, and throwing her against the ground as Strands exploded from the point of impact.

Ultima bounced off the ground a few times before stabilizing her grip, looking up at me while spitting out a few teeth. I shook my knuckle as I struck her cleanly, knocking the other teeth out of my knuckles.