My Master, Sky Asterio

The world will heal... such a funny concept...

Everybody acts like I wanted to wake up... like I wanted to poison the world with my presence... but I didn't get to choose.

By the time I had a choice, people ended up loving me, adapting me to their families, and depending on me as their leader. People I beat up on the beach, mercilessly antagonizing, people I teamed up with in the very beginning, working closely together with, people I fought against with all I had, trying to take everything from me.

There were people in this world that hated me, the person who woke up three months ago, for something I never did. For killing their race of humans, for ruining this world through unknown means, and I was only supposed to accept it and hate myself with them...

But they didn't know, that without knowing, I already hated myself too much.

I thought I cleared my mind of my self-hatred, but through all of my experience with Wrath, it all ends back up in my hands. That's the cycle I couldn't break, and one I would never break.

No matter how many people I hated... I would only ever hate myself in the end. Cole was right, through and through, I hated people and bested them in combat with luck, an overabundance of strands, or due to my friends. Who was I to assume I was this powerful? To try and take Quake head-on? I knew I would run out of stamina before I could successfully stop the fight... so why did I even try?

I found myself searching for that answer as I pushed my body up again. Why... why wait for so long, just to be met with such a defeat in the end? I had no cards left to play... Illya couldn't save me, Faith couldn't save me, Avie couldn't save me... everything was for nothing...

Cole kicked my back and pushed me into the ground. I couldn't move after that hit and was forced to only lift my head a few inches while turning my head back to him.

The world can heal, now that Sky Asterio was gone... maybe that was what I lived for. Maybe that was the cycle of hate and how it ended. It was a loop of living this life, over and over again... just for it to be met at the end with death.

I can't believe it...

As Cole walked over to me again, this time, he was met with a strike from Avie's palm.

Her arm shifted into a thin spear, which caved into Cole's chest, and launched him backward while blowing up his organs into a pink mist.

"You will not... talk to my master like that... you will not disrespect him! You will not begrudgingly exist in the world he's saved... you will die... even if we have to die to ensure it," Avie said.

I choked up on her words, focusing on her strange sense of comfort exuding off of her body.

It was warm... like the closer I got to Avie, the better I felt.

It was like she was radiating strands, and replenishing my body just by standing near me.

"That's it, Avie Asterio... even if you have to die, even if I somehow die, Cole is still at full strength. Don't forget, he is only using my power to fight the both of you," The person from four hundred years ago said.

Avie didn't catch it, not like I did, but when he spoke, I latched onto his words as well while my eyes were closed.

I smirked, spitting up more blood, adjusting my muscles, and repeating him.

"Only using my power to fight the both of you," I said. Black strands enveloped my injuries, slowly restoring me to my previous stamina as I let them consume more of my arm.

"What of it? Is it alarming to know you're not even halfway done with this fight? Let alone, fighting Cole will be impossible with his ability," He said to Avie and me again with another smirk while his body regenerated.

"Sky, what's so funny? I don't get it either," Avie asked me. She kept her eyes locked on Cole while I started to laugh to myself. I grabbed the bladeless katana from its sheathe, summoning it into my left hand, and held the Mahina Blade in my right hand.

I held the tip up, pointing it to Cole... and not the man possessing him.

"That's just it, isn't it? Your body has been charred before, but it's not showing any signs. It's slowly regenerating, very thoroughly... tell me, Cole, is that because of your ability? If the person I used to be four hundred years ago is piloting your body, then how can he not heal everything? There's a catch, isn't there?" I asked him.

The Eye of Providence gleamed in the light and I swung the bladeless katana to my left-hand side, splitting Cole in half as he broke the sound barrier to try and ambush me.

Out of my peripheral vision, I focused on his body, solidifying my motivation, and smiling at his split body.

"I'm not fighting Cole, I'm fighting the person who possessed his body... why not kill two birds with one stone?" I said out loud. He seemed to understand what I meant, no matter how vague I kept it, and Avie caught on.

"You used to be attacking yourself, from four hundred years ago... but now, you're attacking Cole... how did you change targets if they're both in the same body?" Avie asked me.

As Cole's body regenerated once more, I pointed to his charred chest underneath another layer of skin.

"They're switching on and off, just like we do, Avie... whenever the person from four hundred years ago takes damage that hurts too much, he switches with Cole to heal it all back... in order to prevent them from switching, we need to isolate one, and kill the other," I told her.

"Easier said than done... what kind of attack is strong enough to kill somebody in one hit, especially with the ones we threw out earlier?" Avie asked me.