Strand Training

"What do you guys know about Zeal? Everything I heard so far has been negative... we never saw that side of him." Ruby said after I insulted her leader.

"Well, we know that he tried to kill our friend, time and time again... so we don't like him very much. He seemed to be very adamant about not corrupting the System, or whatever it's called. Talion explained it to me when he saved me." Lia told Ruby.

"System... Zeal still believed in that? There's no such thing." Ruby's said to us. That's when everybody noticed the inconsistency that came from Ruby's mouth.

"There is. Sky had it, I saw it with my own eyes." Ellie told her.

"There's no time for that. Look, the white-haired girl told us that we should be able to attack Illya straight up. We don't have to be here and endanger your city, I'm just asking you for support. Tell me, can anybody here use Strands?" I asked Ruby.

"Strands? Do you mean those things that Zeal could use? I wish somebody could use those. He told us that they were a burden, not a blessing." Ruby explained again.

I slammed my fist against a box behind me out of anger and looked at the floor in defeat.

"No... Ruby, I think we can use them. Hey, red-eyes, are you talking about these?" Alatus asked me while raising her hand and summoning a small blade.

"Those, yes. What do you call them?" I asked her.

"Not strands. I'm not sure what we'd call them, they're ingrained into the way some of us live. Fourth Generation Arkians that came from The Scorched Isle like me can use them just as naturally as we breathe." She told us.

"Fourth?! Woah... Lily and I used to be the youngest Arkians on the Isle. We're Third Generation. How deep does it go on The Scorched Isle?" Lia asked Alatus.

"It's just Fudo and me. Other than that, nobody. Fudo and I can use strands, but not as weapons. I can make a kitchen knife, and Fudo can trace people's bodies and predict their paths. He's a scout, and I'm the Utilitarian." Alatus told us.

"Fudo is the scout, with one eye?" I asked Alatus in confusion while leaning up against the box I just dented.

"It's covered for a reason. Take a look-see right here." Fudo said, lifting up his gray hair to reveal a weird-looking eye.

It looked like an overgrowth of vines sprouting out of his head, leaving a pit in his head where his eye should have been, however, I could see something that resembled a pupil within it.

"I see." I lightly commented, but Illya's slave seemed disrupted by it.

"Is that... Fudo, what is your last name?" The girl asked Fudo.

"Huh? It's Achamo. Why?" Fudo told us.

"My name is Eo. Does that sound familiar to you? Because it should." Illya's assistant finally had a name... Eo...

"Woah, it does... wait, you're Illya's Secretary?! Woah... so things are pretty terrible right now, aren't they? Tell us, how can we help?" Fudo's entire demeanor changed, and it looked like Alatus had also gone through that shift.

"What's going on here?" Carl chipped in, while the people around us finally started to mind their business again and walk away.

"As Achamos, our parents taught us about a girl named Eo who was a great help. She's an idol to us. If we're going against Illya Asterio, I have no idea how we're supposed to simply match her skill level. What can we do?" Alatus explained.

"You won't match her skill... unfortunately, only one of us here can match her skill, besides me... and we need to keep their body up and running while they endure Strand Training," Eo explained. Her head slowly turned to me.

"What are you looking at me for?" I asked Eo.

"You have the System implanted in your body, as soon as you got that White Stone. The only person who can match the power of a Deity would be the one wielding a White Stone in their hand. That would be you, Dani Asterio." Eo told me.

"Woah, she's an Asterio as well? She doesn't look like one, don't they usually have blue eyes?" Fudo asked me.

"Not all blue-eyed people are Asterios, but yes, all Asterios are blue-eyed. It doesn't matter, Dani has the capacity to fight Illya, and it's not because she's an Asterio. She's got a much more intimidating title." Eo teased. I was curious myself, but we were running out of time... at least it felt like it.

"Enough with the teasing. How can I match her skill?" I asked Eo.

"Depends. Ruby, how advanced is your medical care here? Do you have Life Support?" Eo asked Ruby in return while looking at a tall building.

"Yes... why? What will you use it for?" Ruby asked Eo while following her gaze.

"To push Dani to her limit. It's our only hope, and it might be catastrophic if we don't have that Life Support. Can we use it?" Eo asked her. I was starting to get nervous, and I'm pretty sure it was starting to show.

"Hey, what are you going to do to her?" Charlie chipped in now, pushing past everybody else. Even Shiro was growling at Eo's tease.

"Calm down. She'll be fine. Dani, had Sky ever done something that you thought would've killed him? Maybe, several times? When we were tracing his status, we found that more often than not, he was near death or maximum heart rate, meaning he was in a situation where he thought he would die. Were you there for any of them? And did you see how his body reacted?" Eo asked me.

And I finally understand where this was going.

"You're telling me to destroy my body so I can match his power. I was there... would Life Support save me? Sometimes, I'm more than sure that I would die if I didn't have the intervention of a Deity..." I told her.

"And that's where my final proposal comes in. There exists a Deity in The First Trial, the world Sky is locked in... you would have to inherit her powers at your weakest state to ascend to Sky's level. It's all a matter of chance and timing, and right now, we have about seven hours until that event happens. You really have to push." Eo told me.

"You're saying I have to destroy my body worth of two months that Sky had in under seven hours?! How the hell am I going to survive that? Why can't we just break through the dome they're in and we just kill her?!" I yelled at Eo.

"I haven't seen a thing go through a strand dome in my entire life. Listen, Dani, if you want to stop Illya, I will help you, but you need to go through this training to even stand a chance. If you don't instantly stop Illya, she will rip you to shreds. You might be falling into your Corrupt mode, but you will be pulled out of it faster than you would believe if you don't follow my lead. So, will you listen to me?" Eo asked me.

I nodded and clenched my fist. This sucks... I'm powerless...