Offense, or Defense?

When the doors to the disc opened, Shiro ran out to the nearest patch of grass and Carl walked out first before everybody else.

I waited, to collect my thoughts and level out my emotions before I walked out last. The door shut right behind me, and the sight in front of me was unreal.

It was a city with a stone pavement that circled in weird loops. There were tall buildings all around us, a fountain in the middle, and floating lights that bounced around and off of each other to light up the streets during the turn from day to night.

The material that comprised the buildings was definitely a metal of some kind, but I wasn't sure if it was steel or what. There were windows and wooden houses in the distant land. When I looked to the left, I could see even more paths, a river, a water wheel, and tons of crops growing on hilly land right behind a tall fence with barbed wire wrapped around it.

This place... was amazing!

I looked to where Carl was standing and saw a girl with red hair and green eyes, along with a weird-looking cloak sitting on her back that emphasized her bright outfit underneath it. Next to her was a girl clad in complete black. Her eyes, her hair, her earrings, and even her expression were all dark.

"Fudo, who are these people?!" The red-haired girl asked.

"These are the survivors. From the Isle!" Fudo told them.

Everybody around us, including passerby's, just stood and stared at us. I hated the feeling I got, and looked around to follow their gazes as they tilted their heads in confusion.

"Woah... these are the people? The people who defeated Orion? Hey, are you associated with The Asterio?! Has he truly awakened?!" She asked us all.

"The Asterio... do you mean Sky?" Lia asked the red-haired girl.

"Sky Asterio... it's true! The Legends were right!" The people around me shouted. These random people... they have no idea who he truly is.

"Just stay back! We don't want any trouble. We just lost our leader..." The red-haired girl asked.

The black-haired girl rubbed her back and muttered her name, which turned out to be Ruby.

"Wait a minute, your leader? Are you talking about Zeal?" Lia asked her. Carl was supposed to be taking the lead, but I trust Lia more if I'm being honest.

"Zeal... you knew him?! Did The Asterio kill him?! Is he here?!" Ruby asked us again.

"Did the Asterio... one of them did, not Sky. That white-haired, good-for-nothing bitch, Illya Asterio. She killed your piece of shit leader." I told them.

"Deity... Illya Asterio killed Zeal?" The people around me asked us again.

I was starting to get fed up.

"What is the meaning of this?! Why did Illya kill him?! They were on good terms!" Ruby asked us again.

And then I snapped.

"Because he was a piece of shit. But, that doesn't matter right now." I told her. I started to walk toward her and the girl clad in black took action... however, Fudo blocked her from getting in my way as I approached Ruby.

I grabbed her collar and pulled her close to my face so she can see how serious I was being.

"We want to kill her. Illya Asterio. Once we kill her and I beat her fucking brain into the ground, we'll get out of your way. Until then, I want you to work with us in stopping her." I told her.

Ruby shook out of my grasp and agreed to my terms, pulling a radio off of her hip and putting it close to her mouth. I looked at her with a dead stare and she turned her head while sweating.

"Umbra, we need you at Zealous now. The Asterio has reawakened." Ruby told the radio.

"So... it was Sky Asterio..." The girl on the radio, known as Umbra, said.

"Dani, you were supposed to let Carl take the lead! He would've gone about that much nicer." Fudo told me.

"I don't have time to be nice. We have a common goal, and I'm getting impatient. I shouldn't even be here without Sky." I told Ruby.

"Why...? What's your relationship with that Asterio?" Ruby asked me boldly. I was about to correct her, but Carl stepped in before I could.

"It's not Asterio. His name is Sky. Sky is our leader, he stopped Orion and took Illya's sights off of Earth for the time being. He's why you still have this beautiful city." Carl told her.

"Sky never liked titles, unless they were his name. He didn't even like the White Stone title he had." Ellie said, looking at Shiro as he came back from the grass field.

"Sorry... it sounds like we have your leader to thank for our continuous prosperity. Alatus, can you lead them to the war room? I'll meet up with you guys after I'm done arranging beds for them in the hostel. Does anybody have any accommodations?" Ruby asked, looking into the crowd of everybody.

Carl, Mandi, Charlie, Alex, David, Tyler, Lia, Lily, Moonlight, Aegis, Lisa, Ellie, Noboki, Amera, Ellios, Rin, Ren, Jeff, Griff, Xavier, Mary, Drake, Illya's Assistant, and Shiro all stood in the crowd. Meanwhile, Dante and Tavian were knocked unconscious, but still alive. Ruby took notice of this and put them in a hospital, while the rest of us followed Alatus, the girl clad in black clothing, to a war room.

"Why are we going here?" I asked her.

"To plot against Illya. We probably don't have much time, if I had to assume. We want to be ready no matter what. We need to set up defenses." Alatus said.

"No need for that pointless shit. We're not here to play defense. We're playing offense here. We have an entire Isle to play with, after Zeal turned it to glass, or at least that's what we're led to believe." Lia commented.

"Huh? Zeal turned an entire Isle to glass? I thought he said that The Corrupt Stone did that... whoever that was." Alatus said.

"That grown-ass man put the blame on a kid? That shithead... No, it was your stupid leader. He was just trying to villainize Sky even more so." I said to her.