Revenge

"No... there's no time to give up, not now. We need our revenge. If Quake is going to ruin Zealous like this, we need to make it much worse. Tell me about Austin and Amy... how do I ruin them?" I asked her.

"My oh my, Carl, are you asking me what I think you are? To blatantly disregard a human's life, no matter how important that human's life is? That's quite impressive, and you've come a very long way. I think you'd make a very great Deity," Illya said with an annoying smile.

"You know what I'm asking. What is their weakness, each other? Arguing?" I asked again, and she playfully put her finger to her chin, looking up, and then back down at me.

"I'm afraid I don't understand your question... do you want to ask me again?" Illya said to me, getting closer to me with a smooth step to the left.

"How do I make them suffer?" I said next, accepting my moral defeat.

"The same way you make anybody suffer, you take the things they love first, and then you take advantage of their anger. I'm surprised you haven't come to that answer, seeing as Sky's right-hand man has seen everything taken from him, and people taking advantage of his anger," Illya told me.

One tendril sprouted from her back and she wrapped it around my body again, lifting me up to the ground that was above the crater put in by Austin and Amy. It was very large, taking up about 10% of Zealous' current area.

"Dammit... we were told not to destroy anything. Where did they go?" I asked myself, looking all around for Austin.

"And where's Cole?" I added, pulling out my radio.

As it left the holster on my hip, something sharp and fast struck it and dismantled it straight out of my hands before I could do anything.

I prepared my axe and looked forward, trying to see who was attacking me... but nothing happened, it was all invisible, and I couldn't see anybody.

I felt a searing pain in my hand ache wildly after a few seconds, as if I just placed it onto a fire. I shook it with my eyes forward, checking my scenery. Somebody left me so I wasn't able to communicate with others... but who would do that?

Zeka is down... Austin and Amy, Cynthia, and Cole have retreated... Kire, maybe? Fico?

Either way, I couldn't stand around and wait for something to happen, so I ran into a building behind me to get a better angle at everything.

With the city being destroyed to this extent, it's safe to say that an entire redo of infrastructure would have to take place. The buildings were dislodged from their original areas, tons of sewer pipes and electrical lines were cut and tarnished, and bricks of cement littered the grass now as they were blown everywhere.

I've seen a small glimpse of large-scale destruction, with that volcano on The Isle, the split of the Scorched Isle, the destruction of The Isle, and now this hole in the ground. This hole didn't... no, couldn't surmount the amount of destruction I know Sky is capable of. This hole is a preview, and while I still have the vantage point, I needed to analyze my surroundings.

I climbed the stairs to the building, as all of the elevators were out due to the lack of electricity. The wild paintings on the walls, the carpeted floors trapping dust in, and the strange lack of people were all scary as I ran up those stairs two at a time.

I made it to the top, kicked down the door, and put my body to lean up against the edge and look down at what was going on.

More destruction... the complete annihilation of the southern wall from the entrance, a hole in the bunker shaped like a G, the crater in the ground due east of that... it was all slowly falling apart.

I could keep an eye on Illya as she snuck around the remains of the city, but I couldn't find Quake anywhere... until I saw Kire's orange hair stick out from afar.

He was fighting with... Ruby? And... Umbra? Umbra is here?

Lia was holding her own as well with them, but I couldn't find Fudo and Alatus. Maybe their bodies were hidden... maybe they escaped...

The revolutions were changing in who was fighting who. I couldn't keep up, nor report my findings to whoever took Ruby's place.

All I know is that when Sky comes around, I have to be ready.

I will not let him fight Cole alone. This isn't something I can pin on him.

Ever since the Isle, near that fire when I confronted him for the first time about his anger, his uncontrollable lust for making people suffer the same way we did, I've been in strife with myself. I haven't been able to cope with Red's death, not the way I should've, and I took it out on him. I was a hypocrite, I knew that I couldn't come to an agreement with Orion, so I bided my time until I could train like I have.

He killed, relentlessly. He lost himself, cluelessly. He fought by himself, ruthlessly. I could not take credit for the things he has done, and that's not because they're bad things... it's simply because of the burden he bears. I cannot steal that glorification from him. He deserves to be where he's at right now.

Sky was never wrong, I just couldn't see it. Sometimes, the wicked people of this world do not listen to reason, as they are so lost in their own morals that it kills them. That alone is enough motivation for me to grow powerful, and to fight by his side, not as a rival, not as his friend, but as a man who wants to do right.

I shouldn't have doubted Sky, and now, I can finally see that.

Quake will suffer, the same way we have.

Since The Dawn of the New World.