Chapter 82: The Generation Three Arkian
"Great, now Sky, Carl, and Dani, all that's left are June and Dante. Together, those two would be hell even for Ellie and me, but if you find a way to split it up, both Dante and June can be stomped into the ground." I stopped Tavian from his explanation
"Are you putting Lia on this Moon person? Is she strong or something?" I asked. Tavian and Lia both nodded.
"It's Orion's wife, well, the second wife. She's known as the fastest one on this Isle in terms of fighting capability, but Lia could take her if we could restore her strength." Tavian responded. Lia nodded with the same cockiness as before.
"But Lia was a slave before, wasn't she? How did she get strong enough to fight Moon?" Both Tavian and Lia looked at me like I was stupid.
"You really don't know anything, do you?" Both Tavian and Lia asked me. I groaned. I feel like I've been asked that question a million times.
"Arkians are meant to endure the hardships of the Isle. That means that our children are infinitely stronger than their predecessors, or us. Lia is a Generation Three Arkian, which means her grandfather was a new spawn on this Isle, just like you, Sky. I'm only a Generation Two, so Lia has the potential to be stronger than me." Tavian explained.
Tavian quickly continued after patting Lia on the back, "Her healing is extraordinary, close to your healing, Sky. Her strength is unbound, she has no fathomable limit, or so her generation description says. The only person who would know your limit Lia is you. So tell us, do you have a limit?" Tavian turned to her after explaining to me.
"Of course I have limits. I've only reached them once before I was weakened by Orion's treatment... but my limit is much shorter right now than it used to be. I reached my limit running from Sky on the beach, standing up against Ethos and Logos, and so many other times. That will be different now. You will be able to depend on me, Sky." Lia pleaded to me. "My Dad was a Second Generation who was trained by Zeal when he first woke up on this Isle. I have all of his strength and stamina."
"You can carry over strength and stamina? My kids are going to be crazy strong..." I murmured.
Tavian slapped me on the back with a greedy smile. Generation Mixes can happen as well. If Generation Three and Generation Two have a kid together, the kid skips to Generation Four, but with a shortened lifespan. That's to ensure one man from one generation can't keep the world running with his immortality." Tavian's explanations were getting even vaguer now.
"Immortality? What a naïve dream to have." I commented.
"You think Immortality is possible Mr. White Stone? Orion taught me that White Stone blood has some interesting possibilities, I wonder if it is truly impossible. Well, no matter! Lia can help us, so that's the important part!" Tavian finished.
"You're right. That is what's important. Now, if it's three of us against Dante and June, how are we going to split this up?" I asked. Dani silently arrived behind Carl and me and completed the trifecta.
"That's up to you guys. What do you think you're capable of? Lia, you've spent the most time with Dante recently, is that old fart getting weaker yet?" Tavian asked Lia. Lia shook her head.
"Quite the opposite. He's faster and stronger than he was before. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with some sort of training. Sky, I think you stand the best chance against Dante." Lia responded.
"I want to crush Orion after we push through those four soldiers. I need to conserve my energy as much as possible... will I spend it all on Dante?" I asked. Lia seemed conflicted, unsure of her answer.
"Then let me handle Dante. Carl can get June. We need you at the top of your game to kill somebody with as much experience as Orion." Dani said, taking the initiative. I was glad I had somebody as dependable as her on my side.
"I was hoping you two would come to that conclusion on your own..." Tavian stopped mid-sentence, and I felt the atmosphere become heavier, something unbearable was floating in the air around Tavian.
"Orion is a brutal man. As I've heard from you, White Stones aren't allowed to kill, but Orion gets extremely close to that brink. He'll gut people like fishes, bleed them, push his System to the limit to gain the upper hand in a fight if he needs to. I'm not sure of a single thing he wouldn't do to win. I've been holding this back from your group, Sky... but this Isle is being manufactured to be a powerhouse, something to hold soldiers to go to war with Earth. There's something dark behind the scenes not even I know about, but I know about that plan. Blind devotion to Orion is around every corner." He explained.
"Orion wouldn't even fight me on the bay when Zeal and Elo attacked, I'm not exactly scared of him," I told everybody.
"He was sizing you up. Same with Xian. I could tell based on their looks," Carl admitted.
"If he didn't attack then, he didn't see you as a threat," Tavian added on. "That's just how he works. He stomps things out before they grow. Orion, of all people on this Isle, knows loss better than anybody else."
"I highly doubt that," I said, leaning on the railing and gazing out to the ocean.
Tavian stood silent, holding back whatever he wanted to say at that point.
"Things have changed now. You're finally a threat to Orion and that's why this war is ongoing. I'm confident if Lia didn't cut him in the face, he would've come to that coliseum and killed you himself. You stood against Zeal, something Orion couldn't even do all that time ago... I'd say you're comfortably the third strongest White Stone in existence, Sky." Tavian told me.
"That's not saying much. With Elo, Demos, Xian, and Talion dead, there's only three left." I responded, but Tavian shook his head, clarifying that I was above them before they died as well.
I've never seen Orion fight, so I can't comfortably judge his skill... but Tavian didn't seem like he was kidding right now. I needed to be careful with him, I guess.
"How can I weaken Orion to the point where I stand a chance?" I asked Tavian. I was paying so much attention to him that I forgot about everybody around me.
"I think the better question is... how can we weaken you? What makes you weak?" Tavian tapped his finger on the back of his left hand to mimic my stone, asking me my weaknesses.
"I'm not sure. Fatigue, System corruption used to get close to putting a stop to me completely... so, I should corrupt his System." I said aloud.
"You sure it's not losing one of your arms? You look pretty weak right now." Carl said, whistling off in an opposite direction while Lia giggled. I set aside the bitterness I had because of that joke, even if it was a good one.
"System Corruption... how exactly does it weaken you?" Tavian asked me.
"When I first corrupted my System against Raven, my muscles instantly gave out and I couldn't feel my body. I was okay later on, but the instant corruption put me to the ground. When I fought Ethos and Logos, I corrupted even further." I said, stopping after hearing gasps from Dani and Tavian. "I almost passed out, using my body too much after corrupting to the next level. As you can see... the weakening I got from corruption and fatigue caused my right arm to stay off of my body. I can't regenerate it on my own or naturally. I need to corrupt again." I flicked my right shoulder.
"Dani, Carl, Lia, meet us at the armory, I have things I need to discuss with Sky," Tavian said. Dani saluted and marched off with Carl and Lia, her arms around both of their shoulders.
"What did you need to talk to me about?" Tavian took a second, staying turned towards Dani and the others.
"How the hell are you their leader?" Tavian asked me.
"What? What are you talking about?" I asked him. The mood was starting to change yet again.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone