I grabbed the white blade holding me to the graphite beneath.
"You're persistent. I don't intend to kill you, but now I'm not so sure," said Hughes. He pressed his blade further and my hands scrambled to pull it out. The small clumps of dark flesh desperately tried to yank the blade out, yet could only dissolve just like that in the heat.
"Your regeneration is barely keeping up." Hughes was waiting for me to disintegrate completely by his flames and I was there unable to think for my life.
'What I could do right now?' I thought. At that point, my eyes could only comprehend the color white in every crevice.
"Ava, I have a suggestion, but it's risky," suggested my Aegis inside me.
'What's riskier than me dying?' I whispered the words in my head and presumed my Aegis received the message.
"Hold him off for a half a minute."
After that, my Aegis was configuring something in my body as I felt various movements inside me.
A saving grace pulled me out of that situation when an idea popped up. I forced Aegis crystals to appear from my back and what managed to sprout penetrated the graphite under me. The flames would not be able to act upon my crystals if they were underground.
Hughes noticed what I attempted but it was too late for him.
Tendrils punctured through from Hughes's side and pushed his body away from me. He burned the tendrils and came to a halt, however, I already rolled myself sideways hard and the fire was much lesser than before.
Of course, my body healed as I tried to extinguish the flames enveloping me when I stood up.
"Tsk. You're not getting away from me." Hughes raised his blade and it spat forth more fire.
I evaded it but my head was dizzy. My regeneration was at its utmost limit.
My eyes blinked for a moment before Hughes punched me at the face. He could move that quick even when he was a good ten meters away, which I took as a surprise. He then struck his flaming blade at me and I burned yet again.
"I don't understand. How can you keep going? The pain by itself should be enough to make you surrender," said Hughes bitterly.
His words were downright foolish.
"Pain... is nothing to me."
Hughes winced and he sliced my body repeatedly. My Aegis crystals were desperately guarding me but they all disintegrated from Hughes's flames.
"Ava, it's done."
My Aegis made a screeching sound and Hughes retreated from my crimson scythes going at him. He burned them, but they rebuilt themselves back using the remaining crystals that were untouched by his flames in a matter of seconds and cut through Hughes.
"W-What?!" He held onto his bleeding shoulder as it healed. "How can you..."
"I have released all limiters, Ava."
"Your regeneration, Aegis formation, body durability, Aegis repair speed, Aegis overall effectiveness, five senses, and Aegis hardness are without their input limiters," said Aegis in a monotone voice. "Commencing, Limit Breaker Mode. Time Limit: Two Minutes."
Suddenly, my body felt like it was shot by lightning and my focus was incredibly heightened until all I saw in my eyes was just Hughes. He was my only prey right then. My dark eyes and its red irises opened wide in alert of any incoming attacks without me trying to.
Hughes was just about to raise his blade, and his arm was cut again. He screamed but my other scythe had cut his other arm simultaneously.
"H-How?!" He was dumbfounded by how fast the scythes could move.
In just a blink of an eye, two gigantic scythes appeared from my back and sliced Hughes apart. I could only focus on Hughes. If I tried to look at anything else, the jolt in my body woke me to only did the one task I held in my eyes.
Hughes's body was regenerating nonetheless after all that attacks, though it was clear he could not keep up much longer. My scythes cut him too fast that I could only hear the swishing sound of it being swung and the violent gush of his blood.
In an attempt of desperation, Hughes released white spikes to counter my attacks and blazes came out of it. My scythes inevitably melted.
"Is that all?! I thought you're a serious a threat for a second there, kid," shouted Hughes.
The crimson cords connecting to the scythes had crescent blades appeared from it in place of them and sliced Hughes from where his flames could not reach. He regenerated and formed an Aegis dome around him to prevent any further attacks.
"How about tha--"
My crescent blades had dug themselves underground and cut Hughes further from inside his dome. I could not see him. Despite that, my blades moved by themselves and relentlessly attacked Hughes from within.
"I control your scythes for you, Ava," said Aegis.
Screams after screams were heard until the dome disappeared into Hughes's back. When I saw him, he was only a skeleton with a few organs intact, and my blades were still slicing him. His regeneration could only heal that much.
"My Aegis can be that fast?" I asked.
"This is only due to your limiter being absent. Because of that, I can elongate and form your crystals at a very fast speed." My Aegis paused. "However, given the situation, within the next thirty minutes, you might die. Seriously. This Limit Breaker Mode I just came up with, consumes every little flesh and nutrients your body could offer. It was a last resort. Even if you survived this, your usage of Aegis shall be extremely limited, at least for a few days."
I took a deep breath. "I need to eat right now then."
"Correct."
I frowned at Hughes. "Why didn't he covered himself with his flames, I wonder?"
"Maybe because his Aegis flames could even hurt him. He was not immune to its heat, I suppose. And due to your blades cutting at him fast, his regeneration cannot heal Hughes in case he decided to engulf himself in his own flames," surmised Aegis.
I nodded at its explanation.
Hughes was only but a flimsy skeleton as the blades cut him. I decided to deal the finishing blow.
With a huge, crimson hammer from my back, I crushed Hughes's remains with all that I could and the road collapsed from the force. I ran to the far side of the street and turned a corner before the collapse came to a stop.
There was a huge, gaping hole at the road.
"Is he dead?" I asked Aegis.
"...Your time limit is up, Ava."
After it said that, my head was spinning and I crashed onto the pavement.
"Ava. I'll find some food for you." My Aegis commanded a few small tendrils to search the area but they disintegrated in an instant.
I had a weird feeling welling up inside me as I looked at the cold pavement.
In the past two years, I was in hell. Being betrayed by the couple who I thought was my parents, and losing a dear father. They were all still vivid in my mind. The memories came flashing in and Hope's smiling face stuck in my head.
"Papa..."
I did not think it was bad to die like that. At least, I could meet Hope.
My eyes were slowly giving up on me as I forced them to stay open.
I blinked a few times.
"Who... are you?"
There was someone in front of me, but I could not see his upper half. I was not sure if it was a man or a woman so I settled with calling him, a man.
My consciousness was fading.
The person standing in front crouched and carried me on his back.
"...She...bad...get...food..."
He was talking to another person. I did not want to think about it anymore.
"Papa... I'm coming," I muttered.