Caesar patted Miranda in the head, who was struggling to yank the javelin stuck in her throat. "Lady Miranda, please stay put for a while."
Bart and Alicia were being wary of him, as he took a few steps towards us with two yellow spears in both hands. Relly smirked knowing that our obstacle would only be him, at least that was what his expression said.
However, Lily leaped straight into Caesar's face, showing her sharp rows of white teeth. "I'm taking you--"
"I know, I know, Lady Lily," said Caesar. "Unfortunately, that won't happen. And I won't leave you with them either this time around."
Lily tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
Before Caesar could answer, a Teria airship above us uncloaked itself from invisibility, sending five pods basked in blue lights crashing at the palace ground.
"Since when?" I muttered.
Relly grinned at my question and proceeded to explain. "It's just a safety measure, you see."
So he hid that airship from the rest of us, and for what reason, I did not know. Most likely an attempt to secure our odds. And knowing him, there could be more tricks up his sleeve.
Each pod opened up, revealing an Ancile unit inside them. They were the humanoid robots capable of utilizing Aegis crystals that had been previously stored inside their shells. Their bright, round eyes were fixed on Caesar, their common enemy.
TARGET SIGHTED. INITIATING COMBAT MODE.
One of them cracked the ground beneath just from leaping towards Caesar, who was a good fifty meters from each one of those Anciles.
It attempted to reach out at him, but a crystallized hand in pink smashed its head into pieces. Its body remained immobile.
"Lady Lily?! What is that about?" remarked Caesar.
"They're annoying. . ." Her yellow eyes fixated on the Anciles.
Lily stomped the ground with one foot, sending streams of pink crystals towards the other four Anciles. They tried to avoid it, but narrow spikes sprouted forth and skewered their metal bodies.
Relly gritted his teeth at Lily's incomprehensible action. He took the effort in bringing those robots with him, and instead of using it against Caesar, one of his comrades destroyed them beforehand.
'Serves him right,' I thought.
"Lily! What are you doing?!" shouted Relly.
"They're annoying! I want to take--"
Caesar kicked her in the back and she stumbled before his two spears knocked her in the face. He took a good amount of distance away as Alicia cut through the air with her invisible crystals.
"Miss me, Alicia. You've gotten rusty!" said Caesar, taunting her.
What Caesar did not notice was Miranda's torrent of charcoal-colored crystals behind him, crashing onto his body with tremendous force. Miranda had pulled out Caesar's javelin from her throat, glaring at her only enemy piled under her crystals.
Caesar's yellow Aegis forced a way out for him, as he scrambled for air. "That's scary, Lady Miranda." He raised his head, only to be blown away by Aya's huge claw. The missing head regenerated, while he propped up his Aegis mask in place.
I wondered the reason Caesar was covering his face. In a battlefield like that, one would think that trivial matter was not that much of a concern, considering you were surrounded by tons of enemies.
Or perhaps his face was that ugly, which surprisingly, no one ever mentioned.
"Now, now, no need for everyone to attack me at once--" He dodged a swipe from Lily and evaded another one.
"Come back, Caesar! Everyone wants to see you again!" screamed Lily, reaching out at Caesar with her hands.
"I apologize, Lady Lily. They will have to wait." Caesar spun around and kicked Lily in the face, sending her straight to the white tiles beneath.
Aya marched towards Caesar, attacking him with two huge, red blood claws. He ducked in time and jumped to safety from Miranda's black spike. His right arm was severed in a blink of an eye, before attaching itself back.
Alicia grinned from her successful attack.
Caesar was clearly struggling, unable to counter the numerous attacks he had been receiving. He barely avoided Aya's claw and shifted his gaze at me. "Miss Ava!"
He was trying to tell me something, but his situation did not allow for it. I was actually waiting for Alicia or Bart to command me for a while, whichever had the controller.
To be honest, I could help Caesar right then and there. Unfortunately, that controller put me at a great disadvantage. The moment I interfered, perhaps my movements would be permanently restricted during the duration of our battles. And to lay my hands on Relly, that outcome was to be avoided at all cost.
There was also the fact that Caesar did not know about the controller, making that situation more dire to him, and to me.
I turn my head to the left, and something seemed odd. Someone from the Great Corporate United was suddenly missing. "Where's Alicia?" I looked around and her silhouette whatsoever had disappeared in thin air.
Caesar's spears shattered from Lily's touch and Bart hit him in the back of the head with his emerald short blade. He pushed Bart away and ducked from Aya's claw swinging at him. And then, Miranda released her Aegis specialty, sending a torrent of blue liquid towards Caesar.
'Not this--" He got hit from the wave and was on his knees. "N-Not fair..."
Aya's claw crashed onto Caesar flat, repeatedly slamming his body harder each time.
"Aaargh!"
Aya pulled her claw away and walked next to me. "Just stay there, Caesar," she said.
His dark robe was drenched in blood, yet he stood on his two feet relatively easily. His regeneration did a good job for him, but I doubt it could last longer than what he intended. If anything, I should be helping him.
Then, an invisible blade seemed to pierce Caesar from the back. "Urggh!"
Alicia was there behind him, unveiling herself from invisibility. From my eyes, she appeared to have formed some sort of a veil using her Aegis crystals, which made her entire body invisible to our eyes.
"How about this, Caesar?" said Alicia, pushing her blade deeper.