Walls of orange crystals about two hundred meters in height surrounded the palace. At the bright sky overhead, a barrier of crystals was still there, protecting Neo Africa from outside threat.
I wondered if the Great Corporate United's armies could breach that country-wide shield. Although I did know it was not possible. Just the staggering size of that barrier in the sky threw me into confusion and amazement at the same time.
And. even in the presence of so many Aegis Users as his enemies, Gheele did not seem to be deterred. In fact, he appeared to be enjoying the challenge in front of him.
He glanced at Caesar. "I must say, you bought me a lot of time. Thank you." Caesar wanted to join him in the fight but he shook his head. "I'm alone should be enough."
Relly treated Gheele's comment with a bitter expression on his face. "You're underestimating us. Although you won before, now it's--"
A giant orange crystal smashed him into the ground, sending a subtle shockwave throughout the area.
"Villains have this habit of doing monologue before a major fight starts. I, for one, dislike it. If you want to come at me, then do so right away. I'm not a patient person, mind you." Gheele held his head high as if everyone there were nothing but mere obstacles that he could easily overcome at any given time.
Lily gritted her teeth while Alexander was confused about how he should be dealing with the situation. After all, he was there to help me in the first place.
"What's wrong?" asked Gheele with a grin. "Is my message not clear enough for you slaves?"
Lily stomped the ground. "How dare you keep Caesar away from me!"
"Then? Come at me, female slave. If you insist on not budging, then let me." Gheele formed dozens of huge crystal shards in the air, all aimed towards the enemies in front of him. It cut through the air relatively fast and slammed at the Aegis Users with no mercy.
Miranda was able to defend herself by using her Aegis crystals. Lily stood still, her Full Aegis Form had nullified Gheele's crystals. The others were regenerating from that attack.
Surprisingly, their black combat suits withstood the impact.
Lily, who was unable to think for herself, charged at Caesar in pure rage. A clean block of orange crystals crashed on her left shoulder fiercely, causing her feet to lift off the ground. She stumbled from it but got back up just as quickly.
Gheele narrowed his eyes at her. "Isn't this nostalgic? No, that's the wrong word. I think deja vu is the perfect term. What do you think?"
Aya was behind him, preparing to swipe with her claw.
"And to think there's another kid..." Gheele did not even look back as multiple shards skewered Aya.
"ARGH!" She restrained her cry and pulled the shards out one by one using the miniature crystal hands of hers.
Relly and Alicia ran at Gheele's direction, both had an Aegis short blade each. Miranda was about ten meters back, readying her wave attacks.
"Come at me all at once. This will not do it." Gheele gestured with his right hand and dozens upon dozens of orange icicles each the size of a regular car manifested above us. More importantly, the maze-like walls that Gheele had formed using his crystals were very tall, about two hundred meters in height.
Luckily the wall that I was climbing right then was just a hundred meters. I looked below and found that Bart followed my lead.
"Aegis..." I whispered.
"Yes, it's time. Thanks to Gheele distracting the rest of them, I could activate your usage of Aegis again. But remember, when I unlocked it, you would gain access to two different kinds of Aegis. Though, I'm not sure what is your second specialty," said Aegis.
"Alright."
My muscles throbbed after that, pulsing violently under my skin. I gasped for air and the pain stopped. What surprised me was my tolerance for pain seemed to have lowered by a huge margin. It was not welcomed. Perhaps it was because of my interaction with Maltyie and Eugene, considerably waking up the emotions that I tried to seal at the deepest part of my heart.
"Ava, what are you doing?" said Bart, a few meters below me.
"I'm sorry. Can you go back down for a while?" I said. Crimson Aegis crystals formed at my left arm, while dark blue crystals forced its way out of my right arm.
"What the... since when?" asked Bart, becoming wary of me.
"Since the beginning!" I instructed the crystals to produce a few spikes. It sprang into the air and plummeted beneath me, crushing both of Bart's hands. He screamed in agony and fell back to the ground.
A familiar feeling stroked my heart. The feeling of successfully avenging Hope.
"No, this is not enough," I muttered. Indeed, I wanted more. But before that, I shifted back my attention to Gheele, who was overwhelming the other Users with ease.
"What's wrong?!" exclaimed Gheele with a smile.
Mirada's waves of liquid were blocked by a thick cuboid crystal in a split second. Relly's plasma vaporized a few of Gheele's floating icicles, but the rest darted at Relly. He formed a shield but it was not enough, as the icicles slammed at him regardless. The sight of his body was obscured by the piles of crystals on top of him.
Alicia was hesitant to follow through Aya's attempt at reaching Gheele, who knocked her hard into the white tiles with his crystals.
Gheele squinted at Alicia. "I see you prefer to let a kid fight for you. Disgraceful, even for a slave."
"Why you--" Shards of orange crystals pierced her body and she dropped on both knees, trying to pull it out.
"Your combat suits cannot withstand my crystals. You should stick back to your disgusting military uniforms," said Gheele who shielded his head from Lily's pounce without even looking at her. His deformed orange shield grew bigger from the small clusters soldering themselves at it.
"That won't work!" The orange shield turned to pink and fired narrow shards at Gheele, who defended himself with another shield out of nowhere.
One thing I noticed about Gheele was the timing of his crystal formations. That time, it was faster than back at the palace of Grand Amina. Which made me think he had done something while Caesar was buying him time.
And his Aegis crystal's formation bugged me. Instead of it formed from thin air, it appeared to me that tiny orange crystals were clamping itself together and some of it could bloat, eventually manifested into the object of Gheele's wish.
If that was true, he had utilized that specialty of his beforehand, making the palace filled to the brim with his Aegis.
"That has to be it..." I mumbled.
A few seconds later, the air felt a bit warmer all of a sudden. "What..."
It was not natural. The temperature increased in a very short interval. I wiped the sweat trickling from my forehead. The other Aegis Users seemed to notice the sudden change and stopped, including Lily.
Miranda had a shocked expression on her face. "This can't be..."
'What does she know about this?' I thought.
She trotted towards the direction where the entrance to the palace ground was at; though a tall wall made up of Gheele's crystals had blocked her path. However, she did not stop there, as she touched the wall itself. "You're still..."
The rest of us were confused as well. Miranda seemed to know better to what was going on at that time.
The temperature rose up higher as if we were standing next to a forest fire.
Miranda had tears trickling at her cheek. "You came... finally."
At that instant, a white burst of fire exploded into view, disintegrating the wall where Miranda was standing.
I knew all too well who that fire belonged to.
A figure in tattered jacket and jeans emerged from the raging flame, as Miranda proceeded to hug him. His grey hair tied into a modest ponytail.
"Father..." Miranda said, her tears pouring out with no restraint.
"Miranda, my daughter, our enemy is up ahead," said Hughes. His voice was dry.
Gheele smirked at Hughes's arrival. "I see you have another Aegis User. And a troublesome one at that."
His crystal shards separated the father and daughter, as Hughes countered with a white flame that came out from his Aegis blade.
Gheele blocked it with layers upon layers of huge, oval shields hung in mid-air. The flame penetrated most of it and dissipated at the seventh layer.
"I see, you cannot keep that flame going on long enough," concluded Gheele. He summoned three gigantic blades up in the air and sent it towards Hughes.
He directed his flames upward, engulfing two of the blades in it. The third one managed to get through, severing his right arm and leg.
"And, there's a limit to how much you can produce that fire," said Gheele.
I was stunned.
My legs keeping up with the slopes of the wall I was climbing and maintained my posture firm enough.
Compared to my first time confronting Hughes, Gheele fared better. So much that I envied him. His prowess in battle was off the charts.
He should be leading his men in battle, rather than waiting in his palace.
I watched as Hughes's severed limbs stitched itself back while Miranda sent volleys of water the diameter of a front desk from her palms at Gheele. Of course, it was nothing to him. A block of orange crystal blocked that attack.
Miranda's purple eyes portrayed her frustration.
Gheele sighed. "I think it's time you sit out of this, female slave."
Huge orange blocks stacked on top of one another manifested above Miranda. She tried to run away from it but the blocks plummeted at her, crushing her body beneath it.
Hughes did not like what he just saw, as two blades formed from his palms.
"How is he still alive?" I mumbled. The few minutes I had been watching him, I felt a gut-wrenching sensation. The fact that he was there meant I was not able to finish him off back at Yellowknife. Which in turn, made me felt disappointed at that false achievement I had felt when I managed to crush him back then.
White flame licked at his blades and was directed towards Relly instead of Gheele. The crystals crushing Relly melted in a few seconds, setting him free.
Caesar wanted to help but Gheele denied any intervention from him.
"Another User is not that much of a problem. In fact, I can show them what it really feels when you try to invade my Neo Africa," said Gheele.
The five Aegis Users had their eyes fixed on Gheele, except the sixth one, which was Alexander. He was not sure of his position in all of that and had not participated in the fight one bit.
It was understandable since his plan was to take down Relly all along.
Gheele took a step forward. "Now, show me what all of you can really do."