The crimson blade from my left palm elongated, wobbling in the air like a whip. It then slashed the Aegis User in front of me, cutting him in half. Sprays of blood shot up violently from the lower part of his body.
"Who's next?" I said.
He didn't regenerate as I predicted it to, so that confirmed my theory of them being Pseudo Aegis Users.
The upper half of his body moved before I split it into several pieces, killing him permanently.
The other two members lunged at me with gray sickles and blades in their hands.
"They don't seem to utilize the Aegis to its fullest," I said to myself.
Dark blue crystals poured forth from my right palm, creating a misshapen wall to protect me. Those two split up and went to my left and right sides.
"Predictable." My crimson blade from before darted at the one on my left and sliced him into three different pieces.
The User on my right thrust its gray sickle at me and I slammed his side with my misshapen wall, crushing his body. He fell to the ground and my crimson blade elongated once again to slice him into pieces.
"I can't believe it . . . They're so weak." My crystals dissolved and seeped back into my skin.
A static voice crackled in my head. "That's because you've gotten strong, Ava. You have multiple Aegis in your possession. An arsenal of different specialties, you might say."
A figure ran past me and I realized that there had been another one of them.
"I'm careless." A green tendril from my left palm darted at the User and struck him at the back. The tendril then split into smaller versions, skewering that User from inside. He dropped to the ground and I sliced him up further.
"I'm amazed he didn't strike you when you're talking to me," said Aegis in my head.
"They underestimated us," I muttered. "It's amusing. Goes to show how puny of an obstacle they've encountered since that group was formed."
"Well, I'm sure those Users are still doing that."
"The problem here is there couldn't be so many Users in one group. Someone is doing a trick to make that happen."
"Ava!" called Aegis in my head.
I jumped to the side when the cemented ground where I stood exploded, sending small projectiles flying all over the place. My hands shielded me from it as I waited for the clouds of dust to disappear.
I gaped. "Qara and the others." Quickly, I sent white tendrils up high into the sky and it spun in a circular motion at a blinding speed. A few moments later, the clouds of dust started to dissipate, revealing three fallen members of Enkhtuya on the ground.
A petite User from The People's Light had Khenbish at the point of his or her gray Aegis blade. The User turned to me and dodged my white tendril just barely. Realizing I was a threat to him or her, that User sprinted toward me with two Aegis blades at each palm.
When the User was just a few feet from me, my white tendrils swirled around my body, protecting me from that User's attacks.
"Dammit," she mumbled.
That voice immediately registered her as a young girl in my brain. My white tendril ripped the hood of her jacket, revealing a purple-haired girl with blue eyes. Her skin was pale white, where a scar ran diagonally across her nose.
She took a few steps back to recover herself from my attack.
Looking at her seemingly analyzing how to act thereafter, I rushed to Khenbish's side where Qara had got to him first.
"Did she cut you anywhere?" I asked.
Khenbish looked at me with a forced smile. "I'm fine, Ava."
"The others have gone back inside," said Qara. "Khenbish is fine since you distracted that girl over there before anything happened." He glanced at his fallen comrades and glared at the recovering female Aegis User.
"You two go with them too. There's no telling how many of their members have gotten past Caesar and Lily," I said.
"Let's go," said Khenbish.
The girl jumped up high, sending gray spikes towards the three of us. I blocked it with a crimson gauntlet from my right arm. Slowly, my left hand adjusted my hood to make sure it still covered my face.
If Hope was not with The People's Light, then, there should be no reason for them to know who I was.
Although, I never intended to reveal myself in front of my enemies, to begin with.
Qara and Khenbish held their rifles as they ran inside the building, leaving me with that girl.
As she fell back to the ground, her deflected spikes sprang back into action and darted at me. My crimson gauntlet turned into white as its flames raged forth toward the spikes, disintegrating it into oblivion.
"What in the world--" The girl then leaped to the side as my white flames burned the space just above her. "What is that fire?!"
"Hmm. I released too much," I mumbled. The flames disappeared before I redirected the aim of my now white gauntlet at the girl.
"Ava," called my Aegis. "Lessen the output of that fire. The building might take a hit if you're not careful."
"Don't worry. She's alone. I don't have to waste my energy on her. I'll concentrate the white flames in her direction."
I was about to burn the girl in a white fire when she grinned.
My eyes widened. "Obvious--" I swung my gauntlet to my rear and it hit another member of The People's Light, sending him rolling on the ground. My eyes glanced at the girl. "Are you expecting decent help? Guess not."
That purple-haired girl gritted her teeth, readying two gray claws from her hands to strike at me.
"Hmm?" My white gauntlet vibrated, where two spikes sprouted out to block a bright gold Aegis blade coming at me. The member I'd just knocked down had got back to his or her feet to strike from my blind spot.
'Gold Aegis? It's brighter than Caesar's--It is shimmering,' I thought.
I shook my head and focused on those two enemies in front of me. "Thanks, Aegis."
"Don't mention it," it replied with a monotone voice.
That particular User then avoided the spikes that darted at him and stepped back. I swung my white gauntlet at him and he avoided it, albeit a bit slow. I'd noticed that his movement was sluggish like it was the first time he got thrown into a battlefield.
That hood of his prevented me from seeing what his expression was at that time, whether he was scared or not. And also, his golden blade was pulling me somehow, mesmerized by its beautiful glitter. Clearly, it was different than any Aegis I'd encountered.
"Strange," I whispered.
He moved away from me and headed over to the girl's side.
On the other hand, that purple-haired girl appeared to be accustomed in close combat unlike that man beside her.
"I'm sure that User with the hood is a male, Ava," said my Aegis.
"You thought so too? His height seems to be about 169 cm . . . And his build was quite thin despite his height, but still, there was no mistaking that User is a he."
"Those two didn't seem to be bothered with you as their enemy, Ava," said my Aegis.
"They are lowering their guard in front of their enemies. Careless," I said. The feeling of irritation stirred inside me, clawing at my heart. I then pointed my gauntlet at them, intending to burn those two in one quick attack.
"Aaaaaah!"
A woman's scream from inside the building startled me. I looked over my shoulder. "Tuya?"
I was certain that was her voice. Perhaps something happened to her. The rebels could've been attacked by another squad coming from the back of the building.
"Ava!" called Aegis.
I turned around to face those two Aegis Users, when gray blades darted at me, only a few centimeters away from my face.