Amathelia tilted her head, somewhat confused as to why Mommy held His Supremacy hostage. She glanced at Ivar and he nodded. Slowly, he distanced himself away from her, the feathers of his wings gleamed under the sunlight.
"I don't understand," said Amathelia softly. "Why?"
"You need Melker alive, right?" yelled Mommy.
Amathelia blinked at her question. "Alicia Andersson . . . My apologies, I forgot about something important."
"And what is that?"
"You took Ava, don't you?"
"Of course I did, woman. She--"
"Then, do you love her? Or did you?"
Mommy was silent for a few moments as His Supremacy shut his mouth tight. "She was a test subject, and she still appears that way to me. Her potential is limitless, Ama. I'm sure you know that."
Amathelia lowered her head slightly as if reminiscing something. Perhaps it was a bad memory since she shook her head a moment later. Looking back at Mommy, a few drops of tears fell out of her eyes. "I love her, Alicia."
"Everyone knows that. In the past, it's--"
"But you ruin Ava's future. She could live a life without being in contact with Aegis whatsoever. And yet, you, overwhelmed with your idiotic lust for wanting great achievements, kidnapped her . . ." Her eyes started to glow red. "I will not let you get away."
I gulped.
Amathelia's murderous aura wrapped around my body, threatening to suffocate me in it. Everyone there felt the same thing as I did, judging from their pained expressions, including Ivar. I knew Mommy was just acting and buying time since we couldn't actually get away from that place, but the situation didn't seem to favor us. The massive arena surrounding the area could only be destroyed if someone distracted Ivar.
Though, it was impossible since Ivar was just there, wary of any movements we would make.
"Alicia!" shouted His Supremacy. He pulled away from her grasp only to be cut in the torso with Mommy's invisible Aegis.
Mommy immediately grabbed his wrist as she pushed him forward.
"I don't recall needing him," said Amathelia simply.
"Melker has a secret about you that he had kept hidden. Only him, Bart, and I know about it," Mommy said.
Amathelia frowned, and so did Ivar behind her.
'This is my chance,' I thought.
Quickly, I formed a large gauntlet from my right hand and grabbed Klaus. With the vambrace on my left arm, red powders started to spread out from its pores.
"I said, don't try anything funny," muttered Ivar
The vambrace and gauntlet I had just formed, changed its shape from his command. By doing so, Maltyie and Klaus fell onto the graphite before my own Aegis crystals pierced my body from every direction.
"Blarghh!" My mouth coughed blood when I looked down. The clothing I wore was drenched and my vision went blurry. "It hurts . . ."
My body felt like it was burning. Tears coursing down my face as I struggled to even move a finger. My chest felt tight as I tried to breathe in the air. Every time I attempted to exhale, more blood spluttered out from my mouth.
"Aya!" called Mommy.
My eyes darted towards her, and then at Maltyie and Klaus. "I . . . must save them." In that instant, Ava's image popped up in my mind.
"If I go down right here . . . Mommy and everyone else . . ."
I summoned every remaining ounce of strength I had left to mount a last attempt in defeating Ivar. He was definitely the most dangerous Aegis User ever existed. Therefore, taking him down right then and there could turn the tide of battle against them.
Even if it meant my life was thrown away in the process.
"Aaaaargh!" The blood red Aegis crystals piercing my body liquefied and it swirled around me, grinding against the black graphite at the same time. Blood red claws and blades of all shapes and sizes then burst out from within me. It was painful, too painful for me to keep my sanity intact at that time. Even so, the wounds on my body started to heal as well.
"Aegis Takeover," muttered Ivar. "You allow your Aegis to be dominant and let the A.I does anything it sees fit. As a result, your combat prowess skyrockets." He shook his head as if my decision brought nothing to the table. "I can't see why you sacrifice yourself like this. Your Aegis is not like Big Sis, where it can manually disable the limiters it had set up. It must be quite painful, ain't it?"
He was right.
My tears poured out endlessly as my Aegis crystals continued to force itself out. In just a few seconds, a malformed behemoth of crystals towered over everyone. The crystals changed its shape immediately and swept itself across the arena Ivar had created, destroying it.
"Aya!"
My teary eyes looked at Mommy as she cried. Looking at her like that wrenched my heart. She never cried like that for me before, and that one time was the first for me, and probably hers too.
The arena made up of Ivar's crystals crumbled and its pieces crashed onto the ground.
Klaus took the chance presented in front of him.
Quickly, he carried Maltyie in his arms and ran as fast as he could to the base's side entrance. The other scientists followed suit.
"If I . . . can buy enough time for them to escape," I mumbled.
My actions clashed against what Mommy had instructed me to do, which was to run. However, she knew it was futile unless Ivar was focused on someone. Mommy tried to do so, but it was not enough.
Something like this had to be done.
When I looked around, Miranda was nowhere to be found. She could've escaped on her own, and I didn't even want to blame her.
Ivar raised his right hand and my Aegis crystals shattered within a second.
"It's not that easy," I said.
More blood red crystals started to pop out from my body, desperately trying to fill the area under a few seconds.
'There must be a time gap or time limit for his Aegis's specialty to work,' I thought.
With that in mind, I forced myself to activate all three abilities of my Mutation specialty.
Clear liquid gushed out of my crystals overhead and it soaked me, which increased my body's durability. Blue vein-like objects sprouted out from the newly-formed crystals and darted towards Ivar. At the same time, red powder started to envelop the area as quickly as it could.
"I can't believe this," said Ivar. "She is actually trying her best to take us down, Amathelia . . . But I'm sorry. It's just not enough, Aya Andersson." He raised both of his hands and his Aegis wings stretched out in full size. "You have to die for our sake."
The blue veins were destroyed when Ivar's wings smashed it in one strike. Then, those wings flapped itself a few times, forcing the red powder to only spread in the small area around me.
"Eh?"
My head started to feel drowsy.
I tried to take a step forward when Ivar's wings pierced my torso.
"AYA!"
Mommy shoved His Supremacy to the side as she sprinted towards me. I thought she had a plan in mind one way or another, but that was not it.
Instead of taking me with her to someplace safe, she manifested her invisible Aegis crystals. With it, she pulled me away from Ivar's wings and threw my body far up in the sky. I looked back and saw her crying for a few moments before my vision darkened.
Dark spots started to fill my vision slowly as my crystals dissolved into the thin air. After that, my body crashed into a park somewhere and the injury healed as quickly as it came.
It was dark.
When my eyes managed to stay open for a while longer, a teenage boy was running towards me. He carried me in his arms as my vision started to darken. Before I knew it, my mind drifted into a dark abyss of nothingness, away from that painful reality of not being able to see Mommy ever again.