I glanced at the girl who had Agatha in her grasp. To be fair, dealing with her and Ivar at the same time would be troublesome. Perhaps one of us could end up dying right then and there. However, I didn't intend to let that happen.
The pain from being pierced somehow made me remember one crucial thing. Once, Klaus had explained who the Four Pillars were and what their Aegis could do as well, aside from the one named Kian. It was no doubt that the girl in front of me was Mara.
I tried to remember anything else, but the pain prevented me from doing so. It felt like my body was burning, literally.
"Take her down, Ancile!" I yelled.
The Ancile on standby beside me instantly reached out to Mara. Perhaps out of instinct, Mara moved away from Agatha and took several steps from her initial spot.
It was hard, but I tried to pull myself forward in order to get rid of Ivar's wing. When I managed to do so, I willed the Aegis particles I had spread in the alley to propagate.
"Mara!" yelled Ivar.
A cluster upon cluster of orange Aegis crystals popped out from thin air and filled the alley. It continued to spread after that, clawing its way into the streets before it stopped. From a glance, there were only my Aegis crystals in the area. The walls of concrete buildings in the alley were covered with it, up until the edge of the rooftop where Ivar was sitting.
I used the towering crystals as a cover. Swiftly, I hid behind a corner deeper into the alley with Agatha. I had made a small path beforehand for us to move, but the Ancile didn't come with us. My heart kept telling me the Ancile was already crushed under my Aegis crystals, and I couldn't risk going out there to check.
"Damn it." Ivar raised his right hand up in the air. A moment later, the outrageously massive Aegis crystals I formed had cracks all over. It took a few seconds, but the crystals shattered into a million pieces; shards of it then crashed onto the ground.
"My wings," said Ivar. Both of his peach Aegis wings had been broken into half. The cause of it was most probably because of my Aegis crystals. "To think that I let my wings got trapped in his crystals . . ."
"I-Ivar," called Mara.
Agatha and I were still hiding when the wound on my torso regenerated.
Mara had Agatha's winter coat in her hands. She looked at Ivar with sad eyes. "I-I'm sorry. I let them slipped away."
Ivar waved at her. "Doesn't matter. They shouldn't have gotten far."
Those words of his were repeated by Agatha next to me as we made our way to the streets. She had an earpiece on her left ear, which was connected to the destroyed Ancile.
I was surprised that the robot still worked.
"They're looking for us right now," said Agatha.
"Of course," I said simply.
We popped out into an empty street not long after, and those two Pillars were nowhere to be seen. I had anticipated a few Anciles patrolling nearby, but it turned out to be the opposite.
"Your uniform, Master Gheele," said Agatha as we ran across the street.
"It's torn, yes. I was careless. I let him caught me off guard. I should have expected a Pillar somewhere around here since we are in Sweden."
We passed a few blocks across the streets and decided to enter an alley in the end. It could be seen as a foolish decision, but, since there was nobody in the streets, our figures could easily be seen by Ivar. Going into an alley was something I came up with hastily.
"Master Gheele!" said Agatha.
She stopped running and went back to check on me. I was panting, trying to take in as much air as possible. I knew I didn't have that much stamina in the first place, but to think it would be that disgraceful . . .
"I'm fine, Agatha. I have asthma, you see."
It was true. I did have asthma, though, to think it would hold me that much was baffling.
"You can lean on me if you can't run, Master Gheele," said Agatha.
"No, it's fine." I took a deep breath after that and started to run beside her. "What?!"
Two metallic black pillars burst out of the ground about ten feet in front us. It towered up high and stopped a moment later, preventing us from going that way.
"It's Mara. She has caught up with us." I turned around to head back into the street when Ivar's figure came into view.
The blond man grinned. "I must admit. The fact that you two managed to get away from me is admirable. Truly." He clapped his hands a few times. "However, you forgot that I can control your Aegis crystals. I simply need to will your Aegis particles and have it direct me to your location."
Agatha looked at me with a worried face. I knew we couldn't really escape fighting either one of those two Pillars. Eventually, I had to take down one of them. Mara was the best possible option if I wanted to take that route. However, Ivar being there with us lowered my chances of doing so to about 30%. It might even be lower if I have to account Agatha too into the mix.
She couldn't fight the Pillars. One way or another, I had to protect her.
"You said you can control anything made up of Aegis crystals, right?" I asked Ivar. "Then, just like me, you should be able to propagate the particles too."
Ivar shrugged. "Maybe. What do you think, ruler of Neo Africa?"
The answer was simple. He couldn't. Propagation was my Aegis's specialty, and I was certain there was a limit to how much Ivar could manipulate Aegis crystals as a whole. From what Klaus had said, Ivar couldn't produce his own Aegis crystals, so he had to resort to his specialty more often than not. Without it, his fighting strength could even be lower than that of a Pseudo Aegis User.
I smiled. "Mara is just underground, am I right? She must have phased her body and remain hidden while controlling the Aegis pillars she had manifested."
"Hoh." Ivar narrowed his eyes at me. It didn't seem like his broken wings could regenerate, so that should be his weakness. As long as I could pull him away from Aegis crystals, he was powerless.
But the probability of me succeeding in doing such thing was practically zero.
"Big Sis Ava must have told you about us, right? Or that Klaus guy you have back in your palace," said Ivar.
Of course, I didn't tell Ivar that we knew about Mara's cooldown effect.
After she phased her whole body, she couldn't use her specialty for a set amount of time when she resurfaced. The only way to increase my chance of winning was to take Mara out of the equation and to do that, I had to wait.
"You seem to be thinking too much into this, Gheele," said Ivar. "Even if Mara is not actually here, you can't beat me, and that's the truth."
Ivar's wings stretched open and a second later, it slashed in my direction. I propagated the Aegis particles in the air to form a large, round shield and it managed to hold off his attack.
I turned to look at Agatha. "Whatever you do, stay beside me! If you don't want to die that is."
She nodded.
"My, my, how kind of you, Gheele," said Ivar.
That blond guy was getting on my nerve bit by bit. "You know . . . I will make you pay for making an enemy of me, winged slave. Slowly, I will crush that head of yours."