Ivar's wings were misshapen, and I wondered why he didn't try to reform his wings. One thing I was sure of was that those Aegis wings were made up of Yvonne's Aegis crystals. Yvonne was not there with him, so perhaps, he could only manipulate Aegis crystals from a different User one at a time.
Mara was there, and yet, he didn't seem to have her Aegis crystals by his side.
"It seems like you're underestimating me, slave," I said.
"Hm? And how do you come to that conclusion?"
Ivar's wings kept on pushing but my shield didn't budge from it. Also, his face indicated that something was bothering him. Whether it was him being careless or not, an opening was there before me. I had to take it.
Immediately, I raised my right hand in Ivar's direction. Orange crystal shards started to manifest around him.
Ivar grinned, somewhat waiting for me to do that. "I didn't underestimate you." He clenched his fists and my crystal shards shattered into pieces. "However, I am now. Your move is predictable. You can only throw your Aegis crystals at me. And here I am, expecting something else from a User like you."
As he blabbered to himself, his guard was let loose.
I smirked and took the chance that had been presented in front of me. Immediately, I instructed an orange crystal blade the size of a car to pop out of thin air a few seconds later. Another one manifested right behind Ivar. He turned around carelessly, and I willed my blades to dart towards him.
"Tsk!" He held out his hands again and my blades shattered. "From the front and back huh. Hm?"
Agatha and I ran towards him and our movement took him by surprise. Due to his wings being occupied with my floating shield, I expected a late response from him. He tried to summon his wings back but I had taken that into account.
My Aegis particles propagated and orange cords shoot into the air. It diverged and proceeded to wrap the wings. The cords then tightened, preventing Ivar from retracting his broken wings back to his side. When I was about a few feet away from him, I formed an Aegis blade from my right palm.
"Damn it!" Ivar managed to dodge my blade as he sidestepped to the right. At that moment, it was very tempting to launch a second attack with Ivar just a few feet away. However, it was clear as day that I was vulnerable. in front of him. Doing a secondary attack would expose me and Agatha to unknown danger, and perhaps the hiding Mara would strike at us herself.
As if Agatha knew what I was thinking, she changed direction and ran to the left side of the street. Once I saw her sprint, I did the same but going to the opposite direction.
I ran as fast as I could when something caught my right leg.
It was Mara's hand.
"Don't think you can run away from Ivar," she said with a huge grin. Her upper body emerged from the graphite as if she was swimming. Before I could react, she coated my right leg up to its thigh in black, metallic crystals. She knew what I was going to do, and instead of waiting, her Aegis crystals shattered along with my flesh within it.
"AAAAARGH!"
I fell down and held onto my non-existent right leg with both hands. It was painful; excruciatingly painful. I was sure that was how it would have felt when someone chopped one of your limbs off. For a few moments, the pain made it seemed like invisible flames were burning my exposed flesh. At the same time, non-existent hot knives stabbed at it repeatedly.
My right leg regenerated after that, and I found myself gasping for air.
"Gheele Folami." Ivar emerged from the alley with his broken wings. "You almost hurt me back then. Too bad."
He raised both of his arms in the air. Slowly, my orange Aegis crystals that he had shattered made an appearance. The crystals that had been relentlessly thrown at him gathered by his side. Orange shards bumped into one another as it swirled around Ivar. I realized the sheer amount of the crystals was tremendous. After a few seconds, my vision was filled with orange shards floating in the air by Ivar's command.
"Hahahahahaha! What's with that face, Gheele Folami?!" said Ivar. "Of course I can manipulate your Aegis crystals and use it against you. Don't tell me that didn't cross your mind?"
"Don't be so cocky, slave." I strained to stand up on my feet, as Mara stared at me with her red eyes. "Don't think for a second that the two of you can bring me down."
Ivar laughed at my statement. "Are you being serious right now? You do realize the percentage of you beating us is practically zero, right? Honestly, you're more foolish than I thought."
He cracked his neck. "Also, you ran out of that alley because you were afraid of me manipulating Mara's Aegis crystals. A wise decision I must say. But nonetheless, it's futile in the end."
I smiled. That Ivar kept running his mouth and I felt like slicing his throat on the spot. "You talk a lot for a mere foreign slave. Shouldn't one wait for his master's permission first before doing so?"
"Let's see who is the slave here," he said.
Mara's right hand twitched, and then, black spikes sprouted out of her right arm. As a result, her coat's sleeve was torn. She grinned as the spikes flew at blinding speed towards me.
"Damn it."
I manifested clusters of orange Aegis crystals to block it. However, three spikes managed to slip through and proceeded to pierce my right shoulder. "Aaargh!"
Ivar frowned as he watched me. "No, no, this can't do. Let me help you a little bit, Mara." He flicked his left wrist, and a moment later, my newly manifested orange shield disintegrated. By doing so, I was open for the rest of Mara's spikes. I couldn't dodge in time.
Mara smiled from the opportunity and instructed her remaining spikes pierce me. I could only blink when dozens of black spikes skewered my body.
The pain was enough to force my mouth to scream. The sensation of being stabbed continued to shoot through my blood vessels and it kept hammering at my brain. In a way, it was trying to tell that my body couldn't handle the pain anymore. I wondered why, as an image my mother, Shaquana Folami popped up in my mind. She was smiling as if she wanted to express her gratitude for all I'd done so far.
"Gheele, my beloved son," she then said, "let go of your attachment to this world. I need you on the other side."
I didn't know if her voice was even there, to begin with, but it didn't matter. I could just die right then and there and gambled on the chance to meet her again.
Perhaps it was for the better if it happened.