Year 2035, March
13:00 P.M
Kamyshin, Russia
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"Lily, Lily!" I called.
She turned around to face me when I slammed my body against her. "Ow!"
"Hehe."
We both fell down on the grey floor and I laughed. Of course, everyone in the Teria airship shifted their attention to me. Caesar and Hope looked at us from their seats, while our newest medical staff, Gray Ludwig just smiled. Though, he seemed to be trying hard to not laugh. Sofeea had a blank expression on her face, seemingly in her own world.
That day, we were on a Teria airship that was flying over a city in Russia called Kamyshin. After the Lutalo Aegis squad received a mission to track down The People's Light, we headed straight to Russia a few days later.
It took longer than I had expected, and since I was someone who gets bored easily, it took a toll on my mood.
Hope wanted to be alone ever since we departed from Neo Africa, and I didn't want to disturb him as much as possible.
"Is something wrong?"
When Lily and I got back up on our feet, she raised an eyebrow at me.
"I'm booored," I said to her.
She giggled when I pouted. "Well, this is one of those times when you can just sit back and relax."
"I know, but, it's boring when there's nothing to do."
"Indeed."
"Hmm. I think I'm still acting like a kid."
"Oh?" Lily put a hand on my shoulder. "You can be however you want, Ava. There's nothing wrong with it."
I clenched my fists. "An adult. I want to act like an adult. What do adults usually do, Lily?"
She thought about it for a few moments. "Um, maybe, you can try painting. I heard that old, wise people do that quite often in their free time."
Caesar facepalmed so hard his Aegis mask almost fell off. In fact, I saw his forehead in a split second before he adjusted his mask in a jiffy. Sofeea, on the other hand, laughed for a short moment.
Lily frowned, somewhat confused.
Before I could say anything to her, the metal door leading to the cockpit slid open.
"Maltyie! Klaus!" I said.
Both of them walked to the lounge section of the ship we were at.
"Everyone, may I have your attention?" said Klaus.
Without waiting for our response, he proceeded to explain the details of the mission.
"For this mission, we are to find the exact location of The People's Light hideout. Fortunately, I managed to use the tracking chips to our advantage."
"Oh, oh!" I raised my hand.
"Yes, Ava?" asked Klaus with a frown.
"Every Aegis User has their own tracking chips installed in their Aegis, right? I remembered Alicia saying that she followed me to Neo Africa using a tracking chip in my Aegis."
"Yes. Evgeny, who is the leader of The People's Light is an Aegis User, which you guys already know. I also tracked another User using my Aegis Trackers. A few months ago, I installed the Trackers in several Teria airships and had the pilots to search the western part of Russia."
"I guess you found them already," said Caesar.
Klaus nodded. "At first, I thought The People's Light took refuge in the eastern part of Russia, but one of my Trackers found them in Saratov. It's not far from where we are at now, so we'll get there soon enough."
"Hmm." I put a hand at my chin. "Wait, didn't the reports said something about The People's Light being crushed by one of the Pillars? Or was crushed."
Maltyie nudged Klaus in the shoulder. "Come on. Tell them."
Klaus made an awkward laugh before he wiped the sweat coming out of his forehead. "You see, Ava, I don't believe The People's Light can be destroyed in such a short amount of time. I'm sure we all can agree that they are the most influential and powerful rebel group in the world, as of right now. One of the Pillars, Kian, and the C.U might have attacked them no doubt, but I'm sure some of the members had run away to safety."
"Kian . . ." muttered Sofeea. "What can that Pillar's Aegis do?"
Klaus's face darkened as if he didn't want to recall what Kian's specialty was about. "He's . . . a terrifying opponent if you guys ever meet him one day, which probably will happen anyway."
"How powerful is he? More than Ivar?" I asked.
He sighed. "Kian's specialty is Absolute Matter . . . It's just broken, you see. Anything physical, or just about any kind of matter that made contact with his Aegis crystals, he can manipulate it however he wants."
"What?!"
My jaw dropped. Everyone there had a shocked expression on their face.
I mean, who wouldn't after what Klaus had just said. That specialty was, all in all, a frightening ability.
"Yeah . . ." Klaus mumbled.
Hope, on the other hand, didn't seem to let it bother him that much.
"The C.U's military coup in Russia also joined The People's Light. At least, that was how it was about a year ago. The People's Light has the support of the coup, so, the number of survivors must be quite high, I think," said Hope.
He continued, "The members that had been bestowed with Aegis capabilities by Vladimir were a force to be reckoned with. From the number standpoint of course. I'm sure twenty of those members can take an entire city on their own."
"Huh?!" exclaimed everyone, including me.
Hope glanced left and right. "Oh, you guys didn't know?"
"That Vladimir is the one User that Ivar killed back in Khovd, isn't it?" said Lily.
"Yup. Oh, so you guys don't know about Vladimir's specialty. You see, he can bestow Aegis capabilities to anyone he desired. He's one of the three Users that escaped from Kazakhstan's lab along with Evgeny, remember? Freya, the purple-haired girl is one example of someone that had her Aegis capabilities from Vladimir."
"Bestow Aegis," said Klaus. "That's how they have so many 'pseudo' Users in the first place."
"Yeah, technically they can also be considered Pseudo Aegis Users."
I clapped my hands once. "So those hooded people that attacked Khovd in Mongolia were all the ones that got their Aegis capabilities from Vladimir."
"Yup," confirmed Hope. "Though, as a side effect, Vladimir's own Aegis capabilities would be reduced greatly."
Lily gasped. "That explains a lot of things. When I fought Vladimir back in Khovd, something doesn't feel right about him. I thought he was holding back, but it turns out that was really his limit."
Everyone nodded.
"Ava," called Klaus.
"Yes?"
"How's your new Lutalo uniform?"
"Oh."
Klaus had changed my Lutalo uniform to a new one. My Aegis Gear, which was the Alteration Armor had been merged with the uniform. This was to make sure that I would always wear the Armor along with my uniform.
After the Aegis Gear was merged, the Lutalo uniform had a red hexagon pattern in the middle, aside from the intricate design that came along with it all over the fabric on my uniform.
"It's okay, I guess. I like how there's this hexagon pattern in the middle of my uniform now. It will glow in red whenever I enter combat mode, right?"
"Yup."
"Eh-hem," coughed Maltyie. "It's lunchtime. I'll head to the cafeteria first."
"Oh, well then," said Klaus.
Caesar stood up from his seat and walked to Klaus's side. "We will come into contact with the other two Teria airships that had landed at the site, I assume."
"That's how it will go, yes," said Klaus. "Saratov is the city where my Trackers had found them. We'll go down and find out where The People's Light is."
Almost everyone walked out of the lounging area after that.
Sofeea walked over to me, and I couldn't help but stare at the bun at the back of her head. She noticed it and flipped the few strands of her brown hair away from her face. "Mer Ava. If there's anything you want to ask of me, I'll do it at once. My service is always available for you."
"Haha. I will when I have something in mind. Also, the 'Mer' honorific must have a meaning, right? I've been thinking about it for a while now."
Sofeea shook her head. "No, not really. I refer to my female superiors as 'Mer'. I use 'Ser' instead when I talk with my male superiors. It's a way of showing my respect to the ones who had granted me this opportunity to be useful."
"Oh, Sofeea. Every member of Lutalo thinks of you as their equal. You don't have to worry about a thing. I'm not sure about Gheele though. Yeah . . ."
Sofeea lowered her head slightly. "Even so, Mer Ava is the one that I respect the most. You helped my parents from time to time, despite the poor state of our family. We have no money, and yet, you took it to yourself to help us however you can. Truly, you are an angel in human form."
I flinched from her statement. "Angel . . . Maybe if I have wings like Ivar, then I will look like one."
Hope narrowed his eyes at me and I giggled. "Well, Hope is also an angel to me. He cares for me like no one else."
Sofeea smiled. "Then we have one thing in common, Mer Ava."
"Yeah."
She bowed once and then put her hand over her chest. "If there's anything you want to ask of me, I'll be glad to do it."
"Alright. Thanks, Sofeea."
"You're welcome."