"GRAAGH!"
A large portion of my golden shield broke off and went flying from that sudden invisible force. It came from the front, and yet, I didn't see anything before the attack connected. In seconds, the lower portion of my body healed before I fell on both knees, burning pain shot up throughout every fiber of my being.
It hurt so much. Everything I felt before that was nothing. I couldn't think. No, I didn't want to think. The pain mercilessly stabbed at my exposed upper half, over and over. I screamed my lungs out for who knows how long. At that moment, I could feel my eyes bulging out from its sockets as I writhed in pain.
"Damn. That kid's shield is tough. I intended to kill those two in one attack, but oh well," said Namacui.
Gritting my teeth, I tried to endure the pain, my injury quickly healed. If it was not for me being an Aegis User, I would've met the grim reaper moments ago. I then looked up and saw Namacui lifting his hand high up in the air again. He wanted to repeat that same attack from before. I couldn't let him do that. However, we were too far from each other. From the looks of it, only my plasma could reach him from my spot.
I looked at Caesar, and his body was slowly turning into yellow Aegis crystals. The exploded half of his body and shield were still there as he lied down on the platform I made. Surreptitiously, Liu Yang dashed towards us, her scythe raised up into the air like a rising crescent moon. Namacui didn't intend to stop just because his comrade was in his attack's range. I could sense it— the coordination and trust that those two had gained. When I turned to look at Liu Yang, I saw only an ironclad determination to take down her enemies emanating from her body.
"Aaargh!" I didn't have any intention to lose this fight before it even started. Forming a new golden shield, I leaped over to Caesar's side and provided protection for both of us. Though, that was only a trick. After all, Caesar wasn't even there in the first place. It was only Caesar's clone, something that he came up with using his Aegis's specialty.
He could control his Aegis crystals no matter how far he was from it, and it allowed him to use it this way in combat. It was to fool no one other than Liu Yang herself so that she would think she had an advantage with 'Caesar' out of the equation.
"Argh!" Namacui blocked a yellow Aegis katana with his right arm. He turned his body to face Caesar who was behind him, another katana ready to swing down from above. He blocked it with his left arm and both of his arms were then sliced open from the katanas. However, Caesar wasn't finished yet.
Hovering above Caesar, a dozen different blades made up of his Aegis crystals pointed towards Namacui. In the next moment, a yellow light flashed and Namacui's body got skewered from all the blades.
"Graggh!"
"Namacui!"
Liu Yang turned in her comrade's direction— before a plasma beam as large as her body slammed into her rear.
"Dammit!" I cursed.
Her crimson scythe blocked the beam and she swiftly moved out of the way. The beam continued to shoot forth as it slowly disappeared. Liu Yang didn't stop and went to parry the yellow blades swung towards Namacui with her scythe. Caesar took a few steps back, more blades popped out of his Lutalo uniform.
Namacui pulled the blades skewering him, his angry eyes were on me instead of Caesar. It seemed like the target had switched. Liu Yang was onto Caesar. Namacui, on the other hand, was walking towards me, the yellow Aegis crystals wrapping his feet glinted under the sun. At that time, all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind. The invisible attack he did before was something I had never seen. It could be a characteristic of another Aegis I didn't know, like that red blood Aegis crystals wrapping Liu Yang's feet.
I hadn't seen Miranda's, Aya's, Relly's, and Alicia's Aegis. Even when Bart took me to the C.U's base years ago, I only saw his Aegis, and no one else. The invisible attack Namacui used must be from one of them.
Caesar had formed a platform on the surface of the water. He was standing on it, with dozen upon dozen of blades floating next to him. Liu Yang was fifty feet away from him. With a flick of her wrist, Liu Yang formed another scythe and held it in her empty hand. But this time, the scythe was red blood.
"That Namacui," spoke Caesar through my earpiece, "That invisible attack he just did. I am pretty sure it was Alicia's Aegis. The Aegis crystals she can produce are invisible, even she herself can't see it."
"Alicia's?"
That name was no doubt, referring to the woman who experimented on Ava and made her life the way it was. She was Bart's wife, and she was there when her husband tortured me a few years ago. Her image popped up in my mind, and I shook my head.
"Kid!" yelled Namacui. A yellow beast that looked like a white wolf emerged from his back, tearing his military uniform. The wolf floated in the air beside him and two more popped out after that. His wounds had healed.
"Wow. That guy has talent!" said Caesar through my earpiece. "I never thought of using my Aegis to take animal form before. It is possible, but I found it time-consuming to make and control one . . . Eh."
The yellow wolves snarled at me. Their sharp row of teeth gleamed as they crept closer. Hah! Those creatures did look intimidating, but that was still nothing. In the end, they were merely animated Aegis crystals. What I had to watch out for was Namacui himself. He used Alicia's ability once and then he switched to Caesar's. I didn't know if he had access to more Aegis or not.
"What's wrong, kid?" said Namacui, sixty feet away from me. "Got cold legs now? Hm— Such a shame. The fact that Ava is infatuated with someone like you makes it even worse. Ava's situation is only exacerbated by the fact that Amathelia let you be with her for so long."
His eyes had turned menacing. Compared to before, he was clearly serious about taking me on.
"What do you know about her, huh?! She is free to be with whoever she wants to. Right now, that girl is the happiest she had ever been. Just seeing her like that is enough for me to continue what I'm doing."
" . . . I see. You are denying the very essence of where her happiness stems from. Why is Ava so happy right now? It is because you are with her all this time. It is because she has friends now that she can trust," said Namacui.
The wolves lowered their body, ready to pounce.
"However! With all of you gone from her life, she will have no one to depend to other than her grandmother, Amathelia."
I froze. "Grandmother?"
The wolves pounced and swiped their claws at me. I took a few steps back and blocked one of them with my shield. The shield on my other hand quickly turned into a sword and sliced the wolf that was in mid-air.
Namacui didn't just stand there. He ran towards me to close the distance between us. His right hand reached out when I slashed at him with my golden sword. However, it bounced off after it hit a golden vambrace that wrapped around his right arm.
"What the—"
I ducked and swiftly leaped to the edge of the platform underneath. My sword that had struck Namacui's glowing vambrace was absorbed into it.
"Surprised?" Namacui waved his right arm. "This one is yours, right? This unique golden Aegis."
So he could access my ability as well! This was indeed a bad situation. Not only that guy had Alicia's and Caesar's abilities, but having mine in his arsenal completely changed the whole game. With it, he surpassed me in offense and defense by a huge margin.