"No... We have to get to the camp right now!" I said to Lily.
My eyes then turned to look at Kian who was lying on the ground. His pale face— barely a scant of the emotions he had before was left. It was safe to assume we had defeated him. At least, his eyes didn't portray the same hatred it had minutes ago.
"You go first. I'll finish him off and head over there as soon as I can... It's too dangerous to keep him alive."
"...That is true."
Kian stared blankly at the sky. For what it was worth, him not putting in any effort to resist made everything easier. After all, he seemed to have given up on his own.
Tears streamed down his cheeks slowly. He cast a dejected gaze in my direction and bit his lip until blood trickled down.
"I can't... I can't really use my power against you... I tried so hard, but I just can't seem to push myself to fight."
I gritted my teeth. "I'm leaving Lily to take care of you... father." When I was about to head over to the camp, he called my name.
"Ava... Wait."
I turned around.
"I-I'm sorry... I'm sorry for leaving you alone all this time... I'm sorry for being a horrible father to you... I'm sorry... I'm sorry for all of your suffering. Y-You are right. I failed to defend you when Bart attacked the house years ago... I failed to protect your mother."
Somehow, tears started to leave my eyes ever so slowly. I wiped it away hastily and kept my gaze.
"I'm sorry... From now on, I will leave you in Hope Domitius's care," he said weakly. "P-Please, stop your grandmother for me."
"I... I intend to do that even if you don't ask to," I mumbled.
"And please kill me. I don't have the right to call myself your father anyways." He tried to laugh, but only blood came out from his mouth.
I approached him and held his hand in mine. "Do you think I will forgive you? And let you run away from this world just like that?"
He put up a thin smile. "Of course not. But, I will be very happy if Ava does..." His other hand brushed against my cheek. "Ah... how you have grown, Ava. I can see you inherited your mother's beauty. She will be very pleased if she finds out that you have some wonderful people around you... She will be."
"Are you just gonna forget about your responsibility?" I found myself blurted that question unexpectedly.
"You mean... B-But I am not deserving to be your father."
"Then you have to make up for it. I'm not going to let you die and be at peace yet. You need to do your job properly first... as my parent."
"But, Ava, I—"
"Amathelia will deal the killing blow because you disobeyed her? Then I'll kill her first before she gets to you. If the other Pillars come after my father, then I'll make sure they will regret it."
Why am I saying these words?
An invisible string seemed to be pulling me towards Kian. It forced me to not let him die yet. He had to fulfill his role.
I let go of his hand and stood back up. Taking a deep breath, I turned my eyes away from him. "Lily, let's go."
"We need to kill him. There's no telling if he will come back again to hurt us," Lily said.
"He won't."
"Why do you think so?"
I looked at Kian, who was somewhat confused as to why I didn't grant him his wish to die. "Dad... You are very kind. A person that's willing to follow everything Amathelia said. She is your mother after all. So... So, you have to prove to me you are willing to change. Become someone that I'm proud of. Someone that I can honestly say to everyone that, "he's my father." Prove it."
Kian bit his lip. "I... But why, Ava? After those things I have said... Don't you hate me?"
"I do. I hate you so much that my heart hurts. But, I want to believe that this person called Kian, my father, is not deserving of my hatred. The hatred of his own daughter... Somehow, deep inside me, I know Felicia didn't want her husband to join her yet... She wants you to stay by my side."
Kian's eyes opened wide at my statement. He blinked a few times and then shook his head. "...Ava. You even inherited your mother's kindness... and my stubbornness. Hah... I never thought this day would come."
"Will you be alright here?" Lily said to Kian.
"Leave me be. I'm sure Mara is the one that's attacking the camp. Go there quick. Sooner or later, I will meet up with Ava."
"...Promise? Promise that I will see you again next time? And don't kill yourself... Please..."
"I promise. Felicia won't like it if I abandon you here the way I am right now... Go. Go to where your friends are at."
I turned my head and ran forward as fast as I could. Lily was right behind me. To my surprise, I was crying. I wiped my tears over and over, but it kept flowing out. Kian's words were unconsciously repeating itself in my mind. Those memories of us as a family, it popped out even though I didn't want it to.
My chest hurt. It felt like I lost someone so dear to me. However, I never saw him as my father, but perhaps... just maybe, if I had my old memories, I wouldn't be able to lay a finger on him when we fought.
And for Kian himself to fight his own daughter must have twisted his heart so much. If I really think about it, none of this was his fault. I didn't understand such a simple thing at first, but now, it had started to come clear.
"I'm sorry too, Dad..."
A rainbow beam of light shot across the sky and it hit Jessie's helicopter by the tail. It spun around and crashed onto the snowy ground below.
"No!"
"She will be fine," Lily assured me. "She's an Aegis User. This won't kill her."
The transparent dome surrounding the area had long been gone ever since the flying fortress shot at us a while ago. I had figured out how the rainbow beam seemed to have some sort of cooldown before it can be fired again.
"Eh? Lily?"
She carried me on her back and ran towards the camp. "It's faster this way. Don't worry. We will be there in a few more minutes."
The air blew against my face as Lily sped up, her feet crunching the snow underneath and a wave of snow exploded behind us.
When we arrived at the camp, heaps upon heaps of corpses filled our vision. Some even had missing limbs, and very few of them were still standing in front of the brown-haired woman Mara. A few white tents here and there had been burned into ashes.
"No... No, no, no, no, no, no, no..." I leaped away from Lily's back and rushed to attack Mara. "You!"
"Hmm? Oh, Big Sis Ava!"
She turned around to face me, and that was when blood drained from my face. In her right hand was Khenbish, his face was smeared with blood and his arms were flailing sideways, broken. She adjusted her grip on Khenbish's neck and threw him to the side.
Then, my eyes shifted to look at Ulii at her feet. She was lying in a pool of blood as she struggled to breathe.
Mara smiled in glee. "Don't worry. Just sit back for a while! I'm not finished yet after all—"
Crimson scythes slashed at her body, but it went through clean as if she was made of water. I lunged at her and she sidestepped to avoid my attack.
"Sis Ava? What are you doing?!"
I was about to manifest my flames again since I was still in my Mode, but I stopped. My eyes were glued at Odval... Her small body was sitting beside a bloodied Qara. Her eyes filled with tears as she repeatedly shook his body and called his name.
At that moment, something snapped inside me.
The prison where I trapped all my hatred began to crumble as I took in the sight.
"You don't need them, right? Right? It's okay! These deranged people Amathelia said to be corrupting Sis Ava... I will kill them wholeheartedly... just for Sis Ava!"
My right hand was burning with multi-colored flames, and it grabbed Mara by the face. Her eyes opened wide when she realized it didn't phase through as she had expected. Before she could move away, a burst of flames swallowed her whole and she screamed.
She summoned her metallic black Aegis crystals, but I burned it into ash as quickly as it came. When she managed to phase her entire body into the ground, my flames drilled downwards in order to catch her.
"Ughh!" Mara's figure was exposed after my flames melted a huge chunk of the ground she used to hide. From the looks of it, I could trap her right where she was, blocking her escape route.
After all, I didn't intend to let her do that one thing. I wanted to beat her up so bad she would cry while spouting incessant badgering— begging me to stop hurting her. Those eyes of hers, I would gouge them out and pour her own fresh blood into the open eye sockets. Oh! I could slather the blood all over her face and force it down her throat. Those slender arms, I would tear them off her body very... very slowly.
"Big Sis... Y-Your eyes are scary."
Despite her condition, she tried to phase herself again, but since my flames were able to harm her, she had difficulty in doing it again. Every step she took, my flames cornered her, like one of those rats trying to run away when the scientists tried to experiment on them.
I pointed my index finger at her, and the flames cornering her changed shape. It turned into a lion's head and bit off her right arm.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"
She dropped to her knees and I slowly approached her, dark blue scythe sprouting out from my arm.
"I... I'm sorry," said Mara as she sobbed. "I-I'm sorry—"
My dark blue scythe burned and it dug deep into her shoulder. Blood gushed out as I twisted the scythe at every angle.
"Aaaaaaaaagh. I-It hurts! S-Stop it! Sis.... S-Sto— Aaaaaah!"
I pulled out the scythe and she bit her lip, trying to endure the pain. As expected, her injury healed, and so did her missing right arm. But, I was just testing her. The real thing had yet to come.
"Sis... I-I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."
Multi-colored flames flowed out from my Uniform and it changed shape into multiple gnawing beasts. My scythe burned again as I held it above my head.
"N-No... I'm s-sorry!"
The beasts opened their mouth and chomped down at her all at once. It didn't even last a few seconds. After that, she fell to the ground, my flames engulfed her intact lower half.
"Tsk. She died too fast..."
"Ava, your emotions are not stable—"
"Shut up," I said to my Aegis.
It was not enough, it barely feed the hunger inside me. Something about killing Mara in itself didn't satisfy this lust. I wanted to torture her. I wanted to make her pay. But she died too quick.
Why was she so easy to kill? She was one of the feared Four Pillars, but her prowess in combat really disappointed me. She was no good. If only Ivar was there with her, then I could've fought him too. Sadly, he was nowhere within sight.
"Maybe Mara is still alive..."
I went over to her side and extinguished my flames burning her lower half. Looking at her dark corpse, I sighed. Since my fire could disable any User's regeneration ability, there was no way she was still alive after all I had done to her. Then, I noticed her dark Aegis crystals, wrapping around her body in a very thin sheet. I didn't notice it at first due to the state of her corpse, but sure enough, she had worn her own Aegis crystals like what Kian did.
"So that's how she can phase her body without ever forming her Aegis crystals. She had already equipped her crystals in this way..."
Suddenly, my heart thumped hard against my chest. I climbed back up to the surface and rested my knees on the snow. Still, the pain in my chest didn't go away. Along with it came the memories of when Mara and Ivar attacked Khovd.
Those civilians they had killed. The kids, and also Segma were dead because of them. Those people I cared about had died mercilessly because I was there.
If I never stepped foot into Mongolia, would they be spared from what had happened? I knew deep down my appearance in their lives snapped the gears of fate into place.
The Pillars killed them, and so I hated the Pillars for it.
"It hurts..." I couldn't breathe. It felt like my heart was being pulled out slowly. A few moments later, a familiar woman's voice echoed in my mind.
"Ava," called Amathelia.
I stopped moving. The pain was still there, but that very voice grabbed hold of my attention so fast before I could ignore it.
"...You!" I yelled.
"You killed Mara. She is a family member as well. Just why... Why did you—"
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up shut up shut up! You started this war and many people died from it! You started everything!"
That was when I noticed a familiar female figure lying on the snow a few dozen feet away. A guy I assumed to be a medic was desperately trying to bandage the wounds covering her entire body. I knew who that woman was. It took half a second for me to fully realize it, but when I did, an anguished cry escaped from my mouth.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
I tried to look away from that woman, Maltyie, but it was no use. In the next instant, I remembered the promise she made with Derrick, that no matter what, she would become the C.U's ruler.
A memory slipped into my mind.
"Ava!" called Maltyie with an exultant smile after we both sat down in the lounge section. Back then, we were in a Teria airship a few days before the war started.
"I... I can't wait to hear Derrick's answer," she said with her cheeks flushed.
"You really like him, don't you?"
"Y-Yes... Derrick is not like anyone else I have ever met... You see, he always work the hardest among us cadets a long time ago. I like that aspect of him. But more importantly, he didn't forget to prioritize the regular civilians whenever he met them during duty. More often than not, he would sacrifice himself for them, and because of that, he would come out with severe injuries every few missions."
"He's a good person."
"Still... I don't like seeing him in such a state. What if he died? I wouldn't be able to see him again... But I also like the part where he—"
"I know, I know already! You love him so much. Just marry him!"
She went silent, her face turned so red I thought she was going to explode from embarrassment. "Um... I-I don't know. But Derrick has to accept me first before that could happen... And I have to get Elle's approval as well..."
"Yeah. But I'm sure you will be fine! You are cool, Maltyie. Really!"
"...Thanks, Ava."
My heart ached, twisted so horribly I could feel it bore a hole on my chest. Every fiber of my being hurt so much that I wouldn't mind if I died right then.
"Ava, you have to control your emotions!" said my Aegis.
I heard him quite clearly, but it was no use. Seeing Maltyie lying down in a pool of blood made my hatred burst forth without restraint. She was very eager to meet Derrick again, but in such a condition, how can she do that one thing?
"I hate you!!!" I said to Amathelia. "I hate you for everything you have done!"
Multi-colored flames gushed out endlessly from my Uniform, burning everything around me.
"I see. You have been far gone into a place where even I can't reach... I'm afraid that... I'm too late to save you."
"Don't you talk to me!"
My flames rose upwards into the sky. I looked up and the same flying fortress thing from before had closed in. After that, it shot a rainbow beam in my direction and I tossed my flames to counter it. As my raging flames flew, ripples of shockwave washed over the area. However, the beam cut through flawlessly.
"No... Wait, Lily!"
Lily, in her Full Aegis Form, jumped up high to take the beam head-on and a blinding explosion sent my five senses upside down. I shook my head, quickly trying to see what had happened to her.
"Lily!"
A pink figure crashed onto the ground a few feet away from me. It was Lily, rainbow flames eating at her shoulders and thighs.
"No... Noo... NOOO!"
I didn't care anymore. Whatever happened to my body, I didn't care. As long as I could kill every last one of those wretched people, I could handle any pain.
"AMATHELIAAAAA!"
My flames shot towards the flying fortress.