"Ava!"
Erhi slapped me in the face and I was brought back to that harsh reality, the flying fortress was still there. And then, there was Erhi, her eyes filled with tears.
Why is Erhi crying?
"A-Ava, I thought I had lost you..." she said between her sobs. "I-I'm just glad you are back... Hic... Please, don't do that again."
"...Get away."
My mouth curved into a wide grin as I stared at the flying fortress. That thing was my only goal. Everything... Everything stemmed from Amathelia herself. The very source of my hatred, the progenitor of my rage and wrath was secluding herself inside those sturdy walls, away from me. Is she afraid of me that much? I relished the thought.
One thing was certain, amidst all of these emotions clouding my already broken mind.
'She was in that fortress.'
I grabbed hold of the thought and multi-colored flames burst out from my Uniform.
Erhi yelped from my pouring flames. Instinctively, the girl leaped to the side and stared at me with wide eyes. "A-Ava!"
A friendly fighter jet popped out from the gray clouds high up, and I knew exactly what I had to do.
"Calm down!" said my Aegis over and over again.
When the jet flew close by, my flames converged and took down the fighter jet. As it plummeted, I took the opportunity to get on top of it using my crimson Aegis crystals.
With the crystals taking the shape of numerous hooks, it latched onto the jet. Five seconds later, my body was pulled abruptly towards the jet and I boarded it, the elongated ropes shortened. I immediately jumped from there and set my eyes on the fortress that had its cannon ready to fire at a moment's notice.
I grinned in delight.
As I freefall, two Aegis wings sprouted out from my shoulders. It expanded large enough to cover my entire body and started to flap a few times. The Aegis wings I manifested had the colors of all my Aegis, its colors swirling and flickering on the surface.
Crackle!
The flying fortress fired an aurora beam in my direction and the clouds dispersed as the beam cut through it.
Seeing that, I put every ounce of my strength to control the newly-formed Aegis wings and managed to dodge the beam, by a hair's breadth. However, the wings refused to cooperate any further. I lost control of it a few times and found myself slowly descending.
"Ava!" called my Aegis. "You can't do something like this with your Aegis crystals. Your control is just not efficient enough to actually fly with it like Ivar."
"I don't care."
The hatred inside me was the reason I could keep going. And so, using what remaining energy I had left, I forced myself to stay afloat in the air using my flames. The flames shot out from the back of my Uniform and slowly increased its intensity. At first, it was hard to control the wings and flames at the same time, but with much consideration, I decided to put more effort into the flames.
Flying using Aegis crystals was a completely new thing for me, so by lifting myself up and control the direction I was going with my flames, I succeeded in it.
"HAAAARGGH!"
The multi-colored flames turned into a large blaze to increase my speed. When I found it difficult to maneuver, I would contract and expand my wings just enough to make up for it.
I ground my teeth. "Amathelia!"
I got close to the fortress, where its white walls were only a dozen feet away. It was just right there.
My raging blaze shot towards the walls, but it was nullified slowly. I didn't intend to let such stupid thing to stop me, so I increased the intensity of my blaze until it exploded into a hellish inferno. Before I knew it, a hole the size of a small one-story building popped open.
My inferno converged into narrow flames from the impact and got sucked into the hole I made. The surrounding air let out a raucous sound, and along with my entire body included, were pulled inside abruptly.
"Ava, you..."
"Shut up. Shut up shut up!" I said to my Aegis.
The inside of the fortress was covered by my flames except for the white ceiling. I looked around without wasting any time. As I was doing that, my flames dispersed to make way for me.
"Where are you where are you where are you..."
My Aegis wings flapped itself slightly as if responding to the unbridled hatred pouring out from my very being. I glanced left and right. When I got deeper into that huge hallway, fluorescent lights and digital monitors lined up the ceiling and white walls.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!"
My wings slammed itself against the floor once, blowing chunks of cement all over the place. The walls at my sides were smashed over and over, the ceiling cracked from all the abuse.
Uneven clicking against the floor got my attention. Instantly, I twisted my neck to look over my shoulder and a bunch of those silver robots appeared. They were called Anciles, but at that time, I didn't want to care about such a trivial thing. They were enemies. And enemies were bound to be crushed by my own hands.
"Aaaargh!"
Dark blue Aegis crystals covered my arms. Sharp tendrils shot out from it and pierced the Anciles. One of them dodged it barely before it began running towards me. Unfortunately for that robot, my Aegis wings raised itself up high and collapsed onto all of them.
"Grrrrr."
I looked towards the opposite direction where the Anciles had come from, and a number of enemies had popped up. They all wore an intricate white wedding dress, their entire heads were all wrapped up in thick shawls, resembling a mummy.
I was pretty sure I never met those people.
But, they came from somewhere inside the fortress and therefore, they were enemies too.
And enemies were to be killed, mercilessly
My muscles throbbed. I wanted to kill them. I couldn't think straight right then since all I desired was to rip them apart, limb by limb, head by head. Their blood gushing out as I cut them to pieces and their bones poking out after I tore their limbs... Thinking about all of that made me grin mischievously.
I wasn't sure what I was doing anymore. Why am I there again? Who am I? It was too much just to remember all of that information.
"Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill."
I brandished my wings and at the same time, Aegis crystals endlessly appeared from the fabric of my Uniform.
Somehow, those women in their wedding dress took a few steps back away from me. Are they afraid? Why so? They dared to show themselves in front of me, so prepare for the consequences.
"Why are you running?! Don't run. Let me kill you!"
My flames and Aegis crystals shot towards them.