Gheele looked at Hope with narrowed eyes. I wasn't sure what it was, but my chest felt an eclectic mix of feelings. Hope was sincere in his request to help the others, even though he had to disobey Gheele's order to do so. Gheele himself knew this, but perhaps because he didn't want his subordinates to judge him as being too lenient— and maybe because he didn't want to lose face— dithered on what he should do.
"I will do anything you want after all is said and done! So!"
"...."
"...You are being rather disgusting right now," muttered Gheele.
"...Eh?"
Gheele gestured for him to stand back up and after that, he sighed. "Being selfless is one thing you good at. Very much so if it involves Ava. But anyway, forcing you will only lead to a whole new set of problems on its own, so do what you wish."
"Reeeee-Re-Really?!"
"Don't make me repeat myself—"
"Thank youuuu!"
Just before Hope could even hug him, the javelins launched towards Hope at full speed.
"Eeeeek!" Miraculously, he dodged it all. Even I was impressed by his reaction speed.
♢
♢
"There's this flying fortress hovering around the place where they should've been," reported Gheele. "But that was a few hours ago. And now it's moving... on its way here."
"T-That's... Isn't that bad?" said Hope.
"It is. My Aegis dome should be able to prevent that thing from going inside Neo Africa... but just to be safe..."
"Sofeea."
"Yes, Ser Gheele!"
"That flying fortress is really fast for its size. They reported that it is closing on the northern war front, so, before we go to Finland, teleport us there first."
"You have marked that place?" asked Hope.
"Yeah, I did," I answered.
"Ernestine will be coming as well, so let's get moving," said Gheele.
I lifted my hand up high in the air, and a brilliant light enveloped the three of us. Three seconds later, my Teleportation Warp took us to Bulgaria, where the northern front was at.
♢
♢
"Agatha, what's the situation?"
"M-Master Gheele!"
I teleported us straight to a concentration camp near Gheele's Aegis dome, and luckily, Agatha was stationed there. Scanning through countless documents at her desk, she finally looked up at us, only after Gheele called her.
"It's... bad. That flying fortress decimated each one of our surface-to-air missiles. To make things worse, it fired off, what seemed like, plasma beams at our ground forces. It can't be stopped."
"I see."
Gheele didn't prompt any further and exited the tent we were in. Everyone had a confused look on their faces.
"Agatha!" Hope said. "Where is it right now?"
"Eh? It's... three thousand meters away from our Aegis dome."
"That close?" I mumbled.
"I'm not sure about this, but maybe, that flying fortress attacked Ava and the others... and that's why..."
"Hope, don't mind us here. You must go to her aid right now."
He nodded. "I'm planning to, Agatha."
"But who's that kid anyway? Your daughter?" Agatha said offhandedly.
"What?!"
"Jokes aside, I'm sure Master Gheele intends to stop that flying fortress by himself. I will go with you three."
♢
♢
We went over to Gheele's side, and there he was standing near his Aegis dome. The forces deployed outside were already pulled back inside, at least what remained of them.
Soldiers darted here and there, medics and refugees ran out of their tents placed nearby as the flying fortress approached us.
"It's about to fire..."
I was sure even plasma would not pierce Gheele's Aegis dome. I didn't have any proof, nor anyone here had. But it can't really penetrate through, right?
If it could, then...
Gheele raised his hand in the air, and layers upon layers of orange wrapped his Aegis dome. "Be prepared for anything," he ordered.
I formed my green Aegis crystals and sent it to five different directions, each firmly attached to solid dirt about five hundred meters away. Ernestine's green eyes flared— orange Aegis crystals dotted the space around us in mid-air.
Hope right then was not in his Breakthrough state, but his Aegis specialty would be able to absorb the plasma by chance it turned out to be Relly's.
...
Crackle!
Veins of rainbow lightning swirled around the flying fortress's main cannon, accompanied by a loud buzzing noise. The cannon's exterior glowed rainbow as the lightning veins darted in every direction wildly.
And then...
Boom!
An aurora-colored beam escaped the cannon's mouth and crashed squarely into the Aegis dome.
"...What the... This is..."
Gheele looked back at us. We didn't need to hear his words, and I swiftly teleported every nearby civilian and soldier— as many as I could— to a clearing marked outside of Bulgaria.
"Ser Hope!"
"I know!"
He formed a gigantic golden shield, about the height of a three-story building and planted it in front of Gheele. I instantly teleported Agatha, Ernestine, Gheele, including me to that marked clearing.
"Why didn't you bring Hope?!" shouted Ernestine.
The ground reverberated and the aftershocks made everyone there stumble.