"It can"t be."Mommy"s eyes were wide open, stunned by Amathelia"s figure walking down the ladder.
Ivar flapped his wings a few times as he descended from the sky. When Ama"s dark laced boots made contact with the graphite, Ivar kneeled on one knee in front of her. He then lowered his head and crossed his right hand over his chest.
"Amathelia," he said with a restrained voice.
She stared at him for a few moments before sweeping a quick look over the area.
"Ama!" yelled Mommy. She raised her right hand to activate her Aegis crystals.
Ivar, who knew what Mommy was capable of, coiled his wings around Amathelia and the invisible crystals bounced off it. Mommy changed her target to Ivar in a split second. However, her Aegis crystals did nothing short of a gash on his forehead.
"As I said, the moment your Aegis made contact with my skin, I destroyed it instantly," said Ivar as he stood up. "Even though your Aegis crystals are invisible, you"re still too slow. I bet that this is only the second or third time you"ve been on the frontline."
Mommy was about to attack him again, but a peach Aegis blade out of nowhere chopped her left arm.
"Mommy!"
"No Aya. I"m fine." She gritted her teeth as her arm st.i.tched itself back in a few seconds.
I looked at her rear, and surely, a blade had sprouted from the underground.
"Ah, I stored it underneath the graphite beforehand. It won"t hurt having more of Yvonne"s Aegis crystals for me to use."
"Since when?" Miranda demanded.
Ivars mouth curved downwards. "You don"t need to know that."
Mommy gave me a sad look, and somehow, I knew exactly what she had in mind.
"Run, sweety. Bring His Supremacy with you to safety," she said in a low tone. "Miranda and I will cover you."
"Yeah. One of us need to get out of here alive," agreed Miranda.
"Wait," said His Supremacy. "Aya, let go of me this instance!"
The gauntlet on my right arm loosened its grip and His Supremacy fell onto the graphite. His Supremacy stood up and immediately, he darted towards the edge of the Aegis arena Ivar had summoned to trap us inside it.
"Wait!" I yelled.
"Leave him, Aya," said Miranda.
"But--"
"Silence!" Ivar shouted.
We looked at him as he bowed once again in front of Amathelia, his wings had shrunk and retreated back to his shoulders. She was staring at me with her ruby-like eyes, her expression was blank.
"I"m sorry, Amathelia. Now that they have shut their mouths, there should be no problem for you to speak," said Ivar.
Amathelia took a deep breath and her lips parted. "Aegis Users . . . Please surrender to us without resistance."
"Eh?"
It was not her statement that shocked me, but it was her voice. In a way, she spoke out those words rather smoothly; and her voice was beautiful as well.
Mommy and Miranda manifested their Aegis crystals a moment later. Miranda pointed the crystals at her palms at Amathelia, when it exploded into pieces.
"Aargh!" Her hands were destroyed in that instant, but a few seconds later, it regenerated and was back to its original form.
"Don"t try anything funny when you"re in the presence of The First," threatened Ivar as he stood firmly next to Amathelia. "The same goes to the two of you. I can control your Aegis crystals. There"s no way for you to beat me."
"Miranda!" I called.
"It"s okay . . . Haha . . . It hurts like h.e.l.l though."
Amathelia narrowed her eyes at me, and somehow, I felt a sense of deja vu at that moment. I don"t know why, but perhaps, I was reminded of when she was back at the lab.
"Doesn"t her face seems to . . ." I shook my head. It couldn"t be, however, that feeling of familiarity I felt from her was genuine.
She could be . . .
"Melker Holm," Amathelia said slowly. "I have no use for him anymore. He tries to conquer the world and its denizens through the country"s advanced technologies . . . and Aegis. And yet, he fails to rule those people with absolute fear engraved in their hearts. I am utterly disappointed."
Miranda, Klaus, Mommy, and I looked at each other for a moment.
"My specialty," continued Amathelia. "It allows me to mentally transfer my thoughts to Melker Holm, aiding him in his conquest, giving all sorts of advice to that pathetic man. I refused to help him any further with my knowledge for the past few months."
She looked up at the sky. "I will be the embodiment of fear in the hearts of the people. Melker failed to do so. In fact, I let the C.U in his hands to be twisted into this pathetic state of a country it is right now." She looked back at us. "This is because, in order for fear to truly be engraved, one must cling onto the tiny sliver of hope first. And then, I will crush that hope, and those people would lose faith . . . Forever."
"You mean . . . You let Melker unattended so that the C.U would be driven into a corner like this," said Mommy. "As a result, when the citizens are about to cheer on the rebels, you will destroy the rebellions in one fell swoop. The people . . ."
"Would lose hope. They will forever be ruled under constant fear of being unable to do anything," said Miranda. "If the people"s heroes are defeated, what can the regular people do to their enemies? Nothing."
"That is correct," confirmed Amathelia.
"Even so." Mommy looked at His Supremacy climbing the edge of the arena Ivar had created, and then back at me. "Aya, sweety." Tears started to pour out from her eyes. "Please take Klaus and Maltyie with you, and run as far as you can from this place."
My heart tightened. "Mommy, no!"
"Aya! Please. Promise me you"ll stay hidden." With that, she raised her left hand and His Supremacy was pulled back to our side. He crashed onto the graphite and cursed Mommy for dragging him back with her invisible Aegis.
Immediately, she pushed me and Miranda to the side and grabbed His Supremacy by the collar. She held his body in front of her and raised her right hand above his head.
"Don"t move any further Ivar! I"m sure you prefer Melker Holm to be alive after you"ve gone through all this, and I will kill him if you and Ama try to do anything funny to us!"