Epiphany Of The Weak 148 Battle In Moscow - Part 5

Liam stepped in between the flames and the injured Kian, consequently taking the blow of my attack. The flames knocked him back and he rolled along the graphite, writhing in pain.

"Tsk!"

Kian went over to Liam's side quickly and extinguished the flames with his glowing white Aegis crystals. Though, by doing so, he had let himself open for me to do a follow-up attack. He turned around and manifested more of his Aegis crystals from his feet, forming a thick, rectangular wall.

Unfortunately for him, my flames were not that weak.

I commanded my multi-colored flames out from my Uniform and threw it at the wall. It devoured the wall before chewing it into ashes.

Kian sighed, as a huge cl.u.s.ter of crystals from his back formed Felicia's body. "It looks like I have to be more aggressive. I need to take you away from them, Ava."

I drew my eyebrows together.

'He doesn't refer to me as Big Sis anymore,' I thought.

Felicia's crystallized body was reformed quick. Kian, who appeared to be fooling around before had a murderous aura coming out from him. I was startled at first. After that, I steeled myself for any incoming attack.

Kian raised his hand. The glowing white Aegis crystals that had covered the area then vibrated faintly. "Allow me to show you how I was able to repel the C.U by myself."

He closed his fist, and the huge crater cracked in a mere instant.

"Ava!" Hope shouted.

He and Freya went over to my side as he absorbed more of Kian's crystals using his s.h.i.+eld.

"Erk!"

A sudden quake made me fell on my knees. However, it didn't end there, as a few more quakes pulled the entire physical area itself further down as if it was submerging. Kian was trying to deepen the crater.

"This guy . . . He's controlling this entire area with his Aegis crystals," said Hope.

When the quake stopped, we found ourselves about four hundred meters away from the surrounding buildings. The crater's diameter had increased, roughly at six hundred meters.

Kian gave the three of us an indifferent look, while Felicia had her eyes on me the entire time. "Now that the area is like this, I can use my Aegis more freely. Hmm, controlling different states of matter at once put too much pressure on me."

He closed his eyes, and the ground shook once more. A few moments later, a few chunks of the crystal-covered graphite surfaced out of the crater. It took the shape of what seemed to be giants, at the height of a lamppost. There were five of those graphite giants, stomping in our direction. Three more started to form after Hope took down one of it.

"Hope!" I shouted.

He nodded and got out of the way, allowing my flames to engulf those giants in a flash. Hope then did his job by absorbing Kian's Aegis crystals around us, preventing any surprise attack from Kian himself.

Though, that Pillar's offense wasn't that meager.

After I destroyed his giants, three giant snakes made up of graphite emerged from the ground. All of them lunged itself at me, and I threw my flames to counter.

Even so, it wasn't enough.

I couldn't stop the momentum and the snakes crashed into me. As a result, my body was sent flying over a hundred feet before more of those snakes popped into existence. Afterward, I found myself struggling against it.

Hope managed to take another one down, while Freya was dodging every single attack. Kian took advantage of the situation and allowed his Aegis crystals on the ground to crept closer.

Hope noticed it and had to absorb Kian's Aegis crystals into his s.h.i.+eld, leaving me and Freya to fight the snakes.

"Don't struggle, Ava," said Kian. He raised his right hand up and then brought it down.

"Ack!"

The three of us were pushed towards the ground from an invisible force. However, it was no mistaking Kian's involvement in manipulating the particles in the air. Of course, I tried to get up, but the air felt heavier than before.

"Ava," called my Aegis. "It seems like the snakes that are being controlled by Kian's crystals have another purpose. Aside from attacking you, it should be obvious that the gas particles in the air that those crystals brush against are being acc.u.mulated by Kian."

"Aegis!" I hissed. "I don't want your lecture."

The remaining giant graphite snakes turned towards Freya and Hope. Immediately, it slammed itself against them, plummetting those two against the ground with each slam. Freya's head was bleeding heavily despite her regeneration. Hope managed to defend himself well with his s.h.i.+eld but got overwhelmed in the end.

"I have to . . . Do something," I mumbled.

Even with my limiters all but gone, I couldn't get back up on my feet. If I couldn't move, the same thing would happen again, just like in Khovd. Remembering those painful scenes fueled me with rage and hatred. I used it to force myself, slowly, but surely, back on my feet.

"Oh?" Kian's eyes widened. "See that, Felicia? Despite myself being thirty-four-years-old, the sight of a strong youth still makes me proud for some reason."

'He's thirty-four?! He looks like someone in his twenties,' I thought.

Kian shook his head and looked at his right. "Hmm? Reinforcements?"

Four military jeeps came rus.h.i.+ng down the deep crater towards us. There was Caesar, readying his Aegis Gear: Sniper Rifle and aiming it at Kian. The jeep he was riding halted to a stop, and he fired his rifle.

Felicia blocked the bullet with her arm, of which numerous yellow tendrils started to emerge from it. Though, the tendrils disintegrated from Felicia's touch.

The other three jeeps stopped as well. Lily and Sofeea got out quickly and dashed towards Kian. Lily, as expected, was ready to fight in her Full Aegis Form.

"Hmm?" Kian was distracted by Lily. "So, she's the reason why my specialty ain't working on them. I can't manipulate the gas particles."

Lily lunged towards Kian and punched through Felicia's crystal body. Lily then kicked at Kian before she grabbed him by the neck. When the giant snakes had switched to Lily, their bodies just exploded the moment they crashed into her. After all, Lily's crystals nullified other User's specialty along with their crystals. Objects being controlled by Aegis crystals were no exception.

"You!" said Kian. "The one User that stands a chance against us Pillars--"

Lily tightened her grip and Kian struggled to breathe. He countered by slamming his cl.u.s.ter of Aegis crystals against her, but it did nothing. Lily was unharmed whatsoever.

A screeching sound pulled my attention to the ma.s.sive Teria airs.h.i.+p in the sky, where it ruptured and burst into flames from multiple missiles. Our fighter jets had destroyed it, though, those things were obliterated quickly after that by the enemy's own jets.

"The generals are in that s.h.i.+p," commented Jessica as she came out of her own jeep. Inghild, Beatrice and Jeremy soon followed. Jennifer darted towards Hope the moment she got out as fast as she could.

"You're doing well, Hope dear," said Jennifer as she helped him on his feet. Jessica, Inghild, and Jeremy went over to Freya's side.

Hope patted at his Lutalo uniform after that. "Great. Thanks."

Kian tried to pull away from Lily's grasp when she slammed his body onto the ground. She clenched her fists and punched at his face repeatedly. Still, she wanted to end Kian then and there, so she covered him with her own pink Aegis crystals. Kian couldn't do anything at that point.

Before he was fully enveloped by it, he shouted his comrade's name. "Liam!"

Out of nowhere, Liam emerged from the ground just a few feet away from Hope. Then, red spikes and blades sprouted out from Liam's body and it darted towards Hope.

My heart stopped for a moment.

"Ugh!"

I was far away from him. There was no way I could make it in time.

The wave of bladed weapons was about to slice Hope into pieces when Jennifer stood in front of him, with her back against the blades. A moment later, her body was skewered and she screamed in pain. Her left arm and right leg were torn off in the blink of an eye, with red blood pouring out non-stop from every part of her body.

"J-Jennifer?" Hope stood there, frozen.

Quickly, my flames engulfed the blades, along with Liam in it. When Jennifer was about to fall down, Hope grabbed her waist with both hands.

He was speechless.

No, he couldn't speak. His mouth refused to do so.

Jennifer stared into his golden eyes as blood poured out of her mouth. She tried to speak, but more blood spluttered out when she did. Even so, she managed to smile as Hope embraced her.

"Jennifer . . ." Hope hugged her tight. His hands refused to let go, even though she was no longer in this world. I could tell just from looking at her face.

"N-No . . ." Hope still held Jennifer in his arms.

Lily's yellow eyes flickered in rage and turned her attention back to the immobilized Kian. Immediately, she punched at his crystallized face with both hands. She punched and punched until Kian's head was obliterated into a million pieces. Despite that, she let her anger took control and punched a hole in Kian's chest.

"Hm?!"

The ground shook yet again, but it was different. Something was coming.

"No way!" I looked at my feet. "Underground?!"

Glowing white crystals burst forth from the graphite on different spots of the crater. In an instant, it shot spikes upwards before it descended towards everyone.

"NO!"

I threw my flames towards it, trying to cover a wide area just to protect as many people as I could. Lily tried to do the same. She pulled her attention away from Kian and stomped the ground, causing pink pillars to stop a few of those spikes. However, our effort could only save so many.

A few spikes slipped through my flames and Lily's pillars; piercing Inghild's chest and Jeremy in his right arm. One of it managed to strike Beatrice in the right shoulder and she stumbled.

I looked back to where Kian was at. He broke out of Lily's crystal imprisonment using his bare hands; his head had already regenerated.

"What?"

"Ava," called Aegis in my head. "Look at his hands."

Kian's hands were almost grey in color. At that moment, I knew exactly what he had done to himself. He had his own Aegis crystals planted inside him, and he used it to modify his hands to become harder. He merely changed the composition of it, and it was possible since he could control matter.

Hope glared at Kian. Indeed, his emotions had burst out in the form of malice. Immediately, he manifested a golden s.h.i.+eld on his arm. At that time, rage and hatred consumed him. He aimed the s.h.i.+eld at Kian with no words uttered. Slowly, a ray of white light shot out from it.