Epiphany Of The Weak 154 Derrick Jones - Extra Chapter - Part 3

17:00 P.M

Oulu, Finland

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It was freezing.

Even with my thick layers of clothing, there wasn't really that much of a difference. My hands still felt numb as I rubbed my mittens together. Though, it didn't disrupt my focus in any way. Being a soldier myself, resistance to cold was a must if you wanted to be put on the frontline, especially around these northern regions. I narrowed my eyes at a young girl on the street, as she swiftly fought a Vasquez. Poking my head out of the alley, I observed her.

If there was one thing I could point out, was that the snowy ground didn't seem to affect her at all. She took a few steps back and flicked her wrist. After that, blood red Aegis crystals popped out of her right arm, taking the shape of a long, crescent blade. When the Vasquez swung his arm at her, she dodged it and cleaved the Vasquez in half. Its metal body fell with a soft thud on the snow.

"Phew. That took care of it," she said.

"Aya. Good work!" I walked out of the alley and stood by her side. "Um . . . I'm sorry for not being helpful."

Aya blinked. She adjusted the elaborate, red scarf around her neck. "Derrick! You don't have any weapons on you. It's fine. Wait, you do have a pistol. But, against a Vasquez, that doesn't really do anything."

"Yeah. Then again, we are only here to help the coup in this city, so that they could overcome the C.U on their own in the future. Though, since their forces are not that strong, only time would tell."

Indeed, we were there in Oulu just to help the military coup. Ever since we heard of Finland's chaos of chain in commands, we immediately offered our help to the coup. Still, that was a month ago, but our involvement already made a huge impact.

After all, the addition of an experienced Aegis User like Aya bolstered the coup's might by threefold. I helped with whatever a general like me could, and so far, everything went by with little difficulty. The fact that quite a few of the members of the coup knew about the existence of Aegis also contributed to that. After all, a lot of them were former generals of the C.U.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

A dark-haired man in a black jacket came rus.h.i.+ng towards us and shook Aya's hands. His hair was messy, with hard strands poking out from every direction. He went to shake my hands too, his blue eyes s.h.i.+ning.

This man was a high-ranking member of the military coup. At first, Aya and I sought out another member in order to involve ourselves. However, she died on the frontline by the time we arrived here in this city. And so, we scoured the area for the coup and found this man. Needless to say, he was leading the group stationed in Oulu.

"How about the rest of the C.U's forces around here?" I asked the man.

"Ah, nothing to worry about, general! Some of our guys are having no trouble keeping them in check."

"Hmm. I can't believe the coup is growing so large in just a year," I muttered absently.

"People don't like Amathelia. It's that simple. We, the former soldiers of C.U had enough of her nonsense. At first, it was Melker Holm, and now, we get another ruler that's pretty much the same as him," the man said.

I scratched my head. "She's not really the same, I think. But I get your point."

The man clapped. "Anyway, let's head back to the shelter. Thanks again you two for helping us this past month. You don't really know how grateful we are to have such capable individuals on our side."

Aya grumbled. She didn't seem to like being praised by him. Though, I could relate. The two of us were showered with praises almost every day by this man, so we kind of hated it after some time. It was natural to feel that way at this point.

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The three of us went into a shopping mall not far from where we were at. After that, we walked into a parking lot there.

"Ah. The number has increased huh," I said.

When we popped out at the expansive area, a good number of citizens were being treated by the medics. The rest of them filled the corners of the parking lot, where they talked quietly with each other.

"Hmm. The wounded is doubled today," I said under my breath. "Do we have enough supplies, Neary?"

"We should be for a few days," the high-ranking member, Neary said weakly. "Even though we have gained a great number of supporters, the situation doesn't really change that much these past few weeks."

Aya pulled at Neary's jacket and he looked at her. "You people cannot give up now. The chaos in the C.U's military forces in Finland has just gotten worse, so there's no other time than now for us to be aggressive."

Neary nodded. "You are right, our Valkyrie."

Aya blinked a few times. "Stop calling me that. Though, it does have a nice ring to it, right, Derrick?"

I let out a weak laugh. "It does."

Neary puffed his chest out and crossed his right arm over it. "Our Valkyrie is right. We cannot waver now. After all, we are the loyal supporters of the General of the Army, Maltyie Holm. The military coup's ultimate goal is to place Maltyie as the C.U's ruler. Even now, nothing else matters more than realizing that goal."

I put a hand at my chin. "You guys are the pro-Maltyie after all. The coup has been going on about it for how many years now."

Neary's eyes shone. "It's for our savior, Maltyie. She is the most suitable as the C.U's ruler. There is no one else. No one!"

Aya and I chuckled.

"Still . . ." Neary's face darkened. "Maltyie herself is nowhere to be found after what happened a year ago. Some said that Amathelia killed her back then . . . Yeah, you can't deny the fact that the Four Pillars are able to break through any defenses that C.U has set up. Matlyie was there in the military HQ. Who knows what really happened to her."

I blinked. "I'm pretty sure she is alive, and that she's fighting this corrupted country in her own way."

Neary grabbed my shoulders and shook me a few times. "Yeah! Maltyie, our savior is alive out there! There's no doubt about it. Her prowess in battle is incomparable to the likes of us. Yeah, she's alive."

Aya sighed. "If not, the coup had stopped doing this a long time ago. She is alive, I'm sure."

Neary nodded and shook Aya's body as well. "You are right!"

"Neary," said a guy behind him.

A few other members of the coup had approached us. Of course, we followed them as it was time for our daily discussion about what was happening on the frontline. We went inside the shopping mall's ground floor and had our discussion at the small leisure area.

Neary and the other two members sat on a blue couch, while Aya and I sat on the one in front of them. Propped up between the couches was a long, rectangular wooden table.

"It's the Second Pillar, Ivar," started Neary. "Our comrades who were stationed in Kuusamo city . . . They didn't manage to escape."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

Neary continued, "Ivar, for some unknown reason, wreaked havoc at Kuusamo and the surrounding cities. As a result, the C.U forces are forced to contain the damage for the time being. From the reports, it seems like Ivar caused damage to the cities in Russia as well."

Aya clenched her fists. "What exactly happened? Could it be . . . That he lost control of his Aegis?"

Neary and the other two members shook their head. "We don't know. But, we have heard about Ivar coming to Finland all the way from Sweden in a . . . Questionable condition. Our guys concluded that he went mental just before the tragedy happened."

"Hmm." I closed my eyes for a few moments. "Something must have happened in Sweden. As far as I know, losing control of an Aegis is almost impossible unless it is of the host's own will or outside interference."

Aya nodded in my direction. She swept a gaze at everyone and cracked her fingers. "I once willed myself to let my Aegis took control. However, it was a desperate attempt to defeat Ivar. But of course, it didn't do anything to him. I can only guess that Ivar fought someone, and somehow, his Aegis lost control after that fight."

Everyone went silent. If what Aya said did happen, then someone who had the strength to challenge Ivar was out there somewhere. Ivar, as everyone knew, was the most active Pillar out of all the four. He had been crus.h.i.+ng rebels after rebels in some regions quite some time ago. The other three were a bit under the shadow.

We did know of someone named Kian among the Pillars, and what he did to The People's Light a year ago. But, there was no way he and Ivar fought against each other. It had to be someone else.

Neary cleared his throat, and we focused our attention on him. "Because of this chaos, we had launched a few attacks on different parts of Finland. We are using this opportunity to be aggressive."

"I see . . . What about the civilians involved?" I asked.

Neary frowned. "What do you mean, general?"

"Their safety. Your people should have encountered quite a few of them entangled in this mess."

"Oh, yes. We are making sure that those civilians we found are protected and kept safe," said Neary with confidence.

"Great. Their safety is a must, Neary. We don't want to get them involved more than we have now."

He nodded. "As expected of General Jones. Focusing on the ordinary people first in any given situation."

"I admire you, General," said a woman sitting next to Neary.

"Everyone is. With the general and his Aegis User helping us, we can take back Finland," said a guy.

"His Aegis User?" muttered Aya. "Hmm. Just call me Valkyrie, as Neary does. I like that name more."

We laughed at her and she pouted. Since no one else was there in that shopping mall, our laughter echoed throughout the ground floor. Of course, we stopped quickly, realizing that the mere absence of people there proved how much had changed.

Despite that, I was sure of Finland's freedom in the near future. The quicker we got things wrapped up, the better it was for the people.

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We spent the night in that shopping mall like we always had for the past month. The next morning, I went up to the mall's rooftop and ate my breakfast there. It occurred to me a few weeks ago that the scenery, while not really pleasant just from the destruction everywhere, managed to grab my attention. I would always gaze at the sky and found myself daydreaming for a while.

"Derrick, you are here again."

I turned around and saw Aya in her red winter jacket. Quickly, I shoved the sandwich wrapper in my hands into my jacket's pocket. Aya went over to my side and sat next to me; at the edge of the rooftop.

"I'm thinking . . . After we are done here in Finland, can we go rescue Mommy?" she asked suddenly.

"Hmm. It has been a year, isn't it? Alexander and Alicia, those two must have been waiting for us," I said.

Aya rubbed her hands together. "By freeing Finland, there's no way Sweden can escape from being attacked. I'm sure Neo Africa would take advantage and march through Finland, and even corner Sweden from the sea as well."

"Yeah. We can just do our thing when that happens. Alicia and Alexander can be rescued during that chaos."

Aya bit her lip. From a glance, I knew she was eager to go to Alicia's side. After all, she had been waiting for a year for this chance. Our contribution to freeing Finland was merely an effort to speed things up.

Sooner or later, the Lutalo Aegis squad everyone kept talking about would come to Finland. We were just easing stuff before they arrived.

"Elle, your daughter . . . You left her with Eugene before we came here," said Aya.

"I trust him," I simply said.

"Yeah. If there's anyone I trust besides you, Mommy, Maltyie, and Ava, he is up there," said Aya.

"Haha. Ava, huh . . ."

I didn't know if I would meet her anytime in the future. By then, both Aya and I already knew about her involvement with the Lutalo Aegis Squad. It wasn't hard to notice, since her popular nickname, Grim Reaper, was among the names mentioned by rebels. Lutalo helped a lot of rebel organizations during the past year, so their members were received quite well by most people.

Aya patted my shoulder. "Helping the military coup is the right thing to do."

I nodded. "The coup wants Maltyie to be the new ruler. Those who know her clearly try their best to contribute. I, for one, really like her to be the C.U's leader. There is no one else more qualified."

"Hehe." Aya poked my shoulder a few times. "Don't you mean, you like her? Have feelings for her and such."

I jerked my head back. "What? I don't really see her like that . . . I think."

'What do you mean by I think?' I thought to myself.

"Your daughter likes her. That's more than enough reason," said Aya as she shrugged.

"Hmm." I narrowed my eyes at Aya. "You like Eugene, don't you?"

"Eh?!" Aya shook her head quickly. "Haha. Nice try, Derrick. Don't change the topic just like that."

"Hahaha." I patted her back and she glared at me. "Um, sorry. Though, I must say Eugene has a lot of good qualities. For one, he can cook some good food, which I can't do."

"Yeah, he is a really great cook, huh."

In an instant, she was absorbed in her own thoughts, probably recalling what Eugene had cooked for the past year. There was no denying Eugene's cooking prowess. He had stayed at my house for a year after all, so I knew how capable he was.

Though, despite the huge decrease in the number of civilians in Sweden, those who didn't get shoved into jail tried to live their lives as usual. Even so, most denied the new beginning Amathelia had forced onto them.

"I wonder if Ava is conscious of her own feelings," said Aya as she stared at me. "It's in my mind this whole time. She might not realize this, but her actions are all because she loves Hope. The sort of affection that a girl has towards a guy. A romantic feeling."

I sighed. "Perhaps not yet. Or maybe, she will never realize it. After all, whenever I looked at her back then, she had this strong desire to be by his side. Then again, she might have changed."

"Maybe it's because of what Mommy and Daddy had done to her, that she unconsciously rejects the true meaning of love. As a result, she interprets the feelings she has in a different way."

"Ava is unsure of herself," I finally said.

"Yeah."

I never admitted it to anyone, but from my perspective, Ava had a mental disorder. It affected how she perceived things around her. If by any chance that I could meet her again, I would try to help her in some way. All in all, she needed more love than anyone.

She needed everyone to shower her with love all the time. Only with that, she could really feel with her heart.

That girl needed love more than anything. When Maltyie becomes the next ruler, I would do my best to curry her favor into helping Ava. She needed it. For me, after living with my only daughter for about ten years, I knew what was best for Ava. I saw my daughter in her, and what was lacking in her heart.

"Ava needs us, Aya. We will help her, however we can," I said.