Epiphany Of The Weak 84 Before The Pillar's Descen

"We'll guard the perimeter," said Segma.

"Remember to stay focus at all times," Ulii muttered.

"We will."

With that, she disappeared into the crowd and they all dispersed, each had their own roles to fulfill.

"This somehow reminds me of the time when the C.U attacked Mansel Island," I said.

In the lobby, Ulii and I were the only ones left. The rest had a.s.sumed their positions to prepare for the enemy attack. Erhi, on the other hand, had gone into the underground parking lot along with Helena. It was safer for them and also for the civilians.

"Hoh? When was that?" Ulii asked.

I looked at her. "About two years ago . . . It's better to not talk about it."

My delicate fingers brushed over the gold locket Erhi had given me. "I just can't believe the members of The People's Light are all Aegis Users . . . How come you know about this, Ulii? I thought Enkhtuya never encountered them in the past."

"Our own scouts had witnessed their prowess in battle. The many cities in Mongolia fell easily into their hands. Because of this, Tsetsegmaa had gathered information about them, though it wasn't much."

"Hmm." My hand squeezed the gold locket. "Do their Aegis possess any specialties?"

Ulii shook her head. "I'm not sure myself, Ava. Tsetsegmaa reported that they fight like what a Pseudo Aegis User like me could do. Strange, isn't it?"

"Perhaps they don't need to use any specialties considering their enemies are just soldiers, I suppose."

Ulii narrowed her eyes at me. "I hope not. We wouldn't stand a chance against that many full-fledged Aegis Users."

"Yeah," I said.

'Maybe I can absorb their Aegis into me,' I thought. However, there could be a slight chance that my body wouldn't be able to handle the burden of it.

I moved away from Ulii and exited the building. As usual, the blue sky up above was clear from clouds, taking away the doubts in my heart somehow. When I looked at the rebels at the entrance, Qara and Khenbish were staring at me.

'Perhaps they have something to say,' I thought.

And so, I approached them and they tensed up.

"I don't suppose using a V pattern in front of the entrance will do anything to their Aegis Users," I said to them.

Qara drew his eyebrows together. "There's ten of us here . . . Ava. Tsetsegmaa and the others are at the back, so it should be--"

"Enough?" I interjected.

Qara gritted his teeth. "I don't like it when you do that."

"Ah, you did it again, Ava," said Aegis in my mind.

"Um." I lowered my head. "Sorry." When I raised my head, Qara and Khebish were staring at me with wide eyes. "What?"

"N-Nothing," said Khenbish, his eyes darted to the side for a moment. "Anyway, Ava, you intend to face them head-on? We and the others over there can back you up."

"Oh . . . Well, I am planning to fight them myself," I said.

"You need our help?"

"Perhaps a few of them might head straight to the entrance, so, a line of defense waiting for those people would make a huge difference," I said.

Qara frowned. "You know your stuff, huh?"

I smiled. "Caesar taught me about how to make a plan before doing something, whether it's important or not to the individual itself."

"Caesar . . ." Qara put a hand at his chin. "He's a soldier, I a.s.sume? Why is he wearing that Aegis mask, anyway?"

I shook my head. "He was a soldier. I don't know what happened after that, but he basically refused to work with the Great Corporate United anymore. About his mask . . . He never told me why he always hides his face. It's weird."

Qara snorted. "Weird? More like suspicious, that's what it is."

"Don't say that," warned Khenbish. "He's still our ally, even if it's temporary. Ulii trusts them, and therefore we should too."

Those two were in a conversation about Caesar, and I decided to ignore them.

I turned around and faced the empty, narrow path up ahead.

The obvious method for The People's Light to launch their attack was by sending their members straight at us. However, that U-shaped building Enkhtuya had as their hideout made it difficult to predict where the main focus of the attack would be.

a.s.suming The People's Light only had one objective in mind right then, which was to seize Khovd for their own, perhaps they wouldn't think much about the execution of it. They could just swarm the city and kill anyone that decided to cross their paths.

"Ava," called Khenbish.

I looked at him. "Yes?"

"Since you've decided to attack them head-on, maybe the rest of us here could hide and spring up a surprise attack somewhere during the fight."

Qara's eyes widened. "That's a good idea. It's better than just having ten people standing around like moving targets anyway."

"Wait a second." Khenbish narrowed his eyes at him. "When I think about it, we've never experienced having everyone fight all at once like this."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Khenbish? It's obvious that this is the first time. we're doing this. I want it to be the last too."

"Yeah."

My fingers pressed at the gold locket hung loosely around my neck. The wavy texture of it somehow pulled me to keep caressing it from time to time.

"We'll take our positions then, Ava," said Khenbish. He and Qara walked toward the other rebels guarding the entrance and told them the plan. They seemed to agree with it without much thought and went to take cover behind the walls of the U-shaped building. Each had a.s.sumed their positions, and so, I proceeded to stand there in the open s.p.a.ce alone.

"A girl like me standing here alone is quite suspicious, isn't it, Aegis?" I said under my breath.

A static voice rang in my mind for a few moments before Aegis replied. "Not really, Ava. No one would've thought of a girl that they didn't know about to be a threat. Unless they see you use Aegis at some point before they attack, it's not really worth to think about it."

"How about Hope? What if he told them about me?" I asked.

"That's a possibility. Maybe he didn't, or maybe he did."

"I trust Hope . . . He might not know that I'm here anyway, so him actually talking about who I am to The People's Light should be far in the back of his mind."

"That is true."

I sighed. "Can I use Bart's Aegis to control them, Aegis? I doubt it would work."

"Bart's Aegis doesn't respond to Aegis Users. However, there's a possibility a few of their members are ordinary people. If there's none, then--"

"I can go all out?"

Aegis considered what it wanted to say. "I think you've already decided this already, but using Hughes's white fire might not be a wise choice when they appear."

"Hughes . . ." I mumbled.

Ulii's story from the day before popped up in my mind.

'Miranda must be beating herself about his death right now,' I thought. She asked about Hughes all the time when she met me. It was obvious she always had him in her mind.

In a way, I took someone she cared the most in her life.

But it baffled me how she appeared to still have memories of him.

'Perhaps Hughes alone went through the memory-wiping process,' I thought.

Still, the fact that Miranda was excluded from it rubbed me the wrong way.

"Ava," called Aegis in my head.

I snapped from my rail of thoughts and took a quick scan of the area. The enemy hadn't appeared yet.

"What is it, Aegis?" I whispered. My hands were shaking from the antic.i.p.ation of meeting the Aegis Users I'd never encountered.

"I detected a few individuals coming from up ahead . . . I'm afraid they're Aegis Users, Ava," said Aegis.

"Great." I pulled the hood of my black jacket and it covered a good portion of my face. "I should get ready to greet them then."

A crimson blade sprouted out from my left palm and I covered it with the sleeve of my jacket.

"They're getting closer, Ava," said Aegis.

"Could it be they pa.s.sed through Caesar and Lily? Or they avoided them?" I whispered.

"The first one is an impossible possibility. I'm afraid Caesar and Lily are fighting the other members, and these ones coming at us are from a different squad."

My right hand adjusted the hood to perfectly cover my face. "So, they split up to do a pincer attack one way or another."

I focused my attention on the narrow path in front when three individuals in gray hooded jackets came into view. Two more jumped from the rooftop, each at my left and right. Those two had manifested gray Aegis blades on their palms.

"I hope Qara and the others stay put for a while," I mumbled.

One landed just next to me after he had jumped from the rooftop. The build of his body was that of an athlete, with his hooded jacket wrapping around his muscles. He thrust his Aegis blade at me and I stepped back to evade it.

The man appeared to be confused after that, somehow thinking about why a girl that had her face covered was alone that large, empty s.p.a.ce.

I grinned from under my hood."Thank you for coming. I'll take your life right now."