Epiphany Of The Weak 88 The Pillar's Descen

She nodded. "If I have to make a guess, The People's Light did not implement the standard Aegis in making their members like this. These Pseudo Aegis Users are different somehow."

"Their Aegis has the same gray color . . . Why?" I mumbled.

Khenbish walked to us."Odval and the others in the underground might need us."

"Yes," said Ulii. "We better hurry."

And so, we entered the building after that and stumbled upon a member of The People's Light. There, Odval was whimpering as he approached her with a gray Aegis blade at his palm.

I quickly formed a crimson crescent blade from my right arm. It elongated and slashed at his body, cutting him in half. Red blood from the exposed halves of it shot up into the air.

"Odval!" said Qara.

The rest of us approached her but I walked towards the dead Aegis User instead.

"What do you think, Aegis?" I whispered.

"It's not what I would expect from a Pseudo Aegis User," it replied in my head. "Even Pseudos each have different color and type of Aegis that they wield. But so far, the members of The People's Light have not used anything other than gray Aegis."

"As I thought. There must be a trick. If not, it isn't possible to have so many Users moving in a coordinated group like that," I said.

After a few moments, I walked over to the others at Odval's side.

"I'm okay, Ulii," she said.

Odval's sunflower-patterned blue dress had caught a few blotches of dirt here and there.

'It's a nice piece of clothing though. Too bad,' I thought.

"Is there anyone else upstairs?" Ulii asked.

She shook her head. "No one. But . . . Sarnai and the others--"

"They'll be all right," interjected Qara. "Those girls are tough. They can handle the Users as long as they stick together in a group."

Odval's mouth curved into a thin smile.

"That's correct. You don't have to worry about them," said Ulii. She looked at me. "They headed to where your friend is to help her."

"Lily? Oh but she's fine by herself."

"A bit of extra help wouldn't do her any harm," said Khenbish.

"I suppose so," I said.

"Let's get to the civilians," proposed Ulii.

The five of us went to the underground parking lot using a staircase. About four minutes later, we arrived at where everyone was at.

"Erhi," I called.

She ran towards me and stopped just a few feet away. "Ava."

I noticed her legs were shaking. "You're scared?"

Her jaw dropped. "What do you mean, Ava? Any normal person would be scared in a situation like this."

I frowned. "Huh . . . Guess I'm not normal."

"Of course you are not," said Segma as she emerged from the crowd of civilians.

"Urgh." She just had to say that at my face.

I tilted my head to look at the crowd far back, and Tuya was there with her son. The triplets from before were talking with a woman who I'd known to be an Enkhtuya rebel.

"Are the civilians all there?" asked Khenbish at Erhi.

She yelped and cowered behind me for some reason.

"It's no use talking to her, Khenbish," said Segma. She turned to Ulii. "We've confirmed that no one was left behind upstairs."

"I see," she replied simply.

"Lady Ava," said Helena as she trotted towards me.

"Oh, didn't notice you there, Helena."

She halted and cast a glance toward the crowd at the corner of the underground parking lot. "I heard lady Lily is with you."

I shook my head. "She's at the entrance, holding the members of The People's Light on her own."

Helena's eyes widened. "Then . . ."

"I intend to help her right now," I said.

Ulii looked at me like she knew that I wanted to ask her about it.

"I want to help Lily. I a.s.sume there's nothing here for me to do, right?" I said.

"Supposedly not . . . Unless those Users get inside here then it's better if you help that friend of yours," said Ulii.

I nodded.

"Um. Did anyone saw a silver bracelet?" said Tuya. She walked slowly towards us with those yellow crutches Caesar had made. Her son was next to her.

"Tuya! Why do you move? The wound on your leg had just re-opened," said Helena. She went over to her side and helped her to stand still.

"A silver bracelet?" repeated Ulii. "Is it that important?"

Tuya nodded, her eyes were almost tearing up. "It belonged to my husband, you see. I think I dropped it from my pocket somewhere along the way here."

Segma waved at her dismissively. "I'm not quite sure, but there's no silver bracelet at the staircase. Not that I'm aware of."

"I-I see." Tuya's head drooped. "My husband . . . is no longer here. It was a gift from him."

Ulii tapped her wooden cane at the graphite. "We'll search for it after all of this is over. I understand your feelings, Tuya. You love him, and for that reason, you don't want to let the memories of your husband slip away from your grasp."

Tuya smiled at her. "Thank you."

I swept my gaze at those people in front of me. "Then, I'll go now."

Helena nodded in my direction. "Be careful, Lady Ava."

"I will."

My legs took me to the bottom of the cemented staircase when the ground shook violently.

"Wh-This again?"

Bags of dust fell off the ceiling and a frosty chill wrapped my heart.

"What's happening?" said Segma.

I looked over to the crowd of civilians all condensed in one corner. They were screaming and shouting from the sudden tremor.

The quake got stronger and I fell on my knees.

"Ava," said my Aegis.

"I know. This is something else. We have to--"

The ceiling cracked and my heart stopped for a moment. Immediately, I ran back to where the others were at.

"RUN AWAY!"

Crimson crystals burst forth from my back and it shadowed Tuya and the others. However, I didn't make it to the crowd of civilians far back.

The ceiling collapsed, but my crystals extended to form a dome with those few of us in it. After what felt like a few minutes, the quake stopped.

My heart thumped against my chest.

"Did they . . ."

"Ava," said Segma. She shook her head at me.

"It can't be." I willed the crimson dome to return back to my body, pushing away the rubbles on top of it. A horrid sight greeted us.

Under the piles of rubble were the civilians I didn't manage to save, and a few members of Enkhtuya. A ma.s.sive hole had replaced the whole ceiling above us, revealing a clear blue sky.

"Aaaaaaaah!" Odval screamed her lungs out with her fingers clawing at her face.

"Odval!" Qara grabbed her arms. "Stop it . . . It's . . . They're--" His body shivered, and so did Erhi.

Segma was devastated. Her face told it all. The rest had the same expression as hers.

I clenched my fists so hard, that my fingers dug deep into my skin. "It's not fair . . ."

My hands were shaking. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, but it was no use.

'Why am I like this?' I thought.

Having spent years of seeing dead bodies everywhere, it didn't occur to me that my emotions had resurfaced a long time ago. Right then, all sorts of feelings. .h.i.t me at once.

I gasped for air, as my eyes refused to look away at those dead people. In a way, I cared about them. I had a bond with a few of the civilians, including the triplets. Nevertheless, they were dead right then.

And it was because of me.

I looked up at the sky when a figure descended from above. That figure was floating in the air, approaching us slowly. A pair of large wings spread out from the figure's shoulders.

After a few seconds, that figure turned out to be a man in a red hooded winter faux. Gray fur lined its hood as that man pulled it down to reveal his face.

His unkempt hair was blond, and his eyes were bloodshot red. His evil grin immediately registered him as one of those villains I'd read in some storybooks. From a glance, he had the traits to look the part.

When he was twenty feet above us, those wings of his glinted from the sunlight. It was peach-colored.

"Aegis crystals," I muttered.

I didn't know if that person was the one who caused the ceiling to collapse, but my heart told me he couldn't be trusted.

He shoved his hands into the pocket of his black jeans and shot a look at me.

It felt like I couldn't breathe. His gaze threatened to drag me into an abyss of darkness as long as he had his eyes on me.