42 Suffering . . (1/2)

Burning rage welled up inside me as I glared at Bart. He was laughing at Hope's horrid state.

”I'll kill you!” I yelled at him.

Bart cast a quick glance at me. ”Huh? Really? Well, I'm looking forward to that, dear Ava.” He threw his knife in the air and caught it, grinning over the pain he was about to deal at onto Hope.

”Bart,” said Alexander. He had walked to Bart with his arms across his chest.

”What is it, Alex? Don't you see--”

”I think that's enough. We're wasting time on this... thing you're doing,” said Alexander. He tilted his chin to make his point went across.

”Huh?! I'm not done yet!”

”I said that's enough,” repeated Alexander. ”I'm not going to wait for you to be done with this s.a.d.i.s.tic thing you're doing right now.”

”Alex! Just let me do my thing! Or else--”

A large magenta shear opened up with its razor-sharp blade readied to cut Bart's head apart. The shear connected to Alexander's right palm, as his menacing eyes gazed upon Bart.

He would definitely do it to him. I did not see any further hesitation from Alexander.

And I wished he would just cut Bart open.

”I said, ENOUGH!” repeated Alexander. His shear glinted under the crystals' light emanating around the room.

Bart sighed. He tossed the knife away onto the floor. ”You're no fun.”

”When you're a soldier, fun is not something that you seek. Since you're always fighting on the battlefield.” Alexander stared at Bart as he moved to the far end of the room. to where the others were at. His magenta shear dissolved into thin air.

”Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” said Bart while waving at Alexander behind his back.

Alexander switched his stare at Alicia with stern eyes. ”Then, shall we begin?”

”Might as well,” answered Alicia. The little girl next to her tugged at her hand while she moved towards me.

That little girl could be someone from Alicia's experiments. If my a.s.sumption was correct, she would be the youngest Aegis User ever. How despicable. As usual, Alicia never failed to make my hatred towards her and Bart as dominant as ever, shadowing me.

Hope was breathing shakily as his gaze was locked, taking in the sight of his hands that were no longer there. Except for the three fingers he had on his left hand.

”Lily, take the boy away. Treat him,” ordered Relly.

”Why me?” pouted Lily. She rubbed her unruly hair and growled. But she did what he had asked of her nonetheless.

I watched Hope being taken away by her as both of them walked through a narrow pathway behind a clump of green crystals. I let out a long breath.

It looked like I did not have to see him like that again. Perhaps Bart had tortured him before, but I could not see any apparent wound on him. I knew Bart's Aegis could manipulate people, and it could bestow a subpar regeneration somewhat to the affected.

I based my theory on Freda, her father, General Sebastian, and the servants of Grand Amina.

'What happened to Caesar and the others?' I wondered.

Agatha's wounded face came to mind. And also Amaryllis's amputated right leg.

Anuman's dead body and the other dead servants.

Too much blood spilled just because of me.

'Why do you care about them?' A voice whispered to me. Since I was alone for a long time, I always depended on myself to do everything. Having someone else took the burden off me back then was quite a refres.h.i.+ng feeling. I did not care about them nonetheless. Curiosity was the word for it. I felt the need to know the outcome of that whole fight before.

”Alright! Let's do this. Should we m.u.f.fle her mouth first?” said Alicia as she pulled out a small, cylindrical metal object from her uniform's pocket. It glowed with an amber touch.

”I'll give it to her,” said Alexander. He had a white cloth in his hand. He approached me and crouched to my eye level. ”You'll be fine. Bite into this if it hurts too much.”

I was reluctant at first but my heart actually sensed the sincerity in his words. More importantly, what he said made sense. I could feel what they really meant by the pain of the Aegis being inserted into your body was no joke. Especially since no one in the room seemed to be looking forward to it, including me of course.

Then there were Alicia and Bart, smirking like the stupid human trashes they were.

My mouth took in the cloth and bit it inside carefully.

Alicia gave the metal cylinder to Alexander and he held it on top of my right arm.

”Ava, right? This Aegis container would hurt a little bit. Prepare yourself,” mumbled Alexander.

His definition of the little bit was something I would not count on. Despite that, I bit at the cloth as hard as I can.

Alexander pressed a b.u.t.ton at the top of the cylinder and it glowed orange. After that, he moved back from the container for it to do its thing.

It rotated slowly yet it gained speed each time. Until the whizzing sound of the cylinder made me grimaced. The cylinder stood still on top of my right arm as a sharp needle punctured my skin.

I was sure of my tolerance for pain the past couple of years. Though the moment that cylinder twisted itself into my right arm, it was so painful that I basically almost rip the cloth in my mouth.