49 His True Nature (1/2)
”Relly!” shouted Alexander.
Maltyie jumped away from him when magenta spikes sprouted from his back. ”You! You betrayed our trust!”
”Who is this 'our' you're referring to, Alex? Surely it's never the Aegis Users,” said Relly, his voice echoed throughout the place.
Alexander stood up and glared at him, clearly enraged from knowing he was involved at all. ”You did these atrocities behind His Supremacy's back!”
”No,” said Relly. ”His Supremacy knew about this.”
”What? Then--”
”It's just that these... trivial matters do not concern him one bit. You of all people should know that, hm? Being an Aegis User who had served under him for a long time, it was not an anomaly anymore,” said Relly.
Alexander lowered his gaze, gritting his teeth at his statement.
Melker knew about what his subordinates doing but he decided to not bat an eye at it. Given that he was the person who waged war against the whole world, his eyes were set on only one objective.
Simple-minded was what I described a person like him.
”My father... does not care?” Maltyie clenched her fists at the revelation. Surely she held her father in a high regard despite what he was doing all those years. He killed innocent people and pillaged other countries at whim.
Her blue eyes s.h.i.+mmered under the fluorescent light.
”Yes, Maltyie. You should just leave this matter to me,” said Relly.
His suggestion fueled Maltyie with blind rage. ”Leave this to you?! You're the one who started all this! What's your reason for doing it?!”
Relly s.h.i.+fted his attention to Alexander. ”You doubt what I'm doing, aren't you? Alexander, you're one of the firsts to serve under His Supremacy as an official Aegis User. Why stop now?”
”No... that's not it,” mumbled Alexander, refusing to meet Relly in the eyes. ”My devotion, the faith that I had put onto this country my entire life, was for the sake of unity. His Supremacy's goal of wanting that made me believes he's the one I should be following all along.”
Alexander stomped his feet and glared at Relly. ”But you! You're the ones responsible! The citizens are afraid. Their hearts are filled with doubt because of your actions!”
”What actions?” asked Relly with a casual tone.
”These!” Alexander gestured at the cages, where the females whimpered from the event unfolding in front of them. ”You yourself are conducting human trafficking!”
”So?”
Maltyie gasped, quickly changing her expression to that of pure anger. ”Don't tell me you're playing dumb, Relly. Of all the people I know, you're one of the, if not, the smartest one. What's your reason?”
Relly sighed and he caressed his forehead. ”You see, Maltyie and Alex. Selling humans these days proved to be quite profitable.”
”Are you serious? Do you even realized what you're saying?!” asked Alexander. He had already formed a magenta blade that extended from his right arm.
”I guess it's my fault for not making it clear to you guys,” said Relly. ”I've been keeping this a secret. Of course, His Supremacy knew. But his ignorance in this matter was useful to me in the first place. Human trafficking, at its core, is just like selling slaves! There's nothing wrong with it. And the money I get would go to the soldiers who helped me.”
”Are you insane?!” I finally said. Hatred consumed me and I let it seep deeper, engraving its poison into my heart.
”Some money would go to my account as well since I'm doing most of the job. It's fortunate that our glorious country has beautiful, stunning women for me to... take care of,” said Relly with a smirk. ”It's business, everyone!”
Relly leaped from the metal bridge and crashed onto the ground, sending clouds of dust all over the place. ”Believe me, Alex. What you will say to His Supremacy would amount to nothing. I'm in charge of all these affairs after all, and more so that my rank's higher than you.”
”RELLY!”
Alexander sprinted forward and swung his Aegis blade at him. He parried the attack with his own blade and kicked Alexander in the stomach. With a bit of room to work with, Alexander created two long blades from his palms and slashed at him. He kept slas.h.i.+ng with his eyes locked onto the one target in front of him.
”Urgh!” Relly winced when the sharp blades severed his right arm off. But within seconds, it st.i.tched itself back no problem.
”I see that you've been training, Alex,” said Relly as he parried another attack coming at his head.
”I'm doing all this for His Supremacy! You're a thorn in his side, Relly!” yelled Alexander.
”A thorn, huh?” Relly dodged a few more blade slices from Alexander and thrust his blade at his direction. ”What?”
A kick sent Relly's blade upward, with another one cracked his skull from the impact. He stumbled backward.
”M-Maltyie,” muttered Relly, caressing the side of his head.
”I'm beating you up, and I'll have a talk with my father after this,” said Maltyie, recovering her combat stance after sending those two kicks at Relly.
”I see. Well, you can try. But I doubt it would work. Mark my word, Maltyie.” Relly took a deep breath. ”LILY!”
The wall behind Alexander turned into pink crystals as a familiar figure emerged from it with a sly grin. She was in her Full Aegis Form, if I remembered correctly, what with her entire body was made up of pink crystals.
”You're bringing Lily into this, too?!” exclaimed Alexander.
”She's too obedient, Alex. It's a waste to not make use of her,” said Relly.
Lily tilted her head at me. ”Oh, the kid's here too? Should I take care of her, Relly?”
”No. His Supremacy needs her. You got Alexander in front of you.”
”Ehhh? But Alex's on our side!” pouted Lily.
”You're just sparring with him, Lily. Nothing more than that” a.s.sured Relly.
Surely he was used to talking her into doing his bidding. His ploy of words was simple, yet effective.
”Oh, okay!” agreed Lily.
”Wait, our enemy is Relly!” said Alexander.
”But he's our leader, Alex. What he said is what he wants us to do.” Lily then lowered her body and pounced on Alexander at blinding speed. He managed to defend against her with a broad s.h.i.+eld he formed.
He looked behind his shoulder. ”Everyone, it's too dangerous here!”
Maltyie avoided a slice from Relly's blade and kicked him in the face. ”You're too old for this.”
He regained his stance and glared at her. ”Perhaps I am.”
I scrambled for a way to get myself involved in the fight, but running away was the only available option for me. Being Aegis-less in its essence was equivalent to being useless.
Lily converted Alexander's blades into her own crystals and it shattered.
”Dammit!” muttered Alexander. He formed a few more blades only to shatter from Lily's touch.
”Why aren't you using your specialty, Alex? Is it because there's a lot of people here?” asked Lily. She shattered another blade coming at her and punched Alexander in his cheek due to his sudden pause.
”Argghh!” His bloodied face healed as he became warier of Lily's movements.
Maltyie dodged a spike coming at her and swiftly countered it with an arching downward kick at Relly's head. He then retreated a few steps from Maltyie.
”I see. No wonder you're the General of The Army. But you know, I have someone here who also decided to scour in my territory without my consent,” said Relly. He looked upward and whistled when two soldiers popped out from a door at the end of the metal bridge.
”Derrick?!” exclaimed Maltyie.
The general, Derrick, was bruised all over his body. Even his military uniform was tattered, with the soldiers pinned him near the metal rails of the bridge.
”He was the first one to discover this place, Maltyie. That man tried to expose this to the eyes of the civilians. But what outcome will that bring to our country? Riot. Rebellions all over Sweden. We don't want that, don't we?” said Relly.
”You're the one who caused this in the first place!” I yelled at him. ”You're the greediest person I've ever met. Disregarding people's lives, you sold their existences for the people who're willing to join in your stupid business! You're nothing but a worldwide slave trader!”
Relly considered my words. ”Hmm, perhaps you're right. Well, it was worth it while it lasts.”He then shouted Lily's name.
”It's over already?” questioned Lily, with her right foot on top of Alexander's beaten up body. ”Hm, oh well.” Her body turned back into flesh and exited the place using the hole she made in the wall, followed by Relly.
”Wait!” shouted Alexander as he got back up.
”You're free to do what you want, Alex. But remember, your loyalty still lies in His Supremacy,” said Relly. He waved at all of us before disappearing into the darkness behind the wall.
The two soldiers heaved Derrick up and threw him from the bridge.
”Derrick!” yelled Maltyie. She jumped forward to save Derrick from the fall but Eugene got there first. He caught Derrick with two hands and stumbled to the ground.
”Ouch. He's heavy, Sis,” mumbled Eugene.