186 To Hate Them Means To Hate Yourself (1/2)
”Ava!”
Erhi slapped me in the face and I was brought back to that harsh reality, the flying fortress was still there. And then, there was Erhi, her eyes filled with tears.
Why is Erhi crying?
”Ava, I thought I had lost you...” she said between her sobs. ”I-I'm just glad you are back... Hic... Please, don't do that again.”
”...Get away.”
My mouth curved into a wide grin as I stared at the flying fortress. That thing was my only goal. Everything... Everything stemmed from Amathelia herself. The very source of my hatred, the progenitor of my rage and wrath was secluding herself inside those st.u.r.dy walls, away from me. Is she afraid of me that much? I relished the thought.
One thing was certain, amidst all of these emotions clouding my already broken mind.
'She was in that fortress.'
I grabbed hold of the thought and multi-colored flames burst out from my Uniform.
Erhi yelped from my pouring flames. Instinctively, the girl leaped to the side and stared at me with wide eyes. ”Ava!”
A friendly fighter jet popped out from the gray clouds high up, and I knew exactly what I had to do.
”Calm down!” said my Aegis over and over again.
When the jet flew close by, my flames converged and took down the fighter jet. As it plummeted, I took the opportunity to get on top of it using my crimson Aegis crystals.
With the crystals taking the shape of numerous hooks, it latched onto the jet. Five seconds later, my body was pulled abruptly towards the jet and I boarded it, the elongated ropes shortened. I immediately jumped from there and set my eyes on the fortress that had its cannon ready to fire at a moment's notice.
I grinned in delight.
As I freefall, two Aegis wings sprouted out from my shoulders. It expanded large enough to cover my entire body and started to flap a few times. The Aegis wings I manifested had the colors of all my Aegis, its colors swirling and flickering on the surface.
Crackle!
The flying fortress fired an aurora beam in my direction and the clouds dispersed as the beam cut through it.
Seeing that, I put every ounce of my strength to control the newly-formed Aegis wings and managed to dodge the beam, by a hair's breadth. However, the wings refused to cooperate any further. I lost control of it a few times and found myself slowly descending.
”Ava!” called my Aegis. ”You can't do something like this with your Aegis crystals. Your control is just not efficient enough to actually fly with it like Ivar.”
”I don't care.”
The hatred inside me was the reason I could keep going. And so, using what remaining energy I had left, I forced myself to stay afloat in the air using my flames. The flames shot out from the back of my Uniform and slowly increased its intensity. At first, it was hard to control the wings and flames at the same time, but with much consideration, I decided to put more effort into the flames.
Flying using Aegis crystals was a completely new thing for me, so by lifting myself up and control the direction I was going with my flames, I succeeded in it.
”HAAAARGGH!”
The multi-colored flames turned into a large blaze to increase my speed. When I found it difficult to maneuver, I would contract and expand my wings just enough to make up for it.
I ground my teeth. ”Amathelia!”