With long strides, we walked over to the fighter jet that was preparing to take off. There was already a pilot in it, so my worries vanished in an instant. I had thought that Caesar wanted to pilot the fighter jet before, but it seemed like that was not it at all. I looked at Caesar with a frown. If he isn't going to pilot it, then why did he said he will take us there with a fighter jet?

Numerous thoughts crossed my mind, and one particular thought plastered itself firmly at its forefront. Immediately, I shook my head a few times.

"Oh? You have figured it out?" said Caesar nonchalantly. He had turned his head to face me. "It is just like what you think! After all, there is no way we can get to that wars.h.i.+p without the help of a fighter jet."

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. Caesar laughed at me while holding his stomach, probably because of the sour expression on my face. I could just imagine the cold wind cutting through my skin like a razor. And, that exactly what happened when each of us occupied the left and right wings of the fighter jet; both our feet wrapped in our respective Aegis crystals. After we had latched to the wings, the fighter jet didn't waste any time and took off from that wars.h.i.+p's deck.

"Daamn itt!" I regretted coming with him! The razor sharp wind cut through my cheek mercilessly for a few moments before the fighter jet slowed down. It went in a straight line towards the lone enemy wars.h.i.+p.

"Are you scared of height?!" asked Caesar through his earpiece.

"No! What makes you think that?" I said.

"Hmm. Because you are clinging to me."

I looked at my feet and then back at him. We were on separate wings and crouching too. "What are you talking about?!" A sudden nauseatic feeling took hold of me and I lowered my head. I covered my mouth with one hand, resisting the urge to throw up at that very moment.

"I'm pretty sure you don't have motion sickness the last time you got sent to Moscow with a landing pod," Caesar spoke to me through his earpiece.

"I know! But for some reason, this one does . . . Ugh. Excuse me, I'll just--"

"Don't you dare throw up right now!"

The fighter jet decreased its speed once it got near the enemy wars.h.i.+p. After circling around, we confirmed that there was no reaction whatsoever from the s.h.i.+p's turrets. Of course, it was strange for that thing to not defend itself since we were just above it. We were enemies and yet they just let us hovered over its deck, no signs of incoming attack and such. In this situation, one would choose to be more alert and prepare for anything.

"I think they are inviting us," said Caesar. "Alright. Jump off right now. I will make some hoverboards from my Aegis crystals."

"Ehh?" I knew we were going to land on the wars.h.i.+p like this from the very beginning. But, considering Caesar's playful manner in everything he does, there was no telling what he would do to me with his 'hoverboards'. With a gulp, I jumped after him and we slowly freefall towards the wars.h.i.+p's deck. He formed two yellow rectangular boards that popped out of the back of his Lutalo uniform and I grabbed onto it for dear life. With his Aegis's specialty, he could basically animate his Aegis crystals, and he did just that for the boards. Slowly, we both descended to the deck with the flying boards. Mine halted in mid-air about ten feet above the deck and I jumped from it.

"Phew." Caesar's hoverboard circled around the deck a few times before he leaped next to me.

"Hey. I want your Aegis's specialty," I said to him. "It's very convenient."

"Nope. Unless you can absorb other User's Aegis like Lady Ava, I doubt it. And I know you are joking, edgy blond teen."

I shrugged and looked around the wars.h.i.+p's deck, and there was no single soul within sight. It was as if it was a ghost s.h.i.+p. I didn't believe in ghost s.h.i.+ps, nor would I ever be. But for Caesar, he noticed someone's presence and manifested three yellow knives and held it in each hand. He adjusted it so that the knives were tightly sandwiched between his fingers.

Of course, I immediately formed a golden s.h.i.+eld on my right arm as a safety measure. If Caesar was alerted by someone's presence and had to prepare himself like that, this opponent had to be powerful. Not more than ten seconds pa.s.sed, and the metal door leading to the s.h.i.+p's interior opened, revealing a tall guy with a spiky brown hair.

He looked like he hadn't eaten for weeks. The guy wore a simple brown t-s.h.i.+rt and blue jeans. He looked at us with empty eyes. Caesar, for some reason, lowered down his weapons when he saw that guy.

"Alexander?!" said Caesar. ". . . That tsunami is your doing after all? I don't want to believe it at first, but it seems like it is true. You are on their side now?"

That guy named Alexander halted about ten feet away, his face expressionless.

"No. This is Amathelia's doing, isn't it old friend?" said Caesar.

"You know this guy from where?" I asked.

"He's a friend . . . One of the Aegis Users from my former squad. There is another Aegis squad that served under Melker before. Remember Reinhart? He was a part of that second squad."

"You said friend, but . . ." That Alexander guy didn't seem to be there as a friend. At least, that was how I saw it.

"He's not himself. Amathelia is controlling him, no doubt," said Caesar.

It made sense. Caesar wasn't someone who would lie about something like this. There was no need to doubt his words. Though, the fact that Alexander was the only 'enemy' on that wars.h.i.+p felt strange.

There was no one else on the deck.

"Please," said Alexander weakly. "Please kill me . . . Both of you. Someone in this s.h.i.+p is controlling me using that same cube controller that Alicia had used against Ava."

"What? Then, that means . . ." Caesar glanced at me. "You go after the one who is controlling Alexander. I'll keep him here."

I was just about to agree when suddenly, Alexander activated his Aegis. A ma.s.sive magenta blade emerged from his right arm and he swung it forward. Instinctively, I took a step towards him and blocked the attack with my golden s.h.i.+eld. The moment my s.h.i.+eld connected, it glowed, which meant that it was absorbing Alexander's blade into itself.

"Hmm? You have become an Aegis User, huh. Is this the path you have chosen in order to protect Ava?" Alexander put more strength into his forward slice and his Aegis's specialty activated. His magenta blade vibrated intensely without warning, rendering my body immobile due to the shockwave coming from it. He was about to slice me in half when Caesar stepped in with his yellow knives.

Caesar stabbed at him while quickly rotating which knives he used in each hand. But, those knives only poked at air since Alexander had moved out of the way. Caesar didn't stop after that and immediately followed up his missed attacks with more blades. Two yellow broadswords flashed in front of Alexander's face, but he blocked it with his large magenta blade.

"Caesar. You have become this strong, huh," praised Alexander.

"I have been training."

Caesar kicked at Alexander, which knocked him backward. When he looked back up, Caesar was juggling his knives and broadswords skillfully. Yellow light flickered here and there as Caesar repeatedly switched over his weapons every time he sliced and thrust at Alexander, who was forced into being defensive.

Alexander tried to counter whenever an opening presented itself, but so far, Caesar made up for it with his unpredictable blade movements. Using his Animation specialty, Caesar willed his weapons right then to hover around him while he fought, constantly switching over to any of it in seconds. Of course, since I had been training with Caesar for the past year, he had shown some improvements in handling his Aegis better.

He found out that he could be a bit cruder in how he would approach his opponent in combat. Simply put, Caesar had grasped a distinct fighting style, one that only he could come up with.

"Kid! Get up running and find the one who's controlling me!" Alexander yelled at me. "I don't have any control over my body as it is, but you can destroy the controller!"

Alexander was resisting the device inside him, but alas, it was only for a few moments. Seeing that, Caesar plunged his blades into his chest before kicking him to the ground.

"Get moving!" he ordered, his attention was still on the collapsed Alexander.

'He can handle that guy himself no problem, trust him,' I affirmed myself.

My feet took off running and I entered the inside of the wars.h.i.+p. There was nothing that caught my interest as I ran, with metal pipes and light bulbs lining up the paths I took. A winding staircase led me upstairs, and before I knew it, I reached the command center of the wars.h.i.+p.

"That woman . . ."

Reinforced windows circled the command center, allowing me to see the blue ocean surrounding the wars.h.i.+p. A blonde woman in a white wedding dress stood near one of the large windows. Slowly, she turned to face me, and I saw a familiar metal cube in her hands. Her face was covered in a veil, so I could not discern her ident.i.ty.

"She's the one controlling Alexander," I whispered to myself.

As I was about to lunge at that blonde woman, a few more of her popped out from behind the machines in that command center. I scanned the area quickly, and somehow, a dozen of them had filled my vision. Every last one of them had the same features and wore a wedding dress with the same design and color.

"What the . . . That woman must be Yvonne," I said. "Klaus mentioned her before."

In terms of number alone, I was clearly at a disadvantage. Though, I was not so weak that I would let myself be overpowered so easily. Raising my golden s.h.i.+eld up high, with my face concealed behind it, I grinned.