Still, taking them all head-on in a narrow s.p.a.ce wouldn't do me any good. That command room left no s.p.a.ce for me to maneuver myself. If I had to escape, only one door was accessible to me. The door where I came from led to a winding staircase downwards. By any chance that more of those clones were waiting for me at the end of the staircase, there would be no other way out for me.

'I can fight them. But, destroying that controller comes first,' I thought, 'Escaping would only draw these clones out to the wars.h.i.+p's deck, where Caesar is fighting. Since he is occupied with Alexander, bringing these clones there would only make things more complicated. I can't risk that.'

The only path for me was to fight Yvonne's clones. Whether more of them would pop out or not didn't bother me. After all, there could only be so many people in this wars.h.i.+p she had converted. Fighting them all was not an option. At the very least, somehow, slowly picking those clones off one by one was the ideal scenario for me.

"One by one . . . One by one . . ." I mumbled to myself.

Without warning, three of those clones, in their wedding dress, leaped towards me. Brandis.h.i.+ng the peach Aegis blades sprouting out from their arms, they immediately slashed.

I blocked their repeated slashes with my golden s.h.i.+eld. Even when they angled it so that their blades could reach me from the side, I adjusted my position as quickly and the blades bounced off my s.h.i.+eld. Of course, the moment our weapons connected, my s.h.i.+eld glowed in a gold brilliance. Another one of them managed to sneak behind me and I ducked in time. Her blade sliced the air instead.

As expected, the previous three clones towered over me in an attempt to steal a few attacks at my unguarded rear. I was not going to let them do that. After a quick step towards me, they thrust their blades forward.

"Like I will let you!"

My golden s.h.i.+eld split in half and I used it to block the numerous blades coming down at me. My s.h.i.+eld glowed again, but this time, it was not merely absorbing their Aegis blades. In fact, it was preparing to fire concentrated plasma beams towards them. Those four realized what I was going to do. Unfortunately, they didn't manage to step away and got obliterated from my plasma beams wrapped in gold light.

Boom!

The entire metal ceiling ruptured from my attack, revealing a clear blue sky. My beams continued to shoot towards the sky before it gradually disappeared. Those women that were near my s.h.i.+eld before had vaporized into thin air. I quickly looked at the other clones in that room. For a few crucial moments, they were staring at the absent ceiling.

It was my chance. Realizing that I could eliminate most of them at that time, I instantly manifested three golden s.h.i.+elds from my back. It pa.s.sed through the fabric of my uniform without tearing it apart and took aim at the clones. The slim tubes that allowed the new s.h.i.+elds to move suddenly twitched, of which it slowly glowed in gold.

The half s.h.i.+elds I had formed were aimed at the clones in front of me. Some of the clones had moved to the corner of the room, however, I was sure no one could escape from my incoming plasma beams. It was because of the mere fact that I was aiming to destroy the entire command center with that one move.

"You are crazy!" shouted the one holding the cube.

"The exit is just behind me, so there's no way for you to escape. Blame yourself for not preparing an escape plan," I said with a grin.

A moment later, my five s.h.i.+elds exploded into rays of light and burst through every side of the small room. There was nothing but white and gold in my vision, so I had to close my eyes until the plasma completely disappeared.

I opened my eyes. The command center was no longer there. It was blown to bits and no more walls hugged the sides of that room. Only burning ashes and faint smoke, nothing else. And of course, I was clearly exposed to the cold breeze and the not-so-hot sun high up in the sky.

"I won . . ." My Aegis crystals disintegrated as I took a few steps towards the edge of the then destroyed command room. I looked down at the wars.h.i.+p's deck, and sure enough, Caesar and Alexander had stopped fighting.

However...

"Alex!" Caesar helped Alexander on his feet. "Blood . . . Your eyes are bleeding."

Alexander shook his head and coughed blood. "I don't have much time left. The device planted inside me . . . Is set to inject a huge amount of Aegis Suppressor drug into my bloodstreams if the cube controller is ever destroyed. It's a countermeasure after what happened with Ava."

I had already made my way to their side and Alexander looked at me.

"Then . . . You want us to leave you here?" Caesar said weakly.

"If it's not too much, yes. Just leave me here. With my Aegis disabled, my body can hardly handle these wounds you inflicted."

"Wait. But then, why did you ask us to destroy the controller if you know what will happen?" I asked a dumb question.

"I don't want to die as a traitor. Though, perhaps I am now."

He pushed Caesar to the side and moved over to the edge of the wars.h.i.+p's deck. Then, he formed a huge cl.u.s.ter of magenta Aegis crystals from his arm and dipped it into the ocean.

A few minutes pa.s.sed by when huge tidal waves slowly moved in the direction of the C.U's fleet. After that, a few of their wars.h.i.+ps sunk into the ocean once it hit, breaking the formation.

"Alex . . ."

Alexander turned around when Caesar and I helped him to stand properly.

"Please . . . Rescue Alicia. She is being manipulated into making a weapon for Amathelia. That weapon . . . It can break through Gheele's Aegis dome. You have . . . To get her back."

Alexander's body suddenly slumped forward. His eyes were blank, and so was his expression. He had pa.s.sed away.

"You . . ." Caesar looked at me. "Go back to Lady Ava."

"Huh?"

"Something will happen to her. I don't know how I know, but you need to get to where she is," said Caesar firmly.

"I can do that . . . But what about you?" I asked.

"I will continue fighting on this western front."

"But the enemy wars.h.i.+ps . . ." I clenched my fists. "She needs me now, is what you are trying to say."

He sighed. "You are very close to her. Surely you are sensing that she is in danger right now."

"I know that. But so far, she doesn't need me as much, you know. In combat, she is unmatched unless the Pillars are her opponents. Even so, I have promised to come back to her."

"Then get on with it. I can handle this side of the war no problem," said Caesar as he patted me on the shoulder, "And, you are wrong. Believe it or not, she sees you as an irreplaceable piece in her heart. Lady Ava needs Hope Domitius in her life."

I lowered my head. "Back then, I have sworn to myself that I would give Ava what she really wants. The normal life of a teenager. She needs that."

"Good. You know your purpose. Now, go. That fighter jet is about to arrive."

I smiled and walked away from Caesar. I looked up when the said fighter jet broke into half and plummeted into the ocean. My whole body froze when that happened. It took me a few moments to process what had become of that fighter jet.

"Caesar--"

Just when I was about to look over my shoulder, the wars.h.i.+p shook for a few seconds. Then, the ground below exploded and my body was thrown up high into the air.