I didn't intend to just stand there and wait. The remaining flames from the explosion gathered to its initial spot and coalesced from my command. Shortly after, it began to burn anything far up there in the sky, growing bigger and bigger as I let oxygen took my flames to an even greater form of destruction.

"..."

But, from where I saw it, the fortress wasn't affected by my all-out attack. The second time my flames whipped at the fortress, it did absolutely no damage to the fortress's surface. It seemed like every time that white surface made contact with my flames, it shone faintly and ended up unscathed, so I a.s.sumed it had a negation effect towards Aegis specialties.

Still, the difficulty of this— to burn the whole fortress down the last bits was not possible right then. After all, that thing was so ma.s.sive it literally occupied a third of the sky, and to take down such a behemoth would require more than just my flames.

I clenched my fists and bit my lip as hard as I could to deaden this frustration. If the outer layer was indeed, as a matter of fact, Kian's Aegis crystals, then there was only one way for me to do some damage.

Even so, my burning hatred clawed at me from the inside, and I found it to be very much up there back when I took it on my own to kill Bart slowly. My entire body shook from it, my teeth bit into my lip harder and a sharp coppery taste entered my mouth.

"Ava, calm down!" said Aegis in my head.

I ignored it.

No.

It was more like I couldn't help but ignore anything that was not related to that flying fortress. I wanted to destroy it so, so much. Maltyie's bloodied body further heightened my rage.

When my eyes caught sight of Mara's corpse, I unconsciously went over to her side. I hated that woman. It was not enough for her to die too early.

"U... gh...h ..."

The corpse— with only the lower half remaining, twitched a few times, with her exposed muscles and bones slowly, but surely, started to be wrapped with pale, white skin. My eyebrows raised at that impossible feat Mara was trying to do, whether it was of her own volition, or the Aegis within her itself.

But then I remembered she was given the newest generation of Aegis. In terms of efficiency in using the host's protein and the Aegis's own chemicals to regenerate, it far surpa.s.sed the older ones. Even when forming Aegis crystals, the time taken was significantly less than the previous Aegis.

"...Why are you trying so hard to cling to life...?" I asked. "For what purpose? So you can kill more innocent people? But for whose sake? Your own?!"

I didn't want to see her alive again. That d.a.m.nable woman must die right then and there with no traces left.

"..." My right hand grabbed at one of her legs and a moment later, the area was illuminated with red and blue light.

The semi corpse, as it was regenerating, spasmed from the pain I was inflicting on her. "I hate you...! I hate you I hate you I hate you!"

After some time, the blue and red light vanished and I let go of Mara— which apparently caused her entire body to shrivel. Of course, just to make sure she didn't make another attempt to regenerate herself into existence again, I sliced her up afterward.

"Her Aegis is mine," I said, my heart was still pouring out so much hatred.

"Ava, calm down...!"

I looked up at the fortress, and still, my flames were being nullified bit by bit.

'You hate her, right?' said an unknown female voice inside my mind. She sounded very young. If I have to guess, that voice came from a kid.

'Do you hate everything?' she asked.

"Shut up..."

'Look around you... Everyone is dead!'

"They... They are not." I clenched my fists.

'Don't you just want to kill everyone right now? After all, what matters most for you is Hope. The others are merely there supporting you because they have to.'

"Stop..."

'I am sure that if you never met Hope in the first place, or even got kidnapped, your life would've been so much better.'

"Stop it..."

'It is true, no? Admit that you are nothing but a baby that needs to be consoled all the time. You can't even think rationally in this situation.'

My body ached in pain. "I am not— I am not like that."

'Then—'

"Shut up. Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up!"

My bones creaked as I bit my own arm. I bit it with every ounce of strength I had. It hurt. Everything about it hurt so much.

'Everyone is dead!' the kid said.

In that instant, all the people I have met throughout my life, their images flashed in front of me.

Their bodies were covered in blood, some were headless, and a few more didn't have any limbs. Unknowingly, I was pulled into the room where they were at. My hands felt wet, so I raised it up to take a look.

"No..."

It was covered in red blood, all the way to my elbows. My entire being started to shudder, but when I s.h.i.+fted my attention back to my surroundings, the dead bodies had all stood back up. Those who didn't have legs merely floated in mid-air.

"It's your fault," said Hope, his two eyes were missing.

"It's your fault," said Luca. "Why didn't you save us?"

I shook my head.

"You killed us!"

"Why are you even alive, huh?! Until now, all you did was cry and cry like a baby."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

My legs refused to help me stand and I collapsed on both knees. "No, no, no... no."

"It's your fault, Ava. You never really do anything to help us," said Beatrice, her head was missing.

"You keep going on and on about how you want to protect the weak. Isn't that kind of stupid? You only need to care about yourself," said Caesar as he pointed at me with his fingerless hand.

"Stop..."

"You are still a kid. We get that. But, with how strong you are, why can't you protect us?" said someone in the shadow, his or her voice was garbled.

"It's your fault."

"It's your fault, Ava."

"It is obviously your fault."

I couldn't breathe. Seeing all of those bodies somehow had taken away my ability to speak, entirely. Red blood streamed across my cheeks.

"Ava. Why are you even alive?" They all said at the same time.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

I screamed from the top of my lungs. I didn't know what I was doing anymore. Why am I there? What am I doing again?

My vision blackened out instantly, and I found myself in the darkness. No, I liked it. That midnight black engulfing my very being was soothing. Somehow, I grinned from it.