My tendrils reacted to the mayor as he attempted to move away from it.

"Answer my questions," I repeated.

"No! h.e.l.l with your question!" The mayor ran to me and I scoffed at his stupid action. My crimson tendrils skewered his body and they moved around violently in a circular motion as the mayor was ripped apart.

"Foolish..."

I turned my head around to have my body slammed against the wall of the alley. My chest had its air forced out.

"Ava, it's Teria soldiers," said my Aegis.

I stood up and wiped the blood from my mouth. "I hate them..."

The moment I muttered those words, a sharp object slashed my neck and blood sprayed onto the floor. An invisible Teria soldier kicked me in the stomach and I fell hard.

I gurgled and held my bloodied hand to close the wound at my neck as it healed.

"...I'll kill you." I glanced left and right, as the tendrils swirled in search of its prey. My pikes stabbed in every direction to lure out the invisible soldiers one way or another. One of it managed to poke something and I sent every pike I have formed to stab at that same direction.

"Urgh!" A soldier in silver gears appeared and his body was pierced through from every inch. He coughed blood before he stopped moving.

"There's only one... I had hoped for more," I said as my Aegis weapons retreated back into me.

The man in yellow was still there, grabbing his injured left arm with the other and I walked to him.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"S-Stay away from me!"

"I said... what's your name?"

He avoided my gaze. "G-Giotto Da Silva."

Da Silva. I once read a book that had that name in it. If I actually remembered correctly, Da Silva was a common surname in Portugal. It was actually the most common surname at that.

"Portugal?" I said.

"Er, yes."

"Your arm will be fine... I have some questions to ask you right now." I pointed my small crimson blade from my right arm at him.

"O-Okay! Don't k-kill me," he begged.

"First, do you know any high-ranking officer in Canada?"

He blinked at my question. "I-I don't know. Perhaps there is one? I don't know."

"You're lying. You actually have some form of information on that matter. You're a reporter, aren't you?"

"Wait, how do you--"

"I saw you a few times on the television..."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense," he muttered. "But still, I don't know who you referring to. I only know of General Sebastian."

"Sebastian? But he's the minister of Canada." I repeated. My blade touched his chin.

"H-He's a general that was merited for his contribution in the invasion against Russia in the year 2018. He's the one in charge of Canada right now. Canada was given to him."

My body trembled in anger. "You kill people... and then get awarded for doing such atrocity? And then Canada suffers greatly right now due to his governors.h.i.+p. How distasteful..."

Giotto breathed heavily. "That's all I know. Please, spare me!"

The way he begged for his life p.i.s.sed me off. He incurred the ma.s.ses to rebel back then but he acted like he was a bystander in all of that.

"Ava, someone's there," alerted Aegis.

I looked in front of me, and at the corner was a man in his suit. My brain remembered his face from somewhere. I glared at him. "You're... General Sebastian."

He whimpered and ran away. I wasted no time and chased after his figure. He veered into a few narrow alleys before entering a building that was in shambles. 'Why was he there,' I thought.

"It's a trap..."

"I agree, Ava."

A greatsword the size of a car formed from my back and readied to strike the building.

"Ava, you need to restrain yourself. Your body couldn't handle this much use of Aegis the way your body is now," said Aegis.

"That just means I'll have to kill him right here. People like him should die right away..."

Before my crimson greatsword struck, the man in question dashed out of the building. He was terribly frightened.

"I-I don't know how I'm here! I don't r-remember anything!" shouted the general.

"You lost your mind?" I asked him. My greatsword shrunk into a regular size and cleaved him in two. Blood splattered over my face and I wiped it off with my dress. Somehow, I felt a little bit sluggish.

"You need to eat, Ava," suggested Aegis.

"I will..."

I started to step back from the general's body when it happened.

His upper body moved by itself and he looked up at me. "H-Help me."

"What?!" I was confused. He should be dead. "Does he have Aegis?"

"I suppose not, Ava. He's not regenerating. But the fact remains that he's still alive after being split in two," answered Aegis.

Immediately, I formed a crimson hammer from my right arm and it fell on top of the general's head. His head was crushed into pieces. I waited for a few minutes and found out he was permanently dead.

"What just happened..." My mind was still thinking but I could not come to a conclusion. I was not suited for such intensive workload on my brain.

"Perhaps, Ava, he has a pseudo-Aegis."

I patted my dress and cleaned off the dirt off it. "Pseudo Aegis?"

"I am not sure myself, but it could be a downgraded version of Aegis. That's the only thing I could think of."

"So... the technology has come that far I see." I took a deep breath before moving away from the alley. I gave up on the reporter a.s.suming he had escaped. "Isn't that...?"

Freda and her father stood at the end of the alley, blocking my way. What made me more dumbfounded than I already had was Freda. She was supposed to be dead.

"Is she... this doesn't make sense," I said.

The father and daughter lunged at me and my long blade sliced them instinctively. Despite being split in half, they could still move.

"I knew it..." I murmured.

"ARGH!" Something sharp pierced me from behind. I looked at my chest and a white blade sprouted from it.

"How do you like my Aegis, kid?"

I turned my head to find a man I had never seen before. He was in a standard dark blue Great Corporate United military uniform. His grey hair was messy and covered a part of his face. His green eyes flickered at me.

"Oh, how rude of me. My name is Hughes. I'm an Aegis User."