Kapitel 91: Sister

"No, no, no."

Qara grabbed Odval's right arm and tried to pull her from under the crystals. Still, her body won't budge as Odval herself screamed from the pain.

"No . . . No." Qara grabbed her hand but she yanked it away from him. "Odval?"

She tried to force a smile, as tears poured out from her eyes. ''R-Run away, please."

"No---"

"Qara!"shouted Odval. "Please, I'm begging you. T-The rest of us need your help."

Qara clenched his fists, unwilling to move away from Odval's side.

"I love you, Qara," she said weakly.

"Odval . . ."

"Please leave me. This is my final request."

"I won't allow you to die." Hope went over to their side and he struck the crystals crushing Odval with his shield. It glowed even brighter as the crystals shrunk in size. In a matter of seconds, the peach crystals had been completely absorbed by Hope's golden shield.

Odval's back was bleeding heavily. She tried to stand up but unable to do so. Instead, she screamed in pain when she attempted it. "I-I can't get up."

"No, don't," warned Hope with a sharp tone. "Your wound will only get worse. Your back's broken."

Odval nodded her head slowly as Qara tore the tattered part of her cloth. He grimaced from the maimed flesh of her back.

"Your adrenaline helps." Hope looked over his shoulder. "What are you guys standing there for? Help me here, will ya?! Your friend is dying!"

Khenbish flinched from what he said and ran to Odval's side. Ulii followed suit.

"That shield . . ." muttered the brown-haired girl. She was still distracted by it.

With a quick motion, I swung my dual blades at her direction. Multi-colored flames burst out from it. The flames then engulfed her entire body.

"Aaaaaaaah!" She screamed her lungs out as she tried to move away from the multi-colored flames.

"It's . . . different," I mumbled.

A monotone voice replied in my head, " I could only assume me releasing your limiters is the cause of it. The essences of your other Aegis appeared to have seeped further into your body. I don't know if it has any other effects on your flames. Only time would tell."

I nodded to myself, as my eyes fixated on the burning girl.

However, only her head was affected by the flames, while the rest of her body didn't.

By the time the fire dissipated, only her skull was left.

"Aaargh!" I directed my crimson scythes from before to strike her. However, that girl ducked in time and my scythes swung above her head.

Her wounds finally healed as she cast a confused look at me. "S-Sister? Why did you do that? Do you . . . Hate me? I can make it up to you if you want!"

I clicked my tongue. "She's crazy."

I took a glance at Hope and the others. Hope had torn a large section of his jacket for Odval. Her torso was bandaged by it, as Helena helped her to consume the painkillers. She coughed from it, but I could see from her eyes that she didn't want to give up.

Then I caught sight of a man floating in the sky. His peach Aegis wings flapped several times as he looked at the group.

Qara noticed him and gave that guy a menacing glare. " You killed my friends! You killed all of them!"

That blond man looked at him condescendingly. "I wanted to kill you just now, but that girl saved you, huh?" He laughed as his right hand covered a part of his face. "Hilarious! You guys are funny. Why would a girl like her sacrificed herself for you?! Cringeworthy. Hah! I better kill you properly right now."

Qara gritted his teeth and Odval's hand grabbed at his shirt. "Qa . . . Ra"

He held onto her hand. "Odval. Don't speak anymore. You're . . . Doing quite well right now."

Odval flashed a thin smile at him. "G-Good to . . . Know."

The blond man up in the air laughed again. He grinned. "You all can just die!" His Aegis wings stretched itself and descended at the group.

Erhi cowered behind Ulii as the crystals fell in their direction.

"I'm not going to let you!" Hope raised his shield overhead once again, and the crystals crashed into it. His shield started to absorb it when the deformed wings pulled away.

It returned to the blond man up in the air, and he gave Hope a nasty scowl.

"So you're the one who's responsible for my lost crystals, eh? Amusing. No, this is truly fascinating." He clawed at his face with one hand as he smirked at Hope. "I'm looking forward to killing you, kid."

Hope lowered his shield. "You're not from The People's Light. Who are you?"

'Wait, he isn't?'' I thought.

That blond man glanced at the girl in front of me. "Why are you just standing there, Mara? You've been looking at that gold guy for ages now. Don't tell me you like him?"

Mara quickly looked back at me. "N-No, I'm not! It's just that the shield . . . Is Beautiful." She sighed and gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry we didn't come earlier, Sister. Please, come back. Everyone is waiting for your return."

I glared at her. "Look, you're talking nonsense right now. And I'm going to kill you no matter what."

My crimson scythes raised itself high up, as my dual blades elongated to take a crescent form. I swung it in a wide arc and my multi-colored flames burst out from it.

Before Mara could vanish into the ground, my scythes fell onto her. It cracked the ground and it caused her to stumble. A few moments later, my flames caught her body in its maw.

However, something peculiar happened.

My flames seemed to affect her arms too, which didn't happen earlier.

Mara looked at me with sad eyes before leaping away from the flames. She touched her cheeks and her whole body vanished into the ground, leaving the flames behind.

I willed it to disappear. My eyes glanced at my left and right, to focus on where she would appear next.

"Hah! Don't think that I can't hurt you, weakling!" The winged man continued to attack Hope with his peach crystals. Even so, Hope managed to defend against it.

One of the wings whipped at Hope's side as he was occupied with the other. "Aaargh!" His body crashed a dozen feet away from the group.

"I'll take your lives right now," said the winged man. His wings swooped down onto the group when Lily kicked at it from out of nowhere.

"Lily!" I said.

Caesar then appeared from a corner and struck the other wing with his yellow spear.

Still, the wings stretched to form a pair of large hands that shadowed them.

"Sister, I'm here."

Mara pulled at my jacket from my rear and I fell onto the ground. She then grabbed my bladed arms, when her smiling face came into view. "Sister . . ."

Mara crouched next to me while still holding my arms. "Sister, I'm taking you. Oh, I will take you to the others all right. They miss you so much, and so do I. We all miss you, Big Sister. Please come back to us."