Suffering . .

Burning rage welled up inside me as I glared at Bart. He was laughing at Hope's horrid state.

"I'll kill you!" I yelled at him.

Bart cast a quick glance at me. "Huh? Really? Well, I'm looking forward to that, dear Ava." He threw his knife in the air and caught it, grinning over the pain he was about to deal at onto Hope.

"Bart," said Alexander. He had walked to Bart with his arms across his chest.

"What is it, Alex? Don't you see--"

"I think that's enough. We're wasting time on this... thing you're doing," said Alexander. He tilted his chin to make his point went across.

"Huh?! I'm not done yet!"

"I said that's enough," repeated Alexander. "I'm not going to wait for you to be done with this sadistic thing you're doing right now."

"Alex! Just let me do my thing! Or else--"

A large magenta shear opened up with its razor-sharp blade readied to cut Bart's head apart. The shear connected to Alexander's right palm, as his menacing eyes gazed upon Bart.

He would definitely do it to him. I did not see any further hesitation from Alexander.

And I wished he would just cut Bart open.

"I said, ENOUGH!" repeated Alexander. His shear glinted under the crystals' light emanating around the room.

Bart sighed. He tossed the knife away onto the floor. "You're no fun."

"When you're a soldier, fun is not something that you seek. Since you're always fighting on the battlefield." Alexander stared at Bart as he moved to the far end of the room. to where the others were at. His magenta shear dissolved into thin air.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," said Bart while waving at Alexander behind his back.

Alexander switched his stare at Alicia with stern eyes. "Then, shall we begin?"

"Might as well," answered Alicia. The little girl next to her tugged at her hand while she moved towards me.

That little girl could be someone from Alicia's experiments. If my assumption was correct, she would be the youngest Aegis User ever. How despicable. As usual, Alicia never failed to make my hatred towards her and Bart as dominant as ever, shadowing me.

Hope was breathing shakily as his gaze was locked, taking in the sight of his hands that were no longer there. Except for the three fingers he had on his left hand.

"Lily, take the boy away. Treat him," ordered Relly.

"Why me?" pouted Lily. She rubbed her unruly hair and growled. But she did what he had asked of her nonetheless.

I watched Hope being taken away by her as both of them walked through a narrow pathway behind a clump of green crystals. I let out a long breath.

It looked like I did not have to see him like that again. Perhaps Bart had tortured him before, but I could not see any apparent wound on him. I knew Bart's Aegis could manipulate people, and it could bestow a subpar regeneration somewhat to the affected.

I based my theory on Freda, her father, General Sebastian, and the servants of Grand Amina.

'What happened to Caesar and the others?' I wondered.

Agatha's wounded face came to mind. And also Amaryllis's amputated right leg.

Anuman's dead body and the other dead servants.

Too much blood spilled just because of me.

'Why do you care about them?' A voice whispered to me. Since I was alone for a long time, I always depended on myself to do everything. Having someone else took the burden off me back then was quite a refreshing feeling. I did not care about them nonetheless. Curiosity was the word for it. I felt the need to know the outcome of that whole fight before.

"Alright! Let's do this. Should we muffle her mouth first?" said Alicia as she pulled out a small, cylindrical metal object from her uniform's pocket. It glowed with an amber touch.

"I'll give it to her," said Alexander. He had a white cloth in his hand. He approached me and crouched to my eye level. "You'll be fine. Bite into this if it hurts too much."

I was reluctant at first but my heart actually sensed the sincerity in his words. More importantly, what he said made sense. I could feel what they really meant by the pain of the Aegis being inserted into your body was no joke. Especially since no one in the room seemed to be looking forward to it, including me of course.

Then there were Alicia and Bart, smirking like the stupid human trashes they were.

My mouth took in the cloth and bit it inside carefully.

Alicia gave the metal cylinder to Alexander and he held it on top of my right arm.

"Ava, right? This Aegis container would hurt a little bit. Prepare yourself," mumbled Alexander.

His definition of the little bit was something I would not count on. Despite that, I bit at the cloth as hard as I can.

Alexander pressed a button at the top of the cylinder and it glowed orange. After that, he moved back from the container for it to do its thing.

It rotated slowly yet it gained speed each time. Until the whizzing sound of the cylinder made me grimaced. The cylinder stood still on top of my right arm as a sharp needle punctured my skin.

I was sure of my tolerance for pain the past couple of years. Though the moment that cylinder twisted itself into my right arm, it was so painful that I basically almost rip the cloth in my mouth.

Blood splattered on my face as the cylinder made its way inside my arm. It churned away at my muscles and bones, making its path towards the center of my body.

I definitely cried, and it was barely muffled from the cloth. Even so, the tears that left my eyes were pouring out endlessly. The coppery taste of blood somehow made in contact with my tongue, which I realized it to come from my bleeding cavity.

Just under less than twenty seconds, I was already begging for the pain to stop. The cylinder finally reached the outer layer of my heart and stopped. From there, I could feel its metal body dissolving, where a bunch of very thin wires pierced through every fiber of my being.

It lasted less than two seconds, and yet I could still feel the lasting effect of the burning pain inside me.

"Did it worked?" asked Miranda.

"Perhaps so. I mean, she's still alive. There's never been a living human being that was alive after being injected with a second Aegis," said Alicia.

"But that one guy you put it was one of the first to become an Aegis User, right? Poor him," said Bart.

"Still, to find a matching Aegis is hard enough, what more can be said to find a secondary Aegis suitable for that same person," said Relly.

Alexander turned towards them. "That Aegis created by Alicia, is a modified version, isn't it? So, that kind of restriction does not apply to her."

Alicia shrugged. "Yeah. This version I created does not have the regeneration chemicals inside it. So, that's a minus. But if it worked in the end, that's more than good enough."

I found myself taking as much air as I could into my lungs. Slowly, but longer each time. The pain subconsciously pulsated in my every muscle. However, it was not as painful as before. It was bogged down quite a bit, of which I appreciated.

"You have integrated a control function inside that Aegis, right?" asked Relly to Alicia.

"Ah, yes. I'll give it to you then." She held out her hand and a small metal cube appeared out of it. "I kept it in my crystal."

"I see." Relly took it and raised the cube above his head while squinting. "It's a full voice recognition command control."

"Indeed. This way, we can be sure Ava will always do what we wanted her to do." Bart gazed downwards. "Dammit, if my Aegis can control another Aegis User, we wouldn't have to spend too much time on creating that new Aegis."

"It is what it is, whether you like it or not," muttered Relly, the metal cube was put inside his pocket.

Alicia pointed at me. "How about you try using that controller, Relly? I've yet to see if it works or not."

Relly pulled out the metal cube and raised it near his face. "How long the new Aegis crystal would manifest inside her?"

Alicia touched her chin. "I think... it's the same as the rest of us. Could be about a day or two."

"I see." Relly focused back to me, that time, prepared to voice out his command. "I command you, Ava, to break the shackles binding you."

My body jolted in an instant, with my arms repeatedly tugging at the shackles as hard as it could. The force and momentum of it amazed me. I never knew I was that strong.

The shackles and chains clanked loudly against each other, refusing to let go of me.

"How do I tell her to stop?" asked Relly.

"Once a command has been issued to her, the new Aegis would certainly control Ava to execute it and cannot be stopped," said Alicia when she faced Relly. "That is, until you commanded her to stop." She gestured to Relly for him to try it out.

My heart thumping hard.

To have my body moved against my will was unusual. And at the same time, it was quite frightening. That cube he had in his hands could command anything of me, even if it was something I would not do in my entire life.

"Ava, stop!" shouted Relly.

My arms stopped moving and I gasped for air.

"This should be enough for today. We'll continue the test again tomorrow," said Relly sharply.

"Eh? But I haven't asked her yet about Hughes," retorted Miranda.

"That will be next time, Miranda. Have you forgotten about the meeting? His Supremacy surely awaits us right now," said Relly as he took a quick glance at his golden watch.

"Ugh, but it's not like it takes a lot of time for me to use my Aegis on her," said Miranda as she stormed out of the room using the narrow pathway.

Soon, they all left me one by one. The little girl turned to face me with a confused expression. "Mommy doesn't love you, I assume?" she said. Her turquoise eyes gleamed.

"Sweety, let's go," called Alicia at the pathway's entrance.

The girl walked briskly towards her and the green crystals covered the pathway, leaving silence to embrace me.

I could only wish that Hope was not hurt anymore.

Seeing him being treated like that was very painful, for me, and for him.

"Please be safe," I muttered. It was strange that I prioritized Hope's safety rather than myself. Then again, he had a chance to escape one way or another, while I was clearly unable to break free.

With the metal shackles binding me to that room for who knows how long.