132 In the RV

In the RV, Ace, Rose and Yukio weren't paying any attention to what was going on outside. ALl three of them were incredibly focused on maintaining the ice shield around the RV. Despite the cold air lingering within the RV, their clothes were drenched in sweat.

Rose had her eyes shut tightly, brows furrowed as she concentrated. She had to constantly maintain and reinforce the ice shields outside the RV as the Variants relentlessly attacked it. To sustain her energy levels, she continuously absorbed more energy from the bag of gems that Aida provided, and even used the two ice gems that she had been treating like treasures.

While this was able to boost her energy levels for a period of time, it also left trace amounts of impurities in her body that would slow her growth and destabilize her base if she continued to do so which would make it more challenging for her to level up in the future. However, now wasn't the time to care about those technicalities, so she continued to absorb the gems at an unprecedented rate.

There was no despair or fear written on her face. The one emotion that shone through aside from extreme concentration was determination. She was determined to keep using her powers to protect everyone until Aida arrived.

Besides her was Yukio who wore a look of concern. He had one hand on Rose and another hand on Ace as he deployed her abilities. His left hand would continuously absorb Ace's life force while his right hand would transfer all the life force from Ace and himself into Rose. He only occasionally lifted his shaky, exhausted arms away from the two of them to absorb some energy from the gems.

His thoughts were not at all focused on himself, but rather filled with concern for everyone else. He wondered whether Rose would accumulate even more underlying issues due to this strain, if Ace was going to get even dumber because of the loss in life force, if his brothers and the others were okay fighting the encirclement that looks so intimidating. He wished he could be out there helping and protecting everyone.

Ace and Yukio already had deathly pale pallids as Yukio continued to siphon off more and more of their life forces. Ace had surrounded himself with all the food and snacks in the kitchen and pantry. The entire area looked as if a horde of locusts came through. He was currently gorging himself in the leftovers from last night's meal. He told them that this would help him replenish his energy faster in the same way they absorbed gems. Nobody had the energy to refute his claims, so they watched him continue to eat. His stomach began to bulge and soon he was curled up in a ball from indigestion. The other two could only watch on speechlessly.

Despite their efforts, Rose knew that they would only be able to last for another few minutes tops. After that, the ice wall would slowly thin till it disappeared.

It was very fortunate that Aida had the foresight to get Yukio to top off everyone's life force the day before. This small precaution became the cornerstone reason that everyone was still alive despite having taken a major beating. Life force was a very intangible force that included one's life energy, one's body's health and one's will. Only after depleting all three would one die. Of course, this was only true if they weren't killed in one hit, like getting their head chopped off.

***

Moving back to Light and Xiao Ai's perspective. They continued to sit in the car as spectators to the entire fight. A few Variants had approached the car but Xiao Ai electrocuted them at a highly concentrated voltage that almost burnt them to crisps. After that, none of the Variants bothered with the car as they saw that no one in the car made an effort to approach. The psychic Variant leader had decided to address the car after finishing off the others.

After making sure that Rin was still hanging in there, Light continued to have his eyes closed and in a meditative state. No one but himself knew what he was doing. Xiao Ai could feel vague streams of power being emitted by him and didn't dare to bother him. Light was immersed in his own mindscape and hadn't even reacted when Little White and Lucifer fell to the ground in a dead faint.

"Not enough, not enough!" Light muttered under his breath as he continued to frown.

***

Small cracks began to form along the side of the RV as the ice shield was on its last leg. It was very obvious that the shield wouldn't last anymore. The Variants began to hit the ice at full strength, eager to finally crack it open. With every hit, the RV slid back a little and the crack grew slightly larger.

In the RV, Rose was shaking furiously from exhaustion, digging her nails into her own skin to force herself to stay conscious. Ace had already fainted from having too much of his life force drawn and Yukio was only hanging on by a thread.

"Little Sis, keep it up. I'm sure Big Sis and brothers will be coming to rescue us any time now." Yukio whispered this to Rose. His faith and trust in his new family never wavered even as he was on the brink of death.

Rose nodded and tears began to form in her eyes as she focused on holding onto her ice powers. Her mouth formed the words, "Okay brother."

Seeing this, Yukio smiled and held Rose's hand before falling unconscious as well.

***

At this moment, Light, who hadn't moved this entire time, finally moved. His eyes shot open as he undid his seat buckle, patted Rin's head, and stepped off the car. Xiao Ai was responsible for guarding Rin as he left. Xiao Ai didn't stop him as she could tell that he had a plan in mind for how to address their current dire situation.