209 Ace's Feelings

Ace clenched his fist as he alternately stared at Xiao Ai and Aida. He had never felt this powerless before in his life. Since he became the head of the organization at age 10, he had always been the one in power with no one able to threaten that position. He had grown a small group of loyal followers into an unbeatable army that could dominate the world. He was already secretly running many of the governments around the world and had subdued all the major characters.

When Aida was first brought into the organization, she was like a blank sheet of paper and was refreshingly ignorant despite her age. Having lived in this tainted world of death for so long, Ace had long lost all hope for humanity and even began to question the meaning of life. People were inherently evil and weren't worth protecting anyway.

Amused by her ignorance, he decided to give her a hand. He assigned one of his direct subordinates, Aida's former master, Trinity, to be her master. Secretly watching from afar, he watched as Aida's potential bloomed yet she still kept her purity and innocence from when she first joined. They sent her on missions across the world to kill many targets and provided her with ample amounts of money and luxury, yet she never once wavered in her conviction and wasn't swayed by all the death or wealth around her. Ace even purposely sent her attractive men, money and tried to drag her into the muddy waters to no avail.

Without realizing it, Ace had become incredibly drawn towards her unique personality and wanted to get to know her better. Before that could happen, some other members from the organization noticed Ace's interest in Aida and wanted to destroy it before it turned into anything. Enyo and Trinity conspired to turn Aida into a killing machine.

Angered, Ace was about to end their farce, but before he could, Aida chose to leave the organization. Given the power and secretiveness of the organization, once a member, joined it was impossible to leave. He was then put into a tricky situation as he couldn't allow this precedence, yet wasn't willing to kill Aida with his own hands.

In this bind, he watched helplessly as the orders were sent by Enyo and Trinity. Waves and waves of assassins were sent to kill Aida and Ace quietly watched as she bravely defended herself. He even took a job at the same company so he could continue watching her. Every time she survived a hit, he would always heave a sigh of relief. This impasse continued as the organization wasn't able to do anything to her and he didn't want to make a move against her.

When the apocalypse hit, he was finally at a crossroads. Before, he had been wishy-washy about leaving the very organization he created. However, with the thought that he could no longer watch after Aida, he decisively abandoned his own organization and followed her.

Knowing that Aida had a lot of trust issues, he purposely acted as an incompetet nitwit that regularly tested her patience. Despite his apparent uselessness, she never had any thoughts of getting rid of him or pushing him away. As such, his own appreciation towards her continued to grow as well and he no longer even had any thoughts of returning to the organization.

During this time, he also slowly realized the many secrets that Aida had hidden. When they reached City M and his subordinates found him, he was initially reluctant to return. However, after some thought, he decided to return in the end. He knew that Aida was searching for some information and he also lacked understanding of her. His intentions were to use the organization's resources to find all the information she was looking for. After that, since this organization was something that she despised, he would help her destroy it. This could be his apology gift to her for lying.

"Doggy! I need more power, but this time, give it to Mama!" Xiao Ai called out before returning to her battle.

Snapping out of his stupor, he went to grab another plug. Before plugging her into the outlet, he hesitated, "Is this a good idea?" He knew Aida's situation and her unconsciousness was the only protecting her right now.

Evil bun version Xiao Ai glared at him and said, "Trust me and trust Mama. Do it."

No longer hesitating, Ace clenched his teeth and plugged her in. A jolt ran through Aida upon contact, but there was no further reaction beyond that.

Inside, Xiao Ai zoomed into Aida's consciousness and saw that the library that was meant to be their sanctuary had been destroyed. The books and bookshelves were all partially disintegrated and there were red bots flying around, continuing the destruction.

Aida and Artie were lying in the center, unmoving. Aida had both arms wrapped around Artie as if to protect him from the danger. Right then, a bot came to attack the two of them, but was immediately disintegrated by Xiao Ai.

For the first time, Xiao Ai understood what hatred and anger were. "DON'T. TOUCH. MY. MAMA. OR. BROTHER."

With that scream, she eliminated all the bots in the area and then sniffled as she moved towards the two at the center. Her moves were slow and tentative, as though afraid to find their conditions.

Previously, they had been fighting in someone else's domain so she had to fight them systematically. Here, she was the master. She could control every part of this room and could get rid of all foreign entities immediately.

As she finally reached the two of them, the first thing she noticed was her Mama's grey and lifeless body. Artie had been obscured by Aida's embrace.

Tears began forming in Xiao Ai's eyes. Using her bun head, she nudged Aida. "Mama, brother, it's time to wake up. Xiao Ai is here. Please."

Aida didn't react at all. The nudge caused her to roll over, revealing Artie.