"I'm not strong enough to stand beside you, mother. So…
…just wait for me to become stronger."
Aerith could really only take in a deep breath as she heard her son's words. Aerith wasn't going to lie to herself—Gary will never be strong enough, he will grow old and die…but the only thing that Aerith could really do was nod and smile.
"I love you, Gary," Aerith whispered as she touched Gary's cheek, "You are my son, no matter what."
"Hm," Gary just wryly smiled as he too, nodded, "Let's stop here, too many death flags being raised."
"Right," Aerith then looked at Claudyne, "Protect New Theran."
"Of course, Your Highness," Claudyne nodded before flying away, taking Gary and the rest of her classmates with her.
"I've seen worse mothers," Xra let out a quiet chuckle as soon as they were gone, "But no time to reminisce, here they are. And judging by the bloodlust I am feeling, they're not really friendly this time around."
"Clones, get ready!" Aerith raised her hand, and as soon as she did so, half of the clones behind them opened their eyes. Aerith then waited for the enemies to come into view…
"Aerith! Return our people, now!"
And as soon as she saw even the slightest silhouette of Queen Adel, she quickly flew to the side—before diving straight to Theran with the clones behind her.
Queen Adel also quickly changed direction, leaving her men as she flew to chase her daughter. As soon as she did so, however, some of the clones that were flying behind Aerith blocked her path.
"Aerith!" Queen Adel roared; completely ignoring the clones even as they grabbed all of her limbs, "We need to—"
"Shh…" One of the clones that were holding her covered her mouth, "Let it run its course, Your Highness."
"Unhand me!" Queen Adel's eyes turned red as a ripple of energy blasted from her body—the clones that were holding her, blown away by the force; some even shattered. But those that were still intact, however, once again held her,
"Aerith!" Queen Adel once again roared, pulling one of the clones closer to her and biting off its throat without any hesitation before tearing its head apart. And once again, she flew to chase Aerith; her eyes, slightly trembling as she saw that the themarians have started flying out of Theran,
"Aerith! Stop!"
"..." Aerith only looked to where her mother should be as she continued to fly above Theran—signaling to the people below to fly to Theran as fast as possible.
As for the army of themarians that were making their way to New Theran, they were met with a large problem. In front of them… was a colossal wall made of themarians.
"How… are there so many!?"
The soldiers that Queen Adel brought with her numbered almost a million, and yet in front of them lies an even greater number… much greater. They couldn't even see New Theran anymore—it was a number that shouldn't be possible.
"Even if they have already abducted more than a million of us, this is too many!"
"Everyone, you are being lied to! Theran is our home!"
"Wait… this is an illusion! They have an illusionist, remember!?"
"Everyone, it's an illusion!"
And all of a sudden, the soldiers' worries instantly dispersed as they once again roared and cheered. Their eyes, glowing red as they continued to advance like a wave of death.
"Save our children!" The one that seemed to be leading one of the platoons roared as she led her men forward. She was completely aware of Paige and what she could do—and so, she did not even flinch as she burst through one of the fake themarians that blocked their path…
…only to find the themarian to shatter in pieces.
"..." No, not exactly in pieces… but it shattered like a web—a net. And before the themarian commander could even wonder what it was, she felt her entire body weakening and getting extremely exhausted.
"It's… an EDP. Everyone, go to the side. It's a tr—"
"Shh…" And before the themarian commander could completely warn her men, Diana suddenly appeared, covering her mouth as she smiled at her, "...Why don't you sleep for now?"
"W—"
Diana then slammed her palm directly on the themarian's chin, momentarily knocking her out as she was violently thrown straight back to Theran. And sadly for her, most of her comrades did not hear her words as all of them tried bursting through Diana's web… only to suffer the same fate as the themarian commander.
"Where were you even hiding this?" Xra flew near Diana.
"I wasn't," Diana chuckled, "My husband made it for me."
"So, your husband is as scary as you, figures. The husband of a monster is also a monster."
"At least my husband is alive."
"...Bloodmist," Xra did not really respond to Diana's words anymore as she turned into a mist of blood—flying through the themarians that managed to pierce through Diana's web.
"Don't kill them!" Diana rolled her eyes.
'Your people are too stubborn to be killed that easily,' Xra's voice entered Diana's mind as the mist started to gust through the themarians—their bodies, almost shrinking as their blood escaped from their bodies—most of them were able to recover fast, however… but not before once again being swallowed by Diana's web.
'Tell that to your son instead.'
"..." Diana then turned to look at Riley's clones… only to see them laughing while tearing off the heads of some of the themarians that were weakened by the net… then playing with the heads as it starts to regenerate the rest of its body.
"...This is your fault, Alice," Diana could really only sigh.
Soon, of course, Diana's trap was already starting to lose its effectiveness as most of the themarian soldiers started flying from all directions.
Diana only smiled, however, as the dummies she placed also scattered; making her net larger—but not fast enough.
Thousands of themarians have already passed through the barrier—their eyes set only on trying to destroy New Theran and retrieve their people.
"Destroy it! Destroy the abomination that plagues our world!"
"For Theran! Save our childr—!!!"
And before they could even enter New Theran's exosphere, they felt themselves being violently pushed back as a loud rumble that caused even the expanse of space itself to tremble whistled through their bones.
And it wasn't only them, Diana, Mistform Xra, Riley's clones, and even the dummies were slightly blown away by the sudden force---unfortunately freeing some of the themarians that were trapped in it.
"Who the fuck did you guys bring here…?" Xra quickly returned to her original body as she looked at where the shockwave came from, only to see the abnormally tall themarian they were just with earlier—calmly floating toward the thousand themarians that managed to get close to New Theran; her palms, stuck together.
"Everyone," Princess Esme then calmly spoke as she looked at the themarians in front of her,
"You are not allowed beyond this point. Only acquaintances, as well as themarians below 8000 years old, are allowed to migrate to New Theran—any trespassers will be dealt with lethal but non-deadly force… You have been warned."
"That's… Isn't that the youngest princess of Varoif?"
"The Rocket Princess!? What… what should we do!?"
"Pass through! We're already here and there's only one of her!"
"Let's go save our—Eh?"
And before they could continue their battle cries, Princess Esme suddenly appeared behind them—holding the head of one of their comrades.
"Let go of him!" They quickly rushed to their comrade's aid, grabbing Esme by the neck; trying to pull her away while they punched and kicked her face a thousand times—the impact of their strikes was enough to make space itself crack…
…and yet Princess Esme's eyes just remained as empty as it was before.
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