Epiphany Of The Weak 152 For The Weak

That evening, the planned meeting was held in Evgeny's dining hall. Every Lutalo members except for Gheele was present. I didn't expect it, but the Freya rebel group was there as well, along with Jessie and Evgeny as The People's Light's representatives.

"I felt useless back then," said Freya who sat next to me.

Jessie had asked her to come to the meeting. The other members of The People's Light didn't like it, but she was there as a temporary member of Lutalo. In a sense, she had the right to be involved because of that.

"What are you saying? You did great, Freya," I said. My hand patted her shoulder a few times and she smiled at me.

After a couple of minutes pa.s.sed, Evgeny stood up from his seat and gave everyone the details of what had happened. The bulk of it was him telling us the invasion's aftermath.

Basically, Moscow was no longer under any C.U's influence, and the ones in charge of it were Evgeny and Jessie. Some leftover forces of The People's Light and the military coup itself were on their way to wipe out the remaining enemies left in Russia. Though, there was no information about Kian's whereabouts as of right then. After a while, Jessie brought up the colossal peach Aegis crystals that Ivar had controlled.

"That moving mountain thingy . . . Um, Ivar's crystals that wreaked havoc actually caused an insurmountable amount of casualties. Ivar, for who knows why had manifested that mountain all the way back from Finland. It crushed everything in its path when it was on its way to Moscow."

Caesar raised his hand. "How many casualties are we talking about? I'm a.s.suming the civilians didn't manage to get away in time."

Jessie caressed her forehead at his question. "We are talking about thousands here. As a matter of fact, we estimated the loss of three hundred thousand civilians in the few affected cities."

"T-Three hundred thousand?!" Sofeea exclaimed.

When we stared at her, she flinched and sat back down.

Caesar sighed. "That moving mountain moved in a straight path, so I'm guessing it started somewhere from Kuusamo in Finland. And, there are civilians that refuse to side with the rebels and chose to serve the C.U. After all, The People's Light military prowess is not that great, unlike a year before. Some people rather be ruled under a greater force. It's to be expected."

"You are correct," said Jessie. "We have sent some scouts to survey the actual damage in those affected cities. Worst case scenario, the cities are mostly crushed, judging from how large that mountain was."

"Dammit," mumbled Caesar.

At that time, I was thinking about Ivar. Klaus concluded that he had lost control of his Aegis, and it went on a rampage. He was probably on his way to meet me along with Mara when it happened. That would explain why the damage started from the edge of Finland.

"Um . . ." Sofeea pressed a b.u.t.ton on her Hologram Bracelet and Klaus's image popped into existence. The hologram of his was blue in color.

"Mister Klaus," said Evgeny.

"I found something about Ivar's condition," said Klaus.

"Oh, what did you find?" asked Jessie.

Klaus rubbed his hands together and started explaining. "You guys may or may have not heard about Aegis Takeover. This term refers to an Aegis that disobeys its host and acted according to its own. Usually, it will try to produce as much Aegis crystals as it could when its host is involved in a fight. The host, which is the Aegis User, will not be able to control his or her Aegis in this state."

I raised my hand. "So, it works similar to my first Aegis?"

"Not exactly. Ava's Aegis has emotions, which is a unique characteristic of her Aegis. By having emotions, that A.I is capable of independent actions, but Ava also can will her Aegis's abilities like a normal Aegis User," said Klaus.

He continued, "However, there is this one rare case, and I suspect it can only happen to the ones possessing Aegis Förena. Aegis Förena is the upgraded version of the previous Aegis. It's a new type, and currently, only the Four Pillars have them."

"Aegis Förena, huh," muttered Evgeny.

"When a Pillar is affected by Aegis Takeover, the scale will be much larger. From what I can see, the Aegis Förena might try to fulfill its host's initial goal. Like what happened to Ivar, where I a.s.sumed he was on his way to Moscow a while back before his Aegis went berserk. I call this phenomenon, Aegis Catastrophe."

"Aegis Catastrophe . . ." I repeated.

"Under certain conditions, the Pillars can be affected by this phenomenon. Something must have happened to Ivar back in Sweden, and his Aegis cannot be controlled anymore due to it," said Klaus.

"What happened to Ivar's Aegis?" asked Jessie.

"That's what I want to know. This is just an inference, but Ivar can no longer use his Aegis right now."

"Woah!" Caesar stood up from what Klaus just said. "If Ivar really cannot use his powers anymore, then Amathelia's might is reduced considerably."

"Yup."

"What's more . . . Now that there's a path opened for us right into Finland, we can march and take over it," said Caesar. "We can make use of the affected cities and spearhead our forces into Kuusamo. Finland is vulnerable right now."

Evgeny nodded and so did Jessie.

"This c.h.i.n.k in the C.U is what we are waiting for," she said.

Everyone else agreed with the idea. Of course, making use of the C.U's own mistake to topple them was not bad. By marching our forces through Kuusamo city, we would be able to invade Finland as they were recovering from the chaos Ivar had caused. It was a one-time opportunity to get into that opening in their defenses.

'How about the civilians in those affected cities?' I thought.

"Ava?" said Jessie. Everyone looked at me when I raised my hand.

"Um . . . How about the citizens in those cities? The destruction that Ivar had caused is tremendous. The mere scale of it had lead to the deaths of a few hundred thousands civilians. But, there should be some survivors left," I said.

"Hmm." Caesar's fingers tapped at the dining table as he spoke. "I know what you are thinking, Lady Ava. But I must say this . . . We can't do that. We cannot save them."

Suddenly, I was standing up and slammed my fists on the table. "What?! I--"

"We can't afford to do that," said Evgeny. "In order to save the civilians, we have to use our own forces, our own members. At this crucial time, splitting up our resources to save them will delay our plan. Worst case scenario, Finland will already be recovered from the destruction by the time we get through."

"I concur," said Klaus through the hologram.

I struggled to come up with something. I wanted to say that they were selfish to ignore those civilians in need. However, it was an obvious choice for the people in charge. To save more lives, they had to bear the burden of leaving the weak to die. They were more experienced in this matter, and yet, I couldn't find it in myself to accept it.

After all, I had sworn to save as many people as possible with my Aegis. There was no way I could let the civilians die just like that.

"I agree with the plan as well," said Hope.

"Eh?"

I looked at him and he glanced at me.

"You can hate me if you want, Ava. If we view this from a different perspective, getting through Finland from this opening is a chance that will never present itself again. It's sad, but we have to sacrifice those people in order to invade Finland. Think about it . . . If we can take over the Great Corporate United, it will serve us better in the long run. No, it will serve everyone in the world better, and give them better lives. Isn't that what we want from the very beginning?" said Hope.

"You . . ."

I was speechless.

I knew there was no other choice, but a part of me refused to believe it. It was my sense of justice. In a way, I was contradicting myself. I killed people out of hatred in the past, and that very same person was talking about justice.

At that moment, a strange emotion welled up inside me.

"But!" I straightened my posture and looked at everyone there. "Lutalo is different. We have an objective . . . A goal that set us apart from any other organizations. Gheele himself said that Lutalo's purpose is to save the weak. This Aegis squad exists to help those who are being trampled by those in power. That's why we went through all the trouble to help the rebel groups all over the world in the first place."

Beatrice nodded at me, but the rest were silent. A few minutes pa.s.sed before Jessie herself stood up.

"Ava," she called. "This is not a matter of what philosophy we should follow or abide by. You do know that it is not possible to save every human life that is in danger. This is one of those times, where we should make a compromise."

"Yeah."

"I agree."

"Totally."

"Tots."

Everyone agreed, and I found myself looking like an idiot. Convincing them was one thing, but to actually get their approval was already hard to begin with.

"Um . . ." Sofeea slowly stood up and bowed at everyone.

"Sofeea?" I mumbled.

"Forgive me, everyone. But, I also have something to say about this matter." Sofeea cleared her throat and looked at us with sharp eyes. "While I do agree with the fact that we can't hope to split our resources to help the civilians, there is something we can gain if by any chance we help them."

"Oh?" Evgeny was interested.

"I was weak myself. I was one of those people who would sit down near the alleys and begged for money. My family was very poor. At one time, I even thought of selling myself to rich people so that my family can live a better life," said Sofeea.

She continued, "But, Mer Ava came to us and helped in every way she can. We are forever grateful to her. She is indeed a very kind person."

I blushed when everyone looked at me after that.

Sofeea took a deep breath. "That's why . . . I can relate to the civilians that need help in those affected cities. They need us. They need every help they can get. By helping them, we can get more recognition, and have the Lutalo's name in good light. The same goes with this rebel organization as well."

"Sofeaa . . ."

I couldn't help but see her differently as she spoke. The Sofeea I knew was always quiet, and demure.

I clenched my fists. "I know . . . I am selfish. In fact, in this very hall, I am the most selfish, arrogant, and stupid. I may not be able to gain any favor from all of you, but, I want everyone to know that I had made a vow to myself a year ago. Ever since the tragedy in Mongolia, I vowed to use my powers to help those who are weak."

No one else uttered a single word.

"That's all I'm just gonna say . . . I will help any way I can when we get to Finland. Thank you."

I sat back down and took a long, deep breath. There was no convincing them, and it was selfish of me to do that. If by abandoning the civilians in need would gain us an enormous advantage in this whole fight, I would contribute any way I could. It had to be done.

"Everyone!" shouted Klaus through his hologram. "Its . . ."

We immediately s.h.i.+fted our attention to the hologram.

"What is it?" asked Lily.

"It's . . . Gheele Folami. He contacted my airs.h.i.+p a few minutes ago, and Maltyie answered his call. Gheele Folami is in Kuusamo city as we speak."

"Huh?" Hope gasped. "He's in Finland?!"