A few minutes earlier...
Lily had watched her uncle walk away. She shook her head, then held her little brother securely in her arms and started walking towards the beach restaurant.
Just then, her Ring suddenly glowed violently against her finger, its light pulsing with an urgent purple hue. She immediately stopped and put her little brother down.
"Stay here. Don’t go anywhere, Noah," Lily warned before quickly moving towards a secluded corner. She glanced back once to make sure he was still there.
Meanwhile, Noah blinked as he stared at Lily. A sly little grin slowly appeared across his face.
The moment Lily turned away, he quietly ran in the direction where his uncle had gone, but not before raising his tiny hand and waving at her as if he were saying goodbye.
Meanwhile, in a lone corner away from the crowd, Lily accepted the incoming call. In the next second, Allen’s bloodied face appeared as a hologram above her palm.
"Dad—"
Before she could even ask what had happened, Allen’s furious voice erupted through the projection.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Allen shouted. "I told you to leave him immediately! I told you to get away from him, not go to the beach and upload a fucking TipTop video! You practically broadcast your location to the entire world!"
His face was twisted with anger, but behind that rage was something else.
Fear!
Several sharp flashes of light reflected across the hologram, followed by distant metallic impacts and distorted sounds coming from somewhere behind him.
Lily’s eyes immediately filled with tears.
"I-I didn’t mean to, Dad..." she whispered.
"LILY!" Allen shouted again, his voice shaking the connection. He glared directly at her through the hologram.
"Do you have any idea how much danger you’ve put yourself in? I am so disappointed in you!"
"S-Sorry, Dad..." Lily cried softly as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her fingers trembled as she tried to keep herself from breaking down.
Allen took a slow breath. The anger in his expression gradually faded, replaced by a painful exhaustion.
"Dear..." he murmured.
His lips trembled. For a moment, it seemed as though he wanted to say something more. Something important.
But whatever it was, he swallowed it back and shook his head.
Then his expression hardened with determination.
"Where is your uncle now?"
"H-He went to the restroom."
"Good. Take Noah and leave immediately."
"B-But, Dad—"
"That’s an order!"
Lily fell silent.
"..." She hesitated for a moment, but the seriousness in her father’s eyes left no room for argument.
Slowly, she nodded.
Allen stared at her through the flickering hologram. For a brief moment, the fury disappeared from his face, and a faint, gentle smile appeared.
"I love y—EMILY!"
BEP!
The hologram violently distorted before the signal was abruptly severed.
Lily froze.
"Dad?" She stared at the empty space above her palm. "Dad!!"
She tried calling him again, but there was no response.
Her lower lip trembled. She bit down on it and clenched her fist tightly enough for her nails to dig into her palm.
This time, she had to leave her uncle.
But...
Was that really the right choice?
Her father had never explained what was happening. He had only told her what she needed to do and nothing more. After leaving her uncle behind, she and Noah were supposed to keep driving without stopping until her father contacted them again.
That was the plan.
But after seeing her uncle’s monstrous side... Lily more or less understood why.
"Alright..." she whispered, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes. "I’ll do it."
She turned around.
Only to find several shadows blocking her path.
"You shall come with me."
Lily slowly raised her head.
A blue-striped black-metallic robot stood before her, while two cold blue lights burned within its mechanical face. Tiny components shifted behind its armoured plating as a camera embedded within its scanner focused directly on her.
<<1st Target found>>
"Huh?"
And now...
Young Aether stared at Lily, who was trapped inside a cage secured within the aircraft hovering high above the ground.
His expression darkened.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
One after another, the blue-striped black metallic robots descended onto the ground. Their heavy feet struck the sand with enough force to scatter dust and small stones around them.
Each robot carried a weapon resembling a compact rifle, its barrel surrounded by rings of blue energy. The particles gathered around the weapons, crackling softly as their digital eyes locked onto the sleeping Noah.
"2nd Target found"
The words came from one of the robots in a cold, emotionless mechanical tone.
All of them raised their weapons simultaneously and aimed directly at Young Aether.
"Hand over Noah Hatcher."
Young Aether blinked.
"Noah Hatcher?"
He glanced down at the sleeping child beside him, then back at the machines.
"That’s his full name?"
For a moment, he simply stared at them.
Then his eyes narrowed.
"Is it... just him? Or am I included in that order as well?"
There was a faint edge of amusement in his voice, almost as though he were testing them.
Honestly, he had no idea what the fuck was going on.
Sssnnnnggg!!!
The weapons in the robots’ hands suddenly brightened. Blue energy condensed around their barrels.
"Warning. Hand over Noah Hatcher immediately."
Young Aether’s eyes flicked towards their weapons.
"So, I guess you’re not after me, then."
His expression slowly became serious.
Even if Jonathan had betrayed him, why would these people target Allen’s children?
That made no sense.
Unless... Someone else wanted them?
Young Aether’s gaze sharpened.
Something wasn’t right.
Rather than confronting them immediately, however, he decided to go with the flow. There was no point revealing everything he could do before understanding the situation.
He slowly raised one hand.
"Alright. I’ll give him."
He paused, then glanced towards Noah.
"Just take me as well—"
BOOM!!
The blue compressed beam exploded from the weapon before Young Aether could finish speaking.
Step!
He immediately twisted his body and moved aside. The beam tore through the space where his chest had been a fraction of a second earlier, blasting apart the ground behind him.
The robots briefly froze as their scanners searched the empty space where their target had stood.
Then their heads turned.
Their digital eyes locked onto Young Aether standing behind them.
Their weapons shifted in perfect unison.
And this time, every barrel was aimed directly at him.
"That’s... really not a good one, you know," he said in a cold tone as he stared at them. "Since you didn’t want me to come with you... How about this? I take them with me~"
His eyes glowed dangerously.
One of the robots lowered its gun before walking towards him. It stopped directly in front of him, towering over his figure. Young Aether didn’t flinch. He simply stared straight into its cold, digital eyes.
"Any threat that blocks our mission will be terminated."
Young Aether blinked.
"Oh, sweetie... Are you trying to scare me?" A faint laugh escaped his lips.
"Hahaha... Fuck you, bitch~"
The robot scanned his facial reaction.
Instantly, its fist shot forward and punched him directly in the stomach.
TANG!!
Young Aether’s left hand caught the attack.
His fingers tightened around the metallic hand, gripping it with enough force to make the robot’s mechanical joints creak. He pulled its face closer until they were almost staring directly into each other.
"Whoever the fuck you are..." His voice dropped into something dangerously quiet. "Touch mine, and I’ll make you beg for hell!"
It was as if he wasn’t speaking to the machine at all, but to the person controlling it from somewhere.
BOOM!
A second robot fired.
Young Aether twisted his body sideways.
The compressed blue beam tore past his cheek and slammed into the sand behind him.
WHOOOOM!
Sand erupted into the air, scattering across the beach.
The robot in front of him immediately drove its knee toward his stomach.
Young Aether released its wrist and caught the incoming knee with one arm.
For a moment, the two stood completely still.
Then Young Aether smiled.
The grin slowly widened across his face until there was something deeply unsettling about it. Darkness began spreading across his body, crawling over his skin like living shadows.
The robot’s digital eyes flickered rapidly as its internal processors attempted to analyse the sudden transformation.
<<Unknown biological response.>>
<<Unknown entity.>>
Young Aether leaned closer.
"dIE"
He abruptly pulled.
The robot’s entire body lurched forward.
BANG!
His forehead smashed directly into its faceplate.
The metallic skull snapped backwards with a violent crack.
Before it could recover, Young Aether seized its shoulder and hurled it sideways.
CRAAASH!
The machine flew across the beach and tore through a wooden restaurant table before crashing into the concrete wall behind it.
The remaining robots instantly reacted.
"Hostile resistance confirmed."
"Initiating suppression protocol."
"Unknown entity identified!"
Their weapons separated with mechanical clicks.
Blue energy began crawling along their barrels, gathering into dense, vibrating spheres of compressed power.
Young Aether glanced towards Noah.
The little boy was still sleeping peacefully in his arms, completely oblivious to the chaos surrounding him.
FWOOM! FWOOM! FWOOM!
Three compressed beams ripped through the air.
Young Aether moved.
His body blurred between the shots.
One beam passed beneath his blackened arm.
The second tore straight through the darkness surrounding his body.
The third was heading directly towards Noah.
Aether’s expression changed.
THUD!
His palm slammed against the incoming beam.
BOOOOOOM!
The impact exploded outward.
The force of the collision sent a violent shockwave racing across the ground.
For several seconds, nothing could be seen through the thick cloud of dust.
Then, slowly, a figure emerged.
Young Aether stood there, his body shrouded in darkness.
Blue energy dispersed from his destroyed, blackened hand as the darkness began crawling over the damaged area. Flesh, shadow, and energy intertwined as the hand slowly rebuilt itself, piece by piece.
The darkness leaked from his body like smoke.
His eyes remained fixed on the robots.
"...You really picked the wrong fucking kid to shoot at."
His grin widened wickedly.
"HHHHEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
Step!
In the next second, his figure vanished.
Crack!
The robot that had fired at Noah suddenly froze.
Its head had been bitten away, leaving a jagged, shattered neck. Blue energy particles flickered violently from the exposed mechanical components before its entire body finally lost power.
The robot collapsed onto the ground.
CRUNCH-MUNCH-CRUNCH!
GULP!!
Young Aether swallowed the metal head in one gulp and grinned as his long tongue slowly slid out from his wickedly grinning mouth, curling briefly across his teeth before disappearing again.
"Not bad~"
The remaining robots stared at their fallen comrade before slowly turning their attention towards the... monster standing before them.
For the first time, their movements seemed almost hesitant.
Immediately, they issued an urgent report to the neural network.
<<UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED>>
<<THREAT ASSESSMENT: EXTREME>>
<<ALL ENFORCEMENT UNITS IN THE VICINITY: DEPLOY IMMEDIATELY>>
And in the next second...
Somewhere nearby,
"My lady, please accept my love~"
A young man stood before a woman, nervously holding out a small ring between his trembling fingers. The woman blushed with happiness as she slowly reached towards it, her eyes filled with surprise and affection.
Then her eyes suddenly glowed blue.
Numerous lines of code flashed rapidly across her pupils, drowning out the warmth in her expression.
The smile vanished from her face.
Without saying a single word, she abruptly turned around and sprinted away at an insane speed.
The man blinked.
His friends had told him the worst thing she could do was say no.
But...
She had just run away... no, bolted!!
"NO—MMPHH!"
He was about to scream when a mechanical foot suddenly landed on his mouth.
A mechanical dog raced past him, following the exact same direction the woman had taken.
The man blinked several times before slowly looking around.
Men.
Women.
Elders.
Dogs.
Cats.
Birds.
Every single one of them was moving with the same eerie blue glow burning inside their eyes.
The entire street had suddenly become a sea of glowing blue eyes.
"What the fuck is going on here?!"
He shouted in confusion.
Before he could even take a single step, numerous robots descended upon him from every direction.
In an instant, his body was overwhelmed by a swarm of mechanical limbs. Metal feet crushed into the ground around him as the machines moved with ruthless precision.
The man was crushed beneath them, his body reduced to a bloody mess as the robots continued moving through the street without even acknowledging him.
All he had wanted was to propose to the girl he loved.
He had probably imagined her smile, her answer, and the future they might have shared together.
Instead, he never even got to hear her say a single word.
Such a pitiful fate~
Meanwhile, Young Aether continued fighting against the remaining robots.
He tore their mechanical limbs apart one after another, ripping through metal plating and crushing their weapons with his bare hands. Pieces of machinery flew across the beach as blue sparks scattered through the air.
If the machines had possessed human emotions, they might have been screaming in terror by now.
Instead, their cold mechanical voices continued to malfunction around him.
Young Aether simply laughed.
"Heheheheheheheh!!"
"W-Warning! T-Threat Un—"
Crack!!
He tore the robot’s head from its body before it could finish speaking.
The machine’s body collapsed instantly, its remaining limbs twitching as blue sparks leaked from its damaged joints.
Young Aether casually shoved the metallic remains into his mouth and began munching on the machine.
All that was left was... only one robot!
Just then...
"KAAAA!!!"
A bird suddenly slammed into the side of his head.
Young Aether blinked.
He slowly turned his head towards the bird, which had already flown several meters away.
The bird circled around him once before suddenly shooting towards him again with frightening speed.
This time, Young Aether caught it.
The bird struggled violently in his grasp, its tiny body vibrating between his fingers.
Young Aether stared at it for a moment before casually tearing off its wings.
Crackkkk!
But instead of blood or flesh...
Wires spilled from the torn body, accompanied by tiny blue particles that flickered through the exposed machinery.
Young Aether’s expression changed.
"Robot?"
The mechanical bird’s head suddenly snapped towards him.
Its tiny blue eyes burned brighter.
"THREAT FOUND!!"
He immediately looked up.
And froze.
A woman wearing a beautiful white wedding gown was flying straight towards him with terrifying speed, her veil streaming wildly behind her as if she had been fired from a cannon.
His hand shot upward and caught her by the head.
CRACK!
Without hesitation, he twisted.
Her body spun unnaturally before going limp in his grasp.
But there was no blood again.
Only a mess of wires, shattered metal components, and blue particles spilling from the torn-open neck.
"THREAT FOUND!"
Another mechanical voice screamed from behind him.
Young Aether immediately turned.
His eyes widened.
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