The chopper carrying the penthouse’s maids flew through the sky.

The people in it bore witness to the destruction beneath.

Smoke rose into the sky, a testament to the chaos on the planet.

Several explosions rang out at certain intervals, causing their hearts to tighten.

Aiden sat calmly beside the pilot, his gaze neutral and indifferent to the destruction.

Boom.

Another explosion occurred, just that this time it was not from below. This was their chopper.

The propellers had been destroyed by an attacker.

Aiden furrowed his brows slightly.

Although it was subtle, the pilot did not fail to notice it.

Something appeared in the old man’s face.

"I would handle the attacker. Let me just park," the pilot quickly said, steering the chopper with what remaining control he had.

Aiden shook his head. "As long as you can land safely, that is all I need."

As Aiden said those words, he opened the window beside him with a single push.

Before the pilot could protest, Aiden jumped out without a parachute. Just his body alone.

He saw the person who had attacked. A lady with two massive brown feathered wings behind her.

Aiden smiled.

He pulled the bands on his white gloves up, wearing them firmly.

The attacker could not wait for his preparations.

Her body streaked forward, her wings beating hard against the air as she almost crossed the distance in an instant.

Almost.

Aiden snapped his fingers lightly.

The air ruptured as aether exploded outward.

The lady was thrown backward, her body spinning through the air from the imbalance caused by the tremors.

She caught her balance, stopping for a moment before lunging again, this time fast enough to leave wind rings in her wake.

Aiden’s finger twitched lightly and a sharp blade of aether shot out, faster than sight could follow, toward her head.

She rolled, her body twisting above the attack.

A spear appeared in her hand as she closed in.

Aiden ducked, the air above him exploding as the spear drove forward straight for his head.

His body flickered as he flew backward in a blur.

The attacker blinked. A lance was already in her face, hurled from Aiden’s position at a speed that made the air groan.

The attacker slashed down. Like air, the lance scattered into a mist of blue aether.

She had no time to process it.

The mist swirled, then condensed back together, not into a lance, but into dozens of thin needles that scattered in every direction toward her body.

She flapped her wings hard, the gust scattering the needles.

Most of them.

Three passed through.

One pierced into her shoulder, not deep, but enough to make her wince.

Another found her thigh.

A mote of crimson bloomed at the spot.

She slowed slightly, her body reeling from the sting.

The last one pierced through her chest, deep.

A spray of crimson painted the air.

She pulled the needles out without looking at them and drove forward again, spear thrusting at Aiden’s chest.

Aiden sidestepped in the air, the spear whistling sharply past him.

He flicked his wrist, a blade of aether forming at his knuckle as he sliced through the spear’s shaft cleanly.

She dropped the broken half without hesitation, reversing her grip on the remaining half and driving the tip toward his throat.

Aiden leaned back, flashing far to the rear as the spear sliced through the space he had occupied moments ago.

He looked at her for a moment.

His fingers moved again and aether began to pour out.

Four lances formed above her, below her, and to both sides simultaneously, all driving inward toward the centre where she hovered.

Despite this, she remained rather calm.

Her wings snapped shut around her body like a cocoon, shielding her from the barrage of lances.

Several loud chimes echoed through the air as the lances struck the wings.

The sound faded and the lady unwrapped herself.

Boom.

The air shook as a massive boulder of aether came down above her.

She moved, her body jerking backward to avoid the attack.

The boulder shattered as it missed, reforming into several daggers that shot toward her again.

She weaved through all of it like a work of art.

Her body created beautiful and masterful strokes of blue, silver, and brown as she flew.

As the last dagger passed, a cut was already embedded in her cheek but she did not dwell on it.

Aiden looked at her with calm interest.

’She’s good,’ he thought, seeing how she used her skill to its fullest.

But he finally sighed.

"Too bad I cannot play for long. I just hope there are more enemies on the other side."

As he said those words, his aether surged outward in a ripple that created a vacuum in his immediate location.

The lady’s eyes widened.

Her gaze darted around, looking for an escape.

There was none.

Thousands of Aiden appeared from the ripple, each one formed from pure aether.

She looked at the thousands of Aidens closing in from every direction.

Then she looked at the chopper.

It was still descending, the pilot fighting to land it with what little control he had left.

A slow deliberate smile crossed her face.

Behind her, another pair of wings formed.

The other two began to orbit her.

With a thought, the wings sliced through every Aiden in their path, spinning like blades through the open sky.

Every copy of Aiden stopped.

Aiden looked at her, then at the wings.

He exhaled once. Every copy dissolved, the aether flooding back into his core in a single breath.

He turned and lunged forward, hand outstretched.

His aether spread out again, this time condensing into a large bubble that caught the spinning wings before they could get any closer to the chopper.

The bubble pressed together, exploding in a burst of brown feathers that rained down to the earth below.

Aiden looked back almost immediately.

She was gone.

Only the feathers drifting down from her previous position remained as Aiden looked around.

With a sigh, he moved toward the chopper.