Meanwhile, outside the church, Reno, having witnessed everything, gaped, then swallowed hard.
"S-So strong…" Reno knew Sephiroth's power, so that didn't surprise him. But Aiden's strength made cold sweat pour down his back. He'd been following someone this dangerous?
"No, I have to request more support. Just Rude and the others won't be enough against them." Reno picked up his communicator again, just as Rude arrived with several Turks.
"What's going on this late at night? Don't tell me you dragged us out here just to take a leak," grumbled a sleepy-looking blonde girl among them, glaring at Reno.
Reno didn't speak, only pointed toward the inside of the church, then said, "You'll understand once you take a look."
The blonde girl and group looked toward the inside of the church, and then saw a scene that made them terrified.
"How… how is that possible." The blonde girl rubbed her eyes hard, thinking she had seen wrong because she hadn't fully woken up.
"Who did I just see? It's Sephiroth!" After confirming that what she saw wasn't an illusion, the blonde girl cried out in shock. She had actually seen her idol, Shinra's strongest special forces soldier, Sephiroth…
———
The extremely violent flames only lasted for a brief moment. When the flames disappeared, Sephiroth was half-kneeling on the ground, looking a bit battered.
His entire body was covered with burns from the flames, and his long, flowing silver-white hair had turned black and ashen.
"Another technique I've never seen before." Sephiroth held his chest and muttered.
However, although he was injured, strangely, not a drop of blood flowed from his body. Even the wounds looked different from those of a normal person burned by fire.
After that, he slowly stood up, planting his long sword on the ground to support himself.
"You're pretty good. At least for now, you seem a lot stronger than Cloud. I misjudged you earlier."
Sephiroth wiped the non-existent blood from the corner of his mouth and said, "It's a pity. The body I'm using now is just an ordinary shell. I can't use all my strength. Otherwise, with your current level, you wouldn't have been able to hurt me at all."
"Can I take that as you making excuses?" Although Aiden was inwardly shaken by Sephiroth's words, he refused to back down verbally and directly replied.
"If that's how you want to understand it, that's fine." Sephiroth nodded, then turned his head slightly to look in the direction of the church entrance, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.
"Looks like that's it for tonight. What a shame. I was hoping to see more of your techniques that I've never seen before!"
Aiden also turned his head toward the church entrance. Thanks to his special ability as a wandering swordsman, he temporarily possessed superhuman senses, and he could detect quite a few people secretly observing them over there.
"Isn't having an audience a good thing? Let them see how I defeat Shinra's idol." Aiden twirled his lightsaber and said.
Although Sephiroth said he was only controlling a physical shell at the moment, that alone was shocking enough for others.
"Defeat me?" Sephiroth froze for a second, then laughed loudly. "With just you? You're far from it!"
"If you want to defeat me, you'd at least need all of them to attack together." Sephiroth continued, "Even then, it would only maybe be possible. Because I won't repeat the same mistakes. Even if I can't escape the shackles of fate…"
As he said that, Sephiroth raised his long sword and once again pointed at Aiden.
"You're called Aiden, right? I'll remember you, the one who walks outside of fate. Next time we meet, I hope you can show me new techniques again."
"Don't worry, there definitely will be." Aiden also raised his sword and pointed it at Sephiroth.
"Then I'm relieved." Sephiroth nodded, then turned and slashed the air. Instantly, a spatial rift appeared in front of him.
"Goodbye, Aerith." Sephiroth gave Aerith a glance, then walked into the spatial rift.
Once the rift closed, Aiden could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.
The power of the Annihilation Palm was indeed great, but it also consumed an enormous amount of internal energy. His internal energy was tied to his mental power, and now, with his mental energy nearly depleted, he was in an extremely poor state.
Seeing Aiden like this, Aerith cried out and ran over holding her metal staff.
"Aiden, I'll heal you first." Aerith ran up to him, grasped her staff tightly, and quickly finished chanting the healing spell. Then she pointed the staff at Aiden, and a green light enveloped his entire body.
In an instant, Aiden felt as if he were soaking in a warm spring, all the fatigue in his body and mind disappeared without a trace.
"Amazing!" Aiden looked at the white magic stone on Aerith's hairband and exclaimed. The girl who usually looked so gentle and weak was anything but simple.
"Are you feeling better?" Seeing Aiden staring at her in a daze, Aerith asked nervously. If he shook his head, she was prepared to cast another healing spell.
"Much better, Aerith." Aiden stood up and said. Not only did Aerith's magic restore his physical and mental fatigue, but it also restored a good portion of his lost mental energy, and was continuing to restore it at several times the usual speed.
'This is the importance of having a healer.' Aiden sighed again.
Seeing him stand up, Aerith breathed a sigh of relief, then tossed away her staff and hugged Aiden tightly.
"You could have just left. Sephiroth's target… wasn't actually you." Aerith wrapped her arms around Aiden's waist, buried her face in his chest, and breathed in his male scent, now somewhat pungent from the intense battle.
"If I left, what about you? Don't you want to break free from the so-called fate you all speak of?" Aiden put away his lightsaber and gently stroked Aerith's soft golden hair.
"Of course I do. Not only me, that person definitely does too." Aerith said.
"Then that's it." Aiden stopped his hand, cupped Aerith's face with both hands, and said, "I came here to save you."
As soon as these words left his mouth, Aerith's eyes instantly turned red. Holding back tears from being deeply moved, she stood on tiptoe and kissed Aiden hard on the lips.
———
Watching the two in a passionate embrace in the center of the church, the Turks members outside all let out a collective "oh~". Especially the blonde girl, her eyes widened into perfect circles, and without realizing it, she even felt a bit of longing.
"So jealous!" the blonde girl smacked her lips, then turned her head to the side, and noticed that somehow, their boss, the leader of the Turks, had shown up.
"Director… are you okay?" Seeing their boss arrive didn't surprise the blonde girl. She knew well that her boss cared more about Aerith than anyone else, so when she saw a trace of sadness in his eyes, she asked.
Tseng withdrew his gaze, turned to look at her, and said, "I've always been fine."
"Really? But your eyes just now didn't seem like…" The blonde girl hadn't finished speaking when Reno beside her quickly covered her mouth.
"Sorry, Director. Elena doesn't think before she speaks." Reno pressed the blonde girl's head down and apologized to Tseng.
"It's fine." Tseng shook his head, then took one last deep look at the two still kissing in the church before turning around and leaving.
Just before he disappeared into the darkness, his calm voice reached everyone's ears, "Tonight's events, don't mention them to anyone, not even the president."
"Yes, sir!" The Turks could only obey their leader's words.
———
Aiden and Sephiroth's battle didn't last very long, all together, it was just about an hour. When Aiden and Aerith returned home, it was only a little after 2 a.m.
However, as soon as they opened the door, they saw Elmyra anxiously sitting on the couch in the living room. When she saw them return, she immediately got up to greet them.
"Where did you two go? Did something happen?" Elmyra hugged Aerith and then asked.
She had been startled awake by the sounds of Aiden and Sephiroth's battle. When she came out of her room, she found the house door open and neither Aerith nor Aiden in their rooms. She panicked and wanted to go out to search for them.
But the Turks assigned to stay behind had stopped her, so she had no choice but to wait at home anxiously.
Now that the two had returned, her heart finally settled.
"There was a little unexpected situation, Ms. Elmyra. But we resolved it." Aiden didn't explain in detail. After all, telling her would only make her worry more.
But Elmyra didn't believe him at all. She stared at Aerith, clearly waiting for her explanation.
"Yes, Mom. Everything's fine now." Aerith held Elmyra's shoulders with both hands. "Aiden is very strong. No matter what happens, he can handle it."
Elmyra trusted her daughter more than anyone. Since Aerith said so, she could only nod.
"Alright, Mom. Go sleep, there's still a long time until morning." Aerith urged her.
But Elmyra suddenly grabbed her hand and said, "You're sleeping with me tonight. Otherwise, I won't be able to fall asleep."
"But…" Aerith looked at Aiden, a bit hesitant.
"Are you saying your mother is less important than your boyfriend?" Elmyra pretended to be angry.
"Of course not!" Aerith shook her head hard, then turned to Aiden and said, "Aiden, I'm really sorry. You'll have to sleep alone tonight!"
"No problem." Aiden smiled and shook his head.
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