Chapter 167 - 167: Women Of The Woods

"Silvie Savelievna."

And as Riley's whispers traveled through the night, each of the disfigured children turned their heads towards him one by one. And like cockroaches being disturbed, they all scampered to hide behind the trees; their heads leaning out, their eyes curiously looking at Riley.

And soon, their whispers once again drowned the sea of trees.

"Name… that's our name."

"How does he know our name?"

"Name… he knows our name."

"Who is it?"

"Ich one them?"

"Is it? Is he one of them?"

"Bad people?"

"Hurt us? He hurt us?"

With the uncomfortable voices piercing his ears, Riley could not help but furrow his eyebrows. Bernard told them that Dark Millenium and Silvie should be the only clones he helped create for the Government…

…but these disfigured children are obviously all clones of Megawoman as well. There were more than a dozen of them here.

"Bad man? Kill us?"

"He will kill us. He hurt me earlier."

The children's whispers continued to pester the air like flies. Riley, however, completely ignored their voices as he looked to the side; completely busy with his own thoughts.

Did Bernard lie to them again? It was possible– no, it was probably the case. Diana said that Bernard was a serial liar, and to not believe anything that comes out of his mouth anymore when they fought… so it stands to reason that he lied about the clones.

"..."

Riley then blinked a couple of times as he suddenly felt a small tickle gnawing on his right ankle; he slowly looked, only to see one of the disfigured children biting on his leg.

"..." Seeing this, Riley only let out a small but deep sigh. He then slightly flicked his finger, causing the child to float in the air before being thrown a couple of meters away– only stopping as her back hit a tree.

But before the child could even whisper a whimper, 4 more children jumped on Riley; all baring their teeth towards him. But alas, the only thing their teeth were able to gnaw was the empty air; as before they could even reach Riley, their bodies completely stopped just meters away from him.

"Khh!"

The clones all started hissing loudly, with some of them even letting out a weird cracking whimper. Riley once again sighed as he saw their pained faces; their eyes, filled with nothing but fear.

They were supposed to be clones of Megawoman… and yet Riley could only smell fear from them. Fear was something he had never seen in Megawoman, not even as he broke every single bone in her body.

"..." How dare they create something like this from Megawoman? If they truly did need to clone her, then it should have at least been perfect like Megawoman should be– even Dark Millenium with all the scars on her faces, resembled Megawoman; no fear in her eyes.

These things… they shouldn't exist.

And with that thought, Riley's eyebrows began to knit; his teeth, slowly showing. And soon, with his fists slowly closing, the children began to wail one by one. Their necks, slowly turn in a way they should not.

"Even your screams are unworthy," Riley then whispered, "I will release all of you from–"

"Stop!"

And before any lives could be snuffed and extinguished, another voice entered his ears– this time, the voice was much clearer and even familiar. Riley quickly looked towards the direction of the voice, only to see a fist already on its way towards his head.

"..."

Riley quickly tilted his head to the side, avoiding the fist completely. And without even hesitating and looking, he raised one of his legs, slamming his foot straight towards the back of the attacker.

Not even a whisper of a thunder echoed in the air, however, as Riley did not allow the attacker's body to hit the ground; leaving her floating just inches away from it. Empress should still be within the vicinity of the school, so creating too much noise would probably lead to him killing all of them there– he is in retirement, he would like to avoid that as much as possible, he thought.

".." Riley then finally glanced towards the attacker, only to see almost her entire body covered in bandages. However, even with half her face wrapped, it was obvious that her skin was clearer than the rest and her face wasn't as disfigured.

She was also taller and looked older than the rest of the disfigured clones… almost like Silvie.

"Let… let go of her!"

The younger clones floating in the air once again started to hiss and shriek, causing Riley to once again sigh. It only took that moment, however, for the oldest clone to regain her footing. Her fist, once again quickly aimed for Riley's head.

This time, however, Riley did not dodge. Instead, he caught the oldest clone's fist. And without even any hesitation… crushed it.

"!!!"

The oldest clone was about to let out a scream, but Riley covered her mouth before she could do so. He then looked the clone straight in the eyes. And even though she was trembling, she returned Riley's glare; her eyes, not backing down for even a second.

"..." Riley then pushed her away, causing her to fall first on her butt. And before she could even take a breath, Riley flicked his finger; throwing the rest of the clones towards her. And like some sort of bouquet, he bundled them together using some of the smaller clones as some sort of… human rope.

Of course, besides a few pained moans, every one of them was still alive.

"Let… let us go!" The oldest clone once again cried out; her words were blatantly ignored by Riley, however, as he stared at her crushed hand. The sharp and broken bones that were protruding from her skin were slowly going back inside– her flesh, slowly healing itself by the second.

"Let us–"

"Silvie Savelievna."

"How do you know that name!?"

And with Riley once again whispering Silvie's name, the oldest clone immediately stopped writhing and wriggling to escape; her eyes, once again looking straight towards Riley's eyes.

"You are clones of Megawoman, correct?"

"I… I knew it. You're one of them, the bad men!"

"Are you talking about the one who threw you here?"

"Threw… no, we escaped!"

"...Escape?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he heard the oldest clone's words. Riley had initially thought that Bernard disposed of them here… so that wasn't the case?

"Since when have you been here, least disfigured Silvie?"

"Least disfi… I have a name!" The oldest clone quickly bellowed.

"Yes. You are Silvie Save–"

"No!" The oldest clone flailed; her voice almost cracking as she let out another scream, "A name I chose for myself…

…Aerith!"

Riley seemed to find himself blinking more today than any other day as he looked at the oldest clone.

Aerith… that is Megawoman's name. Did she choose that herself? Perhaps it was possible that the clones could have Megawoman's memories? It was impossible for it to just be a coincidence.

Does that mean Silvie could potentially… have Megawoman's memories as well? The oldest clone said they escaped… but why here of all places? What led them here?

The clones then all looked to each other as the strange white-haired boy suddenly started whispering to himself. The oldest looking clone, Aerith, was about to say something; but before she could do so, Riley asked a question.

"How did you find this place and how did you escape, Aerith?"

"We–"

"Don't answer him!" One of the clones seemed to almost answer his question, but Aerith stopped her, "Did you really think I will answer your question!? You are part of the–"

And before she could finish her words, a melody suddenly started ringing in the air.

"Mother! Mother is calling!" Aerith then bellowed as she once again started to struggle, "Let… let us go we need to answer mother!"

"...Mother?"

Riley furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the clones, whose breaths started to become excited as soon as they heard Aerith's voice.

"Let us–"

And before Aerith could say another word, she felt the pressure around her loosen; the clones binding them, dropping to the ground one by one. Their broken bones that were used to tangle the rest, quickly healing. And almost as if nothing happened to them, they quickly huddled around Aerith; none of them even tried to escape.

And now, with all of them surrounding Aerith, they all started to nod at the same time. Aerith then grabbed a phone from her pocket… a phone similar to the ones that the Academy handed out to their students.

"..." Riley grabbed his own phone to check, and true enough… they truly were the same.

[My children.]

"!!!"

Riley's eyes quickly widened as soon as a familiar voice entered his ears; his eyes quickly turning back towards Aerith and the rest of the clones. And as soon as his eyes landed on the source of the voice, his breaths started to become heavy; the corner of his lips, slowly turning upwards.

"...Megawoman?" Riley then quickly whispered as he saw a hologram of Megawoman floating on the phone that Aerith was holding. And no, it wasn't a hologram of MEGAN, but Megawoman herself.

"M… mother! We… we are still here. We are still waiting for you here!" Aerith then bellowed, "When… when are you coming to get us as you promised!?"

[Have patience, my child. Soon, soon we would all be together.]

Is it possible? Could the one talking on the other side…

…really be Megawoman?