The T-rex stopped a few yards away from her, its head tilted slightly as if studying her. Seeing that it stopped, she fell to her knees and shielded the children's eyes from seeing the T-rex.
It let out a low rumble from deep in its throat, the sound making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Ryuuko stayed there, staring back at the T-rex, her heart pounding in her chest.
She knew that if she tried to make a run for it, she wouldn't escape its sight and would only make her escape as an entertainment to it.
"Ruziel, Rozia." She called her twins with a hushed tone, making them look up at her as she placed her hand on the side of the faces to not let them see the monster a few yards away from them.
"Yes, mom?" Rozia whimpered out, lifting her head to look at her mother, her eyes red and puffy.
"We're going to eat chicken adobo once we're out of here, okay?" She reminded them again as she forced her voice to remain steady, "Mommy won't break her promise."
From the corner of her eye, she could see that the T-rex took another step forward, its body trembling slightly as if preparing to pounce.
The injured mother braced herself, her mind racing as she tried to distract the twins from their impending doom.
"Will you make it a little spicy and put potatoes in it?" Ruziel sniffled, his tears rolling down his cheeks as he gripped her shirt.
Ryuuko forced a chuckle and nodded her head, "Of course. I'll cook a separate dish so my babies can eat."
They knew she was lying.
The moment their mother called them, they knew that the monster had already seen them. The look of love and terror in their mother's eyes are clear as day, glossing with unshed tears as she tries to soothe them.
"Promise?" Rozia asked once more, "You won't scold me for being a bad girl, right?"
The ground beneath them shook again as the T-rex took another step forward, reminding them of their impending death.
"No, no." Ryuuko's lips trembled and shook her head slowly, "Mommy won't do that. You didn't do anything wrong, baby. You were just scared. Ruziel was just scared and I understand."
"I'm sorry, mommy.. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Ruziel sobbed, hiccuping as he buried his face on her shoulder, "I'm scared.. I'm really scared, mommy.."
The mother felt a surge of desperation and anger as the monster took another step to her, the tremors in the ground is a telltale sign that they will die soon.
She shot a quick glance at it and saw its jaws are open wide, muscles tensing as it prepared to attack.
She could feel her anger rise despite shaking with fear.
She's mad at the Espers for not rescuing them on time, mad at the Guides for not telling the Espers to hurry their asses up, mad at the rifts for destroying the peace on every county in earth— mad at herself for not being strong enough to protect her little boy and little girl.
She's just mad at everything, but her twins.
She closed her eyes, knowing that the monster was ready to kill its prey and pushed Rozia's face to her chest, "Close your eyes, darlings. It's okay. Mommy's here, Don't be scared."
She opened her eyes, looking at the T-rex with a gaze brimming with anger, swearing to herself that if she ever gets another chance in life, she will end the T-rex's life herself because of the situation she went through with her twins.
The very sight of the monstrous creature stirred a strong resentment within her, igniting a flame of anger that threatened to consume her.
Ryuuko gripped her twins tightly, feeling them shook harder in fear.
It was as if the fear that she felt a minute ago disappeared and was replaced with another, stronger emotion, her eyes narrowing into slits of pure anger at the thought of her traumatized children.
Her heart pounded with a ferocity she had never experienced before, the intensity of the fear that turned into rage coursing through her veins like a molten lava.
She hasn't felt this heated before.
She didn't feel it when her ex-husband started going home late, she didn't feel it when she found out that her ex-husband was cheating on her, she didn't feel it when she was in the process of the divorce.
Hell, she didn't even feel that enraged when her ex-husband had the audacity to ask the lawyer if he could escape his responsibility as a father.
The mere thought of her lovely Rozia and Ruziel not experiencing the life they want because of the rift have made her even more mad, but because of it, right then and there, Ryuuko felt an overwhelming surge of power coursing through her entire body.
With the rage bubbling within her, her midnight black eyes turned into a different color, wishing whoever was listening to her prayers to bring the monster down with her— to not let it live, commanding the very heavens themselves to do her bidding.
The air crackled with a barely contained energy, and then, almost as if responding to her command, a swarm of meteors suddenly appeared in the sky, hurtling down towards the T-Rex with an incredible speed and force.
Ryuuko clenched her hand into a fist before a force field enveloped her and her children, pulling them closer to her, automatically protecting them from the blast of meteors that continued to rain down.
It was as if her rage was the very force that summoned the meteors, their descent towards the T-Rex like a storm of cosmic retribution was an obvious sign— and it actually is her rage that summoned the meteors.
The twins flinched in her arms, hearing the ear-piercing and splitting sounds of the rocks plummeting, smacking, breaking to the ground, creating a large dent before breaking into pieces which caused them to bite their tongue.
They can hear it clearly and their curiosity got the best of them which made them turn their head to the front, to look at what's happening before them.
They watched as several meteors plummeted towards the monster— the impact was explosive, making the ground shake with such force that it felt like the earth was trembling in fear because of a wrathful power.
Rozia was the first one to break away from the terrifying scene before her and looked up at her mother, only to see the glowing golden eyes, a color similar to star dust, illuminating the dark expression on her mother's face.
She let out an awestruck gasp, making her twin brother snap out of his trance to look at her, when he saw her staring at their mother with her mouth open, he looked up.
His eyes went wide in both awe and surprise, the golden glow of his mother's usually black eyes made her look scary— scary, but incredibly beautiful.
The force field that was protecting them was like a shield made of pure energy, the same color as their mother's eyes, radiating a bright and shining golden glow as it worked perfectly to deflect several rocks coming their way.
The twins looked away from their mother momentarily, inspecting whatever was protecting them. It was as if an invisible bubble of safety had enveloped them, shielding them from the chaos of the meteor shower.
They could feel and see the force of the impacts against the shield, but they bounced off easily, leaving them and their mother unscathed.
As the meteors continued to fall, Ryuuko slowly stood up from the ground with her children safely tucked within the protective bubble, her eyes staring ahead as the monsters around them started to let out a cry, sensing their impending doom.
"Mom?" Rozia called her mother, as much as she enjoys the fact that her mother has awakened as an Esper, she can't shake off the feeling that something bad is waiting for them outside the rift.
The voice of her daughter had snapped Ryuuko out of her boiling rage towards the monster.
She closed her eyes which was a chance for it to change back to its usual midnight black color, making the twins puff out their cheeks in disappointment when she opened her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Ryuuko asked, a small smile on her face, like she hadn't done something terrifying.
The disappointment rolled off from Rozia like a breeze when she remembered what happens to Espers. The thought of it made her mood take a 360 degree.
"Will we be okay?" The twin sister looked down, "I watched how Espers get examined by somewhere far if they just got their powers.. Are you going to leave us?"
Ryuuko's breath hitched, not expecting for her daughter to think of something like that right off the bat.
"No." She denied firmly, "I won't leave you two."
"You're not lying again, are you?" Ruziel spoke up, squinting his red and puffy eyes at her, "You lied to us earlier, how can we be sure that you won't lie to us again?"
"I lied?" The corner of Ryuuko's lips twitched slightly, "I told you that we will be okay and that we will make it out of here alive, right?"
The twins exchanged looks, knowing that they had lost this round.
They both pouted, the relief and security they feel is evident. The sight of her twins expressing themselves like this when they were just crying earlier because they were about to die, had made her tear up.
She crouched down, wrapping her arms around them and bringing them closer, planting kisses all over their cheeks, making them burst into a fit of giggles.
"I won't leave you two alone." She said between the kisses and stopped when Rozia pushed her face away.
"Promise?" Rozia smiled softly as she raised her pinky finger in the air, Ruziel did the same, holding his pinky finger out.
"I promise." Ryuuko swore to them as she locked her pinky fingers with her twins, "If someone tries to take me away, I'll make sure to make them go through hell myself so no one will ever dare to have such thought ever again."