Once again, I owe nothing.

"What the hell is this?!"

I demanded to know as soon as I got to the village. People were running out, with Lowe guiding them to safety.

"Oh Elsword! Good to see you! We don't know what's really going on, other than we're under attack."

"Attacked? By who?"

The answer he gives me is quite the shock.

"Some bandits and some Nasods."

"Impossible!"

It was Eve who let out an outraged cry. She walked right up to him and grabbed him by his shirt. "Do not slander my race. They will not work with mere bandits!"

"What are you—" His eyes widen when he sees the orb on her forehead. He must have known that she's not human. He slaps her hand away as he draws his weapon.

"Wait!" I step in between them. "I don't know what's going on, but Eve can't be responsible. She was with me the whole time."

The girl we were talking about just walks past us.

"Sorry Lowe, we'll deal with this. You protect the villagers." I pat him on the shoulder once before moving on.

Still something was wrong. Lowe while not as good me or my sister is still better than most of the knights I worked with before. Simple bandits shouldn't pose a problem for him. He could easily have dealt with them all. Let the Elder handle the evacuation.

"Eve!" I cried out to her as I catch up to her.

Bandits attacked from all sides, but she easily weaved around them while returning fire. To be frank, I'm very impressed. Even Rena would be hard press to match up the level of mobility she has.

However…

"Look out!"

I intercept an attack that came from behind her. But to my surprise, it actually pushes me back a little. This bandits aren't as weak as I thought.

"Wait…" I noticed something.

Blood was seeping out of a hole where his shoulder was, but he was wielding his weapon like nothing was wrong. But I don't have time to think. Shoving him back, I countered with a mega slash. Only for him to step back at an impressive speed.

"They aren't ordinary people." I said to Eve as I covered her back.

"Dully noted."

She fires several more lasers. It pierces them in their arms and legs. Yet they don't even flinch. They continued to charge at us. Something had to be done.

"Sand Storm!"

I swung my blade with great force, creating a miniature tornado that sucks everyone of them in. I'll worry about the collateral damages later on.

"Giga stream."

Eve fires off a massive burst of energy at the group. It blows through several buildings before coming to a stop. This girl really has a lot of power, but despite that, I noticed that some of the bandits were still alive, though not moving.

Heavy footsteps came from behind us. I spun around and noticed a large group of Nasods heading for us. Many of these were miner types, but still dangerous in large numbers. They had greater strength than most humans and were a lot more durable. If their movements weren't so predictable, they could actually become a threat.

"Wait!" Eve calls out to me. I noticed her breathing is a little heavier than before.

"What is it?"

"These machines…do not destroy them."

"They're going to destroy us if we don't!"

Honestly, what was she thinking? I run forth smashing my sword into the face of one of them before doing the same to another. One by one they came rushing towards us. Eve's reluctance to fight was making things harder for me, since it was mostly just me doing to work.

But that was fine.

"Unlimited Blade!"

I swing my sword in rapid succession. Each a lethal blow meant to destroy. I moved from target to target after each strike. Tearing down anyone stupid enough to cross my path.

A war cry from behind causes me to look back. More bandits have appeared as reinforcements. Thankfully Eve isn't reluctant to strike them down. Her lasers easily pierce through their arms and legs.

And that was when I noticed that it didn't even slow them down. They just continue to rush her. I was about to assist her, but she had no need for it. Cloaking herself in energy, she literally charged through them with ease.

Whatever she did, was more effective than her lasers. As it was able to stop those guys from getting back up on their feet.

The battle didn't last very long afterwards. I tore down whatever machine that came our way and Eve disabled the bandits. After everything was solved, I returned to Lowe to inform him of the situation. Though it was clear that he didn't trust Eve.

"What are you doing?" I asked while I observe her digging through the broken machines.

"These machines were not meant for combat. Their programming has been altered."

I can see that. Even I knew a miner from a fighter when I see one.

"Do you know what caused it?"

She shook her head. "It is impossible to discern who or what altered their programming. These machines are not like me or Proto. They are not even anything close to the likes of Ignis and Leviathan, they do not have intelligence. What they do is solely based on their programming. It doesn't help that you demolished them so well, that I can't recover enough to study."

"Well sorry about that."

Before I can ask another question, a rock is thrown at Eve's head. She doesn't seem to bothered about it.

"What gives?!" I asked the kid who threw it. Her family quickly tries to stop her.

"She's one of them isn't she?! Those machines that did this to our town!"

While she appears to be calm under the accusation, I noticed that her hand had bailed into a fist, and one that was trembling. There's anger brewing inside of her. I needed to stop this before it goes out of hand.

"Ok people, that's enough. She has nothing to do with this." I step in between her and the kid.

"The whole thing started just when she arrived! How can you be so sure?"

As much as Lowe's betrayal hurt, I can't help but noticed that he asked a good question.

Yet before I could inquire, Eve is already is walking away. It seems that the people's aggression towards her has given her a bad impression. Off course her own action of walking isn't helping much either.

"I don't know Lowe, but I like to believe that she hasn't got anything to do with this."

"Even so." He gestures to the villagers. "It's not going to be easy to convince the others."

I look around. The situation isn't that bad. No one was hurt, though the village will have to be rebuilt. "Look, I'll go talk to Eve first. We can work this out later. For now, I think it would be better if you try and calm the villagers down."

In reality it was because I didn't know how to associate with people properly.

Eve wasn't hard to track down. Her appearance stood out too much, and more importantly, she didn't bother to hide her trail. So many witnesses saw her on the way out. Her destination was the surprising bit.

"I didn't know you were of where of my house was."

"I am capable of limited flight. Observing from a bird's eye view is easy enough. Your sister also informed me of your home."

She let herself into my house without permission. Well it's not like there's anything of value to steal from it. My sister and I were quite broke, and we had no real valuables.

"So…what now?" I asked as I took a seat.

"The…machines." I noticed how she wasn't referring to them as Nasods. Was there something wrong?

"What about them?"

"I told you that their codes were altered, but I never told you what their aim was did I?"

Oh right, Lowe and the other villagers interrupted us.

"Well what was it?"

"It was me."

"Oh…" I'm not very surprise. The whole thing started not long after she came. It wasn't too difficult to piece that conclusion together. "Do you have any idea who was—"

"I was hoping you could answer that question."

Ouch, she cuts me off so quickly. I opened my mouth ready to reply with the question of how should I know, when I stop. There are a few people I know who could use Nasod technology, but before that, I have to confirm one more thing.

"Can the Pongos do something like this?"

"Possible, but most of them live in the Altrea region. If they wanted to ambush me, why wait until now? And not when I was passing by their village on the way here? As I didn't have any guards, it would have been easy to attack me then."

Good question. I couldn't help but sigh because at this point, there are only two suspects left. Perhaps there are more, but I am unaware of them. Still it's not like anything will change if I don't tell her.

"Well I've travelled for some time, but I know only two people who are capable of doing something like this. There's no guarantee that either of them are at fault, but if we are going to start somewhere, might as well be there."

"Who are they?"

"One is the former mayor of Elder Wally, who has…no had an obsession with Nasod technology that he used all his fortune to build replicas of them, and the other is Echo whose also from Elder. She too worked with this kind of technology long ago."

Still…Wally shouldn't be possible. He's dead isn't he? After Raven shot his air ship out of the sky. And Echo wouldn't do something like this right?

"I see…" She closes her eyes as if thinking. When she opens them a few seconds later, she gives out orders. "Then to Elder it is. They may not be responsible, but perhaps they could offer some suggestions as to who does."

"Can I get some supplies from the villagers first before we head off?"

Her only response is to sigh. Yeah she's definitely not as emotionless as she claims to be.

"Make it quick."

"Why? It's not like you're in a hurry or anything." I grinned as I poke her forehead. She looked down in embarrassment, but I don't stop. I poke the orb a few more times. It feels really cold but also very smooth. I couldn't resist rubbing it .

Suddenly my danger senses kicks in.

"Insolent!"

I duck in the nick of time just as she tried to slap me.

"What? I was only trying to feel what it was like."

She attempted to slap me again, but I quickly dodge it again. In response she tries to shoot me with a laser, but I quickly run out of the room before she has a chance.

"Moby! Remy! Seize him!"

Her drones are like cannon balls. They tear through the walls in an attempt to get to me.

"Hey watch it!" I swung my sword at them deflecting their attacks. "Just because no one's going to be living here for some time doesn't make it right to trash it."

"Then take your punishment like you rightfully deserve you fool."

She doesn't give up and continues to fire lasers while sending her drones at me. I fight back in self-defence. Deflecting her lasers and drones while performing quick evasive manoeuvres. Eventually we only stopped when both of us were too tired to continue fighting.

"You insolent fool." Even while exhausted, she still tries to put up a strong front. "If only you would take your punishment we would have been long gone from here."

"Your one to talk. That was inappropriate retribution." Off course I wasn't much better myself.

The two of us were lying down at on the grass outside what remained of my house as we stared at the stars above. From simple teasing evolved to a full blown fight. I didn't even know when we started to fight seriously, we just did. We threw everything we had at each other.

She threw a lot of things like simple lasers, miniature robots, to giant beams of destruction at me, and I retaliated with blades of wind and fire attacks and swordplay. We just kept going at each other until neither of us could move.

It seems even Nasods could exhaust themselves. Who knew?

It felt good though. It's been several months since I had the chance to cut loose. In this region, only my sister understood how I feel. It was nice to have someone else to hang out with, and one I didn't need to look out for.

Our resulting fight ended in us nearly destroying half the house and the surroundings. Sis is so going to kill me for this if she finds out. I just hope I could hire someone from the village to fix the house while I'm gone. I still had a lot of my savings.

"You know Eve, I noticed something else earlier during the attack, but because you ran off and cut me off in the house, I didn't get the chance to mention it."

"What is it?"

"It's about the bandits. Bandits don't normally work with Na-machines."
I wasn't going to use the word Nasods so casually. It seems like she would take offense if I did. The girl held a lot of pride in her kind. It was why she couldn't accept those machines as one of hers.

"Ah yes. I had overlooked them." She thinks about them. "I recall how they did not fall even after I pierced their arms and legs. For machines such damage can be ignored, but I know that humans with their ability to perceive pain would easily collapse."

"They were also stronger than regular bandits." I remember being knocked back a few steps when I clashed with one of them. Something that was quite unlikely. "I was thinking perhaps I should return to the village before leaving. I would like to know where they got the ability to manipulate machines like that."

"That is fine."

"By the way Eve." I tiredly turned to look at her. "I have to warn you that outside of Ruben, I don't exactly have a good reputation. People might try to hinder us if I'm your bodyguard."

"You need not worry. I was prepared for that as well." She looked back up at the stars. "Even though the people of the world has recognized that my kind was indeed right in the warnings regarding the demons. They still look on at us in fear. As the princess of the Nasods, I am a highly sought after target for those who either want to use me as leverage against my king or simply for the sake of knowledge alone. Trusting people is too dangerous. It is easier to just consider everyone a potential enemy."

"Does that include me as well?"

It takes her a few moments to reply. "As long as you don't betray me, I won't kill you."

"Fair enough." I smiled as I reached for the stars. "It's going to be a long journey, but I guess it's better than wasting my life away."

We didn't say anything as the two of us just continued to lie on the cool grass, underneath the beautiful night sky.