The streets of Sander became tight alleyways the closer the city stretched into the airship harbour. The wall of houses made of stone and wood that choked the veins of the city split into two as the trail of buildings came to a halt a few feet away from the harbour. This left a wide and curved passage for the goods coming in and out of the harbour. On that titanic road, many merchants stacked their finest establishments like the coins in their pockets. At this hour, when the sun was still hiding, yet the night waned, the shops and most taverns and inns had their doors closed and every light turned off. The occasional murmur of a merchant getting ready for another day of work went by the silent streets, just like the soft trot of camels bringing the goods of the farmers who could afford to come to the capital.

Among the few souls that rose before sunrise were Elsword, Elesis, Rose, and Eve. They had left for the harbour fifteen minutes ago, and now that they neared the runway, each member glanced one last time at the boarding permission for their distinctive ships. The sailors hollered at technicians to lift the heaviest loads out of the airships with the help of cranes. The El-powered machines softly hummed as their motors put the mechanism into work. The wind rose as airships of all sizes came and went, guided by the control tower that stood an alley away from the cranes. The building almost towered the wall of residences behind it. Only the top floor seemed to have any windows and on the roof; arcs of stone were built to frame a spinning shard of El.

On their way to the docks, the group was often forced to push their way through the crowd of sailors to see the signs for the pier where their respective ships were supposed to be docked in. Eve often had to look up to see their faces, but despite the sweat that trickled down their necks, they seemed rather content, cracking jokes at the expense of the new crewmates and heading off into the quiet town for breakfast.

The silver-haired Nasod watched as a group of rudimentary Nasod-like machines carried a cart full of merchandise away. Then, she looked back at the sailors of yet another airship that had just docked next to them. It was impossible to calculate how many of these men would be forced to leave Sander for good, or, at worst, join the fray. The same could be said for the goods of the harbour. Would Sander prioritize their war no matter the cost? If nothing else, Eve wished for the leaders of Sander to not follow the Nasod King's footsteps.

She caught a glimpse of the pier sign, now that the harbour had cleared somewhat from the busy comings and goings from the biggest ships. The pier ahead of them was where the Sandtilus was docked. The ship was a mouse compared to the colossal ships that preceded it. Her hull had sand and rust over the edges where the wood met the mismatched metallic tubes, which glimmered dimly with El energy. On the side of the hull that she could see, Eve spotted the word "Sandtilus" painted in golden letters over the wood. The first "S" had mostly faded away, and the other letters were streaked by what Eve could only assume to be years of exposure to all kinds of sandstorms. There was no trace of any weapons on-board, let alone the structure needed to mount a single cannon. This was only a merchant ship, and probably one who did not see the skies beyond Sander. An unpolished, wooden hull would not fare well to cross the sea that separated Sander from Senace.

While both Eve and Rose stopped for a moment, the two red-haired siblings made their way to the ship, showing the tickets to the guard who was standing between the boarding ramp and the pier.

The Nasod glanced at the blonde and thought it best to speak about what had been bothering her. Eve turned towards her, arms crossed, "It wasn't necessary for you to join as well, Rose."

"It sort of was," the Valkyrie sighed, facing Eve in turn, "You're my machine, remember? Sander officers want to make sure there are no hiccups with this operation. I gotta at least play the part if I want to keep this facade going."

Eve squinted at her, "You're doing all this just to uphold an image?"

"Well," the blonde woman scratched the back of her head, briefly tightening her lips, "No. It's one of the reasons, sure. I get access to Yasmean's workshop as long as they think I'm the one controlling you. But…"

Rose let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head slightly as if to dismiss an annoying thought. Her gaze looked past Eve, focusing on the deck of the Sandtilus. Elesis stood along the railing, as close as she possibly could to the bow with her arms crossed. The silver-haired Nasod looked over her shoulder, and Rose continued with a graver tone. "I'm the reason she ultimately decided to go."

Eve furrowed her brow, "Last time I checked, Elesis said she hated her brother and didn't want to have anything to do with him. How did you change her mind?"

Rose dropped her head, giving a half-hearted shrug, "Yeah. She kept going on about how she hated Elsword and-" her blue-gaze briefly looked away, her lips sealed for an instant, only for her to shake whatever came to her mind away, "Well, I sort of got caught up in the moment and told her she can feel that way all she wants." She looked up at the ship, "But I warned her that not many people live the rest of their lives without regretting this moment."

The Nasod tilted her head, "I'm not sure I understand."

Rose brought her attention back to the Nasod, "Basically, it means 'you don't know what you have until it's gone'."

While she had perfectly heard Rose explain what she meant, Eve was no closer to understanding the answer. She raised an eyebrow, trying to make sense of what she had heard. It was a paradox and not the kind that was based on any logic. She shook her head in disbelief, "I don't follow."

The blonde rolled her eyes, dropping her hands to her thighs, "You know what I mean! You don't realize the importance of something until you've lost it."

"If something was important to me, I'd take all the necessary measures to prevent losing it," the Nasod stated matter-of-factly.

Rose clicked her tongue, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Ah, forget it. It must be different for Nasods." The Valkyrie straightened up and crossed her arms, "The point is: Elesis is going because of me, and the least I could do is watch her back as well as yours."

"Thank you," Eve muttered. She still did not trust the markswoman and her secrecy on some matters, but it was reassuring to have one more person to watch her back.

"Don't thank me," Rose answered, waving her hand as if to dismiss Eve's words. "I won't actually be there with you. I'll be working from the safety of a support ship."

Eve's golden gaze grew wide at the answer, "You're not on the vanguard?"

The markswoman shook her head, "No, unfortunately. The officers organizing this operation want me 'controlling' you from a safe distance." The blonde put her hands on her hips, briefly looking down as she did so, "Still, I'll do what I can to help out."

Her hands briefly grazed the pockets on her skirt, and her gaze lit up with a new idea. "Which reminds me…" She plunged her right hand into the pocket on that side and took out a small earpiece. Once in her hands, she tossed the device towards Eve, who caught it. The Nasod looked at the small blue and white device. The male port was slightly different from the previous model, but she could use it. She connected it to her auxiliary audio receptors and gave a small nod to Rose.

"Testing, testing." The blonde said, pressing on a small black earpiece on her left ear. "Can you hear me?"

Her voice played clearly in Eve's head, and she gave the blonde markswoman a nod. Rose gave her a brief thumbs up. "Good. I would've looked like a complete dunce if I had no way of communicating with you in the incoming chaos, wouldn't I?" she concluded, flashing a brief smirk.

The rumble of multiple ships taking off alerted both women to a liftoff of thirteen different ships. The wind roared around them, but the brunt of the clouds of sand lifted by their departure was away from them.

"How many ships are going to be in this operation, exactly?" the Nasod asked as she watched a titan of steel lead the rest in an arrow-like formation.

"Hmm," Rose pondered as she watched the group of ships fly away, "A lot. Like a lot, a lot." She made a gesture with her open hand to mark the emphasis in her answer.

The Nasod nodded gravely. Her gaze left the fleet and focused back on Rose. The Valkyrie crossed her arms and gave the Nasod a shrug, "Wasn't given much detail on what's going on, but from the looks of things, they want to resolve this issue in one fell swoop."

"Whatever the issue is..." Eve's gaze briefly sank to her feet, but she brought her head back up.

Rose tilted her head left then right, pondering what Eve meant, "I really don't know the story, but if Sander says the Caluso are behind the assassination…" She took a deep breath in, glancing at the sky that swallowed thirteen ships into the horizon, "Who am I to tell them they're wrong?"

The Sandtilus' bell bellowed loudly, startling the two. The guard who was watching the boarding ramp had a megaphone in his hands and announced the last boarding call for the Sandtilus.

"I believe that's you," Rose concluded. She smiled at the Nasod, "Stay safe out there, you hear me?"

Eve flicked her hair over her shoulder as she turned to leave, "You, too."

Although the Nasod could not see it, Rose's smile ran from her face as she called Eve one last time, "You know, you still haven't told me what changed your mind. What gives?"

"Mistress," Remy whistled as she and Moby completed the sweep around the entire perimeter, "He's definitely here. The signal strength is the strongest around these ships."

"But we couldn't find him!" Moby reported; his voice had a tinge of exasperation, "There's just too many people around."

Eve stopped at the top of the boarding ramp and turned back to Rose, "I'll tell you later."

The boarding ramp led to a long corridor inside the ship. The only light came from the El stone pumps, which hummed as they pumped the ship's fuel from the reservoir into the engine. A dozen technicians came and went, bumping shoulders against Eve as they hollered a quick report with a room code foreign to her.

Eve pushed the door closest to her, ignoring the crew. It seemed that lift-off would take a while. She flipped around screens in her system, ignoring the multiple corrupted warning signs, until she found the menu that controlled her sound input and output. She disabled the auxiliary sensors - the ones Rose could monitor - for the next 40 seconds. Once she saw the alert message that the procedure had completed successfully, Eve glanced at Remy. "How close is he?"

"My apologies, mistress. I need more time to give you an estimate. All this El Energy is not making it any easier."

The silver-haired Nasod rubbed her chin, pondering if she really should let her servants roam about the ship. She remained silent, looking as the last twenty seconds ticked by. When only ten seconds remained, she walked down the corridor as far from the technicians as she could get and ordered both Remy and Moby to remain close to her until they were over ninety-seven percent certain of Chung's location.

The down-time expired as Eve saw Elsword emerge from the door to her right. The red-haired teen did not seem any less troubled than the days before, and he simply gave her a nod.

"Hey, Eve. Someone wants to see you on the dock. The stairs are that way," he coldly said as he pointed at the door behind him.

"Who is it?" Eve asked, but Elsword had already walked past her. His hand was over the pommel of his sword, clenching it tightly. The Lord Knight was tense as if he was expecting the enemy to strike right then and there. If he realized who the Phantom was, only the El knew what the swordsman would do. Not that she would do a thing to stop him. Chung was a criminal and needed to be treated as such.

Eve pushed the door and found a spiral staircase leading up to a soft breeze that cascaded from above. She walked up the staircase and saw that the door that separated the interior from the dock looked less worn down than the rest of what she had seen.

The metallic steps creaked a little under her weight, but there was not enough rust to make the staircase unsafe. Eve climbed slowly, wondering who was the one who called for her. It was odd that Elsword would just storm off without telling her the details, but he had not been his usual self for a while now. It was most likely Elesis. Who else could it be?

As she stepped into the dock, the rising sun was only a sliver of orange tainting the dim blue sky. The Morning Star still rose above their heads. A very familiar child stood in front of her, sitting on a box with her legs crossed. She had her gigantic bag tossed to the ground while she stirred a vial with a curious blue potion in her hands. Her blue eyes jumped from her potion to her, and she adjusted her glasses, inviting the Nasod to approach.

That girl was none other than Vapor. And while Eve accepted her odd welcome, Vapor was the last person Eve expected to be called by. It was already weird enough to find her on the vanguard.

"Vapor?" Eve began, tilting her head at the girl and the belongings that overflowed from the bag that sat to her right, "You called for me?"

The child looked around the lonely dock, "Who else would call you to this deserted place?"

"Well, I-" Eve began, blinking confusingly at not how straightforward her answer was, but how little it answered her question. Perhaps she should have left herself open to such an answer. Eve sighed, "I'm simply wondering what you're doing here."

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Vapor shrugged, rummaging through her open bag until she found a flask halfway full with some kind of purple powder before pouring half of that into the volumetric flask in her hands. She continued stirring, but her gaze focused back on Eve, "I'm following you."

Eve furrowed her brow, troubled by the answer. She had to make the child alchemist explain herself, if only a little. "Why would you do that?"

"Why wouldn't I do that?" Vapor asked back, raising the vial in her hands above her head, looking for residues at the bottom of the flask as she continued to slowly stir the crimson liquid. "Your kind is the most interesting thing I've had to study."

The lilac-haired girl flashed a satisfied grin at her product before offering it to Eve, "Drink it."

Eve furrowed her brow at the suspicious drink before shaking her head, "I've already drank your elixir. We both know that it doesn't work on me, and I don't need it."

The child sighed, "Don't be so difficult. Just drink it."

The Nasod crossed her arms, "No. I won't drink all that."

"No?" The alchemist adjusted her glasses, looking at her potion pensively for a moment before rummaging with her free hand through her belongings, "You got a point here. It's a new formula, so drinking it all straight away would be a waste."

"Aha!" Vapor exclaimed as she took out a small vial and tipped in a small stream of water. It was barely enough to fill the vial halfway. She put the flask to the side and offered the vial to Eve, "Now, drink this."

The Nasod Queen sighed, taking the small glass flask in her hand. She held onto it for a moment, watching as Vapor took a cork out of her pocket and sealed the rest of the potion. The blue-eyed girl glued her eyes back to her as soon as she was done, watching her intently.

"Why are you waiting for me?" Vapor asked, "Go ahead and drink it."

"You said you changed the formula," Eve began, tapping the vial with her fingers, "But why? Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be at the palace?"

Vapor took a deep breath, "Those are three separate questions. If I answer them, will you drink the potion?"

Eve nodded.

The alchemist leaned towards Eve, resting her head over her knuckles, "I'm a medic and your support. Hence, I need to know if the changes work if you ever come to need it. There. Now, drink! Fast!"

"I don't need any of your potions," Eve grumbled before she emptied the vial in one surprisingly small gulp. She squinted her eyes and pressed her lips, feeling as if she had just swallowed liquid fire. She cleared her throat.

"Well? How does it feel?" Vapor eagerly asked, already armed with a pen and a notebook.

"It feels…" Eve began, trying to cool or at least numb down the burning sensation down her throat. However, the sensation was quickly subsiding without her direct intervention, "hot."

"Hot," the alchemist echoed as she took notes, "Hmm, that's not good at all..."

Eve blinked. "It isn't?"

Tapping her chin in thought, Vapor simply shrugged. "Maybe. Anything else? Do you feel weak? Strong? Uncomfortable?"

"None of the above," she answered, shaking her head.

"Ugh," The alchemist frowned, scratching off line after line of notes at Eve's answer, "We're right back at the drawing board."

"Can I ask you something?"

The child looked up to her and gave her a small nod before diving back to her notebook.

Eve raised an eyebrow at the odd manners Vapor seemed to have, considering her position among the Sanderian elite. "Why are you so insistent on having me as your test subject? And don't say research. I want to know why I have to be part of your research."

The alchemist paused her enthusiastic scribbling and put the pen over her ear, closing the notebook with one gesture, "You are unique among all machines, Nemesis. You look human, yet you're not."

Eve crossed her arms, "Yes. I was designed by my- well, uhm, Rose, to look and function as closely to humans as possible."

"Fascinating," Vapor's gaze shined with wonder, and she reached for her pen before catching herself and simply nodding at what Eve had said, "Are you alive?"

The silver-haired Nasod raised an eyebrow at the question, "Of course I am."

The alchemist rolled her eyes and sighed, "That's not what I meant. I want to know what makes you alive. How do you even determine that you are indeed alive?" She adjusted her glasses, "Allow me to get a bit philosophical with you: What makes a machine decide it is alive? This airship is a machine. Yet it isn't alive, is it?"

Eve shook her head.

Vapor gave her a small nod, "But in Sander's eyes, you are exactly the same as this airship. You're both machines, made from the same technology and materials, more or less. Your purpose and your nature, too, are the same. You're both tools for mankind, and you are not alive." She paused for a second, straightening herself up, and turning the conversation back to her test subject, "So what makes you arrive at the conclusion that you are different from an airship? How do you determine you are indeed 'living' as a machine? Where do you draw the line?"

Eve dropped her crossed arms to her legs, taken aback by such a question. It had never occurred to her that a self-evident answer could turn into such a deep existential question so quickly. She had never questioned her own existence, and she could not hope to answer Vapor's question. "I, uhm, I'm not sure."

The alchemist sighed, "It's not a hard question, really. The immutable characteristic of all living beings is the soul, correct? Do you have a soul, yes or no?"

The faint surprise on Eve's face soured with a frown. Vapor had simply found the most complicated way to get a laugh at her expense. The thought alone left her silent.

"Which is it, Nemesis?" Vapor insisted.

Eve clenched her fists. She had joined the mission for something far more important than idly discussing the sentience of Nasods, "I don't have time for this."

"Wait, I have more-"

"More questions? I have things to do." The Nasod turned away and quickly took her leave. Remy and Moby followed their mistress down the same set of stairs.

Moby lagged a bit behind, hovering left and right as if he were pondering something. Once they were back in the main hall, he spoke: "We're alive, right?"

"Of course we are," Remy chimed in, swooping right next to him to force him to keep up the pace. "That's what separates us from any other machines, right, mistress?"

Eve stopped, forcing her two servants to stop just as suddenly, "Don't let that take your focus away from what I asked you to do. How much have you progressed?"

"Oh." Remy said as she slowly hovered downwards, as if to hide from Eve's sight. "My apologies, mistress."

Eve's golden gaze turned cold as she faced both of her servants, awaiting a proper explanation.

"Remy's not at fault, mistress," Moby quickly intervened, putting himself in front of Remy, "The fuel of this ship is all over the place. We can't really do much until the flow is regulated by the engine."

"So, you will only be sure once this ship is in the air?" Eve asked.

"Unfortunately, that is the most likely scenario," Remy concluded, "I'm sorry I forgot to prioritize this task to the limit. I thought it would have been unwise to do so if that potion turned out to be poisonous."

Eve acquiesced, "Thank you, Remy. I think that it was a sound decision on your part. Besides, once we leave the harbour, we'll be sure of just how far he plans to go."

The Mirage was a ship made of Lanoxian steel and enhanced with Feitan Moonstone. It was built to be fast, silent during flight, and most importantly, able to bypass most El energy radars. Rose watched the sun come closer and closer to her eye-level through the window of the cafeteria. She had expected the frigate to rumble and shake as it left the ground, but take-off was as smooth as an elevator. The blonde markswoman sat alone in the cafeteria, munching on a piece of toast. Every table and chair was glued to the floor, and every chair had a security mechanism that slid a seatbelt over anyone sitting on it. She felt somewhat guilty for being in what looked to be a better ship than the rest. The Sandtilus looked more like something that needed to be scrapped away than be used to invade Caluso territory.

'I can't believe they're treating people who've gone through so much like this.' She thought to herself as the captain announced through the intercom system that they were now en-route.

Only a metallic cup of tea sat next to her plate, attached to the table by a small hole that prevented it from rolling over during turbulence. With a sigh, she pressed the security button again, and the seatbelt slithered away from her body, leaving her more room to lean closer to the table and cross her legs. This was far more comfortable.

She took a sip of her drink as she put her hand close to the earpiece she was using to communicate with Eve. She could overhear the overbearing rumbling of the transmission systems pumping fuel into the engine much more synchronously than before. They had perhaps begun to take flight, too. At the very least, their turbines were online.

Zero hovered around her, going from one end of the cafeteria to the next. Rose glanced at her creation, "What's up, Zero?"

"Ah, it's nothing," the small, yellow Nasod replied, returning to his creator's side, "Just got thinking this place was too empty and too damn big, even for all those sailors runnin' about."

"It's not too bad, being alone for once," Rose shrugged as she took another bite of bread. "A nice, quiet meal is just what I needed."

"You say that, but you want to spend time with that girl."

"Well," Rose pondered as she took the cup of tea in her hands, "Not when she's that drunk."

Zero chuckled, "Well, next time be sure to get drunk with 'er. Live a little more beyond your usual work, you know?"

Rose nodded absentmindedly, munching on the rest of her bread. Her electric blue eyes were seemingly focused on her tea, but Zero could tell she was thinking about something else. He slowly descended to face level with the blonde woman, waiting for her to return to this side of the sky.

Rose raised an eyebrow for a moment, but she soon shook her head, dismissing whatever had crossed her mind.

"What's eating ya, kid?" The machine asked.

"Oh, nothing," Rose answered, combing her hair behind her ears. "Can I ask you something, Zero?"

The small Nasod raised an eyebrow. Rose did not often reach out to ask him anything, especially after she had already thought about it on her own, "Finally decided to come to ol' Zero for help, didja? Lay it on me then. What can I do ya fer?"

"What makes a person who they are? Is it what they think themselves to be, or is it what other people define them as?"

Zero tilted and, after a moment, gave a long-winded whistle, "Talk about a weird and hard question. You sure you're alright, Rose?"

Rose gave him a weak smile, "I am. I guess this silence got me questioning a lot of things."

He looked down, thinking for an answer. After a long minute, he looked at Rose again, "I think it's a bit of both. Ain't seen nobody who doesn't have an opinion of themselves. But, others really define another part too, I think. Like, ain't that why folks say 'actions speak louder than words'?"

Rose nodded, "I guess so. You-"

"I'm not done, Rose!" Zero cut her off, flying closer to her. She leaned back, somewhat surprised to see that he was getting worked up about the question.

"People whose thoughts about themselves don't match what folks say 'bout them are lying to themselves. Make sense?"

"I guess so…"

"If you think you're a saint and everyone else thinks you're the devil, someone has gotta be lyin'. More often than not, it's the idiot who don't think they did no wrong. It's like I always said, Rose: everybody lies. Some are just too damned nice to do it to others."

The markswoman froze for a moment before giving a small nod to Zero. "You're right. Everybody lies."

The Sandtilus had rumbled like a storm as it began to ascend. Elesis thanked her last-minute decision to only drink water before asking for a more substantive meal. Had she not done so, she would have not only ruined her clothes but also probably burnt herself. The Blazing Heart held onto the iron bars that ran over the walls of the cafeteria, hoping that the creaking she heard was not coming from the rusty nails that held the railing. Her odds did not look too good, considering that half of the chairs had torn away from their safety supports and piled up on the opposite wall.

She soon felt her balance shift to her left, right where the bar was. The chairs began to shake as the first one slid down the top of the pile to the floor. The red-haired woman lifted herself onto the nearest table, watching as more chairs came crashing down. The table was not high enough to prevent a vicious hit to her ribs or her arms. Elesis scanned the room with a quick glance, noticing that the iron bar she clung onto led to a small set of stairs and then to the bar counter, which was noticeably higher than the regular chairs, including the stools that had already knocked her side of the wall. She took a deep breath and swung herself forward. She was one step too short, and her feet landed over one of the stool's legs. It only took one more rattle for her to slide down where she stood, breaking her high heels as she finally fell to her knees, caught in between two chairs. Her back, however, suffered the brunt of the fall as she slammed against the wall.

With a frown, the young woman grimaced at the dull pain that spread from her lower back and her knees. "Try to be more feminine, Elesis," she grumbled at herself in a haughty, sarcastic tone, "High heels look good on you…"

The Sandtilus seemed to slowly stabilize as the loose furniture rolled back to the middle of the floor. The cup she had lost came rolling back to her, stopped by her possibly bruised knee. She stared at it for a moment, now understanding why every sailor had taken their meals with them. This cafeteria was a death trap in disguise.

The door that led into the cafeteria creaked open, pushed by Moby and Remy. Eve followed in soon after, looking at the mess before noticing Elesis. She slowly approached her, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, for sure," Elesis answered with a dry chuckle, "I just like having my back against the wall, you know?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The swordswoman took off her broken boots before getting up, "Nothing, really. Help me clean up this mess, please."

The Nasod eyed her curiously for a moment but nevertheless began picking up the stools. Elesis walked up to the mess of chairs that lay scattered like fallen leaves on a beaten path. She picked up two chairs and began arranging them around the closest table. Only the sound of the wood rattling over the floor surrounded them as they pushed the chairs around.

Then, Eve broke the silence. "Did Rose force you to come here?"

"Huh?" Elesis turned towards her, only to notice that Eve was right next to her, grabbing two chairs while leaving her two servants to push two more. The Blazing Heart scoffed lightly at the Nasod, "Why would you think that?"

The female knight took the last couple of chairs left and pulled them towards the only table left empty.

"She told me she convinced you to help someone you said you hate," the Nasod began as she sat down in front of the knight, "What she explained to me made no sense, but now I can assume that she might have threatened you to make you go."

Elesis chuckled softly as she sat down, shaking her head at Eve, "Those are two separate things. Rose really did convince me just by talking to me. I've just…" She took a deep breath, passing her hands over her face, "I've fought in a, uhm, well, similar situation before, so this whole mission brings back a lot of bad memories."

She shrugged as she let some flames bloom in the palm of her hands. The flames were small and slowly took the form of a sword, "I don't hate my brother. I just wish I could've said something that made him choose differently."

"A similar situation," Eve echoed, "Do you mean Velder's civil war?"

The red-haired warrior froze for a second, her gaze slightly wider as she looked at Eve, instantly extinguishing the small sword she had managed to form within the palm of her hand. "Who told you about that?"

The silver-haired Nasod rested her head over her closed fist, her golden gaze focused on hers. "I overheard Vanessa, back in Velder, telling some new recruits about your victory over the Black Tiger Knights. You won the Red Knights the war when you were just seven."

Elesis chuckled joylessly, "I won them a battle. The war and the chaos subsided much later than what anyone is willing to admit. But you didn't hear that from me."

Eve tilted her head, "Are the Red Knights lying about everything then?"

The swordswoman looked down, "Eve, they're lying about some things. As far as my exploits go, the stories are the closest to the truth as they can get under the King's decree. The civil war was a very ugly page in Velder's history. In some ways, it was even worse than the demon invasion."

Eve glanced at Moby, her gaze growing darker, "There's no hope for humans to stop once they're set on fighting each other, is there? Not even if it costs their people's lives?"

Elesis pressed her lips together, instinctively wishing to answer with a simple 'yes'. Yet, she knew that was not entirely true. The Felford and Cronwell families had done everything in their power to lock up the warlords who had taken control over the dozens of villages within their lands. Penensio, too, had helped her avoid a mutiny during her second battle; the one nobody talked about.

"No, that's not true for everyone," the Blazing Heart finally said, defying Eve's fatalistic outlook with her bright, crimson gaze, "There will always be good people who will do everything they can to protect the innocent. On both sides."

Eve gravely nodded. "I see. Is that why you were convinced to go? I still fail to understand how Rose's explanation makes sense with what you're saying."

Elesis sighed, laying back on her chair. "If she just told you what she told me, it's not really hard to understand."

"But it doesn't make sense," the Nasod asserted again, shaking her head, "Why would you lose something that's precious to you? Do you not defend it with everything you have to not lose it in the first place?"

"Ah, so that's what's confusing you," Elesis gravely replied, her gaze sinking back to the palm of her hands. "You might not get it because you're, well, the Queen of Nasods. You were created to be powerful enough to rule from the get-go, right?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

"It would be nice if it was the same for humans." A sad smile marred Elesis's expression as she summoned her flames again, slowly forging something she had never tried to imitate before. "I might have inherited my father's genius, but even as the strongest seven-year old in that war, I could neither make him stay nor make most of his men obey me. He came to that war only to leave without a trace."

Her flame slowly took the shape of a droplet, and each ember began to grow, spreading the droplet of fire into something akin to a star or a flower, "Blondie's words made me think about the promise my old man made to me. He promised we would return to Ruben for good and live like a family." She paused for a moment, closing her eyes. Then, she opened them again, raising her head to look at Eve, "Elsword is the only family I have left, Eve. Do you understand now?"

"I see," Eve slowly nodded, looking down at her hands. It was not usual for her to fidget in place, and Moby and Remy looked more active than usual. The Nasod tapped the table with her fingers, her golden gaze slowly growing wide.

"Are you okay?" Elesis asked.

Eve's attention snapped back to her, "Yes. Moby and Remy just need some serious maintenance. I'll see you later."

The Nasod got up in a flash and stormed out of the room.

"Eve! Please swear to me that you won't tell Raven-"

The door slammed shut behind the silver-haired Nasod. Elesis sighed, "...what I told you."

Eve struggled to walk calmly down the corridor, let alone keep her voice at a reasonable volume.

He was here. On this ship.

Could he be armed? No, she corrected herself. He had to be armed. After all, he was the Phantom. If he was here to stop Sander's operation, there was no way a single person's words could convince an entire fleet to turn around. There were bound to be casualties. But she could not let him reap his toll when she knew she could stop him.

"Where is he?" The silver-haired Nasod asked, looking at Remy.

"Level E, not far from the engine room. I cannot get his exact location, but I can triangulate a limited search area." the white robot answered.

"Thank you." Eve gravely nodded as she walked confidently down the corridor, pulling up the maps of the ship she had created by walking down every floor herself. Eve had sent Moby and Remy through the corners where her presence would have raised suspicions. She had never walked down Level E, but based on Moby's map, the floor was divided into two chambers. One was the cargo room, and the other was the engine room itself. Moby had not seen a single crewman passing through after the signal for takeoff was given, and Eve counted on that.

The Nasod stopped, seeing a few technicians emerge from the door that led to the staircase to reach the levels below. They were talking about what they were going to eat, now that another team had taken over control room B. The men passed by her, pausing as if to address her, but quickly noticed she was a Nasod and simply let her be. Eve looked back at them, watching them walk the distance that separated them from the cafeteria.

"On which level is it?" Eve wondered as she watched the men enter one by one, "Level C or D?"

"I'm pretty sure it's the one closest to the engine. They're wearing Dark El energy detectors." Moby chimed in.

"Good."

Eve opened the door and glanced at the staircase. There were two red lights above each door that led to the two remaining levels. Luckily, she would not have to sneak around the emergency exit on floor C to reach Chung. Without a second of hesitation, Eve dashed down the tight, downward spiral.

Level E had no lights. Instead, the corridor was lit by powerful El energy reservoirs that were spread very far away from each other. The green light they provided, however, clung close to the reservoirs. There were entire sections of the level that remained completely dark. Eve looked at the search area Remy had established. It was right in the middle of an unlit segment in the cargo hold.

Eve slowly turned around, balancing the weight of her feet so as to hide the creaking of the wood with the soft hum of the engine. She opened the palm of her hand, building a small electrical current in the shape of a sphere. Moby opened a portal, summoning two black spears. He slowly shifted away from Eve, approaching another dark area of the floor. On top of being an excellent weapon for the dimly lit environment, the portal allowed Moby to shift his audio into a short-range radar. Any information he saw would immediately alert her.

The Nasod Queen stopped, already seeing a barrier from Moby's report. Considering their current position in the map, the barrier was possibly the door leading to the cargo room. Eve looked at Remy, and her second servant summoned a single spear. Eve dissipated the energy in her hand and reached out for Moby, who made a spear fly right into her hand, right on time to be caught without a sound.

She approached the door as cautiously as she had before, accessing her vision settings that she had disabled a few days prior. As she expected, the majority of her sight enhancers had been compromised, giving nothing but static. However, her heat sensors - an otherwise useless setting in a densely populated desert city - were still functional. While the energy stored around her was bright, its surface was as cold as the floor she was walking on. She saw various green and blue rectangular shapes behind the door, but one big, red and orange blob that stood right next to the door was exactly what she had been looking for.

Only the handle of an old, frail, wooden door separated her from her target. She clenched the weapon in her hands. The tiny black robot closed the portal and rammed through the door, immediately followed by his mistress. Eve saw a flash of a blue gaze and blonde hair look at her. Remy let the spear fly, cleaving the rusty metal Chung was hiding behind. The young man took a small step back, barely avoiding having his skull instantly skewered. Eve did not let him catch so much as a breath, already raising her weapon to attack. She lunged forward, and he swung his canon, parrying Eve's blade.

"Hello to you, too," the blonde man muttered as he pushed back against her, not enough to knock her over, but just enough to leave him enough room to sprint out of the way.

Eve was barely bothered by the darkness in the room. Chung's heat signals were as bright as ever. He had fled to the right. She knew that her white servant had taken eleven spears out of her dimension. Unless Chung had a parachute, he had no way of escaping alive. The cargo room was full of equally sized metal containers, laid around in such a way to make the room a maze.

"You're here to kill again," Eve stated, hearing her voice echo throughout the room. "Spare me the greetings."

She let Moby take the lead, since he could summon weapons faster and defend her with them if Chung tried a counterattack. The black robot already had a ring of six spears circling around her, covering her most glaring blindspots.

Eve rounded a container, already seeing Chung crouching behind two containers in front of her. Moby opened the portal again, but the brief blue flash was enough for Chung to roll away as the spear flew down to the other wall. The silver-haired Nasod ran after him, turning left. She was right behind him, but he blocked her next attack with his twin revolvers. They struggled in that position for a moment. Eve could not see what expression he was making, but she did not care. This man was a killer on the loose, looking for new targets.

His cold, green, and yellow pistols suddenly started to heat up. Eve's gaze widened, and she took a step back, retreating behind a shield of spears Moby had prepared for her. The pistol fired, but the bullet did not even come close to her. A loud hissing sound coloured her field of vision with oranges and yellows. Something warm was leaking. Eve looked down at Moby, who quickly informed her it was a heating agent used to make Fire Orbs. On its own, Eve knew none of them were lethal, but some could be extremely flammable. Not only had Chung hidden his own thermal signature behind a sea of heat, but he also limited her attacks. Summoning anything close to an Electron ball could set the entire place on fire. The same could go for opening new portals.

"You don't even care if the entire ship is set on fire, do you?" Eve hissed as she slowly walked down the next row of containers. She could still make out some green and light blue edges here and there, but they were mostly close to the ceiling. If she could not rely on her sight, then she would use her hearing.

The floor creaked behind her, differently than when it did under her footsteps. The Nasod turned around, only to hear the same sound from the direction she had been facing not so long ago. She looked left and right; all her sensors were in tune with her servants' radars. She was in a diagonal from the exit, and there were some objects that had rolled out from where Chung had vanished from her sight. One in front of her and one behind her.

Eve frowned for a second, realizing she had been on the right path before. She snapped back towards the left side of the room, sure that the object that had rolled from that direction had to have come from Chung. Left, right...the heat was dying out faster to the left, and there was no abnormal heat signature. The Nasod turned right over a burning red container and heard two small creaks retreating from her. Eve's eyes widened when she realized that her blindspots were also Remy's blindspots, and that it was impossible by now for Remy to distinguish such subtle sounds. Two more steps backwards. They were only ten steps away from the exit. Remy still had not noticed. Eight. Seven. Five.

Eve clenched her spear in her hands, gritting her teeth, "Oh no, you don't!"

She threw the weapon, splitting the fog of heat in two. Chung's hooded shape did not move up until the last second, when he parried the spear. He must have been walking backwards. Remy was right behind him, aiming her weapons at Chung's head. The young man took a gasped as the ventilators in the cargo began to spin, whirring loudly.

The ocean of heat Chung had used to hide was swept away, and he raised his hands. Moby activated his headlights, aiming it directly at the young man's eyes. Eve returned her vision to normal, and saw that the weapon she had thrown had opened the door, but as flimsy as it looked, it had firmly stayed where it was supposed to be.

The blonde man looked away from the intense light, "The gas thing was a last resort, but it wouldn't have lit this ship on fire. I would never do that to you."

The golden-eyed Nasod looked down at him. His pistols were still within his reach, and she kicked them away. She then placed a foot over his cannon, digging her heel down on the trigger until it gave an audible snap, "Your intent doesn't matter anymore."

Chung glanced at his weapon, briefly pressing his lips before looking back at her. "Eve… You got me. I surrender."

"Wise."

Moby flew back drawing a summoning circle large enough to swallow the weapon into the pocket dimension. Chung was completely disarmed now.

"Get up. You're coming with me." Eve coldly stated as Remy pushed Chung on his knees, as if to nudge him to get up.

"Elsword can't know I'm here," the young king insisted in a tone bordering desperation.

"That wasn't my intention. I'm taking you to the brig. Move."

The young man slowly did so and did not say anything when Eve forcefully grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. She forced his hands together, realizing she should have looked for rope to tie him up. Still, her spears were only a portal away. One wrong step, and he was mincemeat. Additionally, her drones flew to her side, each carrying one of Chung's revolvers. Eve took both of them, venting one of its entire El reserves while keeping the second trained at the back of Chung's head. With a tap of the barrel against his skull, both Phantom and Nemesis left for the small brig on Level D.

"Who's this?" a crewmate sitting alone in the brig asked as Eve shoved Chung into the tiny room.

"A stowaway," Eve reported, "Found him hiding in the cargo hold."

The crewmate whistled as he appraised Eve, "So you're that new Nasod joining us. Not even half an hour in the air and you're already rooting out troublemakers. Impressive." The man turned to Chung. "You chose the wrong ship to sneak free rides off of, kid. We're going to war." He stood, reaching through the door past Eve where a line of keys hung. He unlocked it and the rusty prison door creaked open. With a firm shove, Eve forced Chung in and the door clanged shut behind him followed by a hollow clunk of the lock.

"I'll ask the captain what he wants done with him," the crewmate said, hanging the keys back on the storage.

"We're not bringing him back to Sander?"

The crewmate shrugged, "Nah. Gotta keep the cage open for POW's. Bound to get some on the return trip."

"Then what will we do with him?"

"If he's lucky, maybe the cap'll add him to the vanguard. If not, well… I've never seen the new troop tubes in action before. Maybe he'll let us test it out before we reach our destination. Anyways, keep an eye on him, will ya? I'll see if the captain's not too busy."

The man left, leaving Chung and Eve to listen to his footsteps slowly getting drowned out by the rhythmic rumble of the airship's engines.

Like the other rooms on the airship, the brig was more like an oversized broom closet, repurposed to hold prisoners - or at least one of them. Divided in half by retrofitted metal bars, an individual with long enough arms could almost reach the opposite wall when locked away. This was why the key compartment was located outside the brig.

"You know I can break this door open," Chung stated, catching Eve's attention. She spun around, drawing the still-loaded revolver and pointing it at the young man. His hands were firmly at his side.

"You wouldn't get far with me barring your exit," Eve warned.

"I wouldn't get far, period, seeing as we're thousands of meters from the ground. I'm not breaking out," Chung reassured her. He took a seat on the cold metal ground. "I figured, about halfway through our little fight, that it was probably in both of our best interests if I stopped risking getting skewered and just gave up."

Eve lowered the revolver. "So you're turning yourself in?"

The Phantom shook his head, "No. Absolutely not. What I did back in Sander was unforgivable, but I don't regret it. Thironin may have been Aisha's father but that doesn't give reason for a demon to freely manipulate my friends. It was difficult, yes, but it had to be done. And I'd rather it be me than anyone else pulling the trigger."

"Was Thironin really a demon…?" Eve asked.

"Would I really go that far without being completely certain? You know who I am, Eve. Would I really murder someone - let alone our friend's family - on a whim?"

"I thought I knew who you were," Eve stated, "But I'm beginning to have my doubts."

"Why?"

Eve motioned around her, "Because you're here. If Thironin was your main objective, why are you here? Why are you defending the Caluso? What do you hope to gain from getting in Sander's way?"

"Because the Caluso are innocent," Chung stated, "The people I work for staged the assassination independently so the fact Sander was so quick to mobilize a counter attack against the Caluso has my entire organization in shock."

"So this organization you work for… it's part of these Caluso people?"

Chung bit his lip, "Not entirely. It's a bit complicated."

"So they sent you to stop us?"

The young man shook his head, "No. In fact, I was ordered to stand down."

"Then why are you here?"

"I can't sit idly by knowing innocents were getting hurt because of me. That... and I have a promise with the chieftain to keep."

"The chieftain? As in the Chieftain of the Caluso?"

Chung nodded.

Eve's brow furrowed upon hearing this. She stepped closer, crouching down to the young king's level. "What promise?"

"To reunify the desert."

Eve blinked, garnering a rather morbid chuckle from a young man clearly in over his head.

"It's a long story."

"Tell me."

Chung looked up at her, their eyes meeting for a long while. She was looking at him with such curiosity that it felt like eons since they shared a moment where Eve wasn't actively trying to kill him.

"If you're willing to listen…"

The Nasod took a seat on the floor in front of him - the metal bars being the only thing keeping them apart.

Chung sighed, rubbing his chin in recollection before settling on a starting point.

"It was about three months ago when I first arrived at the village…"

A/N: This lengthy chapter that I had planned only to be a short transition chapter was written by Kalafinn54. I greatly appreciate the effort she went with writing it as I provided the setting and end point as a guide and everything else you've read was practically her own creation. AMAZING work IMO. So please, PLEASE check out Kalafinn54's other work on ffn. It's the least I can do for her. Any comments or feedback will be relayed to her so help me in helping her feel appreciated!

Also big thanks to Mirai Akina for the edits. Without her help you'd be losing braincells to the amount of grammar mistakes we make in our writing.

As stated above, this is a transition chapter. Prepare for a perspective shift in the next few. Please look forward to it!