Disclaim: I don't own Elsword nor its character as well as Valkyria Chronicles' characters, except my OC. I'm just an author who loves playing game and release my imagination.
Main Character:
Team Elrios:
Elsword – Rune Master
Eve – Code: Sariel
Mio – Narrator
Kazuki – Soul Reaper
Lily - ?
Rossetta Anatasia (Rossa) – Shocktrooper
Inspector (Medium Tank): Kane and Tara
Chapter 5: Betrayal
"Come on, Renga! We have to havest those ragnite as fast as we can until they arrived!"
At Gaia Ragnite Mine, which was the huge factory, it was under rapid production as all workers of Gaia were assigned to double their work. Sound of mining was non-stop, digging the mine to collect the blue shining crystal that was the only resource for war, Ragnite.
The factory was pushing to its limit, and so were workers. One by one, they exhausted their strength and were delivered to the infirmary to recover. However, some refused and continued their work.
Renga digged the mine as much as he could until his pickaxe went broke.
"Damn it!"
"Sir, use this!"
Another worker tossed other one to Renga. He found this was covered in blood.
"He was stubborn to work even his hands were injured so I had to knock in out and had our men carrying him to take care of his hands."
"Good, make sure no one dies doing in here." Renga nodded and returned his works.
'Welkin, get us outta here, please.'
Half year later, Elsword had done training his sword as well as his firearm. He then got challenged by Rossa, again, though he noticed her shot was improved futher. If watching carefully, Rossa made a few shots at one point on dummy's head.
"You still get lower score than me, Rossa."
"Gah! How can I beat you in this game?!" Rossa groaned and slammed her handgun on the table with frustrated.
"But look."
Elsword pointed at the scoreboard. Rossa followed her gaze and noticed her score was almost close to Elsword's, which surprised her.
"You almost got me, just a little more and you will beat me in the gun fight." He smiled.
That gave her hope.
"Yatta!"
She jumped in excited.
Elsword could only chuckled, she's still a childlike soldier after all.
However, their little competition was cut short by an alarm.
"Attention! Team 7, Team Elrios, Report To HQ Immediately! I Repeat, Team 7, Team Elrios, Report to HQ Immediately!"
They stared at the speaker that announced them and their teams for their appearance. They didn't know why HQ used emergency alarm. They decided to meet Welkin. Once they arrived at his office, they saw him let out a long sigh.
"We have a situation."
"What's going on, Welkin?"
He gave them two files with label Gaia Ragnite Mine. Elsword picked it up and took out a map and an order from Terra with a destruction.
"The queen orders us to destroy the mine as they are reported that Empire troops are marching toward to capture it." Welkin explained "They want Team 7 and Team Elrios do this job and evacuate all workers back, but it's extremely dangerous. Successfully destroying it will stop them from getting any of ragnite from us."
"Then me and Eve can deal with those army with our power while team 7 evacuates."
However, his idea was stopped by Mio.
"No, I don't think it can work."
They turned their attention to the pink-haired narrator, who just entered Welkin's office.
"What do you mean we can't?"
Instead of reply, she took out a small device with a blue crystal contained in it as she approached Elsword.
"Try casting your rune."
Elsword didn't understand what she meaned. He turned back to ask for Welkin's permission to use in his office who nodded. He lifted his hand up and called out his rune.
… but nothing happened.
"What?!"
He tried, tried and tried again but nothing happened, which made Elsword confused.
"It's because of the effect of ragnite." Mio began explaining "Ragnite is the essential material in here, people adapt and use it for various purposes for long time. But we are El users. The power of El and Ragnite are clashing inside us. Right now if we begin the operation. The success of this mission will be close to zero as the mine will weaken us."
Now that he noticed. During the team 7 rescue operation, he felt weak for no reason. The tank was operating with Ragnite that emitted a clashing aura against his El energy, and can only regain when he provide sniper from the roof with Lily.
"Why don't you tell us earlier?"
"I didn't expect it until now."
Mio gave the Ragnite to Rossa to put it away from Elsword.
"Eve can resist the Ragnite due to her body covered in El Aura. Elsword, however, was easily vulnerable to it. I suggest Elsword will be out of this operation."
"Wait what?!"
Elsword and the others were shocked by Mio's proposition.
"What? What do you mean I won't be joining this one?" Elsword asked feeling betrayal.
"Elsword, it's for your own good. We don't know Ragnite would do to you. It could be danger to your life."
"But-" / "She's right, Elsword."
Eve agreed with Mio's suggestion as she entered his office.
"You too, Eve?"
"It's for your safety. We can handle this on our own."
He watched both of them staring at him with great concern in their eyes. Elsword could only sighed. After their night, they revealed their emotion oftenly, especially Eve. The silver haired girl couldn't hide her worried face, which he never saw before.
Welkin understood how worried his girls were to him and nodded.
"Alright, since your members have suggested, you are not allowed to participate in this operation until further notice."
Elsword staredat Welkin with unbelievable eyes and sighed.
"Alright."
"To make sure you don't do anything reckless, Rossa will be staying with you."
"W-What? Me?"
Rossa stuttered in shocked.
"Yes, you will not be able to join in this one to check on him."
Rossa hesistated turned her head at Elsword who gave her a smile that bright her face with red and nodded.
"Alright, let's get to it."
Elsword and his team gathered in their camp and went for a stragery along with team 7. The map of Gaia Ragnite Mine was shown on the table. Elsword, however, was just an observer with Rossa.
"As far as we can see, Mio reported to have our workers gathering as much ragnite as posibble. We need to buy them some time to put the cargo on the trucks before we move on to the second phase: protect the cargo."
"Due to the upcoming war, we need to preserve our force. So I could only send Team 7 and Team Elrios since both of you are experienced teams on the battlefield. The rest of them team are under preparation."
"It's gonna be a tough war." Mio commented.
Eve then spoke "If thing goes wrong, I will have to release my power to eliminate a part of their power."
This made the knight worried "But it can weaken you."
"I'm not someone who released all of their power to get tired." She glared at Elsword, mentioning what he had done at the bridge, which made Elsword chuckled.
"Well then, patch your gear up. We're moving out."
With both team left camp, Elsword sighed that he was left out, though he needed to regain his El power for the war. Rossa left with Team 7 to help gather their gear so he was alone. He intent to pick a glass for a cold drink.
Crack!
"Huh?"
The glass broke itself with a small crack.
It was strange for a glass to have a small crack with no force on it.
Elsword felt something wrong.
Gear:
Elsword: (Unable to join)
Eve: MK14 Enhanced Range Battle with Red Dot Sight – Nasod Spear – Five Seven – Ballisttic Knife – Grenade
Kazuki: (Data Corrupted)
Lily: (Data Corrupted)
Rossa: (Unable to join)
Inspector: Kane – Tara
Other: Emira – Tamashi
Eve was inside the Class APC (Armored Personal Carrier) along with Kazuki and Lily, the others were on other APC. Eve noticed the silence among both team. Kazuki and Lily carried no weapon with them, except the leader had his blue dagger that she found on his holster everywhere.
She recalled her memory that Kazuki was the last citizen of the City of the Sky and had asked Mio to search for this information. Unfortunately, Kazuki's intel was on top secret so Mio can't extract much without hacking. The only solution was asking Welkin of him, yet he denied her permission to learn Kazuki's intel.
Only him can tell about himself to other by his own will.
"Kazuki-san."
The said man looked up at her.
"Why did you run away from Empire?"
He frown "Why do you ask?" even Lily was on her alert by Eve's question.
"I want to understand you. Ever since we met, you showed me with your hostility eyes toward me because I'm Former Valkyrur. I'm no Former Valkyrur. I'm just a queen of Nasod ruling my own kingdom for peace.."
"…"
"So please…"
"…tsk… are all nasod like you?"
"Sort of…"
Kazuki looked at Lily to seek for her opinion. She let out a smile that he should trust her for once. He nodded.
"Have you ever heard of human experiment?"
The word "Human Experiment" made the Nasod Queen flinched. A few disturbing images of the human experiment appeared in her mind that took her a few days to remove it from her data. If there's a word that could describe her feeling right now,
"It's horrible."
"Yes, beyond what a human could bear." He took a breath to calm him down before he told "When the Sky was destroyed, I was fallen down the sea right it was floating in the middle of it. I was saved by the Empire after a few days of floating, or precisely, Envy found me."
Eve listened every word he told and remembered the woman named Envy, the Valkyrur who attacked Altera.
"I joined their army along with her in order to become stronger and stronger to kill Valkyrur. We both went through hardship to reach the capacity like this. The Empire used to be a good place for me to stay. But…"
Kazuki tried to suppress his emotion.
"I was wrong. The Empire was the house of all human experiments."
"What?" Eve was genuinely shocked "What did they do?"
"… what they didn't do… They are trying to pass the power of the Valkyria to the body of soldiers, testing their limit and let them kill each other. I was so disgusting by this. Worse, the only survivor of their experiment, was no one else but... Envy… She's the Valkyrur."
Eve frowned, learning that Envy was the victim of their twisted mind.
"But that's not all they can do, they declares war against Gaia and her people by taking over half of the terrain and slaughteing. I have had it enough and decided to run away."
"… What about Envy?"
"She has become Valkyrur, an enemy to me. So there's no way I would bring her with me."
A short bang on his chest after saying that. He frowned by that and held his chest. She's Envy. She's the one saving him and fighting alongside with him for years.
"I see."
"My life has never been 'good' like this. First, my hometown destroyed, then my friend, now betrayal." He could have emotion outburst had it not for Lily to comfort."
"Sh… Yuu-chan… everything will be fine…" the girl soothed his anger down. Her soft voice made him calm a bit.
"I'm sorry." Eve apologized.
"Don't be… you want to understand me so no need to feel bad."
Kazuki sighed in relief.
"Now that's how I live." Kazuki spoke just right before they heard gunshot "We're here."
Eve left the APC first, not noticing the regretful eyes Kazuki had on his face.
Elsword on the other hand, was sorting the gear in Camp Elrios to clean up the mess they prepared. He put the equipments back in the weapon storage and found out some of them were borrowed by Team 7. He headed out to their camp and saw Rossa standing before him.
"Rossa?"
"Need some company?"
Elsword smiled and nodded before he and Rossa walked toward their destination.
"So uh, Elsword. When will we began our competition again?" Rossa asked the same question to Elsword which the man sighed.
"Just a few days. However, you should reserve ammo you wasted on our little game."
The girl giggled in embarassment. She couldn't help it. Ever since he appeared, she never felt this fierce in her heart. To have someone stronger than her and beat her in every fight pushed her and inspired her to train harder. But still, she was so carefree that she forgot ammo should be preserved for war.
Elsword reached camp 7 and entered along with Rossa. They found the camp was the same state as Camp Elrios.
"What a mess." Rossa commented, which Esword nodded.
Elsword helped Rossa clean up the mess Kazuki and his team made. Just a few minutes before they were about to finish, Elsword stumbled onto something that could change his life.
"What is it?"
Elsword didn't reply to Rossa as he was reading the folder so the girl stared at it too. The more they read, their eyes widened in shock and disbelief until they reached their limit. Rossa was the one to snap.
"There's no way! There's no way HE would do that!"
"I wish it was a fake but we can't deny it." Elsword frowned "We need to report to HQ immediately."
Back to the Gaia Ragnite Mine, it was under attacked by horde of Empire troops. Eve was standing near the SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile) on the second floor, shooting those reaching on the first floor and on the stair. She heard the sound of SAM locking target on the aircraft and slammed the button on it to launch the missile to chase it down.
She could have activated her code right now but she would be exposed to Ragnite once her energy ran out. Eve chose to keep the El energy coating her body to avoid both energies conflict inside her.
Her rifle shot last bullet of its mag before she reloaded it. The moment she's done, a guard approached her with his knife ready to strike. Eve dodged it and blocked with her gun, swung it to force his knife and thrusted his chest to push him out falling down.
"Eve, the trucks are ready to go!" Mio spoke through comm when her drone saw the trucks were about to leave.
"Copy. I'm on my way."
She ran away just before the SAM was destroyed by Empire Aircraft's missile. The explosion made the queen lose her balance a bit. She forced her way through the mine filled with ragnite and Empire. However, she wasn't alone.
"Take this you bastard!"
A man had his back on one of them while locking his right arm where a pistol was, knocking his head with elbow and stole his gun. He turned around and put a bullet in his head, killing him.
"We need to go now, the mine is under self destruction. There have least than 30 minutes to get out of here!"
Eve nodded and ran along with him.
Self destruction initiating. All workers, evac the area immediately.
They reached the central of the Gaia Mine. The ceiling collasped slowly as chained explosion could be heard outside. The mine must be destroyed rather than having it in the hand of enemy.
They reached the trucks which were beginning to run. She climbed on one of the trucks and called them to drive. They drove away from the mine as it was about to explode.
"Out of the way, out of the WAY!"
Inspector charged through the guards, launching HE right on the left light tank that was intending to stop the trucks. Some of the guards were using the missile launchers and shot at Inspector. It didn't cause major damage to the thick shell of it but it shook the driver inside that almost lost the control.
Watching behind, the Mine was far away but almost half of the troops was after them. Worse, the trucks were not fast and would be danger if it kept this. Eve decided to release her code, seeing that they were far enough.
"Activate Code: Sariel."
She jumped away from the truck and floated in the air with her spear ready. She didn't have much time to keep this form so she must make haste. She casted El Crystal: Spectrum to change her attacking mode and shot through it with Energy Needles which multiplied themselves into 3 and attacked them. They were not the only threat, however, as she detected aircraft heading to her. Her computer alarmed her of target locked and tracked the missile. Eve manipulated the function inside the missile and returned it to the sender. She spun her spear to avoid multiple bullets shooting from both ground and air. She first eliminated the aircraft by cutting its wing, leaving them in burning state and destroyed, before striking down with Giga Stream through El Crystal: Spectrum.
"Eve, the self destruction has ben abort, I repeat! The self destruction has been abort!"
"What?!"
The queen was shocked and stared at the Gaia Mine that the alarm was shut down. She cursed the Empire.
"Mio, I will destroy this by myself."
"Eve, what do you mean- wait, no. It's dangerous!"
Mio knew what Eve intent to and couldn't stop her. The silver haired Queen channeled her energy exceed her limit that alarmed her, yet she ignored it and continued gathering them.
"Psychic Artillery!"
The comm went distorted and couldn't hear Mio screamed. Eve bursted her first beam straight toward the mine which caused minor damage. She released her second beam larger and stronger than first one, caused mass destruction to Gaia Mine and those on her path. The El energy and Ragnite energy began conflicted each other and made a huge explosion. It was so strong that she could feel the heat far away and the force afterward that pushed her away.
The computer alarmed her of remain 5% energy inside her
"Eve… ear me? Eve can yo…me?"
"Mio, I'm here. The Gaia Mine was destroyed."
"No, Eve… be care… of …zuki…"
"What?"
*Bang!*
"!"
She couldn't react as she felt her neck a sharp pain. She reached where the pain was and found an inject needle. Looking closely, the content of the needle was filled with Ragnite that turned to liquid.
Error! Error! System Corrupted! Energy Collision!
Eve lost her power by conflict of El and Ragnite. She couldn't control of her body and fell on the ground.
"EVE! Can you hear me! Eve! Eve!"
"Elsword…"
System overload, core damanged detected. Activate Secondary Code.
"… be safe…"
Eve went into static and fell on the ground just as the Empire Troop arrived.
The sky turned crimson, the sun had almost hid itself behind the sea. The trucks arrived at the gate and went through to the field where Welkin, Elsword, Rossa, Mio and Sakura were waiting. They spotted Tara on the top of Inspector with a saddess face, then two APCs following by and the convoy trucks. They saw Kazuki stepping out the last truck and that's when Elsword stepped forward.
"Elsword I-" / "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Elsword furiously punched Kazuki right on his face that knocked him down on the ground.
"Elsword! What are you-" / "WHERE'S EVE!?"
Rossa and Mio had to stop Elsword from killing Kazuki. Rossa stared at Kazuki with disbelief and betrayal in her eyes. Kazuki froze by his question and Rossa's way of look, confused why they were like that. Lily came and helped Kazuki stand up while Welkin stepped forward with a frown on his face.
"Kazuki Yuuki, Lily Yuuki. You are under arrest for treason. We found your case of contract of the Empire and agreement of selling Eve to the enemy." To prove him the truth, he showed him the said folder.
Kazuki stared at it and cursed for being discovered, which only made it worse.
Mio was shocked to see Elsword was this angry, but it couldn't help. She knew how it felt to be betrayed and stood up by their comrades, painful. Rossa wished things she and Elsword found wasn't real, that Kazuki wouldn't sell Eve to Empire. But fate was playing her. She could only shed tear and held Elsword, hoping to stop his anger.
They could feel his body was on fire with fury.
Welkin ordered the guard to arrest them in the jail for further judgement. He also told Mio and Rossa to get Elsword back to his room, which both of them nodded.
They went home. Elsword's fury was not cool down. Mio led him in their room and had him laying down on bed.
"I should have gone with her…"
They heard him mutter in regret.
"I should have gone with her, I shouldn't let her alone with the traitor…I…"
"Elsword… this is not your fault. Please don't blame yourself."
"But it's true. If I have taken this operation as well, she won't have to be like this."
Rossa was scared of his condition. Elsword was a great man, stronger than she thought. But right now he was broken. She could only hug his arm, wishing to stop this. Mio hugged him, having her face cuddled in his neck, letting out a sob. Tears rolling down from her golden eyes, losing Eve and seeing Elsword sad. It's too much for a Nasod to handle this pain in her core.
"It's my fault too, Elsword. I suggested leaving you out of this operation too. If you want to blame, blame me. I made her end up like this."
"Mio…"
Elsword's hands wrapped both girls, fallen into silence.
"We made a mistake…"
In Empire, the hooded man walked to the factory after the conquest of the Gaia Ragnite Mine with a failure. The Queen of Nasod had destroyed it with her last power before she went static. Right now she was on the electric chair, having multiple wires connecting on her body as scientists were gathering to activate and transferred the code to Eltron.
"How's it going?"
"We are trying to get through her security layers. We hardly understand the code she has set in her computer."
"I see, Malgane orders you to push the progress faster. The war is about to begin and we can't waste any second. Use my instruction to access her data."
"Haii, Elsword-sama."
The hooded man named Elsword nodded and watched the working on their job. He stared at the face of the sleeping Nasod Queen and frowned.
"He has played his job well done. And no doubt he is under arrest afterward." He muttered "Elsword would be in pain right now, yet a sacrifice is required to complete my job."
The connection from the Queen to the Eltron's head. With every layer was broke through, a step closer to destruction of Gaia. He went to the catwalk to watch the Eltron being under control slowly. The other hooded girl stepped behind him and hugged him.
"Think we can do anything to help Gaia?"
"We only make it worse, but Eltron's condition can no longer be saved. The only thing we can do right now is accessing the main data from the Queen of Nasod, the creator of Sky City and tranferring it to Eltron. Eltron can only receive data from her and her only, any outside access will be terminated."
"Then don't forget this."
The girl tossed the small USB device into his inner pocket in his coat.
"It's our only shot."
"I understand." Elsword(DK) nodded "Now it's time we play our part."
Yuu-chan: I'm not in a good shape (studying and studying, taking more studying and some cookies) so the progress isn't fast. Done with another chapter, though I may mess up since my mind wasn't clear =w=;;
Oh i got reviews:
Vinney - i'm glad that you enjoy my story. My apology for not updating the story as fast as you expect. You know, i'm a student so i can't spend much time to write story. But i can assure you i will complete this story.
Mr. X: I see 'w')
Anyway, read and review, please OwO /