"This won't work! This is terrible! This is all rubbish!"
L'erisia kicked a table leg, causing papers and flasks of liquid to shake.
She was in the laboratory of Aria te'Laria with Malchut, Lien, his mother Aria, and Sigma.
"L'erisia," Malchut said, "calm down! I promise we can make this work."
"We can't afford to calm down!" L'erisia snapped. "We have to undo what Agiona has done! We're running out of time! If we don't act, everyone will—"
The ground shook violently, as did the papers and flasks.
"Lady L'erisia, please!" Aria said sternly.
L'erisia fell to her knees. The shaking stopped.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I can't afford to be so…"
"Lady L'erisia, I'm angry, too. And we will fix this," Lien reassured her.
It wasn't the first time that day that L'erisia had become emotional, causing an earthquake.
Meanwhile, Matin was rooting thoroughly through everything in Agiona's office.
"I have to find it I have to find it I have to find it," she whispered under her breath.
At last she found a stack of pages that looked promising.
"Let me see…"
She started rifling through the pages.
"Last page, last page…"
She gasped.
"This is it!"
She looked at the last page and the page Nox had found. It all made sense.
Matin had finally found Agiona's document about the Ouroboros Ark.
"Let's see…'We, Agiona, shall dominate the Ark at the helm…'"
She grabbed a previous page.
"'Power for the project 'Ouroboros' shall be stored in the Flask Sea,'" Matin read. "'Once enough souls are contained, the Ark of Zektbach's power source shall be shifted to life…energy…'"
Matin's eyes widened.
"'…and that power shall fuel the transcendental being's song that creates the core of the 'Ouroboros Ark.' Through Prof. Rouven Kenpfert's invention, Lien Clewing will sing the song.' Yes, and Agiona will dominate the Ark, and then 'the Ark's power, with the assistance of the energy of the 'Zeta' life forms, will absorb and…dominate…every soul within this skyship…'oh, no!"
She clasped the pages in her hands and ran as fast as she could to Nox's room.
"Brother! Look at this!"
Nox took the pages and his expression darkened as he read them.
"So Zalieri plans to become 'emperor' by transforming everyone into that thing!" he snapped.
"But what did he mean by 'life energy?'" Matin asked with worry.
"I'm not sure. If he did switch the ship's power source, then it's no longer getting its energy from the microquasar. That means everyone on this ship could be in real danger! We have to tell the others!"
Shamshir entered the door to the Noigllado throne room, where Queen Aldilla and Matin and her advisors were waiting.
"Look at this!" Nox growled, thrusting the Agiona document in Shamshir's face.
"Nox, please calm down," Matin said.
"'Calm down?!' Matin, this is evil!"
"I know. But General Zamouk has no part in this, so please be kinder to her."
"Your Highness," Lien said, "may I see that?"
Nox nodded.
Lien took the document and read it.
"So this says Agiona put those people in the Flask Sea to use their power. They switched the ship's power source to their life energy, which enabled Rouven to make me sing that awful song…and they want to turn everyone else into the Ouroboros Ark too, which means we must work harder than ever to defeat it!"
Hannes sighed.
"Lady Malchut and Lady L'erisia thought of everything they could, but came up with nothing," she explained. "According to Lady L'erisia, Zalieri and the others desire to stay as the Ouroboros Ark, and as long as they do, they, at least, cannot be separated."
"So that means anyone else could?" Shamshir piped up hopefully.
"In theory," replied Lien. "Prince Nox and Hannes's use of their swords stopped Agiona from pulling anyone else into the Ark at that time. And one of those swords being made by Lady L'erisia, the Will who governs identity, should have power to reverse an assimilation of that sort."
Suddenly, the door banged open. There stood Malchut.
"Lady Malchut!" Matin cried. "Do you have news?"
"Dreadful, Your Majesty!" Malchut replied. "I can feel the collective unconscious of all living things, and I felt…oh, I felt…"
Tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Oh, Your Majesty," Malchut sobbed. "The souls in the Flask Sea were pulled into the Ouroboros Ark!"
Everyone gasped.
Nox grasped the sword at his belt.
"Your Highness," Malchut said to him, "please, don't go after it."
"How can we save those people?!" Matin cried out.
"We have to defeat the Ark first," Malchut replied. "Falo was right to keep you away from that water. It's tainted."
"You mean…"
"Yes. Anyone who touches it will get pulled in."