Reconstruction

Whispering waves swelled and swirled in the shadow of Altera as it hovered just over the ocean's surface, still encompassed by the light of El though with decidedly less intensity than it had been a few months before. Standing in the wind as the sea spray washed against her face, Eve watched as a small crane on the shore reeled in a thick steel chain that dove deep into the water below. Reconstruction was proceeding, albeit slowly, and Eve was just now retrieving the last of the debris from the nasod fleet that had fallen into the sea. Fortunately, since every ship had exploded in the air, almost all of their toxic fuel had burned off before the ships sank beneath the waves. Still, a significant amount of valuable metal and El was still resting on the ocean floor, and Eve would need every spare scrap to rebuild the Core and the foundry.

As the crane drew its cargo up from the water's surface. At the end of the line, Oberon was wrapped tightly in chains and rope, holding a pile of rusted metals and fragmented El in his arms as he gradually rose up to the island's surface. Growling quietly, the crane swung Oberon over a large heap of rust and machinery and he opened his arms swiftly, dropping another mound of metal onto the mountain of scrap.

"Good work, I believe that may be the last of it. I shall release you after I finish scanning the ocean floor."

Oberon nodded happily as he swung in the breeze and Eve studied her console, scouring her sonar readouts for any sign of scrap metal or El left in the sea. Having spent almost every day of the past four months dredging the ocean floor, she was beginning to wonder if they would ever clear away all the debris and retrieve every heart from the nasod that had been loaded on the fleet, but with nothing but clear screens all around, it seemed as if the first phase of Altera's reconstruction was finally complete. Just as Eve was about to close her console, a faint signal rang out from the surface.

"What is this... Metal, El, and it's movement...! Is it a nasod?" Eve's eyes went wide and she immediately swung Oberon back over the ocean and dropped him down into the sea foam. Rushing to the cliffside, Eve stared over the grassy ledge and down into the murky grey waters below. For a few moments, there was no sign of life at all as the cool sea breeze swept across Eve's face and fell across the plains. Then, after a sharp turn, Oberon tugged on his chain and Eve started the crane up, hauling him up with whatever creature he retrieved from the rushing waves.

As soon as Oberon cross the horizon and hovered over the island's edge, Eve was robbed of all speech. In her butler's arms lay a small creature covered in shining white armor, its chest and arms adorned in with brilliant streaks of blue. At a glance, Eve couldn't tell if she was looking at a human, or a nasod, or something else entirely. As she drew closer, she noticed the massive cannon clutched tightly in the creature's right hand, its barrel glowing faintly as seawater dripped from its side. Cautiously, she reached forward and brushed aside the ragged blue plume that rose from its head, uncovering its dark, hollow eyes. As Eve stared, transfixed by the sheen of ivory and sapphire, the creature suddenly shifted in Oberon's arms and its chest heaved forward, convulsing violently as the creature coughed and spat up a mix of sea water and sickly red slime.

It does not appear to be oil... Is it blood? As Eve drew closer, the creature arched its back and gasped sharply, its limbs falling limp at its side and its breath extinguished. The moment the creature stopped moving, Eve's eyes went wide and she immediately turned to Oberon.

"Quickly, take him inside!" Eve pointed to the old palace gates and Oberon nodded, rushing off with the creature in hand as its cannon finally slipped out of its lifeless hands.

Deep within the mountain, inside a lower wing of the nasod imperial palace that Eve had restored to working order, Oberon lay the unknown beast on a long table and quickly attached an array of electrical sensors to the lifeless form before him. A moment later, Eve arrived with a case of surgical tools and a massive toolkit, dropping them alongside the table as she opened her console and scanned the creature's vital signs. For a brief second, all screens came up blank. Then, faintly, a quick flickering caught Eve's attention.

"There is still electrical activity in its nerves." Eve glanced over the mass of ivory steel that lay before her, the dim flicker of its life fading every second. With its body covered in steel and saltwater, electrical resuscitation would likely do more harm than good, and with no opening for its mouth, there was no way to force air into its lungs. Just when the last timid pulse of life faded from Eve's monitor, she held her hands out and gathered a massive sphere of El energy between her fingers, thrusting them into the huge El crystal encased in the creatures armor. As the shock poured into the El, a dozen monitors suddenly filled with light and color as the creature writhed and clenched its fists, coughing once more and groaning in pain. As the sound of its desperate gasps mingled with the rapid chirping of Eve's equipment, the creature rolled onto its side, reached for its head, and pulled away its face.

Still stunned as much from shock as from her intense curiosity, Eve stared as the layers of shining steel armor pulled themselves apart, shifting, twisting, folding, and finally opening to reveal the body of a young human boy. Pale and shivering, the boy sat up and clutched the side of the table for support as he coughed up a mouthful of water and blood.

"Are you injured anywhere? Can you speak?" Eve's voice was quickly drowned out by the fierce echo of a painful cough and a trembling gasp. For nearly a minute, the boy struggled to form an answer, his voice lost among the coarse gurgling in his throat as he squinted and winced in pain.

"W-Whe-" A fit of heavy panting interrupted his first fragmented words as he finally opened his eyes and stared at Eve anxiously. "Where- Where is my Destroyer!? Where are we right now!?" He coughed again, a tiny stream of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth as his eyes darted around the room. "I have... I have to get back..."

Eve looked up from her console and spoke quietly as Oberon tried to gently guide the boy back onto the table. "Please do not try to move. Your condition is still unstable, it will take some time before you are able to travel."

Heedless of Eve's caution, the boy slipped out of Oberon's grasp and hopped down onto the floor. The moment his feet hit the ground, he began to stumble forward, fainting almost immediately and falling headlong into Eve. Catching him just before he collapsed completely, Eve felt a sudden, fragile warmth as his forehead fell against her chest. Even without taking a full measure, she could tell immediately that his temperature was dangerously high.

"Oberon!" At Eve's command, Oberon hurried to her side and waited expectantly. "He has a high fever. Take him to the guest room and watch him closely. I will gather the necessary medicine from the village, but I may not return for a few hours. Tell me immediately if his condition changes."

Nodding quickly, Oberon scooped the boy up in his arms and carried him away, leaving Eve alone with the eerie, dripping shell of the boy's armor. Time was in short supply and the boys situation was critical; Eve knew this, and while she told herself repeatedly to hurry off to the Ponggo village, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the strange, mechanical skin that lay splayed open on the table before her. Not only were its circuits similar to those of the nasod, but the symbols engraved into the armor's core seemed somehow familiar. Eve was certain that she had seen them within the Core itself, though she couldn't say where. Shaking her head quickly, she pushed her suspicions aside and hurried out of the palace and into the warm summer night.

"Nnngh..." A soft moan disappeared into the darkness as the young boy opened his eyes and raised his head. As soon as he pulled himself up, a sea of thought poured through his mind in an instant, overflowing and drowning him in an overwhelming flood of broken screams and strangled cries. Awash in a storm of unfinished memories, his head began to throb and ache so sharply that he thought his skull would break and his eyes would burst. Pressing his hands against his forehead, he felt the light chill of cold sweat on his palms as he cringed and clenched his jaw, doubling over as another surge of pain shot through his spine. When his headaches finally subsided, he rolled down off of the tiny, tattered bed he had been laying on and looked around, rubbing his eyes as his surroundings slowly came into focus.

A sickening knot grew in his stomach as he surveyed the room; the walls seemed to squirm and slither, as if a thick wall of black mud was constantly oozing from the ceiling and falling through the floor, the ceiling wavered rapidly as if it was the surface of a dense, oil-soaked ocean, and the ground trembled and sank with his every step. If this was any place he had ever been before, he had no memory of it. Still dizzy and disoriented, he reached down and sifted through the sludge covered ground and found the handle to his cannon, pulling with all his strength to raise it out of the thick, dark muck below. Just when he had almost raised his weapon to the surface, another chorus of desperate shouts and bloodthirsty howls rang through his ears, sending him reeling back in agony as his cannon sunk deep into an unseen abyss. As the screams and wails grew louder and louder, anguish and dread mounted within him as he thrust his arms deep into the tar and pitch at his feet, reaching blindly for his weapon as the ground closed in around his elbows and held them fast. Realizing that his arms were trapped, the boy began to panic. The moment he started to struggle, the seething walls suddenly stopped pouring through the floor and instead began to flood the room, drowning the boy in tar and pitch and water black as night while the ground below opened to swallow him whole.

Breathing heavily, the boy's eyes shot open as sweat streamed down his forehead. Hovering overhead, a stern voice and a warm light had pulled him from his nightmare and called him back to the waking world.

"Your fever seems to have broken." Glancing over from the corner of the room, Eve turned away from her console just as the boy bolted upright and shook his head out. Rising to her feet, she spread out an array of dimly pulsing monitors in front of her and nodded. "Good. Your brain waves have stabilized as well. Are you in any pain?"

"I-" The boy looked around the room slowly, steadying his breath and relaxing once he realized that he was finally awake. "No, I'm fine... I think. Where- Nngh..." A sharp pain pierced his side, causing him to wince and cringe. Raising his hand to his side, he felt a smooth sheath of gauze and tape covering his ribs.

"Do not strain yourself. Your injuries have not yet fully healed." Eve approached his bedside and shifted two small displays toward him, each mapping the broken bones and open wounds scattered throughout his body. "You are on Altera, in the imperial palace of the Nasod. Three days ago, we retrieved you from the sea and you have been unconscious since then." She paused, waiting for the boy to finish studying the charts and discovering his many injuries. When he finally took note of her silence, she continued. "Do you remember how you got stranded in the ocean? There have been no ships in this region for several months."

"Ah, yeah..." He centered himself and smoothed out the tangled threads of his disheveled hair. "Sorry, and thank you, for taking care of me. I am Chung Seiker, first crown prince of Hamel." Straightening his spine as best he could, Chung bowed his head slightly and a weak smile spread across his face.

"Prince...?" Eve blinked, taking only a second to consider the importance of his position before turning and shouting into the hallway. "Oberon! Initiate emergency diplomatic protocols!"

Almost instantly, Oberon appeared in the doorway with a tray of tea and brightly colored petits fours, quickly crossed the room and pulled a chair up to Chung's bedside, pouring two cups and tea and presenting them to his guest and then to his queen.

"Oh, thank you." Chung accepted the cup and took a small sip, grabbing a large chocolate petit four and popping it into his mouth.

Sitting in the chair beside the bed, Eve nodded and followed suit, her voice and demeanor now stately and inviting as she began her very first diplomatic meeting with the ruler of another nation. "I am Eve, Queen of the Nasod. I am pleased to make your acquaintance." She paused anxiously after that last sentence, unsure of whether she sounded pleasant or severe. I will have to ask Rena to evaluate my negotiation skills when I see her again...

Chung nodded calmly, popping another petit four into his mouth and tipping his cup back gently. "I didn't realize there were still Nasod around. You don't look anything like what I imagined, but I guess it makes more sense that you'd look just like everyone else after all."

Eve blinked. "You are not surprised? You are not shocked to hear that the Nasod still exist?" She stared in disbelief at Chung's calm and casual expression as he chomped down another pair of confections and shook his head.

"Not really. I always heard that Nasod were a lot more like giants, so I wasn't expecting you to be the size of a human, but I guess I've seen enough strange things that I'm not easily surprised anymore..." His voice trailed off as a faint memory crossed through the background of his thoughts, his gaze drifting down to the floor as the shadows of flame and floodwater flickered across his eyes. "Ah!" He jerked his head up abruptly, looking to Eve apologetically. "I didn't mean it to sound like I was calling you strange though! Nasod have always been part of this world so it's only natural that you'd be here, I just-"

"It is alright." Eve took a sip of tea, sensing Chung's sudden guilt and anxiety. "I am not offended. You have already been more accepting of me than many others in the past..." A strange sensation struck her, as though she were somehow unexpectedly satisfied by this development. Dismissing that thought as another internal error, she turned the subject back to Chung's earlier words. She knew her question would be vague, just as his testimony had been, but the traces of remorse and regret in his voice left her with a lingering suspicion. "What do you mean when you say that you have seen many strange things?"

"...I should probably start from the beginning." Chung emptied his cup and set it aside, lowering his face and resting his hands atop his legs. "Do you know about my country, about Hamel?"

Eve shook her head. "I apologize. Until recently, I had been asleep for several hundred years and I am not yet familiar with the current state of world politics."

Chung smiled faintly. "That's okay. I guess the details aren't too important. Hamel's far to the east, on Fluone, and it's been a really strong kingdom for many years. It's been over fifty years since we were involved in a real war, but..." His face darkened and he began to scowl. "...a few months ago, we were caught off guard and attacked by things we'd never seen before. They're huge and powerful, with a face like a dog's and bright yellow eyes... we didn't know what else to call them but 'demons'. One day, a giant gate opened outside of our water temple and they swarmed the whole area before the guards could even call for help. After they took control of the temple, the demons flooded the country and then besieged every place that was still above water... I..." Biting his lip and clenching his fists, Chung's eyes were drenched in a haze of frustration and sorrow. "...I lost... I couldn't protect the people in the capital, or the generals, or even my father... I failed... and that's when I was washed out to sea..."

As Chung's voice weakened and faded, Eve sat in pensive silence. Though she understood his situation well and the memory of her own lost empire was still painfully vivid, she was unsure of how to respond to his distress. Setting aside her tea, she closed her eyes for a moment before turning to Chung with a solemn resolve.

"Although I do not know the circumstances of your country, you are free to remain on Altera for as long as you like. We will do everything in our power to help you recover."

For just an instant, a faint sense of relief spread across Chung's face and he smiled softly "Thank you, Miss Eve. Oh, wait, should I call you Your Majesty?"

"I-" Eve hesitated, suddenly aware of her complete lack of knowledge on human diplomatic etiquette. "That will not be necessary... I think."

Chung nodded. "Were you the one who pulled me out of the ocean?"

Eve shook her head slowly. "No, that was Oberon." She pointed to Chung's bedside where Oberon still knelt, holding the tray of tea and snacks in the absence of an end table. "He has also been watching over you for the past three days."

"Then, Thank you too, Oberon." Chung turned to Oberon and bowed his head, sending Oberon into a fit of joy, fidgeting and nodding as the tea tray clattered in his trembling hands. As he continued his jubilations, Chung blinked and glanced aside awkwardly, unsure of whether or not he had just done something to break his caretaker's brain.

"Do not mind him." Eve retrieved her cup of tea and took a small sip. "Oberon is not used to receiving compliments from humans. It may take him several dozen years to adapt at this rate."

"I-is that it?" Chung stared uneasily as Oberon hopped to his feet and began dancing and twirling about happily. "Well... then, I will accept your kindness and stay here until I recover. After that, though, I must return to Hamel and-" Chung scanned the room quickly and then turned back to Eve. "Where is my Freuturnier? And my Destroyer? Did you find them when you rescued me?"

Eve blinked, puzzled for a moment as Chung looked around the room anxiously and finally realizing what it was that he was looking for. "Do you mean the armor and cannon you were carrying?"

"Yes!" Chung bolted forward, his eyes wide with urgency. "Where are they!?"

"I have stored them in the engineering wing. I will have Oberon bring them here-"

"No, please," Chung swung his feet over the side of the bed and panted heavily as a sudden faintness overtook him. "Please take me to them."

"...Very well." Eve nodded and stood, returning her cup to the tray and closing her console and signaling to Oberon as she rose. "You should not try to walk on your own though. Oberon will carry you."

Nodding promptly, Oberon set aside the tea tray and scooped Chung up from the bed, lifting him into his arms and following Eve out into the hall as Chung struggled in vain against Oberon's grasp.

"Wait, no, I'm fine, I don't need to- Nnggh..." As he tried to slip down onto his feet, a dull, staggering pain burst through Chung's spine and left his legs numb for a moment. Still somewhat unwilling, he ceased his protest and tried not to move as Oberon carried him down the darkened halls of the Nasod imperial palace. Though their present surroundings were in immaculate condition and more than suitable for royalty, at every intersection he caught a glimpse of a dark, rusted corridor in the distance, the ruins of a long dead empire left to sleep in the heart of the mountain for a thousand years. For a moment, Chung began to wonder if Hamel would look that way one day, its ivory gates crumbled and covered in moss and ash, the colossal royal court buried beneath the sand and waves.

Just as the fire and steel of battle seeped back into his thoughts, Eve stopped and opened a pair of broad double doors, revealing her workshop and the new entrance to Altera's Core. Beyond shelves and racks of wires and tools, beyond a stream of dimly flickering lights and brightly glowing shards of El, Chung's armor, his Freuturnier, lay open atop Eve's workbench and his Destroyer stood alongside. Sliding down from Oberon's arms and leaning against him for support, Chung took a minute to survey his armor before sighing in relief.

"Good..." His shoulders relaxed and he reached forward, touching the shimmering circuits on the inner edge of his armor. "It doesn't look like it was damaged by the water..."

"I am curious about this." Eve approached and joined him in surveying the strange symbols carved into the Freuturnier's interior. "This armor is more similar to Nasod technology than that of humans or elves, and your weapon is almost the same as those used in the wars of the Last Day..."

"It's-" Chung slipped and fell forward, catching himself on the edge of the table and leaning over his Freuturnier as he explained. "It's hard to explain. My family has used this sort of armor for hundreds of years, and I know everything about how it works, but I don't know how we first created it." He ran his finger across the inside of the Freuturnier and a stream of faint, blue lights scattered across its surface, forming a series of carefully carved runes. "The movement of it is all mechanical engineering, but it uses the El as a power source. For a long time, we weren't able to focus the El's energy very efficiently though, and our Destroyers were much smaller and much weaker up until my grandfather's time. When a group of traveling knights passed through, they taught us about runecraft and we started adding these symbols to our Freuturnier and our Destroyers. It channels the El's energy through a formula of runes just like a spell, so the output is a lot higher and a lot easier to direct..." He turned aside to Eve, a bit bashful. "S-sorry, I'm rambling on about this, aren't I?"

"No, please continue." Eve swept aside his concern with a stern glance. "I would like to know as much as possible about these runes."

"About the runes?" Chung paused, searching back through his memory. "I can't tell you much about them. We always just copied the formulas grandfather left behind, so I don't know how to use them on my own. Why do you ask?"

"That..." Eve hesitated, closing her eyes and then gazing toward the entrance to the Core. "...I told you before that I was asleep for many years. During that time, I appointed a successor to watch over Altera, but he ignored my orders and tried to build an army of Nasod in order to wage war against humans. When we finally confronted and destroyed him, he used large runes like these and giant El energy extractors to produce high energy magic."

She stopped abruptly. Now that she knew how runes were first integrated into Hamel's Freuturnier, she had reached several possible conclusions about how King Nasod had found that same technology and few of those possibilities involved a friendly, mutual exchange. While Chung and Oberon watched and waited for her to continue, she steeled her nerves and carried on. "It is likely that some of your citizens or soldiers may have drifted to Altera within the past two generations. It... is also likely that they did not leave the island alive." Grisly scenes of experimentation and execution flashed through Eve's memory, the illustrations of what she feared had taken place under King Nasod's rule.

"Miss Eve, it's not your fault." Chung's eyes were steady and resolute as he peered deep into her own. "That isn't something you had control over, right? There might have just been some broken Freuturnier drifting in the sea without anyone inside. And even if some of my people were killed by the former King, you've already brought their killer to justice so, I think, they would be happy with that."

Stunned, Eve could only stare, overwhelmed by the sudden warmth and lightness welling up within her. Nodding slowly, she hurried to compose herself, making a note to run a full diagnostic scan of her systems in light of the many strange sensations she had experienced since rescuing Chung.

"P-perhaps you are right..."

Chung smiled warmly as he leaned back onto Oberon's shoulder. "I'm sure of it." As he smiled, Eve blushed lightly, caught unprepared by Chung's reassurance. Completely oblivious, Chung turned his attention toward his destroyer, checking the nicks and scratches on its surface for any signs of serious damage. As he finished his inspection, a small, bright picture frame caught his eye and he glanced over at the wall above Eve's workbench. Within the frame, a faintly glowing monitor held the image of Eve, blushing intensely as three people surrounded her in a friendly huddle and another stood just at her side.

"Ah, are those your friends?" Chung pointed to the picture and Eve nearly panicked, as though she was already teetering off balance and had just been given a strong shove. Blushing, she glanced aside and turned away.

"T-they are my comrades, the ones who helped me defeat King Nasod and reclaim Altera. That..." She looked over at the picture of Rena, Aisha, and Elsword gathered around her with Raven reluctantly standing close behind them, "That picture is to commemorate our victory and their alliance with the Nasod empire." She held her voice level, trying her best to maintain an air of objectivity in spite of her rosy cheeks.

"Yeah..." Chung stared aimlessly, his voice echoing softly against the high stone ceiling. "I think I understand how you feel about them. In Hamel, there are a lot of people who are important to me, and I want to protect them... but more than just the people I know, I need to protect everyone, all the people who are relying on me as their prince." A solemn gravity tinted his voice as he spoke, his eyes reflecting both a deep regret and a firm resolve. As he continued to stare off into the distance, Eve gathered herself and turned toward him, her face now calm and stern.

"That is understandable. As the leaders of our nations, our power exists to protect our people and to bring them prosperity. By birth and by our own choosing, our lives are not entirely our own. I have heard the Ponggos say that this is a tragic and undesirable condition, but..." Eve looked out across her workshop, her eyes passing over the shelves and stockpiles full of Nasod hearts waiting to return to the Core. "... I believe that it is a good thing that I am their queen, and I have no desire to ever abandon my responsibilities."

"Yeah, I feel the same." Chunk nodded and leaned forward, nearly falling as he reached for his Destroyer. Moving swiftly, Oberon caught him as he tumbled forward and slowly lowered him toward his cannon. "Oh- Sorry. Thanks, Oberon..."

Nodding and saluting energetically, Oberon stood back at attention while Chung ran his hands over his Destroyer and tapped its loose outer panels. "I'm still not strong enough to protect everyone though... I need to be as strong as possible, so that nobody in Hamel has to get hurt anymore."

"That is impossible." Eve moved around the Destroyer to face him, a faint trace of remorse tinting her voice. "Even if you were the strongest human ever to live, it is impossible to prevent everyone from being hurt. Even in just a single instant, it is possible for thousands of people to die and sometimes it is all that we can do just to save one person. Sometimes, we cannot even do that..."

Chung's hand slid down the side of his cannon and dropped to the floor, his resolve wavering as Eve spoke. "I... I know, but still, I can't ever accept anyone being hurt when I might be able to protect them, even if I won't be able to protect everyone all the time, I have to protect as many people as I can, for as long as I'm able to. It's not just that I don't want them to get hurt..." He pulled himself up and held himself steady, leaning on his Destroyer to keep his balance. "Even though we've made a lot of progress in the past hundred years, there are still a lot of people in Hamel who struggle just to survive, especially when there's a drought or a flood or a hurricane hits. If I can keep people safe though, then they won't have to worry about whether or not they'll live through the next day and they can focus on helping their family and their neighbors. I want to be stronger, so that no one in Hamel ever has to spend their life being afraid of losing everything they've worked so hard to build."

Eve listened intently, now fully aware that Chung felt the same burdens, the same determinations, and the same desire to protect his people as Eve felt for the Nasod. Reaching into the nearest supply chest, she pulled out a large toolkit and hefted it up onto her workbench, pulling out a soldering iron and offering it to Chung. "Very well. While you are here on Altera, you will have the full support of the Nasod empire. We will help you save your people."

As soon as Chung heard those words, his eyes brightened instantly and a grateful smile spread across his face. "Thank you. I swear, one day, I'll definitely return the favor."

Several weeks passed as Eve and Chung studied his Destroyer, modifying its energy output and enhancing its overall durability. Thanks to the restorative functions of his Freuturnier, Chung's rehabilitation took only thirteen days and he was quickly up and about, sparring with Oberon each morning before heading into the mountain to help Eve excavate the remainder of the Core. As the damp tropical winds of midsummer swirled across Altera and drowned the island in a haze of fog and rain, the prince of Hamel and the queen of the Nasod worked tirelessly toward the restoration of both nations.

In the late hours of a sweltering summer night, Eve sat at her workbench debugging the Core's environmental controls which she had only just fixed an hour earlier. As her fingers flew over her keyboard and the moon hovered high overhead, a shrill siren pierced the evening's calm as a large monitor opened up at Eve's side, a brief and urgent message scrawled across its surface. Even without reading the message, the sender's name alone was enough to draw Eve's full attention; 'Rena' lay at the bottom of the letter, signed in a single, elegant stroke. Without hesitation, Eve called for Oberon and the two of them headed out onto the plains.

With the moon nearly full and shining brilliantly among the stars, there was scarcely a inch of Altera's plains that was lost to the dark. Standing in the shadow of a tall boulder, Chung gripped his Destroyer tightly as the moonlight gleamed across his armor and danced across his hands. Slinging his cannon onto his shoulder, he charged forward, ramming into solid rock and pushing with all his strength. As he forced himself forward, the boulder began to crack, splinter, and finally, as he shifted his weight and pulled the trigger on his Destroyer, a powerful blast shattered the mass of stone into hundreds of tiny pieces. Standing back and catching his breath, he frowned slightly.

"Mmn... The output's not high enough on the consecutive bursts... I wonder if we could rig a heat sink inside so that the power didn't drop off with continuous fire..." He set his Destroyer down in front of him and opened up a panel on its side, fiddling with its circuits and wires while he waited for the barrel to cool down. As he sat tinkering, the soft swaying of reeds caught his attention and he turned to see Eve and Oberon standing in the field behind him, the stars shining against their gleaming skin. With the warm summer breeze blowing through her hair, Eve stepped through the reeds and made her way toward Chung, holding her voice steady against the whistling wind.

"Chung. There is an urgent matter that Oberon and I must attend to. We may be gone for several weeks. Please feel free to use any of our resources and materials while we are gone."

"Gone?" Chung closed his Destroyer up and removed his helmet, allowing his long, disheveled hair to spill over his shoulders. "Is something wrong?"

Eve nodded. "Our comrades... the people you saw in the picture in the engineering bay, they are in danger. Do not worry, I will return as quickly as possible."

"Wait..." Chung grabbed his cannon and hefted up onto his back. "Let me go with you. If your friends need help, then I want to come with you."

Eve shook her head. "I cannot ask you to do that. We will be traveling into an active battlefield and I cannot guarantee your safety."

"Don't worry about me." Chung wiped the sweat from his brow and held his ground firmly. "Even if it's more dangerous, it can't be as bad as fighting the demons in Hamel and I'll be able to get more experience fighting real enemies than breaking rocks. And, more than that..." His eyes met Eve's, a calm determination reflected in his gaze, "If you're going somewhere dangerous like that, the very least I can do is to act as your shield along with Oberon."

Once again caught off guard, Eve blinked and hesitated. Even after almost two months, she was completely unprepared to such bold and direct declarations. With no further cause to deny him, Eve decided to accept his offer and, perhaps foolishly, she felt confident that he would be safe under her care, even in the midst of battle. With the night sky shining overhead, Eve nodded and delivered her answer. "...Very well then. Pack your things and prepare for a long journey. We will leave for Feita immediately."