Its happening again, my body is fighting the foreign feeling that is trying to invade my body.

I am trying my best, not until my body gave up.

A chill that crept along my spine as my thoughts drifted too far into sentiment.

This sensation, faint yet constant, repeatedly pinning me down as if telling me to give up, to surrender, like invisible chains tightening around my conscience. Not pain. Not exactly. Just… a subtle redirection.

As if its sheering me like a blinded horse

My destination?

Is it

Loyalty. Duty. Order.

They began mixing in chaotic mesh. They became my instincts. Reflexes that was suddenly planted on me.

Whenever I tried to think of Emilia as a victim… the warmth in my chest flickered. The image of the people that died, the cities that was left in disarray sharpened, clearer than her smile.

Each time I questioned Lorenzo's guilt, something inside me tugged him back toward suspicion.

Just what is this?

Is it really me, was it my subconscious putting my duty first before my emotions.

Or was it something inside me that is manipulating me to think that way?

In the end I am not sure

.

.

.

While Eros was crouching on the corner of the deck, the hum of the airship broke as alarms rang throughout the vessel.

"Ambush—!" one of the guards shouted.

The growing storm inside the young lion's heart seize while all his focus went on the alarms.

Before he could rise, the sky above cracked, and the space around them folded like paper. The ship's defensive system activated while the soldiers and mages in the ship came out, ready to fight.

Dark figures emerged from all sides, masked, powerful and dangerous. They stood formidable, and silent.

"What is going on!" Baylee asked while taking out his staff, but then something threatening occured. Lyrise was the first to react casting a spell to dispel the rising magic, Baylee caught on and assist her but even when they put their strength together they still failed. A sealed domain, there contact to the sky station was cut off. No message could pass through. No reinforcements could arrive. Viena's space magic couldn't break it either, indicating that its level of magic is higher than hers.

"Damn it, everyone prepare to fight!" Leave with no other option she gave that command.

The enemies jump into the deck weapons drawn, spells ready.

Steel clashed against magic. Screams tore into the sky. Amidst the chaos Eros fought at the helm, his skill instant incantation repeatedly being use, every strike of his blade was accompany by the power of magic. The young lord stood his ground, and his loyal aid, Liam didn't leave his side. As blood soaked into the airship's wood and snow scattered around them, he continue to held the line. They fought for hours no, for an entire day, they battled inside the airship, frozen, as the space remained locked. Time stilled. Night and day blurred.

Eros felt his breath getting heavier, he looked around him and all his sees is the shadow of the battle he took part in the blood season. Instantly he felt the rage that reverberated in his heart, the ambush had trigger a bad memory that made him berserk.

"Out of my way!" He wave his sword beheading three enemies at the same time, then he dash forward completely disregarding his safety.

"Young master!" Liam shouted in panic, a deep fog obscured the deck. The aid was worried sick as he lose sight of his master.

"Where are you young master!" He shouted again, while dodging attacks. He was nervous as he looked around. The more he advance forward the more bodies lay down on the ground. His worry turned into madness as he entire a sphree of killing. All his thoughts just focus on finding the person he served, all those who tried to hinder will immediately slayed by him.

His slaughter continue not until finally, with a roar that cracked the sky, Eros forced his sword into the tear in space. Mana exploded outward, and the lock broke.

Viena who was engaged in close combat with the leader took that chance to behead her enemy.

The enemies fall and as the seal broke the sky raise touching the blood soak ship.

Everyone was tired but no matter the number of enemies none of them died. It was the evidence of the power that the tower, association and the archduke have. Their members were that powerful that they could endure an entire day of combat without falling prey on their opponents.

---

Seventh day of Ianuarius arrived

The snow was no longer white.

The field below was littered with bodies, both enemy and injured ally. Eros stood among them, drenched in blood not all his own. His arms hung heavy. His skin was split in a dozen places. Each breath was a screaming in pain, both physically and emotionally.

He staggered forward.

Ahead, a lone figure waited. A woman with blood-stained armor, gripping a sword that still dripped. Viena.

She stood tall, her gaze cold and commanding.

"You have two options, Lord Eros," she said, her voice flat. "Share this discovery with the world…"

Eros halted. The pressure from her stare was immense, but it wasn't her words that made him clench his fists.

It was the truth.

No. It was the lie they both knew.

"This is a lie..." he whispered. His voice trembled.

His voice cracked, draw with pain, with disbelief, with longing.

Behind his eyes, the sensation stirred again.

Heavy.

Suffocating.

His loyalty was not being demanded. It was being felt.

He shut his eyes tightly.

"I need to see her," he said, not to Viena, but to himself. To whatever remained of his heart. "Emilia. I need to know if she had any part in this."

He clenched his fist, trembling in anger and longing. And still, he stood.

Even as the sensation threatened to strip him of his love. Even as duty clawed deeper into his soul he pleaded.

Just one chance.

To see her.

To know.

To understand her

Eros' POV

My body hurts but more than my heart is spiraling into another round of turmoil.

The airship was trembling as it soar fast into the sky, morning already arrive without us knowing, our destination was the sky station.

"Ugh!"

My chest feels heavy again its that emotion again its wearing me down.

*CLANG!*

*CLANG!*

Sounds of swords clashing began echoing in my ears, the previous slowly replaying in my mind like a broken record. That mocking voice and venomous words. It began whispering

"You're hesitating, little Lion," the masked man jeered, parrying Eros's blade and ducking low. "Is it because you finally realized who set you up?"

Eros gritted his teeth. "You'll have to be more specific."

The man cackled, circling him like a predator. His voice was thick with mockery. "The lab in Lumen. The ambush on this pathetic flying coffin. The missing pieces. All roads lead to a single crown—and a delicate little flower who pretends to know nothing."

Eros froze for the briefest second. The cold in his veins surged.

No. Not her. Not Emilia.

He lunged again, harder this time, the steel in his hands becoming an extension of his fury. Their swords met, sparks flying again.

"She has nothing to do with this!" he snapped, but the edge in his voice cracked.

"Still protecting her?" the man laughed. "Do you think she's that innocent? Or is it easier to pretend? Face it, Lord Eros. You were just another piece to be moved. A dog on a leash, too blind to realize which hand gave the order to bite."

Eros's sword faltered again—but only for a moment.

Then, his gaze sharpened. "Funny," he said lowly, wiping blood from his cheek. "Because you talk a lot for someone who hasn't given me a single useful name."

The mocking man tilted his head.

"Touch a nerve?" Eros stepped forward. "Then tell me this: if she truly planned everything… why let you live long enough to speak of it?"

A flicker of uncertainty passed through the enemy's mask.

Bait laid. Now pull.

"…You think she's the top of the chain?" the man spat. "The girl's just a thread in the noose. The real game is already floating above your heads."

"What?"

"The Armada, boy," the man said with a grin. "While you waste your breath here, the capital's already under its shadow."

Eros's heart dropped. "The Armada… above the capital?"

The man chuckled darkly. "No one looks up when the snow starts falling."

Another explosion shook the ship, smoke billowing from the lower decks.

Eros surged forward with a roar, sword slicing through the air.

But the masked man didn't move. He just smiled.

"Too late."

The blade pierced him clean through, and he crumpled, blood staining the scorched planks beneath.

Eros stood over the corpse, panting. His hands trembled—not from fatigue, but the weight of what he'd just heard. The capital… Emilia… the lab…

The icy sensation inside him stirred again.

A command.

A pull.

It wasn't from duty.

It wasn't even from loyalty.

It was something deeper, written into the marrow of his bones.

He had to act.

Even if it broke him.