Pursuit

"You figured out... how to put your fuckin conscious inside of a ship after death?" Noda asked.

"That's precisely right." Answered Schalle. His voice boomed from the ship. "It will allow me to take direct control of every gadget I installed onto our vessel here with far more precision."

"And ya couldn't have done that without getting yourself killed?"

"We live in a strange world with a strange set of rules. That is an important fact I have learned throughout my years of research and invention. So death was indeed necessary to accomplish this feat."

Tahara rolled his toothpick around his mouth. "Had to be a Colossal Soarer that got the job done too, huh?"

"For confusing reasons, yes. As I said this is a world where its magical rules can almost seem like nonsense. I've learned to understand it to a degree over the years. Albeit as of late... I have noticed the magical system of our world has taken a worrying shift. But... we may discuss and deal with that after the current threat has been extinguished."

"Holy crap.." Whispered Resk. "Hey, Schalle? Do you uh.. know how to change yourself back?"

"That matter may be dealt with once we return from the Archipelago."

"So in other words, you don't." Setsuna said.

"It is of minor importance at the moment! Currently, we simply need to depart. We have delayed doing so for long enough! Now that I have successfully fused my mind with our ship, we have no more reason to remain here. So then, allow me to give you all a minor demonstration regarding why exactly it was necessary for me to gain such precise control of our vessel here. I suggest you all hold on tightly."

Gradually, bubbles began to form around the ship. The back of the ship then started developing a large aura of blue. Out of nowhere, this blue aura blasted the ship forward at an alarming speed. It was traveling so quickly that it became difficult for everyone to tell what was going on past the ship's walls.

The tiny army of converted Colossal Soarers who had joined them, attempted to keep serious expressions, however some of them began to screech and chirp in fear due to just how quickly the vessel had begun moving.

Eyes slightly widening, Kore noticed a handful of the enemy Soarers had began to pursue the ship. "I see." He stated aloud. "It would seem that Nare sent quite the capable group of burrowing Soarers our way. A select few of them gained the ability to move at unheard of speeds during a battle we had on another continent. However, this power of theirs is not as unstoppable as it may seem, as their mobility when it comes to moving in any direction other than forward mid flight, is reduced to a level I would almost refer to as useless when moving at such high speeds. With them likely being aware that I am on the ship, they should have known I'd be able to take care of them with relative ease." Kore used his ability to have a massive spear appear within his hand. "Let us hope they did not pursue us anyway, because they have some sort of plan." Once completing his statement, Kore used his remaining eye to carefully take aim. He then flung his spear toward one of the enemy Soarers.

Kore's spear roughly impaled the Soarer. Due to the amount of power and force he had put into his throw, combined with the immense size of the spear itself, it ended up continuing to travel through the air, proceeding to impale and soon kill three more enemy Soarers.

After witnessing the deaths of their comrades, the remaining few burrowing Soarers quickly lengthened their mouths, sucking up and fully consuming the flailing bodies of their fallen kind mid air, substantially powering themselves up.

The remaining Soarers were now capable of flying at much higher speeds. They accelerated toward The Legion of Elite at an alarming rate.

The converted Soarers, and the elite members who stood atop the ship shifted themselves to combative stances. Before it was necessary for them to take action, however, Schalle truly displayed what the ship was capable of under his direct control.

Several areas of the ship began to bend and change shape. Everyone aboard the ship was suddenly strapped tightly against it, with a blue aura that appeared to be identical to what was propelling the vessel forward at such a high speed.

The ship continued to transform. Once the enemy Soarers reached it, Schalle used extreme precision to morph and maneuver the ship around each of the mentioned Soarers, eventually burning them to a crisp by shooting even more of the blue aura out of a slot he had opened. Immediately afterwards, Schalle returned the ship to its standard form. All of this occurred within the matter of a second.

Though it was difficult to make out at the speed they still were traveling at, the Elite were able to notice that no more enemy Soarers remained.

"Oooo wow!!" Valah clapped her hands a few times. "Very impressive Mr. Sir Schalle! That was a magnificent display of why you needed to die such a gruesome and specific death! I guess you needed the power of a human brain in order to pull off such precise and rapid maneuvers, huh?"

"That is correct indeed Valah." Responded Schalle. "The feats my masterpiece of a vessel is capable of, are unusable without the power of a conscious mind. I had been working on a way to control it more ordinarily, however as I am sure you are all aware of, I tragically ran out of time."

Noda growled. "Tch.. having a living ship that can do shit like that's gonna be a game changer, yeah. But I still don't get why the fuck you had to get yourself killed in a certain way."

"Well... I suppose I can grant you an explanation now that we are seemingly out of harms way."

"Go on then. I believe a majority of us are interested in this discovery you came upon." Added Setsuna.

"Very well. I shall now explain then!! Ahem. Throughout my many years of researching the magical systems of Obliviana, I have uncovered a sea of information in which, as far as I'm aware of, only I have figured out up to this point. Most of this information will be kept secret for the time being, to avoid it falling into the wrong hands. However, my wonderful comrades, I don't mind revealing this small bit of information to you so that the strange transformation you've just witnessed makes sense." Small blue flames appeared along the ship, illuminating the deck as Schalle continued to speak. "I have made the groundbreaking discovery that one's body does in fact contain a soul like presence. Despite popular belief, consciousness and knowledge is not stored within the brain. Therefore upon one's death, all is not guaranteed to be lost, depending on how they pass on."

"That so?" Tahara commented.

"That is so indeed. Now, I am not fully aware of everything regarding this topic. It is a complex subject that will require many more years of research. However, I am by no means clueless either. To explain this situation specifically, I shall reveal to you all, that when one is killed abruptly and suddenly, their soul is not given the proper time to prepare itself for death. It is propelled out of the body, and in a panic, uses the nearest object as its new host. In most circumstances, the object it possesses can only be minimally controlled. This is the primary source of the majority of paranormal occurrences. If you were to be aware of this anomaly however... then you could create an object specifically designed to be controlled by a conscious mind, granted you have the time to do so. Creating such an object is no small feat. It requires decades of concentrated effort, which is precisely how I tweaked the ship upon discovering this crucial information. I then had to make for certain that I was killed in a somewhat unexpected, abrupt manner, otherwise I would of course be permanently dead."

"So you've planned on getting yourself killed and transferred into your ship for decades now, if an emergency situation such as this ever occurred?" Questioned Setsuna.

"Yes. This has been a project I've dedicated a vast amount of effort toward. And now that we've come against worthy opponents, the day to make use of this project of mine has at last arrived. I made for certain to lower the defenses upon the vessel, only within the area where I was vulnerable. The Soarers discovered it, as predicted, and killed me in a startling enough manner. I may have been anticipating it to a degree, having planned out the situation myself, but it was surprising enough. My soul has now latched onto our ship, and I can use it to its fullest capabilities."

"Wonderful, you coulda summarized that shit in half the amount of time. But I get it now. You had to die without immediate warning, so that your soul or whatever could directly take over our big ass boat, and actually use its crazy ass capabilities." Noda claimed.

"Pretty crazy shit." Said Tahara. "Complicated as hell too. What matters though, is that we've now got a ride that can wipe out an army of Soarers if need be. Couldn't have dreamt of a better ship than this one." Moving toward the edge of the vessel, he spit his toothpick into the water, before continuing. "I think it's about time we finally settle down and recover from this hell of a day though. How about I cook up a meal for everyone? We can sit around and talk some things over, maybe hear what Kore's gotta say about the smiles. Then, we can head to sleep and prepare ourselves for tomorrow."

Clenching a fist, Resk replied. "Yeah, that sounds good. We all need to relax and recover so that we can be at full strength when we wipe the floor with the Smiles."

"That's right." Nodded Tahara. "Everyone in agreement then?"

The Elite all agreed to Tahara's suggestion. Everyone settled down, and began attending to their own business as they awaited dinner to be served.

Esten left the deck of the ship, and moved to a lower floor in order to examine her room.

She turned the knob of her room door gently, and entered. Inside, she was greeted with a sizable space that was somewhat personalized for her. It was generic for the most part, but had racks that perfectly fit her blades, equipment she'd need in case her clothing needed replaced or repaired, among other small personalizations.

Esten sat in front of a mirror, and began making adjustments to her hair. Not long thereafter, she received a knock at her room door.

She sat there for a moment longer, before getting up to answer the door. Once opening it, she made eye contact with Noda. "What do you want, filthy berserker? I have things I intended on taking care of before Tahara finishes preparing this midnight meal of ours."

"There's some stuff I wanna talk with you about before tomorrow happens. With the fight against these smile things comin' up soon, combined with whatever other fuckin surprises we're inevitably gonna run into, we're not gonna have another opportunity to have a calm conversation for a while."

"Are you not able to talk these things over with the others, or anyone else at all?" She asked. "I am covered in the nauseating blood of the Colossal Soarers, in addition to my own sweat. I would prefer to shower before we eat, rather than conversing with you."

"No. You're the person I wanna discuss this with. Not anyone else." He firmly stated.

Esten continued to gaze at Noda before eventually saying. "Very well. Let us discuss these intruding topics of yours then. You may come in."

Nodding, Noda entered Esten's room, glancing around to see what sort of distinctive characteristics hers had in comparison to his.

"So, go on then. What is it that you want to talk with me about?" Esten asked, softly sitting upon the edge of her bed, awaiting to hear what Noda had to say.

He looked back at her, and began. "To start off, I wanted to ask how you were feelin' after everything that's happened today? So much shit's occurred and.. for me at least, it's... been hard. Everyone here in the elite, I consider my family. When I originally joined, it was the first time in my life I'd ever felt like I was a part of somethin'. I felt equal to everyone. Even if you go around callin' me all this shit, unlike with people in my past, I know you don't mean these things within your heart." He looked at Esten and faintly smiled for a moment, before his expression faded into a look of distress. "To see members of my family die in such gruesome, fucked up ways... all in a single day.. makes it so hard to move forward. How I didn't break down cryin' on the spot will always be a mystery to me. So, Esten, are you okay?"

Closing her eyes, Esten momentarily lowered her head. Lost in thought. Her usual blank expression remained. She remained this way for a good while. Around a minute or two. At last, she opened her eyes again, looking back at Noda. However, her eyes were now filled with tears. Gradually, Esten's expression began breaking down. Her lips quivered, and she started to cry.

This caught Noda completely off guard. He had never seen Esten visually express any sort of emotion through the years he had known her. His eyes widened a bit, as he watched her sit there and cry, continuously struggling to wipe her tears and straighten out her expression.

Between the tears, Esten blurted. "I-I see The Elite as family as well! They are all so ridiculous and beyond dumb to some capacity, but I love them! Despite what I may have said, I... did not truly believe there would be a day I'd have to keep my emotions in check after watching them get killed!!" She bawled for a bit longer, before continuing. "Maybe I am just as dumb as you are, Noda... not being prepared to handle the deaths of our comrades when it quite literally is our job to put our lives at risk!!"

A hand of Noda's trembled. He eventually reached out, steadied it, and gently placed that hand onto Esten's shoulder.

Her crying stopped upon feeling his hand, and she looked up at him with puffy red eyes.

"Yeah, I know you love everyone, Esten." Noda began. "They all love you too. Most of 'em at least. And I can promise you I do. You're not dumb at all. You can prepare for the deaths of those you care for as much as ya want, but you can never truly be ready for when it actually happens." He lifted his other hand, and wiped Esten's remaining tears from her cheeks. "But, even though this situation's hard as shit to deal with for us all, what's important is that we talk it over with each other, let out our emotions, grieve, and then keep going. After all... we told Cindra that we'd make sure every last one of these fuckin bugs would be slaughtered. The two of us are still alive, and we're gonna make good on our promise. Not just for Cindra, though. But for everyone. Even ourselves."

Esten sniffled a few times, regathering herself. "Y-Yes... though it is likely this is far from the final time we will need to deal with traumatic occurrences, you and I must not allow it to plunge our minds into despair. Though the past and present are upsetting, there is still a future in which we have a degree of control over. To allow these tragic things to overwhelm us, will only place our future at risk to be much worse."

"That's right." Noda nodded toward her. "That's the second thing I was gonna bring up. No matter how shitty things get, we've gotta keep moving in order to build a future for ourselves and Obliviana. As long as we're still alive, a future filled with happiness is still an option."

Esten slowly nodded back. "In which case, I will attempt to prevent this despair from negatively interfering with my future actions. It may be difficult to do.. but I believe I will make it happen."

For a moment, neither of them said anything else. Soon enough, though, Esten spoke once more. "Noda. If terrible tragedies such as what has happened today occur again, then... do not hesitate to come and converse with me again once things have settled down. For once, this was not a waste of time."

"Heh." Noda smiled a bit. "Glad to hear I finally did somethin' worth your time. I'm hopin' that'll start being the case more often, Esten."