The revelation left Ardyn, Mirae, and Elari silent.
Neron invited them to stay the day in his home beside the windmill. At first, there was little to say—only the quiet truth that something in all of them had shifted.
Later, in the warmth of the house, the three asked more questions. Some Neron answered. Others, he didn't.
He asked questions of his own—about how they found their Aeroliths, about the Skytest, and what had changed since his time.
Night came. With only one bedroom, Neron offered them the main room to rest. Mirae took the long sofa near the fireplace, while Ardyn and Elari lay side by side on thin sleeping mats stretched across the wooden floor.
"So, what's our plan?" Ardyn asked, hands behind his head.
"I think we go back to each of our isles," Mirae said, turning onto her side on the sofa.
"We can focus on the finals now," Elari added.
"Yeah, I think that's your new problem, Ardyn," Mirae said with a quiet chuckle. "Avoid getting killed by Cindralune."
"Breathers don't kill Breathers," Ardyn said with a grin. "Kidding aside… I think there's still more to come. Something left for us to discover."
Mirae and Elari nodded quietly, and soon, the room fell into silence as they drifted to sleep.
* * *
Morning came.
Ardyn stirred awake to find Elari's sleeping mat empty. He turned his head toward the sofa, where Mirae was already up, sitting groggily.
"Good morning, Splash Boy," she mumbled.
"Morning," Ardyn said, rubbing his eyes as he sat up. "Where's Elari?"
Mirae pointed lazily toward the door. Ardyn turned and saw it cracked open—Elari standing just outside, motionless.
"What's he doing?" Ardyn muttered.
Elari entered the house with urgency in his steps.
"Where's Neron?" Ardyn asked, rising to his feet.
"He left early," Elari said. "Went into town for supplies."
He grabbed his pack from the floor. "You've got your Galegears, right?"
"Why?" Mirae asked, brows furrowed.
"If you do, put them on." Elari was already unpacking his own gear, his voice firm. "Now."
He strapped on his boots in one practiced motion. "We've got a problem," he said, voice low. "We're surrounded."
"By what?" Mirae asked as she slipped on her own boots.
Elari shook his head, then stood, his Galegears already strapped on.
"Get down!" Elari shouted.
They dropped to the floor just as the walls exploded with bursts of compressed air.
Shutters tore free from their hinges. Splinters flew. Wind screamed through the gaps—rapid, whiplike blasts ripping through wood and glass from all sides. It sounded like the house was being shredded around them.
Elari crawled toward the far wall, motioning for Ardyn and Mirae to follow.
"There's a backdoor," he muttered.
They scurried low across the shattered floor, ducking beneath a window where slivers of wind still howled through. Dust and broken glass littered the wooden planks. At the far end, Elari dropped to one knee, bracing with one foot as he reached for the doorknob and twisted it open in one swift motion.
"Don't fly too high—you'll be exposed. Use the trees to stir clear of shots," he said. His Galegears pulsed with a soft blue glow, boots humming low. "Ready?"
Ardyn and Mirae nodded.
They all stood—and burst through the door into the open. But in a snap, Mirae's flight was yanked short, and she dropped hard to the ground.
Ardyn and Elari turned—her foot was caught in a thin, glinting wire. They dropped low beside Mirae—only to find themselves surrounded.
Their attackers stood in a loose ring, faces hidden behind smooth, mirror-like visors that reflected the morning light, just like the assassin Ardyn had faced before.
He counted quickly. Twelve. Maybe more. Some stood on foot, but others loomed above on large mechanical constructs thrumming with Aerolith energy, their limbs hissing with compressed wind.
"I don't know why Elarion Dresk is so afraid of them," one masked figure said, arms crossed.
"Don't mention his name," snapped another—the one holding the wire around Mirae's foot. Her voice was sharp, unmistakably female.
"They've got nowhere to run. We end it here…"
But before the words fully left his mouth, a burst of wind slammed into him—Elari's.
The moment shattered. The mechanical rider jolted forward, its cannons spinning up—then firing.
In the chaos, Mirae yanked her foot free. The wire slipped from the woman's grasp—and Mirae launched skyward.
Blasts of compressed air cracked through the trees as the three scattered in different directions. The assassins broke formation, splitting off in pursuit—glinting helmets and Aerolith-powered machines streaking through the air behind them.
Mirae soared through the trees, one hand working quickly to untangle the wire still coiled around her ankle. With a sharp flick, it snapped loose—she caught it in her grip, holding tight.
Behind her, she caught a glimpse—the same woman was in pursuit, darting forward on foot with startling speed. A sharp whistle cut past her ear, narrowly missing. Metallic spikes embbeded into the trunk of the tree she'd just passed, fired from a mechanism in the woman's hand.
From the corner of her eye, Mirae spotted another masked figure sprinting to intercept her, moving fast—too fast. The assailant leapt, twin blades flashing in both hands.
Mirae reacted instantly. She snapped the wire forward. It coiled around the attacker's arm midair. With a sharp pull, she yanked him off balance—slamming him hard into a thick tree trunk.
The figure crumpled to the ground, unmoving.
Just then, the woman was already on her feet and closing in. Mirae raised both arms to block.
The kick slammed into her forearms, knocking her backward. The force yanked her hand—and the wire slipped from her grip.
The masked woman lunged, fists and feet flying. Mirae ducked, parried, twisted away—meeting each strike with sharp, precise movements. The two women clashed like dancers in a deadly rhythm, weaving through the maze of trees.
"You dance well, Kaenra," Mirae said as their arms locked for a breathless moment, both pressing against the other in a tight grapple.
"But I'm the Cirran Ballerina."
Mirae twisted low, her body sweeping beneath Kaenra's guard in a fluid spiral—one hand bracing the ground behind her. Then her leg whipped upward, driven by a burst from her Galegear.
Her foot connected cleanly with the woman's chin.
The masked woman was launched backward—helmet flying off, tumbling through the air before clattering into the underbrush.
She landed hard but rolled to her feet in one motion. Her face now bare.
"Hi, Mirae," Kaenra said, smiling like it was a reunion.
Kaenra pulled a dagger and lunged.
Mirae barely twisted in time, but the blade carved a sharp line across her shoulder. She hissed, staggering back as warmth bloomed through her sleeve.
Kaenra didn't stop. Another slash came—fast and close—forcing Mirae to spin away, her heel skidding across the forest floor.
Then she saw it.
The wire—glinting faintly among the fallen leaves where it had slipped from her grip.
Mirae dove low, just beneath another swipe, and snatched the wire with her good hand. Her fingers tightened around it.
She rose, twirling back to her feet.
Kaenra grinned. "Still think you can dance through this?"
Mirae exhaled. "No."
Her eyes narrowed. "I'm done dancing around you."
She surged forward, spinning—wind curling beneath her boots. The wire snapped out, looping midair around Kaenra's arm before the woman could react.
With a dancer's grace, Mirae let the momentum carry her into a full rotation, wind bursting from her Galegear in a controlled pulse.
Kaenra was ripped off balance, pulled sideways by the wire. She stumbled, one knee hitting the ground hard.
Kaenra tried to rise—but Mirae was already in motion.
With a burst from her Galegear, she closed the gap in a blink. Kaenra was just starting to turn when Mirae twisted low and drove a sweeping kick straight into her ribs.
The impact knocked the air from her lungs and sent crashing hard against a tree trunk and crumpled at its base, motionless.
Mirae didn't waste a second. She surged toward the barrage of blasts, her heart hammering in her chest. She had only encountered two—most of the assassins must have gone after Ardyn and Elari.
The sound grew louder and louder.
Then she saw it.
Far ahead, Ardyn was pinned—his chest crushed beneath the foot of a towering mechanical construct. Its rider stood atop the machine, arm raised, weapon aimed directly at his head.
"No!" Mirae screamed.
Before the trigger could be pulled, a sudden blast of wind slammed into the machine's arm. The shot veered wide, the barrel blasted clean off.
The construct pivoted sharply, metal limbs grinding. Its gaze turned.
And there—standing in the clearing—was Neron.
No Galegear. No armor. Just his outstretched hand, pointed toward the machine.
Mirae blinked. How? He wasn't wearing any gear.
"Go home," Neron said calmly. "And live."
The rider let out a cold laugh and raised his other weapon. A storm of bullets erupted, rapid and relentless—aimed straight at Neron.
But none reached him.
Each round exploded midair, bursting against an invisible barrier just feet from his body.
The rider hesitated.
Neron shifted. He angled his arm into a striking pose, fingers curled like a blade.
The wind obeyed.
It surged around him in a furious spiral, twisting like a cyclone—and then he struck. A single punch through the air.
The blast that followed was deafening.
A compressed burst of wind tore through the clearing. It ripped into the machine, shearing it apart mid-roar. Metal shrieked. The construct exploded in a scatter of burning fragments, and the rider was flung high into the trees like a ragdoll.
Mirae rushed to Ardyn's side, dropping to her knees as she checked him over.
Ardyn winced but managed to sit up, his clothes torn and a few scrapes bleeding—but nothing serious.
Behind them, Neron landed lightly. "I'll find Elari," he said calmly, then rose back into the air and shot off in a blur of wind.
Ardyn blinked after him, dazed. "Am I seeing that right?" he asked Mirae.
She nodded slowly, still staring after Neron. "Yeah. He's not wearing any Galegear."
"Is that what Breathers can do?" Ardyn muttered.
Mirae didn't answer. Leaves still spiraled through the air where Neron had vanished.