Eli's appearance wasn't surprising for the four, as Rigo was keeping an eye over her all the time. Once she showed the earliest sign of her intentions, Rigo gave the command for his droids to move and flank her from behind.

She was thinking she had the upper hand there, how naive she was! Just before her hands could touch the triggers, she was hit by a paralyzing ray that shot from a special old weapon of one of the droids.

He was like Rigo, a humanoid, who began to walk rapidly towards the fallen, without the ability to move, Eli. Once there, he extended his arm to take the cannon and guns from her possession.

The first and foremost important order he received from Rigo was to secure Eli, and make sure she wouldn't pose any threat to herself and others.

He gave these weapons to the droids with him, three others who came all the way from the armory.

They were silently following Eli's footsteps, and without her knowing that they followed her to here. Their appearance was a surprise for the poor girl who didn't experience much in life yet.

Just as she watched them taking away the weapons, she tried to resist them in vain. The paralysis effect sustained for a minute, which was long enough for her attackers to strip her off any blade to fight with.

Once she regained her freedom, she didn't stand still on the floor as she tried to move, however she was met by the view of the four people she tried to attack earlier closing up fast on her.

One face she saw and froze her without the need of any ray, the face of James.

Her heart was leaning towards him, after all he was all what a girl like her would dream of, but that was only limited to her emotional heart.

For her mind, the situation was quite opposite, as she wasn't able to forget nor forgive the crimes he did. this man who cloaked himself under an imposter veil of righteousness had the blood of her friends, brothers, and sisters staining all his fingers, hands, clothes, even his steps itself.

Dejected, she watched the four approaching her in silence, without the ability to make a decision. It was easier for her, much easier, when she was far away from him. Standing this close to him made her resolve waver, and her raging mind settled.

"What are you doing Eli?"

This soft voice came smoothly from James' lips to turn into thunder inside her ears. She even took a step backward as her body shivered, she couldn't yet determine which one he was, a hero or a villain!

"Is this the thanks I get for saving you?"

James noticed her weird reaction, and he was prepared for this. He knew she was right now utterly confused, and trying to talk calmly with her wouldn't solve the problem, it would escalate it.

So, he tried to kill everything that could stain his picture in her mind, driving her either to fully trust him or to break down. Even breaking down was something better than keeping her mind hovering between faith and enmity.

"You-You killed them, killed them by your hands… you have the audacity to say you saved me? you killed me the moment you killed them, you monster!"

She thrashed him with her explosive livid words which fell down upon him without a warning. James just stood his place motionless, looking with calm eyes towards her, feeling much more bad inside the more she spoke.

But he never wavered or thought again about what he did, he had to survive and without this sacrifice, no one here would still be alive.

"I know you have the right to be upset, but that doesn't mean you would grab a cannon and try to kill me."

"What if I did that? will you imprison me like you did with the other two? c'mon, put me in prison and show me your true color!"

James gave a loud long irritated sniff followed by a sigh. He knew how painful Eli was feeling right now, but he also had no commitment to her whatsoever.

He helped her before because he felt that was the right thing to do, she really needed his help and without him she would be dead.

However that didn't mean he would be conditionally attached to her, obliged to help and take her fiery mood and temper.

"I won't imprison you, on condition you start behaving yourself and stop acting like a spoiled girl."

The tone and the way James said these words made Eli's eyes widened from shock with a tinge of regret. Her heart felt pain that overcame the temper of her mind, and right now she began to understand, James was very special to her, but she wasn't that for him.

Pushing further would endanger the fragile picture of her in his mind, and that idea itself made her afraid. For the first time since meeting James, she felt fear, losing him was something far worse than losing everyone else.

"If you don't behave yourself, then I will have to take measures that might not please you. Of course I'm not threatening with prison, I'm just referring to the option of sending you away."

"Away?!" Eli's mind was pushed forcibly outside the struggle with her heart as she was shocked by the words of James. "Do you want to send me away?!"

Her tone jerked like a weak last flame of the summer facing the cold stormy winds of the autumn, she was about to be extinguished, her heart and life itself at this moment.

What she did and what James did started to circle around her like ghosts, without the ability to interfere or stop what was happening. She was mistaken, gravely mistaken, as this was what she concluded when she viewed what happened over and over again.

She wanted to apologize, say she was sorry and regretful, she wanted to amend what she did, and try to ask for his forgiveness, but James just gave her his back as he added:

"Just don't forget what happened today and don't repeat these foolish acts ever again. I trusted you before, and yet still trust you even now, so please don't disappoint me."

She watched the four of them moving away from her while she kept herself standing, doing nothing for a couple of moments before her body trembled. Her clear beautiful eyes turned to be full of redness all of a sudden, with few, big, drops of tears flowing off her, soaking her two porcelain-like cheeks to leave a faint, unseen trace behind them.

Except for deep pain that she would never forget, as a great revelation presented itself to her at this moment- she loved James, love that she never experienced before and would never taste like ever again.

As for James, he was feeling nothing at the moment. He helped her and he felt he was somehow responsible for her actions, but that was before he realized what she planned to do.

He figured that she was thinking for her own interest, putting herself in front of his, and that wasn't wrong, but the right thing to do.

That made him realize he was over-caring about her for a long time and that he began to mistake what the relationship between the two was.

It was only friendship, nothing more. If a friend wanted to be an enemy, then the least thing you could do was to push him away, at least for the old times sake you wouldn't face him and turn him into an instant enemy.

For old times sake, James gave the warning to Eli, hoping she would be a good girl and stop acting rash and reckless like she just did.

Solving one problem made him focus again on the bigger one, the two kept captives inside the prison.

The other three around James watched how he dealt firmly with Eli, and Dora was somehow feeling relieved without any obvious reasons. As for Rigo, he felt James dealt appropriately with the situation, and he also hoped for Eli to think rational and act calmer.

The only who began to look in wary towards James was Charles, as he thought he could use this little girl in the future to play with James, but the latter had just killed all his plans simply like that.

"Have you figured out the identity of Islinda?" James suddenly asked as they were midway towards the prison's main gate.

"So far we had no clue over who she is and where she came from, except for your words from before." Dora replied.

"That's disappointing, I hoped to know her true identity before going to speak with her," James muttered. Although he heard her before yelling the name and the status of herself, he wasn't that sure what she revealed was the truth.

Charles knew this was a chance for him to stir the upcoming trouble away from him. "I might know," he simply replied like this.

"Really?!" James asked with doubt.

"She is the princess of a famous and strong empire called Rodan."

James just glanced shortly at him before looking away as he replied:

"We already know that."

Charles didn't feel any offense. "Then you must be familiar with the exact location and the recent news coming from the empire, right?"

The words and the playful tone of Charles made James pause, rounded to face Charles as he said:

"Can you elaborate?"

Charles knew this was important info, but he wanted to buy it with more area of trust with James and the others. His fate wouldn't be settled safely without paying some price for that.