The return trip to Mi-Zu was an uncomfortable one, but Gaius’ mind was focused on the incredibly sudden turn of events that had just occurred. He could vaguely see a picture of what was going on, from the ongoing assassination against the Lifespring to his sudden betrayal, but all that paled in comparison to the promise he had to uphold and the people he had to protect.

The spatial passage back to Mi-Zu spat him out moments later.

“You’re back,” Isabelle said quietly. She and Nakama were holding on to a backpack each. “Nexus had told us to start packing and to wait for you to return ten minutes ago.”

“I see.” Gaius breathed in and out slowly. “We have something to do. Where’s Nexus?”

Nakama took out a lifeless sculpture. “Here. He’s busy!”

“Probably keeping a watch over things,” Isabelle supplied. “The Lifespring was being attacked when Nexus came in and told us to pack our stuff. You had returned to Feng-Lang, and a Demigod was going to capture you.”

“He’s got that right, at least.” Gaius turned to his sister, who he hadn’t seen for quite some time. “Nakama, I’m sorry, but we have to leave the East at once. We’ll be going to the North for the time being.”

The little girl nodded, and Gaius had to ignore a piercing pain in his heart as he spotted a few tears. “I’m sorry for not letting you say goodbye.”

“It’s okay.”

Gaius shut his eyes for a moment. “Let’s go.”

He took out the artefact that Paragon Saito had entrusted to him. It was a Display, but the only thing it showed was a map and two blinking dots. From what he could see of it, the blinking dot closer to the south was the artefact itself, which meant that the other had to be Saito’s family.

Gaius took the backpack from Nakama’s back and carried it onto his back, while Isabelle picked up Nakama and held her close. It was a perk of being tall, but the boy was in no mood for levity at the moment — he had a family to escort.

The two Knights locked eyes, and then took off, Gaius in the lead. No one stopped them on the way, and as the urgency that had taken root in the boy’s heart drained away, Gaius found himself thinking about the entire course of events thus far.

First, the East had moved to attack Eo-Seu, with him at the lead. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened; none of the Paragons present were showing him any hostility directly or indirectly. Only one Paragon, Paragon Shizo, had tried to get him to hand over the methods to draw an explosion sigil a few days ago, which he’d refused.

Was that the cause of everything? Gaius shook his head somewhat as they flew past the walls of Seireiden.

“How did you know the Lifespring was under attack?” Gaius asked.

“Everyone saw it for a few seconds,” Isabelle replied. “I thought I saw a familiar figure, that Phantom Blade, but before I could confirm it, the vision ended.”

“Probably her,” Gaius replied. Now that he’d thought about it, that odd transmission he’d picked up a few days ago was probably related to the assassins. He hadn’t drawn a link back then, but Xanadu was probably the person he’d overheard on the Radio, the one talking about ice-cream.

It seemed a bit obvious on hindsight, but again, no one expected a day in which a great god was being attacked by a bunch of mortals. Gaius calmed his churning mind, and then looked at Nakama. “Shouldn’t she be in school?”

“Nexus told us not to let her go today,” Isabelle replied. “He seemed to have seen something going on. He told us that the surveillance system underneath Seireiden was forcefully activated today...and a major offensive was underway.”

“Forcefully activated? Wasn’t it active in the first place?” Gaius shook his head, somewhat confused. “Never mind. What else did he see? Did he foresee the Plenum’s betrayal? And…what did this betrayal even entail in the first place? This is getting confusing.”

He groaned. “It’s all messed up. If Paragon Saito didn’t help me back then, I would never have made it out of there alive.”

“It’s like when your entire family falls apart in a single day,” Isabelle sighed. “I know how you feel very well. You’ll figure it out. I know you will.”

“You’re Gaius,” Nakama said.

The boy glanced at his little sister for a moment, and despite himself, grinned. “Yes, I am.”

“So,” said Isabelle, “what are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to keep a promise, first and foremost. I promised Saito that I would see his family safely to the Mortal Light Dynasty,” Gaius replied. “He probably sent them away on the eve of Spring Fury, just in case something happened, and it turns out being paranoid is probably for the best.”

For the sake of his family, the Paragon had destroyed huge chunks of Feng-Lang. Was it worth it? To a rational person, it wasn’t, but some things just couldn’t be defined by rationality. Gaius was in no place to criticise, although he had a feeling that the other members of the Plenum would. But given that they apparently made a deal with the Human God, Gaius wasn’t going to return to the Eastern Territories for a long time.

As for the Demigod’s failure to capture Gaius, if what the familiar spirit said was true, the God of Water wasn’t going to exist for much longer. But that wasn’t his problem. A sense of vindictive glee coursed through his veins for a moment as he tried to imagine the great god’s death, only fading away when the northern coastline of Mi-Zu was in sight.

“We’re close,” said Gaius. “They should be on a ship or something, not too far off.”

He glanced at the artefact in his hands, and then felt for the seal Paragon Saito had given him long ago. What did the Paragon see in him to entrust him with such a weighty issue? Or was there something else at play entirely? Either way, Gaius now owed the dead man a huge debt he didn’t think he could pay off for the foreseeable future.

Taking a deep breath, he led Isabelle down to a ship — the only ship, in fact — where the fleeing remnants of the Tsurugi family were on, a seal in his hands.

Promises should be kept, after all.