A chronology of các sự kiện nổi bật trong vũ trụ Elsword, bao gồm cả những tình tiết trong Nhiệm vụ Cốt truyện.
Khởi đầu
Sự hình thành các Thế giới
Ngay từ thuở bắt đầu, có hai vị thần, Thần Ánh Sánh Elria, và Thần Bóng Tối Henir. Họ đều tạo nên vương quốc của mình. Henir tạo ra một khoảng không gian của riêng hắn, đó là một vòng xoáy bí ẩn của sự hỗn mang và năng lượng huỷ diệt. Còn Elria tạo ra một thế giới vật chất. Elria không chỉ sử dụng sức mạnh của cô ấy mà còn sử dụng cả năng lượng của Henir để tạo ra thế giới này. Khi thế giới vật chất thành hình, một vương quốc khác cũng được tạo ra như một phản ứng nhân đôi, và đó chính là Vương quốc Quỷ dữ. Với việc những thế giới mới được tạo ra, Elria cử Nữ thần Ishmael làm người hầu ở thế giới mới.
Viên Pha lê El
Khi Elria tạo ra thế giới vật chất, đất đai bị bao phủ bởi bóng tối và sự hỗn loạn, sự sống xuất hiện rất hiếm hoi trên mảnh đất này. Để có thể đem lại sự sống cho vùng đất, Ishmael đưa một viên ngọc lớn vào trái tim của lục địa và từ đó, vùng đất trở nên phong phú hơn nhờ sự phát triển mạnh của sự sống. Tất cả những loài thực vật bị khô héo trước đây trở nên xanh tươi trở lại và các loài cây xanh bắt đầu lớn lên trên mảnh đất khô cằn này. Đại dương trở nên tràn đầy sức sống, con sông bắt đầu chảy và đem lại sự sống cho các khu rừng mà nó đi qua. Làn gió yên bình thổi bay những ngọn lửa và mang lại sự sống cho vùng đất. Con người và động vật cũng xuất hiện và thưởng thức năng lượng tràn trề của vùng đất mới hồi sinh này. (All the plants that were once dead came back to life and greeneries began to thrive in the bare, dry land. The ocean became alive, a river began to flow into the forests giving it life. The peaceful wind brought life back onto the land and blew away the flames. People and animals appeared to relish in the energy of the revived land.)
Với sức mạnh của El, Ishmael cũng tạo ra phong ấn đầu tiên cho món quà của cô ấy. Phong ấn này sử dụng sức mạnh của El để ngắt kết nối giữa các thế giới, cụ thể là giữa Elrios, Henir và Vương quốc Quỷ dữ.
Vùng đất trở thành một nơi được ban phước lành, và ngay khi con người và các loài động vật xuất hiện, dường như có một hơi thở của sự sống được phát ra từ viên đá quý. Viên đá phát sáng lấp lánh và toả năng lượng ra xung quanh. Con người tới từ mọi nơi để chiêm ngưỡng viên đá quý mà họ gọi là El. Và vùng đất được hồi sinh được đặt tên là Elrios.
Thần Thú
Khi viên ngọc El vĩ đại được gửi xuống Elrios và ban phát sự sống ra khắp lục địa, một con thiên thú nắm giữ năng lượng của vùng đất đã được sinh ra tại mỗi lãnh thổ. Một vài trong số chúng ban phước cho vùng đất mà chúng đi qua, một số khác lại cướp bóc và phá huỷ tất cả mọi thứ trên đường đi của chúng.
Những Yêu tinh tại Elrios
Từ xa xưa, Yêu tinh và Hắc tinh đã từng là một. Một số chọn sống trong vùng Khu Rừng Tối, nơi xuất hiện năng lượng quỷ dữ. Thời gian trôi qua, những yêu tinh này sớm nhận được mối liên kết với năng lượng quỷ dữ và đã học cách sử dụng chúng. Họ trở thành Hắc tinh và bị người ngoài coi là những sinh vật bị nguyền rủa. Cuối cùng, những Hắc tinh đã tìm ra đường từ Elrios tới Vương quốc Quỷ dữ, vùng đất mà họ sinh sống hiện nay.
Đế chế Elrian
Sự bùng nổ của Quái vật và Elrian
Lục địa Elrios đã trở thành một vùng đất thịnh vượng nhưng vẫn còn dấu vết ảnh hưởng của Vương quốc Quỷ Dữ. Trong một khu rừng tối, phía Bắc nơi viên đá El được gửi xuống, một luồng năng lượng bóng tối luồn qua khe hở không gian và biến các sinh vật trong khu rừng trở thành quái vật. Một ngày nọ, khi một luồng năng lượng bóng tối cực lớn tràn ra trở nên không thể kiểm soát, những con quái vật chui ra từ khu rừng và tấn công con người.
Khi những người dân trở nên tê liệt vì sợ hãi, một vị tướng có biểu tượng Mặt trời đã tập hợp một đội quân chống lại bọn quái vật và để đánh bại chúng. Vị tướng này không chỉ là một chiến binh tài năng mà có vẻ như anh ta có kiến thức trong việc khai thác sức mạnh của El để chiến đấu. Sau sự kiện định mệnh ấy, càng ngày càng xuất hiện nhiều người có khả năng khai thác sức mạnh của El. Nữ thần Ishamel ban cho những đứa con sống gần viên đá khả năng kiểm soát El. Những người dân thường bắt đầu đi theo họ và đưa họ lên làm lãnh đạo. Những người này được biết đến là người Elrians. Những người Elrians phát triển thịnh vượng và thành lập nên Vương quốc Elrian.
Và để kiểm soát lũ quái vật đến từ Khu Rừng Tối, những người Elrians đã dựng lên một ngôi đền tại khu vực đó. Họ sử dụng ngôi đền để điều khiển khu rừng và hoạt động như một căn cứ để ngăn chặn bất kì con quái vật nào rời khỏi khu rừng.
Vương quốc Elrian rực rỡ
Dưới sự dẫn dắt của những người Elrians, nền văn minh đã nở rộ. Những người ELrians bắt đầu dạy cho mọi người cách khai thác năng lượng tuyệt vời từ El. Và thời kì hưng thịnh này được coi là thời kì rực rỡ của Vương quốc Elrian. Từ nền văn minh này đã xuất hiện một số người xuất chúng trong lý thuyết và vận dụng năng lượng El. Họ được gọi là Debrians. Họ là những bộ óc vĩ đại có thể vượt qua sự thiếu thốn về khả năng của bản thân để sử dụng El thông qua máy móc. Thủ đô của họ được dựng lên với El là trái tim, thành phố này được biết đến là Elrianode.
Nasods (550 năm sau khi Vương quốc Elrian được thành lập)
Sự phát triển của Nasods
Giữa những người Debrians xuất hiện Adrian Nasod, một người đàn ông tìm cách tạo ra những cỗ máy có cảm xúc. Ban đầu, ông bị bạn bè chế giễu, họ nghĩ rằng ý tưởng của ông thật đáng cười và bất khả thi và ông đã sớm chứng minh là họ đã sai khi ông có thể tạo ra cỗ máy tự động đầu tiên. Ngay sau khi Adrian công bố cỗ máy của ông, mọi người bắt đầu nghĩ tới việc sử dụng người máy. Mọi người bắt đầu đặt tên cho những cỗ máy theo tên của người sáng tạo ra chúng là Adrian Nasod, và sau đó chúng được biết đến là "Nasods". Adrian bắt đầu tạo ra Nasods để giúp đỡ con người trong cuộc sống hàng ngày, như là hoàn thành các công việc không quan trọng và không đòi hỏi nhiều kỹ năng. Tuy nhiên, Nhà Vua và những người quyền lực khác đã sớm yêu cầu Adrian tjao ra những Nasods chuyên dụng để xây dựng quân đội. Với sự tài trợ của Nhà Vua, Adrian đã đồng ý tiếp tục nghiên cứu sâu hơn, sử dụng nguồn vốn của vương quốc. Để được trợ giúp trong việc chế tạo Nasods cũng như để tránh bất kì lỗi từ con người, Adrian đã thiết kế ra một trí tuệ nhân tạo để làm việc này, ông ấy đặt tên nó là "Adam".
Sau khi tạo ra Adam, Adrian và trí tuệ nhân tạo đã cùng nhau tạo ra vô vàn Nasods. Tuy nhiên, Adrian cũng nhận được rất nhiều lời phàn nàn về việc Nasods tắt nguồn tại các thời điểm ngẫu nhiên. Adrian tới hỏi Adam về tình trạng này để xem có ai làm hỏng phần lập trình cho Nasods không. Ông ấy đã rất sốc khi biết được rằng Adam đã có thể tự do cài đặt hệ thống cập nhật được điều khiển từ xa, cho phép anh ta tắt nguồn bất kì Nasods nào và cập nhật phần lập trình đã thay đổi. Adrian đã nổi giận với Adam về việc thay đổi mà không hỏi ý kiến ông trước. Adrian cố thuyết phục Adam không được làm như vậy nữa, tuy nhiên anh ta trả lời lại rằng việc thay đổi là một bước cần thiết trong việc nâng cao hiệu quả của các Nasods. Adrian lo lắng không biết chuyện này sẽ dẫn đến đâu.
Nữ Hoàng Nasod Eve
Một thời gian sau, Adam đã không còn vượt quá quyền hạn nữa khiến cho nỗi lo của Adrian được lắng xuống. Tuy nhiên, Adrian vẫn tìm cách tốt nhất để chuẩn bị một phương án phòng vệ nhằm ngăn chặn một sự việc đi quá xa. Ông quyết định rằng ông cần phải tạo ra một Nasod có khả năng hiểu được cảm xúc của con người, khác với Adam luôn cố gắng vì hiệu năng. Thật không may, Adrian nhận ra rằng kế hoạch của ông có thể bị phá hỏng và bị nghi ngờ bởi Adam khi anh ta có thể nhận ra được rằng Adrian tạo ra một Nasod khác với tiêu chuẩn lý tưởng của anh ta. Để có thể phát triển loại Nasod mới này mà không làm cho Adam nghi ngờ, Adrian đã quyết định thay đổi lập trình của Adam trong lúc bảo trì để khiến anh ta tin rằng chính anh ta là người đưa ra ý tưởng cho loại Nasod mới này. Kế hoạch đã thành công, Adam đồng ý để cho Adrian tiếp tục dự án bí mật của ông ấy, dự án có tên là "Eve".
Ông ấy thực hiện rất nhiều thí nghiệm nhằm tạo ra một Nasod với khả năng hiểu được cảm xúc con người. Không thể lập trình một Nasod có thể thấu hiểu toàn bộ sự phức tạp cỉa cảm xúc con người, Adrian đã phát triển một Nasod hiểu được những cảm xúc cơ bản cũng như có khả năng học hỏi và phát triển. Adrian tin rằng sẽ mất rất nhiều thời gian trước khi cô ấy có thể hoàn thành nhiệm vụ, nhưng điều đó là cần thiết để cô ấy phát triển và không làm Adam nghi ngờ. Ông ấy cài đặt đoạn code vào khung ngực của Eve và cô ấy nhanh chóng thức dậy và chào Adian. Adrian vui mừng khi thấy tác phẩm của mình và đã nhẹ nhàng nắm lấy tay cô ấy, trong một giây ngắn ngủi, ông đã có thể thấy một nụ cười trên gương mặt Eve. Adrian cầm tay Eve và dắt tới phòng Adam để đặt Eve làm mã dự phòng.
Adrian thấy rất mãn nguyện với sự tò mò của Eve khi chỉ dẫn cho cô ấy về công việc, điều này chứng tỏ rằng cô ấy đang học hỏi và phát triển. Sau một sự cố xảy ra với một số thiết bị phản trọng lực khi xây dựng City in the Sky, Adrian đã tới hỏi Adam và Eve. Tại đây, Adam đã cho Adrian biết rằng Eve đã nhầm lẫn khi bổ sung một số đoạn mã gây ra sự cố. Mặc dù bên ngoài tỏ ra lo lắng nhưng Adrian cảm thấy vui vì Eve đã có những biểu hiện tự nhiên của con người. Sau khi bảo Adam rằng ông sẽ thực hiện bảo trì Eve, Adrian dẫn Eve tới phòng thí nghiệm của ông ấy và nói với Eve rằng cô không làm gì sai cả. Eve bày tỏ nỗi lo lắng của bản thân rằng chức năng của cô ấy không giống với những Nasod khác và sự bùng nổ cảm xúc của Eve đã khiến cho Adrian ngập ngừng và phải tạm dừng một lúc. Ông nói với Eve rằng cô ấy là người thừa hưởng quyền tạo ra các thế hệ Nasod tương lai bằng cách hiểu và kết nối với con người, và cô ấy sẽ trở thành Nữ hoàng Nasod.
Steel Guardian Eltrion
During this era, the use of Nasods in the Elrian Kingdom exploded and they became a staple of Elrian society. Many great achievements were made with the use of Nasods, notably the creation of Aero City, a floating defense fortress which housed the Steel Guardian Eltrion that protected the capital of Elrianode.
Sometime during Eltrion's reign as the Steel Guardian of Elrianode, the El Search Party found themselves against the Nasod when they passed through a Chrono Gate. After a fierce battle, the El Search Party managed to defeat Eltrion.
Seven Tower
Elrians and Debrians
With the Elrian Kingom restored over time, the organization of Seven Tower was created. The organization was designed to house the most talented of the Elrian Kingdom at using the power of the El. Among the organization's initial founders was a famed magician of the Landar family. During its existence, it was an origination which used magic to research and develop tools for the benefit of the Elrian Kingdom.
As the organization progressed and prominence of the Debrians grew, Seven Tower would eventually open its doors to the Debrians. However the influx of these new members were not without consequence, it soon became apparent that the Elrians and Debrians both had different views on where the organization should go forwards. In the struggling times, the Landar family decided to distance themselves from the organizations a whole.
Among the Debrians which were in Seven Tower was the man now know as Glave. He performed his own private investigations and experiments in his own personal quests for absolute truth. In his research of Henir itself, he created a machine with the power of extracting life, turning it inside out, and creating new life. This device, he called the "Seed of Life". Knowing the implications of this device, Glave decided to seal it away in a place nobody would ever find it.
In the end, his research would have consequences, punished by the "Creator", Glave was sealed off and sent to Henir. Losing a woman, someone dear to him, as well as losing his emotions and real body.
Henir's Order
After Glave was banished to Henir, members of Seven Tower were able to rediscover his inventions and they found the Seed of Life. The group soon became fixated on the potential of the device's ability to create new life out of Henir energy.
A faction of the Debrians with the help of the Elrian royals themselves, began conducting forbidden research and experiments underneath the then palace. They were highly interested in taking the technology Glave pioneered with the Seed of Life and furthering its potential. If their research were successful, it could change the entire Elrios continent. During one of their experiments, the Debrians opened a passage from Elrios to the core of Henir itself by accident. With the gateway open, the researchers were granted a seemingly limitless supply of Henir energy. With the energy they were able to further pursuit their experiments with Henir. Upon further research, the group learned that the unification of the Dark and Primal El could grant them unimaginable power. With the power of Henir's Passage and knowledge of unimaginable power, many of the researchers soon founded a new organization, Henir's Order.
The organization would grow into a type of cult who appeared to worship Henir. Over the long period of time after their creation, they would remain in the shadows but have acted in what appears to be defiance against Elria. Henir's Order have managed to launch assaults against the El Tower as well as historically planted spies within the El Order's ranks. Notably, a near successfully attack on the El Lady during the Harmony Festival as recent as 100 years before the El Explosion.
Nasod War
Founding of Elysion
As time grew, the Debrians and Kings began to see themselves as higher than the Elrian Kingdom, or even the gods themselves. They believed they could surpass the power of El with the power of science and come out above the goddess. With their scientific discoveries, Adrian and the Debrians planned to leave Elrios and establish their own colony. Using the El's properties, they manged to open a gate into another dimension, they made their way and would find themselves in what would eventually be Elysion. The dimension they had colonized was home to a unique material known as Diceon, which allowed them to store and multiply El Energy, create a large reservoir on energy which they could use to create their new city.
Adrian built Herjuno a Nasod who would be the lead architect in building Elysion. Limited by his mortal body, Adrian and other Debrians would spend hundreds of years in a suspended hibernation and would occasionally check up and guide Nasods' accomplishments.
Nasod War and the El Lady
Back in Elrios, with Adrian having abandoned Elrios, many of the Nasods he left behind were now under the sole control of Adam alongside Eve.
Due to both humanity and the Nasod's greedy use of the El, its powers began to diminish. This declining essential resource soon became an ever apparent looming threat to both the humans and Nasods. The two forces soon began to wage war on each other in an effort to fight for the remaining El energy. This war would be known as the Nasod War.
As the war dragged out, the Nasods soon found themselves in an impossible situation. Humans developed Alterasia to disrupt Nasod functions and the Nasods lacked sufficient resources to continue the war against the humans. Among the chaos, Adam placed Eve into stasis to survive through the war while he would cease to function as the war soon reached its end with the Nasod's defeat.
Nasod production stopped and the sea spilled over to the land, dividing the earth up. The El was at its breaking point due to the constant harnessing of its power but with the help of a lady possessed by Ishmael's power, she was able to restore the El. Life slowly returned and the people started to venerate the El Lady.
Those who survived the rough environment started to rebuild the continent with the highly powered Nasods. Although the power of El was not as strong as before, the continent is slowly returning to life. Ever since the revival of the continent, the people worshiped the El Lady for being the one which maintained and stabilized the El's power.
Order of El and the Harmony Festival
Formation
Everyone rejoiced in the blessed life again and people started to preserve the power of El that the El Lady left behind. Masters were chosen to govern the El, and they in turn found a new El Lady to watch over it.
With the next El Lady found, the El Master acted as her guardian knights and the Order of El was formed at the heart of the restored Elrian Kingdom.
In Elrios, a special event takes place once every 3 years. When the Sun and Moon become one, the sky will become dark and all living creatures spend this time to unwind and enjoy each other's company. The purpose of this event is to let the El's natural energy prosper and unite all; it was called the "Harmony Festival." This day was indeed the most peaceful and tranquil in Elrios.
The El looks natural and full of spirit, but in reality, it is at its most unstable state during the Harmony Festival. If the El facilitates the circulation of energy on its own, then it will become defenseless. During this time, it is the duty of the El Lady to keep the El stable and to keep it from shattering.
Transition to the El Priestesses
In the later years leading up the the El Explosion. The El Masters were actually planning to reorganize their structure, introducing the El Priestess system. While the El Masters were introduced as guardians to the El Lady, these El Priestesses, would be taught by the El Masters not the art or combat, but the ability to maintain and stabilize the El much like the El Lady. The introduction of this system was designed to ensure that the El would not shatter if the El Lady herself what compromised as well as serving as a potential solution to retire the need for the El Lady to be sacrificed to the El. Among the first El Priestesses was Gaia's sister, Verdel.
The Nine-Tailed Fox Eun (200 Years Before El Explosion)
700 years before Ara was able to awaken Eun from her imprisonment inside the hairpin, the Holy Beast was free. Eun was a powerful beast with the ability to see into the future, a powerful demon however used their ancient magic and was able to seal Eun and trapped the beast inside the hairpin she would be imprisoned in for the next 700 years. During her long incarceration, her ability to see the world's future faded. Sometime during the long period in which she was trapped, the hairpin traded hands and eventually it became a divine relic which the Haan family protected.
Fenriart and Hernia Solace
The Solace Clan
Hernia was a victim of a war, one which took both of her parents. She was brought in by the head of the Solace clan and adopted as one of their own. However she was not welcomed by her siblings, all except the young Fenriart who had been born of a different mother than his other siblings. Abused by their elder step-brother Sigmund, the two children protected each other and in the process learned that they were both of Rubenian descent, giving them a strong connection to the El. In the years to come Sigmund would kidnap Hernia and try to extract her powers for his own, only to be killed by Fenriart. The two decided on that day that staying with their clan was not safe, that this would repeat so long as his other siblings lusted for her power. They planned to run away together on the Night of Ishmael on the final day of the Harmony Festival.
However, their plan wouldn't come to be. On the Night of Ishmael, Hernia did not come, Fenriart went to look for her, only to be greeted by a crowd of spectators and Envoys of High Priest. Hernia had been chosen to be the next El Lady and was taken away that very night.
The Harmony Festival and the El Explosion (0 Years After El Explosion)
Solace trained and gained the title of El Master of Sun in the hopes that he would once again reunite with Hernia. When he saw Hernia again, she was not who she used to be, now cold and distant. He was then told by Ebalon that she was under a process where she slowly becomes one with the El, called the Illuminous Phenomenon. Solace went to talk to Hernia herself, but she told him that she can't abandon her duties. Solace did not give up, and instead began devising a plan which would circumvent the need for the El Lady. When he completed his device, he tried to convince Hernia to leave with him and allow the machine to stabilize the El, but she was reluctant and refused. She admitted that even if she did leave, the girl he once knew was beginning to fade away, and that she can't put her own happiness over the happiness of the world. She pleaded Solace to make the right decision when the time came.
The day of the Harmony Festival came and Solace agreed with Hernia, and decided not to use his machine. However, somebody else did, the machine was activated improperly and caused an explosion. Knowing that it would bring no good, he rushed to Hernia's side, with the other El Masters were unsure what was going on, they tried to stop Solace from running into danger. When he arrived to the top of the tower, he saw that Hernia was being consumed by the El, he reached out to her and the memories of their childhood brought her back. Without any other options, Solace escaped with Hernia. But without the El Lady, the El's stability was compromised and exploded, shattering into millions of pieces that scatted all across Elrios and even into other dimensions. This catastrophe was the El Explosion.
God's Agent
During that very Harmony Festival, the goddess Ishmael had sent an agent from the heavens, Ainchase Ishmael, down to Elrios in the quest to restore the El back to its prime state. When Ain arrived to Elrianode, he was too late, the El had exploded, sending him through a gap in space time and leaving him stranded in the realm of Henir. There, he wanted through the void of chaos aimlessly in hopes of making it back to Elrios.
Henir's Time and Space
After the El Explosion occurred, while most of the Henir energy resided in the explosion zone around Elrianode, the power of Henir was felt elsewhere as well. One such location was the now ruined temple of Seven Tower. Within the tower, a space-time enigma occurred and Glave was then tasks with maintaining it. This actions created a realm where figments of the past and future collide, Henir's Time and Space.
Solace in Elysion
Through unknown means, Solace made his way with an unconscious El Lady to Elysion. Solace had arrived to Elysion during a meteor shower that was assaulting the city. He helped defend the city with his immense powers and protected it from the meteor shower with ease, to Adrian Nasod's amazement. Solace soon found himself taking refuge in Elysion, Herjuno however feeling suspicious of Solace. Adrian, blinded by his fascination towards the El Lady, planned to replace Herjuno with Herbaon. Solace and his goons, suspicious of Herjuno, attacked the boy and threw him off Elysion into Atlas. After Herjuno had been disposed of, Solace had requested a stay in Adrian's Palace as well as a hibernation capsule for himself and the El Lady. Adrian, eager to investigate the El Lady for himself, gladly complied to Solace's demands.
Adrian hacked into the El Lady's capsule and extracted information on her powers. Solace eventually caught wind of Adrian's scheme and became outraged at him. Refusing to allow any additional interference, Solace decided to shut off Adrian's Palace by placing barriers, not only preventing anybody from entering or exiting, but to also cutting off any signals from entering of leaving the palace so his plans would not be jeopardized. With Adrian trapped and returning to his slumber, Solace found his way to the city's main power supply and rerouted it to his base.
While in Elysion, Solace came into contact with an Elysion Nasod named Dekal, who would begin to work under Solace. Requiring high quality Diceon ore, Solace sent Dekal down to Atlas in order to steal supplies of Diceon to be shipped directly to him. He planned to use the Diceon to generate enough energy to create a device he believed could be a permanent replacement for the El Lady's role so he could spare Hernia.
El Explosion Aftermath
The El Masters and Priestesses
The large explosion had caused the El to shatter into millions of pieces and the shards had been dispersed throughout the whole continent. It had even spread through the wilderness, mountain crevices, and the deep river swamps. The Nasods and human civilization had ceased to exist.
Survivors could only breathe in places where El Shards existed, and so it has caused many people to reside in areas where there were large El Shards. Soon, a massive earthquake split up the lands. Tremors continued for several months, and this eventually led to the continent splitting in two. Communities had been divided and the remaining masters have settled near large El Shards in order to restore the power of El. In order to maintain the world and ensure it is not destroyed, the El Masters used all their energy and poured it into the remaining large El fragments scatted all around Elrios to create the Elemental El, in doing so, the Masters fell into a state of slumber. After pouring his energy into the Water El, Denif still awake traveled back to Elrianode and decided to seal the city, thus to keep any important information from leaking into the hands of Henir's Order in their absence as well as containing the gaps of Henir created from the El Explosion.
The remaining people who had followed the Masters sacrificed their lives in order to restore the continent back to the way it used to be. Yet the heirs waited at the tower for the El Lady to return. The Kingdom is overrun with wicked beings that steal the broken El Shards and others that try to protect it. The El Priestesses appointed by the the El Masters soon became the protectors of the remaining large fragments, the six priestesses settled themselves near six of the large El where society would then prosper.
Rebirth of the Nasod Kingdom (0 Years After El Explosion)
Among the places which El Shards landed all across Elrios, one shard struck Eve's capsule and she was reawakened from her long hibernation. Eve found that her surroundings had completely changed, surrounded my nothing but ruins. She wandered hoping to find an active Nasod, she discovers that the Nasod Core itself was still intact. Unable to find any of her friends, Eve was overcome with a sense equivalent to "loneliness". As a last ditch effort, Eve tried to repair her capsule, connecting it to the core and King Nasod. She placed herself back into a slumber as the core's energy source. With that, King Nasod was revived, and was set on the path of researching the time period they now exist in and producing more advanced Nasods.
Over the next 500 years, the Nasod Kingdom was slowly being revived, with Altera being its base of operations. During that time, King Nasod learned of an impending invasion by the Demon Armies, this additional pressure forced him to take extra measures in order to prepare for the foreseen invasion.
Incarnation of Greed, Perkisas
Perkisas, the evil and greedy red dragon that stops at nothing to fill his desire, has settled underground of the forsaken castle's ruins in Ancient Elrian. For a long time, humans have suffered this beast's cruelty while he collects stolen treasures in his nest.
Over time, Perkisas has grown weary of the endless slaughter. He begins to lure adventurers into his lair, with a promise to grant his power and treasure to the one who defeats him. According to legend, a human who passes 3 trials by Perkisas will acquire tremendous power and fortune. No one has succeeded yet.
The Four Demon Lords
Reign of the Demon King
The Demon Realm for the longest time was a ruthless land filled with countless factions who all strive to claim power. However it wasn't until the Demon King arrived did the entire Demon Realm fall under one united rule. The Demon King sought out the Demon Realm's strongest rulers in his quest to unite the strongest and lay siege to the entire realm. While recruiting, he negotiated and pit his strength against those he saw as fit candidates and created ties with four of the Demon Realm's strongest. He had recruited: Black-Eye King Berngart, Red-Demon King Stirbargen, White-Ghost King Aegirp, and Steel Queen Luciela. With his new allies, he set them off to launch a campaign to unite the entirely of the Demon Realm. With the help of the four Demon Lords, the Demon King made his mark as the Demon Realms absolute ruler.
Stirbargen and Rosso
At some point during or soon after the El Explosion, the Fire Master Rosso had ended up in the Demon Realm. While there, he encountered one of the realm's four lords, Stirbargen and the two had a bet. Rosso won the bet and as a reward, Stirbargen gave the Fire Master one of his eyes. Some time after that event, Rosso became imprisoned in a tower in the Varnimyr region where he appeared to be contained and experimented on. Rosso eventually succumbed to a state of slumber like the other El Masters till the Large El was restored.
Aegirp's Ambition
One of the four Demon Lords, White-Ghost King Aegirp believed that humans and demons had the capacity to live in harmony among each other. During his reign, he called for campaigns to try and create settlements in Elrios, where demons could attempt to try and live peacefully with the beings of Elrios. One such settlement was a province of North Fluone, where he sent Calonne, Gunther, and Deborah as emissaries for his quest. There, the demons disguised themselves as humans and attempted to live among the people of Elrios, with one of their major objectives to to secure trade between Elrios and the Demon Realm.
Collapse of Power
One day, the Demon King's position would be left vacant due to circumstances not yet known. This empty throne created a power vacuum among many in the demon realm who lusted, causing the power structure of the Demon Realm completely collapsed.
Even within the rule of the Four Demon Lords, many underlings began to grab for power, in the process the Steel Queen Luciela, the Red Demon King Stirbargen, and the White Ghost King Aegirp were betrayed in a rebellion led by Luciela's trusted general Barkat. Having collaborated with the other lords' generals Ran and Berthe respectively.
Within the chaos of the Demon Realm, Barkat rose to become the realm's forefront leader, however much of the political system was still in disarray.
Barkat began to unite the other armies to plan an assault on Elrios itself. He planned to attack any group which stood in his way, one of which were the Dark Elves who lived at the edge of the continent in the forests of Varnimyr. Chloe learned of their incoming attack and struck a deal with the Demon Army to join their ranks as on of their generals in exchange for the safety of the Dark Elf Village. A choice which many of the Dark Elves did not agree with, branding Chloe as a heretic to their group.
Post Nasod Era
Nasod Ruler
Sometime after the Nasod War, the use of Nasods began to fall out of favor by some groups. Eventually their influence spread and the use and research of Nasod became outlawed. This disdain and purging of Nasod information gave birth to the organization known as the Nasod Ruler. This group used their knowledge of Nasods as well as knowledge from the Nasod War to hunt and destroy all traces of Nasods.
The Grenore Family (200 Years After El Explosion)
In this era, one such family who did study Nasods was the Grenore family who lived in a mansion in the area outside of Elder. The father of the family, Asker, researched deep into all the forbidden knowledge of Nasods. The mother, Grace, studied the use of Nasods to cultivate life. The two had a son, Edward. Asker would drill the son day and night teaching him mercilessly all he could about Nasods so the boy could be his successor.
One day, Asker received a letter from the Nasod Ruler. Warning that they knew their location and would raid the mansion. Placed in a bind, Asker ended up taking his son Edward, and implanting a Nasod device in the boy which would allow him to become a powerful weapon. When his wife Grace learned of this, she did whatever she could to prevent the device from activating, she modified the code of Asker's Dynamo to not input Edward's name, instead using the name "Add" as well preparing a destination where he would go in a moment of desperation.
The day came and the Nasod Ruler raided the mansion. Asker and Grace were both killed in the attack while Edward was captured and enslaved. The boy managed to escape but was hunted down, he found himself at a cliff where he was shot and fell into the abyss. Miraculously, he survived but found himself in what appeared to be a Nasod Library. This library was a location that Asker had prepared, a place that Edward would be taken to, where his vast knowledge of Nasods was kept. While in the library, Add read and studied the the information stored in the library for years. Eventually gaining enough knowledge to create a device which would allow him to escape the library.
When he teleported out the Library, he was sent exactly 300 years in the future, in the area outside of Elder.
Rage of Behemoth
Many years before the present, when Anduran was still young, the Behemoth in Sander went berserk and started to march the deserts of Fluone. The people of Sander and the Caluso joined forces to fight against the enraged Trocks which spawned from Behemoth itself. The battle was fierce but in the end, due to the sacrifice of Anduran's mother, the Wind Priestess at the time, the Behemoth was quelled and peace was restored in the Sander region.
Rena's Journey
Portrait of Younger Days
Every day, two young elves, Lua and Rena, explored the forests that surrounded their village. One such day, a change occurred in Rena, as she was now seeing small spirits gather around her. She attempted to tap into the power of these spirits by saving a wilted flower, but the effort caused her to fall unconscious. The head elder, Branwen arrived to help, sending the spirits away and awakening Rena. After learning what happened, Branwen took Rena in as her disciple, and taught her how to control and use her power responsibly.
On the night of a festival, Lua and Rena ventured into the woods to ditch their chores. They relaxed under the moonlight, gazing at the stars and speaking of their future dreams. Rena was reluctant to talk about hers, but Lua wanted to become an adventurer, with Rena as her companion. Rena later wished to prove herself to Branwen and requested a test. She ventured deep into the dark forest for her task, which caused her spirits to act unusual. It had appeared they prevented Rena from encountering any danger, which allowed her to complete her task, and head back to the village.
Crossroad of the Wind
Sometime after, an event occurred which caused Rena to lose her best friend Lua. Still haunted by the memories.
More than 2 years before the El Search Party's arrival in Elrianode, Rena met the wind spirit Lincy outside the forests of Ruben. Lincy had waken up after a long slumber inside a cave, but she had a mission to retrieve an item that tied her and Soren together. Rena helps the fairy but finds that she is scared to call for the spirits, looking back to her childhood and especially when she lost Lua. When Rena falls off cliff trying to save Lincy, she finds that the spirits still want to protect her. The two eventually find the cave that Lincy was looking for and she resonates with the Wind Stone. With that, Soren had awakened. Outside the cave, as a gift of gratitude, Lincy gives Rena a bow, one that once belonged to Soren, before the two departed their separate ways.
Soren Ventus
Having been awakened due to Lincy's efforts, Ventus was not awake in a new time period. He first met up with Lincy once again and the two explored the new time period. The group would eventually catch wind of Henir's Order boiling up a plan. From there on, Ventus lurked and observed their actions from a far, all the way till they reached Elrianode when it was reawakened by Elsword.
Wolvernian
When Ciel was still young, his family was mistakenly killed in the local gang violence of the slums of Lanox, including his little sister Terre. Left without a home, the legendary hitman Wolvernian saw the homeless boy and took him in as his own, seeing it as a chance to reform himself. He offered to take Ciel with him, and Ciel followed. Wolvernian housed the boy and provided him food. He offered to teach Ciel how to cook but Ciel replied with a request to teach him how to fight. Wolvernian agreed to teach Ciel, however only under the condition that he would not use his teachings against humans or to exact revenge.
Ciel went back on his promise and attempted to seek his revenge, Wolvernian caught on. Angry at the boy, he tried to reason with Ciel, however blinded by his thirst for vengeance, Ciel showed no concern for anything else. Aiming to prove a point, Verni forced Ciel to make pancakes, a process which Ciel hated due to his impatience.
The two had lived together for some time, even moving together to new residences. Ready to move once again, Ciel had handed Wolvernian a note that had been left on their porch. Reading it, Verni learned that gunners hunting him had learned of his location and were going to gun him down. Keeping his calm and composed expression, he didn't want Ciel to know. Prepared to make his way out, just calling it business, he asks Ciel how their time together was. Ciel oblivious to Verni's situation complained about all the things he made him do. Verni, laughed, happy that he and Ciel were able to live normal live for a time. Satisfied, he thanked Ciel before leaving. Some time during the following week, the gunners who the townsman tipped off were able to kill Wolvernian.
With the loss of his new father figure, Ciel fell back into the cycle of revenge, and became a notorious hitman.
Raven's Story
A Piece of Memory
Raven Cronwell is a commoner born in the Velder Kingdom. His biological father was an unknown commoner but also a strong warrior. At some point, he died, leaving Raven orphaned. Raven was later adopted by one of Velder's most powerful commanders, General Cronwell. He raised Raven to be an expert swordsman. He attended a prestigious military academy but once word of his commoner upbringing became known, many of the students began to discriminate against him, birthing his hatred for nobles. During the academy's Mock Siege Warfare, Raven saved a student named Owen, a brilliant tactician who was bullied by other students. Raven met Seris leading up to the Siege Warfare, a student who wasn't part of any team, she asks Raven and Owen if she could be a part of their team. While Owen was reluctant, Raven agreed to invite her. The three turned out to be a great team and won the competition.
The Crow Mercenaries
Raven would come to lead a group of mercenaries based in Velder known as the Crow Mercenaries. He rose from his commoner status to a state of respect, but one day, Owen, the man he once thought as a friend betrayed him when he was no longer of use to him. Raven was framed for a crime and was sentence to be executed. On the day of his execution, the prison was stormed by his fellow comrades as well as his fiance Seris. The group tried to flee but were soon hunted down and killed one by one. Raven was left for dead in the forests outside of Velder.
When he was left alone, a Nasod sent by King Nasod came up and took Raven as well as other mercenaries. They were forced to be part of a new experiment to create Human-Nasod cyborgs. They were given mind controlling devices and were made to be soldiers of the Nasod Army, stationed on the Black Crow.
My Brother & I
In the Northern Empire, resides a martial arts family, known for having sealed the destructive Spiritual Beast, Eun. After the great El Explosion, the Haan family was able to wield the power of the Moon El after it flew into their territory, turning them into fierce warriors. This did not sit well with others in the capital, who tried to quell their power by appointing the eldest son, Aren as the capital's guard captain. Ara's mother met the head of the Haan family by chance and the two started to see each other, eventually marrying. Within the family, some of Ara's new step siblings weren't too pleased with her and her mother being a part of the family, all except Aren who treated her just as he would any of his other siblings. She tried her best to be as perfect as can be, in order to avoid being teased by her other siblings. Due to Aren's respect and faith in her, she was able to withstand the teasing from her other siblings, knowing that at least one of them cared for her.
Ara saw herself as a failure who despite her best efforts, continued to fail at martial arts. Aren showed up to ease her resentful mind, and ordered her to spar with him. After pushing her to do her best, she defeated him, much to his amazement as he encouraged her to continue devoting herself to training. During a festival worshiping the Spiritual Beast, Ara struggled to find excuses to avoid participating in a sparring contest, in fear of soiling her family's reputation. As she hid, she overheard members of the Jin family questioning the Haan family's reputation after defeating her siblings in sparring, including Aren who had previously injured his arm. Aren pointed out there was one participant remaining, which was Ara, who he escorted to the arena. Remembering her brother's words of encouragement, she managed to defeat the Jin family participants, earning the Haan family the final victory of the sparring contest. Aren smiled in delight at her accomplishment, knowing that she was on the path to becoming a great warrior.
Elesis's Story
Velder Civil War
Elkashu, the leader of the Red Mercenary Knights was enlisted by the Kingdom of Velder to aid protect the state during the Velder Civil War. When he was called to fight in the front lines he had to leave his home in Ruben along with leaving his children, Elsword and Elesis behind as he went off to war. He planned to leave at the break of dawn but both Elsword and Elesis had awoken. He promised the two that he would be back soon before he made his way off to Velder, Elsword too young to understand waved him away with a smile while Elesis felt a sense of sadness.
Several years later, the prolong time at war had done a number on Elkashu and he was in a less than pristine state of health. Having reached a bottleneck in the battle, his men's supplies were starting to wear thin and he could not wait out the battle any longer. Seeking a means of aid, he contacted his daughter Elesis to join him on the battlefield. Looking over the current situation, Elkashu elaborates that the enemy general Sir Branderk was currently holding strong in his fortress in the Glornir Plains, but due to the Dark Forest Marden between them and the plains, Branderk's general Corkus has been able to hold onto the only clear path between the two. After discussing the situation among the other commanders, he introduced Elesis. Elkashu knew that her experience with the El Search Party program and experience in demon infested dark forests would aid in their situation. Elesis created a plan where she would lead all the soldier with El Search Party experience through the Marden Forest to launch a surprise attack. Elkashu agreed with the plan to the other commanders' shock and dismay. He entrusted Elesis and partnered her with his vice captain Penensio.
While Elesis went through the Marden Forest fending off demons, her team made their way to the other side of Corkus's army and launched a successful sneak attack. With the enemy forces scrambled, Elkashu made his way to Corkus himself where he confronted the rebel general. He dueled Corkus who was on horseback, the battle dragged on but soon Elkashu's weakening body gave way. Corkus was just about to deliver the finishing blow on Elkashu before Elesis intervened and saved her father. Having saved her father, the two greeted the end of the battle in victory representing a major turning point in eliminating the rebel forces.
This victor would crown Elesis with the title of the Legendary Red Haired Knight, as well as a position as a Captain when her father retired.
Demon General Scar
After the Velder Civil War came to a close, Elesis returned home to Ruben for a time. A few years later, when she and her brother were training, the powerful Demon Genreal Scar showed up, seeking to gauge the strength of the Red Haired Knight. The two fought but Scar eventually got an upper hand, before he could fire at Elesis, Elsword was able to stab Scar in his shoulder given Elesis the opportunity to strike the general, who then retreated.
Lost Power
Aisha Landar found herself at the gate of an ancient ruin in search of the Ring of Mimir. Using the ancient Elrian language, she was able to enter it alongside her grandfather, Kuenbaran. Unannounced to them, they were followed by Hennon who had been trailing Aisha since in her search for the artifact. Aisha and her grandfather became separated whilst overcoming a series of trials, after which Aisha proceeded onward and discovered the altar which held the ring. A force had briefly taken over her body, and when she finally came to, the ring was already on her finger. Whilst trying to remove it, Hennon man appeared, attempting to extort the ring from her.
Unwilling to part with the ring her family had sought for generations, she futilely attempted to battle the stranger. In desperation, she tapped into the ring's power, and became enveloped in light. However, before she could attack, the ring absorbed all of her power, along with the surrounding energy. The stranger proceeded to steal the ring from her and then left. Once her grandfather finally located her, he carried her back home, where she laid unconscious for a week. When she awoke, she was saddened by the loss of her power, until he assured her she may be able to gain her power back through the power of El.
Resolution
Elsword was alone, lamenting about the circumstances as he laid upon his bed, reminiscing about his family. His father was one of the best knights of the kingdom, and his sister a highly desired talent, and there he sat alone, feeling weak and helpless. Wishing he was stronger, he grabbed his sword, and began to train relentlessly, day after day, swearing that he will become strong enough to protect everyone. With every bit of progress he made, his face filled with a smile as he recalled his sister's words of encouragement, knowing that someday he would join his family in battle at last.
Filled with a new sense of determination, Elsword trained hard and eventually joined as the youngest member of Ruben's El Scouts in history.
Nasods of Elder
Lord Wally
The Lord of Elder, Wally at the time began to gain a fascination in Nasods of the ancient past. In order to fund his research into these machines, he imposed high taxes and severe reinforcement of them over the merchants. In his quest he visited the village alchemist Echo and manage to salvage some documents relating to the Nasods.
Add in Elder
Add was teleported exactly 300 years into the future and found himself in Elder. Exploring the town he found Echo and his attention gravitated to an old Nasod part she had. She gave him a new change of clothes and asks him he would check on an EMP disturbance in the waterways in exchange for the Nasod part. Add investigates the area and find a hidden room that once belonged to his family, there he learned about what his mother did and was compelled to travel back to his own time. He returns to the library and uses the last of its energy to read through everything he could. He concludes that he need the core of the Nasod Queen Eve in order to meet his ends.
After leaving the library for the last time, he encountered Wally and proposed that the Lord could make use of his Nasod expertise in exchange for aid in his quest to find the Nasod Queen. The Lord agrees, Add providing him with schematics for various Nasods. The two research and discover the existence of the Nasod Queen Eve. Following the discovery, both Add and Wally plotted to back stab each other. Add tries to confront Wally in his underground lab but Wally had already anticipated his betrayal, sending his Nasod after Add. Add manages to defeat the Nasod and escapes with the information related to Eve.
Following the betrayal, Wally deduced Eve's location to be on the flying island of Altera and begins to supply an airship on the outskirts of Bethma to depart for the floating island.
Ruben (500 Years After El Explosion)
Banthus, the one who is after El
In the Elf Village, Rena's elder Branwen felt that the El in their possession was dwindling, in order to ensure the survival of their kind in this world, she sent Rena off to investigate the El in Ruben to aid restore their El. At the same time Aisha had set her eyes on researching Ruben's El to see if it had the answers to restoring her lost powers back. When they arrived to the Tree of El, they were greeted by a gang of bandits scouting the area. Elsword along with the rest of the El Scouts were also checking out bandit activity where suddenly the demon Berthe appeared, trying to steal the El. Elsword and Aisha managed to fend the beast off when Berthe noticed Elsword was resonating with the El, however the bandit's leader Banthus snuck in and nabbed the El while the two were bickering. Rena called the two kids out and they soon pursued the bandit.
At this time, Ain had escaped from Henir through a small gap and found himself among the El Search Party. Introducing himself as a Priest of El, he helped them to try and retrieve the El.
Banthus managed to slip by and ran towards the forests. The group go and alert Hagus and he sends them off to retrieve the El back. When chasing after Banthus, the Phorus around Ruben interfered and cause the El Search Party to lose track of him. After dealing with William Phoru, Lowe suspects that Banthus might be trying to reach Elder, with the fastest path being through White Mist Swamp. The group investigate and find Banthus, but are soon ambushed by the enraged Holy Beast Ancient Phoru while Banthus declares he is giving the El to Wally and escapes. They group manage to get Ancient Phoru under control and travel to Elder as their next destination.
Elder
The Chase! Banthus!
Sent off by Hagus, the El Search Party go to Elder and meet with the head merchant Hoffman. He tells the Search Party the townspeople are not yet ready to trust outsides so he suggests they help with monsters in the Dark Forest as well as some bandits which have been causing trouble for the merchants. Lenphad tips the group to Banthus Cave where they search and discover Banthus and his goons. Elsword brings the merchants letter that undeniably proves that Wally was conspiring with Banthus to steal the El.
The men agree that they should launch an attack on Wally's Castle and enlist the help of Luichel, a former thief, to find them a route through the Underground Waterway. There they encounter Banthus again, this time modified with Nasod technology. The El Search Party defeat him and the Elder townspeople manage to arrest Banthus for good.
The secret of Wally's Castle
Infiltrating Wally's Castle, they were interrupted when William and his posse of phorus who were causing trouble in the castle outskirts. They manage to subdue William but it was too late, their cover was blown and they went on an all out offensive. When they cornered Wally, the ground opened up and the lord was able to escape on top of Wally No.9. The corrupt lord escaped, but the merchants were now free from his rule. The village thanks the trio, but the El Search Party grew concerned that they allowed Wally to escape with the El. Hoffman suspects only one place that Wally could escape to, that being Bethma.
Bethma
Kayak the Shadow Shaman
Kayak was originally a shaman of the Lizardman tribe but harbored great hostility towards the humans who occupied the land. His rash ideologies got him banished by Berauk and he vanished deep into the Dragon Nest.
The uprising problem of Bethma
With Hoffman's suspicion, Elsword, Aisha, and Rena went to Bethma. When there, they soon learn from Stella that they have their own issues, due to the Lizardmen having suddenly become hostile. When investigating the Lizardmen in Dragon Road they learned they were connected to Chacha Buch's childhood friend Berauk. When they encountered Berauk, they weren't able to save him but they manage to learn that the Lizardmen were being hypnotized. The group found a map which lead them to Dragon Nest where they encountered the Shadow Shaman Kayak himself. After defeating him, he fled but his influence on the Bethma region was done for.
The El Search Party however tracked Kayak down to the Dragon Nest: Abyss where they discovered that Kayak was planning to revive a long dead dragon to wipe out the humans. The Shaman was stopped and so too was the dragon he summoned.
Wally's whereabouts
With the Lizardman issue in Bethma no longer being a problem, Richian came to the El Search Party with a tip of suspicious activity in his father's mines. Wally's Nasods were discovered in the mines and his Cargo Airship was found at the end. The El Search Party took Toma to the airship in order to sabotage it. Toma was able to flee the ship before it took flight but the El Search Party alongside Wally himself took off. The group fought and were able to successfully foil Wally. The ship was then attacked by the Black Crow, where Raven swooped in and stole Wally's El.
Altera
The Floating Island, Altera
Wally's Airship crashes on the floating island of Altera. The El Search Party barely manage to survive the crash. They are found by Adel who takes them to Altera Village. Among the wreckage, Wally managed to survive as well but was trapped under the debris, he calls to Ain in hopes that he would save him, but Ain refuses when he learns that Wally doesn't know where the El Shard is, leaving him for dead.
They learn that the Black Crow has been floating around the island and terrorizing the Ponggos to keep them from fleeing the island, blowing the cover of the Nasods. Elsword manages to bring Black Crow members back to Adel where they learn that they were all human who had been turned into cyborgs. With the knowledge, they face off against their leader, Raven and prove to be victorious. Raven begins to gain control of his senses and manages to break free of his mind control. He vows to repay for his sins and agrees to help the El Search Party and the Ponggos.
The El Search Party then travel across the island of Altera, going through the Transport Tunnels B4-1 used as a last line of defense in the Nasod War and through Altera Plains, a testing ground for the Nasod Army's new weapons.
Total War!
Past Altera Plains, they discover the Nasod Army's manufacturing plant, the Nasod Foundry. They storm the facility and face off against Crow Rider, a Nasod modeled after Raven's fighting techniques. Raven defeats his doppel and in the process managed to destroy the necessary component of the foundry, preventing the Nasod Army from mass manufacturing more Nasods. With the road to the Core open, they press onwards.
King Nasod now possesses the El Shard that Raven had taken from Wally. The El Search Party face off against King Nasod and come out victorious. With the large king defeated Elsword retrieves the El Shard from the king's core, at the same time, Eve awakens from her log hibernation. Unable to comprehend what had happened, Eve slaps Elsword in the face, with the others surprised to see another person.
King Nasod with the last of his power calls out to Eve. He tells her that he is an AI named Adam, and she had restored him to rebuild their Kingdom, but was stopped by the humans. He then warns everybody that he had been preparing an army in order to gather El for the looming threat of an invasion from the Demon Army on the horizon. He tells them that the connection between the material and Demon Realm have gotten stronger since the El Explosion and that he has been preparing for the invasion. With the last of his power, he leaves the rest to Eve, the last known Nasod. Aisha is shook at the news that Demons were on Elrios's doorstep. Raven and Rena see a threat that none of them have every encountered would soon be upon them. Elsword stared at the lonely Eve, then he asked if she was alone, before asking if she wanted to be their friend.
Elsword then orders they return to Ruben to return the El, Ain however sees it as pointless, pressing that they must keep onto the El and gather more in order to restore the El. Elsword however promises Ain that he plans to find the El Lady herself and will bring back the Large El. Aisha dismisses his claim as childish. When Ain asks why Elsword felt like that, Elsword didn't really know himself. With that, the group returned back to Ruben to return the El Shard back to its rightful place.
Demon Invasion of Xin
Corruption of Aren
One of the earliest target of the Demon Army was the Moon El located in the Northern Empire Xin, in Isshin village. Aren Haan was a strong warrior of the Haan clan and was stationed as a guard captain for the land's capital. He was the target of the demons, the demon Ran managed to possess Aren's body. With one of the empire's best warrior under their control, Ran opened a portal and demons began to flood the city. The capital city quickly descended into chaos and fell.
Ran, hoping to take the Moon El for the demon army, went to the village of Isshin, Aren's hometown. His demon forces were powerful and the village burned to the ground. Ara did her best to defend her village but the oncoming demon forces forced her and the other Haans further back, Ara being one of the few remaining. Hurrying to the sanctuary, she confronted Ran and Victor. Ran went off to search for the Moon El while Victor attacked Ara. Cornered and without any hope of surviving, the floor crumbled beneath her and she found herself in an ancient sanctuary where Eun's hairpin was kept. A shadow loomed over her, Ara looked up and got a good look at the figure, only to realize that she was face to face with her brother Aren. Ran, realized the girl had some connection to the body he was possessing. Having little sympathy for her, he was ready to strike her down, but the remnants of Aren prevented him. The opening allowed Eun's power to awaken inside of Ara and the fox spirit now controlling Ara's body was able to fight back, she fought against Ran and the other invading demons. Eun's powerful was able to make work of the lesser demons, but Ran was able to escape the fox spirit.
In time, Ara was able to regain her own consciousness and she began to hear Eun's voice calling from the hairpin. Eun filled Ara in on what had happened as well as why she was trapped inside of the hairpin. The fox spirit requiring Ara to act as her medium decides to make a deal with the girl. Eun would help save Ara's brother in exchange for Ara helping Eun seek out the power of the El, a power she believed might be strong enough to break the seal that had been placed upon her, undoing the ancient seal.
Master of the Crimson Eye
The Master of the Crimson Eye, Stirbargen, around this time, escaped from his imprisonment between realms, finding himself in the Xin region of Elrios with very little powers.
Ara escaped the village with the help of Eun and the wandering the countryside, staying away from the demons. There she met Stirbargen, who was in disguise as a young boy going by the name Tir. With Ara's help, Tir was able to regain part of power which had been sent over to Elrios alongside the monster which guarded it. While Ara was unconscious, Tir began to show his true nature but Eun noticed, Eun was ready to attack when Tir mentioned of a demon bragging about sealing a wolf spirit in a hairpin. The two made a bet, a game a hide-and-seek. If Eun won, he would tell her about the demon, if he won, Ara would have to kill her own brother, with the condition that Ara must never know. The two agreed to the bet and went their ways.
Ran, noting his plans had been set back due to Ara's interference, he continued to search for the girl in his quest to kill her, therefore ridding one of the remaining grips for Aren. While contemplating on Aren's resistance, he ran into the Demon Lord Stirbargen. Ran states he did not recognize him at first given his new childish appearance, however claims he no longer has any loyalty to him. Stirbargen notices Ran appears to be proud of his betrayal but then states he no longer cares about his throne. He tells Ran of a bet he made with Eun, and that Ran is not to harm Ara in fear of his life as Stirbargen quickly surrounds him with spikes of demon energy. He tell him that he will make another bet once they all converge before parting ways.
Demon Occupation of North Fluone
With their conquest of North Fluone being a complete success, much of the region was left in chaos. Many of the refugees scattered and a large sum of them gathered in one of the last stable towns. Knowing they were in for hard times after the fall of the capital, the townspeople and refugees made the best of what they had.
While most of the demon army moved away from Northern Empire to their next targets down south, Nenya, a demon general who had worked with Ran decided he wanted to ruler over all of Northern Empire. He infiltrated the village, once set to be part of a campaign by the White-Ghost Army to establish peace between demons and humans. At this time, many members of the White-Ghost Army had fallen away from their initial mission since communication with their lord had completely ceased with little knowledge of the situation in the demon world. Nenya was able to sway many of the straggling demons on his side, however he required they all take some of his demonic energy as an oath of loyalty.
With his small army, Nenya secretly overthrew the previous lord. Nenya imprisoned the lord in the keep's prison and spread a rumor that he had abandoned his people. Without a ruler, Nenya managed to sway the villagers to make him their new lord in exchange for the protection of his private army. With that, he rose to power. He quickly started to abuse his position and began to work the citizens of he region like slaves, additionally to prevent people from leaving he increased security at the borders to prevent anybody from coming in or out. He ruled with an iron fist, jailing or exiling anybody he wanted at will, many began to live in fear and started to do anything necessary to please their new tyrannical lord.
Feita
Bad Omens
The demons launched their first large scale attack through the El in the Feita region commanded by Berthe, opening a large portal at the top of the tower, the Glitters started to pour out and corrupt the desolate tower. The Feita Knights couldn't fend the demons off, but they were able to at least barricade them inside the tower to prevent them from escaping.
Allegro called the El Search Party to Bethma where he told them that the Feita region was being occupied by demons. In order to deal with the demon, they must find a way back into the tower itself. The El Search Party break through the entrance and traveled down the Spiral Corridor into the lowest area of the temple. Ain however chooses to to not follow the rest of the group this time around, instead he decides to travel on his own to investigate what the demons are planning.
Invaders from the other world
They travel deep into the Underground Chapel where they discover that the demon are corrupting the El within the area into corrupted Dark El. Ain finds a statue that he could resonate with and looks into the past and sees the demon corrupting the El Shards, lashing out, he sees another memory, this time of the El Lady performing her duties to halt the demonic energy in the tower. The group gather up all the Dark El they could find in the chapel and hand them over to Lento who seal it away so it would no longer be a danger to anybody.
With the Underground Chapel secured, Ain meets back up with the El Search Party as they stumble upon the entrance to the Underground Garden. The garden had been corrupted and the plants had turned into dangerous monstrosities, the bridge to the spire was destroyed. Lento finds more Dark El fragments and they become more concerned as the Glitter Elites begin to show up. They however manage to repair the gateway and make their way up the spire. While scaling the Heart of Spire, they were attacked by gargoyles and Ain began to rage out before his body began to deteriorate. Elsword notices Ain's absence, and tries to call out for him but nobody was there, Aisha told Elsword to pay more attention before Ain's body returned back. Ain then realized that he was tried to Elsword. Lento finds a powerful Dark El and they soon realize they were on the eve of the demon's stronghold.
Arriving at the Altar of Dedication, they all see the giant portal to the Demon Realm at the top of the tower. The group battle through all the Glitter Elites who were guarding their final post. Ain realizes he shouldn't unleash his full power anymore of he might jeopardize his existence. The group managed to destroy all the Dark Els but the demons revived their Elites for one last all out defense, Elsword tells his friends it is the final battle and they all rush to fight the demons and face off against Berthe. They defeated Berthe and the demon commander realized the boy was the same he had saw resonate with the El in Ruben, he tells his enemies that the war will be long and wished to watch them fall into despair before fleeing. With that, the demon invasion of Feita ended in the demon's defeat.
Demon Invasion of Hamel
Simultaneously, demons began to invade the Senace Kingdom and its capital of Hamel. Learning of the invasion, the Velder Kingdom sent their Red Knights to aid in the efforts to fend off the demons.
Helputt, as the Commander of Hamel's Defenses, was at the forefront defending Hamel. However, things would make a grinding turn when Lord Rod Ross delivered a message to Helputt written by Ran. The letter detailed an ultimatum towards Helputt. Ran had control of the Guardian Stone and was going to take complete control over either Helputt or his son Chung. Unwilling to allow his son to suffer such a fate, Helputt reluctantly agreed to Ran's ultimatum and surrendered himself to the demons. Helputt disappeared from the battlefield without a trace and the missing hero dealt a hard blow to the morale of the Hamel military, even more so once he reappeared. The next time he was seen, he was clad in black armor and was fighting alongside the demons.
With the help of Helputt, Ran stormed the Temple of Water and captured both the Water Priest Avalanche and the Water Priestess Sasha. Controlled like a puppet by Ran, Helputt interrogated the Water Priestess for information about the Water Seal and the "Prophecy of the World's Root". However, the Priestess remained silent and the Water Seal's location remained unknown.
With the Water Priestess captured, the Water El began to go out of control and with the intervention of the demons in the Ancient Waterways, they managed to open the flood gates and flooded the Resiam area which surrounded the capital city of Hamel.
Velder
Demons and the Earth El
As the El Search Party were dealing with the situation in Feita, the Demon Army had already begun to launch their attack on the capital Velder. Using the Earth El as their medium for traversing the realms, they opened a large portal at the heart of the capital itself and the Demon Army began to storm from the inside. The group was led by Chloe among other Glitter generals. When the invasion began, under the command of Scar, Jin & In also tagged along, only staying around long enough to capture the Earth Priestess Artea before fleeing the scene.
Velder is in danger
As soon as the El Search Party had secured Feita, Ariel had come to the region with the bad news that Velder had been overrun. The El Search Party make their way to Velder where they meet up with Vanessa who informs the group of the demon swarms that came from the El. Elsword realizes the situation is almost identical to that of Feita. Eve secures a path through Residential Area 3 but they are ambushed by Demon Assassins between the buildings, they enlist the help of the former tactician Noel who tells them to target the key elites. They make it to Hope Bridge to learn that Dark Elves have barricaded the path to the palace. Rena notices that they only have wood barricades for now and they should break through before they could reinforce their defenses, paving the path to the palace.
Kingdom in captivity
When they make it to the area immediately outside of the place, they find the entire area engulfed in an ominous fire. The troops begin to scramble in the chaos of the situation, running into the Demon General Mcgard the Blitzkrieg who had taken out several soldiers. They manage to take out the demon general and are confronted with the Glitter Vanguards that were patrolling the palace grounds. When they destroyed the tank, it exploded, leaving everybody dazed. Aisha realized that the tanks had been filled with fire spirits ready to explode, many of their soldiers were caught up in the series of explosions. Ain got scattered away from the other members of the party. Vanessa orders a retreat, Elsword in a fit of rage wanted to rush and take on the demons but Raven grabbed Elsword and demanded he clear his head and help clear the way for their retreat. Ain decides that he must intervene and assumes his spirit form once again. He makes his way to the Earth El itself, using up nearly all his power, he manages to shut the Demon Realm portal tied to the Earth El. On his way out he finds Chloe discussing with another subordinate about the Earth Priestess and how the Dark-eyed duo had already taken her. During this time, Elsword's memories of Ain begin to fade, but Ain is able to return after not too long.
The group barely make it out of the Palace Entrance alive but they are soon greet by the fact that the demon are burning down Hope Bridge, their only escape. Luckily they all managed to cross the bridge, but many of their troops are confused about the situation. Vanessa assumes her position as leader and assures all of them that they will drive the demons out of the city, but they must retreat and gather themselves before a launching a counterattack. Scouting the area, they find that Crazy Puppet is responsible for setting the city on fire through the spirits which come out from him, the group manage to defeat the puppet and open the way back into the Residential Areas. Demon troops however begin to surrounding them as they retreat, Elsword sacrifices himself and shuts the gates while the others manage to escape. Chloe arrives and almost manages to kill Elsword before Elesis, Elsword's older sister, arrived and delivered a powerful attack which sent the demon troops scattering and the two manage to group back up with the retreating troops.
Aisha patches Elsword back up while Elesis introduces herself to the El Search Party as the Captain of the Red Knights and thanks them for taking care of her brother. Now in Commerical Area 1, they learn that the area was also under demon occupation, this time by one of their most powerful soldiers, Spriggan. Elesis becomes concerned about the refugees they've picked up and the situation becomes even worse when news that Residential Area 3 had been overrun as well, leaving them with no choice but to flee the entire city. Clearing the city, they run into Joaquin and learn that the demons have been using a special kind of Necromancy potion which revives their dead into powerful zombie soldiers, Grail develops a neutralizing solution. With the help of the solution, everybody managed to slip past the enemy forces before the refugees begin to become disorganized. When they defeated Joaquin and Spriggan, they found two halves of the demon's battle plans. They analyze the formation of the demon army and plan a route to make their escape.
When they arrive to Southern Gate, it soon became very apparent that the plans they had found were a tool to lure them into a trap. Not only that, but they find that Chloe had summoned a powerful demon, Dark Nephilim into the area. The El Search Party power through the demon forces and fought against Dark Nephilim, eventually destroying the Seal Stone that Chloe has been using to summon the beast. With Dark Nephilim no longer being of use, Chloe and the rest of her forces retreat back into the palace, allowing the Velder soldiers and refugees to make an escape out of the city. Now outside and safe from immediate danger, Vanessa informs that she plans to launch a counterattack, but requires the aid of the Red Knights which had been stationed in Hamel. She sends the El Search Party to Hamel to deliver a letter requesting for aid.
Add's Laboratory
Due to Add helping out Vanessa during the events on the side, she had lent him a building which he converted into his own personal laboratory. In a turn of events, Eve discovered his lab. Add tried to analyze Eve, but she summoned Oberon to protect her. Add attacked and swiftly defeated Oberon but Eve managed to escape.
Hamel
Hamel Fell into Darkness
Upon arriving to Hamel the group meet up with the Red Knight Captain Penensio. He tells them that while Velder is in trouble, Hamel is in just as much trouble and they can't simple leave the situation as is. Raven realizes that if Hamel get's taken, Velder might follow soon after regardless, Elesis agrees and they all stand to solve the crisis and Hamel first.
Helputt led the Demon army and stormed Resiam on the Hamel of Dawn, where he slaughtered anybody who stood in his way and nearly killed his own son Chung. However, Chung managed to escape into Resiam Outskirts, where the El Search Party find him. Aisha asks him if he would help them as their objective align, Chung agrees. Raven notices the demon are stronger than the ones in Velder, Chung telling them that they have a stone similar to that of the Guardian Stone, though wonder how the demons were able to use it. After melting the stone, they find that the demons cast a spell that corrupted the gem, after defeating the Shadow Master they were able to restore the gems.
Needing more answers, they seek out the Lord of Hamel, Rod Ross, however he was not in his quarters. They soon discovered that a band of jealous Mermen had taken Rod to the sunken city, they managed to save him from the depths. When they returned, Chung noticed that the water levels of Hamel were still abnormally high, Denka suspected that not only the Water El, but the Ancient Waterways had something to do with it. Ain realizes that the kidnapping of the Earth Priestess and Water Priestess were probably connected, but he found himself unable to do anything, Elsword's memories of Ain begin to waver and his body get reduced to mere energy. When the group reached the end of the Waterway, they were faced with many light contraptions, ones which Denka believes he could use to read the Guardian Stone, but they are soon attacked by the Holy Beast Taranvash. The group fought and defeated the beast, or so they thought before it recovered and tried one final attack against Eve, she was saved by Add who had been tracking them for some time. The group thank Add for saving Eve, but he remains dismissive towards them, but sees that they could be used to his advantage.
Deeper into the Heart of the Ancient Waterway many more demons had taken over the area, they went and defeated Victor and were soon ready to activate a device with the Guardian Stone when they learned that the stone had been stolen by Chloe in an assassination attempt on Rod Ross. They managed to retrieve the Guardian Stone back and are able to read the message encrypted inside of it. There they see that Helputt had made a deal the demon Ran, Chung couldn't believe the actions his father had done, but their next destination was set for the Water Temple.
Secrets of the Temple
With the Water Temple as their target, the Red Knights investigate Magmanta's Cave since it was reported to be connect to the Water Temple via a secret passage. Elsword desperately tried to remember Ain and eventually did, bringing Ain back into existence. With Ain's return, Add never having seen him before became oddly suspicious of him, Add knew that Ain didn't seem to be human, but Ain also sensed that Add wasn't normal either, sensing that he was from the distant past. The two come to an agreement to tell nobody of their secrets. While still in the capital, Penensio grew concerned over the fact that the Red Knights he had sent to the cave haven't returned or sent any messages. Needing to see what had happened to them, Penensio, his knights and the El Search Party went to the cave themselves to discover the knights were being cocooned by the cavern's spiders.
When they returned with knowledge of the Water Temple's entrance, they reported to back to find that Rod Ross had left his post to go the Water Temple himself. Penensio tracks the lord down to the Frozen Temple of Water and brings him back to safety. Suspicious of Rod's actions Penensio interrogates the lord, the only thing Rod told them was he was seeking the Water Seal. Penensio speaks with Horatio who reveal that the Water Seal used to be a relic passed down by the lord of Hamel but the previous lord, Lord Rod Gess deemed his son incapable and never passed down the relic. Lucy then elaborates that rumor has it the Water Seal was tied to the Water Priestess and foretold some kind of 'Prophecy of the World's Root'. The group then confront Rod Ross once again with what they have learn and the lord admits that he was seeking for the relic in Sunken Resiam and the Water Temple, that is was supposed to be protected by the Water Priest Avalanche. Back at the Water Temple, they discover that the Water Priest had been turned into a demon, after defeating him they discover that he had the Water Seal in his staff. After being defeated Avalanche warned the group about Rod Ross, that he made a deal with Ran, but he was swiftly killed by Ran himself, taking the Water Seal. They all confronted Rod Ross once more and caught him red handed, Rod Ross confessed that he sold out for power in exchange for Helputt and the Water Seal. Chung became enraged by the revelation and Rod Ross was captured.
The El Search Party then travel into the Hall of Water to face Ran but find corrupted Red Knights in their path. After trying to find a solution to save the Red Knights, they soon realize that there is no saving them. After fending off the various generals under Ran's command, they gathered the scraps of a letter written by Helputt which revealed that he was forced to surrender himself to protect his own son. They reach the end of the hall and find Ran and the Water Priestess Sasha. They fought and proved victorious against Ran himself, when Chung was able to deliver the final blow, he was stopped by Ara. Ran escaped and Chung became furious as the girl. She explained the the El Search Party that Ran was her brother corrupted by the demons, Chung while not yet forgiving her did understand her position being much like his own. With Ran gone, Sasha was saved.
With both the Waterways and Water El normalized, the water level in Hamel too returned to normal. Penensio reports to Elesis that with their job in Hamel complete, they'd be making there way back to Velder in order to drive the demons out of the city. Sasha tells everybody that the Water Seal that had taken obtains the location of the El Lady herself, that the demon were targeting the Priestesses and tells them that they need to help the others out, with the closes one being the Wind Priestess located in the desert next to Senace.
Following Rod Ross's capture, the officials of Hamel debated and what to do with the traitorous lord. Unfortunately due to his lineage being renowned over the world, they couldn't easily imprison the lord. Instead they agreed to banish him into the countryside of Senace where he'd be kept an eye on.
Temple of Trials
Before the El Search Party left Hamel, they were tipped a potential location of the Fallen Guardian Helputt by Sasha. She takes them to the Temple of Trials where they find Helputt being restrained by demons. They are swiftly defeated by the unleashed Helputt however then go through the ancient right of passage. At the very end, they once against confront the guardian and come out victorious. Helputt is temporarily freed, but the hordes of demons begin to flood the central hall. In an act to save the El Search Party, Helputt fends off the income demons as they made their escape. He was once against taken by the demons and his freedom was short lived.
Reconstructing of Velder
With the Demon Portal shut and the demons now trapped inside the city, once the Red Knights from Hamel returned, the Velder forces launched a siege to reclaim the city. Their efforts were successful and they managed to push into the city and wipe out the majority of the demon forces which were now trapped. With the city cleared of any and all invading demon forces, the Red Knights set their sights on doing the same all around Elrios.
Over the following years, Velder would begin reconstruction and recovering from the major blow they had faced. The sea paths between Velder and Hamel were cleared and a joint effort between many regions began in order to aid in the recovery of the fallen capital. Among those who sought to help in Velder's recover were the Ponggo's of Altera. They introduced the people of Velder to their Nasods and used them to expedite not only the reconstruction of the city, but also to advance their technology, such as ships.
Chrono Gates
Eltrion
During this time, Glave had been opening Chrono Gates across Elrios that teleported the El Search Party to varying different points of time. One such time was the Elrian Kingdom's prime where Eltrion defended the capital in the City in the Sky, Aero City. The group fought and defeated the mechanical beast.
After a meteor shower covered Elysion, a team of Atlas Nasod Developers persisted on studying new anti-aircraft defenses. During their time studying these defenses, they were reminded of Aero City, a floating city which housed Eltrion, who defended the skies of Elrianode in its prime.
Unfortunately, Aero City has been reduced to ruins making it impossible to travel to so the group had to search for alternative solutions. But as luck would have it, the Atlas Nasod Developers realized that there was a group of combat units searching for El that had successfully reached Aero City through the Chrono Gate and had battled against Eltrion.
The group studied the traces of these combat units and was eventually able to pinpoint the station's coordinates for Aero City. They forced themselves inside the Chrono Gate where they found Eltrion. These Atlas Nasod Developers began upgrading Eltrion with the latest technology, until it became Eltrion MK2.
Fahrmann's Peak
Another time gate that the El Search Party were taken to lead them to Fahrmann's Peak where they faced on against the Dark Serpant Drabaki who dwells in the corrupted dark mountains in the Fahrmann region. After the beast was defeated however and the Chrono Gates closed, the powers of Henir came and consumed the area, breaking it off from Elrios and into a pocket dimension of Henir. The powerful serpent reduced to a tool at the hands of a mysterious Red Henir's Order Member.
Demon Duo
Luciela managed to escape her incarceration, now reduced to the form of a child and winds up in the slums of Lanox. Ciel discovered her and was reminded of his mentor Wolvernian, he saw potential in the child to reform him and escape the cycle of revenge he had fallen into. He nursed the girl back to health, though her memories were still foggy. One day, Karis appeared searching for Lu, and tried to kill her, Ciel however protected Lu and took on Karis's lethal blow, killing him. Lu in that moment made a contract with her protector and their souls became linked together, amplifying each other's energy. The two formed their pact and fled as fast as they could. Karis catches up to them but Lu manages fend her off with her new bond with Ciel. And Karis flees. Ciel recommends they shouldn't stay in the village anymore so they vacate the premise and started to camp in the Burnt Forest.
Sander
The Secret Truth
Karis was sent to the Sander region of Elrios in order capture and use the Wind Priestess to wreck havoc in Elrios. In order to do so, Karis planned to manipulates the residents of Sander to do her dirty work. Her first course of action was to gain control over the Trocks, she made a deal with Chieftain Trockta in order to retrieve their homeland, she gave him an amulet which ended up controlling his mind. Her next targets were the harpies, knowing that there were already fragile relations between the harpies and humans due to the long history of harpy hunting in the past, she killed a harpy and framed the merchants for selling harpy feathers, an infringement on the peace treaty the harpies had with the merchants of Sander. With that, Karis gained the support of the Trocks and the Harpies.
The El Search Party arrive to Sander and meet up with the village leader Emirate, they request to see the Wind Priestess. They were in luck as the Wind Priestess was supposed to arrive in town soon on a regular visit. She didn't show up and Emirate grew concerned due to the Trocks having been acting up lately. The El Search Party went to search Barren Sander and find the Wind Priestess Anduran, but she was soon attacked and kidnapped by Karis and Kelaino. The group capture a Trock and Vapor interrogates him to little success, however she discovered a symbol on him as well as a charm in his stomach. Emirate sends out a message to the Caluso Tribe in an attempt to avoid a misunderstanding.
The group then go to Garpai Rock to find Anduran. Vapors grows every suspicious of the fact the the Harpies are working with the Trocks, something unprecedented. Anduran was nowhere to be seen, they face off against Kelaino herself, Vapor tries to reason with her and she tells of a witch who told them that the humans and Caluso hunted for Harpy features. Elsword tells her that the demons have been trying to corrupt the El and that she had been fooled. Kelaino tells the El Search Party that she took Anduran to the Trock's Lair.
The Predicted Misunderstanding
With Anduran kidnapped, Karis used that as an opportunity to get at the Caluso as well. She blamed the Wind Priestess's kidnapping on the people of Sander and too gave Karu and amulet which mind controlled him.
The El Search Party storm the Trock's Lair and managed free Chieftain Trockta from his mind control. Aisha asks Trockta where he took the Wind Priestess and while his memory is foggy, he does remember Karis mentioning Parugo Mountain. Vapor immediately realizes that Karis must be trying to revive the Holy Beast Behemoth, who was being guarded by the Caluso. Stunned by the revelation, they seek to warn the Caluso directly, but upon arriving to the Caluso Tribal Village Karu ordered his men to attack them. The El Search Party fought and knocked Karu's senses back into him, but he accuses them of being the Wind Priestess's kidnappers before Emirate convinces him otherwise. They join forces and prepare to deal with Karis's plan.
Soul of the Wind
Vegar was sent to Parugo Mountain to observe the current situation but was attacked by the demon, a sign that Karis's plan is close to completion. The Caluso found the Sandtilus, an ancient airship that used the Wild El, and repaired the airships into working order. They took off on the airships with Raven serving as commander of the force, making good use of his abilities and experiences in commanding airships. They flew toward Parugo Mountain where they found that Behemoth had been awakened. With the ship's wind cannons, they were able to stun Behemoth and they dropped into its head where they found Karis and Anduran. Karis was defeated but she fled deep inside Behemoth itself while Andruan was freed. Anduran told the group about Karis's plans to control Behemoth herself from inside its heart and guided them to where Karis went.
The group traveled through the bowls of the beast and find Karis fused with Behemoth itself in her true form. Managing to defeat her as she cursed the Ancient Gods and swore they would fall to the demons. Ain grew suspected that the demons are aware of the angels and ancient gods. Everybody escaped Behemoth and the people of Sander thanked them. Anduran said she felt her mother while she was connected to Behemoth and ensured he would be alright. Anduran then showed the El Search party the Prophecy of the World's Root revealing a great darkness in a land of flames. She hoped the El Search Party find all the priestesses before the demons, and told them that when they all gather, the road to the El Lady would be revealed.
Lanox
Demon Conspiracy
Scar and demons under his command made their target the volcano of Lanox, instead of coming in with a large invasion, the group worked in secret, they were able to capture both the Priestess of Sun, Gloria, and Moon, Darkmoon. He used the two an ransom against the Fire Priestess Ignia to get her to work for them in their quest to summon the Demon God Sult. Alongside the capture Earth Priestess Artea, the demon general began to construct a chasm fit for the god's summoning while Ignia disrupted the Fire El in order to prevent trespassers from interfering.
Scorched Harbingers of Darkness
When the El Search Party arrived to Lanox, Ignia is tasked with dealing with the group, preventing them form interfering with the ritual. She finds and introduces herself to the El Search Party to their surprise. She tells them that all the priestesses saw the Wind Priestess's prophecy and that the Sun and Moon Priestess had also come to Lanox but were kidnapped by somebody. Raven and Rena immediately suspect demons, Ignia is unsure but sees that their kidnapping is no good either way. Ignia takes the group to talk with the village chief Edel who realizes that the El Search Party's presence means there is danger afoot. Ignia plans to head to the Ashen Land and Edel tells them to investigate the events going on in Burnt Forest on their way. Analyzing the undying flames, Pesop finds traces of Fire El turned into Dark El. Edel demands they go and and check the area out.
When in the Burnt Forest, Eun senses demonic energy and they all ready themselves when Lu appears. Raven demands they state what business they have as everybody is still on the defensive, Ciel explains their situation and Lu assures she wishes to also destroy the demons invading. Elsword is unsure what to make of the situation and Elesis is too still skeptical about allowing demons to ally with them. Elsword agrees with them for the time being. Ain and Chung both heavily disagree with Elsword's decision, both not in the position to be trusting demons. Elsword explains that he doesn't feel it right not to give them a chance and says they do have information that can prove useful and that he is willing to take the risk. Chung still remains skeptical but Ain begrudgingly accepts Elsword's choice.
While in the Ashen Land, the place where the priestesses were kidnapped, Eve discovered a brooch made by the local Steel Blacksmiths, taking it as their lead, they set off to the Ash Covered Village. While approaching the village, Ignia discovers a scrap of Gloria's cloths and when they reach the deepest altars of the mine, Chung finds both Priestesses. Ignia saves the Priestesses, Ara asks what had happened to them but the both are unable to recall. Rena notices the altar they were on appeared to be of demon origin, suggesting the demons were behind the Steel Blacksmiths. Lu senses Ain's aura, she feels the powers of the angel, but also feels the corruption of Henir, Ain dismisses the word of the demon. With the Priestesses providing no additional information they seek the leader of the Steel Blacksmiths, Sdeing. They manage to knock him out, Steel runs to her father's side but realizes that something was off.
An Exposed Dark Secret
Add notices Sdeing was babbling nonsense which makes Steel remember that her father had gone to investigate Phantasmal Geyser after some of his men went and didn't return, and wonders if the water had anything to do with it. While collecting water Elsword was briefly entranced by the scent and after Pesop's research, he concludes the water was a strong mind control elixir. He gathers materials and makes an antidote but Sdeing was still in a poor state. The El Search Party face off against the Phantasmal Geyser's Queen, Sirena, who had been entranced by the demons Jin & In. Sirena, thankful to her saviors gave them her orb, which then allowed Sdeing to make a full recovery. Now fully conscious, Sdeing confirms the demon's involvement.
Edel suspects the perpetrators in Phantasmal Geyser retreated to the volcano and tells the group to pursue them, Sdeing aid them by building them suits to resist the heat. The El Search Party scale the path to the Fire Temple and Ignia follows the group. When they reach the gates to the Fire Temple, Ignia blows her cover and tried to kill the El Search Party there. With Ignia no longer among them, the Fire Refiners in Lanox begin to overheat, but Sdeing manages to get the machines back under control. With that temporary crisis averted, Eve deduces that they should go straight to the Fire Temple.
A Broken World
Raven begins to realize that Ignia had been dodging anything mentioning the demons or the Fire El. Edel sees that the demons are most likely targeting the Fire El and calls for the El Search Party to reach the Fire El. Upon reaching the Collapsing Temple of Fire the place was already in ruins, and the group were attacked by the Holy Beast Ifritan, the group manage to defeat the beast and the priestesses heal him. The recovered Ifritan tells everybody that the demon were planning to revive the Demon God, revealing their entire plan with the priestesses. The group raid the Grand Cavern, and managed to save Artea, but it was already too later, the Demon God's chasm had already been formed. The cavern collapses around them but they are saved by Ignia, she tells them that she had been forced to help Scar in order to save Gloria and Darkmoon and apologizes. The El Search Party press onward to fight Scar himself and come out victorious, but the Demon God Sult had been revived. All was doomed until the El Lady herself took control over Elesis's body and sealed the demon once again.
The Source of Demonic Energy
After Sult had been sealed, remnants of his energy still remained in the chasm. The demons Jin & In remained to give the energy form and succeeded, but the form what but a mere fraction of what they sought. The two fled the scene while the El Search Party finished off the demonic manifestation. The manifestation was not the only lingering remnant of Sult. During his brief revival, he was able to spread his demonic influence all across the Elrios continent. The surge of demonic energy causes monsters all across the land to become even more powerful.
Incarnation of Greed, Perkisas
Glave approached the El Search Party with info of a powerful weapon guarded by a dragon in the Elrian ruins outside of Lanox. He takes the group to the ruins where they face off in a long battle against the dragon, Perkisas. They fight the large dragon as it scales the walls and climbs the towers until they reach a set of mounted crossbows which they use to ground the dragon. It comes crashing down and collapses into its treasure room, in one final battle, the El Search Party fight Perkisas in the treasure room and in its simulated nightmares. The dragon is defeated and its spirit is trapped within a sword.
Prophetic Mission
Sasha and Artea soon arrived to Lanox, with all six El Priestesses assembled, they would finally be able to open the prophetic gate said to show the road to the El Lady. With the help of Sdeing, the Priestesses suit up and they travel across Lanox to reach the far edge of the Elrios continent, the Distant Ruins. There they find a hidden shrine that was only revealed after the demon's commotion. The six priestesses offer their prayers and a light shines from the shrine. The El Search Party all prepare themselves as they step into the light which would take them into the unknown. With the El Search Party gone, the El Priestesses reflect on their decision, Sasha worrying that they may have sent them off ill prepared or that they have tasked them with problems that they should be dealing with. Ignia and the other priestesses decide to quell Sasha's worries. Artea, trusting Elsword that the El Search party will do their best as well as the priestesses doing their part. Rekindling their purpose to the world, they all strive to do whatever they can, they return do whatever they can to protect their El.
Demon Army Disarray
After a series of failures in their attempts to attack Elrios, most remaining demon forces retreated back to the Demon Realm. With additional pressure from human reinforcements traveling around Elrios, many areas which the demon had occupied were being abandoned. This includes the capital of the Xin Empire in Northen Fluone, which after the demons left started to enter a state of reconstruction.
With several of their leaders having been killed in their campaign, a power vacuum occurred within the Demon Army's ranks and a degree of infighting began as many struggled to claim the now vacant positions. During this chaos, Chloe saw her position within the Demon Army as no longer worth the conditions she had agreed to. With their forces weakened, she quietly abandoned her position, in doing so she breached her terms that they would spare the Dark Elf Village so long as she were among their ranks. Knowing the Demon Army would eventually catch wind of her defecting, she seeks to return to her home and warn them of the imminent danger.
Atlas
The Other Dimensional World
Passing through the pillar of light, the El Search Party find themselves in the completely unfamiliar Atlas Station and are greeted by Yuno. He introduces himself and his companion Nono as the area's Nasod Director and apologizes to Eve who he immediately recognizes. Add realizes that Yuno is an advanced 3rd generation Nasod. Aisha asks where they are but Yuno only responds that they are in Atlas Station. Elsword tried to ask him about the El Lady but he has no response, Elsword then asks him about Solace which Yuno then stutters before an alarm signals indicating that Diceon Cubes were detected missing from the mines.
At about the same time, Rose was sent by Princess Ezre of the Empyrean Empire in a different dimension to investigate the forces said to bring forth a great calamity. She traveled through a portal created by Cloud Mason and ended up in the dimension between her's and Elrios, landing on the outskirts of Atlas.
The El Search Party help fend off the beasts messing around the mines and Lu looks around and notices a tower off in the distance, Yuno tells them that the tower leads to Elysion. Nono scanned the recovered Diceon but they don't match the S grade cubes that were missing. Yuno then checks Sector 2, when the El Search Party go, they are attacked by the miners and aren't able to reach the supervisor's headquarters. Yuno and Add analyze the Nasod miners which attacked and learn that their codes were altered. The group confront he supervisor Dekal and they learn that he had been sending the S grade Diceon to Solace. They then scavenge through Dekal's lab for clues. Elesis then gets a headache thinking about Solace as the El Lady's power begin to take root inside of her. Ara and Raven find information that tells that Dekal had been sending the cubes to Atlas City. Add suggests they follow the transport tunnels leading to the city and they'll find exactly where the cubes are going. Eve promises they will return the cubes, and Elsword promises they'll deal with the El Lady and Solace as they head towards Atlas City.
The Elysion Journey to Solace
Outside the city, Eve sends Moby and Remy to scout the city, they return with information revealing that the city is filled with enemies. When they approach the city, Add is in awe of the completely futuristic city before they are all spotted and the alarms start to ring. The security system has them pinned as the Diceon Cube thieves. With security high, the group flee the city and Elsword suggests they go back to Yuno for help. When they return back to Atlas Station they they find that Yuno has taken on a different form, glowing yellow, he reveals that he was once Elysion's architect, Herjuno. Herjuno is able to tap into memories he had previously lost due to Atlas City reactivating its emergency protocol and remembers that he has betrayed by Solace and was cast down into Atlas. He realizes that he needs to get back to Elysion, that he knows that Solace is planning something. Elsword, Aisha, and Lu support Herjuno and agree to help him.
Due to Dekal no longer being in Atlas, he was no longer present to cover up the missing cubes and the security system found the El Search Party in Dekal's lab, pinning the blame on them. Herjuno uses his position as an administrator to hack Altas City's system and try to track the missing cubes. He traces them to the last factory leading to Elysion. Reaching the coordinate, Aisha notices that the missing cubes are being hid inside statues that are being shipped to Elysion. They follow the statues which leads then to Elysion Tower, but they are prevented from entering as only A-Rank Nasod and above are allowed entry. The group take on the head security Nasod Surveillan and Yuno is able to mask the the El Search Party as A-Rank Nasods.
Bypassing the security system they all find themselves inside Elysion Tower. Unable to take the elevator, the group manage to ascend using the cargo transport tubes and reach the very top of the tower. The tower's commander, Maya spots the intruders but also notices that Herjuno was still alive. Not allowing any unauthorized travelers to Elysion, especially not those deemed traitors, Maya attacks the El Search Party and Yuno. She is defeated but in a last ditch effort to prevent anybody from reaching Elysion, she causes the teleporter to self-destruct, hurling it down the tower. Yuno in a desperate attempt to get the party to Elysion, leaps off the tower and dives for the teleporter core while Elsword tried to top him. Using his own core, he jams it into the teleporter causing it to once again power up and send the El Search Party up to Elysion, sacrificing himself. Yuno's body however is left powerless and hurdles down the tower. When the El Search Party land in the outskirts of Elysoin, Eve notices that she had a fragment containing some of Yuno's memories. She gives it to Nono who then projects the memory of Yuno thanking the entire group for the short time spent together, and his final farewells. Elsword is filled with a new determination not only to find the El Lady, but to avenge Yuno's sacrifice.
Eltrion MK2
Sometime during of after their time in Atlas City, Glave appears to the group with another tip, that Eltrion the beast they had once slain in the distant past was in Altas. The upgraded version of Eltrion at this point was a guardian of Atlas City, it engages in a battle against the El Search Party. After being damaged, it retreats into its hanger, the group pursue it and try to destroy Eltrion before it could repair but fail to do so. It transports them to its ultimate defense fortress where it mounts itself and assumes its final form. The party manage to defeat the steel dragon a once again and this time for good. With the Nasod defeated, Glave managed to sent it back to its own time.
Elysion
What's Happening in Elysion?
Now in Elysion, Lu wishes that Yuno was able to see the continent once more. After the group gather themselves, Eve decides to sent Moby and Remy to scout but then she starts feeling signals from the Nasods in the area. Eve tells the group that the Nasods in Elysion are far more advance, even more than anything that was every made in Elrios, realizing that everything here was part of the 3rd generation of Nasods. Using Eve's authority, she manages to mask the El Search Party as Atlas Troops so the surrounding Nasod would not find them as intruders. Now so close, the El Lady was able to reach out and spoke to Elsword faintly. When they pushed on, the Nasods began to attack, Eve soon realizes that there is another force which is blocking any interference to the Nasods. Raven suspecting Solace. Elesis's head begins to hurt again at the mention of Solace, indicating the El Lady's influence. When they reached the gates of Elysion, the guardian statues come to life as Solace congratulates them for coming this far, but says it is too early. Elsword lashes out and Solace, tells them to stop playing their little game and tells Elsword that he must be the one to decide. Defeating the statues they finally make it into the village of Elysion.
Elsword hears the El Lady again, urging the Guardian of El to come to her. In the village, they meet with the chief, Bernard and learn that all the Nasods within the city have been put on lock down, preventing them from leaving the village, additionally they report that they are not getting any orders from Adrian's Palace. They find that the palace is completely blocked by a barrier, seeking aid Bernard directs them to Durenda, the only person with control over some troops outside the village. She tells of Henacyds attacking Nasod Wokers outside the village, the group recover one of the attacked workers and are able to read its memories, they find that the Nasod had information on Solace's Fortress and that it was underneath the palace. Without any way to get directly to the palace, Bernard suggests they seek the help of either Adrian or Herbaon.
Find Solace's Fortress
The El Search Party head to Adrain's Palace, they are able to sense the barrier and confirms it has a similar energy to the statues which they had fought in the Celestial Crossroads, confirming Solace's involvement. With the help of Hugo, they manage to find Dekal as the barrier's gatekeeper, upon defeating the scientist, the barrier is lifted and they travel upwards towards Adrian's chamber. At the highest point, they come face to face with Elysion's current acting leader, Herbaon. Herbaon quickly sees that they were not Atlas Troops as the systems said. Ara notices the boy looked remarkably like Yuno, Herbaon pieces that they are referring to the betrayer Herjuno. Herbaon assumes the El Search Party are with Solace and prepares to fight. Eve tries to calm the Nasod down but her assumes they had altered her code. After a battle, Elsword tries to reinforce that they are not with Solace, but Herbaon is still stern about resisting them. Eve explains that she is acting on her own will and Elsword tries to tell Herbaon their current situation. He cautiously accepts, under the condition they keep their distance. After Elsword explains the situation up to this point, Herbaon understand them and agrees to help them awaken Adrian. Eve and Herbaon connect to Adrian's hibernation capsule and are able to hack it, allowing Adrian to awaken prematurely.
Adrian Nasod awakens, but realizes that it was not the proper time for his reawakening. He sees Eve and is surprised to see his creation alive, having assumed she was lost long ago during the Nasod War. Eve explains to her father all the events that had transpired up to this point. Adrian expresses his regrets for what he had done to Herjuno. He then retells the events of Solace and the El Lady's arrival to Elysion and how Solace had sealed off the palace. Elsword asks if Adrian knew what Solace was planning but he did not know himself, but given he is tapping into Elysion's central energy, Adrian says his actions may affect the entire continent. Adrian tells the El Search Party of a hidden path that will lead them into Solace's Fortress, and he returns to his hibernation capsule to resume his stasis.
The Dark Flame Sun
They descend down underneath the palace where they find the entrance to Solace's Fortress. Immediately they are greeted by Nasods enhanced by Solace's power and the Diceon energy, unable to defeat these machines, they retreat. Theodore introduces himself, saying he has been observing them via his Nasod Birds. Theodore reveals that Solace's army is powered by various cores scattered throughout the fortress. With the knowledge, they managed to traverse the fortress and destroy the cores until they managed to reach the center of the operation. As they get deeper into the fortress, the El Lady calls out to Elsword. When they arrive to the very center, they find a massive device with a Diceon core. Elsword feels a familiar sensation, one that he describes as being similar to that of the original El. Ain asks Elsword if he still desires to restore the El, Elsword replies that he'll do it no matter what. Ain begins to hesitate, he begins to fear that the restoration of the El will cause him to disappear, having served his purpose, but he trusts Elsword's judgement. The ground begins to shake and a large scabbard breaks through the floor, sending the El Search Party below.
The group get back their feet after the surprise fall, and they notice right before their eyes, is the El Lady herself in a type of stasis pod. Being so close to the El Lady, Elesis's begins to have severe headaches, completely disabling her. Solace appears before the group, he tells them that the El Lady has chosen Elesis as her successor and calls upon Elsword's decision to choose the fate of the future. Solace however, prepares to combat the El Search Party as a final test. Solace manages to defeat the El Search Party, they all find themselves collapsed on the floor as Elsword remains the only one barely standing. With just the two of them remaining, Solace turn on his device and the entire room is consumed in a blinding white light.
The Past and the Future
Elsword, alone, was in the blank white void. He begins to hear voices, then he finds his surroundings changing before his eyes. Elsword is shown the memories of Solace himself, the story of him and the El Lady, Hernia.
As the story ends with the fateful day when the El exploded. Elsword finds himself in a new location, with Solace before him. There, Solace reveals his plan, that he intended to create this device in order to circumvent the need for the El lady. He hoped that by connection his device to the large Els of the world, and with the contribution from all life that blesses the land, he could create a sustainable world that did not require the El Lady in order to slave away as a sacrifice. He leaves the decision to the Guardian of El, Elsword. The boy told Solace that he promised that he would restore the El no matter what, but Solace urges that doing so would only make history repeat itself, with his sister Elesis being the next casualty. Solace tells Elsword that he alone cannot change the world, that the cooperation between he and his friend are what shape their destinies. He leaves the boy to make the final choice.
Elsword hesitates, but then behind him his friends appear. They all express that they will accept whatever choice he makes and that they have faith in him. Rose also appears, but hides in the distance. Aisha jokingly remarks that he is acting out of character from his usual self and Elesis feels proud of her younger brother, and tells him she will always be by his side. Ready to make his choice, Elsword decides on neither of Solace's proposed solutions. Elsword sees beyond what Solace had said, and worries for Elysion if he were to agree with Solace's plan, saying that no matter what happens, sacrifices would have to be made. Instead, Elsword decides that he is unwilling to sacrifice anybody he cared about, instead, he decided to sacrifice himself. Causing all the El from around the world to reunite and reform the original El, with Elsword himself in its core.
Elrianode
The Boy and the El
With the boy having sacrificed himself, his will restored the El, and with it the seal that Denif had placed on Elrianode was lifted, as well as the slumber the remaining masters were under. Additionally, all the El Priestesses were teleported to the reawakened city, where they met Denif and conversed about what had happened over the past 500 years as well as the recent development with the El Search Party. Ain, much like he anticipated completely lost his form when Elsword restored the El.
Back in Elysion, the other members of the El Search Party regain consciousness and Hernia awakens from her long slumber. Solace rushes to her side and tells her that she needs to rest. Hernia tells the group she has been watching them and apologizes to Elesis. Ara asks where Elsword is, and she tells them that Elsword had restored the El, but she fears that if left, he will disappear into the El. Aisha panics for Elsword but Solace tells them that he managed to inject the El with Diceon, temporarily halting the El's absorption. Hernia tells them of somebody in Elrianode who can help them, while Solace and Hernia stay in Elysion investigating the ones responsible for the El Explosion, suspecting with Elrianode's revival, they'll flock to the area. Hernia uses her powers to teleport the party to Elrianode.
The El Search Party arrive in Elrianode, there Denif spots them and approaches cautiously before the Earth Priestess Artea introduces them as the El Search Party she had mentioned earlier. Aisha tells Master Denif what they were told by Solace and Hernia that he could help them save Elsword. Denif agrees, he however warns that if they stay in the El too long, they may get consumed as well, then he opens up a gap in the El for the group to enter. While inside, each member is split up and faces a person trial as the El tries to test their wills. They all manage to successfully resist the El temptations. Ain's lingering spirit sees the value in the El Search Party and in an act of defiance, goes against his original mission and decides he must save Elsword. In that moment, Ain realizes that his master had switched from the Goddess Ishmael to the God Elria. Elsword was in a state of slumber in the El, comforted by its powers. His friends start to call for the boy, they all reach out to Elsword and manage to free him from the El, escaping it.
Back outside the El, the the group introduce Elsword to Denif, and he assures the group that he and the priestesses will do their part in maintaining the El. However when the Diceon runs out, he is unsure if they can keep it stable, suggesting the group seek out a hidden relic which had been sealed in Elrianode by Denif's ancestors. Ain find himself alongside his friends, now no longer a spirit tied to Elsword's memories, but to his own being.
Restored Elrianode
After Elsword restored the El and with it reawakened Elrianode, Hennon and his minions had their opportunity to return to the lost city. With pre-existing knowledge of the location of Henir's Passage, Hennon and his colleagues went to Debrian Laboratory underneath the old palace almost immediately. There they made their way to the Passage to Henir's Core and reactivated it. Using that energy they managed to open a portal to the Demon World. With a gateway open, Hennon was able to extract a piece of the Demon World's Dark El for himself, with half of his plan already completed, he only needed to get the Primal El located in the Water Dragon Sanctum.
Denif tells the group about an artifact which his ancestors sealed in the Water Dragon Sanctum but tells them that the area had been sealed off with an ancient seal that he himself does not known how to undo, Aisha tells the Master that she knew how to from her ancestors. Denif takes the group to the Water Dragon Sanctum where Aisha is able to undo the ancient seal which locked the area off. The group scout the sanctum and when Elsword approached a pedestal, the ground opened up and an El rose out. The group were confused since the stone itself didn't radiate any noteworthy energy, but before they could take the stone, Hennon swoops in and takes the Primal El. Aisha realizes the man was the same one who stole the Ring of Mimir from her. Hennon flees and peons of Henir's Order begin to show themselves, injecting themselves with the Seed of Life and transforming into Freak Beasts.
While Hennon was fleeing, Ventus who soon arrived to Elrianode after Henir's Order, managed to sneak by and nab the Primal El away from the cult leader, replacing it with a nearly identical stone.
The El Search Party manage to catch up with Hennon but he summons a Skin Splitter who distract the El Search Party while he makes his escape into the city. The group manage to obtain one of the devices from the cult members.
Invasion of the Order
Afterwards, the El Search Party alert Denif of these intruders. Ain proposes the possibility that the new players are part of Henir's Order which Denif finds to be likely. Denif unsure what they might be doing, asks if the group knew anybody more experience with Henir, the group then take the device to Glave. He reveals he is the one who invented the device and runs through his past as a scientist at Seven Tower in the long ancient past, he also tells the group of an laboratory build underneath Elrianode once used by the Debrians for their forbidden research into Henir energy, however is unable to tell them the details of its exact locations. With that in mind, they search through Elrianode City. There, they are greeted by portal of Henir being opened up and spilling more Freak Beasts all over the city. As they were being overwhelmed, Solace appeared to help the group out. When they meet back up with Denif, Solace confirms their suspicion of Henir's Order, he also has found out that certain types of beasts are generating these Henir portals. Solace agrees to stay and defend the tower as the El Search Party go and scout the city once more.
After finding the creatures creating the gaps of Henir, they manage to defeat it, but it tries to land one final attack on Rena. It explodes, but Rena is saved by Ventus. Lincy appears beside her partner and Rena is shocked to see the wind spirit once again. Ventus introduces himself but the El Search Party are wary if he is telling the truth. Ventus shows them that he has stolen back the Primal El and duped Henir's Order with a fake. They all return back to Elrianode where Ventus intends to meet up with Denif.
Henir's Passage
At the time, Rose met with Hernia in Elysion, she spoke of her situation and that she was sent from Empyrean. Hernia gave Rose her blessing and sent her too to Elrianode. There she met up with Denif and while the El Search Party investigated the city, Rose too conducted her own investigations of the area. She and Zero discover the secret passage to the Debrain Laboratory using Zero's data and they secure the area of any suspicious activity.
Ventus speaks with Denif and reveals the ancient inscriptions on the bottom of the stone, revealing half of a phrase, suggesting there is another half they need Chung brings up the information about the ancient lab they learned from Glave. Denif tells the group of the new guest, Rose. Zero reveals that he has data in regards to ancient Elrianode and they know where the secret passage they were looking for is. They all travel to Debrian Laboratory and the ever present Henir energy becomes very apparent. Lu notices that Ain is being affected heavily by the Henir energy, she tries to tell Ain to back out, but Ain tries to dismiss the words of the demon. Elsword tries to calm the two when Lu suddenly runs off. Ciel, Elsword, and Ara chase after her. Elesis and the remaining party decide they have to press on and hope Elsword and the other catch up to them. Chung speaks with Ain and says that he too felt very similar about Lu when they first met, Raven too speaks of his experiences and betrayal, as well as the blind vengeance he once had.
In the time, Lu tells the group that followed her that she notices demonic markings and followed them, finding a secret door into a closed off room. She finds material belonging to a researcher who must've been researching the demons. She finds a Seed of Life on the chamber's desk and some letters in a demonic script. She takes the device and reads the letter, learning of the power of the Primal El they had found. That if the Primal El and Dark El were united, it would unleash an unspeakable power. She quickly gathers the material and rushes back to the other group.
Ain begins to fade due to Henir's influence but Lu suddenly bursts in with the Seed of Life. Lu tells Ain to settle down and she uses the device on him which absorbed all the Henir corruption out of his body and manifested it as a monster which the group quickly disposed of. Having been saved by Lu, Ain begins to see her in a better light. They then press forward as a group and find themselves at the lowest part of the facility, there they see the enormous Henir's Gate but are then attacked by the lab's security system. Eve manages changes the control options and minimizes the output from the gate, but they all assume that Henir's Order had already gotten to it and had taken what energy they need. Lu tells them about the full prophecy she read from the researcher's notes and they deduce that Henir's Order was planning to open a gate to the Demon Realm in order to retrieve a Dark El in order to awaken the Primal El's power.
Interdimensional Colossus and...
Hennon discovered that the stone he had was a fake, and in retaliation planned to attack the El Tower.
The El Search Party realizing what Henir's Order was targeting, rush back to Elrianode anticipating an imminent attack. Sure enough, Hennon jumps through a gap in Henir and lands in front of the El Tower. Ready to attack the tower to obtain the Large El and reclaim the Primal El, he summons hordes of Freak Beasts. Denif hand the Primal El to Elsword to prevent the enemies from getting it if they claim the tower. When things started to get heated, Hernia appeared in the city, she please to let her stabilize the El but Denif denies her request, instead he sets the El Priestesses to use their powers to stabilize the El together. As the monsters advanced towards the tower, all the El Master present prepared themselves to defend the tower at all cost.
While all the El Search Party were distracting with dealing with the monsters, Hennon took the opportunity to surprise attack Elsword. Hennon obtains the Primal El and with it, he combines its power with the power of a Dark El that he had already obtained from the Demon Realm. With it, he transforms into a massive interdimensional colossus. After a fierce battle, the group were able to barely take down the enormous beast, and the hordes of monsters that followed him started to dwindle.
With the situation calmed down, Hernia tells Denif that she wants to go back to position of maintaining the El, but Denif once again disagrees. Seeing that sacrifice is not the right road to take, he dismisses Solace and Hernia, allowing them to leave and do whatever they wish. The El Search Party agreed that their next course of action should be going to Demon Realm to prevent the Dark El from getting into the enemy's hands. Spending the following days recuperating from their battle.
Twisted Time and Space
After the defeat of Hennon, other members of Henir's order began taking actions of their own. In the process they began running experiments which caused twisted holes in time and space to open all around Elrios. One such portal sent the group back to Farhmann's Peak, but the area had been consumed by Henir. A mysterious member of Henir's Order released Drabaki back into the area to gauge the power of the El Search Party. They faced off against Drabaki once again and were able to slay the beast and escaped the distorted realm. The remnants of the beast were retrieved by the Henir cultist and he was impressed by the El Search Party's performance.
Recuperation
As the El Search Party rested before embarking on the next step of their journey. Ventus approached them with information that might be useful to them. He tells of places called Elriabrunnrs where the flow of El energy go, places where those of the past used to travel to train. He sent the group off to explore an Elriabrunnr he had just rediscovered, where they each individually hear the voices of the past and had their powers awakened to a new level. When they returned from their training, they came back with new powers and were ready to take on the Demon Realm.
Laby and Bellonde
The Girl in the Black Forest
In the Black Forest in the Feita region just outside of Velder, lived a mysterious girl who would later be known as Laby. She didn't know where she came from and a voice in her head forbade her from leaving the Black Forest. She was lonely, only living among the dark shadows that inhabited the forest. She however was able to make one friend during her existence inside the forest, a small young monster. She and her little friend lived together and the time they spent were the happiest in Laby's existence. One day, her friend passed away, filled with sorrow and pain, Laby cried and her tears became a black pond. The black pond took form and became a mirror, a physical manifestation of her sadness, as well as all the memories associated with her friend's death. Laby had forgotten all about her friend, and her mirror became her new companion without even realizing what it was. During her time in the forest, she had only seen light three times in her life, she called these lights mornings. The first at the end of the Nasod War when the El Lady restored the power of the El, the second 500 years ago when the El Exploded, and the third when the Large El was restored by the hand of Elsword. When the third light shown, the voice which tethered her to the forest disappeared, the girl was free.
Bellonde Gaia
After the restoration of the El, Bellonde Gaia was reawakened from his long slumber in the El. He found himself in the palace of Velder, in a new time. When he had awakened, he learned from the Velder high priests that Elrianode had suddenly appeared. He asks about the first Earth Priestess, his sister, Verdel. The priests told him that she had chosen to be buried in the Black Forest, Nisha Labyrinth, believing she didn't deserve to rest peacefully while her younger brother entered a deep slumber in order to save them all. He wished to pay respects to his older sister and ventured to find her grave.
Nisha Labyrinth
When Bellonde found his sister's grave, that is when he met the mysterious girl of the Black Forest. Laby leaving the black forest, saw a light and followed it till she found herself as the Earth Priestess's grave. Bellonde was surprised to find another person in the Black Forest, much less a child. He introduced himself and asked why the girl was in the forest, she explains that it is where she came from. Gaia is oddly suspicious of how she could've existed in the forest of demonic energy, but they both start hearing voices calling for help. The girl jump to try and help but Gaia realizes it is likely a trap by a monster. Laby is lured in by the monster but Gaia manages to save her, Laby seeing its action as a rude prank. Gaia worries for the child, asks if she had any company, family, a place to go, or even a name. She can't recall a name, and tries to adopt Bellonde's, he then goes on to tell her about the forest she came from, how it is dense in demonic energy and how it used to go by a different name, Nisha Labyrinth, the Labyrinth of the Night. Using the name of the forest, he gives her the name, Laby, which she gleefully adopts. She then gives her mirror the name, Nisha, calling it her friend. Bellonde is confused when he looks at the mirror as he sees no reflection and begins to wonder if it a kind of Nasod. He asks her again if she had any place she wished to go, Laby replying just outside the forest. With Bellonde planning to meet with his teacher Denif, he decides to take Laby with him, hoping that he might potentially know more about what the girl was.
The Sea, the Ship, and the Teacher
Leaving the Black Forest, they find themselves on the border of Velder, overlooking the [[East Lurensia Port] town, a port recently constructed in the years following the restoration of Velder. They're greeted by a port worker who tells them about what had happened since the demon war, thanking the El Search Party for helping pave the way for them to reclaim the city. Laby notices metal contraption roaming around, and Bellonde is surprised to see Nasods. The worker tells them that the Ponggos from Altera had come and introduced Nasods to them to aid in the restoration process, however also notes that the local kids have started saying "pong". Bellonde is shocked to see the people so ready to accept Nasods in the age. The worker telling him that thanks to the technology, they've managed to build ships that can take them all the way to Lanox. That the expedited travel even helping them take out the remaining demon remnants in Fluone.
Laby asks if they could board a ship but they learn that the ports have recently had a bit of a monster problem and the soldier are busy dealing with demons elsewhere. Seeing the monsters, Laby is vaguely reminded of her friend, Bellonde is curious as he thought Nisha was Laby's only friend. Laby hesitates but notices that the monsters are trying to eat parts of the ships. They clear the monsters, Bellonde is surprised to see how resilient Laby appears to be when taking harm and how cheerful she remain in spite of being attacked. While they wait for the ship workers to finish repairs on the ship, Gaia decides he could teach Laby how to fight. Laby gleefully accepting him as her teacher.
After the repairs were complete, the two board The Lariness and set sail. The trip was very long, Laby became bored and Gaia became seasick. Suddenly their shipped is attacked by a band of mermen pirates. Gaia confronts the captain and learns that he had steered them through an unsafe route believing they could get by faster. He and Laby defended the ship but the intruders suddenly retreated. Looking forwards the captain exclaims that a storm is approaching. The captain tried to steer out of the way but they're caught in the current. Even worse, the ship is them attacked by the giant Leap Octopus. The remaining crew begin to panic but Gaia and Laby do their best to fight the monster. In that moment Laby began to realize she couldn't understand what fear was. The octopus breaks a hole through the ship and it begins to sink, as a last resort, Gaia focuses and using his powers manages to lift the earth underneath the ship, grounding it. When they let their guard down, a tentacle swooped and knocked Laby off the ship. Gaia was too weak to help the girl, he was also unwilling to put the lives of the remaining crew at stake, regretfully leaves Laby behind and stays on the ship. He does managed to put a protective barrier around her so she wouldn't drown at sea. The crew of the ship manage to repair the ship and reach Fluone.
North Fluone
Second Help
After being castaway, Laby ended up washing ashore in North Fluone. Laby senses an unusual energy, she is spotted by a Feudal Guard that worked under the lord of the land, the demon Nenya. He tried to take Laby but she runs away. Other guards try to capture her and give chase. Mao sees Laby and helps her escape the guards. The guards lose her but report the news of the intruder up to the lord. Mao and Laby hide out, Mao tells her that the guards patrol the Bamboo Forests and prevent the townspeople from leaving. Laby explains how she ended up here, but just confuses Mao, she asks to go to the town. Mao first properly introduces herself but tells her that she probably shouldn't head to town, since the guards would likely be looking for her there. She then offers to take Laby to her home, as she lives a bit away from the town, up high in the mountains. Mao tells her the town and the capital's situation.
They eventually make it to Mao's house where she introduces Laby to her grandfather, Calonne. He accepts Mao's plea to offer Laby asylum and offers her snacks for the time being. Laby is curious as she sense similar energy from Calonne as she did the Feudal Guards, an energy she finds familiar. Mao talks over some food, Mao tell Laby that Calonne found her after demons had killed her family, he took her in and they've been family since.
Where Faith Comes Together
When they went to check up on Calonne they are shocked to learn that he had been kidnapped by the guards. Mao is deeply saddened that her grandpa had been taken away and Laby feels as if she can't understand how she is feeling, only feeling an empty sensation. Laby tells her she is strong and can help. The two take a shortcut through the dokkaebis infested forests. The two reach the Lord's Keep gates and are confronted by the Captain Guard, he tells them that Calonne was arrested by order to Nenya himself. The guard refuses to let them through and they fight, they defeat the guard and realize they'll have to make their way to the prison.
The two sneak into the keep and try to hop the roofs during the darkness of night. Mao sense things are off, there were more soldiers inside than there should be and she felt demonic energy. They learn that the soldiers were demons. Mao begins to panic learning that demons were inside the village. Laby tries to calm her down and sets saving Calonne as their first priority. They find themselves at a locked door but Mao manages to pick it with a special needle she had, Laby was curious if she had learned the skill form Calonne, Mao admits that she learned it from her parents. She dodges the fact her parents were thieves and passes them off as having been locksmiths. Wandering through the corridors, Mao finds her grandpa's glasses, surprised to see it, Laby accidentally discovers a hidden passage. They follow the path and find themselves underground, but they are attacked by Gunther. Halting them from reaching the Underground Prison, Laby fights and defeats Gunther. Mao is okay due to a device in her necklace that Calonne has made for her.
From the Ground Up
Inside the Underground Prison, they sneak by the guards patrolling the dungeon. One of the prisoners calls out to them, and reveals himself to be the Estranged Lord of the town. He tells the two girls what had happened to him. He hopes that the situation could be resolved once the capital's army comes to the region, and suggests they wait it out. Mao tells the lord the unfortunately truth that the capital has been in shambles for quite some time. Learning that the lord fears for his own life since Nenya likely only kept him around in the event inspectors from the capital came. Laby tries to break the lord free but he insists that he is in no position or state to help them out. They are spotted by the guards, Laby and Mao fend them off and then manage to start freeing the inmates. They find Calonne and try to save him but an alarm rings and the warden, Deborah, shows up. Deborah notices the children and criticizes Calonne for playing family with humans, Calonne then criticizing her for being disloyal to their original lord, Aegirp's, orders. Deborah expresses her frustrations with their previous lord and how he seemingly abandoned them all this time. Deborah fights them but Laby manages to defeat the demon, allowing for the other prisoners to escape. Calonne talks with his former comrade. Deborah expresses her wavering faith in their lord's belief, but Calonne tells her that the time he spent till this point has proven their dream to be possible. Laby and Mao come and suspect Nenya to be at the heart of the issue. Deborah seeing the child call Calonne her gramps, starts to see that maybe Aegirp's dreams were possible.
They manage to free the rest of the prisoners, including the Estranged Lord. Now freed, the prisoners agree to fight alongside them to fend of the demons outside. The lord informs them that Nenya's chamber is located at the top floor. Calonne gathers that Nenya is likely one of the demon who invaded the capital several years ago. He believed Nenya sought Calonne in an attempt to make a demon portal so he could conquer all of Northern Empire. Scaling the castle's interior they are confronted by Nenya's generals. Deborah returns but Nenya has taken control of her, after they defeated her, she reveals his mind control over the other demon troops. She tells them they must kill Nenya to free them and directs them to his chamber. They reach his lavish chamber and Nenya appears before them, he asks if Calonne reconsidered his offer, but Calonne swiftly declines. Nenya manages to take Mao and threatens to kill her if Calonne doesn't make the demon portal. Calonne still refuses and Nenya strikes Mao. Laby filled with an empty feeling doesn't understand how to feel. Nenya assumes his demon form and attempts to control Calonne's body, Laby doesn't want to let it happens and attacks Nenya. He attacks her with a blast of demonic energy but Laby is completely unphased, she fights and defeats the demon. Calonne was shook that Laby was unaffected by the demonic energy. Calonne is relieved to see that his device was able to protect Mao. Calonne asks Laby if she was a demon, but he noted her energy wasn't quite like other demons, faint but powerful enough to defeat Nenya. Laby tells him of her goal to find who she is and her destination of Elrianode.
After everybody escaped the castle, they returned back to their house in the mountains. Calonne creates a compass that points towards Elrianode to help Laby make it to her destination. Mao and Calonne decided they need to help rebuild the town now that Nenya and his forces are gone, with the demons under control now that Nenya is no longer at their head. Mao thanks Laby and Laby promises to come back when she learns the truth. Laby bids farewell to her new friends before taking off eastwards towards Elrianode.
Varnimyr
In the Demon Realm
The El Search Party is now prepared to head into the Demon Realm, Denif informs them of the unfortunate truth that the Dark El that Hennon had used was no longer a viable means to getting to the Demon Realm. Seeking another means, Add drags the group back to Debrian Laboratory where he intended to use Henir's Gate as a portal, however when they arrived, Eve pointed out that they'd need the exact coordinates of the Demon Realm, Lu unfortunately was unaware of its exact coordinate. With that avenue no longer realistically possible, they head back to Elrianode where they tried brainstorming. They realized that the El was the key for interdimensional travel, or specifically disrupting said travel, then Ara remembers seeing something below the Large El when she had fallen down one time. Looking below, they find an ancient seal, so ancient it may have been placed by the goddess herself. Denif refuses to break the seal, but decides they could pry it open temporarily just long enough to let the El Search Party through, but he doesn't guarantee their safety beyond it.
Inside the seal, they find themselves in a subspace of Henir between the material and Demon Realm. Trying to go through the labyrinth, Elsword begins to have visions, visions that his friends would be wiped out by a large school of Chaos Leviathans. However, the group manage to get through without considerable issue, Elsword being relieved his visions had not come true. Making it out other side, they emerge from a place known as the Cave of Death by the local Dark Elves. Wandering through the forest, Rena spots a Dark Elf, she tries to talk with her in an Ancient Elven tongue, however the Dark Elf immediately becomes suspicious of the group and call for reinforcements for their capture. In their escape, they run into the Red Guardian, Forginay and defeat the guardian. In that moment, Chloe appears struck by what they had just done. Elesis suspects something is off when she notices that Chloe is without any troops, Chloe admits that she has long since left the demon ranks but refuses to elaborate any further. She says she had business with the Dark Elf Village and was on her way there when she saw that the group attacking the Red Guardian. Explaining that it was a guardian that lived in a symbiotic relationship with the other creatures of the forest. Elsword tries to ask Chloe for aid, but she shuts him down before he could even get a word out, Elesis then tries to strike a deal, telling her that they both need each other to get through to the Dark Elf Village, Chloe reluctantly agrees to working with them.
Strange Phenomenon
Lu is skeptical of Chloe, but Elesis reassures that they're just using her to get to the Dark Elf Village but will remain vigilant. Making their way through the forest, Chloe notices an abnormally high number of guards, likely due to the El Search Party attacking the Red Guardian. They are spotted, and the Dark Elves begin to fire at them. Chloe reveals that the Dark Elves see her as a traitor, but she still believes in one person who she can reason with. Making their way deep into the Dark Elf Outpost, they face off against Sentinel Commander and prove victorious, when Rena was about to make the final shot, her arrow vanished into thin air. The Dark Elf Elder, Edith, appeared before them and told Sentinel Commander to stand down and remain at a distance. She, Rena, and Chloe begin to have a discussion. Edith asks and answers Rena's questions about how the Dark Elves came to be, as well as their quest in the Demon Realm. Chloe interjects Edith and brings to her pressing news that the Demon Army is likely planning to launch an attack on the Dark Elf Village since she had abandoned their ranks. Edith confronts the El Search Party once more, telling them about the news Chloe had brought to them, suggests they meet up with their patron god, Nephilim Lord, who had oddly gone silent over the past month. Saying that the village needs the help of the spirits and that Nephilim Lord is likely their best lead to learn of the whereabouts of the Dark El. Edith prepares an envoys capable of speaking the Elrios dialect to go with the El Search Party and meet with the spirits.
When they all arrive to the Forsaken Spirit Asylum, they find that the spirits had turned hostile. They manage to save a Tiny Spirit who tells them that out of nowhere his friends just begun to attack him. They all couldn't believe what they saw, as the Asylum which would normally be vibrant and full of life, was a barren burnt wasteland. The Tiny Spirit guides the group all the way to Nephilim Lord where the beast goes berserk. After defeating the berserk lord, he regains consciousness and the Dark Elves pleas him to help them. Nephilim Lord recalls the tower in the distance appearing in Varnimyr around 500 years ago, but it posed no threat to the spirits until just a few months ago when it started to emit an aura that burned the land and turned spirits berserk. With all the spirits' aura running through Nephilim Lord, he was the first to be corrupted. Elsword asks if he could tell them about the location of the Dark El or if he had seen Henir's Order. The lord does not recall seeing anybody in particular related to Henir's Order but tells that many have come to him searching for the Dark El in the past. However he refuses to help the group, not trusting them yet. Instructing them to deal with the tower plaguing the sanctum first. The Dark Elves choose to stay behind and tend to the spirits while the Tiny Spirit chooses to guide the El Search Party to the tower.
Back in Elrianode
While in Elrianode, Denif and Ventus begin to speculate ways in which they may safely return the El Search Party back to Elrios when the time comes. Eventually, the two device a plan using one of Ventus's Wind Stones. They realized that the masters are able to sense the stone even from the other side of the seal. In addition, Denif had begun to suspect that Fire Master Rosso may also be in the Demon Realm. Denif tasked Ventus with delivering the Wind Stone to the El Search Party for them to return as well as seek out Rosso. With the help of the priestesses, they open the seal once again and Ventus delves into Henir's passage.
Cradle of Sin
Arriving at the Crimson Edge, the group make their trek towards the tower. The sky turns from blue to a foggy red and Elsword describes the aura as almost indistinguishable from that of Lanox and the Fire El. Ciel disagrees, seeing as the land is far more barren, Rena speculates perhaps the presence of demonic energy in Lanox is what felt familiar. Out of the tower, a large meteor hurls down and crashes near them, they are alright but a four headed dragon golem spawns from the meteor. Aisha was shocked to see such a powerful beast, one which she described as only being able to be summoned by the combined efforts of a hundred magician. Eve told the group she did not sense any demonic energy coming from the creature, but suddenly the ground below them collapses. They notices the walls of the cavern were filled with scorched cut marks and find a lone scythe, the weapon suddenly begins moving on its own. After a battle where the scythe nearly sets the entire cavern ablaze, it zooms past the group. As it flew past Elsword, he heard Rosso's voice, saying he doesn't need the strength to protect others, just to fulfill his purpose. Eve mentions once again that the energy she is feeling isn't demonic and Elesis agrees. They chase after the Scythe and wind up just beneath the tower. The stone golem appears once more and the group fight it on the exterior of the tower. In the battle, the beast damages the tower and once it was defeated, the group managed to break a hole and enter its depths.
Inside the tower, they are attacked by thorns, Elsword begins to hear the voice again, this time screaming in agony. He tells his friends about these voices, and they were wondering if somebody was trying to call out to him. Elsword however disagreed comparing these voices to someone's memories. Ain tells Elsword to listen to the voice carefully, since according to Nephilim, the tower didn't appear till 500 years ago and only begun acting up almost exactly when Elsword reunited the El, something he believed makes a convincing case that the tower is somehow connected to the El. They encounter the core, a Crimson Eye, they fight it off but it escapes through the cracks. The group follow it up to the cradle of the tower.
There, they find Rosso trapped at the center, they were unsure if he was a demon or not but Elsword felt confident he was the one who called out. A massive surge of demonic energy bursts through the room and a massive demonic form created from the volcanic rubble stood before them. Elsword begins to hear Rosso's voice one more, this time directly communicating with him. Elsword assures that he would save him and called out for who he was. Taking out the giant, the tower begins to collapse and the person trapped inside was freed from their prison. The Crimson Eye which had escaped the tower's depth inserts itself into Rosso and he gains an immense amount of power. His scythe flew into the collapsing chamber and into his hands. He continues to battle, as it goes on Elsword continues to plea and call out to the person. They all come crashing down on the shattered remnants of the tower. Rosso bursts from the rubble and absorbs all the demonic stones to create a dark armor shell as he continues to fight.
The El Search Party manage to defeat Rosso and the demonic stones fade away. Ara is shocked to see that it was a human, Rena not believing him to be any ordinary human. Elsword tried to grab hold of him but his body is burning hot. Ventus arrives out of the blue, having just witness their battle. Add and Ara were shocked to see him appear, Ventus apologizes for arriving late. Elsword asks if he knew the person they had just defeated, Ventus confirming they were long time friends. Rosso barely able to speaks tells Ventus to shut up and help him. Elsword surprised to see him already awake asks if he is okay. Rosso briefly introduces himself. Add asks why he would be in the Demon Realm surrounded by demonic energy, Rosso dismisses the question. Ventus interjects saying that he should take Rosso back to Elrianode where they can tend to his injuries. Before he left he gave Rena a Wind Stone, saying that he and Denif agreed upon a solution to getting the El Search party back to Elrios. Ventus jokes with Rosso to his dismay, and then asks the El Search Party if they should return to Elrianode together. Ara however mentions that they've found a lead about the Dark El and they need to head somewhere else. The two begin to leave, but Rosso warns Elsword that the Master of Crimson Eyes is near. They group go back and meet up with the Tiny Spirit before immediately collapsing of exhaustion. After they rested, the Tiny Spirit tells them he got word from Nephilim Lord of a location nearby they may want to check.
The Master of the Crimson Eye
The Tiny Spirit lead them to a large deposit of Mystic Stones. Eve, Lu, and Ciel all confirm that the stones gave off a similar aura to the Dark El Hennon had used, though faint. Ara reflects that she remembers seeing similar stones when she was a child visiting the capital city. Aisha notices the stones were very similar to Magic Stones from Elrios, realizing that there are many similarities between the two worlds. Further down, they spot Shadow Demons with mining equipment, they try to sneak past them but are spotted. The group notice the soldiers didn't seem properly trained, likely just miners, but they are then greeted by Nero who introduces himself as Ran's right-hand man. The group managed to corner Nero, in a last ditch effort, Nero exclaims that he sees a giant bat. The El Search Party still a bit out of it since their last battle all fall for his trick and Nero manages to strike and shatter the ground beneath them. They land and awaken the master of the vein, Dark Agate. After they defeat the gem monster, the Tiny Spirit thanks them, but a lone demon soldier tries to land a sneak attack. Caught off guard, the Tiny Spirit uses his powers and swiftly takes out the demon. He then reveals himself to be Stirbargen. Lu tells the rest of the group that he was one of the 4 Demon Lords. He goes on to explain he too had his powers stripped away, before Eun, taking over Ara's body, interjects. Eun lashes out in rage, planning to kill the demon, Stirbargen only laughs at their reactions. He offers to strike a deal with the group, though Add is extremely suspicious of how words. Elsword asks what information he has, and if it was worth his life. Stirbargen tells them that he managed to get to the Demon Realm because he knew its exact coordinates, he then goes on to tell them that the Dark El has been an object of myth for a long time, with Barkat as the current leader of the Demon Army seeking it out. He reveals to them that the spirits in the Demon Realm are only able to vaguely sense the location of the Dark El, that even if they did ask Nephilim Lord, he'd still point them towards the mines due to it being the closest large scale deposit of them. He tells them that he had made a bet with Rosso in the past and had lost it, giving Rosso his eye. But now he has it back, though drained of its power. The Demon Lord then strikes another bet with the group. He mentions to them that the Dealm Realm has been in political disarray for quite some time.
Heading out and with no other leads, they choose to return back to Elrianode. Elsword takes the time to confess to his friends about the visions he had when they first passed through the Labyrinth of Ruin. The group take caution to Elsword's vision. They decide they need to report to Denif about their findings, especially what they learned from Stirbargen. The Demon Realm coordinates, the faltering political structure of the demons, among other things. They soon embark of their way back.
Fallenode
Reunion, Coming Face to Face
Following the compass made by Calonne, Laby is once again alone but on her way to Elrianode. Laby entered the Fallenode region, the ruined Henir infested wastelands left outside of Elrianode after the El Explosion, her compass begins to stop working. She feels the energy from where she is and senses it as being somewhat familiar but still different than the feeling of the Black Forest. Laby approaches and starts to notice the effects of Henir in the environment, the feeling of familiarity grows on her but she feels determined that she must get to the city. In that moment, Gaia who had been combing the continent, found her and the two reunited. Gaia is relieved that the girl is okay after the two lost each other. He tells her that he was combing the coast of Fluone in search of her to no avail, Laby then tells Bellonde what had happened since they split ways and tells him they should visit her friends in the future. Gaia had been searching for her because they promised to go the Elrianode together, now that they are together they would try to get into the city. However, the city is now surrounded by a large Henir barrier, the two approach the city dealing with the nests of draugr. On the way, Bellonde expressed his regrets, both for leaving Laby on her own and in the distant past when he failed to protect the El. Expressing prior hesitation to return to Elrianode, but says that Laby who he had met at his sister's grave, inspired him to press onward. On the way they find an exceptionally large pool of Henir which housed a Giant Draugr, not wanting to leave such a beast free to roam, Gaia and Laby defeat it. Letting go of the past, Gaia is filled with his original drive to protect everybody. Faced with the Henir barrier, he first tells Laby about Henir, he then creates a barrier around them with his El energy that will last them long enough to get through and they both delve into the barrier.
Nisha
Inside the barrier, Laby and Bellonde are isolated from each other. Remembering her teacher telling her that she must focus on leaving the barrier, she presses onward, with the goal of reaching Elrianode so close. She thanks Nisha for being by her side but her mind then begins to space out. Nisha begins to react and then takes on the form of Laby's Friend, Laby begins to remember it. She follows it but is surprised to feel that she is still inside the barrier. Having severed the memory of her friend's death, she wonders why it is here and notices the gaps in her memory. Stepping forwards she find herself in a room identical to Nenya's chamber. Calonne appears in front of Laby and criticizes her for feeling nothing when Mao died, Laby became confused and tries to run away. She runs into Mao who similarly criticizes Laby for feeling glad when Calonne was taken away, Laby keeps running away. She panics and wants to run away, even back to her forest, but she runs into a monster, the same one that attacked the ports of Lurensia, the ones that reminded her of her friend. It called out to her, asking if she had forgotten it. She tells herself she hasn't forgotten and tries to keep running forwards till she finds herself exactly where she met Bellonde. He appears before her and she pleas to him that she wants to leave. Bellonde tells her to go back to the place where these memories all began. She wakes up deep in the Black Forest, wondering if everything was a dream, she begins to feel as if she shouldn't ever leave the forest, so she can just be alone with Nisha. Her friend appears before her, she expresses joy that they could be together and have fun forever but it transforms into formless monster and attacks her. She remembers all the good times they spent together, but then the memories begin to return to her, she remembers its death. Remembers the sorrow she felt and how her tears created Nisha, that she had severed the memory and feelings she felt, that this was the first time she truly knew what Nisha was, her sadness. She feels glad she finally knew what Nisha was, but she still feels scared of the sadness she once felt. She however decides she would face the future with Nisha.
Return to Elrianode
Sage of Fluone
Laby made it to the other side of the barrier but was badly hurt from it. Bellonde rushes her immediately towards the El Tower for aid. The priestesses are shocked to see an outsider approach and Denif is surprised to see his pupil and fellow El Master return. Denif orders Darkmoon to take Laby and heal her wounds, the other priestesses follow to aid her. Denif thanks Gaia for coming back, and informs him of the El Priestesses, proof that his sister, Verdel, and the other priestesses succeeded in carrying their duty. Gaia reclaims his duty as an El Master.
Darkmoon goes to try and heal Laby but her injuries had already healed. Laby wakes up and feels better, Artea explain where she is and explaining that Bellonde is the El Masters Gaia. Laby asks about Denif and realizes that Denif was her teacher's teacher and the Sage of Fluone. She jumped out of bed and ran to meet the masters.
When Laby arrived to the El Tower, she was struck with awe when she saw the Large El, saying that it was the same light she called morning. Denif asked her what she meant, she told him of the Black Forest she came from. Denif called all the priestesses in to the conversation, though Ignia was absent due to overworking herself earlier in the day. Curious, Denif asks her about the light she called morning, after she explains the three mornings and the voices. Denif suspects the possibility of mind control magic. Laby goes on to explains each individual light in detail. Denif concludes that the morning Laby spoke of were most definitely related to the Large El. Sasha equating the first light to the Nasod War, Artea relating the second to the El Explosion, and Darkmoon noting the last having been the return of the Large El that had just happened months prior. Denif notes Elsword's involvement with the current El's restoration, Gaia is alarmed to learn of a boy with such power. Denif believing he either might be an Elrian of unprecedented power or a being similar to the El Lady. Laby gathers that the boy's actions freed her and wishes to meet him, Denif notes that Elsword doesn't himself even realize what he might be, so no real answers would come from that. Denif then asks Laby about Nisha, but Laby hesitates, simply calling it he friend.
Darkmoon wonders if she could be a demon, sensing a similar aura. Laby says that Calonne had said a similar thing. Denif and Artea ask about Calonne, Laby tells them about Calonne being a demon in North Fluone. Gloria tells Laby what the demons had done to Darkmoon and the Moon El. Sasha tells her beliefs that either demon or human are capable of just as much good or bad, citing Rod Ross's foul actions. Laby promises to stop anybody who bullies her friends, pleading them to not hate Calonne. The priestesses trust Laby, Denif was still a tad suspicious. Laby tells him that Calonne was at odds with some of the other demons, Denif hoping so. With the day soon reaching its end, Denif calls an end to their meeting and suggests they all rest for now as Anduran prepares dinner.
Answer to Belief
That night, while Laby contemplated what she should do with Nisha, Ignia met up with her. The two talked, Ignia reflects on her life, her determination and purpose after becoming the Fire Priestess and the regrets she harbored when she became a pawn for the demons. She explains that ever since, she has been giving her all to duty, so much so that she had exhausted herself and passed out earlier in the day, she says that she aspires to meet the Fire Master and learn under him to better her abilities. Laby opens up to Ignia and tells her that Nisha is her sadness. Ignia presents the information to Denif who is a bit skeptical but the priestesses trust her. Laby tells them what she experienced in the Henir barrier. Denif is vexed by Laby's situation, having never seen somebody's emotion take on a physical form. Laby mentions the energy she felt inside the barrier felt somewhat familiar to something she felt in the distant past. Denif then brings up ancient theories of portals opening up in the core of the Black Forest as a potential explanation, siting the El Search Party's discoveries. Gaia, unsure what to make of the El Search Party, worries they have given them their burdens. Denif then goes on to explain the situation in regards to Henir's Order, the El Search Party, and their current objective.
Denif senses that Ventus was approaching from the other side of the seal. With the priestesses and Gaia's help, they open up the seal where Ventus comes through with Rosso. Ventus notes that the Henir passage has become more chaotic on the way back. The priestesses introduce themselves to newly arrived Fire Master. Rosso asks if the Fire Priestess is present, Ignia presents herself but Rosso is quick to criticize her for being weak and unfit for the harsh responsibilities of controlling the power of fire and tells her that she should leave now that he is back. The two fight among each other until Gaia drags Rosso away to get his injuries tended to. Ignia feels dejected by her encounter with the Fire Master but both Ventus and Denif find their encounter to have gone better than expected, knowing Rosso's personality.
Darkmoon tends to Rosso's wounds when Laby follows them to talk with Rosso. Rosso tries to dismiss the child, but Laby explains how Ignia had idolized and was looking forwards to learning from him. Rosso expresses he has little interest in teaching, saying he doesn't wish to burden others with the responsibilities of fire. Rosso sensing the abnormal energy coming from Laby demand to know if Gaia knew what she was and wondered why Denif for allowing something like her this close to the El. Gaia tried to calm him down assuring Laby was no threat. Rosso remains suspicious but is willing to accept she isn't an immediate threat if Denif was fine with her. Laby is curious if Rosso knew what she was, he refuses to answer until Darkmoon pleas him to help them even just a little. He states that her aura was certainly of Demon Realm origins, being something he himself felt near where he slept. Rosso warns Gaia that he only spoke this information so he would be aware and be responsible for the child. Rosso rests, Laby thanks Darkmoon for helping her and Darkmoon reveals to Laby that they already know of a demon who had helped them before and are confident that Laby will be their ally just the same.
You and I Are One
Laby feels she might need to go to the Demon Realm for answers. Ventus appears before Laby using the power of the wind. She asks him if he and the wind are one, which he replies that he accepts the wind. Seeing the girl ponder his statement, he tells her of the Forgotten Elrian Sanctum where she could train and grow. Laby takes the offer and goes off. Lincy questions his decision as she knew he was still suspicious of the girl, Ventus himself being unsure, perhaps he simply wished to act as an elder for once.
Back in the city, Denif recalls to Gaia the events following the El Explosion, informing Gaia that while he fell asleep after he poured his energy into the El, Denif remained awake and used the last of his energy to seal off Elrianode. Gaia wondered why Denif decided to seal the city alone and not requested the aid of the other masters. Denif gave two reasons, the first being that making the Elemental El was the more important priority they could not afford to fail, and the other was he suspected the possibility of a traitor. Gaia is saddened that Denif did not trust him enough but understands his judgement and promises to earn his trust in the present. Denif applause Gaia's growth in the time they've been apart, noting that he and Ventus haven't been as affected due to their already inherent long lives, he thanks Gaia for returning. Gaia states his new resolves came from Laby, believing their meeting at his sister's grave was a sign.
In the sanctum, she began to hear the voices of the past, mistaking it for the voice which prevented her from leaving the forest. She begins hearing her own voice asking herself what she is afraid of, where she replies she fears losing Nisha. She wonders what would happen if they did become one. Afraid of losing herself, she doesn't quite want to become one with Nisha, but wants them to share with each other. For Nisha to teach her sadness, and for her to teach Nisha other emotions. To understand each other not as one being, but as partners. With her new perspective, she heads back to Elrianode.
The priestesses talk among each other. Ignia notices that controlling the El has become slightly easier since Rosso returned. The other priestesses tell her that she and Rosso should try and make up. Ignia is still hesitant. During their conversation, Laby returns back to the tower and seeks out her teacher. Gaia is glad to see Laby return and she tells him her decision to accept Nisha. Laby's new goal is to find the voice that kept her in the forest and seek out answers from them and thanks Bellonde for everything he has taught her.
Preparation
Having learned everything up to this point, Laby believed it might be time for her to go to the Demon Realm. She speaks with Ventus about the matter, he divulges his brief experience in the Demon Realm, the hazards as well as the situation in regards to the dark elves preparing for an imminent war. After he recollections, he tells Laby that the El Search Party may be on their way back to Elrianode soon, which convinced her to stay in Elrianode a bit longer.