Elia returned to the tavern of Mushomi's lower city, finding that Suki wasn't there yet. She could only have been at the docks of the Eilorima. The bodies of the Samurai she killed just a day ago were gone. Lord Tiyoshi hopefully sent them back to the Idasha region's capital to be buried, or maybe took their heads off and put them on stakes on his city's walls. Elia still felt guilt for killing them, but the way they pulled her by the hair, then punched Suki unconscious and nearly killed her made Elia glad she killed them. There was more than one way that her actions would cause trouble later on, though. Killing an entire Samurai clan was surely something that wasn't easily forgotten about.

"Elia," Ado Tiyoshi suddenly said. "Did you go and see the Ilderadores?"

"Yes," Elia answered.

"What did you learn about these two Shadows?" Tiyoshi wondered.

"They asked the Ileradores for help with something, but they were turned away," said Elia. "For good reason."

"What do you think they asked for?" asked Tiyoshi.

"I don't know," Elia answered. "It couldn't have been anything good. The Ileradores are driven by their hatred for humans. Either they turn them down because they were human, or they could sense that they were Shadows."

"They sensed their darkness?"

Elia's heart began to race. She had just given Lord Tiyoshi an idea of who the leader of these Ileradores was. She didn't want to do that, since they were fighting for equality, and had endured suffering that no one should have to witness. Elia desperately thought of something that could change the subject.

"Did you see my sister come back here, by any chance?" she wondered. "I haven't had contact with her since I left the woods."

"Neither have I," Tiyoshi admitted. "I know she went to the docks of the river, but that's all I know. You aren't concerned that she's in danger, are you?"

"Well, I'll be able to tell if she is," said Elia. As she spoke to the young nobleman, she began to sense a darkness from outside of the tavern. She stepped to the window and raised one of the blinds to peek through it, seeing a man in robes that were a dark blue color, with a trim that had various gold and silver colors. He was a lord of some kind, and an important one, since five Samurai in shining, golden armor stood behind him. Two others were standing in front of him, speaking with the nobleman. They were the ones that carried the aura of darkness that Elia sensed clearly. They were Shadows. One was tall and wearing heavy armor that almost resembled the nobleman's Samurai, but was black instead of gold. The other was wearing a familiar white tailcoat, and his face was one that Elia instantly recognized, from Chardan. It was Ealdmund. Elia resisted the urge to rush out of the tavern with her ancient sword in her hand and kill both Shadows, and put the blind that she had raised to look through the window down.

"Ealdmund and the other Shadow are both out there," Elia reported. "And someone else."

"Who?" asked Lord Tiyoshi. He lifted one of the window blinds to look outside, then immediately pulled his head back with his face completely pale.

"That's Idasha Motsanura," he shuddered.

"As in Lord Idasha?" Elia hissed. "One of the warring Shoguns? The one who sent Samurai to kill me and my sister!?"

"Elia, promise me you'll stay in here for a moment," Tiyoshi growled. "I know what he has done, but whatever you're thinking of doing would be pointless without some way to get yourself out whatever situation you will find yourself in." That would prove difficult for Elia. Lord Idasha had sent people to kill both her and Suki, and he was right outside with the person who killed her parents. Still, she restrained herself.

"I understand," Elia sighed. "But just so you know, if I can sense those Shadows, they can sense me."

"I'll be sure to remind myself of that," Lord Tiyoshi assured, and he stepped through the door. Elia peeked through the blinds again to see the young lord approach the self-proclaimed Shogun. She twisted a tiny knob on her APID to increase hear their conversation more closely.

"My Lord Motsanura," Tiyoshi greeted, bowing at the hip before the Idasha.

"Lord Ado Tiyoshi," said Idasha, without returning his bow. "A beautiful city you have here."

"Thank you, my lord," said Tiyoshi. "What brings you to Mushomi, if I may?"

"To assist with dealing with the epsilon problem you seem to have, of course," Lord Idasha answered. "I understand that there are some of these errant people in the forest just outside your walls. What was your original plan for dealing with them?"

"Well, at first, I thought of finding out where their leader was through an investigation and bringing him here to put him on trial to maybe bring his followers despair," Lord Tiyoshi enlightened.

"That sounds like a long process, Tiyoshi," Idasha criticized. "It gives them more time to plan another attack, and puts the people at more risk." Elia began to sense a feeling of nervousness from Lord Tiyoshi. He knew the "Shogun" better than she did. Whatever Idasha was about to suggest must have been bad.

"What would you suggest, my lord?" Tiyoshi wondered.

"I've given my men the order to round up all of the epsilon living in your city and gather them in the city's plaza," Lord Idasha answered. "It shall force the rebels in the woods out of hiding, and bring them to us." A look of horror came across Lord Tiyoshi's face, and also Elia's.

"That will solve nothing," Tiyoshi warned. "That will only provoke an attack."

"With the rest of their kind in Mushomi at stake?" asked Idasha. "I would hardly think so." Suddenly, a crash came from behind Elia, and she looked back to see a squad of Torribanish soldiers rushing from a door behind the bar that the innkeeper stood behind. They aimed assault rifles into the dining area, which only caused the patrons to quickly rise from their seats with dread.

"Everyone, put your hands in the air and stay where you are!" one soldier shouted. He was most likely the Sergeant. Everyone was still shaking from the shock of men bursting into the room and pointing guns at them. Not all of them heard what the Sergeant said. A man and woman tried to run to the door, holding each other's hands, and they were both shot in the back by two of the soldiers.

"Anyone else feel like running!?" the Sergeant challenged. No one objected. No one tried to run to the door, and they raised their hands above their heads to surrender. Even Elia did nothing, since there was the risk of everyone in the room being punished for a single person's actions.

"Now, all of you will follow the instructions we give you, and whosoever objects, or disobeys, will be executed for insurrection," the Sergeant declared, then he looked to Elia and shouted, "You!" Elia quickly turned her head towards the soldier. Her right hand was near her holstered machine pistol, ready to draw it and fire in a second. Suki had warned her that tiny plasma rounds would never penetrate a Samurai's armor, but could easily pierce a normal soldier's outfit. Still, she didn't draw the gun, even as the Sergeant stomped towards her with his own gun raised, standing at a foot shorter than her.

"I said 'hands in the air', miss," the Sergeant reminded. Elia slowly raised her hands to where they were above her head, then the soldier lowered his rifle and took out a small, clear tablet and pointed it at Elia's face. A blinding light suddenly flashed from the corner of the device's frame, causing Elia to cover her eyes once it faded, and wince from a sharp pain in her head.

"Human," the Sergeant excused, stepping away from Elia. "You know what to do, men. If any of them make sudden movements, you are cleared to shoot."

"Yes, sir," all of the soldiers complied, in unison. The Sergeant and two of his soldiers aimed their rifles into the crowd while the other two took out their scanners and went through the people, flashing lights from the devices into their eyes. A few of the customers that weren't scanned yet were shaking with dread. One of the soldiers approached one man who was slimmer than the others, and he began to slowly step backward. The soldier forced his scanner against the man's eyes, and when the light flashed in them, the clear screen turned red.

"Epsilon!" the soldier shouted, then he smashed the butt of his rifle against the epsilon man's chest. As the man went down, Elia found herself quickly drawing her machine pistol and shooting a burst of blue plasma rounds at the soldier that hit the epsilon, then aimed at the other four soldiers and blasted all of them with short, controlled bursts. All five of the soldiers dropped dead in what seemed like a second. Elia didn't holster her machine pistol just yet, though. She couldn't. All she could do was stand there with her gun pointed forward, frozen. She had just killed five soldiers so quickly that they couldn't react. What was more is that they had killed two innocent people, and Elia did nothing. How could she have done nothing?

Suddenly, Elia was grabbed by the shoulder and pulled backward. She found herself on the bank of the Eilorima, standing on a boardwalk that stood over the surface of the freezing water.

"Elia," a familiar, relieving voice said. It was Suki. She laid her hand on Elia's arm that held her machine pistol and pushed it down, then Elia placed the weapon in its holster. She could do nothing else other than throw her arms around her sister and squeeze as tightly as she could. After seeing men hunting people because of their race, there was no one else she would rather see.

"What happened?" Suki wondered, as Elia released her. "I sensed you were in danger."

"Not as much as everyone else in that tavern was," Elia sighed. "Did you notice what was happening?"

"It was hard not to," Suki hissed. "A soldier just walked up to me and flashed my eyes with a bright light."

"They're seeing if you're epsilon," Elia enlightened. "Idasha Motsanura's here with Ealdmund and another Shadow, and they're gathering all of this city's epsilon citizens so he can gather them all in the plaza in order to draw out the Ileradores."

"Idasha's here!?" Suki screamed.

"We have to get to the Ileradores and warn them not to try and save the people he's holding hostage," Elia hastily suggested. "They'll learn about it eventually, and if they attack, all of those people will die."