The One Who Lords (after battle)
It hurts... it hurts... it hurts...!
Yes, I love it when humans let their blood boil... But this... this is too painful...!
This guy keeps regenerating... no matter how many times we tear him to pieces... Ngh...
Haah... this... I don't know if we can...
The mental fatigue finally got to Gregor and Sinclair, and they collapsed to the ground. The strange environment of WARP trains was proving to be a significant boost to the Bloodfiend's regenerative ability.
The battle trudged on without an end in sight. At this point, we've already been fighting for much longer than we had at the K Corp. border checkpoint or at the basement of Wuthering Heights. The Sinners had all grown much stronger since then, but even they were reaching a breaking point.
…….
Don Quixote continues to wildly pummel the Bloodfiend with her lance, breaking, stabbing, and crushing him every time a body part regenerated.
I am... I am so very hungry...
Ridiculous! Thy hunger is no justification for this massacre thou hast wrought!
Shut up! Y-you, you, you don't understand.
You don't know how awful it is to - I survived for two hundred years on that disgusting... horrible - N-no, NO! I don't even want to think about it!
Shut up! Be quiet! No, I'm... I'm sorry, I'll be good... Please, please, please let me have just a sip... just the smallest sip... Please...
Nngh... it won't matter... how many times you stab me...
I shan't stop until all of thy flesh and bone and organs are crushed into a viscous, shapeless mush, never to become whole again!!!
But... the Bloodfiend's regeneration is so powerful that he's recovering as fast as Don Quixote is destroying him.
<He's regenerating at an insane rate... We can't...>
Agh... My Kindred... my Child!!!
I have given thee new life, invited thee to this banquet...!
So do something! Your responsibilities! The blessings of your Father must be repaid, no?!
Wh-what can I do...?
Find their weakness, break their anchor...! Make them kneel and grovel before me in desperation, just as you had...!
…….
W-wait, I think I've got an idea...
Sasha began looking around wildly, surprised by Cassetti's sudden command...
It's that the way they fight... reminds me a lot of the way we prosthetic-using Fixers fight.
…?
... Just as Prosthetic Fixers slowly lose their sense of self-preservation, their limbs becoming no more than tools to be replaced...
... these idiots act with such abandon, as if they have multiple lives to burn through.
<…!>
With nothing to protect, they throw themselves wildly into battle like moths to a flame...
And... heh heh... forget to look after what's really important. Like this little thing.
With one of her remaining arms, Sasha picked up from the ground...
... the master keycard Faust showed her in one of the previous cars.
…!
Don Quixote! Stop her, now!
O my Father... I offer this gift to you...!
Gah...!
Don Quixote immediately leaped at the Fixer, but one of her arms struck her away with great force.
Ishmael and Meursault, who had been holding Cassetti down, were no match for his strength without Don Quixote's fury. The Bloodfiend threw them both to the side and grabbed the keycard.
This is the key to the first class cars, my Lord... With this, grow your army of Bloodbags... For the kingdom's prosperity...
<No...>
Cassetti examines the master keycard with clear interest.
Without that keycard... we'll be trapped inside this train for thousands of years until it reaches its destination.
Dante...
I believe that I have tried my utmost to overcome this adversity...
... without access to Faust's knowledge and intelligence.
However...
With our loss of the master keycard... the uncertainty of this circumstance has been greatly exacerbated.
At the origin of this plight...
Faust took a deep breath, as if she was about to take a deep dive into the source of all this trouble...
... must be my overreliance on Faust.
<…….>
From what I can tell, Faust has always been operating based on information she received from "Faust." So a situation like this, where she has to make decisions on her own, must be unfamiliar to her.
... But Faust is an exceptional Sinner with or without"'Faust."
<I've been thinking the same thing about myself, actually. That I might've been relying too much on that... perfect Faust.>
<But even without "Faust," you've still guided us masterfully after analyzing the information we brought you.>
…….
<Maybe... uncertainty itself doesn't always have to be a problem for us.>
<Remember? "Thus the lack of plan itself becomes the plan". You said it yourself.>
... I see.
Indeed, among many, I am a Faust that believes in uncertainty.
Our loss of the master keycard is but one of innumerable uncertain variables in the equation.
The constant is, however...
... that the Bloodfiend is just as desperate as we are.
Thus the only option that remains at present is to... compromise.
You there... Looks like thou art the one who's been regenerating your friends...
Stop... stop doing that, alright? Don't heal a single one them.
Or I'll smash your precious key to pieces!
M-Manager Esquire...
Compromise...? To compromise with a villain as vile as that cur...!
I didn't have the time to regenerate Don Quixote's severe injuries just yet. And the rest of the Sinners were already unconscious...
The only Sinner who could still move and talk... was Faust, whom I just rewound the clock for.
<... Yeah... Let's do that.>
Very well. Then... Cassetti, why don't we move this conversation to a different location?
I alone will accompany Dante to this negotiation. Let me make my intentions clear now: Dante and I will not attack you there.
There is no doubt in my mind that Cassetti must also be exhausted by the unending barrage of attacks from Don Quixote and the Sinners.
So, Faust's suggestion that we move this conversation to a different place without the Sinners must've sounded pretty sweet to him.
J-just you two, huh?
Yes. As you are aware, the freight car is immediately adjacent to this one; that is where we will further discuss what we each have to offer to one another.
That... that clock must be thy monarch then, hm? And thou art one of the retainers.
Correct.
Very well... this will be a royal debate, then! It is only right that a member of royalty talks to no one else but the one who is his equal!
Manager... Esquire...
<We'll be back in a minute... Don Quixote.>
Thus we left the incapacitated Sinners and Don Quixote, who watched on with hollow, despondent eyes as we walked away. We carefully made our way into the freight car.
<So Faust, why are we doing this in the freight car again...?>
Dante... this will be my first attempt...
... at a "gamble."
<What!?>
With that, the door closed shut behind us.