S641I3

…….

Faust is looking at Vergilius with an inscrutable expression.

... Vergilius.

Yes, I am aware. I won't be receiving everything I wanted from the contract. I will have to forgo my avarice, make compromises, or even give up a few clauses. I suppose I'll also be summoned to some bothersome meetings.

Yet I was compelled to come here nonetheless.

Ah, so much for my determination to follow the great flow. ... But I simply could not permit this stench, this sight to exist any longer. Even if it meant that I must swim against the flow.

Very well.

…….

Oi, I...

... I don't do shite like leaving a family behind.

At least, not... usually...

You are all awfully talkative today. Whatever happened to following orders without questions?

As you can see, I am not so weak that you must concern yourself with my well-being when there are much more pressing concerns. Besides, I know a more effective way of taking care of them.

And...

Vergilius looked down at the sword in his hand.

I once left this weapon in the care of a kid I knew. When I returned, he... who should have returned this weapon to my hands... was no more. This blade was all that remained, abandoned on the ground.

The Gladius.

My wish is that...

... no one will ever have to understand the meaning of that sight.

The endless onslaught of the Peccatula and the Wild Hunt began swarming toward Vergilius.

Family...

A word I haven't heard in such a long time. What a... blood-drenched word it is.

Blood poured from Vergilius' head like sweat and tears, seeping from where the crown dug under his skin.

And a mantle began to ripple into existence once again.

A mantle of blood.

<... Let's leave this to Vergilius. We have to keep moving.>