kept not waking up, so I tried calling you by your name for a change. Ah, the memories it brings back. Back to the matter at hand, though, you say nothing's wrong, but..." Vlad curled his lips. Elisabeth narrowed her eyesâ€”if he had something he wanted to say, she'd just as soon he said it. All of a sudden, something fell from the corner of her eye. The Torture Princess quickly wiped it away with her finger to try and pretend it hadn't happened. However, Vlad wasn't about to let it slide so easily. "...it looks to me like you're crying." "...I'm sure I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about." Elisabeth's reply was cold and blunt. The thing that had fallen was something most unbefitting the Torture Princess. In fact, it was utterly unacceptable. But if it had, indeed, fallen... ...then it must have fallen on behalf of someone from her dream. Someone inside a crystal, who could no longer cry themselves. "So this is... Ah." Elisabeth took another look around. The place they were in was most peculiar indeed. For one, everything she could see was hard. That was due to the boulders piled up all around them. Kaito and Hina's crystal was narrowly wedged in between them, and the two of them were sleeping peacefully in the darkness of the boulders' shadows. However, there were also a series of sunbeams streaming down on them from overhead. By following the golden rays with her gaze, she could make out the heavens far, far above. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the sky above was clear and sunny. Its deep blue contrasted against the two mountain ranges that towered high up into it. Their peaks were misshapen, evidence of the magical explosion they'd been subjected to. The boulders piled around them were the remnants of those shattered peaks, but before the explosion, the area had been home to some humble abodes and horribly mangled corpses. The alchemists who lived there had willingly sacrificed themselves to give birth to the golden Torture Princess, and now they were all buried beneath the boulders. The area had been destroyed, just as they intended. In short, Elisabeth and Vlad were at the alchemists' hidden village. The birthplace of Jeanne de Rais. "So we reached the destination safely, then... I visited this place but once, after hearing of it from Jeanne and coming in hopes of learning something from the magical traces here. And what's more, that was over two years ago. Impressive, I should think, that I made it here successfully under such conditions. I really am a genius... Wait, what of my wound?" Elisabeth turned her gaze over to her shoulder. When she did, she found herself struck speechless. There was a bandage wrapped around it. Whoever tied it had evidently tried to do so carefully, but their results were clumsy at best. Elisabeth lifted the bandage to check on the wound. It was healing quite nicely, and the flesh had successfully knit itself back together. However, she clearly didn't have Vlad to thankâ€”pointless acts like "wrapping it in a bandage, just in case" weren't exactly his style. But then...who? Elisabeth fumbled through her vague memories. Indistinct flashes of the final bits rose to the forefront of her mind. A sad face disappearing. A familiar figure vanishing. Reaching out and being unable to find their slender fingers. Trying to beg them not to go but being unable to speak. Everything growing hazy. And then, for a moment, feeling like she saw a shadowy figure. However, that too fluttered away into the darkness. "A shadowy figure...fluttering? A figure...in tattered rags, perhaps?" It was unclear how much was dream and how much was reality but either way, everything came crumbling down. "No, it can't be." There was only one person she could think of who fit that description. But Elisabeth shook her head. He was dead. He had cast himself into the abyss, sacrificing himself to fulfill the role allotted to him by his mother. Never again would he return. Suddenly, a deep voice rumbled out. It belonged to a black dog, and it rang with a deep, intense boredom. "So what do you intend to do, foolish child?" "About what, Kaiser? What is it you're asking me?" Elisabeth responded to the vague query as befitted such a question, and the supreme hound slammed his tail against the ground in irritation. As cracks splintered across the boulders near the impact site, he roughly gestured its supple black mass toward the crystal. "It should go without saying that I'm asking what you plan to do with that. Such an ugly ruckus, this business about handing it over and smashing it and so forth. As always, humans are utterly incapable of making sound decisions." Normally, the human condition lay beyond demonic understanding. However, that particular beast had come to know hatred, and as such probably had a better handle on the rebels' motivations than most. However, he wasn't finished. "And that goes for you, too. Mankind's shallow deeds are misguided and fraught with error, each and every one of them. All this nonsense comes far too late. "Eventually, the end of days would surely come once more. "Geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, fu-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, geh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh." When he laughed, his voice sounded almost human. Their imminent crisis was only the tip of the iceberg. A true, final end was coming. It was an ominous, despair-inducing prediction and to it, Elisabeth gave a resigned nod. Now then, it's time for a story. A tale of reality told as would be a fairy tale. A tale of God and Diablo. Such was the manner in which Vlad eloquently began his speech. "Three years ago, the world very nearly met a tragic end." However, that seemingly immutable fate was altered by a single individual. After burdening himself with God and Diablo, the boy fell into a deep slumber at the World's End. Thanks to his deeds, the people of the world managed to avoid the apocalypse. The greatest good for the greatest number was, surely, the greatest outcome. One could say they all lived happily ever after. But whenever someone's story ends, there are some things that yet remain. With its lease on life renewed, the world continued on. But the bells would eventually toll on a new curtain's rise. "...For that is the way bells and curtains are. And oh, how they toll! God and Diabloâ€”entities with the power to destroy and rebuild worldsâ€”exist. And now, all three races are now fully aware of their existence!" Now everyone knew that there was a way to destroy the world. The true menace, the true threat, was the survivors' changed perceptions. After all, the true value of information lay in its ability to set people's minds in motion. And now that everyone knew that the world was something that can be ended, the end of days was no longer a pipe dream or a legend. It was oh-so-very real. "'The end of days cometh, and destroying the world is an attainable feat.' With that fact proven, people will undoubtedly come out of the woodwork to try it for themselves. And in a sense, they won't even be doing it maliciously. For you see..." "'What kind of villain sees a chance to turn the world on its head and doesn't take it,' was it?" Elisabeth took over for the closing remarks, and Vlad nodded in agreement. She was self-aware enough to realize what was going on. The mob's decision had been mistaken, but the Torture Princess's response had amounted to little more than grandstanding. On a long enough timeline, temporarily hiding Kaito Sena in an attempt to keep God and Diablo safe or destroying the vessel to return them to the ether would both end the same way. At the moment, the strongest thing mankind could summon was the Kaiser, apex of the fourteen demons. But now that it had been conclusively proved that the reconstruction happened, it was only a matter of time before more and more people began trying to summon God and Diablo. Having a clear goal allowed mankind to reach it in far fewer years than would otherwise be required. Astronomic as the odds were, having God and Diablo under control like this was still far better than having someone else summon them and return the world to nothingness. One way or the other, though, ruin would eventually come. No matter what option they chose. After all, this world was but an unwanted child born from a single woman's despair. As such, it was in its nature to eventually end. Every option led down the same roadâ€”all they were doing was delaying the inevitable. And so to save this world in the truest sense of the word... ...would require freeing it from the God and Diablo system altogether. The Kaiser, an entity above all that, scoffed at the folly of man. "Your human perspectives are too puny to grasp it all, I imagine. But from my vantage on high, it's plain to see that even with the end of days averted, it will eventually come to pass all the same. Two points in time, all but overlapping... And in that sense, my previous unworthy master, Accumulation of Seventeen Years' Pain, is the greatest dunce of you all. And yet... "...I find it hard to imagine him being that blind." The final words escaped the Kaiser's mouth as little more than a murmur. His tone betrayed a surprising amount of confidence in Kaito Sena. Vlad's unpleasant smile widened. He opened his mouth, ostensibly to poke fun at the Kaiser. Wanting to avoid having a fight break out, Elisabeth made to stop him. At the last moment, though, she found something more pressing to comment on. "Now, would you be so kind as to tell me why you followed us here...Lute?" "My deepest apologies. The thing is, I was actually at the World's End back then as well." A timid voice she was well familiar with rose up in reply, and a copper-furred wolfman made his way out from behind the crystal. Neither Vlad nor the Kaiser offered any reaction. Apparently, Elisabeth was the only one who hadn't noticed him. She clicked her tongue, annoyed at her own oversight. Perhaps she really was going soft. Upon hearing that, Lute's tail curled into a ball. He clearly thought it had been directed at him. However, Elisabeth waved her hand to dispel the misconception, and Lute's flattened tail and ears returned to their usual state. Still nervously cowering a little, he went on. "I must say, that battle was a thing of beauty. But right as I was watching in secret, utterly transfixed, the saint fired off her unauthorized attack, and things immediately got chaotic. She must have been concerned for Madam Izabella's safety, I imagine. Anyhow, I took advantage of the confusion to slip into the teleportation circle. As for why..." "How you got here is beside the pointâ€”so long as you've no intention of turning on me, that is. This reason of yours is what concerns meâ€”" "And you want to know what he plans on doing now, I imagine." A response came, but the voice it belonged to wasn't Lute's. Lute bowed low and took a step backward. A panther-headed beastman strode forth to take his place. His night-hued frame was adorned with a cloak of white wolf fur and a military uniform of the finest make. His fur was short, his figure was lean, and he carried himself with majesty and grace. Elisabeth narrowed her eyes. Even she knew who he was. He was nowhere near as renowned as the first imperial princess, Valisisa Ula Forstlast the Dynast, or the second imperial princess, Vyade Ula Forstlast the Wise Wolf, but he too had been named as a member of the imperial family by the Three Kings of the Forest. As far as age was concerned, he was Valisisa's junior