Faya: "What happened? Are you okay? Did the doctor say something...? You can tell me. Please, I'm here f --"

  Virno: "JUST GO!"

  His voice tore through the memory.

  Virno: "I gotta deal with this by myself, alright? We'll talk some other time. Not today."

  The words echoed.

  Then -- another voice.

  Rel: "Enough...! Let Ballo handle it before we all die... Please..."

  Virno: "Sorry, but I can't back down now... I fucked up. I can't just turn my back and leave. But you guys need to get out of here -- take the girls and go. They deserve to be saved."

  He could still see Rel's face.

  The horror in his eyes. The way his hands trembled, knuckles white.

  What had happened to him after the battle with Lacerbus...?

  And--

  Anya: "I-I... don't even know what to say! This is so great, Virno... I don't know what I'd do without you -- "

  Virno: "... It's fine. I told you, we don't need him. We'll manage on our own."

  His mother.

  Anya.

  If he had known their final moments were so close --

  He would have cherished them even more.

  Sadly --

  Virno: "Too late."

  The world shifted.

  He stood at the Cradle's river, waving his mother's building goodbye as she drifted off into her next life.

  Virno: "Sorry, mother... I couldn't be there for you in the end."

  The river swallowed it whole.

  He turned his back on Rel.

  Battle-wounded. About to die.

  Virno: "Sorry, Rel... Turns out I did more harm than good to you, when all is said and done."

  He watched Faya fall.

  Tears streaming down her face, she plunged into a river of poison.

  Her mouth formed his name, but no sound came out.

  Virno: "Sorry, Faya... I couldn't protect you. If only I was stronger --"

  Barr's laugh echoed from the darkness.

  Virno: "Barr wouldn't have poisoned you."

  Jargen and Punjo drank themselves to death.

  But not with alcohol.

  Gallons of blood sloshed in their bottomless tankards.

  Their eyes were bloodshot, their breath reeked of iron, and they squealed like pigs as they chugged and chugged and chugged--

  Virno: "Jargen. Punjo."

  His stomach turned.

  Virno: "Sorry. Sorry for pushing you back into the violence you tried to leave behind."

  Sadducee. Ballo.

  Bound in chains.

  Their heads hung over wooden boards.

  A black guillotine loomed above them, dripping with corrosive tar.

  The blade fell.

  SPLATTER.

  From the open wounds, insects erupted.

  Shiny. Countless. Crawling from within.

  Virno: "Sorry, Sadducee. Sorry, Ballo."

  His hands trembled.

  Virno: "You both died so I could live."

  A whisper.

  Virno: "If only I'd taken your advice more seriously..."

  The final door.

  A creaking wooden office.

  Inside--

  His father.

  Hanging from the ceiling.

  Virno: "Sorry, father."

  His breath shook.

  He tried.

  Tried to find the words to make it his fault.

  Tried.

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  But nothing came.

  Nothing.

  His jaw clenched.

  His pulse roared.

  Virno: "WHY?!"

  His voice ripped through the dream.

  Virno: "WHAT'S THE GODDAMN POINT?!"

  GASP--

  He woke, drenched in sweat.

  The room was silent...

  ... A house of ghosts.

  His breath came in ragged gasps.

  Virno: "What does any of that matter now...?!"

  He stumbled out of bed.

  Virno ripped through the house, tearing down old sheets, discarded cloth.

  Everything piled onto the bed.

  Virno: "I keep looking to the past. Crying over all my fuck-ups."

  His hand brushed against an old drawer.

  Blindly, he grasped inside--

  His fingers found charcoal.

  He threw it onto the pile.

  Virno: "And nothing ever changes."

  The sword lay beside him.

  A single decisive motion.

  He raised his hand--

  Then brought it down mercilessly.

  The blade sank into his palm.

  Deep. Searing. Dripping.

  Blood spilled over his fingers.

  He grabbed the Lion's mask.

  Virno: "If they are to live peaceful lives --"

  A red smear spread across the cold grey surface.

  The mask drank his blood.

  The color stuck unevenly.

  Virno: "If they are to live normal lives --"

  He wrapped the mask's eye slots in cloth.

  A blindfold.

  He stained the remaining fabrics with a mixture of blood and charcoal, until they were deep brown, reddish, dirty.

  He wrapped the sword.

  Layer after layer after layer.

  Virno: "Then I cannot stay."

  The final pieces.

  The scraps bound around his limbs.

  A hood, a scarf, a new silhouette.

  A man who looked like he belonged in the slums.

  A man who looked like nobody at all.

  Only one thing remained.

  Virno reached for the Lion's mask.

  He placed it over his face.

  The dirty, bloodied mask locked into place.

  Virno: "But I will return."

  He took one last glance at his home in the slums.

  A breath.

  Then -- he walked away.

  Punjo: "Oy... Oy!!!"

  Tyssa: "She's moving!"

  Dmitri: "O-of course she is! I told you—!"

  Rel: "Shut it."

  Rel smacked Dmitri across the back of the head.

  The four of them stood clustered inside Faya's room.

  The antidote had been administered.

  Now -- they waited.

  Faya stirred, her fingers twitching.

  Her eyelids fluttered.

  Breath shallow, but steady.

  A moment later, her head turned slightly toward them.

  Punjo grinned.

  He clapped a firm hand against Rel's back.

  Punjo: "Aye. Now -- now we can go."

  Tyssa: "Already...?"

  Punjo: "'Course. Kept 'em waitin' long enough as it is. Lassie seems like she'll be fine."

  He turned toward the door, Cabdan's journal in hand.

  Punjo: "C'mon. Let's get ourselves some treasure."

  Tyssa followed, but before they could leave --

  Dmitri: "W-wait! What about me?!"

  His chair scraped against the floor as he shot up.

  Rel pushed him right back down.

  Rel: "Sit."

  Dmitri: "B-but --"

  Rel: "If you want the antidote, that's our deal. Remember?"

  Punjo chuckled.

  Punjo: "Ye'll be in good care, Dmitri... But I wouldn't push Rel if I were you. Lad's got one hell of a heel."

  Rel smirked, tapping his steel-heeled boot against the floor.

  Rel: "I'm just a pushover, really."

  His gaze drifted toward Faya.

  Rel: "Our steel-heel expert's the real deal."

  Tyssa sighed.

  Tyssa: "Give her our regards when she wakes up, Rel. Okay?"

  Rel nodded.

  Rel: "'Course. You two take care now --"

  Voices from down the hall:

  "HEY, YOU CAN'T BE HERE!"

  SMASH.

  A gust of wind. A loud crash.

  Another voice (panicked): "What the hell is that thing?!"

  The sound of heavy footsteps.

  Rel, Punjo, and Tyssa stiffened.

  Punjo: "Damn... Better not be one of yers, Dmitri!"

  Dmitri gulped.

  Dmitri: "I-I swear I didn't call anyone! P-please!"

  Punjo placed a hand on the door handle.

  Punjo: "I'm goin' ta see what the ruckus is about. Be back soon --"

  But before he could open it --

  WHOOSH.

  The door flew off its hinges.

  It crashed into the hallway.

  Punjo: "What t-the --"

  A towering silhouette stood in the doorway.

  A bloodstained Lion mask.

  A single hand holding something wrapped in dirty fabric.

  Before Punjo could process what he was seeing, the figure extended the wrapped item toward him.

  An offering.

  Punjo: "Who the heck are ye?!"

  The figure repeated the motion.

  A silent demand.

  Take it.

  Punjo hesitated.

  And then -- a voice.

  Muffled, distorted behind the mask.

  Virno (muffled): "When von Virtus returns... Be sure to give this back to him."

  Punjo's eyes widened.

  So did Rel's.

  Rel: "V-Virno?!"

  He rushed forward.

  Rel: "You know him?!"

  The figure stared at him.

  For a long, heavy moment -- silence.

  Then, finally --

  Virno (muffled): "Says he wants a rematch someday."

  The weight of the words hit Rel like a punch to the gut.

  Virno (muffled): "A draw's no way to end a proper fight."

  Rel's lips parted slightly.

  Then -- he smiled.

  He grasped the wrapped object.

  It was heavy.

  Too heavy.

  And yet -- the masked figure had carried it effortlessly.

  Rel: "Then tell him to hurry up and come back."

  A pause.

  His grip tightened.

  Rel: "We're waiting for him."

  The masked figure turned.

  He walked back down the corridor.

  Virno (muffled): "Better work on your sword game, then."

  Rel's brow furrowed.

  Virno (muffled): "Gettin' beat by some newbie in your own arena..."

  A slow, deliberate pause.

  Virno (muffled): "How the mighty fall."

  Rel's stomach dropped.

  His fingers twitched.

  The tone -- the cadence --

  His eyes widened.

  His grip slipped.

  The sword hit the floor.

  Punjo: "Oy, are ya good, lad?!"

  Rel: "No way -- !"

  He bolted out the door.

  His head whipped down the corridor --

  Empty.

  Nothing.

  No one.

  Rel: "Virno?!"

  His shout echoed.

  Only silence answered.

  Punjo bent down, straining as he tried to lift the sword.

  Punjo: "Damn, that's heavy...!"

  He glanced at Rel.

  Punjo: "So... I take it ya believe that guy? Virno's still alive...?"

  Rel's grip tightened into a fist.

  His voice was steady.

  Rel: "... Yeah."

  He stared at the empty hallway.

  Rel: "And he's coming back. Someday."

  His gaze lowered.

  Rel (thinking): "But why give the sword to us...?"

  A beat.

  Punjo grinned.

  Punjo: "What's the matter, lad?"

  Rel met his gaze.

  Then -- a realization.

  Rel: "You know, Punjo... I'm thinking of learning how to wield a sword."

  Punjo's grin widened.

  Rel: "When you come back with rivers of coin... we should find someone to teach us."

  His eyes burned with something new.

  Rel: "Not just me. The people of the slums, too."

  A pause.

  Rel: "It's about time we learned to stand up for ourselves."

  Punjo clapped his hands together.

  Punjo: "Aye, lad! Sounds like a great plan ta me!"

  Punjo handed the wrapped sword back to Rel before turning toward the door.

  Punjo: "Tyssa, c'mon."

  She nodded, stepping forward.

  Rel and Tyssa crossed paths, brushing shoulders as she made her way out.

  But she hesitated.

  Tyssa: "Take care, Rel...!"

  Her voice was light, but her smile was real.

  Rel: "You too. See that everyone comes back in one piece, yeah?"

  She lingered, as if waiting for something.

  Rel caught the meaning.

  He smirked, leaning the sword against the wall.

  Then, without hesitation, he opened his arms.

  Tyssa's eyes widened -- just for a second -- before she stepped in and wrapped her arms around him.

  Tyssa: "I'll do my best!"

  The words were bright, but her grip was firm.

  Rel held onto the moment a little longer than he meant to.

  Then, with a deep breath, they parted.

  Tyssa re-joined Punjo at the orphanage's garden. Some men were laughing at an injured comrade, as another berated them.

  Angry man: "You didn't see what we did! It was this huge monster with the face of a Lion, in a flash it wooshed 'im into the wall!"

  The other men kept laughing, as though they didn't believe him.

  Injured man: "Bah...!"

  Punjo and Tyssa joined them.

  Together, they set out to find Cabdan's hidden fortune, so that the people of the slums could live better lives --

  Worthy --

  Lives.