'Times Like These'

!

Nggah!

(Low growling).

Projekt Red, don't kill her.

......

*Hack* *hack*...! Gah!

Is it her?

Yes, definitely. It's her scent.

*Sniff sniff*

Ick. Fake. She is no wolf.

But the scent is real.

The scent of a true wolf. The first true wolf.

True wolf?

You... filthy cub!

Don't move.

Mmf, how can I...? My muscles won't even respond.

Can... can you control me?

She tried to use a wolf technique, a bite she learned from wolves.

She wants to fight back. I can sever her spine, and paralyze her.

No need for that.

Ok.

Wait, you...

I know you... I finally found you...!

Traitor... you traitor! I found the traitor!

And you are...?

Ilia's daughter, Lyudmila?

Shut up! You have no right to speak my father's name!

Ursus destroyed all the lab, and all the scientists.

Is that what you think?

How dare you?!

It was you! You're the disgusting traitor who sold out my father with Sergei, who sold out all the scientists!

......

Your hair is the same color as his.

...What are you talking about? Why would you...?

Don't move.

Agh!

You're wondering why I have no reaction to your accusations?

Because you're scum!

Scum. And what type of scum should I be?

Should I be a coward, out for wealth and luxury...? Or should I be cruel and calculating, doing whatever it takes to achieve my goals?

The me, standing here before you, does it fit your image?

I never thought... I never thought you were a heartless, cold-blooded woman!

Did Sergei give you a heartfelt confession before you killed him?

...What are you...?

Did you know he was Alex and Misha's father?

Hah... Hahaha...! Alex helped me find him!

...Reunion took in Alex, killed his father, and hunted down his sister.

Hah...

Projekt Red, let her move.

Ok.

...What do you want?

To give you a chance to kill me.

A chance? Do you know what you're saying?

You're giving up on life? You want to repent, like Sergei, who sat on top of Chernobog after selling out his colleagues?

...Oh you'll regret it. You'll regret everything you ever did!

'No regrets,' I always say...

But actually, there is one massive regret I will share with you today.

——But I'm afraid it has nothing to do with your father.

I'll kill you. I'm going to kill you!

*Hiss* Haah...

'Swallow the bitterness of the dead'...

Fog?

It's Arts.

No, not fog... This is smoke.

The nervous system stimulates a smoke-emitting organ in the oral cavity. It is indeed an Originium Art that relies on this Infected organ.

You stand there talking your mouth off... You're beyond saving. Are you so scared you can't even show it?

Why did you betray my father? Why did you betray the scientists?

Why?! Tell me why——

'Director Kal'tsit'?!

Lyudmila, I only barely made it out alive myself.

You expect me to believe your bullshit?

Hah. Your father read you 'Truth and Justice,' didn't he?

——!

To give a five-year-old a book like that... Ilia really had no sense.

But he loved that book. One summer day, he carried you, and the book, past the window, the bushes orange against the sun. He made you wave to me. You pouted and turned your head.

Enough!

That night, he asked me: what if we just sealed up the sarcophagus and never told the Ursus about the machines inside? Would we be able to save more people?

Would we be able to prevent the Ursus from using these machines in battle?

Are you saying all of this to... to confuse me?!

Ilia was one of the scientists who came up with the plan to seal the sarcophagus. And his convictions influenced his entire life.

You have his fighting spirit. But there was more to him than that...

Lyudmila, you call me a traitor, you want to kill me. You could do that, but——

When you choose violence, you are doomed to one day meet something stronger than you.

Hah hah...

Could you be more arrogant? No one, no caster can penetrate my fog. You have no idea where I am.

You're going to die screaming. I need you to die screaming.

...... (Sticking out her tongue).

For the scientists, for the infected, I have to kill you. You Ursus puppet! You piece of trash!

Do I look like a caster to you? I am Infected though, you got that right...

Come, Mon3tr.

......?

...Huh? What... what's that?

H- how? Your spine?!

I guess you can see through the fog, huh?

How...?

Ack...! Wh- what are you...?!

What is that?!!!

I am not a caster. I've never relied on Originium Arts.

Go, Mon3tr.

(Happy hissing).

Nnng... Gaaaagh!

What is it?! What is that thing?!

Aaaaaah! Don't touch me! Let me go! Let go of meeee!

Why can't I pierce its shell? Aiee! Don't touch me! Get away!

Annihilate...

Aaaaaahh!!

...the falling object above her.

(Dissatisfied hissing).

You're too excited. The building is going to collapse. Don't let her get crushed.

......

Mmmg......

......No......

(Low humming).

Just kill me.

What?

...You can obviously kill me easily! Don't tell me you're the type who plays with your prey!

If I can't kill you, what do I have to live for?

Just remember, even if I'm dead, I've still cursed you forever!

...Are you truly prepared to die?

......

Do you want to die?

......*gasp*......

If I am your traitor, will you feel better after killing me?

...No more... talking! I'll kill you! I will!

Ilia was my student, and my friend.

Your father was one of my finest researchers. His dedication and selflessness could have pushed Ursus at least five years into the future.

I don't want to hear anymore! Why do you insist on telling me this stuff?!

You do want to hear it. Because you've always doubted yourself.

You never let Sergei explain himself. So I'll do it for him.

——I don't betray people. Not even Sergei.

He was indecisive, but not greedy.

The Ursus authorities had his newborn son and daughter. He gave up your father's location to save their lives.

And now, Alex and Misha are dead. He wasn't able to save anyone, in the end.

If... If I had gone to save Misha, maybe she and Skullshatterer... would still be alive.

N- no! No way! Look how powerful you are! Why didn't you save my father?!

(Threatening growling).

......

Because I couldn't.

I couldn't have convinced your father to leave the institute.

Lyudmila, I sent you to Siracusa before I left Chernobog. And yet you went back.

Oh, you're so like your father. Sometimes, willpower trumps time itself.

You would always return to Chernobog, just like you would meet me here.

......

So this is all meaningless? Everything my father did, everything I did... was for nothing?

No. The researchers died to protect our secret.

Ursus to this day has no way to analyze the contents of the sarcophagus. They've given up, and sealed off the installation.

Now, there's just a little energy left to harness, powering the core of Chernobog.

If I betrayed anyone, it's the Empire of Ursus.

Your father's efforts meant something. Even if Ursus has long since covered it all up, you can remember.

I will remember.

(Yawn).

...But all that you did? What was that for?

Ursus purged the entire institute and slaughtered every scrap of compassion in any of their scientists. The real traitor was the Empire itself.

Look at you. You've killed Sergei, you've killed a man who couldn't protect his own children.

Now you're in Lungmen. If you and your Infected friends really manage to take over the city, what will you do to the uninfected?

Massacre them all? Enslave them? Exile them to the wilderness and let them die of exposure?

......I......

Or cut them all with Originium, turn them into Infected, spread your pain to them?

...Or will you peacefully coexist with them?

Could you do that, Lyudmila? Could Reunion, as it is now, do that? Is that how you want to build your Infected nation? Or is that how you want to fight Ursus?

If the latter, why come to Lungmen? If you seek to terrify your enemies, what can you do to be more terrifying than Ursus?

(Kal'tsit, she is confused. She is scared. She wants to run.)

......

Mon3tr, return.

Is that okay?

She can hear me.

'Crownslayer,' your hate as well as that of your movement has been used and abused, toyed with.

Think of your father. Remember what Ilia taught you.

Think, on whom do you want revenge?

The one leading you down this path of terror and assassination... Your leader is not a sane person. Your leader has no heart.

A leader true to her ideals would not let someone else die for them, much less let someone commit murder on their behalf.

Run. Leave this place. Take a different path.

Take a path that can truly change this world... If that's what you want.

Her scent is gone.

Did you always want to see her? Why not kill her?

Should we kill a homeless hyena, even if the home isn't real?

A hard question. I don't know.

Projekt Red, do you think killing me would make her happy?

No. She is in pain.

We are not the law. We cannot judge people. We have the power to kill others, but no power to claim it is right to do so.

If she took pleasure in the act of murder, I would have killed her on the spot. Without question.

I know. She is not happy. Her breathing is erratic.

She has now become a virus. A unique strain spreading 'unease' among the Infected fanatics of Chernobog.

...How many years does a person live? And how many paths can they take? We spend more time blind than we do seeing the truth.

But then, seeing the truth and making a choice are two different things.

When she awakens from this dream of collective revenge, she will leave Reunion. But even so, Sergei's blood, and that of the people of Chernobog, will always be on her hands.

Projekt Red... When you make a choice, there is no going back.

I understand. I will do my best. I will only kill wolves.

Good girl.

Do you remember that scent?

I remember.

What is it like?

...Not bad.

It's a bloody smell, but not like you were just saying, with the heart and stuff.

How silly. Talulah is a Draco, how could she be a wolf?

Hmm.

Time to go?

Yes, let's go.

...The temperature's dropping. We're running out of time. Let's step up our efficiency.