Roland stepped out of the containment chamber without looking back.
The heavy door sealed behind him with a resonant thud muting the low rumble of Caius's breathing inside.
Virgos leaned against the corridor wall, chains draped over his shoulders like ornamental armor. He looked profoundly unimpressed.
"You always get the interesting part." he said. "Meanwhile, I stand outside like furniture."
Agripha adjusted the feather of her scarlet hat and smiled. "Don't make dramatic furniture."
Virgos exhaled sharply. "I am wasted in hallways."
Roland walked past them, unhurried. The corridor curved upward toward the stairs.
The walls still bore faded murals of tropical animals and cartoonish savannah scenes, a relic from when this level had been part of a private zoological exhibit.
"This chamber" Agripha said lightly as they followed him, "was once used to contain animals. How fitting."
"The architecture remains efficient to this day." Roland replied.
Virgos pushed off the wall and fell into step. "So what is the next move? The intruders reached the underground. They will not stay there forever."
"They will ascend eventually." Roland said calmly.
Agripha studied him. "Are you certain?"
"Yes. My Deja Vu last night revealed their descent to the underground floor. Nothing further. The vision inverted absence into presence. It showed only that moment."
"And after that?" Virgos asked.
Roland's expression did not change. "After that, there was nothing."
Agripha's tone softened slightly. "That uncertainty must irritate you."
"It does not," Roland replied. "It clarifies."
They reached the old service stairwell and began climbing. The building held twenty-three floors in total. They were currently on the eleventh.
"Explain." Virgos said.
"If the vision ended at their absence below, then their next move lies outside predictive inversion. Which means I must rely on structure rather than foresight."
Agripha nodded slowly. "They will come for the civilians."
"Yes. The agents will search upward. They will assume the underground was misdirection as I planned. They will move floor by floor."
Virgos's chains clinked as he smiled. "And each floor has something waiting for them, right?"
Roland's golden eyes reflected the dim stairwell lights. "Traps are prepared across multiple levels. Environmental manipulation on the floors and structural choke points."
"What about us?" Agripha asked.
"Caius." Roland answered.
They continued ascending. Above them, twenty-three floors of concrete and steel formed a vertical labyrinth.
They returned to the mist-laden hall where the black wolf statue loomed behind the throne of corpses.
The torches still burned along the walls, their flames bent slightly as if reacting to something unseen.
Roland stood near the throne but did not sit. His hands rested loosely behind his back, posture straight, gaze unfocused as though listening to something far beyond the chamber.
Virgos stretched his shoulders, chains sliding over his coat with a metallic whisper. "I preferred the containment floor." he said. "At least something there tried to kill us."
Agripha circled slowly, her scarlet gown brushing the stone. "You always mistake conflicts for purpose."
"It feels honest and reasonable to give effort on something like that." Virgos replied giving a pose like a superstar.
She glanced at Roland. "Does it really feel like that?"
The mist coiled lazily around Roland's boots. The wolf statue's amber eyes glowed once more, then dimmed.
Agripha stopped beside him. Her tone lost its teasing edge. "What is your real purpose behind this Libation?"
The word hit differently in the hall, heavier than their earlier quarrels. Virgos tilted his head slightly. He did not interrupt the flow.
Roland's gaze shifted toward the far end of the chamber, where shadows gathered thickest.
"Purpose," he repeated quietly. "is often clearer in hindsight."
"That is not a clear answer." Agripha said.
"It is sufficient."
Virgos gave a small huff of laughter. "Tell us, there's none hearing here."
Roland turned his eyes toward them at last.
"If I told you everything, you would either attempt to stop me… or attempt to accelerate it."
Agripha held his gaze. "Which would you prefer?"
"Neither." Roland replied.
Virgos adjusted the chain at his shoulder. "After all, you never asked us to stay."
"I did not." Roland agreed.
Agripha's lips curved slightly. "How funny it is!"
Roland walked once more toward the tall window overlooking the opposite chamber.
The mist parted around him in quiet submission.
Beyond the glass, the rows of severed heads remained arranged with deliberate precision.
For a moment, he studied the collection.
Then his gaze shifted to the reflection.
The torches behind him burned steadily, casting light forward but in the glass, where his face should have been, there was nothing.
Only a pale, faceless silhouette standing where he stood. The heads behind the reflection seemed clearer than he did.
Roland did not step back or react. His facial expressions deepens as he felt like he was drowning into an ocean, in the whole darkness beneath... silently... helpless...
I once believed the world was something conquerable. A summit to stand on, a circle to complete your dreams... I told myself that if I could endure long enough, betray cleverly enough, I would become whole.
The world asks for everything. It does not negotiate. I chose my family and in doing so, I chose against the world. Yet every step I took to protect them widened the distance between us. What shines as an angel in my eyes may cast shadows as a devil in another's soul. But why do I care about it?
Because survival has a purpose. It smells like the gunpowder that clings to your hands after you kill someone who did not deserve to die. It smells like the cold air in a room where you rehearse your own funeral in silence. I killed countless people unwillingly, yet the unwillingness does not resurrect them.
The world does not complete you. It tests the shape of your values. And sometimes completion is not a triumphant circle, but a scar that closes imperfectly and still aches when the weather changes.
No, I do not speak to the world as a conqueror, nor do I claim vengeance. I speak as someone who has walked on its thorns barefoot and counted the cost of every choice. The world is not meant to be tamed, it is meant to be understood, felt and when you can, forgiven. I have loved, I have betrayed, I have killed. and I have survived. Let that survival be my message.
Yes, this... is not a completion of a person fulfilling his duty or doings... This is mine, the World's Redemption!