>>5978761"I wonder, will people even recognize you with the face you have now? If memory serves me well, I wouldn't even know you from a street beggar if you took off that helm of yours..." Guts chuckled to himself, inching closer to Griffith's face as Lucio crawled over to his father's chest, tugging at his chin to be a bit less cynical about his decision on whether he should avenge one that had his crimes undone by a higher power.
"Tell you what, Griffith. I'll be the bigger man between the two of us and turn a blind eye to the last 3 years. Much like my goals were before you decided to sacrifice us all. I plan on keeping you alive and well treated until you die of old age. Let the world know who the true leader of the Falcons was, with none of the arcane bullshit you did to erase public knowledge of your wrongdoings."
Guts' smile grew even wider as he saw Griffith's eyes turning into mere dots, terrified by the idea of not being mercy killed.
"If there's one thing I learned by what you did to my and my family, it's that there are much worse things one man can do to another than merely killing them. Seeing Roderick, Vlad and I towering above you every day as we crate a world better than Falconia could ever be under your command feels like the torture even worse than anything you could inflict on me now. What do you think? Speak now or forever hold your peace."
Griffith's eyes fidgeted as Guts basked in his superiority over his old master. Given all that he's went through thanks to Femto, you were surprised that he didn't just stomp his head into a pulp.
What you did not expect to see was Griffith's neck turning to hold a spear he found near some soldier's corpse, quickly lunging onto Lucio in desperation to retaliate for the taunting, attempting to both take his anger out on the boy that rejected his soul, but the man who rejected his dreams.
"WHOA!" Guts managed to save Lucio by quickly lifting his arms, yet a cracked spot in his destroyed berserker armor armor left him wide open to receive a stab through the heart.
A silence of shock takes the four of you as you turn your head to realize what had just happened after hearing Griffith's limp body fall as he snapped his arms and joints just from the strain of pushing the lance onto the black swordsman. How could you not foresee this? Your precognition should be sharper than ever--
The realization strikes you like a cold hand crushing your heart. Your astral powers were left in heaven back where the idea of good remained. As you saw your own reflection in Griffith's helm, you realized that your eyes were not silver anymore. You became a regular human. Yarilo had ascended, Vlad Santana was still here.
Griffith's throat made a few weird noises as he gasped for air, appearing to be a a hoarse laugh, though his low voice was suddenly deafened by Guts, who not only remained standing, but started laughing even louder without coughing up any blood.
