Valentina: These clothes fit you much better than that old Foundation uniform.
Semmelweis: ...
Semmelweis: Your taste in fashion is nearly as old as you are.
Semmelweis: I don't think it's going to do anything.
Semmelweis: If a change of clothes was all that was needed, I would have been able to use an Arcane Skill a long time ago.
Valentina: It will help.
Valentina: You're used to failure. So, it's important to give yourself hints of success some other way.
Semmelweis: I sincerely doubt this will work. But, if you insist, I'll try it again.
Semmelweis: One last time.
Semmelweis: Scarlatum!
Semmelweis: ...
Semmelweis: I failed.
Valentina: No, not yet.
Semmelweis: ...!
Semmelweis: What ...?
Valentina: Congratulations, Semmelweis. You just used an Arcane Skill.
Semmelweis: ...
Semmelweis focus is elsewhere.
She stares blankly at the dot of light before her, unsure if she can believe her own eyes.
In this moment, all that she can see is that light.
Had she really so easily accomplished this decades-long dream?
Valentina: How does it feel to use an Arcane Skill?
Semmelweis: ...
Semmelweis: ......
Semmelweis closes her eyes. As she reopens them, she pushes her excitement deep down below the surface.
Semmelweis: ... Your theory was correct.
Semmelweis: If this Disease were only an illness, I would not have gained the ability to use an Arcane Skill.
Valentina: Huh? I thought you would be a little happier, frankly.
Semmelweis: I don't have time to waste on unimportant emotions. There are more important goals.
Valentina: You mean like staying alive?
Semmelweis: Right. All of this will be fruitless if I don't live to use it.
Valentina: I like this simple and direct desire of yours. It's very convincing.
Valentina: Like you, I too think "staying alive" is a fitting goal. Perhaps the most fitting of all.
Valentina: Though I do not fear death, so much as the idea of missing out on life and all its interests. Death to me seems quite boring.
Valentina: Sadly, it is on that account that I felt obligated to join with Manus VIndictae.
Semmelweis: If you just want to make it through the "Storm," you don't need to join Manus Vindictae. The Foundation also has ways of surviving the "Storm."
Valentina: Oh, don't be stupid, Semmelweis.
Valentina: A boring, stuffy place like that is a place of endless torment for a long-lived species such as ourselves.
Valentina: Besides, I promised Lorelei that I'd help her take care of the Arcanist refugees.
Valentina: Your Foundation would never be able to accommodate so many "useless" Arcanists. Joining Manus Vindictae is my only choice.
Semmelweis: I confess, if I were you, I might make the same choice.
Valentina: So, let me make you an offer.
Valentina: I'll help you survive the transformation and become a true Infected.
Valentina: But in return, I need you to join us and become my strength.
Semmelweis: Join you?
Semmelweis: You want me, a captain of the Foundation's Field Agent Squad, to join Manus Vindictae? You can't mean that.
Valentina: Of course I do! Just to snatch one of their captains would be an achievement in itself to savor, but there's more to it than that.
Valentina: As it was for me, the Manus Vindictae are your best option.
Valentina: When it comes down to it, the Foundation is just a humanist group. And you are no longer a half-blood Arcanist who can't use any Arcane Skill. Now, among the Manus Vindictae, you would be valued.
Valentina: I can help you complete the transformation and in time, teach you Arcane Skills unique to vampires.
Valentina: Let us work together and secure a place in Manus Vindictae.
Valentina: What do you say? Are my terms acceptable?
Semmelweis: I admit, I find your offer quite tempting.
Semmelweis: But unfortunately, I cannot accept.
Valentina: Why? You aren't still holding a grudge because I infected you?
Semmelweis: No, it isn't that.
Semmelweis: The past is the past. I wouldn't let that affect my judgment.
Semmelweis: No, I'm refusing you because I know you have not told me the whole truth.
Semmelweis: The value I am demonstrating now is not worth the price you'd pay for me to join. You have another motive.
Valentina: I am well aware of your abilities. As a vampire having a capable "kindred spirit" on my side would be invaluable.
Valentina: And even if you're not on Lorelei's level, you remain one of the most interesting Arcanists I've ever encountered.
Valentina: And I tend to favor interesting people.
Semmelweis: Not good enough.
Valentina: Well, I think it is.
Semmelweis: Of course, you're the one making the judgment. I can't fault your reasoning.
Valentina shrugs her shoulders, and says no more.
Semmelweis: I have another question, is it true what Lorelei said about being able to cure me?
Valentina: You can't help but look at all the angles, can't you? Well, I've already agreed not to stand in your way if you go looking for her.
Valentina: She does have the means to help you, albeit in a different way.
Valentina: But I still recommend my plan, it gives you the best chance of survival. Besides, it's much more fun than Lorelei's way.
Semmelweis: I'll consider it, Miss Valentina.
Valentina: As you wish. She's currently somewhere in the Leopoldstadt—
*boom*
Valentina's words are cut off by the sudden sound of gunfire.
Semmelweis: ...?!
The gunfire outside the room grows more intense.
Valentina: Is it the Imperial police? No, the police wouldn't fire so rashly.
Valentina: Schwab, what's going on out there?
Thug: Who are you? Stop! Don't get any closer—ah!
There is a gunshot and a pained grunt.
Scoundrel: Shoot, damn it!
There is short, intense exchange of fire.
Then an eerie silence.
Semmelweis turns to the door.
There is a pool of liquid forming from outside. In the dim light it appears crimson red.
The door clatters from a heavy blow, the lock barely holding on.
The crash comes again, and again, until the would-be intruders seem to give up.
Semmelweis: What the hell was that?
Valentina: Heh, that was certainly something wasn't it? I've been needing a bit of fun—
Valentina: The police, no? Military, doubtful? A counterintelligence agency? No, no, and no.
Valentina: Perhaps someone is acting out of schedule ...
Valentina walks toward a table in the bar. Forcefully flipping it over to reveal a hidden passage beneath it.
She opens the passage and gestures to Semmelweis.
Valentina: Well, don't just stand there!
Just then, a voice outside cries out.
Soldier: Captain! Bring the Schwarzlose!
Valentina: "Schwarzlose?" I wonder what that could be? Sounds like a person's name.
Semmelweis: Schwarzlose ...
Semmelweis: S**t! That's a Schwarzlose heavy machine gun! They must be the Imperial Army.
Semmelweis: But would they really use a heavy weapon like that in the city? Have they gone mad?!
A resolute order bellows out from beyond the door.
Soldier: Fire! Fire! Fire!
There is a brief moment of silence before the room explodes into rattling eruptions of sound and fury. Punching through the walls of the building as if it were paper.
There is an unexplainable look of realization in Valentina's eyes.
But she doesn't speak. Instead, she pulls Semmelweis over and pushes her into the hidden passage.
The next moments slow to a near frozen crawl.
Each detail etched in her mind with crystal clarity.
The trajectory of each bullet as they cut through the air.
Valentina's mouth as it hangs open—like she is about to say something.
The light that flashes in her eyes and the corners of her mouth as they turn up into a peculiar smile.
Then the bullet that emerges from her skull.
Semmelweis: Valentina!
She yells vainly already knowing there is no trace of life left in the body before her.
The long-lived vampire lies slain, with that strange smile still wrenched on her lips.
Semmelweis: You d**med thing. You didn't even finish telling me where to find Lorelei!
Soldier: Keep firing, don't stop! Make sure everyone inside is dead!
The gunfire outside the walls grows more intense.
The gunfire outside the walls grows more intense.
Before she enters the tunnel, she notices a crack in the bricks and the sky outside.
Semmelweis: Is that ... oil paint?
Streaks of paint fill the sky like a work of Van Gogh. Its somber colors seem ready to drip from the dome of the heavens at any moment.
Almost simultaneously, the Foundation communication device she is carrying starts to ring.
Communicator: Attention all units, the Timekeeper has issued a "Storm" warning.
Communicator: The "Storm" will arrive in 24 hours.
Communicator: All personnel must make their way to the nearest station and return to headquarters immediately.