Unreality

34. Death

Why?

Why isn't he fighting back?! Virgil asked himself, deeply frustrated.

He had struck his former Commander three times already, giving him a bloodied lip in the process, yet each time Luther had simply proceeded to straighten his body up again and wipe away the blood or dirt resulting from the blow, all the while staring his former agent down with that same old disdainful look in his eyes.

That's not what Virgil wanted to see; he had had enough of those eyes. He wanted to see them contort with agony. The same agony he had felt when his former Commander had tried to incarcerate him for life.

But it seemed Luther was determined not to give him that satisfaction. He was no fighter, nor did he possess any combat prosthetics to be able to match Virgil and his cyberized arm in combat, so he didn't even attempt to fight back. And yet, he had still found a way to wound Virgil, even if not physically.

'Fight back, you coward,' the former Anima agent demanded angrily. 'What's the matter? You think you can keep the moral high ground if you don't? Don't make me laugh... This changes nothing! You didn't get your own hands dirty, 'cause you're a coward like that, but you were more than willing to have Mephisto rough me up so you could lock me up for life!'

And yet, despite all that, Luther remained still and silent, which just compounded Virgil's simmering rage, making him strike his former Commander once more, this time with a heavy swing of his cyberized fist, which hit Luther right in the face and made him fall down to the ground for the first time.

Once again, though, he got back up, albeit not as quickly this time, and his left cheek was now visibly swollen.

But Virgil was nowhere near satisfied. Especially since his former Commander's expression remained unchanged.

Why...? Why is he doing this? the former agent kept asking himself. Isn't he afraid? Or maybe... he thinks doing this will buy him time... until someone comes to his rescue? In that case, I should just go ahead and...

With that, Virgil released the blade in his prosthetic arm, and started taking slow but steady steps in Luther's direction. And he was grimly pleased to see that, this time, his former Commander reacted, taking steps backwards and away from Virgil with a tense look in his eyes.

'You sure you wanna continue with the silence treatment?' the former Anima agent asked as he cornered the retreating Luther, speaking with overt hostility. ''Cause you might not get another chance to hear yourself speak again.'

But before either of them said anything else, Luther's back finally reached the limestone wall of the cave, forcefully stopping his retreat, with Virgil almost closing in on him.

'Think, Virgil,' he spoke at last, in a voice as tense as his countenance, 'what will killing me here accomplish? Like I told you before, even if I die here, sooner or later, someone will come for you. Try as you might, you cannot hide from the world forever.'

In an instant, Virgil's flesh and blood hand grabbed Luther by the collar, as he raised his cyberized arm in front of his former Commander's face, with its blade within mere inches of his neck.

'So I'm doomed no matter what, huh?! Well then, I suppose that means I've got nothing to lose!' Virgil screamed out in Luther's now horrified face. 'So I might as well have the pleasure of ending your miserable life!'

'STOP!' a familiar voice suddenly cried out.

Both men turned their head towards the source of this cry, which had come from the entrance to that area of the cave, and confirmed that it belonged to none other than Mephisto, whose disfigured face was now maskless and exposed.