Vincent's point of view instantly changed. Before him now was a familiar mansion. This mansion was where he grew since he was young, this mansion was where he had always lived.
"—Agh…"
Vincent groaned in pain from the wounds received from the dark angel. There were some knives still stuck in him which from slight movements caused throbbing pain. The good side was that because of the knives there were not a lot of blood coming out of his wounds.
However, he had a slit on his body caused by a sword which caused him to bleed out.
… If only I can heal myself…
He may be able to cast healing magic. However, he can only cast it unto others. Which means he cannot heal himself with the healing magic which he currently possessed. Indeed, his healing magic came from his gift, but the required level must be obtained in order to create or learn a new spell which can heal himself. In contrast, he was almost to the required level however unable to reach the exact level before the recent disaster.
In spite of the pain, he compelled himself to stand up. He was trembling as he stood but that wasn't enough to make him give up.
…Too far… I thought I teleported inside the mansion…
In his current condition, he may not have a lot of time live if he doesn't receive immediate medical attention. Thus, he cast a teleportation spell towards inside his mansion. However, instead he got teleported outside and a few distances from the door.
This was one of the drawbacks of teleportation magic. He cast teleportation from very far away, from Russia to France. With that, the teleportation will lose its accuracy and the caster won't be teleported precisely where he wanted.
Vincent had heard about something like this. However, there wasn't enough concrete evidence to support this drawback because there wasn't really much a lot of people that were high level enough to cast teleportation magic – well, he never knew anyone high level as himself.
However, now it appeared that drawback really exist.
He weakly walked towards the door leaving trails of blood on the pathway as he moved.
When he finally had the doors in his reach, he immediately leaned on the door to help him in standing up. He felt like he didn't have enough strength to even open the door. If he did attempt to do just that, he felt he might just use up all of his strength and end up dying. Thus, there was only one option left.
He reached for the doorbell and pressed it several times at a quick pace, with that he can get the attention of all the people inside. After that, he felt his strength had fully left him and he fell to the ground. However, he tried to keep his eyes open.
After a few seconds, the door opened and there revealed a butler.
"S-Sir?!"
Unable to hold the urge to keep his eyes open. He shut his eyes and there he lost consciousness.
***
Vincent has awoken, he felt he was lying on something soft and some sheets. He opened his eyes and saw a familiar ceiling which immediately caused him to realize he was in his room.
"I thought you would wake up at any moment."
A familiar voice reached his ears.
Vincent rose up and he turned his head to look at the source of the sound.
"Edward…"
His Butler, Edward, was sitting on a chair as he held a book. It appeared he was reading.
After Vincent spoke his name, the butler placed the book on the small round table and stood up.
"Good morning, sir."
"What time is it?"
Edward took a look at his watch.
"It's already past nine in the morning."
"Hm…"
Vincent took a look at his body which was supposed to be heavily damaged. There were some scars on his body, but it seemed he had already recovered.
"Thank goodness we got to treat your wounds immediately last night."
Vincent once again looked at Edward. Then Edward continued.
"You were in a dire state. You were about to die, luckily one of our maid's healing spell managed to heal you, although it was barely managed to survive."
One of the maids in the house has the ability to cast healing magic. However, she can only cast low tier healing magic due to her being at a low level.
It might have required a lot of work to heal Vincent.
"I see…"
Silence fell upon the room. Vincent looked down with a facial expression as though he was looking afar and in deep thought. Also, in his eyes, it could be seen he was upset. No, it was probably more than upset, perhaps grief or sorrow, or probably all of that.
Puzzled, Edward decided to ask Vincent. It may not be a nice subject, even so, he was curious. In addition, Vincent looked like he was holding all his feelings. It might be a wise choice to ask him and relieve him of his negative feelings.
"What happened Vincent?"
Vincent shrugged as he heard his question.
Vincent slowly shifted his eyes to Edward with widened eyes. Then, he recalled the dying moments of his allies. It was as though everything flashed before his eyes and as if he relived those moments again.
He lowered his head once again. All of the sudden, he breathed shakily and his eyes seemed to be trembling.
"… All of them… Maya, Zoey… John …everyone… they're all dead."
"A-All, you say…"
Edward was not so shocked by that fact. That's because he had already thought that might be the case. After all, Vincent alone came back. Even so, he still felt grief and surprise that they had indeed died.
"Dammit!!"
Vincent slammed his fist on the bed as he shouted in anger.
"I, I couldn't even do anything to save them…"
Then Vincent burst into tears.
"— I couldn't even fight back…"
He clenched his fist tightly and his fist trembled because of the force he was exerting.
"— We couldn't even scratch him…"
Those words piqued Edward's curiosity. The words which Vincent spoke that they couldn't even scratch the enemy were unbelievable. The team was supposed to be powerful and not many people could reach their level, so how could they not damage one target?
This made Edward ask in his mind what kind of monster did they face.
Vincent rubbed his eyes. Then silence fell upon the room.
That moment seemed to be an opportunity to ask a question, so Edward did.
"What do you mean by couldn't even scratch him? What kind of enemy did you face?"
"I-It was… an angel…"
Edward was somewhat surprised by what he heard. However, he kept quiet and listened to Vincent.
"It was an angel with black wings… H-He was… overwhelmingly powerful… we didn't have a chance…"
Vincent clenched both his hands.
"It's all my fault! It was my order… T-That's why all of them died… If only I… I… I didn't make the call to fight."
After a couple of seconds, he continued
"B-But I only made that decision because I thought there will be hope for the captives, also a hope that we can succeed no matter what the enemy is… The hope that we will prevail…But, but it's still my fault they died… I'm so stupid!!"
"Even though they died, I believe they accepted it earnestly. They understood your decision. I believe they didn't blame you for anything."
"Then you're wrong!"
Edward was shocked, it was the first time Vincent shouted at him like that.
"Brian cursed me! He blamed me, he resented me! I'm sure the rest also felt the same way. If only I hadn't been the leader… If only I didn't make the call… That man was right, I was being selfish."
Vincent slammed his hand on his leg as though he was trying to hurt himself. No, that was certainly the case. He blamed himself and started to hate himself, that was why he hurt himself.
"Hm. Even so, I'm sure not all of them hated you for your decision. I know there were some who didn't blame you. But, are just going to give up?"
Vincent turned to look at Edward.
"Are you just going to let everyone's sacrifice go in vain?"
Vincent's face twitched. However, Edward gave him so heed and continued.
"You survived, are you just going to stop what you're doing?"
Vincent lowered his head in thought.
"Aren't you supposed to keep going? If not for the world, then for the sake of your fallen comrades. Don't you think they fought to the end because they hoped to prevail even though the chance was close to nothing? Hence, shouldn't you also keep fighting to the end?"
After a couple of seconds, Edward continued.
"Again, I ask you. Are you just going to give up?"
Vincent clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.
Vincent recalled his last moments with John and there he realized.
John gave his best to hold back and restrain the angel from attacking him. John told Vincent to escape giving no regards to his own life.
Vincent recalled John's words to him.
And there he finally understood John's actions. John placed his hopes on Vincent. Hope for the future.
Then Vincent intently looked at Edward.
"No. I won't waste my comrades' sacrifice. I will hunt those monsters no matter where they are!"
Edward smiled at Vincent's resolve.
Then Vincent continued.
"I will give no mercy to those who have none! I won't stop. I will protect this world! I will banish those monsters from this world to a place unknown!"
"So, you're going to use the ancient artifact?"
"Yes."
"Then, do you have any idea how to find them?"
"I believe I have an idea how and the quickest method. I'm confident I can find them as soon as possible. I shall not rest dearly until I find them."
Edward was surprised at Vincent's eyes. The pair showed conviction, confidence, and mixed with hatred and rage. Those last two emotions were improper to feel. However, Edward let them be because he thought perhaps it was for the best.
Sometimes those negative emotions are just what drives a person to strive hard for his goal. Especially for the goal to save the world, those emotions might perhaps prove necessary to succeed.