Vitale dreaded speaking with the pompous bastard, but he knew he had no choice. He would've much preferred having a nice, long night's sleep and a filling breakfast before having to deal with someone as trying as Rens Aquiladessi, but life was not a generous master.
It was a curious thing, the human condition. Normally, little things such as the Casterian slipping him underhanded threats wouldn't have bothered him – especially since he knew nothing would come of it. Vitale was sure he might've tried, if he were dense enough to, but there were not many in this realm with the forethought and fortitude to see the alchemist's death to the end. Rens was not the first and would hardly be the last.
Nikolai, on the other hand, took a much different approach to get to the same end. The prolonged and winding one that would run the alchemist ragged and exhaust him. With Nikolai, survival came to the one who can endure the longest.
