Team Effort

Van Salvatorre disappeared, taking two of the creatures he called vices with him. He left Aldrich, Levi, and Veliona to face the last one, which also happened to be the one wielding multiple katanas.

"Why does it have katanas?" Aldrich wondered out loud.

"That might be my fault." Levi admitted.

Veliona moved forward as the vice hurtled at them and opened a rift. The katana in its outstretched arm went into the rift and exited through another one right behind it, plunging the blade into its own back.

"Quit the small talk and get moving!" Veliona yelled at them.

So they did. The vice had stopped moving for a moment, surprised by its own weapon buried in its back. Levi took advantage of that and threw a punch, sending it flying and knocking most of the katanas out of its grasp.

He and Veliona exchanged a quick look. With a nod, she opened another rift right under his feet, with its opening above where the vice had landed. He dove into it and landed on top of the vice, keeping up the offense. Veliona opened a rift for herself and followed after them.

Leaving Aldrich standing alone with the medallion. He glared at it. How was he supposed to fight with this? Was Salvatorre playing a prank on him? 'Use your imagination,' he said. Well, right now he'd like to have a huge sword, but all he got was this stupid thing.

Aldrich felt the medallion grow heavy. He let out a small cry of surprise when he was pulled down by its weight. But he wasn't holding the medallion anymore; in its place was a large claymore.

"Okay, now that is cool." He said under his breath. He couldn't lift a sword that size easily, though. Maybe something a little smaller?

As soon as he thought it, the sword morphed into a lighter backsword. He tested its weight in his hands; it was just right.

From afar, Veliona yelled at him. "If you're done standing around, maybe you could actually do something!"

She opened a rift under him. Brandishing his new weapon, he stepped into it. And came out the other side, sword first. Levi was currently pushing back against two of the vice's arms with his own. Aldrich sliced cleanly through its arms, and this time the cuts didn't heal. The vice let out an ear-piercing shriek.

Levi dropped the dismembered arms. "Cool sword."

"Thanks."

The vice, still shrieking and now focused on him, attacked. He held out his sword in front of him, and it changed again, this time into a shield, right before the vice slammed into it.

"Really cool sword." He heard Levi reaffirm.

Using his whole weight, he pushed it back with his shield, which then changed back into a sword. He could get used to this.

He turned to his two allies and gave them a small nod. "Let's finish this."

They returned the nod. Between Levi and Aldrich's constant attacks and Veliona supporting them with well-placed portals, the vice was being pushed back easily. But it wasn't dying.

"Guys," Levi said. "I can hear something. Coming from its chest."

Its chest, Aldrich realized. That must be its weak spot. He changed his sword into a halberd and gave Veliona a signal. Then he charged right at it. The vice readied itself for the attack, but right before he made contact with it, Veliona opened a large portal which exited behind the creature instead. He drove his halberd straight into its core. It let out one final shriek before turning into dust and dissipating.

Aldrich lowered the halberd, breathing heavily. "We- we did it."

They didn't reply, though. He looked up to see them both staring at something else. He followed their gaze to find more of the vices heading towards them. A lot more.

Van Salvatorre reappeared in front of them. "Ok, so slightly bad news. It turns out all of the replicants have been corrupted as well. Even Jūro, I really loved that guy. Nice halberd by the way, looks like you figured out how to use it."

Then he was gone again, a few of the vices chasing after him. Aldrich turned to Veliona. "I've got an idea. You make me some portals, and I'll run them all through one after the other."

Veliona nodded and cut one open. Aldrich charged through, halberd first. He impaled the first and kept running, into another portal, another impaled. Soon there were four of them on his halberd. Slowly they dissipated.

But there was one missing, he realized. He was sure there had been at least five of them.

Behind him.

He flipped around and came face to face with the last vice, its arm stretched out and reaching for his face. It was too close to use his halberd, and there was no time to switch it to a different weapon.

But Levi came in from the side with a forceful punch straight to its face. He slammed it into the ground with a yell. Aldrich let out a sigh of relief, then he changed the halberd into a longsword and stabbed it into the creature's core.

Levi stood up straight as it disappeared. "We did it."

"Thanks to me, of course." Veliona gloated. They hadn't noticed her walk up to them.

"It's your fault we're here in the first place." Aldrich retorted.

Veliona's voice caught in her throat for a second. "I never asked you two clowns for your help in the first place."

The sword turned back into a medallion in Aldrich's hand. He gripped it tightly. What an amazing object. It might not be as powerful as a virtue of his own, but it definitely leveled the playing field a bit more. He pocketed it.

"It's a good thing we did. You might have died without us. Seeing as that Saito Hasashi guy never showed."

Veliona's look of outrage faded after his comment. "He was here, actually. But... it seems he's gone now."

Van Salvatorre popped back in at that moment. He had sheathed his katana. That meant the rest of the vices were probably dead now. He looked around at the empty room. "You managed to take them all down, impressive. Not that I ever doubted you, of course."

"Okay, first of all," Aldrich turned towards the man, his voice growing louder. "What the heck was all that?"

"Would you believe me if I said I have no idea?"

They weren't buying it. Van Salvatorre raised his hands in subtle defeat. "Fine, fine. I'll tell you what I know. Our dear host Yuiitsu, rest in peace, was suffering from an ailment of the soul."

"His soul? What does that mean?" Levi asked.

Van Salvatorre continued. "You see, virtues are a direct manifestation of their user's soul. With it, well, you already know the cool stuff you can do. But using it isn't without risk. A gate between the body and soul is opened whenever you use it. And that allows... other things to pass through as well. You guys getting what I'm saying?"

They shook their heads.

"What I'm saying is, something passed through Yuiitsu's gate and came in direct contact with his soul. And then subsequently corrupted it."

"Wait, that can just happen?" Aldrich asked, alarmed.

"Well, not normally, no." Van Salvatorre answered. Then added in a more serious tone. "Whatever touched his soul, it was bad. Really bad, to corrupt it to that level."

Aldrich had to take a second to process what he had heard. Maybe it was a good thing he wasn't virtued. Whatever had done that to Yuiitsu wasn't getting anywhere near his soul.

"You seem awfully fine for a person who just had to help kill his friend." Veliona questioned, breaking the silence.

"It was really more of an employer-employee relationship really." Van Salvatorre shrugged.

Veliona looked confused. "But earlier, in the carriage on the way here, you said you were doing a favor for a friend."

Van Salvatorre was silent for a second, hand on his chin. "Oh, he wasn't the friend-..." He stopped talking all of a sudden. "Actually, I think I've said too much. Never mind all that."

He was being cryptic as always. Aldrich was used to it by now, though. "I guess now that that's all over, we just... go home?"

"It's getting late. We can leave tomorrow." Levi suggested.

"In this house?" Veliona asked. Aldrich and Levi shrugged. "It's kinda creepy sleeping in the home of a man we technically just killed."

"Do you have a better idea?"

Veliona placed her arms on her waist. "Actually, yes, I do. In case you've forgotten, I am the crown princess of Yves. I have a lot of connections."

Aldrich and Levi exchanged confused looks.

Veliona strutted past them in the direction of the building's exit. "Get your things, boys. We are going to Yumekawa Imperial Palace."