"T-Thank you. I'm alright." Emil straightened out shortly after Hugh caught him. "It's a really clever defense, with how reflexively I use my abilities. Fortunately it doesn't hurt when I just think about it normally, or I imagine I'd be very debilitated by now!" Apparently even some mystic emotional onslaught could not dampen Emil's spirits for long. Especially when he just found potential hope.

He glanced at the door that Kyla left by. "The Reaper...if he's coming, I need to see him. Yes. I must."

With that, he started to make his way towards the exit himself.

Once Emil seemed to be able to stand on his own, Hugh let him go, but still sized him up for a second, making sure his friend was all right. He was more than willing to lend him his arm if need be, and just as willing to outright carry him if he couldn't stand.

"What is it?" Hugh asked as he watched Emil go off, alone.

Except that Hugh started off behind him shortly thereafter, insistent on remaining by Emil's side--now driven by a mixture of personal curiosity and concern.

"Wait--what? No, when the Reaper comes, we'll meet him," Hugh insisted a moment later, "Kyla and I. We can stop him at the gates."

Emil shook his head vigorously. "That would be suicidal. The Reaper is powerful, and he won't be in the mood to negotiate. He has defeated half the Terra clan singlehandedly."

uigh and Kyla's natures didn't really lend themselves to battle that much; certainly not to the degree that Gestahl, Toushikyo, or even Oboreru or Akizetsumei's did. As far as he knew, they were not that different from he himself: they had some tricks, but they were certainly not on the level of the Terra Clan, and therefore definitely not on the level of the Reaper either.

Hugh stopped walking when Emil pointed that much out. It . . . well, it might have been true, but what else was there? Who else was there? Illorex? He was powerful, but unreliable. Milos? Even moreso, yet a complete hermit. He mourned the loss of his compatriots and former companions, but he always returned home immediately thereafter. He wasn't even seen around Illorex anymore. Neither Hugh nor Kyla had heard from Milos since Akizetsumei's passing. Katalyna? No--the entire thought was inexcusable. No more members of the Terra clan needed to risk themselves. The Maestro? Perhaps, but if he were to fall, there'd be nothing left to keep their city veiled, perhaps guaranteeing the untimely deaths of even future Memories. Emil? He had neither combat experience nor the emotional capacity to handle it.

Makes you wonder what's even left to protect anymore.

Hugh knew, at the very least, that he and Kyla could do a lot when they were together. They'd never encountered a predator beyond their city that they couldn't beat when they were together. He could only hope that the Reaper was the same--and that perhaps they could stall him for long enough, or even weak him well enough, that others could finish the job if they needed to fall back.

". . . maybe so," Hugh admitted under his breath, "But you can't beat him, either, Emil."

"I don't intend to beat him."

It was a statement of fact as true as anything he'd ever said. Perhaps if he'd encountered the Reaper before now he might've stood a chance, but under these circumstances it was all but certain that he'd lose, and it may very well cost him his life as well. So that he intended to confront the Reaper sounded crazy or at least naive, but he was dead serious.

"Akizetsumei saw hope in him. Perhaps it was just...fleeting emotion. Perhaps not. But I need to see for myself if it's real."

In truth there were a lot of reasons he wished to confront the Reaper, including the part of him that he was relatively unfamiliar with that he'd only recently discovered. But more than anything he needed to see if the Reaper could truly be trusted with their hopes...

...or if he would merely be their end.