“Reveal yourself my -” No, that wasn’t right. Dyllan could feel it in his gut. That wasn’t the way he summoned his Rage. Not anymore.

“Stay true, my Rage.” Crimson red flames gathered to form a rusty, cleaver-like sword stained with blood - the same weapon his shadow had turned against the people and things Dyllan cared about. When he gripped its handle, he could feel a prickly, chaotic, and destructive energy flow through him - the same energy he’d felt in the strikes of his shadow’s attacks. However, now that he held the energy in his own hands, now that he steadied his breathing and his heart, he could feel the full nature of the energy. It was more determined than he’d expected, and far less malicious.

“Stay true, my Loyalty.” Once more, crimson red flames gathered, this time forming his shield - his Virtue. The energy carried in his shield was familiar - it was noble, clean, flexible, and steady… but now that Dyllan saw it clearly and fully for the first time? It also felt… hollow. Hollow and sluggish. Somewhere between a car without an engine and words without action. It was an idea, a belief, a principle - but it lacked force behind it.

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Dyllan took a deep breath and started talking - though he wasn’t sure who he was talking to. It could have been Andie, Cedric, himself, or even his Nightmare. Maybe even no one at all. Maybe he was still just sorting through some things. “I used to think refusing to fight made me a pacifist.” Dyllan’s Rage began to glow, then melted into a bright red light that slowly and hesitantly swirled around his left hand. “…but that just made me a coward, afraid of the kind of person confrontation could turn me into. No. It was refusing to hurt people -” His Loyalty melted down into red light, and began to mirror the light from his Rage - swirling around his right hand in the opposite direction that his Rage orbited his left. “- that was what made me a pacifist.”