Time elapsed, and everyone who hadn't died was occupied with recovery. The loudness of chaos subsided, and now only misery rang in the city. The demon hunter ranks were reduced significantly. Civilians lost their loved ones. Homes collapsed to rubble. In the wake of Cain's assault, Lucius found it within him to check in on everyone he knew. When he checked on Vera, she was busy tending to the wounded demon hunters and civilians at the hospital, but she shot him a smile from a distance- a smile he returned.

Then he went to check on Noel, who sat in a patch of grass. He expected the guy to have his signature upbeat attitude, but when Lucius approached him, his face bore a look Lucius had never seen before: pain. He could tell from Noel's face he was hurting-not because of his injuries-but on the inside. A heart-shaped locket was clutched in his hands, and he stared at it with glossy eyes.

Without a word, Lucius took a seat next to Noel. He glanced at the contents of the locket- a picture of a young boy, no older than six. Lucius had never seen that kid before. He wondered if it was his younger brother.

"I'm a failure," Noel muttered to himself, eyes glued to the picture.

"Why?" Lucius asked.

"I told myself I'd hunt demons to make things right, but who am I kidding? I'm too weak," he replied with a voice clearly trying to hold back tears.

"Who... who is he?"

"My precious boy. He had no mother to depend on, and I had no idea how to raise him. But, I promised to protect him no matter what."

It dawned upon Lucius that the boy was not Noel's younger brother, but his son, and a grave look was etched into his face. He could not begin to fathom that type of pain, and yet he sat next to a man that lived through it. A smile grew on Noel's face as he reminisced on the times he spent with the kid, but a tear rolled down his cheek once he remembered what was taken from him.

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"And I couldn't even do that. Demons took the only thing I cared about from me. I couldn't do the one thing I promised my son. What kind of father am I?"

Noel tried his damnedest to avoid sobbing with a clenched jaw, a quaky breath, and a stream of tears running down his face. Boundless guilt gnawed away at him.

Lucius rested his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"A good one, Noel. A good one. Any man that truly loves his son is a good enough father."

"I just miss him, y'know?" he muttered.

"I know. But I won't let you beat yourself up about it. You can't call yourself weak because of something that happened in the past. You're strong now. I saw how you were fighting out there."

A chuckle came from Noel despite his tear-stained face.

"For real?"

"Yeah, you were the best. The demons were scared. If anyone's badass, it's you. I'm sure your son would be proud of who you are now."

A chuckle from Noel turned into a laugh.

"Thanks, man. Hey, what happened anyway? I was sure were all gonna die."

Lucius thought back to his battle with the Demon of Violence. It was surreal in retrospect. His words and fists struck out of uncontrollable-but necessary-rage.

"Cain happened. He's behind all this. Or- he was. He's gone now."

"Oh, nice! I didn't think you'd be the one to put that bastard down. Good jo-"

"But... so is Virgil."

A moment of silence was shared between the two as Noel struggled to process what he just heard. Virgil? The second-in-command? One of his only friends? Dead?

"... What?"

"Cain killed him," Lucius explained with a distant stare towards the ground.

"No," Noel denied with a look of despair plastered on his face.

"It's rough for me, too."

Noel let out a cry of anguish before burying his head in his hands. With a deep breath, he lifted his head back up and asked:

"Can we at least see him? To pay respects?"

"Sure. I'll show you."

And so, the two got to their feet and Lucius led the way to where Virgil was killed; the side of a stone-crafted street. They were able to make out splatters of blood and a crimson-colored object, but not the second-in-command.

"This was where he was killed."

"I don't see him..." Noel muttered.

"Me either," Lucius responded with worry.

Hoping that his body was somewhere close, Lucius picked up the pace and approached the site of death with Noel, but shock struck their faces simultaneously when the only thing they saw was his heart. Virgil was not there.

A somber voice from behind the two startled them when it spoke: Michael.

"He's gone."