Gallus at first flinched back slightly at Dar-tzesa's reaction. He was going to try and calm her. However, he quickly turned his head to Meesei as she gave the order and Gallus knew that he had to finish it. He placed one hand under Dar-tzesa's chin and plunged his dagger into her throat, immediately silencing her shouting.

"Yizan-Lei, Gideon," Gallus repeated in Dar-tzesa's death throes. He was breathing quickly. He couldn't bare to look at Dar-tzesa's eyes anymore. "I'll help him. I promise."

Dar-tzesa's suffering had gone on long enough. Gallus curled his lips and drew his dagger forcefully back to let the last of Dar-tzesa's life flow free. She was unresponsive in seconds.

With Gallus facing away from Meesei, it almost seemed inhuman to see him immediately go about severing the rest of Dar-tzesa's neck with his dagger. This was why his next actions when he was finished seemed rather sudden. The dagger caused a dull crack to sound as he cut between the vertebrae--the last strands connecting Dar-tzesa's head to her body--and then the dagger made a metallic clatter as it was released onto the table. Gallus quickly released all the air in his lungs and hunched his head forward. He brought the unbloodied back of his wrist up to the bridge of his nose and drew his dagger hand to the edge of the table to support himself, leaving red streaks beyond the pooling blood. A moment of stillness and silence passed, blood dripped from the fingers of his raised hand.

Gallus had killed before. He had seen blood and decapitations before. Never before now had he felt this way about it. He sniffed wetly, fully betraying his emotions.