"Perhaps," he says, falling silent again. It's not a particularly honest answer insomuch they both know that the easier victory would have been true. Even without ensuring that Mizu bore some degree of the blast as well, there is no way he could have possibly moved away quickly enough from that explosion to avoid injury. It's also not a particularly honest answer because it's feigning ignorance of the implied question Mizu is posing to Vergil.
Why?
He can feel Mizu's gaze on him, watching him closely. Vergil doesn't hold doubts that his response isn't bringing about any satisfaction, and Mizu likely knows the word is ultimately meaningless in the ways in which it lacks any sort of truth or acknowledgment. He doesn't feel guilt or shame for offering something unsatisfactory, however. Another's satisfaction hardly matters to him and Mizu is no exception. So, it's not that motivating him to eventually continue in his response.
"Regardless of whatever abilities the fox spirit grants you, that explosive was reckless and stupid." Vergil doesn't condescend by talking to Mizu as though he were scolding a child. It's a statement of fact. It was reckless. It was stupid. He's certain deep down even Mizu is capable of recognizing that given that he already assumed the consequence could mean a quicker end to their sparring. "Simply because you decided to be a fool doesn't mean that I need to abide by it."
It's a fuller answer than his initial response, but it's still not the full of it because there is no unmaking the truth that it wasn't to Vergil's advantage in the slightest. It was foolish for Vergil to not to let Mizu reap the consequences of his choices. Had Vergil lost consciousness after the blast, the shrapnel from the grenade itself would have hindered his healing. Mizu also could have easily taken advantage of Vergil being unarmed and on his knees rather than waiting for him to regroup. It's not as though the other swordsman was so above fighting dirty, after all. So, in that decision to protect Mizu, it could have just as easily been over and done for Vergil. He would have been forced to yield one way or another had things gone a little differently.
So, it's true that Vergil has the ability to decide if he's going to let Mizu taste the consequences of foolish decisions. But that still doesn't provide a reason as to why his instinct wasn't to let Mizu be his own undoing. Especially when Vergil privately knows that being the protector of another... Well, that was a drive and instinct he gave up a long time ago. It's only ever been about his pursuit of power for decades, and thus, only ever ensuring his own survival. What became of others mattered little. The lives lost and broken because of him were negligible.
Then again, maybe that wasn't the conflict. Maybe Vergil didn't see it as his survival or even his defeat were on the line in that moment, and it really did boil down to refusing to let Mizu's self-destructive tendencies determine the outcome. Perhaps it was that selfish part of him that wants what he feels entitled to through his own power and merit that drove him to do it. Perhaps it is a fuller answer than it seems, and there's nothing more to it.
Vergil looks down at Mizu though, and he feels like a child clumsily trying to bluff his way through some predicament to an adult that already knows the truth, but waits to see when he will say it. Vergil can't intuit Mizu's mind, but his words feel so paper thin without Mizu having to say or do anything. He quickly averts his gaze with a mild heat rising to his face and ears, and he feels all at once frustrated. Granted, the frustration is without a specific target as this also appears to happen quite frequently after they spar. Something...lifts afterward. A heaviness that Vergil is so accustomed to bearing that it's only in its absence that he notices it. And in its absence, he seems to part with things. A little at a time and usually without his notice. But something about this makes him cling tighter to it, more unwilling to part with it. Not that he could exactly articulate why that is.
"I was not thinking of the outcome of the fight." It's the most he's willing or able to say on the matter. Vergil comes to a stop at the base of the apartment building and looks up at his balcony. He has a firm hold on Mizu that he's not in any danger of being dropped on the way up, but it's likely there will be a bit of jostling. "Hold onto me."
He waits until he feels Mizu take whatever amount of hold he can muster to minimize how much he's shifted around before leaping into the air. He scales a good portion of the way up before his feet hit the side of the building. Bouncing off the wall, he directs the momentum toward his balcony. His feet find the edge and without removing his arm as a support for Mizu's back, his hand finds the railing. He raises Mizu's knees to grab the railing with his other hand and nods for him to slide himself over the railing and onto the balcony on his own. Once Mizu is clear, Vergil pulls himself the rest of the way over the railing as well.
no subject
Why?
He can feel Mizu's gaze on him, watching him closely. Vergil doesn't hold doubts that his response isn't bringing about any satisfaction, and Mizu likely knows the word is ultimately meaningless in the ways in which it lacks any sort of truth or acknowledgment. He doesn't feel guilt or shame for offering something unsatisfactory, however. Another's satisfaction hardly matters to him and Mizu is no exception. So, it's not that motivating him to eventually continue in his response.
"Regardless of whatever abilities the fox spirit grants you, that explosive was reckless and stupid." Vergil doesn't condescend by talking to Mizu as though he were scolding a child. It's a statement of fact. It was reckless. It was stupid. He's certain deep down even Mizu is capable of recognizing that given that he already assumed the consequence could mean a quicker end to their sparring. "Simply because you decided to be a fool doesn't mean that I need to abide by it."
It's a fuller answer than his initial response, but it's still not the full of it because there is no unmaking the truth that it wasn't to Vergil's advantage in the slightest. It was foolish for Vergil to not to let Mizu reap the consequences of his choices. Had Vergil lost consciousness after the blast, the shrapnel from the grenade itself would have hindered his healing. Mizu also could have easily taken advantage of Vergil being unarmed and on his knees rather than waiting for him to regroup. It's not as though the other swordsman was so above fighting dirty, after all. So, in that decision to protect Mizu, it could have just as easily been over and done for Vergil. He would have been forced to yield one way or another had things gone a little differently.
So, it's true that Vergil has the ability to decide if he's going to let Mizu taste the consequences of foolish decisions. But that still doesn't provide a reason as to why his instinct wasn't to let Mizu be his own undoing. Especially when Vergil privately knows that being the protector of another... Well, that was a drive and instinct he gave up a long time ago. It's only ever been about his pursuit of power for decades, and thus, only ever ensuring his own survival. What became of others mattered little. The lives lost and broken because of him were negligible.
Then again, maybe that wasn't the conflict. Maybe Vergil didn't see it as his survival or even his defeat were on the line in that moment, and it really did boil down to refusing to let Mizu's self-destructive tendencies determine the outcome. Perhaps it was that selfish part of him that wants what he feels entitled to through his own power and merit that drove him to do it. Perhaps it is a fuller answer than it seems, and there's nothing more to it.
Vergil looks down at Mizu though, and he feels like a child clumsily trying to bluff his way through some predicament to an adult that already knows the truth, but waits to see when he will say it. Vergil can't intuit Mizu's mind, but his words feel so paper thin without Mizu having to say or do anything. He quickly averts his gaze with a mild heat rising to his face and ears, and he feels all at once frustrated. Granted, the frustration is without a specific target as this also appears to happen quite frequently after they spar. Something...lifts afterward. A heaviness that Vergil is so accustomed to bearing that it's only in its absence that he notices it. And in its absence, he seems to part with things. A little at a time and usually without his notice. But something about this makes him cling tighter to it, more unwilling to part with it. Not that he could exactly articulate why that is.
"I was not thinking of the outcome of the fight." It's the most he's willing or able to say on the matter. Vergil comes to a stop at the base of the apartment building and looks up at his balcony. He has a firm hold on Mizu that he's not in any danger of being dropped on the way up, but it's likely there will be a bit of jostling. "Hold onto me."
He waits until he feels Mizu take whatever amount of hold he can muster to minimize how much he's shifted around before leaping into the air. He scales a good portion of the way up before his feet hit the side of the building. Bouncing off the wall, he directs the momentum toward his balcony. His feet find the edge and without removing his arm as a support for Mizu's back, his hand finds the railing. He raises Mizu's knees to grab the railing with his other hand and nods for him to slide himself over the railing and onto the balcony on his own. Once Mizu is clear, Vergil pulls himself the rest of the way over the railing as well.