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PLAYER
Player name: Panda
Contact: amandaleewilliams@gmail.com/
areyouokaypanda
Characters currently in-game: n/a
CHARACTER
Character Name: Howard Link
Character Age: 20
Canon: D.Gray-man
Canon Point: Chapter 221
History: DGM Wikia
Link's wikia history cuts off during chapter 217. He runs from the scene of Kanda and Apocryphos' fight and eventually turns up to intervene during a conflict between the millennium earl and the 14th (currently in control of Allen Walker's body). He steps in very calmly, uses spell strips and ceremonial needles to bind the earl (a ridiculously difficult thing to do), and grabs the 14th/Allen and Johnny to make a quick getaway. They land on a rooftop nearby and Link uses Atuuda to heal the 14th's wounds before revealing his orders and intention to protect the 14th with his life.
Personality:
Link is a very serious individual with a tendency to impose strict regulations upon himself and those around him. Not surprising considering his upbringing. An orphan taken off the street and raised by the Vatican to be a ninja assassin? Yeah, that’s gonna cause some issues with spontaneity and free-thinking. Rules are rules and aren’t meant to be broken... except sometimes when they are. He has been known to bend the rules on occasion when the situation merits it. These exceptions usually only happen during pretty extreme circumstances (like allowing Allen use of the Ark during the Level Four’s attack on Headquarters even though the exorcist had been forbidden to use his abilities without higher authorization), but they prove that he has the ability to make his own rational judgments outside the guidelines of his job, especially in situations where innocent lives are on the line. Link depends on rules and paperwork and limitations to frame his world, but he’s capable of adapting to new situations.
So you'd think that behavior like that would mean he's proper and reserved pretty much all the time, right? Well, you'd mostly be right, but he's a man with a little tsun to him now and then. He's the sort of guy who really wants to remain calm and collected at all times, but he's still a little too human for that perfect facade. He maintains the mask more easily around strangers or his higher-ups (usually), but that becomes a little difficult while around people he's more familiar with, especially around Allen Walker. He tends to default to a neutral scowl, but annoyance shows pretty plainly on his face, and he's been known to snap a bit when he's feeling irritable. He's not above shouting matches depending on the situation, nor is he immune to flustering during awkward or embarrassing situations.
Link is very intelligent (smart enough to defeat a chess champion in a very high pressure situation), but his smarts are clearly based in books and formal education, leaving normal social skills somewhat lacking outside of what's required to maintain professional relationships. He is, however, absurdly loyal, especially to his immediate superior, Malcolm C. L'vellie, though it’s not entirely clear whether this loyalty is inspired by his own personal sense of duty or something more complex in their shared past that we’re not yet privy to. All in all, Link is strict, often humorless, and can be a major pain in the ass, but he’s not nearly as harsh as you might expect someone in his position to be. He is very much a Lawful Good Paladin, but current canon is quickly forcing him to reexamine just what laws he should be relying on.
As a member of CROW, his purpose is not to defeat the enemy (akuma, to be specific), but to protect others from them, and Link is perfectly willing to perform his duty to the end, even if it should prove to be his own. That sort of unthinking devotion to his duty can be blamed mostly on that super fun upbringing of his, but he exhibits a passive sort of concern for others that only grows as he spends more time with Allen. While acting as an inspector for Central, his original assignment was to shadow Allen Walker as a mere observer, but that silly boy has a way of changing people, and Link? Not immune. He's watched Allen overcome so many challenges and suffer so much, and eventually keeping that detached view of him became impossible. Somewhere along the line, without Link even realizing it at first, "observing" became "care taking".
We’re treated to a new facet of Link’s personality when canon reveals the fate of the other members of CROW that he grew up with. Knowing the abominations that they’d become because of the orders he had followed when delivering a piece of akuma egg to Central was devastating. The Thirds were his support system through childhood and one of his very few bonds, and to know that he had a hand in the experiments they underwent (and, by extension, their eventual corruption by the millennium earl), however unknowing, forced him to reexamine his place in the Order and in the world in a way he had never thought to before. That new point of view is what ultimately leads to several extreme decisions that change the course of his life, the most notable of which is the sacrifice that allows Allen Walker to escape from prison after the battle at the North American branch. Link’s memories of his confrontation with Apocryphos and his decision to allow Allen to escape were wiped, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was willing to die not for the good of the Order or Central, but specifically for Allen Walker, a heretic and host of the enemy. When he wakes up twenty days later, his death faked and his mission altered, that concern is still apparent, along with much confusion over the true intentions of the Order and his place within it.
Current canon shows us a very conflicted Link. He's seen a Cardinal (Apocryphos in disguise) attack and defeat one of the Order's precious exorcists. He's seen the disturbing lengths that those on the side of "good" are willing to go to. He knows that monsters, both literal and figurative, lurk within the the organization that raised him. He's lost his place in the Order, leaving the two incredibly conflicting forces of Inspector L'vellie and Allen Walker as his only remaining anchor points, and now he's been ordered not to eliminate the Noah lurking within Allen, but to support him. To assist him in any way necessary and bring him onto the side of the Order, even as he takes over Allen Walker... and Link is torn. More than anything, he wants to see Allen prevail, not only because he cares about the boy, but because Allen's victory over the 14th could mean hope for the CROW lost to the earl.
... But he's still following those orders, even as he questions what happened to the Order he used to believe in.
Inventory: (a.k.a. man, Link has a lot of shit.)
-Clothing (pants, shirt, jacket, boots, giant mangatastic socks, one left glove, gold rosary, at least one extra set of pants/shirt)
-Weapons (two retractable switchblades, destructive and defensive/restrictive spell strips, several ceremonial needles)
-some money/vaguely defined supplies that likely include health and hygiene needs
-a big ol' bag to keep all his shit in.
Abilities:
While Link is an impressive specimen where strength and speed are concerned, almost everything about him is still supposed to fall within normal human limitations... at least compared to the exorcists and their crazy god weapons. I mean, he still scales walls and leaps off of buildings and shit, but hey, this is manga (insert 300 joke here), and he just seems to get stronger within the context of canon with each new chapter. As the stakes get higher, the power scale gets more and more skewed. During battle Link defaults to the use of two spring loaded switchblades he keeps strapped to his forearms and normally hidden beneath his sleeves, though he's also been seen wielding dual side-handle batons. His only initial supernatural abilities come from magic spells specific to the members of CROW. Using paper strips with specific symbols inscribed on them (referred to as "spell strips" or "talismans"), he’s capable of using a range of techniques. Most involve binding targets or forming protective barriers around them, but a few are capable of delivering explosive fire damage. Recent canon has also revealed Link's ability to sense "Ki" (the energy/life force that all living beings carry) when he uses it to differentiate between Allen and the 14th.
Destructive Spells:
Secret Art - Black-winged Flame Spirit: That’s a fancy name for "punch it in the face with fire". The user clutches an explosive spell strip in one hand, empowering their arm with explosive energy... and then punches targets in the face with fire.
Flame Wings: Targets are covered in a layer of destructive spell strips which, when activated, explode. With fire.
Defensive/Restrictive Spells:
Secret Spell - Binding Wings: Spell strips are used to form a ring around the target that causes them to feel heavy. Piss off the user and they can lash out further, turning "feeling heavy" into "HELP, GRAVITY IS STANDING ON MY WHOLE BODY". Off the battlefield it can be used more precisely and on a smaller scale (i.e. binding an exorcist’s Innocence). Binding Wings is also capable of physically moving a person caught within it, making for fairly easy, but painful transport.
Protection Wing: Binding Wings in reverse. Defensive strips form a protective ring around a person/group of people. No person/thing can get in or out of the circle until it’s deactivated. Strips can also be attached to walls so the user doesn’t have to play constant babysitter.
Restriction Wings: Put it in a box and punch it with electricity. Restraining strips form multi-tiered barriers around a target. Pretty easy to break out of before it’s activated, but activation brings with it a nasty surge of electricity. Enough to knock out a magically regenerating super child, so I’m going to assume that it’d hit a normal person pretty hard.
As a result of his near death at the hands of Apocryphos and his rescue by Zu Mei Chang, Link has recently acquired Atuuda, a golem that can be summoned as a powerful healing tool. Atuuda relies on the energy it its user to heal the wounds of others, so the amount of times it can be used directly correlates to the physical condition of the user. It has been shown to heal broken bones instantly, and even pulled Link back from the brink of death after he’d been impaled and left to bleed out, but the strain on its previous user (the elderly Zu Mei Chang) was very great, eventually leading to his death. If the user is very old or already close to death, their final summoning of Atuuda will transfer the golem and its powers to the person they are healing, allowing the line of users to continue. Link is still young and in excellent physical condition, but he'll naturally try to limit his use of Atuuda. He's only used the golem once so far in canon, describing the experience as "difficult" and insinuating that were he to lose concentration, he might pass out. Not exactly shocking when you remember that to use Atuuda is to literally give some of your life force to another person, but thems the breaks.
Link is also really good at chess and ridiculously good at baking. He primarily speaks English, but is also fluent in German. It's also fairly safe to assume that he knows a good amount of Latin and some limited Japanese (mostly what's required for the creation and use of his talismans).
Flaws:
Link is a generally Lawful guy fighting a war to save humanity from the forces of EvilTM, so you'd think that would make him pretty much the opposite of what the Door would pull in, but... no. The problem with being the Lawful guy fighting EvilTM is that you end up doing a lot of really shitty things in the name of the "greater good". Prior to his exposure to Allen Walker, Link's world was a very black and white place. If the Order sent him on a mission, that mission was to be completed, no matter what it was. We've yet to see any specific examples of such pre-canon missions, but from the way other characters talk about CROW? It's pretty safe to assume that they're mostly around to do the Vatican's dirty work. You don't create a special squad of ninja assassins within the Church just to have them sit around and look pretty, after all.
Things Link has done in the name of the "greater good" also include the collection of akuma egg fragments that were eventually used to turn several of his fellow CROW (and childhood friends) into half akuma abominations. Granted, he didn't know that that's what the egg fragments would be used for, but he sure as heck blames himself for the outcome anyway. In current canon, he's under orders to befriend/assist/protect the 14th, the Noah trying to take over Allen Walker's body... which could technically be good for the Order if they can get the 14th on their side, but it would also mean the death of Allen Walker as we've come to know him.
SAMPLES
It was only after he’d finally picked up Allen’s trail that Link realized just how far the boy had integrated himself into the former inspector’s life, though perhaps that wasn’t the best way to phrase it. Allen hadn’t chosen the situation, after all. Neither had Link, for that matter, but if either of them had changed, it was most certainly the elder of the two. It was Link who had refused to let Allen out of his sight. Who monitored his every daily activity. Granted, those things were required as a part of his assignment, as was the act of sharing meals and accompanying his charge on missions.
But nowhere in his mission objective had there been any mention of sharing his sweets with the accused. Or picking up after them. Or taking the time to fix Allen’s collar whenever it inevitably flipped up on one side. The parameters of his assignment did not and never would include caring for his charge.
How had things gone so awry? When had the Walker boy become not just a job, but a person? What had happened to cause Link to change so much in such a short period of time?
It was nearly maddening to see Allen Walker like this (running and fighting and caught somewhere between winning and losing to that dark presence inside) without being able to intervene. Without being able to ask questions or answer them or relieve the stress that he could see building higher and higher each and every day. He couldn’t interfere, not just yet. His new mission was one of subtlety, and it wouldn’t do to expose his presence before he’d figured out just how it was he was supposed to carry that mission out. If he even could.
Support the 14th? Earn his trust? Become his ally, even as he slowly erased Allen Walker? Could he, really?
But the questions didn’t stop him from following. Didn’t stop him from quietly heading off the the more determined debt collectors before they could figure out which alley the half-dressed clown had ducked into. Didn’t stop him from dropping the occasional coin in the boy’s path, leaving them to gleam under the light of flickering streetlamps where he knew Allen would see them and hoping the young exorcist would trade them for food or a bed for the night.
It wasn’t until he caught himself eyeing a particular side street one rooftop over, wondering how to deliver the loaf of bread he carried in one hand to the sleeping exorcist below without waking him that Link finally did stop, though only briefly. Just long enough for the stubborn inspector that still resided inside his mind to mull over those incessant questions again. The How and the When and the What, and it was only then that he finally came to a conclusion.
How and When and What were distractions. Details. As little as he understood, even the Why had to be set aside. All the probing questions in the world would only boil down to one in the end.
Who?
It was the only question Link had an answer to, and even that was muddled. One body, two people. One Noah, one exorcist. One mission, one martyr. Two choices that were really no choice at all and one former inspector with nothing to do but follow orders and pray.
... And that would have to be enough.
Player name: Panda
Contact: amandaleewilliams@gmail.com/
Characters currently in-game: n/a
CHARACTER
Character Name: Howard Link
Character Age: 20
Canon: D.Gray-man
Canon Point: Chapter 221
History: DGM Wikia
Link's wikia history cuts off during chapter 217. He runs from the scene of Kanda and Apocryphos' fight and eventually turns up to intervene during a conflict between the millennium earl and the 14th (currently in control of Allen Walker's body). He steps in very calmly, uses spell strips and ceremonial needles to bind the earl (a ridiculously difficult thing to do), and grabs the 14th/Allen and Johnny to make a quick getaway. They land on a rooftop nearby and Link uses Atuuda to heal the 14th's wounds before revealing his orders and intention to protect the 14th with his life.
Personality:
Link is a very serious individual with a tendency to impose strict regulations upon himself and those around him. Not surprising considering his upbringing. An orphan taken off the street and raised by the Vatican to be a ninja assassin? Yeah, that’s gonna cause some issues with spontaneity and free-thinking. Rules are rules and aren’t meant to be broken... except sometimes when they are. He has been known to bend the rules on occasion when the situation merits it. These exceptions usually only happen during pretty extreme circumstances (like allowing Allen use of the Ark during the Level Four’s attack on Headquarters even though the exorcist had been forbidden to use his abilities without higher authorization), but they prove that he has the ability to make his own rational judgments outside the guidelines of his job, especially in situations where innocent lives are on the line. Link depends on rules and paperwork and limitations to frame his world, but he’s capable of adapting to new situations.
So you'd think that behavior like that would mean he's proper and reserved pretty much all the time, right? Well, you'd mostly be right, but he's a man with a little tsun to him now and then. He's the sort of guy who really wants to remain calm and collected at all times, but he's still a little too human for that perfect facade. He maintains the mask more easily around strangers or his higher-ups (usually), but that becomes a little difficult while around people he's more familiar with, especially around Allen Walker. He tends to default to a neutral scowl, but annoyance shows pretty plainly on his face, and he's been known to snap a bit when he's feeling irritable. He's not above shouting matches depending on the situation, nor is he immune to flustering during awkward or embarrassing situations.
Link is very intelligent (smart enough to defeat a chess champion in a very high pressure situation), but his smarts are clearly based in books and formal education, leaving normal social skills somewhat lacking outside of what's required to maintain professional relationships. He is, however, absurdly loyal, especially to his immediate superior, Malcolm C. L'vellie, though it’s not entirely clear whether this loyalty is inspired by his own personal sense of duty or something more complex in their shared past that we’re not yet privy to. All in all, Link is strict, often humorless, and can be a major pain in the ass, but he’s not nearly as harsh as you might expect someone in his position to be. He is very much a Lawful Good Paladin, but current canon is quickly forcing him to reexamine just what laws he should be relying on.
As a member of CROW, his purpose is not to defeat the enemy (akuma, to be specific), but to protect others from them, and Link is perfectly willing to perform his duty to the end, even if it should prove to be his own. That sort of unthinking devotion to his duty can be blamed mostly on that super fun upbringing of his, but he exhibits a passive sort of concern for others that only grows as he spends more time with Allen. While acting as an inspector for Central, his original assignment was to shadow Allen Walker as a mere observer, but that silly boy has a way of changing people, and Link? Not immune. He's watched Allen overcome so many challenges and suffer so much, and eventually keeping that detached view of him became impossible. Somewhere along the line, without Link even realizing it at first, "observing" became "care taking".
We’re treated to a new facet of Link’s personality when canon reveals the fate of the other members of CROW that he grew up with. Knowing the abominations that they’d become because of the orders he had followed when delivering a piece of akuma egg to Central was devastating. The Thirds were his support system through childhood and one of his very few bonds, and to know that he had a hand in the experiments they underwent (and, by extension, their eventual corruption by the millennium earl), however unknowing, forced him to reexamine his place in the Order and in the world in a way he had never thought to before. That new point of view is what ultimately leads to several extreme decisions that change the course of his life, the most notable of which is the sacrifice that allows Allen Walker to escape from prison after the battle at the North American branch. Link’s memories of his confrontation with Apocryphos and his decision to allow Allen to escape were wiped, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was willing to die not for the good of the Order or Central, but specifically for Allen Walker, a heretic and host of the enemy. When he wakes up twenty days later, his death faked and his mission altered, that concern is still apparent, along with much confusion over the true intentions of the Order and his place within it.
Current canon shows us a very conflicted Link. He's seen a Cardinal (Apocryphos in disguise) attack and defeat one of the Order's precious exorcists. He's seen the disturbing lengths that those on the side of "good" are willing to go to. He knows that monsters, both literal and figurative, lurk within the the organization that raised him. He's lost his place in the Order, leaving the two incredibly conflicting forces of Inspector L'vellie and Allen Walker as his only remaining anchor points, and now he's been ordered not to eliminate the Noah lurking within Allen, but to support him. To assist him in any way necessary and bring him onto the side of the Order, even as he takes over Allen Walker... and Link is torn. More than anything, he wants to see Allen prevail, not only because he cares about the boy, but because Allen's victory over the 14th could mean hope for the CROW lost to the earl.
... But he's still following those orders, even as he questions what happened to the Order he used to believe in.
Inventory: (a.k.a. man, Link has a lot of shit.)
-Clothing (pants, shirt, jacket, boots, giant mangatastic socks, one left glove, gold rosary, at least one extra set of pants/shirt)
-Weapons (two retractable switchblades, destructive and defensive/restrictive spell strips, several ceremonial needles)
-some money/vaguely defined supplies that likely include health and hygiene needs
-a big ol' bag to keep all his shit in.
Abilities:
While Link is an impressive specimen where strength and speed are concerned, almost everything about him is still supposed to fall within normal human limitations... at least compared to the exorcists and their crazy god weapons. I mean, he still scales walls and leaps off of buildings and shit, but hey, this is manga (insert 300 joke here), and he just seems to get stronger within the context of canon with each new chapter. As the stakes get higher, the power scale gets more and more skewed. During battle Link defaults to the use of two spring loaded switchblades he keeps strapped to his forearms and normally hidden beneath his sleeves, though he's also been seen wielding dual side-handle batons. His only initial supernatural abilities come from magic spells specific to the members of CROW. Using paper strips with specific symbols inscribed on them (referred to as "spell strips" or "talismans"), he’s capable of using a range of techniques. Most involve binding targets or forming protective barriers around them, but a few are capable of delivering explosive fire damage. Recent canon has also revealed Link's ability to sense "Ki" (the energy/life force that all living beings carry) when he uses it to differentiate between Allen and the 14th.
Destructive Spells:
Secret Art - Black-winged Flame Spirit: That’s a fancy name for "punch it in the face with fire". The user clutches an explosive spell strip in one hand, empowering their arm with explosive energy... and then punches targets in the face with fire.
Flame Wings: Targets are covered in a layer of destructive spell strips which, when activated, explode. With fire.
Defensive/Restrictive Spells:
Secret Spell - Binding Wings: Spell strips are used to form a ring around the target that causes them to feel heavy. Piss off the user and they can lash out further, turning "feeling heavy" into "HELP, GRAVITY IS STANDING ON MY WHOLE BODY". Off the battlefield it can be used more precisely and on a smaller scale (i.e. binding an exorcist’s Innocence). Binding Wings is also capable of physically moving a person caught within it, making for fairly easy, but painful transport.
Protection Wing: Binding Wings in reverse. Defensive strips form a protective ring around a person/group of people. No person/thing can get in or out of the circle until it’s deactivated. Strips can also be attached to walls so the user doesn’t have to play constant babysitter.
Restriction Wings: Put it in a box and punch it with electricity. Restraining strips form multi-tiered barriers around a target. Pretty easy to break out of before it’s activated, but activation brings with it a nasty surge of electricity. Enough to knock out a magically regenerating super child, so I’m going to assume that it’d hit a normal person pretty hard.
As a result of his near death at the hands of Apocryphos and his rescue by Zu Mei Chang, Link has recently acquired Atuuda, a golem that can be summoned as a powerful healing tool. Atuuda relies on the energy it its user to heal the wounds of others, so the amount of times it can be used directly correlates to the physical condition of the user. It has been shown to heal broken bones instantly, and even pulled Link back from the brink of death after he’d been impaled and left to bleed out, but the strain on its previous user (the elderly Zu Mei Chang) was very great, eventually leading to his death. If the user is very old or already close to death, their final summoning of Atuuda will transfer the golem and its powers to the person they are healing, allowing the line of users to continue. Link is still young and in excellent physical condition, but he'll naturally try to limit his use of Atuuda. He's only used the golem once so far in canon, describing the experience as "difficult" and insinuating that were he to lose concentration, he might pass out. Not exactly shocking when you remember that to use Atuuda is to literally give some of your life force to another person, but thems the breaks.
Link is also really good at chess and ridiculously good at baking. He primarily speaks English, but is also fluent in German. It's also fairly safe to assume that he knows a good amount of Latin and some limited Japanese (mostly what's required for the creation and use of his talismans).
Flaws:
Link is a generally Lawful guy fighting a war to save humanity from the forces of EvilTM, so you'd think that would make him pretty much the opposite of what the Door would pull in, but... no. The problem with being the Lawful guy fighting EvilTM is that you end up doing a lot of really shitty things in the name of the "greater good". Prior to his exposure to Allen Walker, Link's world was a very black and white place. If the Order sent him on a mission, that mission was to be completed, no matter what it was. We've yet to see any specific examples of such pre-canon missions, but from the way other characters talk about CROW? It's pretty safe to assume that they're mostly around to do the Vatican's dirty work. You don't create a special squad of ninja assassins within the Church just to have them sit around and look pretty, after all.
Things Link has done in the name of the "greater good" also include the collection of akuma egg fragments that were eventually used to turn several of his fellow CROW (and childhood friends) into half akuma abominations. Granted, he didn't know that that's what the egg fragments would be used for, but he sure as heck blames himself for the outcome anyway. In current canon, he's under orders to befriend/assist/protect the 14th, the Noah trying to take over Allen Walker's body... which could technically be good for the Order if they can get the 14th on their side, but it would also mean the death of Allen Walker as we've come to know him.
SAMPLES
It was only after he’d finally picked up Allen’s trail that Link realized just how far the boy had integrated himself into the former inspector’s life, though perhaps that wasn’t the best way to phrase it. Allen hadn’t chosen the situation, after all. Neither had Link, for that matter, but if either of them had changed, it was most certainly the elder of the two. It was Link who had refused to let Allen out of his sight. Who monitored his every daily activity. Granted, those things were required as a part of his assignment, as was the act of sharing meals and accompanying his charge on missions.
But nowhere in his mission objective had there been any mention of sharing his sweets with the accused. Or picking up after them. Or taking the time to fix Allen’s collar whenever it inevitably flipped up on one side. The parameters of his assignment did not and never would include caring for his charge.
How had things gone so awry? When had the Walker boy become not just a job, but a person? What had happened to cause Link to change so much in such a short period of time?
It was nearly maddening to see Allen Walker like this (running and fighting and caught somewhere between winning and losing to that dark presence inside) without being able to intervene. Without being able to ask questions or answer them or relieve the stress that he could see building higher and higher each and every day. He couldn’t interfere, not just yet. His new mission was one of subtlety, and it wouldn’t do to expose his presence before he’d figured out just how it was he was supposed to carry that mission out. If he even could.
Support the 14th? Earn his trust? Become his ally, even as he slowly erased Allen Walker? Could he, really?
But the questions didn’t stop him from following. Didn’t stop him from quietly heading off the the more determined debt collectors before they could figure out which alley the half-dressed clown had ducked into. Didn’t stop him from dropping the occasional coin in the boy’s path, leaving them to gleam under the light of flickering streetlamps where he knew Allen would see them and hoping the young exorcist would trade them for food or a bed for the night.
It wasn’t until he caught himself eyeing a particular side street one rooftop over, wondering how to deliver the loaf of bread he carried in one hand to the sleeping exorcist below without waking him that Link finally did stop, though only briefly. Just long enough for the stubborn inspector that still resided inside his mind to mull over those incessant questions again. The How and the When and the What, and it was only then that he finally came to a conclusion.
How and When and What were distractions. Details. As little as he understood, even the Why had to be set aside. All the probing questions in the world would only boil down to one in the end.
Who?
It was the only question Link had an answer to, and even that was muddled. One body, two people. One Noah, one exorcist. One mission, one martyr. Two choices that were really no choice at all and one former inspector with nothing to do but follow orders and pray.
... And that would have to be enough.