- Esther and Ion must fight to survive in prison, while Asta and Abel rush to save them.
- Watching Ion writhing in agony as he fights the bloodlust, Esther willingly offers his Excellency her blood. Ion almost succumbs but stabs himself in the leg at the last minute to prevent himself from killing Esther. He then holds the dagger over his head and prepares to plunge it through his heart. Suddenly, a gunshot is heard. The dagger breaks in half, the point falling on the floor. Abel has made it there in the nick of time to stop Ion from committing suicide.
Asta charges Suleyman with treason against the Empire for plotting to murder the Empress. When she adds that Ion and Esther as witnesses will expose him, Suleyman informs her that Ion and Esther were found dead in their cell, apparently having killed each other over some dispute. As he offers to let Asta view the bodies, Ion and Esther enter the chamber, obviously still alive and kicking. Suleyman aims his ring of Solomon at them, but the Empress's voice suddenly shouts, "Stop!" The Empress descends into the chamber while Suleyman professes his innocence. To everyone's astonishment, the Empress removes her veil revealing her true face. It is Mirka Fortuna. Mirka reveals that she has been posing as the Empress in order to expose the traitors.
Suleyman continues to profess his innocence, asking Mirka how she could even suspect that he would be involved in such treachery. Mirka steps aside, revealing the true Empress. "When the ring of Solomon was aimed against me," she says, "I must admit that even I trembled." Her face tilts upwards to reveal the little tea-selling girl, Seth. Reduced to his knees when Seth the Empress sadly tells him of the hope she had placed in him, Suleyman bemoans the fact that, in his 300 years of servitude, the Empress never seemed to believe in him. As anger fills him, Suleyman aims the ring of Solomon at Seth and shoots, missing her. At the exact same moment, Asta blows a huge hole in Suleyman's chest. Just before Suleyman falls to the floor, Seth asks him why he missed the shot. Suleyman replies, "No matter how hard I try, a child can't help but to love his mother."
Seth asks the whereabouts of Abel Nightroad, and Asta tells her that he has gone looking for Radu. Dietrich is about to shed the body of Radu when Abel stops him. Abel demands the datacube needed for the change, but Dietrich refuses. He launches an attack of fire against Abel, but Abel goes Krusnik. Suddenly, for reasons unknown to Abel, he collapses on the floor and can no longer use his power. Dietrich laughs, explaining that it is the result of Abel's refusal to drink vampire blood. As Dietrich prepares to finish off Abel, Seth appears. Dietrich aims his fire at Seth, thinking her to be a meddling little girl, but Seth suddenly goes Krusnik and disintegrates Radu's body. Abel and Seth greet each other as brother and sister, both Nightroads and both Krusnik.
It is time for Esther and Abel to return to the Vatican. Ion hugs Esther and tells her they must plan to meet once again. Seth asks Abel to remain in the Empire and live with her, brother and sister as they were 900 years ago, but Abel refuses on grounds of being a sinner who cannot forget what he did all those years ago. Seth sighs and says it's probably for the better that Abel remain outside of the Empire since HE is still alive. Abel leaves immediately, and when asked where he is going, Abel replies, "To kill HIM."
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