The vamp twins are tough customers, but Yuliy manages to get the upper hand on one of them…yet he sees a glimmer of fear in her eyes and hesitates for a split-second, allowing her to escape. Bishop arrives to force their retreat, but the fact remains: Yuliy isn’t just a Jaeger anymore. If he was, he would have surely dispatched her.
Yuliy and Bishop then encounter the hermit and former captain in the Imperial Army who was sent to look for the Ark, but doesn’t spill the beans about where it is. But they do think he knows. He also knew Yuliy’s dad Alexei, who may still be alive; but the hermit won’t surrender any more info. Bishop decides the best thing to do is head back into town and get a good meal before giving the old man another go.
In the process, he and Yuliy cross paths with Major Iba and Ryouko, who met on the train. Meanwhile, as the twins laugh and tease, Mikhail (whom they call Misha informally) sulks aboard Yevgraf’s airship. Having shown he can’t break the seal to the Ark, Yev is gunning for his little brother, who might have better luck.
Iba reveals his mission to Yuliy and Bishop, while Ryouko simply hangs around because…she feels like it? That’s good enough for me! You do you, girl. She even has a nice warm moment on a balcony with Yuliy, talking about what a father is, at least to her. When she describes it, Yuliy can’t help but think of how his brother tried to fulfill that role.
If it weren’t for Mikhail, Yuliy would be dead, and he knows it. And he’s still trying to protect Yuliy, as we see when Yev and the twins catch him trying to leave the airship, likely to warn his bro. The confrontation is interrupted when one of the twin’s slaves becomes violently ill, transforms into a beast, and has to be put down.
It’s another sign the vamps aren’t just looking for the Ark just because they’re evil and want to dominate mankind (though both those things are probably true); they’re fighting for their very survival.
Iba and Ryouko join Yuliy and Bishop on their second trip to the mountains, and this time Yuliy has more luck getting through to the old man, inadvertently channeling his father, with whom the captain was good friends. He provides a map to the Ark’s location and wishes him good luck.
Yuliy slips away with Bishop without coordinating with Iba, but Iba memorized the map in the short time he saw it (there’s a reason he’s a major at such a young age) and he and Ryouko won’t be far behind.
However, once the snow picks up and Yuliy and Bishop continue on foot, they come afoul of yet another familiar face: Klarwein, who seems to have up to a (dozen or more) of his experimental modified soldiers at his command—ones far less plodding than his first Frankensteiny attempt. Despite Yev’s lack of explicit blessing, Klarwein is still trying to come through for his beloved boss.
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