Van Helsen and Easton saw what happened through the CCTV cameras. Easton, particularly, was unnerved by what he saw.
"He had them, and he didn't take advantage of it?" he questioned, "And I thought he was supposed to be honorable?"
"He must well be." Van Helsen told him, "He does not want to fight enemies tat are weaker tan him."
"And what if they take over the world because he didn't do anything?" Easton reasoned, "Then what?"
"Dr. Easton..." Van Helsen took on a more patronizing tone this time, "If he behaved himself like you described, would tat not make him like te bad guys? Would it not make us worse people tan tem?"
"You don't get it, do you?" Easton replied.
"Me?" Van Helsen wasn't convinced, "You want him to lose his human heart, just so he can defeat te monsters."
"Look!" Welles interrupted the two, "You two can discuss this as much as you like, but you're both missing something."
They both looked at Welles, puzzled about what he was saying.
"Did you see how Drago reacted at the sight of him?" he asked them, "That was genuine fear. I didn't know she could be afraid of anything, or anyone."
Van Helsen smiled: "Tat is good news. Monsters trive on otter people's fears. If we can tell otters about how afraid she is herself, tey would not fear her as much anymore."
"And so she would become weaker." Easton realized.
"Looks like we did the right thing with involving the Lowlander." Welles said.
"It won't be long until we can defeat te monsters ourselves." Van Helsen laughed.

Away from the known civilization, Lea held her sword up against her dummy. But unlike last time, she didn't hold back on how she uses her sword. This time, she tried slicing at the dummy, as fast and as hard as she could, as if she believed it to be a living breathing creature, that had to be put down. This showcase of hers would baffle anyone who knew her and witnessed this, which was the case with Bernard. As he went to the room to check on her, she had already heavily mutilated the dummy.
"Alright, stop!" Bernard came in between her and the dummy, "It was already a dead object, you can't kill it any more than..."
"Leave me!" Lea shouted at him.
"I'd love to." Bernard told her, "Believe me, I don't want to interrupt your pr..."
"Then don't!" she snapped back at him.
"But everyone is worried about you." Bernard pressed on, "I am worried.
"You have nothing to worry about." Lea snarled, as she walked across the room, where more dummies were stored.
"Lea, we just fought against a very strong enemy." Bernard continued, "And you wouldn't even..."
"But you survived!" she interrupted.
"Are you afraid of him?"
Lea froze as that question was asked. Bernard then knew he hit the right nerve there.
"Why?" he continued, "You're much older than him. My grandfather told me, you've been around since before humans started developing any sort of language. How can this one man be so scary?"
"He's immortal." Lea finally answered.
Bernard frowned: "So? We are immortal too."
"No, you're not." Lea turned to look at him, "If your family didn't preserve his body, Daguerre would be dust by now. Eva doesn't age like humans do, but old age will get her eventually. Setuh can be resurrected. And you are already dead. I'm the only true immortal among you."
Bernard needed some time to take it all in: "Okay, but what does all of this have to do with that wild man?"
"The Lowlander, he may not be a vampire like me, but he is an immortal." she explained, "For some reason, he believes he should be the only one allowed to live forever. To him, there quite simply can be no other. That is why he's so hellbent on my death."
"But so many others have tried." Bernard reasoned, "Like Van Helsen's ancestor."
"This is different." Lea said, "Van Helsen had to rely on mere speculation as to how to kill me. That is why he failed. But the Lowlander... he's the only one who got as close as no one has before, to truly kill me."
This much, Bernard could understand: "But that was years ago. You didn't have your Ranger-machine then."
"This?" Lea held up the wrist around which she had her machine, "A good weapon for a new age. But this feud between me and the Lowlander... I have lived for thousands of years, have developed skills that many of my own kind can only dream of. Over time, I have become the very definition of fear, and I cannot win against a mud man like that with my own strength? I am sorry, Bernard, but if I need the Ranger-machine to defeat him, what kind of monster would that make me?"
Bernard could see what she meant by all of this. It wasn't a question of fear, it was a matter of pride. But even so, if this Lowlander, as she kept calling him, was as strong as she has indicated, then all the practice in the world wouldn't help her.
"Lea, please." Bernard tried to reason with her, "Nobody will blame you if you use the Ranger-machine. If you want, we won't tell anyone you used it."
"I'll know." Lea replied, as she picked up one dummy.
"So what?" Bernard asked, "You can have your..."
He got interrupted as Lea walked through him. He turned around to look at her.
"You really shouldn't let your pride dictate you."
Lea raised her sword as he talked. Clearly, she had stopped listening to him. Not knowing what else to do, Bernard left the room.

Once he returned to the living room, where all the other Monsterangers were seated, he recounted the entire conversation with his comrades.
"Then we should let her be." Daguerre said.
"What?" Bernard couldn't understand, "But she won't survive!"
Eva cackled: "You really are a novice, aren't you? Even if she were to die, at least people can talk about how she gave her opponent hell before she went down."
"Is that more important to you?" Bernard questioned.
"Even if one of us dies, it is important that people are still afraid of us." Daguerre explained, "So they will think twice before they decide to group together and lynch us. Lea understands this better than any one else."
Bernard sighed.
"I think I know why this Lowlander is so focused on bringing Lea to death." Setuh suddenly spoke, as he raised his head from behind the Necrobiblos.
"You do?" Bernard wondered.
"It says here..." he explained, "that many a centuries ago, many individuals had somehow started to age at a slower rate. Because they aged slower, even a mortal would would take much longer to kill them. As one of these men met another, they could sense each others' energy, and tried to steal it. They would fight until only one is left, that would absorb the others' energy. The more energy they absorb, the better their wounds, no matter how severe, would heal, and the slower they would age. And whosoever is left with all of the men's energies, would eventually be unable to die at all."
"And this Lowlander is the only one left?" Eva asked.
"It would seem that way." Setuh replied.
"Then it doesn't surprise me that Lea had so much trouble defeating him." Daguerre said.
"And this doesn't bother you at all?" Bernard asked.
"Obviously, we don't want anything to happen to Lea." Eva answered, "But we don't want her to lose what is important to her either."
Bernard let himself sink through the floor, as he soon realized there was no way to let these monsters see reason. He awoke them from their hibernation, because he was afraid they would be too vulnerable, and now it sounded like they wouldn't care if they, or at least their most respected friend were to die soon, at the hands of a strong enemy. Was there truly nothing he could do?