[ He thinks about the question for a long time, balancing what few facts he knows with the possibilities that might branch from such a hypothetical. His boots click against the ground as they walk, the busy hubbub of central Achamoth fading from his ears as he withdraws into himself, head slightly bowed in thought.

Finally, after about two minutes, he offers Gen the best guess he can make. ]

I doubt it. We might have been able to delay this [ this awful, awful procession ] but the main problem is the entity and not Estinien. There's no guarantee we would have been able to destroy it, not with the group we had at the time.

[ Even with their newly gained abilities, it'd been too similar of a group as that first time, and all they'd managed to do then was suffer a sound defeat. Even now Eustace isn't even sure that they would be able to defeat the entity, any traces of a possible plan still tucked away in Ciel's mind. He sincerely hopes she does find a way, if only so the bulk of the Citadel (and Achamoth) are spared from the brunt of the Innocence and its childish wrath. He may not care much for the lifestyle most Achamites lead but they are still people, born with no greater crime than to have lived a life knowing only the Regent and their ways.

With his thoughts no longer consuming him, he looks back at Gen. His voice is pitched a little lower this time, enough so that it has just enough traction to make it to Gen before being buried until city noise. ]

I take it you don't like what the Regent has sanctioned against our prisoners?