Maybe I am, [he comments, with that dumb smirk he wore earlier when he first lit his cigarette off Wolfwood's,] but it snows in Kazdel, and I know it doesn't snow in No Man's.

[And sometimes, the snow over the dead trees in the forest looks beautiful, he has to say. Sometimes the snow makes him think, there's life out here, even though there really isn't.]

...heh. Yeah, Theresis' loyalists would've kept that civil war going. People would still hate Kazdel, and the Sarkaz. The Lateran Pope would've still tried to hide the origin of the Sankta to keep them against us, and every country on the planet still would've tried to delete us off the face of Terra. Nothing would've changed, other than the fact Theresis wouldn't have led the military to attempt to take over Victoria.

[Victoria would've had its own shit going on whether Theresis got involved or not, though.]

There aren't victors in war. There are only survivors and the dead. Only the strong survive, whether that's on the theoretical "winning" or "losing" side — doesn't matter. Theresa "lost" the war, but her loyalists survived if they were strong enough. Theresis "won" the war, but the weakest of his loyalists are already six feet under.

Vash or Knives could "win" the war, but in the end, it only matters who survives. That make sense?