This chapter's epigraph is from a poem by Hades, the most famous assassin in the Western world. In the poem, Hades laments that he has not yet exacted revenge on the man who has poisoned him. He also laments the fact that the man is more attractive than his teacher. He is afraid that if he does not bring the boy back to his home, he will die. He tells the boy to stay away from the teacher, because the holy water labeled as the strongest poison is not an antidote for it. The boy tells him that the teacher can temporarily control the poison by using the quicksilver. The antidote will not spread, he says, because it is contained in a tiny pouch. He says that he can feel the poison stopping its spread if he surrounds it with a protective shield made of his own essential energy.