I didn't strike because I know my own limits, serah, as you wouldn't go so far as to let anyone die on your watch.

If, as you say, there's always someone more willing to compromise, I advise you go bend his ear to get what you want. [Or does freedom to choose only mean something if we choose the way our betters think we should, he thinks, but does not say. He doesn't want that fight.]

All they'd need to uncover any perfidy from us here is a second research team with no compunctions about phylacteries and a willing rifter. And the instant they have that on us, we lose everything else.