At the end of all the back-and-forth, the bottom line is that there’s little difference between Van’s plans for Auldrant and Kalki’s plans here on Crystallis. Both want to free their worlds from a cycle of suffering, and neither cares how many are sacrificed as they pursue their ideals. It doesn’t matter that this is the first he’s meeting Kalki, or that others have such strong and personal connections with her. There’s no convincing her to change her mind, and she’ll stop at nothing to make her ideal the reality.

Which means they, as Heroes, can’t just stop her. They have to kill her. Much like Asch had ordered the replica to kill Van, which he believes the replica and his friends must be doing now, if it isn’t already done by now.

Knowing there’s little he can do, Asch moves into position to protect Tear and casts Cure on her for the precious little it’ll do.