Bump...ba-bump...ba-bump. Each beat was rapid and soft, the sound echoing in Mar’s water logged head each time. Her skin was cold and clammy, sweat trickling off the pale coloring while her fingers wrapped tightly about the hilt. It was hard but unnatural when she managed to pull the thing away. Shock was drowning her while she looked up to see one of Lyn’s playmates hold a blade to Ellys’ throat, the other Naga glaring at her with enough venom, it might’ve killed the vampire if such a thing existed. Blood, warm and wet, glided from her wound, oozing across the surface down to the ground. The blade soon followed the same path when it slipped from her grasp and landed into the gray grass below.

Something hot and moving ripped through her chest, cracking through the bone and into the heart. The silver surged like an electrical current reaching into each nerve within her body and pulsed through the arcanite. First, her ribs were the first to be affected. Bones made a loud crack with each movement and the ribs extended outward as someone was peeling them outward, the skin gave away like thin paper and blood the ink. Pain burned up her torso causing Mar’s mouth to open and scream in a blood curling tone. Her torso hunched forward causing the organs to dangle as she crumbled to her hands, spattering more blood upon the dull grass. Her intestines started to unravel and push out, coiling onto the ground like some flesh colored, wrinkled snake itself.

Just as quickly, she felt her intestines crawl back inside, dirt and grass covering them while they replaced themselves. The ribs folded back into place and skin quickly melted back over, her front covered in blood being the only evidence.

Next, her tail began to split, dividing into two piece then melted like wax. Their masses became gooey and misshaped, the skin seeming unable to hold anything while it exposed the bones that rapidly cracked to form something new. Mar screamed again, her body twisted in pain onto her back. She arched in reply feeling the bones rip themselves feel and sending her mind into throes of pain. She was trembling, covered in blood, sweat and dirt, she was feeling every inch ripping her bones and flesh into something else. Her hands turned to face the ground then gripped onto the clumps of grass. Fingers threaded into the turfs and jerked up, threatening to rip them from the root.

Slowly the ribs knitted themselves as they folded back, a pause while she tried to catch her breath. When Althalus touched her, Mar tried to shove him back feeling the pain seized on her again. Her mouth was coughing up blood. It trickled down and soon and it poured down her chin in rivlets, her lungs filling with blood. Her windpipe was shrinking then sealed briefly, only to open again. Her skull started to indent, pushed in by some invisible force, like a tin can.

Then her eyes were filled with darkness when a shadow swallowed them both up. Althalus’ arms held fast to her body, pinning her to his front as they moved through the Nox. Nerve ending in her eyes abruptly cut off and were severed, leaving her blind. Her fingers curled in the only thing she found security in: Althalus. Her head pressed into his chest and quietly mumbled words she barely heard herself. “Kill me… please Althalus. Stop the pain…”

Her voice was voided of strength. Voided of pride or any trait of Mar, her pleads begging him to end her suffering even when her words became garbled. Now her brain was pressing to her skull bone. Fresh blood was vomiting on his tunic and what was left of hers, staining them red while she faded into unconsciousness. However, her was still ripping her to pieces then healing, over and over.



Sam was chuckling at the younger vitamancer teacher. Currently Lidda, who was scolding a healing novice, held a claw wiggling in the novice’s direction while being in an anthro badger form. Her long hair braided like dwarven fighters and placed in a tunic and pants, her feet bare since no boots would fit her. Her voice was loud enough it echoed through the infirmary causing the student endless embarrassment. It shown easily in his white skin turning a tomato red and head bent down in shame. Sam almost felt pity for the lad but knew Lidda’s methods would prevent a recurrence from happening.

His thoughts were interrupted when suddenly Althalus appeared from the shadows. In his hands was a woman, her hair a mess and flipped over her face pressed against his chest. The man then gently laid a bleeding woman down upon the floor, vanishing quickly again. Promptly both himself and Lidda moved into action, their figures dropping their current tasks as the old man reached the injured, bloody woman first. His fingers moved the hair and revealed an unexpected surprise. It was Mar.

On the touch, thin and bony spikes shot out of her skin. When one impaled Sam’s hand, the old man jumped back in surprise and pain cradling his bleeding palm. He whipped his head about screaming at Lidda. “Lidda, I need your help. Someone else, get Lucilia and Uicle, NOW!”

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak was startled when the wall just ahead of the group came crashing down. His first thought was that an enraged Tyrael had found them. He braced himself for whatever might come next, but to his surprise, it was the guardsman, Grey who came walking through the opening.

”Grey?” Ssarak began in surprise before looking briefly to the Naga. ”Hold! He is an ally.” He shouted, immediately striking back against the ridge hounds that had tried to get past his shield. One jumped off of the back of one of its fallen allies in an attempt to leap on Ssarak’s head, but was met only by the cold steel of a bash from his shield.

”Naga survivors…from Mesa Gaan. The Matriarch herself….and even Mar’s brother is here.” Ssarak explained between swings and thrusts of his sword. He had not yet explained to the Naga who he was, or even the fact that he recognized Lyamis, so there would likely be some surprise from them on how he recognized them.

Similarly to one of the first hounds Ssarak had fought with Tyrael, another of the beasts jumped off of the wall and successfully onto his back. However, it was cut down quickly by the spear of a Naga behind him. ”Ridge hounds made it…to the catacombs. But they are not the real danger. Tyrael, it is as if he has gone mad.” He said, stopping for a moment to shift his shield in front of a hound attempting to flank him. ”He became enraged the moment he saw the Naga. Ordered me to murder them, and threated to kill me when I refused. I think his demon is overtaking his mind. We need to get back to the College and get help before he hurts anyone.”

Around that point, the last of the immediate wave of hounds in front of them was finished off. Although, the sounds of fighting ahead of them told that there were many more remaining. ”There are more students ahead, we need to help them.” Ssarak said as he began to advance once more. It was difficult to determine exactly at that distance, but he thought he saw Colette ahead of them.

Meirin Kurenai

Just as Meirin was about to fire off her gust of wind, her foot fell into a hole. She nearly twisted her ankle and was only able to knock the strange mole monster onto it's back. Fortunately Leith was on the ball and seemed to have one taken care of, but that only left Meirin wondering what happened to the other. Seeing that it had somehow managed to bury Leith's legs into some dirt, she assumed one of them were near him. But short of stabbing the ground and hoping she'd get lucky, Meirin had no direct means to attack them. At least until she remembered that these things traveled through the dirt. Her plan was a long shot, but considering her other abilities it was the only thing she thought she could do.

Getting her foot out of the hole Meirin carefully made her way towards the last hole the mole-like monsters came from. And this time making sure that she doesn't step into another hole or get caught off guard by another mole monster, Meirin used another weaving motion to summon a powerful gust of wind. But instead of aiming for any moles on the surface, she channeled all the wind through the hole in the ground. With any luck she might be able to force them onto the surface, stunning them with the blast of air and allowing her to pick them off easily.

When Meirin noticed the smoke and screech of an arrow, she knew something was wrong. She didn't know what, but she knew that Annabeth wouldn't have used those arrows if it wasn't an emergency. And anything that put Lyn into danger was an emergency. "Leith, Summer, get out of there! Go see what that smoke is about, I'll catch up to you later once I deal with these monsters!" Meirin used another weaving motion to allow herself to jump great heights for a few minutes. Once she sees any of the mole monsters surface, she'd leap upon them with her spear, impaling them using the full weight of her body and the momentum from her drop.

Myrn Vaan'Atisha

Myrn and the others were able to wipe out the Ridge Hounds they found at first, but then a whole lot more showed up. Myrn didn't think she could dodge and parry that many. but Ridge Hounds were fragile creatures: a solid hit, whether she cuts them or not, would be enough to kill them. But there were so many that she'd have a hard time getting to them all on her own. So instead of rushing to the front and getting herself killed, Myrn stayed close to some of the other students, keeping the Ridge Hounds off of them or picking off the wounded or distracted Ridge Hounds. Baulder and his demon seemed to have made a lot of noise and attracted most of the Ridge Hounds, which allowed Myrn to dash between the two and kill four or five. Myrn stayed low to the ground with her blade forward, never needing to slash more than a few inches each swing. The sharpness of her blade, combined with the force of the ridge hound's body sliding across her sword, was all the force she needed to slice them to bits.

Despite how quickly she was moving, there were too many Ridge Hounds to stop. She had hoped that maybe the ones eating their comrades would be distracted long enough to stop most of the horde, but much to her surprise they have eaten the flesh of the fallen in less then a minute. Myrn was going to need a new plan. That's when she noticed a few of the caskets which were over the Ridge Hounds on the ground, which gave her an idea. "Colette! Use your demons and drop the caskets on them!" Running towards the ridge hounds, Myrn leap off the body of one big ridge hound and latched onto the handle of a casket. Bracing her feet against the wall and using as much strength as she could muster, she was able to pull a casket out and drop it on the ridge hounds below, killing two at once. The Casket also shattered, exposing the corpses within. Myrn would have to quietly pray to herself for defiling the dead like this, but she didn't want to be one of the dead either.

After dropping a casket Myrn jumped back with the others but noticed more Ridge Hounds coming up from behind them. Seeing that there was already a crude barricade in place (She didn't know where that came from), Myrn thought to do the same. She pulled one casket out and flipped it over, but much to Myrn's surprise, there was a living girl inside. "What are you doing here!?" Myrn didn't have a chance to hear an answer when a ridge hound jumped onto her. She struggled against it, or sword braced against it's claws to prevent it and the monster's giant teeth from sinking into her skin. "A little help!?"

Lira had been laying the casket she could hear the fighting not even a few paces from her. With out meaning to she had began to doze off which was a mistake, Especially when she felt the casket move. It wasn't all of the sudden just inching before she felt it. The casket falling with her inside, she tried to push the lid hoping maybe she could just jump away or fall slower then the stone, but it was stuck meaning she was going to crash with it inside . Lira swore and curled up in a ball waiting for the solid ground to catch up. It hurt like hell when she finally hit ground, the casket itself shattered and killed a few hounds in the process if not injured them. Lira was dazed laying there when she heard someone asking what she was doing. Or was it who she was, either case it was short as the noise of the hounds attacking the person. When her sense finally gathered themselves she heard the request for help armed with only a dull weak knife she grabbed a smaller chunk of the casket and threw it hitting the hound over the person in the head. Lira hoped it was either dead or distracted as she ran up and stabbed the creature in the eye. Though she was aiming for its neck.

While the female wiggled and squirmed, trying to get upright quickly. Her feet touched the side and started ever slowly to pull her to one side. It wasn’t fast enough while Leith’s water swirled and hovered above her. Meanwhile the male was hard at work. His paws shoving harder and faster, trying to edge to his mate. A small mound of dirt appeared just when Leith's water shot down. Abruptly there was a blur of movement, the dark grey mingled and streaked at the water causing it to scatter in all directed before impact. The water had missed the female as the male shot out of a hidden hole then sprang in between it and the female, his shell suffering a minor crack from the drill before attacking it. As originally intended, the Paich managed to smack the female’s side allowing her to roll onto her belly and vanish into the nearest ground.

Despite what seemed like a failed attack, Leith’s attack had managed to injury the male leaving a small smear of blood behind.

As Summer aided Leith out of the makeshift trap, Meirin channeled her aeromancy right into the hole. Wind whipped and howled through the various paths moving through the area they were in. Several tunnels collapse as they left behind several inch deep gutters riddling their battle grounds and revealing each single hole that was carefully hidden by blowing out the loose dirt blocking the entrance. Deep within these pathways, the male and female both cling tightly to roots and buried their claws into the soft dirt. It wasn’t a firm hold so when the others left Meirin alone, two Paich promptly were shot out of their holes.

One came out from behind where Meirin had leapt and within striking range. When she came down, her spear skirted the side and pinned the creature to the ground. However, one thing she might notice was the creature’s back stopped her weapon from escaping out the other side. Like an armored beetle, its hide was too tough for normal weapons to penetrate and she had gotten lucky in her attack. If she had hit directly on its back, her blade would’ve had no effect save pinning it down and making it tighten into a half ball for protection. It would’ve been like trying to kill a turtle curled up in his shell.

If she was fast enough, she could easily send it into a local tree where the creature would be stun enough for her to finish the job. Meanwhile, the female was directly across from Meirin’s location and would quickly vanish when the girl spotted her spell.



Ellys didn’t hesitate or reply, she reacted. Her tail smacked the vampire about the knees, coiling about and twisting her until she was within striking distance. Immediately the Naga’s tail constricted. Pressure was applied as Keri’s bones started to crack and break, the right leg the first to buckle under her strength. The snake like tail slithered about and gained height, reaching her waist and soon her torso and arms if Ellys wasn’t stopped. The Naga’s head tilted back then opened her mouth, revealing two pointed fangs. She intended to use her venom to paralyze the woman while she went after the child, making Keri helpless.

Catacombs

Lyamis spotted a few ridge hounds that had been darting down the corridors their claws clicked and body bouncing closer in a rush. Immediately the male naga lifted his spear and angled it into a downward jab when the vermin came charging in.

Lyamis and several Naga reared, their weapons at the ready, when the wall a few meters away crashed apart. A man, tall and thick, trampled through the dust and brick foundation. His boots brought him quickly out into the most of battle. The jittery female Ssarak had encountered had shifted and almost whipped out her tail, reacting in her extreme beer Lyamis snapped out an order. It was a mere warning glare, his body raised an additional foot over the average Yarsomere human as he let out a soft warning hiss.

Young naga were over emotional, their mind still trying to adjust, and so they were given leeway. However older Naga behaving in such a way were frowned upon and seen to be childish. Lyamis’ eyes narrowed on Ssarak, silently asking him where he learned the information and deep inside he knew. Marya. The fact she was sharing things about their inner structure unsettled the male as he made a fast pace jab upon an nearby ridge hound. The thing crumbled easily.

Lyamis wasn't fond to learn this Tyrael had become vicious and unreliable. If he had known it was the Karnage he had met from long ago, the very fallen Orc who was a deep friend to his sister and her sole responsibility and one who's judgement they trusted in taking Marya to the college then Lyamis would've been wondering if it was the right decision after all. He loved his sister as much as a Naga was able, but her failure in duties and relaxed tongue concerned him greatly.

He kept his thoughts to himself when he sliced another ridge hound at the leg, sending its fellows to viciously rip into it.

E'docsil

In the chaos of the battle, the Ridge Hounds running everywhere, the Naga arriving with Ssarak, the remaining students fighting for their lives, it was easy to miss the small bat diving into a small alcove. E'docsil's hand reached out and yanked a Ridge Hound into the alcove with her. There was a tearing and shifting sound, lost in the chaos of the fight, and then Aramir stepped out of the alcove. She moved quickly towards where the Naga and Ssarak were attacking, her bow and arrows were up in an instant, aiming towards the Naga. Three arrows were launched quickly towards Lyamis, she launched another a five in quick succession at the other Naga surrounding Ssarak and Lyamis, aiming for any kill shot but the head. "Tyrael orders said! Kill the Naga!" She shouted, loud enough for Ssarak and the rest to hear.

Quickly she fell back, towards where the real Aramir was, launching more arrows. Once she was out of sight of the Naga and Ssarak, she changed back into a bat. A quick flap of her wings later and she was behind the Naga. Quickly, she turned into Tyrael, the Demonomancy master. "Kill them." She said, testing out his voice. "Kill them all." With a roar she lunged towards the Naga in front of her, intent upon sending as many of them into Malice as possible and killing the Matriarch.

Grey's Axe

E'docsil..that bitch. She's trying to kill the Naga! Stop her Guardsman!

Colette looked at Atticus as ridge hounds seemed to smell the dead of a fallen comrade and was slowly coming towards her making her back up. Atticus looked at them and the back at her. Much to Colette's surprise Atticus turned his back on her and walked off. Colette groaned as she remembered in one of her classroom lecture that Tyrael explained that the higher the demon that is summoned the more difficult it is to control it. She looked at the slowly approaching hounds and then looked at the ignorant male nekomata demon she wandered what she could do. She could easily attack the hounds, but that would leave her wide open for the other ones to pounce her. She learned the hard way that she had a lot less time to really think of what to do as one of the hounds pounced on her knocking her to the ground. She used her wounded arm on instinct to block the hound. She cried out as it bit into the wound that was already on her arm deepening and widening it. More blood that turned into dust landed on her shoulders as she used her strength to throw it off her tearing some layers of her skin off her. She quickly stood as the other two with the hound tried to pounce as well snarling in anger.

She ran until she reached another wall looking at the hounds that were once again stalking her. She could feel the familiar feeling of fear bubbling inside her along with pain from her wound that was still taking its time to close. She had no time to get one of her candies opened so she could heal. She looked at Atticus.

"Atticus help me" she commanded or tried to , but the pain and fear was making her lose concentrating for control Atticus. Atticus looked at her and turned away. She wanted to cry, but she knew she couldn't right now or else her life would end right there. The hounds pounced at the same time tearing into her in other parts of her body before she fought back. She managed to use her dagger to kill of the hounds as she stood against the wall more of her blood turning into dust falling to the ground, but this time her head was down enough to hide her eye. She made no move as the last hound was stalking her again as more could be smelt on their way. When the hound were close enough she lifted her head showing off her now slightly glowing eyes. There was small signs the Colette everyone seemed to know in them. She smirked one of her elongated fangs peeking out as the hounds backed up whimpering as she took steps forward to them.

"You wounded her" She said calmly as she picked one of the hounds up by the neck. She narrowed her eyes as it tried to bit her and she used her free hand to jam itself into its chest gripping the heart until it was crushed making the hound yelp very loudly before falling limp in her grip. She threw it to the ground. She turned her head to the now shaking Atticus her aura beating down on his.

"You cat...you will listen and you will listen good. Help me slaughter these hounds" She said calmly and Atticus gave a small mew of submission.

"Yes mistress. This Atticus will help you" He said and began to attack the hounds as they came out no where snarling and wanting blood.

Leith sighed as his attack was blocked by the other Paich, but at least that meant it wasn't trying to dig him a grave. Screaming started echoing through the forest. He looked over at Summer as she started growing a weed towards him. He grabbed ahold of the weed and then transformed his sword back into the trinket sized item. After a few moments, Leith was finally out of the pit that had been dug around him, but the screaming had stopped. They might have been too late to help whoever was screaming. Dread filled Leith as he looked towards the smoke. That was where the screaming had come from, but it was not in the direction of the meadow. He decided to take Meirin's advice and turned to Summer.

”We need to go, now!" He said as he turned and sprinted in the direction of the smoke, keeping an eye out for any holes made by the Paich. Thankfully, there were none and he continued his sprint towards the smoke. He made it in time to see a man in full armour loading a crossbow and a Naga coiling her tail around the vampire girl he hadn't gotten a chance to introduce himself to and leaning in to bite her. The man had loaded his crossbow and was now aiming it at the girl. He looked at Summer and pointed at the Naga. He could deal with the man.

He picked up a nearby stone of the ground, and tested its weight in his left hand. It had some weight to it. He passed it to his right hand and threw it as hard as he could at the back of the man's helmeted head. Alright, I guess now would be a good to time to ask about these people. Anything I should know about who I'm facing? He mentally asked the ring that had warned him about these people as he attempted to hide the fact that he was out of breath from the run.

---

Darius watched as the insane man and his demon took out quite a few ridge hounds. The stupid part was how much this man put himself at risk to kill just a few ridge hounds. Sure enough, there were more ridge hounds on their way. He had stopped creating motes of air as it was starting to tire him out, however, he was not too tired that he couldn't take on a few ridge hounds. One ridge hound lunged at him, but Darius side-stepped it and chopped his sword into its neck, nearly decapitating it. He wrenched his sword out and turned around in time to be bowled over by another ridge hound. He lost his hold on his sword and dropped it.

The creature was snapping its jaws at Darius' face, but he held it off. He unsheathed his dagger and slammed the blade into abdomen of the ridge hound. It yelped and tried shying away from the dagger, but Darius used that to his advantage an pushed the hound off of him. He pulled the dagger out and stomped the hound's head in. The sound of crashing rock jarred Darius' attention away from the current fight. He could just make out dust rising from the corridor ahead. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to want to attack the group, so Darius put it out of mind and went back to killing ridge hounds.

It wasn't until the elf girl started yelling about killing the Naga that Darius looked back towards the corridor. The shouting had come from the direction of the crash, but the girl wasn't in that direction. She was next to him. Darius frowned, something was going on, and he wasn't sure if he was going to like it.

Baulder, Catacombs

Baulder dragged the now limp neck of hound out from underneath his foot and used it as a flail to smack the dead hound into another hound. It had worked out well rather well for him earlier so he figured why not do it again. Baulder turned to the pile of corpses where John Cena had been earlier and shouted "John look! They make better weapons then they do food!" Baulder said as he started laughing madly as he caught another ridge hound with an upswing of his blade. He figured John would have enjoyed the nearly completely clean cut that caused the hands organs to spill out onto the ground when Baulder pulled the blade out. Atleast, he was enjoying it. Baulder was sitting in a rut of hounds and was able to catch his breath.

He was having fun but this was starting to become tiresome. He weighed summoning John again but he couldn't afford to slow down the killing to do it. He looked around to the other students to see if they were having fun aswell. He saw a younger girl yelling at what looked to be a cat, which he found less funny. You shouldn't be mean to cats. Baulder thought. Though he had seen her in one of his classes before, so he guessed it was a demon. He then saw one of the elf girls pulling something out of a casket. It quickly turned into a person he had never seen before and it confused him for a moment before another hound jumped at his face and dug it's claws into his shoulder. He laughed at it as he reached up over with his left hand and ripped the hound out of his own skin, sending his own blood flying onto the floor. He then threw the hound into the floor with both hands as he raised the hound over his head. He then stomped on the still struggling to move hound. Laughing more as the blood sprayed up towards him from a gash his clawed foot had made he hears something.

"Tyrael orders said! Kill the Naga!" A woman said.

Baulder turned towards the voice quickly and saw the snow elf shoot arrows around a wall. Then the ridge hounds obscured the elf and she was gone. "We kill the Naga then! These hounds don't have much meat anyways!" Baulder made a concerted effort to start pushing into the wave of ridge hounds. He pulled out his other blade and got low. Wildly swinging his blades and making contact a couple of times. However one hound jumped up and bit deep into his left arm. Baulder grimaced and stabbed his right blade into the hound, the hound thrashed for a moment before Baulder slide the blade into what he guessed was its heart. Baulder rounded the corner and saw the lizard people fighting through the hounds aswell. He could tell there were other people with them but the mass of bodies were obscuring them. "Be rent serpents!" Baulder said as he started laughing and cleaving through the hounds slowly towards the Naga.

Grey Onyx, Catacombs

Grey crushed his way through the hounds, the wall by which the tide broke. At this rate, they'd only slow him down if enough bodies managed to pile up and trip him (Though that is certainly not to discount the efforts of the others: he would be having a hell of a lot more trouble alone). A hound leapt at him, and he shunted it aside with his shield, tossing it into a pillar and breaking its spine. One enterprising hound attempted to leap at him once his shield was no longer out front, but it was only met with a boot to the face, stomping down and crushing its skull as he brought his shield to bear once more, wading ever onward through the horde.

"What? Seriously? That's great news, I thought they were wiped out!" He called back, several more hounds attempting to pile onto him at once, but his runes went hot and he managed to shove them all away with one mighty shield swing, offering some breathing room while the scattered bodies were trampled by the others. "Everyone stick together! We'll keep you safe!" He shouted after. When he heard what he said next he tried 'thinking loudly', knowing Ssarak would pick up on it. -I... What? that doesn't make any sense... if he attacks us, let me try to restrain him.- He sent, gritting his teeth as things seemed to take a turn for the worse.

Arrows were fired, and while he was able to intercept one he was unsure of the others. Another burst and once again he was able to stop one, but the sheer force behind the projectile caused him to stop. When he heard what she said, it only confirmed Ssarak's story: Tyrael was not to be trusted. Orders or not... He wasn't under the employ of Tyrael anyway. Then, he noticed something odd... She came over, shot arrows at them, and then retreated... into ridge hounds. He couldn't make out exactly what was going on, but if she was just given orders, why would she come over her, shout at the people protecting the Naga instead of the people that were to kill them, and then run all the way back... It was trickery, plain and simple. At least, if you had any idea what someone would do in a fight it was. And then the axe spoke up, something about an E'Docsil... He sent that line of thought to Ssarak, along with a message. -I think there's a shapeshifter, probe some heads, look for tough wards you can't get into-

And then he heard a fluttering, going off behind them. it sounded like a bat... Any real bat would have been long spooked by the chaos, and it would have gone unnoticed had he not just been made suspicious of absolutely everything. His eye widened as he suddenly turned around, pushing past the Naga. "To the front, Ssarak!" He called, raising his shield and just making it in time to guard against what was either a doppelganger or the real crazy almost-orc. The force drove him back about a foot, the man growling through gritted teeth. "Not. Another. Inch."

Ssarak Dyreackthanose - Catacombs

---

Ssarak was at the head of the group of Naga, along with Grey, as they advanced towards the group of students. Given that the matriarch was not especially quick, Ssarak could not charge as quickly as he would have liked, but that did allow him to observe the situation they were advancing into in greater detail. His fellow students were in the thick of combat with yet another group of ridge hounds. He intended to provide relief for them, but in his current state of awareness, he was able to see when another danger presented itself. The snow elf, Aramir, stepped out an alcove and raised her bow well-above the level of the ridge hounds. It was pointed at him, or at least, at one of his allies near to him. He did not have time to think about why, or wonder if she was even going to fire. The only reaction he had was one driven by training. His shield was already raised, and he was already in the front of the group, so he was in a position that he need only move a small amount to place himself in the way of where she appeared to be aiming. As a heavily armored soldier, he had been trained to fight on the front lines, and to use his shield and the steel covering him to protect his allies from anything it could stop, such as the arrows from a shortbow. Fortunately, he also had Grey’s assistance in defending against the arrows, so he was not alone in protecting the Naga.

After the arrows stopped, Ssarak picked up on a few curious thoughts from Grey, followed by a message. ”E'docsil? A shapeshifter? Where did you see it?” He asked telepathically. However, their mental conversation was cut short by a roaring voice behind them. Not long after Aramir shouted out about Tyrael’s orders, the demonomancer himself evidently appeared behind them. However, with Grey’s warning about a shapeshifter, he attempted to prod Tyrael’s mind, and to his surprise, he did not find the powerful wards he was expecting. Rather, there were no wards at all. He could read into his thoughts, and was free to use his abilities against him. It was something that immediately lent Grey’s warning credibility, as any of the college’s teachers, especially a demonomancer, should certainly have strong wards. There were several conclusions Ssarak might have drawn from this, but Grey’s suggestion was perfectly possible. Not to mention, while Ssarak’s first glance into “Tyrael’s” mind revealed thoughts that seemed consistent, it did not make sense that Aramir, who was in front of them, would have orders from Tyrael, who was behind them.

Seeing as he had the ability, Ssarak first decided to give Grey assistance with his initial charge with a simple, but disruptive illusion in the form of an intense, bright light in the center of “Tyrael’s” vision. From there, he sent a message to all of the allies present whose minds he could access, even Baulder. ”No! that is not Tyrael, and that was not his order! It is a shapeshifter; a facsimile. Protect the Naga from the hounds, and the pretender.” He “shouted” telepathically. Of course, he did not know entirely if his words were true, but it was probable enough that he could be confident saying it. Baulder was the one who had first accepted the order from Aramir, so Ssarak stood at the front of the Naga, ready to guard against him if he refused to listen. Once he was sure that the other students would help, he could give more direct aid to Grey.

Annabeth Gulch

Things were getting bad fast. The nitemare might be down for the count, but suddenly many threatening figures came into the meadows. One that caught her eye immediately was a naga, and it wasn't Mar. She was wounded and Athalus teleported her away, but now the naga was fighting Keri. Annabeth was about to take out three arrows and get ready to shoot, but noticed an armored figure who tried to shoot Keri as well. Annabeth's arrows might not be able to pierce his armor at this distance, but perhaps she could hit him with a smoke arrow, block his vision. But before Annabeth could even do that, Athalus returned, ordering her to run to the college, taking Lyn with her. Oh how much Annabeth would want to do that. But she couldn't just abandon everyone here. And last but not least... The man from the demonic invasion. She never figured out who he was; even Satori's mind probing didn't give her enough time to delve into his memories and take anything useful, not while she was distracted trying to coordinate a defense all around the college.

Annabeth was divided. She couldn't let Keri get hurt by that naga, but that armored knight posed a threat as well. Athalus may be here, but Annabeth wasn't certain if he would be capable of protecting himself against these threats, let alone Annabeth and Lyn. She figured with the arrival of the hostile naga, they were here for Lyn; why else would a full-blooded naga being here but for the half-naga? Why they wanted her, Annabeth didn't know, but if it involved hurting her friends she doubt it was for any benign purpose. Annabeth started to panic, uncertain of what to do. Every action had a consequence. She couldn't be certain if shooting an arrow at the armored knight was going to do anything; any shot at the hostile naga could hit and possibly kill Keri. Annabeth wasn't even sure what the stranger from the demon invasion was capable of. But as she hesitated, a voice in Annabeth's mind spoke to her. It was Satori; whether or not it was actually her or just Annabeth's own mind, she isn't certain. But it provided guidance nonetheless.

"You're too focused, Annabeth. You keep trying to give all of your attention to everything, which only results loosing everything. Even I won't bother to divide my focus into multiple targets, when I can simple focus on all of them at once. You see Annabeth, the difference is this: Instead of a multiple arrow onto many targets, use a single large boulder instead. It's simple, yet the key to what you really need to do."

At first Annabeth wasn't sure what Satori meant, but now she had an idea. There were too many targets for Annabeth to try to give everyone her equal attention. Instead of trying to use a lot of blood and energy doing a lot of damage to each one, she should focus on doing as much damage as she can to all the enemies near each other. So with that in mind... She vanished. Annabeth used her magic to turn invisible, including Samson and Lyn. She put up wards targeted specifically against the stranger from the demonic invasion: she didn't know what he was capable of, but on the off chance that he was a psychomancer, Annabeth was going to make sure that he couldn't see through her invisibility.

Annabeth knew that she alone couldn't save everyone. But if everyone worked together, they could save themselves. So she began to notch her arrows and spurned Samson to start moving, first towards the armored knight. As she moved, she sent telepathic messages to her allies near by. Annabeth was able to pick up the thoughts of Leith and Summer, who must have noticed the smoke and screams from her arrows. "Leith, I'm about to shoot an arrow of smoke at the armored knight. Use your hydromancy to turn the dirt underneath him into mud, and make sure he can't get up! Summer, that naga is about to paralyze Keri with it's bite, see if you can stop it. Throw seeds into it's mouth or something, I'll shoot an arrow at it's side to slow it down!" The first arrow she took out was the Smoke Arrow. As Samson galloped towards the armored knight, Annabeth lined up a shot and released her arrow. She was aiming for the center of his chest, just right above his crossbow. With any luck Annabeth may also be able to hit to crossbow, either snapping it's string or at least throwing it off aim. Also, by the time it would either hit or get near the armored man, the arrow would have already turned visible and produced a thick amount of black smoke.

"Keri, hold on! I'm coming to help you, just stay clear of the naga's right arm!" Annabeth's second arrow was aimed at the naga Keri was fighting. Since Keri was already rather wrapped up, Annabeth wasn't worried that she would shoot her friend by accident. But Annabeth did need to aim her arrow somewhere that would force the naga to loosen it's grip or let Keri go. So Annabeth aimed for the naga's hand; it was a close shot, but Annabeth had made harder shots. If she could pierce it's hand, the naga's ability to use it's weapon would be limited. With a broadhead arrow, Annabeth also hoped that maybe she could cut off a finger or two. She unleashed her second arrow, aimed at the naga's right hand.

Annabeth's last arrow she saved as she had Samson circle around the battlefield. She readied this one for whoever came close to her. Considering the nitemare, Athalus, and the possibility that she may be facing either a Psychomancer or someone of similar blood, Annabeth saved this arrow to shoot at anyone who would somehow be able to spot her. Be it a beast who could pick up her scent, someone who could hear Samson, or anyone capable of some form of teleportation like what Athalus had done. With her mind observing the battlefield, she was ready to make these sort of split-second decisions.

Lucilia Riovas

Lucilia was writing up a letter for a company of mercenaries when a student burst into her room. It was one of Lidda's vitamancy students, who told the vampire that Mar was in the emergency room. Dropping everything at once Lucilia grabbed her medicine bag and went straight to the infirmary. Sure enough Mar was laid up on an operating table and her lower half was... Torn into two. Sam was nursing a stab wound from his hand, no doubt caused by Mar, but what had happened? "You!" Lucilia pointed towards another student. "Go get Satori! I need to know what happened to Mar. Where is Athalus? I know he brought her here!" Another student who only barely saw what happened told Lucilia that Athalus teleported away after dropping Mar off. Cursing herself, Lucilia put on a clean robe and mask, washed her hands, and put on a sterile set of gloves. "Status report. Sam, why is your hand bleeding? And what is happening to Mar?" As Lucilia got her tools ready and cleared the area, she heard a muffled roar. Her face paled when she realized that it came from below the college. "Oh gods..." Lucilia needed to be quick. The last thing she needed was for Tyrael to be here.

Tyrael Marchosias

"Traitor! TRAITOR!" Tyrael's voice echoed with the words of his demons, who fed his raging emotions. Ssarak had abandoned Tyrael to save his enemies, leaving him to fight against two maliced nagas alone. Difficult foes for Tyrael... In the past. Fear had kept his docile. It was a bestial instinct; individually Tyrael could have killed a naga on his own, but against the entire tribe he knew he could not stand a chance if he angered them. So he cultivated a "friendly" relationship with them, for his own survive. The kinship he had with them didn't occur until much later, but even then the underlying fear of them prevented Tyrael from truly integrating with the naga, instead keeping to himself when he still lived in the Ravine.

But of course that all changed after he came to the college, learned his magic. He became stronger and more powerful then ever before. He had learned to control the demons he once fled from. He contacted the Archdemon who Tyrael once served, and used that former relationship to become an Overlord of the Inferno (Some parts of it anyways). He made friends, he made enemies, he learned of love and loyalty, of honor and hate. Before Tyrael was just a roaming vagabond, sucking the teats of others for safety and power. And now he was the one with the power. He wanted to return to the naga, show them his power... Gain their respect. But then... But then Mar was banished. Someone he was close to, essentially sentenced to death. So he used his power to save Mar, and perhaps that was what he needed to prove his strength. But then Mar too fell out of his reach, once more making him question what good he was for. And now the naga have returned, thinking that they could simply come to the place he calls home, using the fear he once had?

"Show them your might."

As the Maliced naga aimed to bite into Tyrael's shoulder, he struck first. Normally tearing out someone's throat would be instant death, but with a maliced naga such methods would be useless. He needed to defang the snake. And to do that, Tyrael neck grew and stretched, thanks to his bound demons. He aimed for the naga's jaw as his own fangs clenched underneath the naga's head, digging into his jaw until Tyrael crushed it in his mouth. The naga's tongue shook violently in Tyrael's face, even trying to jab his eye, but Tyrael merely responded by biting the tongue off as well. As the naga was temporarily stopped, Tyrael pushed the naga into the wall, putting distance between himself and the monster. he was getting ready to run it through when the previous maliced naga tried to stab Tyrael. She missed, but forced Tyrael into retreating further.

Despite his attack, the male naga was not dead. Bleeding heavily and unable to bite Tyrael any further, but not dead. The female naga had a dagger in her chest, likely in her attempt to kill herself before she turned. Evidently she failed. They were side by side, their attention directed to Tyrael. If he was thinking clearly he could easily escape them and let them kill each other, nbut right now he had a (Literal) taste for naga blood. Tearing his backpack off the ground Tyrael aimed his Dragon Tooth at the two naga and roared. He roared so loud, even the students on the otherside of the catacombs would hear and feel his anger.

"WAAAAAARGH!"

Catacombs

The Ridge Hounds were being culled en masses, not helped by their own suicidal tendency to ignore the potential for death and eating their own kin. But even despite heavy losses there were still enough Ridge Hounds to be a constant threat, especially for the few who weren't paying attention. During the brief moment Darius was pondering his situation, three hounds descended upon him from above, their claws poised for his neck, legs, and hand respectively. While Lira was successfully able to kill one ridge hound, seven more from the horde behind were gunning for her and Myrn, seeing them as an easy meal. Some of the bigger Ridge Hounds, who have just finished stripping their kin of flesh, noticed their next meal in the form of a small elf. As she was busy shooting down other Ridge Hounds, four of them twice her size converged on her position, their jaws wide open to both swallow her whole and possibly getting shot through the brain. Baulder himself wasn't in the best position either; while he eagerness for meat may have allowed him to kill the most, now he was in the center of the horde, most of whom directed their attention onto him. They literally began to pile towards him, and even as they died they simply allowed one of their own to get closer, crushing them with the weight of their corpse. They also attacked him from behind, biting at his ankles, legs, and groin. Some may not even be able to see Baulder as the pile of Ridge Hounds, both dead and alive, began to form around him. Though some were quite stunned when an ear-piercing roar echoed through the college.

Lira pushed the hound over off the female bellow, she wasn't sure but she thought she heard more approaching their direction "We need to go" She said her knife was in her hand had broke off in the hound leaving her with shrapnel and the wooden handle. "Also do you have a better weapon on you? Mine seems to have been lodged into the hound?" She asked though it probably wasn't the best time to ask for a blade to fight with in the middle of a fight. Lira knew that she probably wouldn't last long maybe be able to take one or two more down, but they where bigger by the sound of them. this wont end well, if we don't get out soon we will be killed Lira thought.She reached her hand out to help the person up "I'm Lira by the way"

Summer nodded and followed Leith after he got out of the hole. She bit her lip as they got closer to the smokey hair. She looked around to make sure nothing was coming. She looked forward and saw a naga about to attack a young vampire girl. She nodded and looked for nearby to see what planets she could forcefully grow. She spotted some flowers luckily and used her growth spell to make them grow towards the naga. Just as the girl was about to be struck down, the flowers wrapped themselves around the naga tight enough that it wouldn't be able to escape right away to attack them.

"Hello. I am Summer Flores are you ok" She asked a worried look on her face. She looked towards the battle wand then to the naga that was tied up.

Annabeth’s spell was still in full swing when Althalus suddenly popped up from Sam’s moving shadow, the horse still running past and toward the opposite of the meadow. Her hands had gripped Annabeth just barely as the woman bolted forward with the animal. Her arms were numb from the tight grip she tried to maintain, her heart steady and beating well. She felt like she was swallowed by a calm water all the way around her which made her more distance from the chaos erupting all around her. Her face reflected hr odd calmness while she considered the source of the earlier screaming. It had been a while since the sounds faded into the forest causing a dread to fester and die against the psychomaner’s effect.

When her father screamed for Annabeth to take her back to the college, her eyes looked to the older girl for answers to question bubbling up inside her. What was going on? Who was screaming, are they alright? Shouldn’t we help them?

Already Annabeth was notching an arrow and lining up a shot, her body bent down and low while they swept past everything on their path. They were drawing closer to a group, Lyn’s head peered out and around to spot Keri caught in the Naga’s grip. Her tail crushing and coiling, breaking the legs and slowly crushing the vampire’s arm. The absence of fear, worry and pain was logically settling into Lyn’s mind causing her to press tightly to Annabeth. by that time her guardian let loose a smoke arrow that screeched forward into the crossbowman’s direction then exploded into black smoke. Another arrow followed right toward the Naga’s limb as they bolted past them, racing deeper into the forest.

Samson flipped about, his front facing where they came from as well and her bow raised for any future attackers.



Ellys’ tail curled more and more about the vampire, her tail constricting while feeling the bones give away underneath. Fragile little things that easily gave away and would eventually turn to dust. Much like the blood that had dried up whenever it escaped through the wounds. There was no thump of the heart, no sense of beat or heat, under the tail’s smoother scales. This was causing the Naga’s instinct to rattle as her primal nature drew out, her eyes closed against the sensation filling her mind. It was then her heat sense felt a large amount to her right, her head jerked and saw the gesturing movements of a bow being drawn.

Her tail loosen and bunched while she shoved the vampire away, her hands ripped out the spear tip embedded in Keri’s throat. The arrow nearly missed, nicking the Naga’s spear on its flight. More dust scattered into the wind as she hiss, retracting her fangs. Something dark and leafy immediately jerked out to snag her tail causing the Naga to swipe her spear, ripping the fast growing vines away. Her tail lashed out to crush the fast growing plants while she retreated toward meadow. Wide eyed and angry, her blade failed to clear the debris quickly enough before it swarmed her. It bonded her figure into a thicket of green within moments through it wouldn’t hold her for long.



Sam flinched and hissed in pain, his wound bleeding across the floor. His undamaged hand immediately reached for a linen bandage, quickly wrapping it several times around it then tying it off neatly as he could under the circumstances. Hoping the bleeding would stop later, he shooed the frightened students away allowing Lidda to rush into their place. Her eyes widen in fear and confusion at the Naga’s damaged figure. Her body in a continual state of flux that it was a blessing she was out cold from the pain. Already her twin tails were defining themselves into human legs, muscle, flesh and bone forming into functioning legs while Lidda’s hand reached out. Dread filled her heart when a rib, like with Sam, shot from the torso and speared her palm. Luckily, the woman wasn’t foolish enough to allow the pain. She immediately, in a few seconds, cut off the vein’s flood through constricting in the walls and severed ties to her pain receptors by disconnecting the tissue.

Her hand fisted about the rib base, pouring her arcanite to overwhelm the existing damage. It retracted but quickly the ribs fused and Mar’s windpipe once more sealed shut, her breathing stopped. Lidda’s eyes widened in alarm as she cried for Sam to bring a blade. By this time, Lucilia had arrived. Her petite figure busting into the sick wing with a bag in her hand, shooting questions, orders and preparing for surgery.

Sam watched a student rapidly depart for Satori while he passed both a sterilized reed and blade to Lidda, the woman splitting open the windpipe then inserted the reed tubing. Flickering her thumb across the small carved rune, the plant extended down to Mar’s lungs where fresh air surged into her chest. Mar gasped, releasing blood from her mouth to spill over her chin and chest. Lidda attempted to control the wild changes as her face furrowed into a sour look, her magic failing in keeping Mar from changing. “Damn it, what the hell is going on?”

Finding time to actually answer Lucilia, Sam fired off an answer. “Althalus brought her in here like this, her body keeps changing and even Lidda is having trouble keeping her stable. It’s like her mageblood is tearing her body apart and we can’t figure out the cause. We need to replenish her blood loss-”

He heard her curse causing the old man to stare hard at Lucilia, the muffled roar drowned out to his human hearing, as he stared at her. “Lucilia, what is it?”

Keri Wolf Lyn's Hunt

The spear didn't feel like it was moving which made Keri a bit worried. Something felt wrong with this situation. The Naga wasn't moving or was she. Keri felt something smacking about her knees as it seemed to weave around her legs. There was a tightening motion cause her to panic. Her eyes widened as her body was wrapped. As pressure was added Keri knew she had made a huge mistake. Pain wrapped about her thighs and legs, coiling higher and making it harder to move. She heard a snap as her right leg gave out making her eyes water and searing pain waved upwards. The tail coiled higher, slowly cracking a few ribs inside her body.

Keri felt the pressure going up her body. More pain rippled through her body as the grip tighten. She felt the grip tightening as her left leg gave out. More pain was added making her fear that was already there making her think she was going to die. The pressure seemed to loss grip or at least a bit before there was another wave of pain from her throat. Keri felt herself tossed away as if she was a doll. She felt herself hit something hard breaking more ribs. She couldn't speak yet alone move.

E'docsil

Pure rage. Pure, unadulterated rage flooded through E'docsil's body. The murderer of her sister was right in front of her. Her master's voice hissed in her mind Control yourself. She, of course, ignored it. She had her enemy right in front of her and she was going to kill him. The Fake Tyrael's skin visibly rippled as she hissed at Grey. "Murderer. Murderer. MURDERER!" he shrieked, pushing against Grey's shield. "YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER, YOU KILLED HER, YOU KILLED HER!" The Fake Tyrael's muscles seemed to bulge as she increased the strength of the form, claws gripping into the side of the shield and trying to rip it from his grasp.

Grey's axe

Mortal, what have you done. She's normally so composed. Mock her with it. Angry people make mistakes. Mistakes we can capitalize on.

Aramir

The Snow Elf paused, confusion crossing her face as she heard herself shrieking, and then Tyrael's deep roar to kill the Naga. It wasn't just her imagination on hearing her own voice, as the Yarosmerian man beside her frowned at her in confusion. Aramir slowly stopped firing, wary about what was going on. Something wasn't right. Besides, she was nearly out of arrows. It seemed like no matter how many times she wounded a Ridge Hound and it was tore apart by it's companions, there were always more. She had her knife, but fighting the animals that were nearly her size was not a prospect she relished.

She'd have to make her next shots count. She couldn't even see the Naga, much less even think about killing them, so she focused on the much more imminent threat of the Ridge Hounds. She began firing at the larger, more dangerous looking ones, intent upon having them torn apart by their pack mates.

Mackendrick and Co.

Mackendrick's head tilted slightly to the side as Annabeth and her horse disappeared. "Deal with the Elf berserker. I'll find our invisible prey." The scarred man grunted a reply, heading off towards Alaira with a mad glint in his eye. Mackendrick himself lifted a gloved hand and pressed into his wrist, holding very still. His eyes tracked where the arrows were coming from, estimating movements and delays. The girl didn't have that powerful of a bow, not from horse back, and the arrows were appearing long after the twang of the bow over the pounding of the hooves. He walked closer to the sound of the hooves, moving like a blur. Two daggers gleamed in his hands as he drew closer and closer too the hooves. Any arrows launched at him simply side stepped or sliced out of the sky with impossible speed.

Once he was right next to the pounding hooves, he lashed out with his daggers, intent upon hamstringing the horse and bringing it down.

The scarred man stopped in front of ALaira, a grin on his face. "Step right up, step right up, face the greatest warriors Tiien has ever had! The fastest blade in the Spine of the Forest, the strongest Orc in the Holds, The Champion of the dragon-men, the fist fighter with a thousand kills to his bare hands! Take your pick, for anyone of the can kill you!" He held out his hands wide, clearly waiting for Alaira to choose someone.

There was a buzzing sound next to Summer's ear, and the knight's brother reformed. "I see you control the forest as well. But do you listen to it?" He asked, head tilted to the side. Suddenly he sighed. "No matter. You're going to have to die anyways. My brother will take care of your friend." He hefted his axe and swung down at Summer, hoping to make it a quick smash of her skull.

Leith's ring

Mackendrick is the masked man. Many talents, many abilities, but they can overheat. The knight is a vampire hunter. No magic abilities, but he traded his soul for the power to fight his most hated foe. His brother is a mage, a Herbamancer. The swarm works together, but is confused when broken apart. The scarred madman challenging Alaira is technically two twins merged together. One was a Necromancer, the other a Vitamancer. They have lost their sense of self, but have gained so many other identities.

Althalus

"Stupid fucking..!" Althalus made an unintelligible sound of anger, loading his crossbow. He had told Annabeth to run. What does she do? Turn invisible and hope that running around and firing arrows won't lead people to her position. With Lyn just waiting to be caught in the crossfire. Now there was a target moving too fast for him to shoot, a knight moving to finish off Keri, and another stranger standing over a student ready to bash her skull in. Alaira would have to handle her own in a fight with the madman, and he certainly wasn't going to be able to hit the masked man. That left the axe wielding maniac.

Althalus took a few steps to get closer to range, aimed his crossbow, and fired the bolt. It ripped through the chest of the man, leaving a gaping hole that seemed to buzz at the edges before rapidly beginning to repair. He stumbled a step back, giving Summer more time, before recovering and starting to swing down again.

Uicle

The Necromancy teacher, after being beaten about and looking even more haggard than usual, walked quickly into the infirmary. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner, I was trampled by a group of Orc students, hit by a falling beam, impaled by a knife flying from it's hilt, knocked over by my own golem, and hit in the head with enough rocks that I'm pretty sure it counts as a small landslide. In short, Aarem is being a particular bastard today." He gave only the briefest of glances to Mar's writhing and shifting body. "What do you need me to do to her? It appears that a Vitmancer has decided they really don't like her. And since Lidda isn't doing anything, I assume it's not her. I, unfortunately, am a Necromancer Hydromancer. I can't do much more than tell you that whoever is doing this is aiming for pain."

Grey Onyx, Catacombs

Grey struggled to keep his footing, this thing was particularly powerful. He shook with effort, though he held fast, the creature not gaining another inch of ground, true to his word. However there was little time to celebrate, and his eye widened in surprise when it started accusing him of things, calling him a murderer, along with a long string of 'you killed her, you killed her...' He combed his memories, he was sure he hadn't slain any lady bandits, but... Unless... A flash of the nightmare of twisted flesh from his last mission, his eye widening in shock... It had family?!

-I've confirmed it, this... thing is not Tyrael. It hates me more than anything, so I'm going to keep it focused on me.- he sent to Ssarak, gritting his teeth at the Axe's advice... What did it think he was, some kind of barbarian? But it had a point... the angrier it was, the less it would think of attacking the Naga. He struggled to keep his grip on his shield, the creature seemed intent on taking it from him, bulging as its muscles swelled with power. "Eager to join her, I see?"He said as hee adjusted his stance, runes burning as he turned his body and braced his legs for maximum resistance. Overwhelming strength coursed through him as he rose his blade, intent on hacking into its arm.

Alaira Taenn, The Hunt

Alaira smirked as she saw the thing try to strike at her with its tail once more... She was a lot harder to hit than that. It might have expected her to try to dodge it, and it'd be right... She ducked down under it into a slide, manipulating air to whirl herself around and then using a final burst to shoot forward, Stabbing her greatblade into its side as she planted her feet on it, using another gust of air and a strong kick to both jam it further (Enough to poke out the other side) and get her away from any retaliatory strikes... She managed to get to it before it could teleport, and the sheer force of the blow was enough to send it crashing to the ground. She laughed loudly as she stood once more, gathering power in both her arms... "It's over!" She exclaimed...

Now Alaira had a lot of power; she seemed more enduring than most students when it came to spells, able to cast more than most others before tiring... She did have a problem, particularly in her electromancy, however: She was fairly inaccurate and had difficulty controlling her magic when it was too far outside herself. However, when she had something for her electricity to anchor on to, something to guide it... all was well. Like, say, a rather large steel sword. She smiled wide as she let loose the power from her arms, arcing bolts lashing through the air to the blade, coursing through the nitemare and frying the internal organs it so desperately needed, the creature collapsing in a smoking heap. She made it look easy, true, but it was all luck... She knew that if Annabeth hadn't hit it and made it just a liiittle bit slower, it would have teleported and continued to wreak havoc for some time longer...

She noticed Athalus show up right about then once she began to assess the situation... What the fuck even- And then, Some kind of 'asshole dream team' just... showed up. She grit her teeth, looking around for her next fight as someone ran straight to her, cackling and spewing nonsense... Great, crazy. She hated fighting crazy, they were much harder to shake than the average man. Still, she simply smirked, showing no fear or hesitation as she held her arm out, using magnetic energy to pull her sword back, catching it and resting it on her shoulder. She felt like humoring him... "Heh, you really spoil me for choices..." She said with a laugh, readying her blade into a fighting stance. "How about all of 'em? You're gonna need 'em."

Meirin Kurenai

Meirin felt her spear sink into the Paich's softer underbelly. When she lifted the creature up, she noticed her spear failed to fully impale the monster. It's armored shell kept her weapon from breaking through even with a jumping stab, and now her spear was firmly stuck inside the monster. Fortunately Meirin had a dagger she could use to stab the Paich in the neck, but before she took her weapon out she noticed the female once trying to flee. Unable to get the Paich off quickly Meirin was just going to have to settle with her spear transforming into an improtuv hammer.

Using her improvised hammer to vaults herself a further distance, Meirin slammed her impaled Paich into the ground and jumped towards the fleeing female one. She intended to use the jump to bring her mate down onto her, harming and possibly killing both, hopefully. Or perhaps the force of Meirin swinging the little monster around would be enough to dislodge him a good distance away from her; either one would be fine with meirin.

The male shrieked in pain, blood oozing from its wound, and slipped over its belly. The beast curled inward while trying to claw into the spear head and get loose. It wiggled on the tip, suffering from the ache waving through its system, as Meirin rushed to the other side of the field. It was easy to see the holes due to the wind, their covers popped off then sent flying into the air. Slowly, however, Meirin would note her wind spell already starting to damp about two-thirds the way across it.

Already the female Paich was lowered gradually to the ground, her claws reaching for it before... Bam. She was cracked acrossed the back causing her to curl up immediately. The male, who had been bleeding, stopped moving when the impact hit. His figure still and clearly dead though his body was too far stuck on Meirin's weapon's end to now dislodge without some heavy push and tug.

On the other hand, the female's shell was perfectly intacted. Her large, bulky frame snapped down firmly as she waited out the likely wacking and smacking of the improvised hammer. Her shell could take the beating in the long run, refusing to move an inch or give Meirin a opening to kill her. Any attempt to pry the creature up would be foiled since the critter would hastily burrow again, the wind now died down, and vanish again.

Meirin's first strike was enough to kill the paich on her spear, this much she knew. But the female had gotten into a defensive position, making it nearly impossible for Meirin to deal a single deadly blow. If she had one of her flails she could crack through the armor, but she didn't have time for such things. While Leith and Summer were gone, Meirin worried that they might have gotten into some heavy trouble. She needed to get their help.

Knowing that the Paich was now taking the defensive, Meirin was confident she could escape without pursuit. Without the element of surprise on it's side she could elude the creature even if it did give chase. So meirin gave the last Paich some blows in order to ensure that it would continue it's defensive effort before running off in the direction Leith and Summer went. Hopefully she won't be too late.

Myrn Vaan'Atisha

Myrn was in a tight spot before the mysterious girl was able to deal with the ridge hound on her. Accepting her help getting up Myrn was about to introduce herself before even more ridge hounds showed up. "There's no end to these things! Lira, stay behind me!" Myrn readied her sword to meet the enemy. The Ridge Hounds lunged at her all at once, but Myrn was no stranger to fighting against pack tactics like this. The tip of her blade went to the Ridge hound on the outer edge of the group, stabbing it where it's eye would be if it had one. From there Myrn braced her front foot firmly on the ground before pivoting, slashing her blade from the ridge hound's eye, through another ridge hound's head, and across another Ridge Hound's face. At the same time it allowed Myrn to step out from the rest of the pack's charge. That killed three, leaving four more for Myrn to take care of.

Looking around Myrn had no weapons she could give Lira. Myrn was only good with her Dar'Missan, so it was all she carried. She would offer the girl her bow, but that would involve wasting precious seconds taking off her quiver. And while the Ridge Hounds were weak, they were fast; Myrn couldn't give her bow to Lira fast enough without getting overwhelmed by the monsters. Not helped by the fact that shortly after the ridge hound arrived, Aramir seemed to have shouted out that they needed to kill nagas now, followed by a ear-shattering roar. This gave Myrn quite a headache, but also stunned the Ridge Hounds. This would give Myrn the chance to throw her quivver and bow off her back, handing it to Lira. "Here is my bow and arrows. Use them!"

As the Ridge Hounds were still stunned, Myrn dashed forward, stomping on one with both feet. She shortly brought her blade into it's back, twisting it before pulling it out. She used an overhand strike to chop off the head of another, then positioned her blade to cut down one more. Her moves were done with speed and precision, despite being a great two-handed sword. As the last Ridge Hound was starting to recover from it's stunned state, Myrn held her blade low to the ground and charged. By the time it would have noticed her, she had brought the tip of her Dar'Missan onto the chin of the Ridge Hound, followed by the rest of the blade. Impaling the beast's skull, she put her weight downwards as she pulled her blade out, ripping the monster in twain and covering Myrn with it's blood. Seven beasts fell and Myrn suspected more were coming, so she had to be ready for them. Swiping the excess blood and flesh from her blade Myrn regrouped with the others, trying to figure out what to do next.