[h3]The Hunter's Dream[/h3]
Just as Farren and Ophelia moved to attack the ghostly creature that had just stabbed Torquil, Gerlinde also moved to attack, swinging her threaded cane with blinding speed directly at its neck. Her cane seemed to pass through it with barely any resistance, however, and elicited only the barest trail of whitish mist as evidence that it had made contact at all.
By contrast, the other two attacks seemed much more effective. Farren's blade plunged deep into the bright phantom, and while he still felt very little resistance – so little, in fact, that he had to catch himself or lose his balance – it prompted a much bigger spout of white mist, and the spirit seemed to recoil from it.
But neither of them could compare to Ophelia slashing at it with the awakened Holy Moonlight Sword. The fact that the spirit was effectively surrounded by her allies, and that Farren had opted for a thrust with a very short weapon that put him quite close to his opponent, meant that she had quite limited options for how to aim her swing. She only managed a glancing blow on the spirit's shoulder and arm, but it was immediately obvious how much more effective it had been as its luminous form seemed to immediately scatter and disperse on contact with the equally luminous blade, as well as eliciting a pained shriek.

There was not much to observe from the creature itself; it seemed to consist of glowing mist or dust, constantly shifting between ethereal and corporeal as if struggling to hold itself together. The only part of it that seemed solid was its large, cruelly serrated knife with a silver blade. In trying to identify what had happened, however, Ophelia would at least be able to notice a very faint trail, like an arcane umbilical cord, connecting the apparition to Torquil's form trying to get back on his feet.

Before any of them could do anything more, the creature made a noise like a deep, ragged inhalation and seemed to fade from view.