The demented hound continued to bark madly even as Tatsumi fought against it. Its jaws clamped over and over, wrestling against the man’s grip in a desire to take his flesh as its own. Its onslaught however was interrupted by Sinthe’s sleeper hold and it flailed around in an attempt to claw the other human off. When it felt him finally release his grip, the creature howled and lunged forward for the killing blow.

Its head stopped suddenly, jerking as something sharp pierced its flesh. Blood clotted around its furred head and it barked in pain and anger, finally relenting its hold on Tatsumi. It backed away on its knees, the shadowy spear clearly unstable but throbbing into the creature’s large and muscular throat. Pained growls filled the air as it wobbled away from the two men to regroup with the others.

To Sinthe’s accusation, the townsfolk merely shrugged. He would get no sympathy from him using that kind of talk for what was the worth of one human life? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Their own lives were meaningless in the eyes of those all seeing.

As Tatsumi was no doubt recovering from his first usage of magic, a creeping sensation would come over him. Such were the consequences of dabbling in dark arts, be it willing or not. It was a cold shudder that would threaten to weaken his knees. Above all, the uncanny perception that something was watching him would overload all of his senses…only to soon disperse away as the real threat made itself known.

Hearing one of their own in pain, the hooded figures turned back to the group and uncovered their hoods. They let go of the screaming woman, who backed away into a corner to watch with widened eyes. Each of the beast men had heads of canines, varying in different breeds and colors. A humanoid hand drew a rusted sword for them each and the creatures raced forward to kill these fools that defied their will.