Dutifully, Ophelia followed her Anchin, shoving everything that stood in her way aside; blinded by ignored passion that was forced to the surface, unbidden, by Kiyohime's powerful influence. The world that surrounded her presented no challenge, no threat, only nuisances to overcome or bypass with brute, unyielding force. Seamus couldn't escape her, not with Kiyohime's Stalking in full effect; her mind only knew of him, saw him, needed him... it was hell on her thoughts, slowly dissolving her sense of will as she moved forward. Spying him drop into the manhole, she followed without fail...

...and came to see the vastness of the sewer system. It was rivers of sewage, left and right, back and forth... rivers... everywhere... Ophelia trembled, enraged that her Anchin would flee from her, once more, as he did, back then. Across the riverbed. Seeking sanctuary in the temple. "[i][b]Grrrraaahhh~![/b][/i]" she bellowed, the roar hybridized human and dragon, yet hissing underneath like a den of snake roused in anger. In bursts, Kiyohime's scales began to coat her arms and hands; stealing her fingers and gilding her arms to her elbows in the snow-white, scale keratin.

Into the water, murky and rotten, she plunged, and waded. Seeking, in desperation, old, yet unresolved. Lucius held his silence. If his Empress couldn't overcome her most troublesome first subject, on her own, she would be unable to advance. This was her first, real trial in this war of Servants and Masters...

            He had to let her fight on her own here.