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[b][code]Hillview High - Mason Square.[/code][/b]
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Now, Claire was the least motivated person in the world to fight the Glutton at the moment. Britney's little pep talk left her [i]pissed[/i], how in the hell is Brit even supposed to expect them to hope that the Glutton screws up? Penny was merely inches away from death, and she expects them to ride on a God damn hope? Well, Claire wasn't having any of it, her aura was a bright red color, and she used that strength to rip a locker off the wall and toss it at the Glutton. The monstrous Avatar stuck its hand out which stretched out, exploding into thousands of tendrils that cut it into a thousand different pieces. It was good for distracting the Glutton for about a few seconds, yeah, so that was great for Penny. It was funny, a few hours ago Claire would have [i]looooved[/i] to throw that locker at Penny, but right now it was easy to forget grudges in the bigger picture.

Claire turned her head as Justin's Soul-Self continued barraging the thing with more fire - but whatever he hit it with was just recovered a few moments later. She couldn't even see a hint of emotion on Justin's face, but every now and then the Soul-Self would stop and shake its head in frustration. Right before it continued, Claire didn't have time to think on what that meant, but it was literally a waste of energy. The Glutton can't be burned or anything, obviously, best they're doing is slowing it down. That was probably why Brit wasn't even trying? Claire thought it was just cowardice, but...

... Maybe Britney's right.

When that thought passed through her head, seemingly on cue, the Glutton jetted right toward Penny at lightning fast speeds. The being's human... [i]shape[/i] betrayed how fucking fast this thing could go, it was basically flying towards Penny. And suddenly, all those thoughts just disappeared, they were replaced by sheer action. She launched towards Penny and the Glutton, without a second thought, with hopes of saving [i]somebody[/i]. Claire had covered the ground between them and she cocked her fist back and delivered a mighty punch to the Glutton's side that had the being comically warping around the punch. The eldritch horror went flying across the room until it impacted the wall and bounced off. Suddenly, Claire's rageful aura disappeared as she smiled, it went back to her neutral blue color. She could feel it, this thing wasn't as powerful as dangerous as Brit tried to make it out to be. 

"Claire, no!" Britney tried to warn her, but Claire didn't listen. The Glutton charged her, and she delivered yet another punch to its mid-section, before sending a wide-arced haymaker to it that sent it skidding backward. Taking one step she closed the distance before punching it yet again with two quick blows and felt hope. Hope that they'll get out of here, and hope that she'll get revenge for Hagan like he deserved. Claire cocked her fist back for the blow that she knew would end all this and threw the punch hard as she could. 

When this punch made the impact with the Glutton, the being consumed her hand. Her whole arm disappeared in a mass of orange spikes, and by the time reflexes kicked in she was missing everything under the upper arm. Her aura had been completely shattered, and all of that hope and demeanor was gone. She pulled back and stared at her arm, a bloody stub that was completely and cleanly cut through. Tears were running down her eyes as she loudly hollered and spun around.

"I knew this would happen!" Britney loudly said and scolded herself for letting it reach this point, but in all honesty, there wasn't much she could do. Claire's strength made it impossible to properly restrain her - at least that was the excuse Britney made for herself. She dropped to her hands and knees and immediately created dozens of vines, and immediately felt physical weakness upon such an act. The vines went out fast as they could towards Claire, and she was praying that she would be fast enough.

However, in the middle of Claire's wild pivot, she turned her back to the Glutton.

Then... the unthinkable happened.

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Claire just suddenly felt pain in her chest, like there was something in her, as everything felt lighter. Like a massive weight had just been lifted off of her heavy shoulders. When she looked around at the group, they stared at her with various expressions of shock. Just out of some kind of dull curiosity, she looked down at her chest and saw it. The Glutton's hand was sticking out of her chest, and all she could do was go wide-eyed. She couldn't even get out her last words before... Before she went completely limp, lifted up by the Glutton into the air. Like it was presenting some kind of sick trophy, that it had killed their strongest warrior and was showing them how [i]hopeless[/i] it all was.

Britney had covered her mouth and tears had begun to stream down her cheeks. Even though her hands, her sobbing could be heard, as she tried desperately not to scream Claire's name. She slammed her fist onto the ground repeatedly, as she finally let the tears flow. [i]It's all my fault![/i] She thought to herself and realized that it was due to her poor leadership that her distant friend was dead. Killed by the very being that she had set out to stop, and she failed. She failed to save her friends from it... The tears wouldn't stop running, as Britney had forgotten that the Glutton is [i]feeding[/i] off this.

The Soul-Self had vanished as Justin fell to his knees. He was honestly hoping that it would remain away because the rush of emotion was the last thing that Justin wanted. He didn't know Claire as well as Britney, but he did know that she was the first friend that he had ever gotten upon arriving at this pisshole of a town. Damn it... damn it all. The flames flared up around Justin... before they all extinguished with grief.

The Glutton continued to hold Claire up, and felt all of their emotions feed it. Make it stronger.