[center] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [IMG]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjcyLjZiMDYwNi5RU0JtYjI5c0ozTWdaWEp5WVc1ay4w/stangend.stangend.png[/IMG] ------------------------------------------------ [code]In the street[/code] ------------------------------------------------ [sub][@Kazemitsu][/sub] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/center] Kharne had cautiously approached the monster with their sword drawn, preparing to engaging while keeping an eye on the monster's movements. However he had not noticed two things. For one, he overestimated how quickly his strength would return, as the residual effects of the creature's magic entrapment were more than mere physical fatigue. The magic had taken a toll on his body that physical exhaustion did not match. Following this, he had not noticed the change in the surroundings, the way the air seemed to take on an otherworldly quality as he had gotten closer to his opponent. The Butcher turned to the dragon with a caricature of a smirk on its porcelain face. As Kharne approached, he would feel an immense weight suddenly placed on his mind. His vision would grow blurred, and to him everything would appear out of focus. Though as the seconds passed, he and only he would hear more of the unnatural laughter. The scenery that once graced the village shifted before his eyes. Once covered merely by a winter's storm, the village was now covered in the icy tendrils of an otherworldly monster. The winds lashed against Kharne's exposed skin in a way that felt oddly familiar. The sight of the butcher before him would flicker between the monster the group saw and the true beast it hid. And before long, the butcher that Kharne had approached had been replaced by the beast that nearly claimed him before when he was alone. And this revealed creature smiled. They smiled as arcs of energy danced forth from the crystal on its chest into its hand. Inexplicably, this smile spread even further across its wicked porcelain face as the energy took the form of a red ball. And as the winds of winter lashed and enveloped around the body of the dragon, a laughter Kharne and Kharne alone would hear drowned out the roar of the winds. Kharne had eluded the grasps of the butcher once before, and the butcher smiled at the thought of correcting that. As Kharne approached, the creature let loose its arcane barrage and sent itself forth, charging towards the towering beast. [center] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [IMG]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/b3RmLjcyLjE1MDUwNS5WR2hsSUVkeWIzVncuMA,,/skyfont.regular.png[/IMG] ------------------------------------------------ [code]In the street[/code] ------------------------------------------------ [sub][@Trainerblue192][@Achronum][@Kazemitsu][@Rultaos][/sub] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/center] The searing red bolt, as Cyterius predicted, had indeed changed its course in mid-air to chase after him. The Kyrantian launched himself upward from their crouching position just as the bolt narrowly missed behind them, shattering the window of an empty village house and burying itself somewhere inside. While the group could not see inside the structure, they would eventually see sudden arcs of energy erupt from the orifices of the house and creep along the surfaces, as if enveloping it with crackling, phasing tentacles. With violent pulses vibrating through the air, the crackling energy seemed to magnetize the material of the house, cracking stone on the floor and breaking the wood of the walls and pillars. It pulled all matter inwards towards it like an inverse explosion. For one moment, the pulsing energy stopped and went silent, before it suddenly flared into a blinding flash as it sent all the wood and debris they gathered flying outwards across the street, and the cottage itself being reduced to rubble. The Party of course was not going to stay idle as this happened. As Kharne seemed to suddenly be frozen in place in the same way the group had originally found them, River's water creature moved in to retaliate. As the Butcher seemed so pre-occupied with staring at Kharne, River's summoned creature managed to land a strike directly on the creature, causing the Butcher to flinch and move backwards, averting its gaze from Kharne before reactively raising a fist covered in its red energy, and smashing the elemental creature aside. As the summoned creature was dispelled into ice and water, the monster stopped to look down at the crystal. It seemed as sturdy as before, with no visible physical damage. Throughout the air, the formless laughter echoed once more.