The Mad One stared at Arcturus with its blank, lidless eyes, breathing excessively heavily for how little it was doing, its breath hissing as it passed through its gritted, inhuman teeth. Its rage was unmistakable, yet for some reason it seemed to hesitate. It seemed to focus entirely on Arcturus for a moment as if somehow spellbound by his words, before turning its head to glance at Marcus with similar fascinated curiosity when he declared his need of a weapon.
Then Joseph took action and actually attacked the confused beast, successfully plunging his spear into the Mad One's rib cage... only for it to instantly whip its staff into [I]his[/I] chest, the weapon moving suddenly and with blinding speed, striking him with enough force to knock him back into several cots, causing those to fall over and a couple of still-unconscious Hunters to crash to the floor.
As dark blood poured from the Mad One's wound, however, something strange happened: all over its body, the grim scars it wore seemed to start glowing in shades of red and purple, starting with the ones on its torso and quickly spreading to its limbs, and the glow of its eyes shifted from pure white to bright crimson.
Completely ignoring the wound that would have been immediately lethal to any being not carrying the Old Blood, the creature abruptly leaped toward Arcturus, its arms poised to attack broadly from both sides at once. It did so in eerie silence, producing nothing but the sound of its breath whistling between its teeth.