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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=dc143c][b]Location:[/b][/color] City Sewers -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
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All five of Graves' senses exploded back into his skull the moment he'd found the victims. An overwhelming bout of sensation ran from toes to fingers to the top of his head. It was what he imagined a defibrillator felt like- yet the shock if it never slowed him. If anything, Graves threw himself forward even faster as his vision came back into focus and his foe loomed in front of him. Bigger than any of the previous dire rats, and looking to chow down on a bunch of schmucks that would've been rat food if he and his team hadn't gotten there in time.

Graves never so much as glanced their way.

His attention locked on the enemy, his hand tracing down to the hilt of his sword. His fingers shook as he felt its hefty weight in his hand. Lips curled, eyes grew narrow. [color=dc143c][i]Exhilaration.[/i][/color] The massive weapon left its sheathe with terrible haste, blade shining in the fading light of a dropped torch. No care for the fading light, attention [color=dc143c][i]absorbed.[/i][/color] The beast with which he danced turned, beady eyes bearing down on him. The nodachi swung around, a blur, until it kissed fur and flesh alike. A gush of crimson, a rush of [i][color=dc143c]desire.[/color][/i] His sword tore across its side, dragged along dense body mass and leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

If the dire rat was wounded it didn't show as it leapt forward, its bloated form crossing the gap with blinding speed. Graves was too slow to escape its path- though he never moved- and found himself face to face with the creature. Stinking, gaping maw mere inches from him. Eyes lock for a second. A mad gleam mirrored in an empty one.

Teeth long as daggers sink into his shoulder. Another spray of blood, an unnatural shifting of bone and muscle. Something snaps. If not for the thick, lacquered armor his arm would've come off. Pain burns through his nervous system like a fire through dry kindling. It muddles everything else. Smothers every errant thought, every gnawing doubt, every hanging dread. The world, his friends-- it all drops away.

[i][color=dc143c]'Just me and you.'[/color][/i]

 Graves only just swallows a howl.

[i][color=dc143c]'Finally.'[/color][/i]

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