[h2][center]Geralt of Rivia[/center][/h2]
[center]The Maw- The Kitchen[/center]
[center]Lvl 7 (85/70) -> Lvl 8 (86/70) [/center]
[center]Word Count: 693 words[/center]

As the door exploded and their distraction was solidified, Geralt moved to attack alongside Mirage and Link, while Bella unleashed the monster that lie dormant within her. In truth, Geralt was reminded of some of the particular nasty brands of necrophage, that would just as readily eat living flesh as deceased. He was too used to such things to really be [i]disturbed[/i] by such brutality, but it was just a little uneasy seeing an ally tearing into a living man (little as this monster resembled a man in character) and feeding. Ironic, considering his friendship with Regis, a vampire, but the man had made a pact with himself not to drink, so it wasn't quite a perfect comparison.

It was with great satisfaction that Geralt drove his nail directly through Larry's Achilles Tendon, expertly severing the vital tissue with a single blow. For added suffering, he gave the weapon a jerk to the side, tearing through more muscle, before removing it as the lummox fell to the ground with a crash. 

Seeing Bella's tail release its grip and fire a slug from its powerful railgun down the bastard's throat, Geralt half-turned towards their recently-arrived compatriots, only to pause when he saw that Larry hadn't yet dissolved into Ash and a Spirit. 

Something in Bella had apparently snapped, as she went right back to chewing into Larry's hideous body. Link took the opportunity to climb up Larry's head, using the butcher's own knife as a handhold by driving it into his eye as he scrambled up, trying to get through to Bella's newfound humanity with a plea to get a hold of her higher thought processes and stop the brutality. 

Geralt took a different approach. If stabbing in the eye, and being bitten and shot in the neck didn't work, perhaps a more...direct solution would. He calmly approached Larry's throat, bloody and torn to shreds as it was, and raised his needle as the butcher ineffectually flailed his arms around. A moment to recall human anatomy. A moment to mentally transfer his model over his vision. And a third moment to drive his nail down, directly through the gap between the C2 and C3 vertebrae on a normal human. 

With a brutal jerk to the side, Geralt tore through the butcher's spinal column, aiming to shred the vital tissue and finish Larry off. It would both serve as revenge for what he'd done, a warning to the other kitchen staff that this fight was not one worth starting, and it also served to solve the immediate problem of Bella's bloodlust. 

Speaking of which, Geralt had only just noticed Mirage backing away from Larry's bloody body while violently striking himself with his own weapon, as if trying to focus. After a moment, however, it seemed to pass and he turned his focus to getting the fire put out and rescuing the girls still dangling like meat. 

Thankfully, Bowser, Junior, and Kamek were on the scene, with a few minions in tow as well. As bombastic as the boss was, he really did have a way with getting people to follow him. A natural charisma that, paired with his half-bumbling nature, made it hard to really hold anything against the guy, even when his half-cocked plans ended up backfiring in some way almost as often as not. 

The new arrivals on the scene made quick work of the flames, helping the girls down as well, but Geralt was watching the commotion downstairs, not trusting that they'd be so easily ignored. The nail was still in his hand, but anybody watching could tell that Geralt was flagging. His normal posture was much more slack, the ready tension he usually carried was replaced with tight muscles desperately trying not to loosen lest they fail once they did. 

He couldn't do this much longer, at all. The fact that he'd made it this far was a damned miracle, but with the adrenaline and the anger passing from him, the Witcher was now keenly aware that he was at the very end of his rope, and that he could not put it off any longer than he had already.