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Mentions: Akaia [@Exit]
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[color=darkorange]"Leave Akaia to me. Keep the Lost out of the house!"[/color] Dallas planted his axe into a crack in the asphalt so that it stood straight up. He removed the shawl he borrowed from Poppy and tied it underneath the axe head. His weapon would be too bulky for indoor combat, and Dallas didn't want to ruin the garment that had been lent to him. His left arm was a little numb, but the pain was completely gone. As long as he didn't fall on it again, Dallas was in good shape. 

Stepping over overgrown weeds and brambles, Dallas quickly infiltrated the dwelling. 

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The building looked like an absolute mess, but Dallas didn't have much time to think about a house that was in disrepair. He could hear dust and broken glass scratching against the floor as well as Akaia's muffled screams. The numerous holes in the walls caused the indoor acoustics to become irregular, and the stench of rotting wood made it hard to follow scents, but the size of the house was small. Dallas would need less than a minute to find her. 

A black ball of feathers dove through a hole in the roof and darted into Dallas's chest. He was momentarily blinded as Licorice beat him in the face with its wings. The crow was making all sorts of noises, from clicks and squawks to the occasional cry of [i]"Aka! Aka!"[/i] Dallas managed to wave the bird away, and then Licorice flew deeper into the house. He followed the pet crow without hesitating. The intelligent bird knew what it was doing. It wanted his help, which meant that Akaia was in danger as of this very moment.

The unusual pair cleared the house in seconds. In the remains of the living room, Akaia was under attack. She had been hoisted into the air by two thralls, rendering her unable to fight back. One had her by the head and was covering her mouth and nose. Unable to release her spores, the helpless sidhe could only scream and claw at the thrall's hands. The other creature was violently pulling at her flailing legs, seemingly trying to rip her limbs off. Before Dallas could do anything, Licorice rushed in and assaulted the thrall that was grabbing Akaia's head. With beak and talon, the crow tore at the thrall's eyes. It groaned in pain and released its hold on Akaia, causing her upper half to painfully fall to the floor. 

Dallas didn't waste a single moment. He was on the second enemy like white on rice. He dove in and gripped the thrall's neck in a rear naked choke. Dallas felt sharp nails scrape against his arms, but the thick insulation of his fireproof jacket made the thrall's struggle futile. Dallas squeezed his arms around the beast's neck as hard as he could. Rather than try and suffocate it, he grabbed it by the head with one hand and pulled back. Its neck snapped like a chicken bone. The thrall's whole body went limp, allowing Akaia to free herself from its grasp. Dallas unceremoniously dumped the corpse to the side. 

Licorice had backed the first thrall into a wall. Whenever it tried to grab the crow, Licorice evaded before going back in for another attack. The undead creature's face was covered in bloody strips of shredded skin, and both eyes had been turned into goop. Dallas charged in and wrestled the thrall to the ground. It blindly struck at him, but he swiftly pinned its arms down. Dallas smashed his forehead into the thrall's face, stunning it. Then, he began pounding. One blow after another, Dallas hammered his fists into the enemy's face. His eyes started glowing as he exceeded his normal strength, and soon the thrall's head was nothing more than an unidentifiable mass of flesh and broken bone. 

After taking a few breaths, Dallas managed to calm himself down and climb off of the now dead thrall. With the immediate threat taken care of, he could finally spare a thought for Akaia's well being. After shaking the blood off his hands, he looked back in Akaia's direction. She was making a shaky recovery from her sudden fall. Pieces of debris were stuck in her clothes, and Dallas hoped nothing had punctured her skin. Licorice flew down and landed next to Akaia, lightly tugging at her clothes with its beak. 

Dallas took a few step towards Akaia and rested his knee on the floor so they could see each other eye to eye. [color=darkorange]"Hey, are you hurt anywhere?"[/color]