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[color=gray][sub][right][color=white][b]Location:[/b][/color] Uhladein, Eastern Marches
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Blood and vile black ichor steeped the stones of the inner wall as the grey huntress carved her path. Voidlings scrambled over the ramparts, only to be crushed in her massive fist or hacked and hewn asunder with a few quick blows of her massive blade. The wind howled, the beasts cried, and Fianna hunted.

And yet, another noise reached her over the din -- screams of a decidedly human nature. If they were coming from inside the courtyard, that meant the main gate must have crumbled... ah. That explained why her prey had suddenly decided to make itself scarce. With a new, easier route into the citadel, they were rushing in through the ground level to get first crack at the helpless townsfolk cowering inside the walls.

What an utterly [i]pathetic farce.[/i] These were truly the strongest monsters in history? And yet they ran cowering from her, accepting their defeat in exchange for prey that couldn't so much as lift a finger to defend themselves. Such a blatant display of mediocrity could only remind her of her old life's enemies -- the cowardly nobles of Midnos who hid behind their wealth and armies and oppressed the weak with impunity -- and the unwelcome memory threatened to sour her good mood.

...Then a rock hit her in the back of the head. She lurched forward from the impact alone, but didn't even seem to notice the cracks in her skull as they sealed themselves shut again. A faint trickle of blood ran down her scalp, staining her silvery hair in crimson, but she felt nothing, and ignored it. Turning instead to the source of the unexpected projectile, she raised her blade to cut it down, only to be disappointed even further when she recognized what -- or rather, [i]who[/i] -- had thrown it. Ah. That explained everything.

[color=#CB0B53]"That was... unnecessary, Quinn. As is your offer of assistance. If an enemy is inside the keep, then..."[/color]

She exhaled slightly, a fog of mist forming before her mouth and obscuring the expression she wore for a moment. Yet, the faint, uncharacteristically shrill giggle that she gave meant that her face could only have worn the brightest of smiles.

[color=#CB0B53]"[i]Then I'll get to enjoy another delightful hunt.[/i]"[/color]

She spread her arms wide, the weight of her massive sword counterbalanced by the weight of her equally gargantuan mutated hand. Then, she took a step back --

-- and tumbled, grinning madly, off the wall and down towards the courtyard below. The wind took her, and though her numb skin could hardly feel the gale whipping around her as she fell, her hair, skirts, and flowing sleeves trailing behind her like the tail of a comet, the sense of free fall helped her to imagine what it must have felt like, and how exhilarating this would all have been were her humanity still intact.

But that joy was lost to her now. Right... there was only one thing that could make her heart beat anymore, and it was waiting for her at the bottom!

Halfway down the rampart, she kicked off the wall, twisting in mid-air and throwing her entire body into a corkscrew spin, throwing everything she had behind the weight of her sword. Below her stood a towering figure -- a gargantuan behemoth of black ichor and pure rage. [i]Her prey.[/i] Like a hawk diving upon an unsuspecting fieldmouse, the blood-soaked comet descended from the sky, just as the giant beast recoiled from being deflected by the shield of another combatant upon the ground. An ally? She had no time to consider such things, so if there really were Hunters yet holding their ground at the entrance, she'd leave the defense to them... and focus entirely on this one strike!

With the force of a thunderbolt, her blade connected, sparks flying as the tar-like coating of its infested body hardened to the consistency of diamond. The jagged edge of Amaryllis tore along the surface of its shoulder and back, but though she ripped through its outer shell, she couldn't reach bone -- much less its heart. Her strike deflected, she slid down its back, carrying through the remainder of her slash's momentum -- reduced though it might have been -- to deal a long, shallow scar down the length of the creature's entire torso. But if this hindered its movements at all, it didn't show it, as it turned and wildly slammed down its fist repeatedly, not giving her any time to recover her bearings from the impact of her landing. The first swing, she turned aside with her blade -- though her knees almost snapped just trying to stand under the mighty impact -- forcing her to roll aside as the second strike landed home. Furious now, it gave a loud roar and took a new approach -- spreading its palm to try to encircle and grab hold of her, so as to crush her like a particularly noisome insect. Without enough time to recover her balance -- a difficult task, given the bulk of her limbs and her precarious, muddy footing -- she instead resolved to meet this attack head-on, and extended her own massive arm in response. As the ogre gripped hold of her, so too did she grasp firmly onto it, grappling with it like a sumo wrestler as it tried to force its weight down upon her.

More flesh, more power -- liquid life flowed from her arm down the rest of her body, and even as she was forced to the ground, her already deformed arm swelled up even further -- muscles bulging, skin tearing, bones stretching to their limits and beyond -- then [i]burst[/i] like an over-full pustule as she brought down her sword-arm to sever it cleanly from her body, squirming once more from the giant's grasp like a lizard shedding its tail to escape.

It wasn't as if the ogre had time to worry about catching her again. After all, that limb had been made from the bodies of the spider-like creatures she had slain -- and when it exploded, it had released every last bit of their venom -- enriched and refined with a little bit of help from Amaryllis -- drenching the beast's entire arm in sickening yellow-green bile. It howled once again, trying in vain to grasp her -- only to lose control of the appendage entirely and end up swinging its twitching, afflicted limb every which way in a frenzy as the tar coating it, then its very [i]skin[/i] began to violently wither and necrotize.

Fianna rose to her feet, and giggled to herself, grinning as she lurched from side to side, her body's balance readjusting to the distribution of her weight once more being localized entirely on one side of her. Slowly, methodically, she raised her sword once again, and stared down the ogre.

Well, they both only had one working arm now, so it was still a fair fight, right? Thinking that way, this had only gotten more and more exciting! She could already feel the familiar madness taking hold, and she embraced it wholeheartedly.

Don't think. Don't stop. Just [i]hunt.[/i]