[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ki245Tk.png[/img][/center]

[color=lightgray]Mentions/Interactions: Phia [@princess], Meiyu [@Tae], Talis [@Oso][hr]

The moment Phia’s claw lashed out, the sharp edge of her soul surged forward like a wild thing unleashed. Her foot missed its mark, slipping through blood and shadow as Liana turned just slightly, avoiding the sweep with predatory grace. But Phia’s follow-up did not miss.

Her claws raked across the side of Liana’s face, cutting deep enough to draw blood, three angry crimson lines scoring down from brow to cheekbone in perfect, furious symmetry. Liana’s head turned with the motion, hair swinging as the blow staggered her. Her lips curled slightly. Not in pain…in fury.

It was all Meiyu needed.

From below, the shadow danced upward with precision, and the dagger slipped into Liana’s thigh with all the grace of a secret. The blade found flesh. The venom began to spread. It would not paralyze her entirely, but it would weaken her. It would slow her. That was enough.

Liana knew it the moment it hit. Her balance shifted. Her body felt heavier. Her heartbeat stuttered once, then began to thrum harder, compensating.

It only took a second or two for it to begin spreading. She was running out of time.

[color=firebrick][i]Enough![/i][/color] There was no more cleverness, no more indulgence.

By the time Liana turned to face her, Phia barely had a millisecond to blink.

The kick slammed into her abdomen like a battering ram, cracking ribs on impact and launching her back across the tile. She hit the mirror with a sound like a thunderclap, glass and breath shattering in the same instant.

Before she could even fall, Liana was on her.

Her hand found Phia’s face and slammed it backward once…twice…three times into the shattered wood frame behind her. Blood dripped from her scalp, her lip, her brow. 

[color=firebrick]“You deserve this.”[/color] she whispered coldly, her breath brushing Phia’s ear as she let her drop like a broken doll onto the tile.

Then, with no warning and no sound but the snap of air filling the space she vacated, Liana vanished.

Black smoke coiled in the stall. Talis looked up.

She was still crouched, still clutching her satchel like a child holding tight to a dream, her knuckles white with fear. Her breath hitched, shallow and fast. Her whole body trembled. The chaos outside had sounded like the end of the world, and now the end had come to collect her.

The air thickened, and then Liana was there.

She stood in the tight space like she belonged in it, as if the stall had simply grown around her presence. Her hair hung in front of her eyes, blood still dripping down her cheek in long, lazy rivulets. Her breath was measured, and a sick smile painted her face.

Talis whimpered without meaning to.

[color=firebrick]“All that running,”[/color] Liana said softly, crouching to her level. [color=firebrick]“All that trembling, and you still think you're the hero of this story?”[/color]

Talis’s mouth opened, but no words came. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t scream, couldn’t do anything but stare at a woman who may as well have been the reaper herself.

[color=firebrick]“You have something I need,”[/color] she said, almost gently. [color=firebrick]“Just close your eyes. You don’t have to run anymore.”[/color]

Then the blades struck.

One after the other, plunged deep into Talis’s abdomen, sliding past soft flesh and into the core of her body. Her eyes went wide. Her breath caught. She clutched tighter to the satchel as if it could still save her. Her mouth formed the beginning of a plea that never came.

Black ichor began to pulse into her bloodstream, branching out like ink spilled through water, spreading beneath the surface of her skin as the daggers pulled free.

She was still holding the satchel, alive but fading fast.

Liana reached forward and took the bag from her without ceremony.

[color=firebrick]“Good girl. Die for me.”[/color]

And in the next flicker of broken light, she was gone.

Talis slumped sideways, barely conscious, blood soaking her legs and pooling beneath her. Her breath was short and shallow. The veins beneath her skin turned blacker by the second.

The Devil had vanished, and all that remained in the stall was a dying girl who had tried so hard to do the right thing. [/color]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/s4aoJDi.png[/img]