[h3]Pthumeru Yharnam layer, the Old Labyrinth[/h3]
[h3][color=red]Arrayah, the Profane[/color][/h3]
Farren's strikes slashed and chopped into the outsides of Arrayah's clutching fingers, carving the flesh and tendons but barely marking the bones. But though tendons were damaged and perhaps even entirely severed, those were only the extensor tendons; the ones responsible for extending the fingers, whereas the tensor tendons – responsible for bending the finger to clench a fist or grasp something – were on the inside of the fingers. Though he inflicted some measure of harm on her and shed a small amount of blood, attacking her fingers like this was far from enough to force the Profane Abyssal Blade from from her hand. Even stunned, dazed and all but incapacitated as she was, the monster appeared to hold on to her sword with manic zeal, motivated by a desperate desire that went beyond her conscious mind to never let go of her weapon.

Beside Farren, Torquil awkwardly shuffled backward as he had been instructed, looking uncertainly from the superheated Fulmen to Arrayah's prone form. He did not understand why he was to withdraw; this seemed like the perfect opportunity to press their advantage, did it not? To attack her with everything they had while she was harmless and vulnerable.
The fact that Fulmen was running hot was not lost on Torquil, though his thoughts were not at all about how this would make it more fragile, but rather that the sheer heat of it would make it a more effective weapon. They had already witnessed and confirmed that fire affected this beast, so surely a hunk of red-hot metal was going to hurt her a lot. And even if Farren for some reason did not want Torquil to use Fulmen while it was like this, surely he could just swap it for the Hunter's axe hanging on his hip, could he not? But he had been instructed to withdraw, and so he withdrew; just as with Ophelia before, Torquil readily assumed that Farren knew better than himself and happily set aside his own lesser judgment to do as he was told by those more intelligent than himself.

A short distance in front of Farren and to his left, behind Arrayah's prone torso and lolling head, the Moonborn Hunter took the opportunity to quickstep up to the back of her head. There the masked warrior of the Dream lowered their weapon and, spreading their feet in a wide, firm stance, raised their free left hand. They had just a split-second to register that gloved hand subtly transforming, growing slightly larger, its fingers elongating and becoming tipped with what looked like bestial claws... and then it plunged its arm, all the way up to the elbow, into the back of Arrayah's head, right at the base of her skull. They withdrew their hand and elicited a deluge of blood from the wound they had just caused, along with a tremor going through Arrayah's entire body.

Further away, about three meters from where the creature's semi-humanoid torso transitioned into its alien hind body, another puddle of blood rapidly spread out. In the unlikely case that Farren took the time to listen carefully, he might even be able to catch the faint sound of someone sawing flesh.

But even with all of that, the burns on Arrayah's face still regenerated, and their window of opportunity closed. As the giant eye among the multitude seemed to inflate from within the socket, marking the completion of her recovery, every single one of her eyes seemed to abruptly stiffen, then swivel in unison to stare directly at Farren. The hand holding the Profane Abssyal Blade moved away from him as she clutched it possessively to her chest, and her two other arms both went to shield the sword as well.
[I]All[/I] of her eyes – not just some of them as before, but every single one – lit up with an inner azure radiance, and the monster jolted upright with what sounded like a canine whine. Something was obviously different than before; the way she moved seemed much more... [I]human[/I], in the lack of a better term, than before. More deliberate and less bestial. Her eyes were no longer moving around erratically or each looking at a different target, but now seemed to move under the influence of a single will, focusing at one thing at a time. And as soon as she got herself upright again, Arrayah – still hugging her weapon to her chest protectively – her attention shifted to the central column of the cavern.

Ignoring the Hunters and any attacks they might aim at her, their adversary appeared to simply flee, rushing toward the distant center of this vast space they were in. They all would have a while to recover from their tribulations – among other things, Gerlinde emerged as Arrayah moved, drenched in blood but still smiling, and stood back up – while the monster moved.
It took around ten seconds for her to reach the base of the column, after which Arrayah, like a snake climbing a tree, started corkscrewing her way up the length of the stone structure, with her hind body bending to wrap around its curvature while she ascended. The attentive among them might even notice that the way her hind body did this seemed to coincide with, and take advantage of, the screw-like thread of the pillar.

While Arrayah climbed she also spoke, though it was still in that foreign language of hers... but as she spoke, the whispers translated. For the first time not only Ophelia, but [I]all[/I] of the Hunters heard the whispers of the Holy Moonlight Sword in their heads; and for the first time for all of them, including Ophelia, it was accompanied by a second voice that overlapped with the whisper. A deeper, more assertive and more masculine voice to contrast the soothing, relatively feminine voice Ophelia was used to hearing.
“Please! No! The memories!” the voices seemed to translate Arrayah's rambling. “My mind is clearing! I do not want this! Please, let me forget! Take away these thoughts! Bring back the silence!”
Arrayah only stopped after corkscrewing upward for another fifteen seconds or so, upon which she seemed to simply sit on the side of the column some ten meters above floor-level. There she finally withdrew her arms from her chest and held out her sword in front of her again. She seemed almost as though she had entirely forgotten about the Hunters she had been locked in mortal combat with until just moments ago, her gaze now focused entirely on the weapon in her hand. Her clawed left hand went to the tip of the leaf-shaped blade, and slowly moved down its length in a reverent caress. And as she did, the darkness that dominated the chamber seemed to stir.

“Teacher... please return the veil over my eyes,” the voices translated. “Remind me of your beautiful lies.”

The shadows suddenly seemed to shift and congregate around Arrayah, momentarily obscuring her form. But the gloom was not meant for her; the inky blackness continued to condense, settling into the sword in her hand. Though the shape of the blade was maintained, its features now turned uniform pitch-black, like a silhouette that seemed to greedily devour all light that touched it; looking at it was like staring into the void itself. But not only did the blade seem to become infused with this abyssal darkness, it also seemed to travel down the hilt of it... and then keep going. The handle of the sword appeared to elongate, extending several times the length of the entire weapon, until it was over four meters long, turning what had once been a gladius into something that was more akin to a hewing spear... or, perhaps more fittingly, a sword-staff.

“Huntress...” This time only Ophelia heard the voice in her head, and she only heard the familiar whispers of the Holy Moonlight Sword. It was no longer a translation, but the words of the whispers themselves: “Both the Holy Moonlight Sword and the Profane Abyssal Blade are awakened... the time has come. Let the two halves touch... and incant the words 'Gestalt Truth'... and you shall wield it made whole. As the one true champion.”
Above, Arrayah's gaze grew distant for a moment, as if listening to something only she could hear... and then her eyes abruptly shifted to fix on Ophelia. On the Holy Moonlight Sword. And she grasped the transformed Profane Abyssal Blade with all three hands.