[h3]Pthumeru Yharnam layer, the Old Labyrinth[/h3]
[h3][color=darkred][B]Arrayah, the Black Blade[/B][/color][/h3]
“Snakey?” Ophelia called out, and that single word bounced around chaotically and meaninglessly in Gerlinde's head for a second. Unlike someone like Farren or Victor, let alone absurd cases like Dietrich, Gerlinde had not been a fighter before she became a Hunter, nor anything that had allowed her to build a tolerance for stress or fear. Once upon a time she had been a humble wench serving drinks in a tavern; a simple life for a simple girl, who was terrified that she might one day be left on her own in the world, with no roof over her head and no food to eat. A thoroughly ordinary girl who worried, who had to force herself to look the patrons in the eyes rather than stare at her own feet and who never complained even when the tavern-keeper beat her. Back then fear had been her sole motivator, and fear of pain became one of her most core drives.
Now, though? After her time in Byrgenwerth, giving birth to one grotesque creature after another? After having survived there on her own for almost five years, sustaining herself off the frenzy-inducing venom her own larval child offered her in return for her mother's milk, supplemented with old, raw and probably human eyeballs? After that child being taken away and her becoming an immortal Hunter, which was the only reason she was still alive after all the horrid wounds, afflictions and deaths she had endured these past several days? Fear was alien to her, nothing but a fading memory, and pain... she was accustomed to pain.
Even so, being unexpectedly skewered by three different and distinctly arcane spears undeniably discombobulated her a bit and made it harder to think. At the time Ophelia called out, right as their prey had wrested the spear from her chest and the multitude of projected spears surrounding her vanished back into whatever nightmare they came from, Gerlinde had still been weighing her options. Was this worth a blood vial, she wondered, or should she just let herself die and come back to try again? Dying was no big deal to her; she was used to it. Blood vials, on the other hand, could be a bother to get more of. So when Ophelia suggested Snakey, reminding her of the power she had caught in it from the lightbeast, Gerlinde simply accepted without a second thought. She was not usually one to obey orders... but she figured it probably made sense. She was hurt and so were the others. She did not quite have the mental capacity to consider it more herself – she was dying, after all – and merely reached over to stroke the snake molt's head and release its ability.

A familiar warm, soft glow, like the calm and comfortable radiance of the hearth at the core of a home, flowed from Gerlinde's arm and enveloped her in its healing light. She felt the wounds that had been failing to regenerate abruptly mend and her regenerative potential restored. About eight meters from her it also reached the Moonborn Hunter, restoring them even as they struggled to recover and stand back up from the staggering damage they had just received. About five meters from her it reached Torquil, who – much like Gerlinde herself – had been right on the verge of death, yet found himself fully restored by the arcane blessing of the lightbeast.

And right next to Gerlinde, a mere meter from her and closer than anyone else, the brightness bathed Arrayah, too.

While Farren was still recovering and just beginning to move, long before Ophelia would even have the option to whisper anything to him, Arrayah moved first. She surged forward without warning or hesitation, using her right first to backhand Torquil across the side of his head, knocking him back down instantly. Half a second later, her left hand scythed through the air with its wicked claws, shredding the Moonborn Hunter's mask and drawing a spray of blood from their face while the abomination rushed past them.
Because now that they were all nice and scattered, and they were all recovering from being stabbed by the spears, Arrayah's priorities evidently shifted entirely. She ignored Gerlinde and Farren, and she left Torquil and the Moonborn Hunter with those farewell presents... while she moved at full speed directly toward Ophelia, closing the distance between them in about three seconds. She held the Profane Abyssal Blade out and behind her in her thinner right arm, intentionally far out of reach of Ophelia, while her stronger right came arcing from the right side and clawed left hand moved from the left, converging on the middle to grapple her.