The duo had devised a plan: to grab both ends of the hook and run forward, the center of the rope aimed at the beast. They ran as fast as they could toward the bounding beast, however he was much smarter than they predicted. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he slid underneath the rope, grasping both of their legs and thrusting them forward, trying to trip them up.

One of the dogs had fallen straight into the path of the angel, but the time he took for the downward slash was enough time for another dog to rush in and bite deeply into his right arm. The other cautiously surrounded him.

Many things happened all at once for Boris. His staff penetrated through the hole that was briefly created, finishing what he had started what seemed like an eternity ago, once again piercing the Splinter Fright's heart. A horrified expression crossed Themba's face. She tried to scream, but could not. All of the holes, all of the stab wounds that pierced many of his organs and vital areas, whittled and fell to the ground as the Splinter Fright began to disintegrate, becoming nothing more than a pile of branches.

Boris heard only one sentence in the darkness.

Run

Suddenly, Boris awoke on cobblestone, next to the lab that was now boarded up, and near the shoreline. He couldn't see much of it, however, due to the people that were pretty much on top of him. The large wound on his torso had been cauterized, however it still hurt immensely and his heart might have been hit in the process of everything. Small holes had pierced his body, but were also slowly being stitched and cauterized. Immense pain flowed through him as he glanced at Liss, Jessica, Desmond and Ahriman.

As Ahriman moved to heal Jessica's wound, severe fatigue fell over him. He had used too much mana in his efforts of healing, however he had healed Boris' large wound on his chest successfully. Desmond had healed some of the smaller wounds, however there were too many in too many spots to track them all. In the midst of it, Boris opened his eyes suddenly, awakening from his slumber

Boris, finally awaken from what appeared to be a nightmare, is now in intense pain from all around his body. He can feel himself gasping weakly for oxygen while moaning to the agony he's suffering through. He couldn't move, it hurts so much to move, aching within every fiber of his being. His blood run cold, the crimson pool he's drenched in felt like a pool of freezing water. This was no dream, every infliction the Splinter Fright has dealt onto him felt real, and it was.

Run

Run from whom? His mind felt too weak to think of anything, there isn't enough blood flowing through his brain. His vision is blurring, he can hear his own heart beating slowly. His eyes caught the faces of his allies, especially Liss who's in immense sorrow.

"I-It..." Boris tried to speak, but each word burns deep within his lungs. "It h-h-hurts... s-s-so m-much..." Tears form in his eyes and rolled down his bloodied cheek. The pain is too much to handle.

Ahriman realized he hadn't enough mana to seal Jessica's wound when the flow of energy stopped, but at least it was cleaned manually. "I need to recover my mana reserves. I used up much of it in our own battle and the rest went to heal Boris' major wounds. Desmond, you will need to stitch up her wound and make sure she gets a dose of penicillin to stop the infection. I'd do it before the numbing wears off."

The stitcher nodded and proceeded to sterilize a stitching needle he had on his pouch with the flamethrower. "Now, this might sting," he said as the metal touched Jessica's flesh. He proceeded to stitch up the wound. "Lissette, do you have what Ahriman is asking for?"

She stumbled backwards as she saw the wound cauterized, her senses went blurry for a few seconds and sat on the ground sje felt like she was going to pass out of pain. Tho just in time Ahriman helped her wound to get clean and decrease the pain. However having an open wound such as this could be felt anyways and the pain was horrible, she noticed that someone was going to stitch her wound and warn her about the pain. She forced a smile before saying to him "With the pain I'm feeling right now... that needle will actually feel good Desmond.."

While he was closing the wound she lifted her head up to him and said "I'm... I'm sorry about Ghan... I know what it feels like to lose your brother". She said the last sentence in a more sad tone, she remembered that the Demon was still alive... and that he was the responsible for her missery.

Ahriman grins and says "At least the pain wasn't enough to knock you unconscious. I've had a wound or two like that in my time. Say, Desmond, what was the grimoire you used in the battle? The spell you cast sounded vaguely familiar."

Desmond frowned. "Losing Ghan made me realize who he was... or at least what he represented," Desmond said as he finished up. "It might have been the most emotionally painful thing I've experienced."

He turned to Ahriman. "I used the Three Book, one of three scriptures on humanity," he said as he brought the book into the light. "It's what Creese used to make stitched and me to create Ghan."

Ahriman asks "How exactly did you give Ghan sentience?" thinking there may be something useful.

Adric felt the creature grab a hold of his leg and thrust it forward, sending all of Adric's momentum forward. Adric smiled wryly. The whirring in his arm became intense, the few wisps of smoke slowly growing larger and larger. Small pockmarks of flame erupted for brief moments beofre extinguishing, putting several small holes in the right arm of Adric's jacket. Adric whipped his arm around, bringing Ravin upwards, nearly clipping the ceiling. Samson grabbed on to the back of the rope, and began tugging, as did Adric. Ravin floated in the air for a brief moment, before being yanked back down to the ground with tremendous speeds. Adric felt himself slipping downward, and so he rolled his weight onto the midnflayer's arm, pinning it to the ground, and making it unable to escape the missile that was Ravin.

By the time the mindflayers grasp had touched Ravin's leg, he was whisked away by Adric's hook. Flung high into the air, he became in tune with the plan. Drawing Cerulean, he turned himself at the apex of the swing. Rocketing downward, he pointed his sword at the mindflayer's center.

Will no one inform me of this plan?
We'll skewer him and cook him for dinner. Forwards, gravity, carry us to victory

"I never meant for him to have sentience, Ahriman," Desmond said earnestly. "I only used my soul since I needed an unlimited power source. Over time however, my soul grew and sentience slowly manifested. It's amazing really now that I think of it."

Marcus took the bite to the arm in stride as he spun around and booted the hound away from him. He used his sword to pivot a flip as he slammed the fiery edge into the ground, throwing fire all around the angel as well as emitting a gale of force from the impact.

The beast was surprised by the sudden turn of events, and the absolute solidity of the plan that they had come up with. He grunted loudly as his arm was pinned down, probably fracturing a bone or two from a whole person's weight lying upon it. He watched as Ravin came down with the sword aimed at the center of his body, tremendous momentum behind him. The beast looked between Ravin and Adric for a moment, and then was a blur.

The sound of a blade piercing flesh was heard.

Only Adric was now in front of the beast, a sword deep in his abdomen, that had emerged from his back and pierced the beast's chest.

The hounds were all thrown back by the sudden shock wave of fire, however fire didn't do much for them considering their nature. They were only shocked for a moment, looking back and forth at one another before once again jumping toward Marcus. They didn't have any strategy, they weren't smart enough to have one

Jessica, for the moment was healed, the pain in her arm dull but not intolerable. She might be able to use it, but only in small intervals. The wound at her side was healed as well, and seemed to close up rather nicely. Boris, however, who had seemingly been forgotten out, had lost liters of blood from the small wounds that hadn't been attended to. At this point, unless Marcus awoke soon, he would certainly die.

And that wasn't even the least of their worries. Beside them, they heard Adric coughing up blood, and looked to see a large wound in his stomach

Adric grinned darkly. He was in pain, yes, but the beast was stabbed as well. Adric weighed the pros and cons. He decided, all in all, the pros were better. Samson wasn't as convinced. Samson's eyes lit up to a piercing green. He grabbed one of the spikes and charged towards the dazed beast. With a satisfying yet sickening smack, the spike slid into its head. Samson stepped back, and kicked with his back legs. Hard. The spike was driven further into its head. Samson looked at Adric "Pal, de only one killin you is me!"

As the hounds began to blitz towards Marcus again, he pulled his sword tightly to his side with both hands this time. He inhaled deeply as they began to draw closer to him. Once they were close enough he would swing his sword with hopefully enough strength to cut through several if not all of their heads.