#redlinesoul

Your long fingers curl over the top of the shabby laptop stationed in front of you, lowering the lid just enough for you to peer over the top of it. Amidst the sound of pouring rain, something else had reached your ears.  A scrabbling noise, emanating from the darkened corners of the room. 

Peering over the rim of your glasses now, your gaze flicks around in an attempt to discern the exact location, or the cause. Instead, you feel the sensation of something snaking around your ankle and crawling further upwards. 

The body was black as shadow and contrasted by its host of orange legs so bright they were practically glowing. Every claw-tipped leg undulated in time as it crawled further upwards, two similar creatures reaching out from the shadows to intertwine with the first. 

You jut out one long arm and flex open your fingers before quickly clenching them into a fist. Your weapon materializes into your hand as you do so, allowing you to grab hold of its short handle. 

You raise the oddly proportioned sword in an underhanded grip, lining up the sharpened point of its tip with the head of the creature as it winds its way up to your knee. 

In that same instant, something much stronger than rain punches down through the roof, a large mass of shadow dropping down into the room with a heavy impact before rocketing straight towards you.

Eyes widening, your lanky legs quickly shift, feet bracing against the floor before pushing off, only sending you a half foot or so back as you swing your sword upwards. 

CL-CLANG

Steel bites at steel as another sword collides roughly with your own, and your other hand quickly flies up to join the other, bracing your leverage from this awkward, underhanded angle. 

A moment later the grinding contact breaks as your assailant jumps back. You look up at the figure, bathed in the moon’s glow which seeps in through the hole in the roof. Large, ragged looking wings flap in agitation and bright orange eyes burn through the cracks of a striking, long-nosed mask. 

As it begins to raise its sword once more, poised to strike, you pull yourself up to your feet with a weary sigh. As you do so your vision flashes orange for a split-second as you feel something sharp dig into the back of your knee, right where your sock ends. A negligible amount of damage instantly chips away from your health, and you feel yourself become a bit more sluggish. 

Your gaze flicks back, then forward as you manage to raise your sword again at the very last moment. 

CL-CLANG

Overhead, you hear more weighty thuds against the tile roof as the enemy flits back again, readying another strike. Puffing out another sigh, you take the opportunity to flip your sword into an upright grip as your gaze wanders to the corners of your vision, EGO fading into view at a low opacity. Another tick of damage flecks away at your health bar, though your only focus is confirming that your party still had yet to be dissolved. 

CL-CLANG