Kratos barely registered that once again, Sora had managed to shake off a normally crippling blow before the monster's claws were once again headed his way, this time at eye level. He jerked back in an attempt to avoid them, but it was difficult to see them in the dark, and the monster had recovered faster than he, still only human, could move...

He staggered back with a strangled cry of pain, hand pressed to his face; Sora's claw had managed to tear its way across his forehead and down to right below his eye. He dared to remove his hand and look down at his palm, shining in the faint lights of the hallway. How deep was it? How...Meanwhile, the blood was beginning to drip down the entirety of his cheek; he could taste the saltiness of it at the corner of his mouth.

There was no time to tend to it now, though; he couldn't leave Tsurugi alone to deal with Sora. Wiping what blood he could off on his shirt sleeve, Kratos looked up in time to see the boy collapse as the aura around him--what sort of powers, part of his mind wondered for a moment--melted away into thin air.

Not even bothering to see where Sora was, he gathered himself and sprinted toward Tsurugi as fast as he could. He had to get there first, or else Tsurugi would be at the monster's mercy.