damned_institute | Night 44: Main Hall, 2-West

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Night 44: Main Hall, 2-West

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After reaching the top of the stairs, Tenzen slipped into the next hallway. This time, the hallway consisted out of a normal floor, ceiling and walls, as opposed to the pulsing flesh from last night.

Sliding his hand along the wall, the ninja kept his flashlight switched off as he headed East.

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While it could hear her movements with a surprising amount of clarity, lucentiens could see nothing but darkness, and so it was difficult for it to determine what exactly all of that shuffling was about. The only thing it knew was that she was being careful to not get in range of it, which meant it was going to have to rush toward her instead.

It was just getting to its feet, that one arm still completely limp while the claws of the other dripped with the girl's blood, when the seal hit it. The spell did as it was intended to, causing the monster to fall off balance as some of its energy was drawn out of it.

It stumbled against the wall, its injured shoulder colliding against it harshly. It would have been enough to cause any human to cry out, but the creature was merely waiting to recover from that attack so that it could continue with its own offensive.

Feeling the rush of life energy into her body, albeit a much smaller amount than she was used to, the gash in her leg stopped bleeding and the cut sealed. It was still very delicate, prone to reopening if she put too much stress on it, or took another blow there, but it would do. It would do.

With the monster recovering from the seal with its back to her, Sheena pressed her luck. With the Life Seal being affective, she concluded that her other seals would as well. Invulnerable to straightforward physical attacks it may be, but it seemed mana had an effect. That thought rejuvenated the ninja's spirit.

Pushing off, Sheena closed the distance to the glowing monster, one of her sturdier card in her hand. Everything she'd ever fought before was vulnerable from behind, so she'd take advantage of the opportunity. Again, before she got in the range of the thing's arm, Sheena sent the card at the creature with a charge of mana. A quick hand motion and the card split into a small flurry of cards to explode upon contact in a Pyre Seal.

These studier cards were so much better. She needed to make more.

If the fight had stayed hand-to-hand, it was likely that the lucentien would have won. However, with the girl resorting to magic, the golden monster found it hard to fight back. Even so, if that attack had been aimed at its front, it would have been fine, and most of the cards did just bounce off of its back.

One, however, did not. One sliced into the hidden, tender spot on its lower back, opening up its only weak spot.

The cut was small, but it was still enough to cause some blood that was as gold as the rest of the lucentien to seep out. The monster leaned against the wall and then fell onto one knee, splaying its good hand out on the floor in front of it. It was difficult to tell if it would have the energy to get any further attacks in, now that it had been truly wounded.

It bled gold?!

Sheena wasn't about to question that fact any further until she was sure it wasn't going to get back up. The ninja was on the monster like snow was on Flanoir. With her fingers curled into a more spear-like shape than a common fist, the ninja struck at that bleeding spot with all her strength, wishing her exsphere was working to give her that extra oomph to the attack.

She wasn't sure how much more damage she could do, but theoretically it should have some kind of nervous connection in that area.

While not as effective as something legitimately sharp, the girl's follow-up attack was still enough to prod the wound open further and cause more of that blood to spill, sliding across the lucentiens' hard body before dripping onto the floor. It went through spasms of what had to be pain, even though it made no noise.

Still, it wasn't going to give up that easily. If it was going to bleed out, then it wanted the girl to go along with it. It jerked its body around and slashed its good arm out at her, a last-ditch effort before it fell on its side onto the floor. And the blood just kept pouring out...

The last-ditch effort, the death throe, Sheena was read for. Hands came up to catch the creature's arm, keeping the blade-like claws from connecting. The monster's strength in those last moments, though, was enough to put the ninja into the wall.

"Oof!" Hands losing their purchase on the arm thanks to the blood on her hand, Sheena rolled backwards away from the creature and into a crouch. As she watched the thing, she rubbed her shoulder where she'd hit the wall.

"Hurry up and die already," Sheena grumbled at the monster as the golden blood pooled on the floor.

And that was what it did; the lucentiens' body continued to twitch in the pains of death, its hard skin scraping against the floor as it writhed around while the blood oozed out warmly.

Eventually, all movement stopped and the creature finally lost its glow, returning the hallway to complete darkness.

The lack of luminescence was a pretty good indicator that the monster was dead, but Sheena wanted to make sure. Silently creeping forward, the ninja crouched down, her weight on the balls of her feet, and poked the monster.

Nothing happened, there was no response, so Sheena poked it again, a little harder. Still no reaction; it was dead.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Sheena put her back to the wall and sat down. She needed to rest her leg a bit before moving on. She wished she'd been able to gather more energy with her Life Seal, but this was going to have to do. As she sat, she gave a vaguely disgusted look at her hand, feeling the stickiness from the monster's blood on it.

Gold blood. That was new.

Here there be monsters -- perhaps the best way to describe the Institute at night, with its shifting shadows and soft, unidentifiable noises. Were those footsteps those of another patient, or something more sinister? Was that movement in the corner of one's eye just a trick of the moonlight, or a night-beast sneaking up, intent on blood?

Whatever the case, it bore remembering: here there be monsters. More than one, and if one hadn't succeeded, there existed others to pick off their leavings.

A faint croaking sound slowly began to resound in the hallway, growing louder and softer at random intervals, but without a clear indication of source. Still, gradually, it seemed to move closer to where the ninja had chosen to rest, something created of hatred and hidden too long in the darkness ready to pick up where the creature of light had left ...

A shiver ran down Sheena's spine, and she peered around with wide eyes. Fear creeped upon her, for ninja were not immune to such things. Not sure what was coming, she shifted into a crouch, one hand on the ground disregarding the pool of golden blood it was in.

Sheena couldn't tell where the sound was coming from, but one thing was very certain. She did not want to know what was making it. With another quick look around, the ninja silently slipped down the hallway and around the corner.

The icy fingers she felt on the back of her neck was her imagination, but it didn't feel that way.

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Night 44: Main Hall, 2-West

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