What a mess. This creature, capable of so much destruction yet alluring enough to bed some of Althanas' stronger men was now faltering in his arms. The black cracks that ebbed across porcelain skin spread. From them, a corrosive miasma of dark essence sapped into the air. The cloth of his sleeve around her hissed, grayed, then became powder. He righted the woman if not to save his attire from melting away into dust and brushed himself off. He scowled as if trying to remove fetid shit from his robes.

This wasn't Amari. She was right, he killed her. Amari died and now he had this tool. Lye took a moment over his shoulder to glance at Madison. Maybe she could do something. If not, maybe this monster would actually break and disappear. Gone with the rest of his mistakes.

"Don't forget your place, slave. Property doesn't call me by my name." With his command of the shadows, he urged a grip around her neck and forced her forward. He did so with such aggression that she acted more like a battering ram opening the door than a human being.

Shinsou, Philomel, the Tarot. Now was not the place nor the time to put them down. Those obstacles would be removed one way or another. If not by him, than someone else.

Lye followed suit behind Scarlet and into the rain once more. As he passed, he caught a glimpse of Tobias Stalt. The assassin's skin heated for a moment. Despite their bitter history, the two were somehow cordial to one another. Yet, all it took was a blink or nudge and one's blade would find the throat of another. For now, their loose alliance stood. The assassin walked on as the mercenary made sweet on a familiar looking nekojin.

Finally, the two were gone and the tavern was that much better off.