"I hope so, for your sake. I'm different to the man you fought in the Citadel."

Weaving his arms out of his coat, Shinsou spared one last glance towards his apprentice. Her cheeks had been gaunt, her eyes sunken and haunted, but colour now returned to the skin and life to her gaze even in the cold of night. He smiled to himself, believing his words had somewhat reached her. They would not be enough to hold the effects of her trauma at bay forever, but they had done enough for now.

The Telgradian quietly began to channel his Tenebraen power. It rose from the depths of his stomach up his very being, burning up his insides like acid. These were the murderous impulses he felt in the Obisidan River bubbling to the surface as they had done every day since he was given this power. The metallic taste on the tip of his tongue reminded him of fighting Arius inside the demon Niliatus. The great evil had finally been put down, and the bastard who had caused so many to suffer beneath his attentions had gotten exactly what he deserved; an overwhelming and final death, with Shinsou and this power the final word.

He exhaled a stream of of steam, clearing his mind. Unchecked emotion served no greater purpose.

Shinsou wove two orbs of Ardor's Flame into their swirling cocoons within his palms, smouldering ember and the scent of charcoal warring in his nose as the night's shadows shuddered beneath the flaring light. The silence was broken by the crackling of the fire, but his mind didn't falter. Unlike his Telgradian powers, there was no need for words to slip past his lips.

At the behest of his thoughts, the Telgradian's limbs went to work. He darted forward with frightening speed, throwing the first fireball straight towards his redheaded apprentice. At the same time, his legs carried him and his second fireball to the desired destination: just left of the swordswoman and her Copycat, hoping to trap her between himself and the first Ardor's Flame. The explosion from the first fireball struck just before Felicity, shattering the concrete foundations of the ruined house at her feet, sending splintered shards fizzing through the shadows. The resulting heat cast a million burning splinters out into the night and splashes of purifying white flame took life among the debris.

It didn't hit, but that didn't matter.

The head-sized second fireball still within Shinsou's grasp was already mid-flight, threatning to slam into the side of the Neanderthal's skull.