>>5285587>>5285612>>5285717>>5285732>>5285857>>5285924>>5285964>>5286138>>5286249Emboldened by your recent success, you continue your offensive, eager to repay the debt of pain that the priest inflicted on you. You draw your weapon back as his spell nears completion. Faced with a split-second decision, you pick out an image that appears to be out of synch with the others and bring your weapon down...
The mirage winks out from existence as your steel makes contact with it.
Twisting and contorting into shapes the likes of which are not meant for mortal eyes, the priest's visage becomes the face of horror. Dread seeps its way into the farthest depths of your heart, and you find yourself crying out like a panicked child against your will. Reverting to your most base of biological tendencies, you lash out at him like a cornered beast yearning to live another day.
"Agh!" The clatter of steel colliding against steel resounds throughout the ruin, punctuated by a meaty THWACK. With trembling hands, you uneasily draw your weapon back and notice a steady flow of blood running from his abdomen underneath his armor, identifying this one as your real opponent. By dumb luck, you must have punctured an organ. He shuffles toward you with labored breath, pointing his sword at you in a manner that is so melodramatic that it would be comical were his face not filling every fiber of your being with mortal terror. "Stupid-" he rasps. "Elf bitch! I'm gonna enjoy breaking you real slowly, you hear?!"
Ambivalence, that is what you feel. Rationally, you were in the superior position. You are the more capable fighter, and his wounds were observably worse than yours. Logic did nothing to assuage your fears, however, and you find it impossible to stymie the waves of doubt that now invade your thoughts.
>[Strength] As shameful as it is to debase myself in such a fashion... I shut my eyes and swing my weapon at him with wild abandon, hoping to hit... something.>I just... need to retreat for a moment, to catch my breath and regain my cool. Then I can properly send him to his grave.>[Agility, Attack] My hands shake, my breathing is uneven, but he will not be able to best me so long as I do not relent!>[Write-in?] 