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It started as a quiet night.

Restlessness had pulled Labyrinthite from the comfort of his home and back into the streets of the somewhat sleeping city. There was buzzing beneath his skin that made it itch, with goosebumps along his arms that blunt nailed fingers ran over again and again, that kept him from sleeping and he had slipped out of the bed he was sharing with his pink haired girlfriend and into the darkness of the night.

The rush of adrenaline that came with pulling over the cloak and second skin that was General Labyrinthite never failed to make his nostrils flare and his golden gaze flash hot with hunger.

Teleporting was a rush in itself as well and he found himself teetering on the edge of a favored rooftop with his eyes closed and his breathing deep.

It took a moment to settle himself, but soon enough he could feel the pulsing of energies in the vicinity. Some were strong, overlapping his own and some were weaker, a mark of newness.

Newness meant breakability and the good general could feel the rattling of the beast in his cage that howled it's hunger.

Feed me, it demanded, give into me.

Patience, he would push back, but his boots were pushing off the ledge and he was moving in the direction of the nearest aura.

It didn't take him long to find the page, it didn't usually. Pages were often bright-eyed and bushy, who didn't know any better about the things that lurked in the dark and how the monsters wearing human skins were so much more dangerous than the ones that crumbled to dust in their hands.

Babel's heels clacked against the pavement but Labyrinthite's boots didn't make much of a sound as they carried him closer.

"My, my," he cooed, half of his face obscured by the shadow of the hood. Only his mouth was really visible, edges twisting up sharply to reveal sharp, pearly white teeth.

The ratty edges of his cloak fluttered behind him with each brisk step forward. Fingers flexed at his side and his head tilted when he regarded her. "Tell me page, do you fear what lurks in the dark?"

"Now who said you could leave?" The threat in his voice was a sharp as the smile on his face. His voice was a raspy thing, the softest of echos as he stepped forward to encroach on her space. If she thought his aura was oppressive, then she would find that he was more so.

Each step brought him closer, long strides that shrunk the distance between them until, if he wanted, he could touch her.

He was curious, if she would try to run or fight or do anything or if she would roll over, bare her belly and give up. "Tell me your name."

Survival instincts were a curious thing, or so Labyrinthite thought, and he wondered how the page's instincts would manifest. It was clear that her flight instinct hadn't kicked in or she was too paralyzed with fear, or was it resignation, that he'd still catch her and make her suffer worse for her attempts to flee.

There were several things he thought about doing as she stuttered over her own name. "Seems apt," he mumbled beneath his breath, whiskey gold watching her expression.

He took in the startled look on her face and the way she tried to keep her back from being completely pressed against the wall.

That was fine, Labyrinthite enjoyed playing with his toys.

"General," he practically purred, smile stretching even further as something dark glistened in his eyes, "Labyrinthite." One hand reached for the front of her shirt, like he was going to lift her by it once he got a hold of it.

When Babel ran, Labyrinthite weighed his options in the dozen seconds or so it took him to react. He could have chased her, running on foot wasn't something he needed to do often with the ability to teleport something he was confident and well practiced in. He could have summoned his weapon and charged forward, using the reach of the great blade to strike the page down, or at all depending on his aim. Or he could have teleported before her and shown that even if she ran, he could out pace her.

In the end, he followed after, scythe summoned to his gloved hand as his boots carried him.

The weapon was as heavy as always, but years of experience and training made it so that he could weld it one handed with expertise and when he closed the distance between them, his own physique coupled with the boost provided to him by his rank, Labyrinthite swung.

Encke's patrol had been fairly typical so far -- he had dusted a small monster, but other than that, it had been quiet.

Encke didn't trust it.

The pulse of an aura more powerful than his confirmed what he suspected -- there was definitely more happening out here. He knew what he sensed was a general, and even as what he was now he knew there was no way he would be able to take it on by himself. Leaving a general wandering unimpeded, though, was not within his nature, and he started heading in that direction to at least scope out the scene. If he needed to, perhaps he could call in reinforcements.

(Of who, though, he didn't know. Perhaps Gelria would be willing?)

It was when he heard the scream in short succession that his blood ran cold, and he froze in place for just a moment before dashing in the direction of it.

He nearly skidded to a stop, and took a brief moment to survey the scene. There was a pink general with a scythe -- looked familiar. The image of the power plant flickered into his mind, and he quickly realized why. He knew this much: that general was powerful. The aura he was overpowering, the willowy knight up against a wall, was not. She was also gushing blood and missing an--

Dios mío.

Thoughts started bubbling in the back of his mind, but he choked them down with adrenaline, pointing at the pink general and screaming, "Full Ionization!" It wasn't much for a general, he knew it, but perhaps it would drive him back just long enough to get the knight out of the way.

Get the knight out of the way before she bled to death.

With that in place, he ran towards the knight.

Labyrinthite was so focused on playing with his food that he wasn't paying attention to what might've been going on around him. There were so many things pressing onto his other senses that paying attention to the shifting signatures that might've been around had been a second thought, something he wasn't doing and something he would end up regretting.

Still, there was a chunk of hair, a limb lost to the ground and blood-- there was so much blood and it gleamed on the weight of the dark metal of his blade. Some had even splattered, dripping onto his face and the sinister grin that curled his lips.

Her scream was ringing in his ears and if he had been more present in his own body he might've thought it was deafening. But as it were, he was pushing forward, moving more out of reaction than action; driven by instinct and the growling of the urges he could never keep quite locked away enough.

"Tsk, tsk--" Labyrinthite was cut off, something striking him in a manner that had him feeling rooted, shocks hitting him this way and that and...

It burned, the areas of him that felt locked so he turned, growl something throaty and deep tearing from him mouth when Ida's arrow pierced him in the chest and he staggered, the combined efforts throwing him off balance and down to one knee.

His grip on his scythe had loosened but something dangerous flashed in his eye. "I didn't..." he rasped, slowly, "know you had friend...knight."