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And right on schedule. Madison saw the fist coming and dodged, rising from her chair and stepping back, though the freak clipped her shoulder. Still, she could feel Kouki's reassuring power all around her, only slightly diminished by the freak's attack. Slowly, deliberately, she drew one of Kouki's blades and pointed it at the freak.

"I did warn you," she said, simply, then stepped back to glance out into the hallway. "He attacked me. Do it," she said, loudly, to the empty air. Not that the freak could see that she was talking to nobody, of course.

A moment later, she nodded and smiled with apparent satisfaction. "I'm afraid your lovely lady is a bit less pretty now. You can get on okay missing a finger, though. Want to try for an arm?" Her smile was cold as she turned back into the room. She unsheathed a second sword and crossed them in front of her. "Of course, you could always sit back down and we can keep having our nice little chat~ It's up to you."




HP: 35/40
Defending

"I didn't say we were going to kill her~" Madison laughed. "Do you know how many things you can do to someone before they die? My comrades will take care of Calliope, oh yes. She won't be going back any time soon... and whose fault will that be, hm?"

She easily fended off his second attack, blades standing firm against the blow. The Hunter snapped the blades away from each other with a shing! of metal on metal, driving the force of the blow at one of the zombie's shoulders, aiming to sever the stitching she saw there and break the limb off entirely. "I don't just talk, kiddo. We can still go back to our little chat."



HP: 35/40
Damage: 8
Charge: 1/3

Hah. Madison couldn't help but feel a surge of pride when the arm hit the table. Even the zombie showing off its brain couldn't get her down; yeah, it was kinda gross, but she'd seen so much worse. "Yes, yes, very nice," she said, as if bored. The Hunter sat down again, though she laid the two swords flat on her lap, right at hand should the freak try anything else. "No wonder you all just hide in the shadows in your little red costumes..."

She raised one eyebrow at him. No... no. There really wasn't much here for her to extract. But maybe she could plant a seed. "Halloween cannot die. The sun is rising. Mean anything to you?"

Madison's response was immediate - one blade licked out across the table right at that errant hand. "Oh, very clever~ Try again, kiddo, or we're gonna put that not dying thing to the test."

Couldn't she, like, get some proper pointy torture devices and s**t in here? Geez, this freak was useless.



HP: 35/40
Damage: 4
Charge: 2/3

And... nope. That was it; she'd lost him. At least the way things stood right now. The little s**t had no new information rattling around in his rotting brain. It had been a waste of resources to bring him here in the first place. She already owed Caelius a debt in gold, and she'd brought in a pile of crap. Damn, damn, damn.

Kouki was hissing in annoyance; he had built up enough of a charge from hitting the freak that he wanted to get more. Kouki. Stop that - what can I use? What will make him ditch the attitude and get scared?

Ssssssssss, the weapon snarled back, then paused. Fire. Undeadssss hate fire.

"Sir." She spoke to Caelius without taking her eyes off the freak. "Do you have a match? Really, I don't think this little freak has much in that little mushpile he calls a brain... but I wonder what'd come out if we played with fire?"

What an idiot she'd been.

The Death Hunter simply shifted his gaze from Madison back to the undead and then back to the trainee. "That will be enough, or have you failed to realize that this specimen has already given you your answers?." There was a loud scrape of the chair as he stood up. "I will expect your report brought to Classroom A at seven pm sharp tonight. You are dismissed trainee: close the door on your way out."

Had she passed or failed? There was no indication as Caelius waited for her to exit in silence. It wasn't until the door click closed behind them that he moved, occupying Madison's vacant spot, folding his hands on the table. He stared directly at Mortimer, expression unreadable. "I am under the impression that you know exactly who I am."

It was impossible to miss that this comment was less a question but a statement, though the conditions were outright bizarre. Here was the person who had killed them - killed Red - time and time again sitting there with Mortimer as if they were discussing less urgent matters.

Madison stared. Mortimer stared right back.

Arm still before him defensively, he remained quiet while his interrogator left, even for a few seconds after Caelius had spoken. This . . . was not expected. Fire had been. But the fear was still there, as the zombie still recalled acutely that the Head Hunter had summoned blue fire in the forest. Maybe he wanted to do that and enjoy it all for himself or something.

Wait. Mort was alone with a head hunter. Gulp.

And somehow he had given them some sort of answer she wanted. Double gulp.

"Y-You were fighting Red a-a-at the haunted mansion," Mort eventually said, still quite tense despite the Hunter's casual tone. "N' you were in the forest. B-Blue fire."

Had the horsemen given these leaders names? Mortimer couldn't recall, it had been so crowded in the washroom . . .

"You took heirs th-through door. Why?" It was worth a shot, at least.