Salem raised his arms defensively, bracing himself on the ground as Ruby's channel of sand flew towards him. Crossing them ahead of himself, he then nudged his shoulder forward, prompting Solomon to rush forward and cling to his crossed arms. The small gargoyle's wings expanded, then hardened into their impenetrable stone form. Sand impacted the pair, and while they were shoved back, the harsh impact of the tiny razor grains was pushed away by the bowl-shaped arc that Solomon's wings took. By the time that the sand had washed over them entirely, they were too late to prevent the fusion of their enemies. Solomon changed shape once more, returning to his sword-like form he'd taken many a time now. The face on the pommel remained animated while the rest hardened, and Salem took the weapon up in a two-handed stance, adjusting his footing a little as he watched Ruby and Kazarn - or rather, their fused body - closely.<br/><br/>"Okay, that's pretty cool," Salem quietly admitted. "So, you think one day, we'll be able to do that?"<br/><br/>"Yes. Provided we survive. If we're dead, then not a chance." Solomon's answer was a bit snarky, but obvious enough.<br/><br/>Salem shrugged. "Good enough reason to survive." While the Ruby-Kazarn creature was distracted by Azoth, Salem ran forward up behind her, taking a deep breath as he got closer. He was still nervous as all hell about this, but he wasn't about to give up and let this weird bug-lady kill him. He took estimates as to where her most dangerous weapons would be; the tail, of course, was a real bitch to deal with even before fusion. Those arm blades didn't look friendly either. But he also noticed something else that could be useful: while carapace covered her insectoid half, and parts of her torso and head, she had a lot of exposed skin. That might have been a weak point to exploit. As he neared, Salem readied his first attack, aiming to chop the tip of the demon's tail off. If nothing else, it could prove a distraction or get her to turn around. Following up, he swung Solomon's handle end forward. The demon's little head quickly solidified as a sharp, wing-shaped handguard strike was aimed at the other's gut, followed by an upward slash.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Without moving her head, Mary answered, her voice coming from her long mess of hair. "Yeah," She answered at first, just repeating herself until a few seconds later she clarified a bit. "Just, waiting to wake up, ya know? From whatever weird-ass food poisoning induced fever dream all this bullshit is." Of course, it wasn't a dream, but none of this felt even slightly real. Demons, what looked like zombies, a strange library in another world? Haha, no. Hell no. This was bullshit, and she knew it. The hopes that maybe falling asleep again would make her awaken in the real world were hollow, unfortunately, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying. With her eyes shut, he wiggled a little until she was more comfortable, then put her arms forward and crossed them so she could rest her forehead on them. Eventually, she rolled over, still laying down, and then sat back up.<br/><br/>"This isn't working and I hate it." While she was basically screaming inside, her spoken words were an entirely flat deadpan. "This is bullshit. The whole building is bullshit. I swear to god if Joe fed us drugged food or whatever the fuck then I'm doing to castrate him with a chainsaw." With tightly crossed arms and legs, she rocked back and forth, pouting hard and puffing out her cheeks. Damn it all, she just didn't want to be here at<span style="font-style: italic">all.</span>