"<span style="font-style: italic">Tiny thing?</span>" Solomon angrily parroted. Sure, he<span style="font-style: italic">was</span>small, but this insult was grave and unacceptable. "Salem, crush this insect. His essence will be stronger than those pitiful hollows you've been fighting. Rip his soul out and take it for yourself." The gargoyle sounded quite upset, and was very intent on taking out Kazarn. The sooner the hostile demon was taken care of, the better.<br/><br/>Salem was a bit taken aback by his companion's suddenly darkened demeanor. "Holy shit," He began, about to continue on about how Solomon was kind of being a creep. That chance was taken away by Kazarn's sudden rush down. Instinctively, Salem swung Solomon at him, moving in an upward arc aimed for the bottom of the insect's head. No time was wasted in an attempted follow-up, a set of messy, unaimed side to side swipes that had a better chance of hitting the midsection than anywhere else.<br/><br/>The whole time, Solomon shifted himself around in ways that were meant to cause the most damage possible. During the uppercut slash, the tip of his tail-blade extended into a sickle-like shape, and during the wild flurry of strikes, he extended himself to make up for lost range. During the shifts, he returned to a partially fleshy state, making him vulnerable for those few moments he took to reshape himself.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Mary stiffened up when her hiding place was mentioned. Damn, this 'stealth' thing was harder than she'd anticipated. Of course, she couldn't just be left alone, and a group of what looked like those undead outside were converging on her.<span style="font-style: italic">"Shit. Shit, shit, shit,"</span>Mary thought to herself, scooting back to the far end of the table as fast as she could manage. A series of wiggles and uncomfortable arching over table legs managed to get her away from it all, but also into plain view.<br/><br/>Hopping up to her feet, she watched Ose's illusory constructs carefully, backing away from the table. At this point, she was wishing she still had that axe that she'd planted into the earlier hollow's head, ineffective as it may have been. She'd rather have the illusion of protection than total exposure. At the very least, they were slow, so she planned to keep backing away from them to keep as far as possible. The library was a big place, and there was plenty of room for a game of cat-and-mouse.