Many minutes had passed since Lydia had rose from the room and began her final steps, walking in no particular direction but that of the next thing to burn. All castle staff was in an utter panic, many of which were simply enslaved humans used for a variety of things. The nobles fled from the fire and ignored Lydia entirely. Even those who looked directly into her eyes thought nothing of what she was doing, they could barely tell she was alive. The heat and noise of the fire filled her mind and drove her forward, pressing hard against her back and urging her to keep moving.<br/><br/>As she began to round yet another corner the castle shook again, different than that of what she was causing. Then again, and again. Louder, and louder, it approached her. In an instant the wall on her right exploded in dust and rubble, just barely missing her. In the split second that she could see, Shenyo and Milas appeared before her. Shenyo had Milas by the throat, slamming him repeatedly through those walls with one hand. Milas had looked stunned, but was able to catch her eye long enough to realize who she was, before his attention was forced back on the monster holding him.<br/><br/>And just like that, they were gone. The sound of the fire behind her took her attention and drowned out the battle that continued through the castle. It would be a miracle if it held up much longer. There was something wrong about Shenyo, however. His clothes were in tatters, but she hadn't been able to see his skin underneath. There was something black underneath it, perhaps fur? It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't fully spread throughout his body. But it was dark, and pulsed with a horrible energy.<br/><br/>The only thing she could do was continue to walk forward, mindlessly lighting everything she could get her hands on. There was no hope of catching up to them, not in her condition.<br/><br/>--<br/><br/>Minutes felt like days as she force marched herself forward, the world coming in and out of focus the longer she strained herself. Was she walking in circles now? Was she about to walk into her own fiery path, and be caught between her own destruction? It wasn't clear, she simply couldn't tell. Even if she had known the layout it may have been beyond her at this point. Yet as she turned one more corner, she came to a set of stairs leading down. No, it was more than that. She could see stairs leading down from the same floor ahead of her as well. It was a grand staircase, leading to an intermediary area before leading down to the main entrance. The massive doors were wide open, letting in cool air and billowing oxygen into the building inferno.<br/><br/>But she wasn't alone.<br/><br/>"You wretched beast. You haven't won." Milas spit out. The two of them were circling each other below her, just in front of the large staircase. Shenyo was merely growling in response, but they both looked worse for wear. Milas held a blade in his hand, but it was merely a slight advantage of range against Shenyo's two handfuls of claws. But they weren't pushing forward as she would have expected.<br/><br/>Lydia could again feel the raging, pulsing, filthy energy encompassing Shenyo. But she could still feel him. He wasn't gone quite yet. Was that why he hadn't won? The power he was showing was far beyond that of what Lydia had seen before, but it wasn't a power she was unfamiliar with. Instead it was a tainted version of the power that flooded through her when they coupled, and when she tapped him for power. It was wrong.<br/><br/>Shenyo's deep red eyes were locked onto his, and his body stiffened as he prepared to launch forward. At the last second his head turned towards Lydia. "Lydia?" He spoke, his voice deeper than normal. In a brief moment his eyes returned to normal, and the black fur began to recede as his eyes kept locked with hers.<br/><br/>And in that moment of distraction and weakness, Milas ran his sword straight through Shenyo's body and pinned him to the wall.