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Mara jabbed The Master parried, stepped to the side, and took Mara by the shoulder Mara drove the blade through the top of the Master’s hand, feeling it scrape against the bone inside his shoulder He let go of the blade and spun to grab fistfuls of the Master’s shirt

The Master was strong, and with the unpinned hand, pounded on Mara’s head, blurring his vision Mara bit at anything he could, the Master shrieking as teeth sunk into flesh A thumb searched for Mara’s eye, but Mara pulled the hand down and bit into it, then felt the blade slide out of his shoulder A hard knee to Mara’s stomach lifted his feet fro the stone

Breathing heavily, Mara watched the Master pull the blade out of his hand and throw it into the stone benches “If you wish to kill me, Mara, you’ll have to do a better job than that”

“Beast,” Mara shouted

The Beast appeared behind the Master, both of its huge hands on his shoulders

“I feel the presence of your fa the minds of even the hardest willed” The Master stepped out of the Beast’s grasp “Yet today, you have a far ined an easy victory Kill e It is only with overn balance in this world Left to your own devices, it seems chaos will ensue”

Mara smiled “Chaos”

The whispers wailed, and a fire-like heat spread across his body as he leapt up and ran at the Master

Silas watched Mara grapple with a Shadow in front of The Wings of Darkness There couldn’t have been a ures danced across the walls in the candlelight

Mara and the Shadowpositions without transition between one move and another Mara kicked at the Shadow’s shins in one movement, but before the blow landed, the pair had moved a couple of feet sideways

Silas shook his head What the fuck is happening? The strangethe wall If I can get close, I et the ch

ance to kill after all

Mara and the Shadow zipped froh stone at breakneck speed toward the benches Silas hit the floor and crawled between the rows closest to him There had to be at least six rows between hi the ends of the benches

Several ron, Mara lay backwards over a bench, the Shadow on top of him Mara clawed at the Shadow’s pale, bloody hands around his neck, rando at its mask A Vespen blade lay only a few feet away

Silas hter’s flailing legs He couldn’t focus on theirup hat he was seeing Looking at the floor, he breathed deeply Concentrate, you have a job to do, just like any other