A Pain in the Neck

[Alain the Carnedge]

Alain had a firm grip on his blade, dragging it across the ground as he ran. The Manticore sprinted at him, flinging spines that he narrowly dodged, some of them tearing holes through his cloak and hitting the walls behind. None of them hit skin though, so running through wasn't that hard, he just had to run low and dodge the lucky shots. Coming to a quick halt when the monster was about to jump, he readied the next strike to be the killing blow. He knew he outclassed the Manticore in melee combat, but it didn't know enough to figure that out. The only way he thought that he could lose the duel is if there was outside interference, since he could close the distance easily and decimate the creature in close combat. Confident in his chances, each move of the creature was predicted and reacted to flawlessly, and this was no exception. Moving to hit it with the fatal strike, he sidestepped the leap, and while his peripheral vision was blocked by his cloak, he'd predicted where it would go and reacted accordingly, stabbing at where he assumed it's neck would be. But the manticore was no longer there, disappearing it was just a figment of his imagination.

"Huh?" He muttered, utterly bewildered. It didn't evade him, he knew that much. Even a manticore wasn't fast enough to dodge in mid-air, especially not with holes in it's wings. He looked around, completely confused, for a few seconds of silence, until... "S-" Alain immediately turned around, stopped listening, and sized up the man in case he was a potential threat. While his new partner in the manticore hunting business only had a normal Katana, the black horse that was apparently his companion had glowing red eyes and looked so blatantly evil it made Alain want to hit himself. Not like he had any right to complain, mind you. He also strongly suspected that his new "friend" was proficient in magic, as he could see flames dying out from their boots. The guy'd seem like just another man in the crowd to a normal person, and they'd just move on without a care in the world, but someone so experienced in combat with clothes that blended in so well just came across as a guy with something to hide to the mercenary.

Nevertheless, Sresveltr disappeared, as perhaps making a new friend wasn't the worst thing in the world. Ignoring the mutilated manticore, he spoke calmly. "Oh, no worries. But where are my manners? I'm...ah, Velgr." Alain faked a grin at his new pal, a grin that came off as so eerie that a paranoid person would assume that the man before them is planning to kill them with minimal effort. Though, that person might've been right.