The inside of the garment was lined with pistols and pockets. “Fuckin’ hell, he’s got enough guns for a whole squad…” Makhus remarked.

There came another roar, this time closer. The four shared a look, and fully aware of their distinct lack of time to spare, they each grabbed a large and small bottle, with Makhus taking the Rubedo bottle as well and Zelsys taking an extra small bottle. Zelsys felt the instinct again, flooding her being.

“I’ll get its attention so you can get it from behind,” she ordered, reaching for the handle of her cleaver.

The three each gave her a look. Makhus seemed concerned, Sigmund simply paid attention to her plan, and Zefaris had a rather strange glint in her eye. “You sure?” the swordsman questioned.

“It’s only fair that I play the bait this time,” she laughed, walking towards the door. A deep breath of the stench-filled air, filling her lungs to capacity as she readied herself to come rocketing out of the door. She slammed the door open and dashed out of the building, silver Fog virtually spraying from her nostrils as she went.

He only caught a brief glimpse, but Makhus recognized that technique. The deep breath, the exhalation of Fog before a physical feat. The words of a man he had met long ago came to mind.

“To breathe is to live. To breathe the essence of Aer is to be most alive of all…”

Makhus wiped the thought from his mind, uncorking the Rubedo bottle with his teeth. He didn’t have time to dwell on the foreigner’s capabilities.

“What are you doing?” Sigmund questioned.

“I’ll absorb some and use my mouth as a hose. There’s too much in the bottle to break it.”

Carrying her three bottles as she went, Zelsys rushed out the door, exhaling as she ran towards the furthest gap in the barricade. She slid into cover behind one of the barriers before she even caught a glimpse of the beast. Now that she could take a look, it truly resembled a rot-bear, but it was also utterly unlike one. The beast was distended and contorted, its flesh skinless and decayed down to the bones. The bear’s rotting pelt hung from the creature like a cloak, and its intestines hung from its open stomach like an apron. It stood upright, leaning on the metal blockade as it breathed black fog over it. With each passing second, more of the blockade eroded, turning to pure rust under the beast’s onslaught.

It had begun looking around in confusion when she passed by it, its skeletal head rising from the stump of its neck while its foggy eyes searched without goal. As she observed from just behind the metal blockade, she noticed several things that immediately explained why the beast was here.

The flesh of its lower legs was riddled with shards of glass, its left foreleg held on by a knot of congealed blood. Most conclusively of all, its chest cavity - eviscerated and nearly empty - was occupied by an alchemic flask, a shriveled heart frantically beating within to pump pure Nigredo through the beast.