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--donation bonus (day #10, post 2/5)--
Geoffrey’s eyes widened as he watched the sword close in, as he realized that he didn’t have his balance, that he couldn’t dodge this one. Shadows rushed to his defense. They might as well have been paper.

Hector gored him through the stomach.

Geoffrey was not smiling. Dumbstruck, he tried to speak and only coughed up blood. His shadows all shuddered as Hector ripped the sword back out, taking flesh with it. Geoffrey staggered back.

Hector stared at his work, still tensed to the point of trembling. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes.

“How careless...” Geoffrey’s shadow caught him stumbling and propped him up. “This body is already done for...”

Hector raised three walls around the aberration, boxing him in. Only the space between the two of them was left open.

Geoffrey spared a glance at the walls. “Ha... you wouldn’t be willing to let me find a new body, would you?” A red cloud poured out of Geoffrey’s face.

Hector cleaved it in two.

The red shriveled and shrunk back to him, making Geoffrey spasm violently. And even now, he still managed a bloody grin. “Damn... I wanted to see my power grow more. Desmond--” He stopped to hack up more blood. “Desmond told me--he said... that one day, I would be able to turn my slaves into monsters. I was really looking forward to that, you know...”

It was nearly done, Hector knew. Geoffrey was down. The shadow was contained. He wasn’t sure if aberrations could die from blood loss like normal humans, but didn’t intend to wait that long. And yet, the sight of his father’s body, his father’s face--it made him hesitant. And even though he knew it had to be done, a small part of him didn’t want to deal the finishing blow.