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"What're you--?!" He didn't want to hurt her, but he also had to break free. Apparently, these bird feet of hers were pretty damn strong, so he had to put some oomph into it as he thrashed out of her grasp. One of the talons slashed his left arm open in the process, but at least he was flying under his own power again.

'Listen to me!' she yelled. 'Your mind will be shredded from this plane of existence if you go back there!'

Admittedly, that did make him stop and look at her. "What are you talking about?!"

'It's their auras!' she said, only slightly more calmly. 'They're overlapping. Banda's aura is trying to fully suppress Hector's. Like digesting him. But, uh, I guess it's not going too well for him, because the guy's own aura is on the verge of imploding.'

None of that made sense to Roman. "Is that good or bad?!"

'Both, maybe?! Mostly bad, though! If you try to get close again, you'll just get caught up in it whatever is about to happen to Banda. In fact, your aura added into the mix might even trigger his to implode! Which would kill all three of you! Or worse, probably!'

"You're not sounding very certain, right now!"

'Look, I don't know exactly what's happening, but I know auras aren't supposed to behave like this! I want to help, too, but we need to stay back until it's safe to approach!'

Roman just growled and looked back toward Banda. The guy was really thrashing up a storm, now.

And vomiting. A lot. And it was glowing, too. Bright orange. Was that Hector's iron? It dribbled out of Banda's mouth, then sputtered out for a second like a choking geyser, then went back to dribbling.

Banda clutched his stomach, which bulged and shrank in turns.

It seemed like a pretty good time to attack, Roman thought, but given everything the bird had just told him, he didn't want to risk it. But what if Banda just regained controll? Was that not a much bigger risk?

Agh.

Banda looked his way, and Roman froze up. A sudden chill went all the way down his spine as he locked eyes with the guy from afar.

Even at this distance, Roman could tell. This motherfucker was no joke. Roman had known that, but now he could feel it. Too much so, in fact. It wasn't so different from those few moments when he'd caught a glimpse of Leo in a bad mood. But this was much worse. This was a pure, constant stream of pressure. Not just some little spike of irritation.

This was hatred. Genuine. And not afraid of showing itself. Wanting to show itself, even.