[Sir Kenneth]

The pain. It would have been nearly unbearable to even the strongest of mortal warriors and without a doubt strong enough to kill most lesser men. To Guthrum in his current state though, it mattered very little. Gaap did sense the pain, but it caused him little discomfort. It merely told him that the body of his host had suffered a grievous wound at the "hand" of the birds. A wound he might not recover from. Dying as Guthrum might be, Gaap could easily keep his body alive through sheer strength of will alone for hours to come. Surely that would be long enough to finish off this annoying chit.

Though the state of Guthrum's body did not bother Gaap the slightest, the skill of Aun did. Whereever he let Gurthang fall, it seemed as if his opponent was constantly one step ahead of him, and the blade bit into thin air. He took some satisfaction in that Aun was struggling to evade his blows and did not have the strength to retaliate, but soon it dawned upon him that she evaded his attacks with increasing ease every time he struck. At first he put this down to the circumstances of the fight. The health of his host body was failing and his vision was still somewhat blurred. This could easily be the reason why, but he was confident that he would prevail and Gurthang would taste flesh eventually. It could also be that the berserker rage was simply wearing off. The demon drew upon the last reserves of energy he could find in the dying Guthrum and with power even he found impossible for a mortal man, he made an attempt to cut his opponent in half at the waist.

It was then he realised that his movements were not slowed down by the decay of his shell or the abating rage. They were hindered by something. Gaap screamed furiously, fighting desperately to free himself from whatever was holding him back so that he could reach Aun who had taken flight for now in search of her peculiar mace. He tried to run, but movement became harder with every step he took and before long he was struggling just to place one foot before the other. Struck by a sudden lack of balance, he crashed to the ground, landing heavily on his face and chest. The impact from the fall pressed the air out of his lungs, and as he was gasping for breath, desperately trying to get up on his feet, he could taste the blood flow from his broken nose and down his jaw. With great effort, Gaap managed to free his right arm of the hardened net and stretch it out in direction of Aun. Wheezing under his breath, he uttered a word of power. A word of power so old that it was second only to the word of creation. What rises must also also fall, and the word he spoke while pointing a finger at his adversary was simply: "Rot..."

As he said the word the thick grass in front of him began to rot and crumble away. The strange energy that caused the grass to die, moved in direction of Aun at a brisk pace, letting everything fall into rot and decay in its wake. Thorny bushes writhed like snakes as they rotted away and flowers lost their petals and turned from rich green to sickly yellow. A large dragon fly was caught in flight by this wave of death, and it took but a few seconds for the insect to rot away, leaving behind only an empty husk. Gaap was not sure if this incantation would reach Aun. This body was weak and almost drained of energy, and he had just barely managed to make the spell happen. He did however hope that atleast it would be enough to keep her away from him for now...