[This is the second page of a double update! Make sure to click back to see the first one!]

Hawk yanked the duffel aside, and it jerked the machete with it, away from him. He swung hard at Aries with the other first--and missed, as Aries dropped back and away.

It was close enough though, somehow, as a pale flicker of some energy arced between his arm and Aries' face, and connected, with a bright flash and a loud noise.

The duffel dropped to the ground with the machete still speared through it, a smudge of blood at the end of the blade.

The hand that Hawk had missed Aries with had turned: it was now an oversized black paw with long iron-grey talons. Some of his skin had turned too, into a thick vivid striped yellow-and-black scaling that irregularly covered his forearm. It hissed and smoked, and his eyes stung with the same pale bluish smoke. He held the taloned hand up to his chest, teeth gritted, and then blinked in surprise.

The burst of energy had ripped part of Aries' face mask and pushed his hood back from his head, though he seemed otherwise unaffected. He pulled the mask free.

He had close-cropped dark hair--nothing unusual--and a face that also seemed otherwise normal, with a pointed chin and a broad nose that had a crooked bridge to it. There was something strange about his mouth, though: it seemed to be too wide. When he spoke, all of his teeth were visible, giving the effect that he was grinning horribly. A curious marking ran back from the corners of his mouth to his ears, a line that was just a bit darker grey than the rest of his skin. Black smoke was issuing from this line--as though it was a seam--and from his mouth and eyes, though he didn't seem to notice that.

"...Is it me you're after, Numair?" he said after a moment. "'Cause this all seems like too much of a coincidence."