The nook in the wall was a good, solid choice for a place with adequate cover and protection from all other sides. Its only downfall, which should have been fairly obvious to the young Templar, was the fact that should something hostile spot him, the only way to go was in the direct path of this enemy. Maybe the stress of this battle had already taken its toll on the mind of one who was quite clearly not so combat-capable, or maybe it was just pure stupidity, or an over-bearing sense of invincibility. It could have been either, or a great many other reasons.
His scope was aimed directly at the Demon he knew not as [member=Nam Karakk]. He knew not of its armour being highly effective against bolts of the condensed energy, and he knew not of the approaching danger – unregistered by his HUD – until it had kicked some form of debris over with four pairs of feet. His aim dropped but the rifle swung to the non-highlighted being and, upon realisation that it was a demon-dog, he pulled the trigger of the rifle three times. It ran at him, and so he chose the best way to escape alive: to run. The bolts did nothing to the beast, but the Empath did not witness their ineffectiveness.
The demon-dog stood on and leapt over a chunk of rock that nearly obstructed its path to the prey. But the prey moved and, despite the attempt to adjust its body to land against the wall and pounce from that, it failed. The solid terracrete wall remained where it stood, even with the claw marks of two left-side paws trailing down with gravity. From a slight cloud of dust the beast arose and sprinted, tongue left hanging out from its mouth, waving and dripping acid onto everything it passed, eyes fixated on the white object moving at good speed for prey, but not fast enough.
Voroll turned the corner, he ran to the left of the nook and carried on down the street, leaving the Vong with [member=Neskar A'toll] and [member=Sophia Denko]. They were capable, he hoped. The Demon should not last long against them. He passed by a speeder, flames curling around him and licking at the armour and black bodyglove in that brief second. The flames burnt higher and brighter due to the lack of and then sudden intake of oxygen. Whatever could allow such machines to catch fire in the first place seemed to explode behind him, nearly propelling him on his feet.
Everything seemed to slow down until every beat of his heart seemed to last a minute. The smoke rose to almost a standstill and blaster fire, slugs were moving as slow as tactical examinations, or physics demonstrations. In such a state he seemed to feel euphoric amongst the chaos, blissful despite the situation and felt no fear. None of it radiated from the survived, fleeing citizens of Bothawui, or at least he perceived none of it.
The sound of slow, thudding paws crept ever louder, as did the sound of gnashing jaws and the clang of razor-sharp teeth. Instinct took over and he spun in mid-air, the speed swinging the rifle around into his grasp. The rifle fired as many shots as it would allow before overheating into the pouncing, acid-spitting demon-dog. His back slid across the floor and stopped when he hit one side of a destroyed speeder. His body spun to meet it, unintentionally, as the energy-ridden body of the beast flew over it completely. He did not know if he had managed to kill it, or even wound it. But it would not kill him.
