The blade bore down upon the writhing body, shimmering edges stopping inches from the subject's surface.
Tal'shen retaliated, screaming at Maya's sickening face. I will have his body! I will have his blood! He screeched in defiance, maw agape and optics narrowed and ablaze with anger.
"You want nothing but power!" Maya pressed harder, aiming a percussive blow into Paul's warped form, a sickening bellow escaping his gaping jaws as he obtained the stark blow.
Mother wants power! He shoved back, glistening tip of the blade now a few mere inches away from Maya's throat. I want this host!
Maya growled something inhuman, barely audible over Paul's defiant fit. Tal'shen pressed forward with Paul's hand as his own, forcing the blade into Maya's gut. Although Tal'shen would have liked to shove it down her throat and cut her up like a fish, this was even more enjoyable to watch. A sickening black blood oozed across her ugly form, falling to the cracked pavement to pool around the struggling mass.
Mother allowed us to walk with the humans - do you not like that? Maya cussed something of another tongue, shoving the blade back at Paul's deformed body and taking Tal'shen by surprise.
"The serpent wasn't happy enough with what she got." The blade was pressed against Paul's chest - a struggle to merely survive. "She's using you. You're a tool. You're a human. You're a weakling." She spat out each word with nose wrinkled and lips drawn back in an aggressive hiss, syllables pronounced violently - more or less like nails down a chalkboard.
Tal'shen felt resentment, and maybe a bit of - remorse? No! Mother would not use me! She is gone! This body is mine! Mine, I tell you! His limbs trembled. He realized then he was losing control over this form, optics watering as he glowered coldly into Maya's ebony gaze. The blade slipped, Tal'shen losing more control by the minute. Paul seized the blade in his hand, watching the black blood roll across his palm with a single tear fall down his cheek. No! No! Go back to sleep, you petty host! Paul fought back, trying to keep the blade from puncturing his skin, and, at the same time, trying to keep control over the spawn. Scales like shattered stained-glass across his body and remaining limbs, black, beady eyes staring right back into Maya's like a reflection. He thrust the blade forward, right into her chest. You could hear the rotten, gnarled laugh of the spawn as Maya's eyes widened, blood dripping from the corners of her demorphed mouth. Her complexion faded, and the blade immediately slackened as she coiled backwards in pure agony. Paul fought against Lyanna's spawn, eyes growing heavier by the moment. He pushed all he had into it, straining and gradually thrusting the lifeform out of his head.
The spawn was losing his control - but for how long?