About a second after she laid a hand on Levi's back, she felt a strange presence begin to engulf her fingers, which caused her demonic partner to forcibly pull her hand away.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" he screamed at her.

But before she could ask him about his usage of the word 'them', Levi turned and looked at her, both his eyes black as night, his irises a dark purple... much like his one eye had been when he went to see Angela.

However, that's when she also noticed that Levi had merely turned his head to look at her... at such a degree that it should have been impossible for a human to do. And his body then followed, almost in a weird disconnected way.

"Mglagln ahna hup ya!" he screamed at her, though it sounded like an ominous garbled mess.

"Epgoka! bug hai! mgep Y' ymg' ngahnah!" he yelled further, before he suddenly lurched forward towards her, tendrils of weird mana coming off his body.

".....ha?" Levi asked, looking around.

"....." he was then silent, before collapsing to his knees, wriggling in agony, and trying desperately to try and hold back what had taken hold of him.

Meanwhile, Sharp was on his feet, and stepped in front of Kiah.

"Stay back." he said.

"We don't know what's going on, but we can't afford to lose even a second, in case someone needs us." he told her.

The two of them then stepped forward, with Kiah keeping a step or two back, as Sharp used his mana to swing open the door, ready to attack, if need be.

Hal had given her a bottle of water, and sighed.

"Alyssa..." he said.

"What happened?" he asked. "You looked like a scared quivering mess when we saw you." he went on.

"And you appeared here so suddenly." he then said.

'...but on THAT, I have a theory...' he thought to himself.

"....was this Levi's doing?" he asked her, getting right to the point.

"..........Kiah." Hal said.

"I won't stop you." he told her.

"But be careful." he warned her. "We don't know what he can and/or will do." he continued.

"He attacked his best friend." he continued.

"...he's essentially a wild beast now."

"................." Hal was silent, before sighing.

'....please don't let it come to that.' he thought, before looking at Ally.

"Alyssa." he addressed her.

"There's something I want to ask you." he said.

"How did you get HERE?" he asked.

"Because you just appeared here out of nowhere." he continued.

"What do you recall?" he asked further.

Hal put his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"It's all right, it's all right." he said.

"You're safe here." he assured her.

"But please... think for a moment. Try and remember." he went on.

"It's clear that mana was used to bring you to this spot." he told her.

"Did it feel any different from the mana that was engulfing Levi?" he asked.

Hal, sensing that Ally was getting tired of that particular train of thought, decided to derail the conversation, and steer it to something more appropriate.

"...I can't promise you won't lose him." he admitted.

"I won't lie. At this point, it can go anywhere." he told her.

"However, we are going to throw everything we can at him to try and snap him back to who he used to be." he then assured her further.

"I promise." he said quietly.

The door did not open.

But she DID receive an answer... though not the answer she might have wanted.

"Epgoka ya mguh'e!" she heard Levi shout.

"Mglagln bug!" she heard further.

"Cahf ah nafl mglw'nafh-HELP!" she then suddenly heard him exclaim.

"Help me! Please!" he pleaded.

"I attacked Ally! Please stop me before n'gha ahornah ah'mglw'nafh" he managed to get out, before he devolved back to what may as well have been gibberish.

And she could hear the pain and desperation in his tone.

He was still fighting. Losing, but fighting back with all he had. Or trying to, anyway.

Levi looked at her, and she could see the struggle in his eyes.

He was in there, but fading. Fast.

He then let out an otherworldly scream, as 3 of the tendrils on his body shot out towards her.

"Watch out!" he managed to yell.

"Dodge left!"

Her mana continued to react, stronger and stronger, almost to the point where she felt it would take her over... until there was a sudden outpouring of it.

When THAT happened, the strongest rune she'd ever produced spread out over the floor. It was at a point where it would be considered frighteningly strong, even by her great aunt's standards.

It spread out and surrounded Levi, causing the mana to recede a little, and it forced Levi to his feet. As it happened, the mana seemed to form into a strange liquid-like 'skin', that covered half of Levi's body... but it was plain to see that serious things were happening inside him.

His eyes seemed to cycle randomly between his own, controlled, and empty, as though they were soulless... but it never stayed the same for long, and his shouts of pain told her that he was in sheer agony, even more than before. It seemed like his very soul was now getting pulled in 3 directions; controlled by THEM, regained by himself, or torn from him by the rune.