Helen saw her life flash before her, and for a brief moment the ruined square vanished from her mind as countless scenes from her past flashed before her. She thought about her parents. She thought about the high hopes her father had for her.
And most importantly, she thought about Zich.
Time seemed to slow down. Her fingers loosened around the staff, and she closed her eyes as if accepting it. The bone chain was already at the edge of her throat, and she could not think of any clean way to escape it.
At that exact moment, Zich's body moved on its own. His feet pushed off the stone and his arm swept up with Blood Arc in a straight line, cutting the bone chain apart just before it could snap around Helen's neck.
FWOOOSH!
The severed links scattered across the square and clattered against the broken fountain. The force of the slash also left a thin red line in the air, and one nearby skeleton lost its head when the edge continued through it by mistake.
