A symphony of screams, some of terror but most full of pain and anguish, rose high into the night sky, under the cold, emotionless moon as a single, misshapen figure flashed between small groups of poorly dressed people.

In the span of five minutes, only twenty of the hundred or so bandits remained.

"RUN FOR IT!" Bellowed a dog-eared beastkin as he turned into a blur and disappeared into the woods, quickly followed by the others.

Hal knew deep in his heart, the only reason they had survived this far and gained this chance, was due to the sacrifice many of his comrades.

He had instructed them to attack, knowing that they had little chance of survival, in the hope that targeting the lamia would put the demon on the defensive, restricting its ability to attack. His plan was partially successful; they had managed to injure the demon severely.

However, he never expected the demon to pick up the lamia and take her into the fight with him. -"Jan knew this would happen. Still, with all the injuries we have inflicted, and with his restricted movement, maybe some of us have a chance."

Just as he felt a sliver of hope stir his soul, Hal's blood ran cold. An overpowering, tyrannical roar resounded behind him, causing the trees to vibrate and drop their leaves as if trying to mask their escape. -"Athor did the right thing, may his soul rest in peace. If he didn't draw that monster out into the open, we would have been slaughtered in the shadows."

The blur that was Hal, along with 19 others rapidly disappeared into the woods, scattering in every direction while praying that they wouldn't be the one the demon targeted first, though as it turned out, none were.

Meanwhile, Bruce and the other Pathfinder recruits were still hiding in the shadows, eyes locked on Mors and Claire, who were standing motionless at the centre of the mostly destroyed cobblestone road and heaps of bloody, mangled corpses.

Alec snuck towards Bruce. "What we going to do? He left us to die without so much as a warning and only came back for Claire. From the start, I think he has had it in his mind to kill us. Claire even said as much."

"Why isn't he giving chase? demons never let their prey escape?" muttered Aron, eyes wide with fear as fresh sweat plastered his hair to his face. "Do you think he is going to kill us first?"

"He can't give chase as he's barely standing. He took to many hits trying to protect Claire." Said Bruce drily, as fear and madness began flickering across his eyes. "We will need to force a pact with him or kill him... he's too dangerous to be left alone."

"A pact? We need to kill him now! Before he can corrupt my sister anymore." Spat Alice.

"You do realise that one or two of us will die, even if we battle him while he is weak? Demons cannot break pacts. If we get him to agree to one that guarantees our safety at least, we will all walk out of this alive. He will drop soon, that's when we make our move."

As if to acknowledge the Bruces words, Mors fell to his knees causing Claire to let out a high pitched scream, only settling when she saw that his injuries, while severe, were not life threatening.

"MORS!" are you ok? I'll fix you up, hold on. Your be up and eating hearts and sweeping ME off my fee.. scales in no time!"

Alice groaned her teeth at her sister's words. However, the rest erupted from the treeline.

"DONT LET HER HEAL HIM!" Bellowed Bruce as he rushed forward.

Claire, not hearing her comrade's shout, had already unentwined herself from Mors and moved behind him before letting out a gasp. "Mors... your back. Did you try to get hit by every single projectile fired? You don't get an award for that you know!"

Although it sounded like she was rebuking him, concern mixed with sadness was evident in her voice as she lowered herself and began to examine the arrow shafts sticking out from his back, accompanied by multiple burn wounds from both fire and ice. "I am going to have to cut deeper to pull out some of these arrows as they have barbed heads."

A mischievious smile appeared on her lips. "As you told me, this is going to hur..."

*!BANG*

Bruce smashed into Claire sending her rolling across the floor finally stopping a couple of dozen feet away.

A deep, menacing growl came from Mors as instantly turnings, sweeping Morrigan horizontally, just barely missing the bearkin and shakily rising to his feet. His head was spinning as he fought to stay conscious, completely missing the other adapts approach.

Claire lifted herself off the floor and was quickly charging back to Mor's side when Alice and Aron blocked her.

Aron gave a weak smile. "Sorry Claire, this is for your own good... as well as ours."

"HE JUST SAVED US AND IS BADLY HURT! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" Roared Claire as she started circulating mana and preparing spells.

Alice wore a cold look of determination. "You're ready to fight your own sister over a demon? A DEMON!, one who you have barely known for two weeks... He really has corrupted your mind. He only saved you so he could use you."

"MORE THAN WHAT YOU FUCKS DID! I WILL NEVER ABANDON SOMEONE WHO RISKED EVERYTHING TO HELP ME. LOOK AT HOW HURT HE IS!" Claire was distraught, and her face twisted as emotions rampaged through her.

"I shall do as I must sister... do not get in my way," said Claire in a cold, haunting voice, but just as she was about to cast a spell, Alec appeared behind her, hitting the back of her neck which caused her to fall to the floor unconscious.

Bruce and Mors had been glaring at each other unblinkingly, waiting for the other to make their move. However, both had overheard the conversation.

A warm feeling, one that he had not felt in a few hundred lives, even when Verz revealed everything to him, began to surface in Mors' soul. However, it was quickly dampened by the seriousness of the situation. -"Finally, find someone worthy of being friends with and I am at death's door, about to do something that will destroy any chance we have of ever getting along... some things never change."

Now that Claire was unconscious the rest of the Pathfinders circled Mors, weapons held high, making sure to stay out range from Morrigan.

Mors let out a threatening hiss "I guess you guys are even more stupid than you look... well I guess your not completely hopeless, at least this way one of you might make it out of here alive."

"Shut it demon; you're too weak for your abilities to work anymore, we do not fear you." Screamed Alice, her face red with rage. "Now tell me, what did you do to my sister?"

"Saved her life and chastity while you guys were pissing yourself in the bushes. By the way, how did it feel getting your arses handed to you by a bunch of weaklings?"

Mors' words did not enrage them as he hoped, the adepts refusing to let their guard down or respond to his provocations.

"Now shall we get this party started, I hear the early bird special in hell is quite exquisite. Now, who will be joining me?" Mors grabbed the leg of a dead bandit not far away and dragged it to him before slamming his fist into its chest and pulling out a mana core.

"HA! that trick won't work on us! we know it's all for theatrics so you can induce more fear." snorted Alice. "There is only one way to surv-"

Mors was no longer listening, and begun tensing his muscles for what was about to come-"There is no way I can survive this... I can barely lift Morrigan, let alone keep up my partial transformation. Still, I should be able to take them with me. Worst case, one of the elves might get away, but as long as its, not Bruce or Alice, I can die slightly pissed... I wonder if I'll meet Grim or get reincarnated again?"

Mors revealed a haunting smile before lifting the red orb to his mouth and slowly crunching it and turning his gaze to Bruce. "Oh idiotic little bear, you better pray that the afterlife isn't an eternity because the things I am going to do to you would make a god scream in terror."