Kavon woke up with a pounding headache. His vision swam and all he could hear was a loud high-pitched ring in his ears. Sariah stood over him and picked him up.

“I believe we are to have intruders shortly. Prepare yourself for combat. They have destroyed all your golems, so we will be depending on your fighting skills. What is your weapon of choice?” Sariah stated with false fear in her tone.

“Uh…I would usually use my fists. Wait. Intruders are killing my Golems?”

“Yes”

“I must tell you a secret if I am to be forced to fight. I…” Kavon was cut short when 7, highly pissed off, armed people burst from the woods, two of which were armed with short swords and one with a bow. Tom had done a wonderful job, these people all looked completely insane. There was even a child and a woman in the group, all of which were fully ready to kill Kavon. He was even able to direct their emotions towards Kavon. This little fella is VERY talented.

Wasting no time, the largest man bellowed at the other 6, they cowered a bit and stood fast as the large man sprinted forwards, sword above him, at a Kavon. Kavon quickly sidestepped the man while he was swinging the sword in a downward arc, grabbed the back of the man’s ponytail and completely ceased the man’s movements. A fraction of a second later Kavon ripped the man’s hair, pulling him straight down to the ground on his back. Before the man could react, he had a sword buried in his heart, the hilt pushed all the way to the man’s sternum. Holy shit. Sariah was completely and hopelessly gleeful at the realization that her new companions were the whole package.

At the sight of their temporary leader’s death, 5 of the remaining people rushed Kavon, surrounding him. The person with the bow stood back and knocked an arrow. The woman smoothly swiped Srit’s still unconscious body off the ground by his feet and was currently waving his body around like a club.

Kavon oddly stood up completely straight, body rigid, and closed his eyes. Even in their altered mental state, this action made the 6 people pause in their actions and take a step back. The man before them suddenly began to exude danger.

The person with the bow drew their string and released a sloppily aimed shot at Kavon’s head. As the arrow sailed in the air from only 30 feet away, Sariah was entranced. Kavon…caught the arrow. His eyes slowly crept open to reveal golden irises. He threw the arrow back at the bowyer with enough force that it not only impaled the man’s head, but, nailed him to a tree.

“Don’t break the brains, asshole!” Tom screamed at him from somewhere in the trees.

Kavon’s muscles shrank and formed into an onyx color. Is this a reaction of his defensive magic? Sariah thought to herself.

The four remaining adults and one child attacked Kavon in unison. A sword passed through an area where his arm was a split second before and tore into the fabric of his sleeve. Kavon reached and grabbed the blade of the sword with his bare hand and yanked it from his opponent, hitting another opponent in the forehead and denting his forehead. The child attached to Kavon’s leg was attempting to bite and scratch him during the fight. Kavon kicked out with enough force to throw the child several feet into the woods. Ducking under an Imp being swung at his head, he reached for the neck of another adult, pinched and pulled the esophagus, ripping it out of the Humans neck in one smooth move.

The remaining two aggressors backed up and re-evaluated the fight. Kavon pulled the sword out of a dead bandit’s chest and picked up the other one from on the ground. Both Humans took another step back, and then, Kavon threw the two swords on the ground at their feet.

One “bandit” circled around Kavon, the other stayed in his line of sight.

In the flickering light of the fire Sariah could make out the texture to Kavon’s skin. Is that…chitin? Ohhhh, I can’t wait to see what happens next!

The bandit in front of Kavon dashed in, side stepping and holding his sword low. As he came a foot from Kavon’s reach he slammed down his front foot and dropped into a roll, weapon aimed at Kavon’s thigh.

Far more controlled than before, I wonder if they’re recovering from Tom’s insanity already. Sariah thought to herself.

At the same time as the other bandit made his attack, the rear bandit dashed towards Kavon’s soon-to-be-exposed other side.

Kavon made no movements while the bandit’s closed in on him and trapped him with their feint. Instead he waited until they were both in as close as possible.

Kavon threw the targeted leg backwards, causing the bandit’s blade to travel past and in between both of his legs. He pinched the blade with his thighs and continued his spin to the right, disarming the lower attacker, while ducking the blow from behind that was aimed at his neck.

The bandit that went high hung in the air, impaled with Kavon’s stinger, directly in his heart…and died.

The last bandit looked up at the terrifying monster before him, unable to move or speak. Reality came crashing back to him in an instant. All the violence gone from him, only left with fear. His entire family had just been murdered in front of him.

The beast named Kavon dropped the man’s dead brother, grabbed the blade from the ground where it fell, and cut the man’s throat open from ear to ear.

Sariah was beaming with pride and overflowing with bloodlust. Seeing this man in action was the single most amazing thing she’d experienced since returning. That lithe frame, so agile yet bearing great strength. The carapace on his skin was onyx and showed obvious signs of battle all over. Technique and skill were near flawless during the battle, never leaving an opening that she could see.

She bound from her spot, dirt kicking up with the force of the power. Kavon looked up to see her midflight, coming directly at him. SHIT!! His instincts kicked in and he put a guard up, crossing his arms, lowering his stance by spreading his legs apart, one further back than the other and wrapped his stinger over his right shoulder and across to the left side of his ribs.

*CRASH* The sound of their collision boomed so loud that Tom’s ears hurt and Srit woke up. The moment both beings realized what was happening, they ran as fast as they could away from it.

Sariah had put a lot of power into the kick. Kavon’s defenses were admirable, but if he didn’t take offensive action soon, she’d wear them down. Kavon didn’t strike, couldn’t strike due to Sariah’s scary speed of her attacks. Every attack was directed towards the small lines between pieces of his carapace armor. If she landed a shot there it could separate the armor and cause a serious weakness. Blows rained down on him from every direction, but he held fast.

“Attack me! Don’t turtle up on me! Let’s do this!!!!” Sariah screamed in a near insane tone. Her eyes were bugged out of her head and fangs had grown from her mouth and horns began to protrude from her forehead. Claws extended more and more with every shot she took at Kavon, placing each strike she made closer to the lines in his armor. This woman is terrifying! I have to act or she’ll rip me to pieces!

Deciding to try and change the flow of the battle, Kavon waited for the next kick thrown at his midsection. *WHAM* He caught the kick on his hip and locked her calf in his left arm, spun into her body while lowering himself. He managed to wrap his right arm under her thigh, hammer blows landing on his head and back now. *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* Dedicated to this course of action he took the blows and continued his motions. His left arm was over her knee, right arm under her thigh. As fast as he could he pulled his stinger out and punched a hole in her other leg, right below the knee. The action was finally enough to break Sariah’s balance. Kavon heaved with all his strength, lifting and spinning to his left.

Sariah’s feet were now both off the ground and she was in a full spin. Kavon extended his arms and lowered his grip down to her ankle, never slowing the spin. As soon as his grip was strong, he moved closer to the largest tree in his vicinity and plowed Sariah’s body directly into it. *BOOM* Explosions of splinters flew in every direction, but he didn’t stop. Three trees later, and a rather large boulder, Kavon angled Sariah upwards and threw here as far as his momentum would allow. He could almost swear that he could hear laughter coming from her as she floated into the distance.

Kavon fell to his knees. He was completely and utterly drained. This entire time he had been burning the energy reserves in his body and was just about depleted. Thankfully, the psycho was gone, and he could recover. He stood shakily and took a single step towards the camp…

*CRACK* Another tree exploded at the edge of the clearing. Kavon could see a blur headed at him and did what he could to brace himself for the incoming attack. FUCK!! WHAT IS SHE?!?! Sariah slowed just enough to let him get his guard up, she didn’t want to kill him after all. The moment his guard was up she planted her left foot, pulled her right hand as far back as she could, turned her body into her punch and connected. The blow hit Kavon directly in the middle of his guard.

Kavon’s body flew backwards, as if fired from a cannon and embedded six inches into the cliff face that was 40 feet behind him. His carapace faded back into soft skin and his vision swam into darkness. The last thing he remembers seeing was a blue devil limping towards him, an enormous smile on her face, and thinking to himself, “I’m going to die today”.