Brandon dangles his legs over the edge of a rooftop, looking over the crowded city. Nearly every building was spotless, hardly any wear or dirt could be seen. Most buildings were made of bricks or quartz, wood was a rare sight for buildings in Galward.

"Twenty blacksmiths and every single one points me right back to the "Legendary Blacksmith" I've already encountered. I thought this smith was supposed to be a master at smithing, not some girl making shitty, flashy weapons. Maybe it was a waste of time coming here." He thought to himself.

"I thought I sensed your aura, you're starting to slip, Brandon." A man's voice said from behind Brandon.

Brandon turns around and sees a man standing behind him. The man was wearing black, steel-plated armor. His armor was black and had some wear to it. A few dents and cuts in the armor from time spent in battle. The armor covered him from the neck down to his feet, only his head was unarmored. He wore a black and blue cape with the armor, the symbol of the devil's face with a sword going through its head was on the back of the cape. The man's skin was fairly pale, his hair a light brown, cut short in the front with a small bit growing down to the middle of his neck in the back. A scar ran vertically over the middle of his left eye.

"Not slipping, I just don't see the point in hiding my aura while I'm in the safest city in the South," Brandon said, standing up to face the man.

"What are you doing here anyway?" The man asked bitterly.

"Things don't have to be sour between us, Chandler. You know I have no quarrel with you, and I'm here looking for the legendary blacksmith. Though I'm starting to think my definition of legendary compared to the people of this city is very different." Brandon explained.

"You know why I act like this, don't bother telling me it doesn't have to be this way. We're not friends, we're never going to be friends, and you know it." Chandler said coldly, staring Brandon down.

"I know that you want to kill me because of my own goals. But, that doesn't mean we have to be bitter towards each other. Until our paths reach that point, we can be nice to each other. Speaking of which, I can feel how much stronger your aura has gotten, I'm proud of you." Brandon said, giving him a soft smile.

Chandler bites his bottom lip before speaking again.

"Fine, that smith doesn't live here anymore. She lost the competition my father held about five years ago. Since then, she was shunned by her customers and eventually couldn't afford to keep her business running. She left Galward to start another smith, though she didn't go very far due to how remote Galward is. If you take the main gate out, as you're heading towards Silverveil. There will be a small dirt path leading off the stone road, follow it, and you should run into her shack of a store if it's still there." Chandler explained, crossing his arms.

"Wow, I'm surprised you're just willing to give me that information," Brandon said, surprised.

"You would've found her in the end anyway. The quicker you find out, the quicker you'll leave Galward. I can't focus on the DHA if I'm worried about what you're going to be doing here." Chandler said.

Suddenly the sounds of alarms fill the air and the streets below become filled with panicking civilians. Everyone rushed to reach nearby shelters that led underground. People shoved one another, causing some to fall. Soldiers barked orders, trying to get everyone under control. The ground begins to shake violently every few seconds. Even the buildings quiver and shake from this force.

"You feel that?" Brandon asked, looking towards the main gate.

"Yeah, that aura is crazy strong. It's nearly stronger than you!" Chandler exclaimed.

"I'm going to see what it is, go help them get the cataclysm beam ready," Brandon ordered, jumping to the next rooftop.

Without hesitation, Chandler jumps off to the next roof, going as fast as he could to the castle. Brandon races for the main city gate, crushing a bit of some of the rooftops he jumped from underneath his feet. With his speed, it only takes a few seconds to reach the main gate. He is shocked at the sight that was awaiting him at the gate. A massive, demonic-looking behemoth was smashing its head into Galward's barrier. The beast was just barely as tall as the city's walls. It had two giant horns, roughly the size of a house, that were black, with gold at the tips. It bashed its horns as hard as it could into the barrier, with each bash, the barrier crack a small amount. Its skin was dark brown with red fur around its face like a lion's mane. There was fur running down its spine, all the way to its tail, as well as fur covering its feet. It stood up on its hind legs, now standing taller than the city walls. It placed its paws on the barrier, trying to dig its claws into it. Its claws were as big as wagons and of a similar color scheme to its horns. It lets out a paralyzing roar as it felt like the entire earth shook from its force. Kaito and Nozomi run up behind Brandon, he was standing before the main gate.

"What the Hell is that thing?!" Kaito yelled as he trembled at the sight that was before him.

"It's a demon, well, it's sorta a demon. It's known as a behemoth, more specifically a royal behemoth. It's one of the nine types of beast Lucifer created to walk the earth. One of these hasn't been seen in hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Look, I can explain more later if you want, but right now I have to go distract this thing. In a few minutes, that barrier will fall, I'm going to pull it away from the wall." Brandon explained, walking towards the gate.

"Wait, how are you going to distract it? It's massive, going out there is just going to end with you getting killed!" Nozomi cried.

"Open the gate, I'll draw it off the barrier," Brandon said to the gate soldiers, ignoring Nozomi's cry.

With hesitation, the gate soldiers open the gate just enough for Brandon to get through. He takes a deep breath and then began running underneath the monster.

"The amount of magic it would take for me to kill this thing would damage too much of the surrounding area. Normally I wouldn't care, but being this close to the city would cause problems. If the city itself wasn't damaged, the roads leading here would be destroyed. So I can't go all out, I just need to get it away and wait for Chandler." He thought to himself.

Nearly halfway past the monster, Brandon throws his dagger upwards, which pierced its belly. The monster didn't even flinch and continued its attack on the city's barrier. He continues to run until he was out from underneath the monster and a decent distance away from it. He holds out his right hand, pointing towards the beast. Suddenly, black lightning begins shooting out of Brandon's dagger, covering the behemoth's entire body. Its body shakes in agony as it stumbles backward away from the gate. The monster turns in Brandon's direction and roars in anger. It tries to take a step toward him, but Brandon keeps up with his magic, keeping the monster from moving.

"This won't last much longer, it's going to get annoyed enough and break free. Chandler, what the hell is taking so long?" He thought to himself.

After a few more seconds of being paralyzed by Brandon's lightning, the beast had enough. It roars and began to build air up in its lungs. In one swift action, it leaned forward and a river of fire shot out towards Brandon. Brandon sticks both his hands up, creating a small dome barrier around him. The fire crashed into his barrier with extreme force, the ground beneath him shook from the force of the flames. The surrounding ground burnt to a crisp from the flames, leaving nothing but blackened soil behind. Several minutes passed, and the behemoth showed no signs of letting up its attack on Brandon. His barrier had begun to crack, and the heat from the flames was seeping into his barrier, causing him to sweat. Suddenly, large ice spikes appeared over the behemoth's spine.

"Sorry for the wait, the cataclysm beam needs just a couple more minutes. I could sense you were holding back to keep the damages low, so I came to help while the beam charged." Chandler said, running up to Brandon.

"Thanks for the assist, another minute, and my barrier would've been destroyed," Brandon said, letting out a slight laugh.

With the behemoth struggling to move from Chandler's ice, the two of them begin running towards the beast. Once near it, they both leaped upwards, landing on one of its legs. They climb their way up onto its back and towards the center of its spine. Side by side, they grab each other's left hand and place their right hands on the monster's spine. A massive magic seal, half black and half light blue appears beneath them. In an instant, massive ice spikes shoot out from the ground, puncturing the beast's stomach and legs, holding it still. Once every spike hit the beast, black lightning shot out from the ends of them, covering the behemoth's entire body once more. Howling in agony, the behemoth begins thrashing around, trying to get free. All the tossing around throws them off balance, causing Brandon to stop casting his magic. The beast kicks like a mad donkey, throwing them into the air. It turns and swings its giant paw at them. Stuck in the air and with nowhere to go, the paw went to crush them. Just before making contact, a quick flash of white light appeared, and then the paw hit them, sending them crashing into the nearby fields. As the behemoth turns back towards the city, four massive quartz pillars drop from the sky, making a square around it. A barrier emits from the pillars, boxing the monster in. It throws itself into the barriers trying to escape, but to no avail, the barrier remained strong. The behemoth howls in anger, thrashing around repeatedly against the barrier. In a split second, a massive black beam appears from above the clouds, crashing down onto the behemoth. The ground shook violently, causing everyone nearby to fall to the ground. The beam continues to crash into the behemoth, shaking the barrier with its force. A few seconds passed and the beam fades away. Once gone, it revealed nothing but a perfect black square on the ground. The behemoth was disintegrated into nothing.

Chandler stands up from the ground, shaking the dirt off his clothes.

"Well, that's that, I don't think I'll ever get tired of feeling the pure power of that beam." He said, cleaning off his clothes.

Chandler turns around and sees Brandon laying in the dirt, passed out. His right arm was covered in blood, his cape destroyed on the right side. Bone stuck out near his elbow and at the end of his fingertips.

"Dammit, you used yourself as a shield to protect me, didn't you?" He questioned.

Chandler picks Brandon up and begins running back towards the city,

"Stop doing things for me, asshole, I'm already having a hard enough time forgetting our friendship and trying to kill you. Stop making this harder on me by being so nice to me." Chandler said as a tear rolled down his face.