Creaking accompanied by an ear-aching sound can be heard throughout the mansion's first floor hallway.

The demon proceeds to walk through the mansion, scratching the stone walls and dark wooden pillars supporting the structure of the building, leaving claw marks and the corpses of its victims behind.

We come descending from the ebony-panelled stairs leading to the second floor, at the end of the hallway the demon is walking down.

"Man, this place reeks."

One of us yells out after catching a displeasing scent. The demon doesn't show any signs of stopping. Our trio is made up of two men and a single woman, we are the mayor's guards - only A and S-Rank knights can be assigned to such a position.

The demon is well aware the mayor is on the second floor, getting ready to escape. It has no intention of slowing down. Instead, it starts moving faster.

As we descend all the way to the flooring, I, their captain, take a step before my team. Blond short crew-cut hairstyle with a short goat beard and dark brown eyes, the right one bearing a scar. The symbol of a battle-hardened veteran. Brown, light, but thick leather clothes cover everything but my head with some light metal plating over my arms, legs, and torso. On the left side of my waist is a katana scabbard, in which its blade is stored - attached to me with a belt.

My name is Cliff.

The two knights standing behind me have the same gear. It's our clan's style. The Ryoshi clan, a clan of hunters. We specialize in stealth-based fighting styles, almost like assassins.

The woman, Rose, has slightly orange hair with a side cut and blue eyes, while the last knight has long brown hair tied into a ponytail with a short beard and hazel eyes. He's Kenjiro.

We three are the elites of our clan.

The demon begins its run towards us. Standing before the two knights, I change into my battle stance as I grasp my blade, but don't pull it out yet. I'll patiently wait for the demon to get close as it is running down the long hallway.

Two seconds later and there's a five-meter distance between us. I firmly lean towards it.

Creak

In an instant, the wooden flooring makes an audible noise as I dash towards the enemy, leaving a distance only of an inch between the two of us with not even a single second passing by.

It is as if I teleported or vanished for that very short moment, and it is only now that my sword is being drawn.

I swing it to the right, attempting to slash the demon before me but its reaction speed doesn't allow it and the demon bends backwards, completely dodging the swing. Its crooked spine being heard through the hallway.

"Damn, you are one agile bastard.."

Rose, standing behind me together with the other knight, suddenly has a little bit of a surprised expression on their faces.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone dodge this attack unscathed. Impressive." Kenjiro standing beside her grins.

"What do you mean unscathed? Just look at it, the thing had to break its back."

Both giggle.

I sigh as the demon bends back towards me.

"Hey! If you two aren't planning on doing anything, at least go out and buy me some milk unti-"

Before I get to finish my sentence, the demon swings its left arm at me.

I evade by jumping back a few meters and the demon hits the wall instead, leaving a hole leading outside in it.

Close one...

I run towards it, then jump and spin with my blade while descending to the demon. But it grabs my arm, keeping the blade just centimetres away from its face.

As the demon is distracted, the two knights that were earlier watching from afar are now somehow behind it, drawing their blades and slashing simultaneously from both sides.

Before their blades reach it, the demon turns around using only its torso, leaving the legs behind, as the bones can once again be clearly heard.

Using the momentum it built up, the demon throws me at Rose, knocking her back, but misses Kenjiro.

It tries to evade his slash but despite its very fast reaction speed and agility, it is too late. Instead, it tries to counter by throwing its fist at him but Kenjiro manages to dodge as he lowers his centre of gravity and cuts through the demon's right ankle.

It is only partially cut and it's still hanging on to the rest of its flesh, but it does the job and makes the demon unable to walk on both legs.

While Rose is trying to pull me back on my feet, the Demon lets out a fearsome roar. It is loud enough to make the three of us cover our ears and momentarily stun us.

"What the heck was that?"

Rose looks at the demon after being momentarily deafened.

The demon is gone.

Kenjiro yells out.

"Watch out, behind you!"

Before Rose gets to turn around, the demon swings its arm and sends her flying through the wall to the outside of the broken-down mansion, hitting a carriage mounted to a horse that is meant to escort the mayor.

As Rose tries to grab the carriage to get up on her feet, the demon briefly gazes at her before getting interrupted by me throwing a rock at the inhuman beast.

"Hey, I'm your opponent."

Blood is trickling down my head. The demon looks my way for a few seconds and ignores me as it looks back.

The demon takes a step towards the hole when Kenjiro appears behind its nape, moving in for the strike but the demon doesn't even bother to turn around. Instead, it puts its hand behind the nape and grabs the blade which then gets squeezed and destroyed.

The demon is showing no interest in fighting us anymore for some strange reason, but even so, I dash, positioning myself before the beast in an attempt to pierce it as it is distracted by Kenjiro. The demon effortlessly uses its second hand to grab my head and throws me outside, through the hole in the wall.

As I land, I do a few barrel rolls and stop near where Rose is struggling to stand up.

"Hey there... I see things are going great..."

Rose says sarcastically as she struggles with the pain.

Injured, I look at her with exhaustion as I notice something going on in the background. It's the mayor. A short, round guy with a moustache and an ugly face. He is still in the upper half of the mansion, but instead of escaping, he's maneuvering something down with a rope from the window of the second floor.

What the hell is he doing?

It's a suitcase.

I stare in confusion.

Rose notices and follows my gaze.

In an instant it is clear what is going on as money slips out of the overflowing suitcase.

"You can't be serious..."

Rose walks off towards where the mayor is easing his money down as the I stay put and try to rest.

Meanwhile, the demon is ready to drop down from the building but once again gets interrupted by Kenjiro. He grabs the demon by its legs and lifts it up.

It is caught off guard by Kenjiro's unexpected strength and ends up in the opposite wall, giving Rose more time to get the mayor and me to get back on my feet in order to help the knight holding the demon back.

[Rose's Perspective]

I limp beneath the mayor's window and grab the rope as the suitcase is about to reach the ground.

"Excellent! Now stow the case away into the carriage before anything happens to it!"

The mayor climbs out of the window to let himself down the rope. I'm still holding onto the rope irritated, so I pull it with my might and send the mayor crashing down to the ground.

Having problems standing up with his heavy body, I look at him with disgust and step on his chest.

"Hey.... Fat swine... There are soldiers risking their lives to protect you, some even lost those lives. And for what? So some greedy pig can save his precious pennies, putting them over the lives of people? Those soldiers have families that are waiting for them to come back home but instead of helping them you trample over them for some money?"

I start pushing my foot harder into the mayor's sternum as he screams out in pain.

Then I pull out my sword and point it directly at his face.

"It will be better for all of us if you die here."

"KENJIROOOOO!" A sudden yell can be heard, it is the captain's voice.