"I'LL SLAUGHTER YOU!" The ground beneath Neil cracked, the young man bending down and went on all fours. He looked like an animal, his deformed fingerd dug into the floor before it happened. The ground broke, as Neil leapt towards the demonic wolf with his new power. Both arms reeled back as he landed onto it with little resistance.

Florence watched as his pupils shrunk, visciously slashing it's head as legs contorted above it's torso.

He's really turned...

Florence watched in astonishment at the display, her eyes struggled to keep themselves open. The pain, the suffering, everything she had been theorising up until now was correct. The strength enhancement potion, a special rendition made only by her that also increases ones senses. This transformation is supposedly to use blood from different monsters, something dangerous as it has a high chance of diseass and even death. Despite this, Florence ventured forth into the works of alchemy. She couldn't fully understand the energy in their world, but Florence was sure that she wanted to find out every little aspect of it.

Pupils have shrunk, the black ooze has surrounded his entire body... It also distorted his arms and legs...

Results were successful, and Florence would take in whatever information she could. Taking out a small notebook, she was about to observe the fight that had already started. The alchemist was caught off-guard when a hand grasped her leg, shocked, she looked down to find Amari barely clinging onto life.

"F...Fo...r.." She knew the girl was calling out her name, her eyes still shut as the alchemist grit her teeth. Checking back to the fight, Neil wasn't doing too well as of yet. The previous spot that he had been slashing on found no Neil, grabbed by one of the creatures legs and flung behind into a nearby house. The gigantic wolf howled, a weird muck coming out of it's face as it turned it's attention to the body nearby. Klein was still out, unmoving as it slinked towards him.

Florence was in a tough spot, all three of her friends now incapacitated and out of the fight.

"Damn it all," She needed to think fast, or else they'll die just like everyone else. Florence quickly surveyed the area behind the spawn, noting shouting and footsteps echoing from the building far away. "-why do you people keep brushing with death...!"

"F...L...or..." She only had one chance at this, as Florence slowly got up leaving Amari behind. The alchemist needed to get the creatures attention, and she needed to do it fast. Grabbing a rock, she moved to the side as it was mere inches away from Klein's body. It's tentacle-like legs sprouted from below, dragging itself on the floor as it took him by the legs.

She gripped the small piece of stone hard, the purple veins from before returning to her body. Florence winced as her eyes began to bleed black again, closing her eyes as she could feel energy leave her body. The alchemist could feel the power in her right hand, the stone had been successfully enhanced by her magic.

"HA-!" Florence threw the stone with all she had, directly striking the creature in the head. The rock struck right through it's head, coming out the other end as it began to scream in pain. Letting go of Klein, he dropped to the floor as the brother finally regained consciousness.

When Klein got back up, his eyes adjusted to the creature above him. He wanted to shriek, but he was too terrified to do so. Luckily for him, the monsters attention wasn't on Klein now as it shifted it's body to the woman far off to the left. Klein crawled away as the beast bolted towards Florence, giving him a chance to retrieve Amari's corpse.

But it was not a corpse he would grab, but the body of someone who was alive, and barely clinging onto life.

"Your attention should've been towards me, demon!" Florence's eyes were closed, holding potions in each hand as she braced herself for the inevitable. She could barely hold on to her senses, the violent energy of the wolf metres from her face as Flornece struggled to stand. A huge gust of wind blew past her face, the alchemist winced at the sudden shift in movement.

She could feel the energy of Neil resurface, clashing against the beast as they were both sent flying into the other direction.

......

You are not meant to die here...

Awaken...

"Gruhg...h.. Wha.." Neil had regained consciousness, his eyes opening as he tried to take in his surroundings. Massive amounts of brick, wood and stone were surrounding him. Neil found himself lying on top of a bed, hearing whimpers from the side of the room as he slowly got back up.

He must be in a bedroom of sorts, but that was the least of his worries right now.

I'm back...

Looking at his hands, he could see the black ooze beginning to disperse from his body. It would seem that his power-up had ran out, now back to normal. Albeit, he could still feel immense pain throughout his lower half. His head turned to the whimpers, finding a little boy in the corner scared for his life. Slowly pushing himself off the bed, he made his way to the boy.

The last thing he saw was his brother, so he needed-

"PLEASE NO! DONT HURT ME!" Neil stopped in place, watching as the boy curled up more in the corner. Tears ran down his face, refusing to look at him as he drew closer.

"I'm not going to hurt-" He didn't notice it until now, his thoughts interrupted as he saw why the boy was so scared. "-you..." A trail of blood coming from his bloodied hands, seeped onto the floor leading to the boy. Neil was horrified, barely having time to register what had happened before he heard shouting. "I-I'm... I'm so sorry..."

"I..." He tried to choke out an apology, but Neil found himself stopping short. His heart began to race, feeling that rapid pulse surge throughout his body. Neil instinctively turned back to the open wall, looking off in the distance.

"Florence..." She had just gained the monsters attention, it's head turning towards her as Klein ran off. The alchemist was someone he wasn't too trustful as of late, taking in his brother for experiments on a 'strength enhancement' potion. Drug was the better term in his opinion, thinking this over as he jumped out of the building.

But she save their lives, countless times. Is it really worth them getting off the hook because of that? Neil wasn't going to let himself be stopped by this dilemma, he already made his choice.

"I'm coming," Neil's pace started to accelerate, a power-walk turning into an all-out sprint. The black ooze that distorted his appearance was gone, but he could feel the rush of adrenaline surge through his body. His eyes began to glow yellow, but he was still somewhat see the world around him. He felt his hunger resurface, his vision now solely focused on the demon ahead of him.

"Huh...?" The little boy slowly opened his eyes, realising the man had jumped out of the room. By the opening, a small red potion was sitting nearby as footsteps could be heard from outside.

......

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Rushing into back into the apothecary, holding Amari in his arms. This day couldn’t get any worse, could it? As he put her injured body onto the table. Following what he had been told from Florence, he ran to the side of the room and rummaged through one of the nearby drawers.

“There it is, you’re gonna be ok Amari…!” He said to Amari, returning to her as the demihuman was breathing unusually. Taking out a few green potions, he began to tip it onto other parts of her body as she screamed in pain. Klein held her hand throughout the entire experience, slowly dripping it into her mouth as Amari felt parts of her inner-body fix itself.

Amari was screaming in pain, practically sobbing as the potions used were special. Klein brought himself to her, wrapping his hands around her as she tugged onto him. She could feel her body begin to recover, but the process was painful than what’s usually needed.

It was an excruciating experience for her, the damage mostly internal when bones started to readjust itself…

“You’re gonna be ok Amari- Keep holding onto me baby if it hurts too much…!” Klein felt her tug at his shirt, nails digging into his back as he heard cracks of bones fixing itself back into place. He scrunched his face, glancing as Amari was crying the entire time.

This isn’t fair, this wasn’t supposed to happen…! Klein felt Amari’s grip loosen, his eyes darting to Amari as her eyes began to close.

“NONONO- Amari!?” Slowly letting her down, he noticed that she was still breathing despite her eyes closed. She must’ve passed out from the pain, and he was pretty sure there weren’t anymore bone-cracking noises.

He heard a huge crash from outside the apothecary, turning around to find the demon slumped on the ground. It’s body began to move around, as its many legs helped adjust itself upright.

“What is she doing…?!?” Klein quickly grabbed Amari and rushed behind the nearby couch, jumping behind it as he saw the creatures eyes moved to their direction. He heard its hollow growls, footsteps crunching towards the building as he heard the door crash open.

Klein couldn’t stop the sweat dripping from his face, holding Amari in his arms as he heard sniffing from the door…

……

“THATS ENOUGH FREAK!” The demon wolf heard a voice shout out from afar, its head cracking as it turned to the voice. In the distance, nearby the alchemist was Neil in a fighting position. His arms reaching down for a rock, slowly getting back up as he was ready for a fight. The wolf dug its front feet into he cold dirt, pushing some back as it prepared to charge at the powerful human.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have called out to it…” He started to regret his decision, though couldn’t let out another word as the beast made a wild dash towards him. Gripping the rock, he felt it began to light up. Sparks of electricity started to blast out, pricking his hand as he pulled it back.

“HA!” With all his might, Neil threw the electrified rock at the spawn. Throwing it a bit too high, the monster ducked its head before its legs sprouted out to slam him into the building behind.

Crashing against brick, his body numbed as Neil was now stuck between the rubble. He struggled to get out, brick being the main problem when Neil saw the beasts eyes staring into his own.

“B R R R R R R R R R R R R R R…”

Its breath was cold, blowing against his entire body as he felt chills run down his spine. This caused his determined expression to quickly fade, still trying to get out of the crater. He was at the mercy of this demon spawn, pulling his arms out when it grabbed him by the neck.

His eyes started to dart around, hopelessly trying to find something that could help him escape. Looking back down to his neck, he found that it hadn’t been snapped yet. Neil shut his eyes, putting both hands to the paw holding him down as he pulled with all his might.

He wasn’t sure if this would work, but Neil had to try. Veins started to show on his face, sweat starting to show as he dug his feet into the brick wall behind him. He cringed as his hands tightened onto the vine-like paw, struggling to push it away while using his legs as support.

“H-Holy Shit…!” He couldn’t believe it, Neil could breath properly again. Opening his eyes to find the demons paw away from his neck, the creature growling while Neil continued to push. Reaching a far enough distance, Neil thought fast and let go, just barely dodging another paw as he hit the rough ground.

He fell several feet, yet he barely had a scratch on him.