The ground was cold, something Neil didn't like, but better than what was above him. Neil ran to one of the legs, attempting to grab one while the monster tried to bite him using its open mouth. The monster missed, as he managed to grab one running through its legs with relative ease.

"What is this speed..?!" He didn't want to occupy himself anymore, swiftly moving around as he dragged the leg under its body. Florence watched in awe as Klein's younger brother made it out the other end of the body. She couldn't believe it, this Towha had gained full control of his new form.

"I don't believe it…” Thats when she noticed something, right above the monsters’ back. Glancing upwards, she saw a humongous scar on its back. It ran up and down its body, the scar looking more like a cut as if it had been struck.

Trying to grasp the condition from afar, Neil ran as far as he could with the leg.

With all his might, Neil pulled on the leg using his new strength. So much strain was felt throughout his body as he still wasn’t used to it, but he did it with minimal success. The monstrosity tumbled forward, falling to use its legs as a mean of breaking its fall.

Hitting the dirt, Neil used the chance to try and return to the apothecary.

“Neil wait-!” He stopped in his tracks, turning to Florence who was still in the area. Neil seethed, hadn’t she thought about the demihuman in their care? Watching the alchemist raise her hand, she pointed back to the amalgamation struggling to get up.

“Did you see it’s back?” Neil focused on the back area, before his eyes widened in shock. There was a gigantic cut, and it looked recent.

“It seems to be a few days old, maybe it is a weakness- Gguhh…!” Florence coughed out blood, falling to her knees in pain. Neil rushed to her side, looking into her bag for one of the alchemist’s potions but to no avail.

“D-Do not worry about me- Just kill the demon…!”

Looking between her and the monster, Neil knew what he needed to do. Slowly helping Florence to her feet, he let the alchemist go as he ran towards the monstrous demon. “Ok...!”

Turning its head, the monster spotted a small figure sprinting towards it. Neil needed to get as close as possible, not realising his speed had all but doubled since he had transformed. In mere seconds the space between him and the monster was no more, with Neil picking up a rock on the way.

“This should do…” Spotting legs sprout from its body, Neil had managed to avoid the speeding tendrils as he weaved his way up the amalgamation. Running on its back, the monsters head turned completely around. Opening its mouth, the demon tried to chomp down on Neil but to no avail. It had a front seat to what Klein’s younger brother was about to do.

“HA!” Using the sharp rock from earlier, he pushed it right into the monsters scar. A screeching howl could be heard from throughout the town, as the monster started flailing it’s head where from it stood.

Surely that had to have done some damage, as Neil kept thrusting it into the monsters scar.

“D-Dammit! It’s not-“

“Bro!” A familiar voice was heard from the apothecary, with Neil turning his head towards the sound of his brother. Klein had returned to the battlefield with his satchel, holding two swords as well. The monster noticed Neil distracted, using its opportunity to leap into the air. The sudden change in gravity Neil’s body to strain, as he was forced to let go for the safety of his arms not being torn off.

“K-Klein I’m-“

“Shut up and use these to blow that monster to the afterlife!” Klein opened the satchel to reveal strange looking balls, strapped together by papers and rope. Neil realised that they must’ve been makeshift bombs, as Klein nodded at his confused expression.

“I only made three so…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make them count.” Neil slowly got back up, with Klein doing the same as the ground shook. Everyone including Neil felt the earth shake, as the monster landed back on its feet.

“That didn’t take long-” Klein said, “but you already know the plan, right?”

“Yeah, lure’m close and plant the bomb?”

“That’s my bro…!” Klein smirked, giving the thumbs up as their plan went into action. Their plan was simple, find a way to blow this monster up!

Both brothers were almost in sync, splitting up to take the focus off one of them.

The demon looked between both brothers, remembering that one of them had something in their hands. It patiently waited as they were now on either side.

“This things really smart Klein, it actually predicted some of my moves!” Neil shouted, only for hear a scoff from the other side.

“Not smart enough apparently.” Klein rushed towards the monster, pulling something out from his pocket. Hoping to throw it at the monster, he managed to jump over a tendril before reeling his arm back.

“TAKE THIS-!” Klein shouted with such pride, his expression filled with hope as he drew what looked to be his satchel. The monster growled, shooting out all of its legs to intercept.

It easily ripped the bag apart, looking back to the human who it expected was mortified.

He wasn’t, pointing to the other human who was behind him. Quickly turning its head completely backwards, it spotted the other on its back.

This would not stand.

Thrashing about, Neil struggled as the demonic wolf failed to hold still. Trying to climb, he began to raise both of his hands, the demon watching as black ooze began to cover the humans arms.

It was planning something, and it didn’t want to deal with what was going to happen next.

“HRAA!” Neil dug his hands into the demons back, the latter shrieking in pain as he continued to dig. Tearing through, Neil had finally found his opening. This was his chance, reaching into it’s pocket for something.

It was then that the demon made a smart move.

“AWOOOOOOO!”

Without warning, the demon leapt into the air, going to unimaginable heights as Neil held on. It shifted its body to face the ground, now ready to slam this human between the Earth and its back.

Full of pride, the demon growled at the human as it had failed to understand he was outmatched.

Neil screamed in fear, the two were now hundreds of metres in the air with only one way down.

“OH SHIT-!” Neil was beginning to panic, trying to hold onto the demon but it wouldn’t let him. Thrashing about in the air, Neil’s claws struggled to keep hold of the demon as its legs certainly did a good job in smacking him around.

Neil couldn’t hold on much longer, his grip slipping slightly.

Seeing its chance, the demon did one final move to get him off.

Spinning itself at uncontrollable speeds, the demon watched as Neil let go and was sent falling in another direction.

The demon was victorious, now it just needed to wait until it reached the ground-

“DO IT NOW!” It heard a scream from where Neil had let go, turning to find him shouting to the ground. But why would this human be calling out to those below? Checking below, it found that the bowman from before was facing their bow towards them.

Right under their body.

“Fos…”

If the demon had a heart, it surely would have sunk by now. It thought fast, trying to change its trajectory but it was impossible. Looking between Neil and those below it let out a deafening roar, blasting all its legs towards the human with him.

But Neil was prepared, throwing the bombs he had held to defend himself. The demon watched as it's legs were blown to bits, due to the humans amazing accuracy.

With its last act of defiance having failed, Florence’s eyes sharpened.

“A R C H E S !”

She released her index finger, as in that moment the demon felt something pierce it’s stomach. Had it gone through them? The demon looked down to it’s stomach, realising that there was one big hole.

They had done it.

Its body started to go limp, the others watching as the demon slammed onto the ground. Neil had crashed into one of the nearby buildings, collapsing on impact.

His job was done, slowly going unconscious.

Klein and Florence however had another job to do, slowly approaching the downed monster. Klein was worried, had it actually died? He and Florence would make sure they’d finish the job if needed.

Now close enough, Florence watched as her test subject placed his hand on the demon.

…

…

…

“I think it’s dead, but you can't be too careful...” Klein said, moving to check around other parts of the body. That was when Florence stopped him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“No, you need to go take care of Amari.”

“… Ok, I’ll go.” The older brother complied, he needed to go see her anyways. From what he saw Amari should have somewhat recovered from her injuries. At least enough to breath, as his heart began to sink.

How could he have let this happen?